Wednesday, 23 November, 2022 – Elias is starting his last full day in Thailand. This time tomorrow, he will be at the airport. It is strange to think that he is in Bangkok on Thanksgiving. He is starting Thursday now, and by the time we sit down to eat tomorrow, he will be asleep and finished with Thursday, without doing Thanksgiving at all. Which, I think, he is okay with. I mean, I don’t think the holiday of Thanksgiving is meaningful to him, but maybe I am projecting? I have felt, as long as I can remember, that we could just as easily pick out any random day on the calendar and call that “Giving-Thanks-For-Everything-I-Have-Day.” In any case, I hope Elias is not feeling sad or left out on this particular Thanksgiving.
He seems to be reflecting on his trip, and feeling ready to be done traveling, for now. The time with Libby and her friend, Ireland, in Chiang Mai was good, though:
Elias: I had a really great few days with Libby and Ireland, hard to leave but now that I’m back on my own I’m ready to be done and have easy life again.
It is sort of funny that he thinks of being home as easy. I know that he did not always think of being home as easy. And, after four months of travel, adjusting to being home will not be easy, every minute of the day. (I know, I already wrote about this transition yesterday.) I was thinking that the after effects of traveling lasted longer than I expected. I thought I would come home and just snap back into the place I left, like I just jumped out of line for 10 months and then jumped back in.
That’s not what happened. I remember being in a place, or with a group of people, and not exactly wishing I were back in Hong Kong but feeling the difference intensely. And the growth and reflections continued for a long time. I was home, but still experiencing a sort of Hong Kong hangover, feeling weighed down and apart.
I realize now, as I write this, that I sound like Hong Kong was a bad experience, or that coming home was all hard. It wasn’t all hard. But it was hard sometimes, on some days. Maybe Elias won’t feel any of that. And that is okay, too.
Here are the last four pictures from Chiang Mai. I think Libby is sitting next to him and that Ireland is taking the selfie.
