q: hey, you're back! how was your trip?a: good.
q: really?
a: well, really it was good and bad, fantastic and terrible, fascinating and boring, overwhelming and underwhelming, relaxing and stressful, and so on. but "how was your trip?" is like the average of all the questions one could ask about a trip, and "good" is more or less the average of the responses.
q: oh. so...you're back now, right? like, in lincoln? why were you in new york?
a: yeah, i just got in last night. i flew into new york to visit janae and betsy and to sort of look around the city a little. i saw the moma, i got my indian food and sushi and chipotle, i watched television, i took showers, i loitered in bookstores...it was great.
q: how was your flight?a: it was ok for me, but my bag didn't do so well. it seems it was dragged for some distance on either cement or very coarse sand paper, completely incinerating my bag and my raincoat and my sunglasses, which incidentally are the three most expensive non-electric items i took with me while traveling. jeremy vs. southwest airlines will probably begin today or tomorrow, so stay tuned for updates. in the meantime, here's a shot of the jacket after i leant it to the terminator to wear while he tried to kill sarah connor.
q: where are you staying? can we hang out?
a: i'm living at my parents' house for now, out of boxes once again. actually, can we hang out is not a question i've been frequently asked. but the answer is yes--give me a call! my number is the same as it was.
q: is it good to be back?
a: hm. it has been my experience that the sadness of leaving is not equal in measure to the happiness of returning, and that the inequality tends to lean toward the harder truth. there's a hint of that this time, but overall i would also say that yes, it's been really great to be back. i really like my country.
q: are you being ironic or something?
a: no, not at all! i'm sort of in love with the usa right now.
q: oh, like since you just got back, sort of a honeymoon thing?
a: no, not like that. more like how a couple loves on their 50th anniversary. these are the quirks, these are the faults, these are the terrible wrongs in the past, these are the completely illogical tendencies that have driven us all crazy at one time or another. i know these things, and i love this country. it's not an idealized thing, i just like the way the country is and even in some ways the ways we're wrong because our greatness, our occasional stupidity, and even our atrocities are distinctly american.
q: mmm...patriotic civics lesson blog entries. always a hit. let's change the subject. what are your plans now that you're back?
a: what i would most like to do is get a job interpreting in a medical setting. on my way home from new york i stopped in chicago to test for a certification program that would allow me to work for a firm as a free-lance interpreter in chicago. i would use the independent work to live while looking for a full-time position at any of the hospitals and clinics in the area. this would be nearly ideal because i love the city and they have a large latino community--it'd be a great way to spend the next year, both gaining the experience and exploring a new city, two things i couldn't do staying in lincoln. but in my opinion i really bombed that test, so i'll probably be looking for a different firm in chicago. which means i don't know how the timeline will go. after that, hopefully next year at this time i'll be making sure i have a good enough bookbag for med school.
q: so does the fact that you're moving out where janae is mean anything particularly gossip-worthy about your relationship?
a: haha--no, not really. i really think i'd get sort of antsy staying in lincoln this year, and i am very mobile right now and chicago is a great option for reasons listed above. janae being out there is definitely a bonus, and i guess if you want to know "what it means" it means we like each other enough to try living in the same city for a little while--a strange idea for people who are dating, i know. i don't think it means anything in particular beyond this year, though.
q: darn, i like gossip better than simple logistics.
a: yeah, sorry about that.
q: well, as long as you're back safe. tell you what, why don't we get together and i can ask you some other questions i want to know about your trip.
a: i'd love to! give me a call!
1 comment:
Hey, buddy, glad to see you're home. I hear you've been worried about me. Simon and my parents have joined forces to become some kind of crack travel assitance team, it's like watching Saturday morning cartoons! All that to say, I have my fingers crossed that I'll be moving on to Oslo on Monday. Cheers!
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