Miles on Ponty = 8,000. Oil changes = 2. States visited = 12.
Where we’ve been
I’ve been keeping track of our lives through stats such as these since Chris and I returned to the States. I’ve been back since the first of January when I flew into New York City for my residency with Syracuse University. Chris has been back since the start of February when he flew into Jacksonville, Fla., just in time for the Super Bowl. I’m sitting in Alabama as I write this post, but I expect I will be on to another state by the time it posts.
We’ve visited friends and family in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri. We’ve been tourists in Arkansas checking out Eureka Springs, Tennessee visiting Al Green’s church, Mississippi touring the birthplace of Elvis Presley, taking photos with Superman in Illinois, and catching beads at Mardi Gras in Louisiana.
Where we’re going
All this traveling has been between Chris working distantly for the office in China and me doing my freelance jobs and schoolwork. We are waiting on work visas to get back into Switzerland where Chris has officially accepted a (more) permanent position with his company working in the nuclear platform. Though we’re not sure when the visas will come in, we expect we’ll be leaving the U.S. in mid to late spring.
While we’re in the States and since this may be the last time we get this flexibility for a long time to come, we want to squeeze in as much as we can. We want to see as many of our friends and (likable) family members as we can, and we want to see as much of home as possible.
Where is home?
Speaking of home, we’ve been asked many times now where home is. We don’t really have a concrete answer for that. Is it Alabama where Chris’ family is, Georgia where mine is, or is it Virginia where our house is? Should we say Zürich since we’re heading there? Guest books now present a 10-minute discussion for us. Sometime we even just put Ponty down, my 13-year old Pontiac Sunfire.
Does home even have to be a physical place? Are we even from just one place? I was born in Germany, then moved to Texas, and I did almost all of my schooling in Georgia until I started at SU. Chris was born and raised in Alabama, but he now has been out of the state for more than a decade. Check out this TED talk and you be the judge of where home is.
What does this mean for Working 2 Live?
In the coming weeks, we’ll be focusing on WorkLife Travel Destinations posts mixed with some event recaps and visa instructions. Until we get back into Switzerland, we most likely will be slim on cultural posts. As always, though, we would love to hear from our WorkTrotters about what you all want to read. Any ideas? Let us know in the comments.
-Monica
