Homeward Bound

From sunny beaches, to sunny slopes.  

Twenty-four hours after leaving Australia, I'm Vail, Colorado, spending two weeks on a ski holiday before going back to Boston.  Leaving Brisbane was sad, but I had been preparing myself to go home for so long that it was a relief when our plane lifted off.  Over the past eighteen months I have really come to think of Brisbane as home, and I know I will be back, so leaving was not too upsetting.

What was upsetting was getting out of the plane in the freezing cold in Colorado.  I've certainly become acclimatized after not having a proper winter for a two years.  When my toes stepped off the plane and into that freezing-cold Colorado air, it was a shocker.  However, despite the cold, I was just as excited as the kids I'm travelling with the see our breath puffing into the winter air.

When I woke up the next morning, I was in a winter wonderland.  Vail looks like a gingerbread village, with adorable buildings, lights in all the trees, and smoke rising from chimneys.  Even though this has been one of the least snowy winters on record in Vail, the mountains that surround the village have trails of white where the skiers shoot down, and the trees have at least a dusting.  

Being back in America is very interesting.  Australia and America are quite similar, and it's the small differences that define each place.  Coming home, it's the small differences that are reminding me how long I've been away, like Christmas lights in all the trees (the Aussies don't embrace winter lights like we do), or asking for "ketchup" rather than "tomato sauce".  Or the fact that my sandwich comes with "fries," not "chips."  My first few days in Vail, I kept hearing American accents, and thinking "gosh, I don't sound like that, do I?"  The Aussies I heard sounded more familiar than the Americans.  

However, some things I have been missing!  Eating my first slice of a large, doughy American pizza was excellent.  Going to the grocery store, I felt like a kid in a candy shop - "Oh, apple sauce; half and half!"  Having a proper cup of coffee with cream rather than a cappuccinno is wonderful, and so is being able to go to the shops past 5 p.m.  

So please excuse me while I brew come coffee, put Pandora on the country station, and listen to a sweet welcome home.