America the Beautiful

By God's grace, I had the opportunity to spend ten vacation days in the U.S. where I got to celebrate Christmas and New Year's! It had been a year and a half since I was last in Amreeka. I did all sorts of wonderful things like grocery shopping at Trader Joe's, perusing the aisles at Target...over and over again, eating Thai food, buying coffee from a Starbucks where you DON'T have to dress to impress...strolling the streets of Capitol Hill and Old Town Alexadria, seeing the DC monuments, walking along the National Mall, and Potomac River. Most of all, I simply enjoyed being in the company of my wonderfully entertaining family and sweet friends.

Coming back to the States was a bit strange at first. Everything was just so...easy! Having lived in the Middle East for a year and a half, it seems that I've grown so accustomed to my new "normal" that I've even forgotten how much effort I put into doing the simplest and most monotonous tasks like grocery shopping, talking to cashier attendants, ordering food, and giving directions. I grew up in the metro DC area, but I was still so shocked by the diversity of the population. I can't tell you the countless times I thought to myself, "Wow! Asians that aren't house maids!" Here in the Middle East, the lines are so clearly defined between ethnic and socioeconomic lines, it was just fantastic to see all the people blend together in DC. It was amazing!

Now check out these photos from my trip!