Coming back to (Ire)land

Well I made it. I’m reluctant to say that I made it home because it feels like I have just left my home, but after a rushed last minute packing job, a last night of partying with friends, one delayed flight, one trip to US homeland security after I failed the fingerprint test, and a near miss with my baggage, I have swopped the land of many waters for the land of much rain!
Sitting in JFK airport waiting on my final flight, I picked up a carton of coconut water and nearly choked on it when I tasted it. This doesn’t taste like the coconut water I’ve been drinking all year? I glance down and see that there’s a logo that reads Thailand’s certified finest. When did they start selling coconut water from Thailand in America? I glance down at my bottle of water: From fresh water streams in Fiji. When did we start drinking water from the other side of the world? Has the rest of world changed that much since I’ve been away, or have I just forgotten how it works? Looking around at all the faces in the departure lounge I feel lost. Where are all the African, Indian and Amerindian faces that have formed my community this year? And when did white people become so pale?! A woman in Jodhpur boots holds up a green trench coat and asks her friends if they think it’s too yellow! When did green become yellow, and when did it matter? I’m feeling all confused.

I reckon I could write an entire new blog on western culture from the outside. I know there is a reverse culture shock to come, but for now I hug my duvet and mourn the loss of the tropical heat that has embraced me all year. Guyana I miss you.

I have been flying high all year, and it feels as if I’ve come back down to land.

My incredible 15 months in Guyana has come to an end, and so too has my year of blogging these experiences. The blog may end, but I know that the experiences I have had will stay with me a lifetime, and I hope that I will carry all the lessons I have learnt and the friendships I have made with me into this new phase of my life.

What comes next? I’m not sure.

Will I be able to carry all the lessons I’ve learnt with me? I hope so.

Am I grateful for all that Guyana has given me? Absolutely.

So thank-you for your interest in my Guyanese / Volunteering experience, and for sharing the adventure with me. These words have all been my own, but as I end this blog, I end it with the words of another writer:

“Twenty years from now

You will be more disappointed

By the things that you didn’t do

Than by the ones you did do.

So throw off the bowlines

Sail away from the safe harbour

Catch the trade winds in your sails

Explore, Dream, Discover.”

Mark Twain