Home Again, Home Again (Been There, Blogged That!)

We arrived back home late in the evening of July 25, tired after our 36-hour journey and wanting nothing more than a comfortable bed to curl up in.  After sleeping that night, we woke up not quite sure what we were supposed to do  now--how did this life we had returned to work, after all? 

During our 24-day journey to the other side of the globe, we saw and experienced things that will forever change the way we view the world.  We saw people and things that were so unlike anything that we had seen before; yet the similarities outweighed the differences and we were left realizing that, in the end, we are all brothers and sisters inhabiting this fragile place we call Earth.

Please allow us to share some insights:

• When travelling from a developed country to a developing country, forget every preconceived notion and expectation that you have brought with you and be prepared for the unexpected.
• A smile truly is an international language.
• People can be content and even very happy with much less than most of us believe possible.
• IT'S REALLY HOT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA!
• Nothing makes a mama prouder than seeing her firstborn living in a land across the sea, talking to the local people in their own language and thriving in the joys and challenges of a new life in a new place.  Nothing. 
• When shopping on the streets of Southeast Asia, never pay the full price.  Bargain--it's a matter of principle!
• IT'S REALLY HOT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA!
• There are many different types of government across the world--some of which we have traditionally rejected as wrong and inferior.  However, people are more than representations of a political ideology.  They are grandmas and grandpas, moms and dads, aunts and uncles, sons, daughters and friends--all simply trying to make a living and do the best they can.  Politics is usually the last item on their agenda, if they have time to have such an agenda at all.
• IT'S REALLY HOT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA!
• Everyone should travel to a place where they don't look like anyone else--and where little children giggle at the sight of us funny looking creatures.
• To quote a bit of graffiti written on the wall of a coffeehouse in Phnom Penh:  "The world is a book, and people who don't travel read only one page."

It has been a life-changing, mind-blowing, heart-expanding voyage.  Thank you for sharing it with us.

--The Sparrows