Home now. Hi again.

Surprise! Bet you didn't expect to be seeing a post from here for a while yet, did you? Oh no! Did Leah somehow end up on a plane back to Europe? Now I have to keep up with her posts again and feel very jealous of her worldliness while I'm sitting at home on my computer trolling Facebook and letting the laundry pile up....

No don't worry, that's what I'm doing as well, at the moment. At home. On my computer. (Trolling Facebook.)  And let me tell you, it is significantly easier to write a post on my keyboard, than thumbing paragraphs of new, daily experiences on my iPhone. I love that thing but there is a limit.

I got so much into the habit of writing every day on my trip, it was a little off-balancing to get home, make a meal, go to the grocery store...and *not* write about the trials and tribulations surrounding the above-said grocery store run. Because it was just so normal. All the labels were in English, annoyingly easy to understand. (Well, not as honest though, with our food labeling regulations. That part is frightening.) And oh look, I get to pay for gas again. Where the hell did all that public transportation go? Obviously hasn't made it's way to this side of the world yet.

So yes, this post is amazingly put off, but after being home now for *looks at calendar* alllmost as long as I was gone, I figure it's time to get up and start to do something. I can't use that "oh I'm still on Europe time and adjusting to normal life" excuse any longer. Time is ticking, and I really need to start planning my Peru trip for next summer. Uh. I mean, get a job, or take a class at the community college. Really, the Peru plans are in there too. But more on that later.

That being said, I started doing stuff. Here's a little timeline, with a few pictures (because I know how you all love my pictures,) at how my life has been upon returning home.

September, October & November: (I got home last day of August, so wasn't fully functional until September.)

First, I woke up in a strange new room. It was my room, apparently. Except it didn't look like my room, because all my stuff (aka books) were in boxes. and boxes and boxes. My family moved while I was gone, so it was sort of weird waking up there all the sudden. But you'd think after a summer of waking up somewhere new each day or so, I'd get used to it.
I didn't. My room looked a little like this and my backpack threw up all over my floor:

Those were actually the improved pictures, after a night of not sleeping (because it's totally day time in my head) but you get the idea.

I got it under control within the week, then decided it was okay to integrate myself into society again. Sigh.


Upon returning, immediately everyone I talked to had these questions, in this order:
-"So, why are you back early?"
-"Did you have fun?"
-"What was your favorite country?"

my answers:

-"Well, only like 5 days early." 
-"It was a blast. I wrote a blog about it if you have any specific questions regarding my activities." (I love this easy out! But I'm just kidding, I didn't really say that.)
-"Estonia. It was like a freaking fairy tale."

Anyway, questions aside, for the whole month, I was lucky enough to have family from New Zealand stay with us to go hummingbird watching, and share lots of cups of tea. I also got lessons on mandolin and ukulele. I was sad to see them go.

So for these twoish months, there was:

My late birthday present.

Goodwill Shopping For Mysterious Objects. (Obviously I bought it.)

 Arizona Sunsets.

Serenading by the music group Traveler. Yet another reminder I was back at the US, since I was not allowed to go in the place, since I was under 21. There was alcohol 'around' me. It turned out all right.

Celebrating.

Reminiscing texts to Tessa. (They've slowed down a bit now, sorry Tessa.) "Apples, Tessa! Apples! They kept us aliiiiive this summer! Even really crappy tasting ones! Remember??"

Family visiting in Tucson. (Hi new cousin! I'm twenty years older than you!) .........

(Hey, little cousin, that's my mandolin there so you better play good music.)

Lazy days.

Chainmailling a new weave.

Meeting author Bill Bryson.

Unsuccessful selling days at a bookstore.

Receiving my Estonian book in the mail.

Visits with my best friends. (who seemed to call every day all summer.)

And then while I'm looking for all these photos for this post, I find this on my phone. sorry Rishelle. I have to change my phone passlock now.

And kittie cuddling days.

Attempted scrapbooking of trip. 

Still working on this thing.

And a kitten impersonating the kiwis. (no pun intended.) But it really was a fruitless attempt. (pun intended.)

Not mentioned above, I did apply for a job. First Petco. During the group interview, which by the way is so much more uncomfortable than a random German dude climbing into your top bunk at four in the morning, I had to stick my hand in a bucket of crickets and proceed not to scream, but coo adoringly at the creatures. But I never heard back from them, which is okay. My answers were rather one-liners after they asked if I would be comfortable holding scorpions and tarantulas. Oh, and the cricket thing.

And one last thing, I totally blew off NaNoWriMo for the first time in four years and started to write this post instead. It's got to be like 2k words, no? I say I'm done for the month now, calm your applause, because with all these pictures I stuck in here? Gotta be 50k. See how I did that? I'm so clever.


So if you've made it this far in my ramblings, you can see that I really haven't been up to much since I got home. This is just the daily life of an unschooler.

Leah


PS: Peru ramblings coming soon.