Another world

I've been having more trouble than I ever thought I would coming back to America. I've recently counted and of the past 10 years, I've lived 8 as the "American Abroad" or overseas. That means since I was 16, I've not been home really. But where is home anymore. Right now it's in a neighborhood called Fishtown. 6 Months ago, it was a shack on the Indian Ocean. For the first time in my life, I know I will be in America for the next 3 years and I'll admit I'm scared. I'm excited but scared. What happened earlier today was a perfect example.

I've had a visit from a friend from Swaziland. She was a PCV over there that I met in Pretoria in 2006. We decided to go find my school where I have to report to tomorrow... at 7:45. Thanks Noel for taking the bike lock keys! :) I dutifully googled directions and we set off. We entered another world. It might as well have been Puerto Rico. I didn't see any American Flags even though it was National Hang Over day - ie the day after any major holiday. We were the only white native English Speakers around but that didn't bother us. Until I realized what was on my shirt that is. I was wearing a shirt that said "Gay? - Fine by me!" I realized it wouldn't go over particularly well in the very religious neighborhood. We didn't have any problems though, until there were two guys coming the opposite way who read the shirt. They kept going but turned back on us. We still didn't really freak.

We finally found the school (1.5 miles away according to the almighty Google) and noted a better way for me to get there. The school is in a totally different world but I realized that the inhabitants of the neighborhood right around the school live life on the front porches and listen to music en vivo. Things I've missed and I'm looking forward to having in my life again.

That is a reason I feel I like the West and America. We've got choice, we've got people and oh man do we have a mixture of cultures!

PSA

So in my true peace loving form I've never heard of this school. But now a couple of people have expressed surprise that I am applying there. So I did some research on it and here is what I found.

There are two big graduate schools in Monterey California. One is the Naval Postgraduate School founded in 1907 where I am NOT going or even applying to and the other is the Monterey Institute of International Studies founded in 1955 which I AM applying to and hopefully going to. So I'm not going to become a James Bond (Noel) or c3po (Marc) just a lowly translator. You should definitely check out this radio show that Jess gave me. It's the 4th of July broadcast of THIS AMERICAN LIFE and it's called By Proxy.

Tell me what you think, here's the link

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Archive.aspx