09/19/05: Stranger in a strange land (Final Update and Contact Info)

Hi everyone!

I'm back in Los Angeles and slowly adjusting back to "normal life"...it's quite the adjustment and while I'm dealing with the questions of who I want to be and what I want to do and what this trip meant to me, it's a little distracting to be staying with friends that happen to have the largest capacity TiVO on the market, DirectTV (with Sunday Ticket of course), every video game system I can think of, and a collection of several hundred DVDs each whispering to me "watch me...watch me..."

Before I forget, while I don't have a permanent address as of now I did manage to reactivate the cell-phone number that I had before. Please feel free to call for a chat or for offers of gainful employment (perhaps house-sitting that mansion in Hawaii). All inquiries should be directed to my agent - who incidentally happens to have the same telephone number and name. I look forward to seeingeveryone in the next few months as I get settled in.

But first to briefly update where I left you in London as I'm not willing to let go of the trip just yet. I had a wonderful experience in London seeing old friends from school and work and even friends we had met earlier in the trip. I attended a very interesting wedding of a friend from UCLA where the reception included traditional English barn dancing (think do-si-do), sing-along songs about the couple, and a skit about the past love-life of the groom (very, very funny and not anything I want incorporated when I someday get married...I don't want to make my Russian mail-order bride uncomfortable).

Seemingly, however, the fates needed to remind me why it was time to go home with my last two hostel experiences. The first was in London - where I shared a room with three random strangers for an evening. I got into the room after everyone was asleep - only to be awaken at 4 in the morning when one of the guests woke up suddenly and declared to his friend (sleeping in the bunk below), "dude! we feel asleep...we gotta get up and hit the bars".

Only to be answered "umm...we actually went out to two bars and got kicked out of both because of you. Then, I brought you back here and told you to stay in the room, only to find you later wandering thehallways in a T-shirt and nothing else on looking for people to talk to. Let's just say the hostel needed to be heavily convinced to let us stay." I just pulled my sheets tighter around my body, hugged the bag holding my camera and passport and went back to sleep.

The other hostel experience was in Amsterdam, where I only stayed a night (not for that!) to catch a plane the next morning. Only I didn't do my due diligence online and guaranteed my place at what turns out to be the Shelter Christian Hostel - designed to keep young men on the path of righteousness. What I found quite funny is that the shelter was surrounded on both sides by the ubiquitous windows housing"ladies-for-hire"...so quite literally there was a doorway that led up to the light or down to the depths of depravity. After a few hours in the bars, I returned to the hostel, chose the "good" door and went tothe common room of the hostel to read and relax only to walk into (and interrupt very publically and embarrasingly) a bible study in session. The embarrasing part was everyone asking "do you want to join us? no? are you sure because there's never a bad time to talk about jesus!".

I flew to Chicago from Amsterdam and visited my sister, brother-in-law, and their new son (and my new nephew) Emmett. It turns out he's very cute (I had serious doubts when I got the first pictures) and quite well-mannered. It also turns out my brother-in-law's sister is pregnant, my favorite dog had passed away, and my sister was living in a different house. Being in the routine with my family really gave me the sense of how much I had missed (in terms of life events) but also how much things were exactly the same as when I left...and there's certainly a bit of an expectation that if I've changed and learned so much...the world and everything else should be different as well.

So here I am...back in Los Angeles. Much thanks to everyone who read these updates, thought about me, or emailed me with encouragement or their own stories along the way. It made a HUGE impact to hear about home and the people I really care about. Most of all, much thanks to Deanna - an incredible friend, traveler, and personal psychiatrist...I can't imagine doing this with anyone else. China next?