Back in the USA

I must say, after four and half months in Central America, it is a little strange being back in the States. It was interesting stepping off the plane in Houston and being able to understand everything that was said around me. By the end of my time in Costa Rica I would say I felt ready to return to the U.S. and see family and friends again, but not ready to be smacked in the face with American consumerism and excess. I think readjusting to these distinctly American characteristics has been the most challenging part about be back in the country.

So far, however, I have actually had a fantastic time. My parents picked me up from the airport in Chicago Friday evening and after taking them back to the airport Saturday morning to visit Aaron in Philly, I met up with May Lin. She was playing in a volleyball tournament and so I watched that during the afternoon before Eddie and Stefan arrived from Minnesota. They had an extra ticket to go to the Gold Cup final (a North American soccer tournament) and so it worked out perfectly that they were coming to Chicago for the weekend.

Sunday afternoon Eddie, Stefan and I went to watch the US play Mexico at Soldier Field. It was great because the stadium was sold out (interestingly the ratio of Mexican to American fans was probably 6:1) and it was my first national team game. After a sluggish first half the action picked up in the second half on and off the field. The US scored two goals in the second half to pull out a 2-1 victory but we missed a ten minute chunk of time due to a brawl that erupted literally over top of our seats. We managed to get out of the way before fists started flying but it was an annoying distraction.

I hung out in Chicago Monday and took off for Iowa City to visit Claire and some other high school friends on Tuesday. Claire and DJ cooked a delicious meal and we ended up going out and doing a pub quiz with a few of my good friends from high school. Sadly we lost a tiebreaker and only got second. However, we did not let that dampen the evening and we all ended enjoying the night a little too much.

All in all, it's been a fantastic welcome back to the country and it will be disappointing when I have to start thinking about real things again like work...damn.