Whenever I get to a new place, or return from a trip, friends and family will offer, “I hope you’re settling in…”
settle 1 |ˈsetl|
verb
2 begin to feel comfortable or established in a new home, situation, or job : she settled in happily with a foster family | he had settled into his new job.
The more I travel, the less time I need to settle. Each trip I take, whether it’s a weekend on the North Coast or a month oversees, transitioning from one environment to another has become easier. It’s a little like stepping out of a door into bright sunlight. For an instant, everything is too brilliant too see, but your eyes adjust. Then suddenly, you can see just fine.
I have traveled between the US and South Africa four times. When I arrived in South Africa for the first time, I was exhausted, excited, and a little nervous. It was a brand new place full of people I did not know. When I arrived back this week, it felt like returning home from a short trip. I fell right in like I had never left. I stepped off the plane in Pietermaritzburg into the same familiar chaos I had left behind.
We landed in the middle of an intense summer rainstorm. When the flight attendant opened the door and indicated that it was safe to disembark, every passenger on our tiny plane looked outside, then back at one another as if to say, “You’re kidding, right?” I was the first person to stand up, grab my bags, and run headlong into the rain, laughing all the way to terminal.
Sipho, a colleague from iTEACH was there to pick me up. He pulled up in a white iTEACH truck, hauling a couch in the back that needed to be delivered to Krista's house. Of course. It was a perfect day to move furniture. I laughed some more.
We drove to Hilton through the wind and rain and hail, and moved the saturated couch into Krista’s garage, getting completely soaked in the process. Crazy? No, completely normal, and if you allow it, tons of fun.
After Sipho dropped me off, I took a hot shower, put on some dry clothes and headed out for a coffee. My house was exactly as I left it, and the server at Jaxx new exactly what I wanted the moment I walked in: filter coffee with hot milk. Settled.
Airplanes are like time machines. You walk on and sit down, and walk off in an entirely different place. The time in between seems to stop, only to begin again when your feet are back on the ground. Despite how far a plane can take you, the distance never seems very far.
settle 1 |ˈsetl|
verb
2 begin to feel comfortable or established in a new home, situation, or job : she settled in happily with a foster family | he had settled into his new job.
The more I travel, the less time I need to settle. Each trip I take, whether it’s a weekend on the North Coast or a month oversees, transitioning from one environment to another has become easier. It’s a little like stepping out of a door into bright sunlight. For an instant, everything is too brilliant too see, but your eyes adjust. Then suddenly, you can see just fine.
I have traveled between the US and South Africa four times. When I arrived in South Africa for the first time, I was exhausted, excited, and a little nervous. It was a brand new place full of people I did not know. When I arrived back this week, it felt like returning home from a short trip. I fell right in like I had never left. I stepped off the plane in Pietermaritzburg into the same familiar chaos I had left behind.
We landed in the middle of an intense summer rainstorm. When the flight attendant opened the door and indicated that it was safe to disembark, every passenger on our tiny plane looked outside, then back at one another as if to say, “You’re kidding, right?” I was the first person to stand up, grab my bags, and run headlong into the rain, laughing all the way to terminal.
Sipho, a colleague from iTEACH was there to pick me up. He pulled up in a white iTEACH truck, hauling a couch in the back that needed to be delivered to Krista's house. Of course. It was a perfect day to move furniture. I laughed some more.
We drove to Hilton through the wind and rain and hail, and moved the saturated couch into Krista’s garage, getting completely soaked in the process. Crazy? No, completely normal, and if you allow it, tons of fun.
After Sipho dropped me off, I took a hot shower, put on some dry clothes and headed out for a coffee. My house was exactly as I left it, and the server at Jaxx new exactly what I wanted the moment I walked in: filter coffee with hot milk. Settled.
Airplanes are like time machines. You walk on and sit down, and walk off in an entirely different place. The time in between seems to stop, only to begin again when your feet are back on the ground. Despite how far a plane can take you, the distance never seems very far.
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