Back in the land of wine and cheese... and reality...

When my plane landed late-night in Bangkok coming back from Hong Kong last week, I felt ready to leave, that my time was up. I had two days left in Bangkok to wrap everything up before the grand departure, but even two days felt too much. I just felt like it was time! So you can imagine my surprise the next morning when I found that I was in fact leaving that very night, suddenly reducing my time in Bangkok to one day! Despite having had numerous conversations with Sarah and Mariel about how departing flights from Asia back to the West typically leave after midnight and so to be careful not to confuse the dates, I didn't think twice about my own flight back! Thank God Sarah called attention to it, because wow would that have been embarrassing/bad to find myself at the Bangkok airport realizing I had missed my flight by a day. I can just picture myself, ha. Crisis averted! So my departure from Asia happened just as the rest of my time there did, unplanned! I spent that last day buying a dress for my uncle's wedding, getting pampered Thai style (cheap), and getting my final Thai massage...

My return seemed endless, but once I was here, I couldn't wrap my brain around the fact that I had just crossed the globe and that not only was I back in France, but I was back in middle-of-nowhere France. All of a sudden, those 8 long months in Asia seemed to have flashed by - how could all of this life experience be over so quickly? How is it possible that everything here is exactly as I left it when I feel so changed!?

No matter, I quickly consoled myself when I saw my dinner. Wine! Cheese! Before I took my first sip of wine and my first bite of cheese, I stopped myself, I needed a moment to gather my thoughts... to think back at all those desperate times I dreamt of cheeese (I actually did have a dream about wine when in Chiang Rai)... that lasted a few seconds though, because before I knew it, I had scarfed it all down. I was so giddy, I was dancing around the house until I crashed for 14 hours. I woke up the next morning to the idyllic sound of birds chirping. My grandmother finally woke me up around noon and announced that we were starting off the day with champagne to celebrate my return and that we would proceed to a special wine picked out by my grandfather - LOVE my grandparents!! My grandmother asked her friend who joined us that day for lunch whether she liked champagne. Her friend obviously liked it, and my grandmother responded, " you know, some people don't like champagne," to which her friend said with a disgruntled look on her face, "les gens sont bizarres - people are strange..." LOVE France!

As I expected, France and more particularly staying with my grandparents has been the perfect Asian antidote. I've been here for a week, accompanying my grandmother to the market, going on long runs in the beautiful countryside, eating, updating my blog, going to the opera, eating some more...! I've hung out a bit with my grandparents and their friends - yes, I like hanging out with the older generation. At the end of the day, they do exactly what I do with my friends: sit around and gossip - people will be people will be people, regardless of age... except they talk about their gardens a lot...mmm maybe something I don't do...

Anyway, suffice to say that I'm so glad I chose to hang out in the French countryside for 10 days as opposed to schlepping around the Parisian crazies where I would have been in the throws of culture shock. I will head up there for 24 hours before my flight back to NY on Monday - crazy!

I guess this marks the end of my Asian Chapter. I have no idea what lies ahead... I'm excited, but can't help starting to feel a little nervous. I know I'm returning to reality in the middle of a major economic crisis - something I have felt utterly removed from... Well I guess it's time to deal with it - wish me luck! Print this post