8/22-8/25: Littleton Colorado, Back in the USA

As I had been reading about all the anti-Muslim sentiment in the States, I joked with my European friends that I would be held up at US customs due to all the new Facebook friends I have with Muslim names. (When I left the Muslim Girls High school in Malaysia, a number of students asked if they could keep contact with me through Facebook. One student led to the next - now I have over 200 new friends, all with names like Fatiha Afiqah.) Even though I was joking, I did have a slight fear that it might be true. To my relief, the only thing I was questioned about was the $4 I listed as the amount of goods I was bringing into the States (I bought a bottle of Marmite in Bristol before I left - I fell in love with Marmite.)

My sister Amy with Dude, on our walk through the hills of Littleton, Colorado.

View of Littleton while on our walk

My nephew Rory with the fish he had caught

Family dinner: Amy and Russ with their children Ricki and Rory, my parents Adele and Phil, my cousin Dana and her daughter Alexis, and me.

My last night in Littleton we went out to a fish restaurant in Denver. though I forgot to take a group shot, I did get a photo of my delicious oysters. It was sooo nice spending time with my parents and my sister's family.

Mount Rainier, [14,411 feet high (4392 meters), located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) Southeast of Seattle] from the airplane on the flight to Seattle

It is both very strange and very normal being back in Seattle in my home. The first thing I noticed was how many things we have (quite a shock from living for the past year with just what I could carry in my back pack). I actually had to lay down for a while and let it sink in. I think it will be the impetus to "clean house" and get rid of stuff. (Though it was sort of fun opening up a drawer and putting on a different of pair socks, a different t-shirt and different underwear, but I am still stuck wearing the same pair of pants, for I lost too much weight to wear any of the pants in my closet.) Driving from place to place came back without thinking, but I couldn't remember where our living room clock was, or how to turn on my mobile phone.