Our plane landed at Dulles International Airport around 1:00 yesterday. I stepped off the plane ("au revoir, merci," chanted the Air France flight attendants), cleared customs, dragged my suitcase off the baggage carousel, and met my parents. I am back in America. I have mixed feelings about this. I am certainly glad to see my family, and look forward to seeing my friends soon. America is very green, which is a shock, and America is very developed, which is even more of a shock.

I took a shower when I got home, and I felt positively decadent. A standing shower with easily adjustable temperature? Crazy. Good water pressure? A shower head that I don't have to hold? My mind was successfully blown, and I am now cleaner than I've been in a long time.

My parents took me out to have some Thai food. I savored saying, "vegetable, tofu, no egg." It's good to be vegan again.

Everywhere, everything is so clean. Everything is in such good repair. Where are the chipped corners, the cracks in the walls, the pervasive red dust? Where did all this pavement come from? Why aren't there any potholes? Where did all these private cars come from, and why aren't there taxis everywhere? How in the world am I supposed to get where I need to without driving?

I visited Cami, Chris, and Evan last night. (Hi, guys! Check out the picture at the bottom of this post!) I dropped off the stuffed giraffe I bought for Evan. He named it Star Scream, I think, though this is evidently the name of another of his toys, so I don't know how long that will last. I talked for a while with Cami and Chris, but I was so sleep deprived and jet lagged that, by that point, I was pretty much a zombie.

I managed to stay awake until almost 9:00. I was thoroughly impressed with myself. I slept until 6:30 or so. Perhaps I should have let myself sleep in more on Goree to aid with my transition. Alas, I did not think that far ahead.

Today, I plan to visit Takoma Park. I'm having dinner with my parents this evening. I plan to call Amanda and/or Ed to see if they want to hang out for a bit tonight. They'll probably laugh at how early I get tired. I'm leaving tomorrow morning to go to Acorn. We'll see how driving goes-- I haven't been behind a wheel in two months.