Erin Miller

Dan and I had a great time during his visit and I am back in the United States and slowly trying to adjust myself to my new surroundings without completely freaking out. Many people have asked me how I am, and generally I remark that it feels like I am in jumboland in the Mario Brothers games (no, I am not sure that its official name, and hard core mario brother gamers will just have to excuse the possible misnomer.) My mom offered me strawberries when I got home and I swear they look like they came from a different planet, I can only fit two of them in the palm of my hand whereas I could easily hold five of the strawberries from the hills around La Esperanza in a single fist. My dad then cut me off a huge piece of welcome home cake (terrific parents) and it was actually too big for me to eat. The ice cream was just a bit too sweet for now and I am actually sort of missing the dry corn tortillas with sour butter. The roads are big here too, not to mention paved to a perfect shine. The people are also bigger; I can no longer see over the heads in a crowd. Even the beers are big. I drank a full pint in the Houston airport, for only 4 dollars and 50 cents. I am shocked that a full weeks worth of money in La Esperanza has been shrunk to last no more than half a day while traveling here, or to maybe a half tank of gas. I have yet to drive my jumbo car in jumboland, but I am taking things in baby steps.
I looked around for a trashcan to deposit my toilet paper in the Houston airport restroom and was a bit confused until I remembered I could put it in the toilet. (You cannot ever put toilet paper in toilets in Honduras, it is always suppose to be deposited in the trashcans beside the toilets. This is an important fact to note for any would-be tourists, because it is under-signed and leads to many embarrassing moments among new gringos in town.) The toilet in Houston flushed automatically when I stood up and caught me a bit off guard. I would say that I have been about fifty-fifty putting the toilet paper in the toilet (the other half of the time it lands in the trash can) here in the bathroom I am sharing with my favorite little sister this summer, and I am sure this fact just thrills her.
I am greatly enjoying tap-water and have filled my glass many times today. Cool, clean water from the water fountain in Houston was a highlight of my return travels.
I am enjoying getting caught up with friends and family and have had a very happy reunion with a very excited, jumpy, and slobbery puppy.
But I have perhaps been most impressed with the welcoming attitudes of friends, family, and friends of family that I haven’t seen in months. Without missing a beat, neighbors are stopping me on the street to ask about my adventures and how I am doing. One of my best friends moms told me to stop by for anything at all if I ever needed help with anything this summer and my own parents weren’t around. She made the generous offer even though she knows that most of what I am trying to do the next two months is just adjust to the States and prepare for my move to New York. Its nice to know that all the corny stuff they say about home is true.
I have more blog posts to write about Dan and my adventures. I am going to try to break them up a bit because Dan claims that with my long posts, I am not using the Internet correctly and is threatening to take away my Internet privileges. So I will try making some shorter posts this time, which should be much easier now that I now have consistent and low-cost internet access. All the posts will just have to wait a bit until I get my pictures organized online, and that will have to be after I have cleared the foot-deep mound of mail I have received in the last four and half months from my desk and have room to set up my camera, but I will get to it as soon as possible.