Borrrrnn in the U S A, I was borrrrnn in the U S A

It's very weird to be back, I'll say that upfront. When we came back to the US in November it wasn't nearly as weird, for two reasons: the first is that Portland isn't "home" to either of us, I've only been there a few times, so even though we were visiting my parents, it was more like they joined us on vacation; and second, this time we're not going back after two weeks. It still seems hard to believe that we're back here for good, or at least in our case for 15 months until Abby finishes school. But we're done with Peace Corps and I have to admit, it kind of sucks. I was ready to leave the Philippines, but I'm really going to miss Peace Corps in terms of people. Other volunteers. Not very often do you meet 70 random people and have basically all of them be cool. Not that you're friends with all of them, but %95 of them are interesting and smart and fun and easy to talk to. You don't happen upon a group like that very often. So I'm a little bummed about that aspect of it. Luckily our friends here called up the night we got back, and we ended up going out for dinner and drinks with a bunch of people, and they're organizing a welcome back bbq this weekend, so it feels really nice to be missed, and to have people be excited that we're back. I was a little worried that maybe we'd be too different, or that other people wouldn't understand where we're coming from, but it didn't seem that way at all, which is kind of a relief.

Never the less I've kind of been in this house for two days now, slightly afraid to go out. Maybe not afraid, but a little apprehensive. We went to the grocery store today, the little international market down the street, so that was kind of fun running around looking at locally made organic bread, real tofu, baklava, deli meat, pickles, hot sauce, cheeses, meats, beers, giant jars of olives... It was pretty nice. Brought a smile to my face for sure. Abby has her first day of school this evening, but she's downstairs now taking a nap trying to fight the jet leg! I couldn't do it, but props to her that she can. I'm still in the process of looking for a job, which I don't feel like thinking about or talking about. On an unrelated note, we walked to the market and the total walking time was maybe 20 minutes, and in that span we saw a total of 3 people out walking as well. It's insane with the driving here, so much to get used to again...

Also, please check out this website: http://www.wecansolveit.org/ and consider signing up and signing their petitions.

More importantly look at this page: http://www.wecansolveit.org/content/solutions to read up a little on five ways we can combat global warming (clean energy economy, personal choice, adoption of renewables, enhanced energy efficiency and innovation leadership). This is so much more important this year because by choosing a president you'll also be choosing the course this country will take for the next four years concerning environmental policy. I think that global warming tends to hit people too much as a slogan, but I like the way this group has laid out its info. It's all very nice and well that people switch over to compact florescent bulbs or drive a Prius, but the real way things are going to chance is through the government and its relation to business in this country. It's not even just about global warming, it's about the way we live our lives, the way we let other people run our lives, and right now money and buying shit is the only thing that matters in this world, and that's pretty pathetic.