I forget is Peace Corps one or two years?

Oh if it was only one! Ok, I don't mean that, completely. Obviously being back in the states has been great. The Christmas holiday was a whirlwind of driving, family and friends over the course of 10 days. Whit's family lives an hour north of mine (not to mention we have friends in Cedar Rapids and Cedar Falls) so were we back and forth the whole time. We managed to split the family time fairly evenly with minimal bickering and physical violence. By the Iowa trip's end I had spent way too much, averaged about 4000 calories a day and driven nearly 3000 miles.

As I mentioned in my previous post I will now delve into the return experience after living in Samoa for 15 months. First, there is a lot of crap to buy in America! I went to the grocery store and I had nearly forgotten how much food selection there is. The interesting thing for me personally is that in the stores (grocery or otherwise) I find my eyes wonder less and the motivation to buy stuff seems to be far less than when I left. That's not to say I didn't drool at the big screen TVs I saw, I think that's a genetic trait that one can never overcome. Trust me, it's science, look it up. But having spent the last year with a limited income and consumer choices really snapped me out of that "American consumer" mode.

As far as the pace of life here, it hasn't been much of a shock to me and I am enjoying it. Running on schedules and making plans for the day that I am confident will go as planned is fantastic!

That's enough for the insights, sorry if you were looking for more.

Big news on the personal front, I did propose to my girlfriend and she said yes! So now we have well over a year to plan the wedding and we are thinking late spring early summer 2011.

I am done with my coffee and thus done with the post. Don't anticipate another one before I return to Samoa so look for one in a week or so. I will also be getting those tattoo pics (which has healed nicely) up soon. Hope you all had a great holiday season.