Home....for a bit!

Once again I've been a complete slacker on blogging and have a lot to update in one! I did so well for the first few months/year and then as things became less new and exciting for me, I likewise thought they would be less new and exciting for those at home and slacked.

My last post was in January.  Since then I have finished Peace Corps, toured Vietnam, and arrived safely "home" to Tennessee. 

Finishing up Peace Corps was hard as there were many goodbyes to be said - not only to my host family and community members but also to fellow volunteers. It was an emotional time for me as I taught my final classes, went on a last outing with some students, attendwd weddings of friends, hugged my host family, and jumped on a bus. There are so many things that I left behind that I will never be able to experience in the same way again. My hammock is now hanging empty upstairs in my host family's house, my gecko friend Charlie is busy meeting new girls, and I'm sure the spiders have comfortably settled into my now vacant room.  Even when I go back  to visit, it will never be the same.

                                                              

After final Peace Corps farewells in Phnom Penh, I headed to Vietnam with a few buddies. Along with the normal sightseeing, we indulged in things like movie theaters that we had been without for two years! We watched Marley and Me and Bride Wars (come on...beggars can't be choosers!) and snacked on fluffy, buttery popcorn. We spent a couple days at the beach, a night on a boat, crawled through some tunnels, had clothes tailored, and generally had an amazing time just being...anonymous

Now I find myself sitting at "home" missing my home. It's a strange feeling and one I'm growing to accept as a new constant in my life. One home is always going to miss some aspect of the other. Here is my family, there is a future one. There are my new friends, here are my old. One set of parents there, one set here. It's a mix that in a weird way, I love.

Big changes have taken place in the States while I've been on the other side of the world-both general and more personally within my family (like the joyful addition of my first nephew-Jack). I'm learning to adjust to those changes while preparing myself for my own set of new adventures. I'll be in the States through May 25th at which time I will be returning to Cambodia. When I closed my service with Peace Corps, I knew I wasn't done with Cambodia and she certainly wasn't done with me. I accepted a job as a 3rd grade teacher at an NGO-run school for Cambodian children. I'm excited about starting a new life in Siem Reap town and experiencing Cambodia in a way that's a bit different from my previous 2 years there. 

I hope I'll have enough time to see all of you that wish to meet up while I'm here. Please e-mail me at sarahlnorton@gmail.com and I'll do my best to make my rounds!