North, South, East, Left?

Tomorrow I head from Arizona to Colorado, my last stop on this insane journey. Also a chance to start thinking about re-entering society and all that good stuff because part of the reason I'm going there is to look at a college I might consider transfering to should University of Maine prove itself disappointing. I'm feeling pretty happy with UMaine at this point; all that superficial college drama has sort of faded out of my mind because I know what I'm interested in studying and also any experience is going to be what I make of it so why put an unnecessary negative twist on something I haven't even tried yet? I filled out my class selection form while I was in California with a pretty positive attitude despite the strangeness I felt thinking about university while my body was still in Thailand's time zone. Upon returning home I have still to look forward to scholarship applications and a math placement exam (I don't remember any math!), just in case the contrast between travel and home wasn't seemingly big enough already.

Okay that's enough about college and things I have to do...allow me to enlighten you on Tucson, Arizona within the extent of my experiences. First of all, left and right do not exist here. If you want to describe where something is or even what side of the road it's on you use north, south, east, and west. I can't tell if people here truly feel what direction they are facing in or if they just are familiar with the orientations written on street signs. I was reading about a language that functions this way, without any left or right, and those who spoke it could automatically orient themselves no matter where you put them in the world. Wouldn't that be a good skill for hikers and campers! Tucson itself is geographically interesting because it is surrounded on all four sides by mountains. Today we went towards the southwestern ones, yesterday it was east (and maybe north?) to Mt. Lemmon. However my first day, Thursday, was mountain-free. Carol, Richard, their grandson, Quinn, and his partner, Chris, took me to a few museums where I got a good cultural history of this area and especially the Native American tribes who lived here first. The five of us went up Mt. Lemmon together on Friday as well. At the base of this mountain you are surrounded by desert shrubs and cacti, but by the time your 9000 feet up you find yourself in a Maine-like, pine forest complete with snow in the winter and a stream. How cool is that? Feeling too hot one day? No problem! Just drive an hour or so out and up and you'll find yourself in an entirely different temperature zone. That's my kind of winter. Really, this forest was so reminiscent of Acadia National Park back home that I kept expecting to see the ocean around every turn. Today we drove southwest to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, and by museum they really mean outdoor, environment, nature park, zoo, desert wonderland. It's set up with exhibits of animals native to this area and as you follow the path you are surrounded on either side with all the native plants and there are volunteers wandering around who stop to point out an otherwise invisible caterpillar or an owl that mimics the sound of a rattlesnake. It's really a very nice place to explore and learn all about Arizona's habitat. They have these animals that look like pigs but aren't remotely related called Javelinas and I really like them. I might have been sold at the way the name feels to say, but watching them was mesmerizing. I have definitely gotten my immersion in Arizona and Southwest culture in the past few days.

In between learning about Native American origin stories and the way a rattlesnake's rattle works, I've been learning a lot about my Dad from Carol. My Dad has no siblings or any family that knew him when he was younger that we could hear embarassing or interesting stories from, but he and Carol have been friends since the 60's and she's painted a very different image of him in my mind. When my Dad tells us stories about his life they are often in disconnected snippets with no way of forming any chronological order, no way to understand what inspired what. Besides hearing about my Dad's past as a cat lover, as someone who helped build the still standing wall in their backyard, as a man who swam in their pool (but he can't swim!?), Carol also has her own versions of his stories that create a time and context to each event. Putting the pieces together brings an altered image of my Dad to mind and it's so interesting for me because his life was far from typical and yet, besides what anecdotes and stories he shares in the unorganized fashion, I don't know if there's anyone but Carol who can give them greater validity or strength.

What with all the talk concerning my Dad and going to go look at a college, it feels as if I'm being eased back into some ideas of home. I don't think I would have handled Bangkok to Bangor very gracefully but this way of meandering home is transitioning well. To be honest I still miss Thailand a lot and think of it often. I've sort of given up my hopes of adopting an animal at this moment since I don't really have the money and it seems a bit selfish to bring an animal across continents when there are so many local animals that are in need right now; not that I'm really in a position to save any of those at this moment either, I've got a couple of cats and a dog to go home to as is. Besides loving some of the animals at the shelter greatly, to shock one with a move to Maine and completely different environment would possibly be more for my benefit and want of a reminder of Thailand than for their own well being. Anyways, I am really looking forward to coming home. I'm also bouncing between that and apprehensions about coming home. While there are certain things I know I can rely on, I still find my mind working itself up now and then with thoughts about whether or not I'll still have friends or if it's going to be like last summer or if, or what if, or will it, or....excessively. But what control do I have over those things, especially from where I am now? The adventure isn't over yet, it's too soon to worry.