Catching Up

It's been a long time since I hit the blog. I think a whole year, almost to the day.

It must have been somewhere in Pakistan that I stopped writing. Internet service was sketchy at best and it's easy to stay away from the web when you are enjoying the people and mountains of such a unique country.

Since then so much has happened.

Matt and I finished our year of traveling abroad. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and a bunch of other far away places were visited and loved. There were also some places we did not love at all, but that's traveling. 

We returned in August of this year, just in time to pick up our car from the abandoned car lot in Vancouver. 

Technically we had 'abandoned' it, in front of my cousins house, and fully intended to retrieve it upon our return to Western Civilization. It sat there for just under 11 months until someone decided to write a few choice words on the side of the car with a paint marker, words I won't repeat here because I think it goes against my Blogger Agreement. The graffiti turned our beloved little rusting Honda into a crude and obvious eyesore. Shortly after that the license plates were ripped off, likely by a coalition of neighborhood parents that banded together after their children came home with an entirely new vocabulary due to our car. In any event, it worked. The week before we arrived home it was towed. Luckily we had no problem locating it, the fine wasn't too ridiculous and the graffiti came off with a little bit of elbow grease and a lot of Goo Be Gone.

Our return home was exciting. 

After the 'car incident' we crossed into the US and spent some time in Oregon visiting friends, camping and soaking up the gorgeous weather. 

We road tripped across the country to Fargo in time to attend Matt's brother's wedding. 

We were reunited with family that we missed immensely. We met our new nephew, Ethan, who was born while we were away. We gorged ourselves on food we hadn't eaten in months. 

Steak was a personal favorite. Matthew started eating hamburgers everyday.

There was always a story to tell and an interested ear to listen.

After the initial hoopla of it all, things adjusted back to 'normal', or what Matt likes to think of as 'boring'.

Lots of adult decisions had to be made that neither of us had made in a while.

"Where would we live? What about jobs?! Oh my gosh, we are almost broke!"

Also, there were many responsibilities to attend to that I had ignored blissfully while traipsing around South Asia.

My taxes were long overdue, and I almost positively owed the government money.

I needed to sort out my Green Card paperwork with the US government.

My teeth needed a serious cleaning intervention and I was desperate to get hold of some Western birth control because the non-prescription India stuff i'd been using for the last 6 months was slowly turning me in emotional monster.

We decided on Minneapolis as a place to live out the fast approaching winter. It's a 3 hour drive from Matt's family and a 2 hour flight from mine, so technically it's half way between both.

Our apartment is old, warm and cozy and we enjoy the location.

Matt was able to pick up his old job, which was great cause money was getting tight. 

I filed my taxes and was even able to pay what I owed.

I am in the final stages of my Green Card application and am crossing my fingers that I will have it by January.

Until then, even though Matthew and I have been legally married since 2006, I officially cannot be 'living' in the US.

By 'living' here, that would imply (at least to a border customs guard) that I was somehow allowed to stay indefinitely or was intending to work. In fact, I'm allowed to do neither until my Green Card is approved. So until that point, my status when I cross the border is classified as a 'Tourist', and I can 'visit' (not 'live') with Matthew for up to 6 months. It's a lame situation, but it's the only legal way to play this game. 

So that is how we went from 'there' to here.

Matt works, I play the waiting game with the government and we both agree that once winter is over we need to do something a little more inspirational than what we are doing now.

What can I say, as much as I missed my family and friends and wanted to come home at the end of our trip... 

As much as I was happy to have an apartment again, a phone, a fridge, a bed and a new pair of jeans...

As much as I enjoy cooking my own food, eating meat every stinking night, drinking real wine and grocery shopping...

...there is something inside of me that wants to go back. 

I know. It's crazy.

You think a year would be enough. Apparently travel bugs die about as hard as Amebic Dysentry.

So we have started to apply to JET, a Japanese teaching program that hires assistant teachers from all over the world to work in Japan on a year to year contract. If we are accepted, we will be in Japan by next August and may not be back for a while. Our application is due at the end of this week and I'm both nervous and excited about the possibilities that lie ahead.

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