I haven't really quite felt the kind of culture shock I was expecting. Perhaps it's because everything is glorious here. The weather is glorious, clear and warm. The grass and the leaves on the trees are a rich emerald green. Flowers are in abundance. The sky stretches for forever, cloud-castles in the sky. The mountains, snow-capped, gleam in the distance. The clutch fits neatly in my hand, and I sing along to Ready Kirken with my arm out the window. The pillows are soft, the bed is enormous, the shower is hot and the water pressure is high. There's so much space – my entire apartment would fit into the kitchen here. There is a dryer. There is ice. The coffee is gorgeous. My family is awesome. My friends are awesome. My hometown is awesome. I can speak to people and they understand me, and I understand them, and that little stab of anxiety that presaged an attempt to communicate in Czech is now absent from my life. There are, of course, new anxieties to take its place, as I re-enter society and resume my role as a responsible adult, but it feels good to finally be able to take up the reins of my authentic life again.
People ask me how it was, living in the Czech Republic, and I struggle with an answer. It is not a straightforward question. It was difficult. It was rewarding. It was an experience that is and, I think, will remain very difficult to communicate in any coherent way. I think I am a better and a stronger person for having done it, almost in the sense of one who conquers a tremendous mountain, fords a great river, and I'm sure that I will be nostalgic for aspects of that life as the novelty of America and Americana fades. For now, though, I'm simply happy to be home.
"We take our fetters with us; our freedom is not total: we still turn our gaze towards the things we have left behind; our imagination is full of them."
-Michel de Montaigne," On Solitude"
-Michel de Montaigne," On Solitude"
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