Where Am I?

The other day I ended up on Verizon's web page checking out their new phones. I'll need to get a new phone when I get back in August (seeing as the one I left at home is currently held together with duct tape and only works if it's plugged into a wall). Browsing through the phones, I found a common theme.... touch screens, key pads, smart phones, slides and twists. Those are all things I'm unfamiliar with. I couldn't find a single flip phone with a set of numbers to punch in, at which point the phone would ring and connect you to another human being to chat. It got me thinking about my return to the States. It's funny that after a year technology can change so much that I will have to be trained in how to make a phone call. Between a new phone, a new computer, probably a new camera, and learning how to drive again... I may have technology overload. I'm probably going to take it slow, so don't be surprised if I'm unreachable for a little while.

Another observation: today I was perusing the iTunes top 10 list. Wow. Not only had I never heard any of the top 10 most popular songs in the US right now, but I didn't know the names of the majority of the artists! I'm not surprised that music and technology and fashion has changed this past year; it was just a rude awakening that it sped forward and left 10 ex-pats living in a house in Conocoto in the dust. The important lesson I took away from this was not that design, fads, and what's popular is significant, but quite the opposite-- life is not defined in clothes, music, gadgets, stuff... possessions. It's marked by relationships and what you do. This is one of the main reasons I love living and working abroad. It puts so much into perspective.