Friday, July 28, 2006
Readjustment
Now that we're home, I hope the stories here will not end, so stay tuned.
We're all home physically, but mentally we're still in-between countries. Both girls have mentioned how they feel they are still in Ukraine. When we walk outside, part of us expects to see the mulberry tree outside our Lviv flat. Sometimes we forget about the car. Yesterday we decided to walk to get the groceries. Normally it seems to far to take my bike, so I drive. Relative to Lviv, the walk to get our groceries in Madison is as far as the biggest market to our Lviv flat, which was too close to consider waiting and paying for public transportation. Our perceptions are certainly altered.
A result of this attitude here is that it is lonely to walk places here in Madison because so few people do so. In Lviv, the sidewalks were always full. In a downpour, people would move under awnings and wait in stores, but there were always people around. You never felt like an "island" in society. Now I see lots of cars pass by, but few people. New York was a city where I really saw a lot of people walking all the time, but even Boston and San Francisco didn't seem as full of pedestrians as Lviv.
I already miss Lviv, and the girls are starting to also. The girls are very excited to be back in the US and with their friends. Kali especially talks all the time about how much she loves her friends, and is making a lot of cards for them. However, the girls get so excited to tell their stories about Ukraine, or use the words they learned there. And occasionally, they talk about missing the people and the ice cream and other things in Lviv.
I'm already thinking about when we'll be able to go back. It surely won't be soon, but I'm excited to dream about the possibility.
We're all home physically, but mentally we're still in-between countries. Both girls have mentioned how they feel they are still in Ukraine. When we walk outside, part of us expects to see the mulberry tree outside our Lviv flat. Sometimes we forget about the car. Yesterday we decided to walk to get the groceries. Normally it seems to far to take my bike, so I drive. Relative to Lviv, the walk to get our groceries in Madison is as far as the biggest market to our Lviv flat, which was too close to consider waiting and paying for public transportation. Our perceptions are certainly altered.
A result of this attitude here is that it is lonely to walk places here in Madison because so few people do so. In Lviv, the sidewalks were always full. In a downpour, people would move under awnings and wait in stores, but there were always people around. You never felt like an "island" in society. Now I see lots of cars pass by, but few people. New York was a city where I really saw a lot of people walking all the time, but even Boston and San Francisco didn't seem as full of pedestrians as Lviv.
I already miss Lviv, and the girls are starting to also. The girls are very excited to be back in the US and with their friends. Kali especially talks all the time about how much she loves her friends, and is making a lot of cards for them. However, the girls get so excited to tell their stories about Ukraine, or use the words they learned there. And occasionally, they talk about missing the people and the ice cream and other things in Lviv.
I'm already thinking about when we'll be able to go back. It surely won't be soon, but I'm excited to dream about the possibility.
