Re-Entry

I get a lot of questions about how does it feel to be back. I don't think people really want the long detailed answer it would take to truly answer the question. I usually say good, which it is. If I know them a little better, I say bittersweet. It truly is bittersweet in that being able to enjoy the things here I had to give up the things/people I loved in Turkey. But it is so much more than that as well. Of course I'm happy to be with my family and friends here, but there is so many more elements of returning than I first realized. I'm going to try to be pretty honest here, so if this isn't your thing, you might want to stop reading now.

Transitioning back to your passport culture can be as much of a shock as transitioning to a foreign culture. I've been dealing with depression and loneliness, and trying to find the source of those things. I have been reading some good books on the subject. I thought I would share some of those things so you could get a better understanding of what I'm going through. And if nothing else, I've been told, it's good to write these things down, especially so I can look back on this later.

These as some areas that I can/am experience change in moving from the field back to my passport culture: (From Re-Entry by Peter Jordan)

-from being primarily concerned with the spiritual to being primarily concerned with practical matters
-from being daily surrounded by Christian encouragement and fellowship, to having that limited to Sunday and Wednesday services
-from having a fix and measurable goal to perhaps having none at all (this is a big one for me right now)
-from seeing abject poverty to experiencing overwhelming wealth
-from a high degree of self-motivation to searching for new motivation
-from being somebody special in the culture in which you were serving to being nobody special
-from serving with people who have a world perspective to being with people who, in many cases, do not care much for those outside their own circle

*more to come...