Re-Adjusting

I have now been back in the United States for a little over two weeks. Although my transition back up to this point has been smooth; it has also been very eye opening to me. I know that I will continue to see how my past year in Malawi has changed my views of life, but over the past two weeks, here are a few things I noticed right away:

Every Monday the town of Mulanje did not have power due to the scheduled blackouts that the country has due to lack of enough power being produced. Due to this, Lauren and I both became attuned to the sound of the refrigerator coming back on when power returned. Since being back I find myself hearing the familiar sounds of appliances, or the air conditioner shutting off and I look up at the lights to see if we just lost power. Having electricity all day everyday is such a blessing that we often overlook because it is so constant in our lives. For me, every time I hear the sound of something switching on or off I will remember the days in Malawi I went without power, and all of the people this problem still affects daily in Malawi.

Readjusting to driving here, thankfully, has gone smoothly. The first few times that I was driving I turned the windshield wipers on instead of the turn signal, but I spent the past year doing that in Malawi; I’m used to messing those up. (They are on the opposite sides of ours in vehicles designed for British style driving.) The biggest challenged I faced with driving in Malawi was not the steering wheel on the opposite side, it was the hundreds of people and animals walking on the road that I had to carefully navigate around. Not having to navigate around the people, chickens, and goats daily, reminds me just how fortunate a society we have that does not rely on walking as our main source of transportation. As I sit in traffic, or as I hit the windshield wipers instead of the blinker, instead of being upset I find myself being very grateful.

Convenience is not something that is prominent in Malawi. In fact often things in Malawi seem to be very inconvenient. Since I returned I have been overwhelmed with the amount of convenient things that are available to us as Americans. It seems like everything we could possibly, want, need or desire is right at our fingertips. This has been one of the most overwhelming things about being back for me. For the past year nothing has been particularly easy. If we wanted to cook a meal, everything, and I mean everything, had to be made from scratch, with grocery shopping done once a month so planning ahead was extremely important. Now, if Heather and I decide we want something specific for dinner we pop right down to the “small” Giant Eagle two minutes away from our house that has absolutely everything we could possibly need to cook with. The abundance of our convenience is really overwhelming after living so simply for the past year. I look forward to finding a good balance of convenience but still living simply and integrating the things I learned over the past year into my daily life here in Pittsburgh.

Re-adjusting to life here and discovering what is next for me will continue to be a new kind of adventure. I am blessed to be surrounded by my friends and family here during this time of readjusting and am very grateful for all their love and support as I adjust. I know that this process will take time, but if I am being honest I think there are certain things that I may never fully get used to, and I think that is okay.