Going Home

My students from this past year just went home last week. We did their final orientation at my house, and spent the week-end talking about re-adjusting to life at "home" when it's not totally home anymore.

The night before they arrived I had an epiphany.

If you've ever watched the first and second Narnia movies (or read the books) this will make more sense, but I'll give a quick (really quick, just to get my idea) synopsis.

The Four Pevensie siblings go through a wardrobe from England to Narnia and after a battle with the White Witch (and a whole lotta book) become Kings and Queens of Narnia. They reign for many many years until one day they follow a stag and stumble back out of the wardrobe, just the way they went in, about 10 seconds after they left. The second movie starts with the Pevensies waiting for the train to take them to school, later that year. They are perfectly normal British children during WWII, they got sent off to the countryside for protection during the Blitzkreig, and now they're going back to school.  BUT, they just spent a lifetime as not ordinary people, but as Kings and Queens. They all struggle with adapting back to English life, but Peter, the oldest, finds it especially difficult to adapt. He was the High King of Narnia, and now he's just another teenager in high school, treated like a kid again.

What I realized is that as exchange students we're usually (sometimes this doesn't happen, but usually it does) very special in our host community. I was able to play violin with the National Youth Symphony in KL and between playing with them and AFS I ended up in the newspapers on a regular basis. People wanted to talk to me, be my friend, do things with me, I was almost popular (not that I didn't have friends back home, but I was VERY much more special in Malaysia). There were times when I had conflicts with my host family, but it was just never the same as conflict in the US, we wanted to make it work, we made it special. In our biological families there isn't a time limit, so we tend to be almost too accustomed to each other, and we sometimes just don't try as hard.

So, I went from being well known and liked anywhere I went, to being just another kid at school, with probably a fair few people who were jealous of what I'd been able to do. When I watch the beginning of the second Narnia movie I know EXACTLY how Peter and Lucy especially feel. Peter wants to prove he's still special. Lucy is constantly looking for a way back.

The Pevensies got to go back right away. We exchange students have to learn to live with being part of two cultures, and often never getting to return to our "2nd home."

I feel blessed that I've been able to return to Malaysia as many times as I have. And now, since last year, I'm feeling an extreme need to go back to Egypt and experience more.

I think pretty much anyone who has gone on vacation can relate to this feeling in a way. It's just oh so much stronger when you live the life for a longer period of time.

Something I learned this week (yes, it took me 25 years to figure this out) is that being Peter needing to fight for being something more than he was, isn't a bad thing. It's good to stand up for who you've become (although I don't recommend a fist fight to do it).