Home Again

Yesterday, I arrived back in Maryland. My British Airways flight from London Heathrow to Baltimore Washington International Airport was very nice. I'll talk more about that when I start posting blogs about the trip. When I got home, I was relieved nothing was stolen. I'm leery about leaving my place for long periods. I haven't forgotten that other apartments where I live have been broken into. Thankfully, mine was left alone while I was gone. Now, I get to work on getting adjusted back to the local time. There is 6 hours difference between Paris and Baltimore time zones. Also, I get to hand out presents I bought for various people. I gave the Baldons their's yesterday. Modestine enjoyed her small purse from Chateau Chenonceau and Tami liked the candy I bought for her at London Heathrow. I hope to mail my sister Ellie's and my mom Kay's presents sometime soon. I can be really bad about mailing things. Work wise, I'll go back Wednesday and deliver Express Mails though that's always subject to change. Work schedules at the Post Office are subject to repeated change. I am curious to see what has happened while I was gone. The Post Office where I work is like a long running soap opera. Personally, I don't care for soap operas but, I'm having to learn how to deal with real life ones. Lastly, there will be things I have to do like grocery shop. I tried to use all the food that would go bad before I left and I succeeded. So, I have to buy more.

It's always a bit of a come down when I return from a trip like the France tour. Two days ago, I was enjoying a kebab in Paris. Today, I'll be visiting Sam's Club to buy some of their roasted chickens. Big difference in routine. This time, I do have one pick me up. In 5 months, I'll be leaving for Egypt. When I got back yesterday, I started checking into that. There'll be things I have to do in preparation for that. I need to get my Egyptian visa from their embassy in D.C. I have to make sure I have transfers to and from the airport. I need to buy a current travel guide. To my annoyance, I found out the one I had for France was out of date. I knew about that but, it slipped my mind about getting a new one. I had plenty of time then. I didn't when it came time to leave for France. So, I have that to look forward to.

Also, I plan to get with Alliance Francaise and start french lessons again. I really enjoyed them and, I only stopped because there wasn't time for them in my military life. Hopefully, I can find time in my Post Office life. The only drawback to the lessons will be the hassle of getting down to D.C. to do the lessons. I suspect I'll have to do 1 on 1 tutoring vice taking a class with them. We'll see. I'm looking forward to those and doing even better with my french when I return to France in 2010. Pour maintenant, au revoir.