Culture Shock

Traffic, crime, fear, politics and resistance--you're soaking in it!
In some ways it's really great to be 'home'. Home being a 400 sq ft art studio and Krista's folks house. And beautiful Summery Sonoma County. Just having access to real Mexican food is making me happy.
This weekend we saw lots of old friends at the Health & Harmony Festival here in Santa Rosa. That was Krista's plan, to return just in time for the festival and have a nice two day reunion to help us ground here. It was a good plan! The hard part was getting asked over and over 'so, how was your trip?'. After a while I'd simply say 'good'. And this was enough for some of the askers! Of course, I felt like yelling 'what?! you didn't read my blog?!!'
It's not easy summing up 3 months in 4 different countries/cultures. "Good". I notice much of the interest so far is in New Zealand. So many of us are secretly pinning hopes on that pretty little nation.
The most shocking thing about being back so far is the political atmosphre and the fear. It just seems to permeate everything and everyone is afraid or angry, consciously or unconsciously. This is a major undercurrent that seemed to be missing abroad.
I think part of it is that corruption in, say, Indonesia, is so open and long standing that it's taken for granted there. They're kind of relaxed about it. Here we have this crumbling fantasy of being the moral leaders, the shining light on the hill, the beacon of hope and liberty, etc. etc. So many people are just waking up to the hideous truth of what 'we' are up to and are in shock, or very angry, or just trying to resist the decay and destruction. And of course the corruption here has been rapidly accelerating.
Oh well, enough ranting.
I really just wanted to let you know that I'll be posting more photos soon and hopefully more travelogue.
We have, literally, thousands of photos to go through. I'm hoping to put on a 'slide show' and a talk with a question and answer session, for folks around here. Maybe in a few weeks. Let me know if you'd like to come. I'd like to promote Bali and Thailand as great destinations for travel, and many folks want hard info about New Zealand.
love and hugs
rob