Fresh Eyes

We've been back from the US for a couple of days now. I'm finding that after being away I'm able to look at the place that we live with fresh eyes.

A photographer who was here a few months ago commented on how the city with all of its contrasts is a photographer's dream. When we first got here the not-so-pleasant sights and sounds distracted me so much that it took me a while to see the beauty as well. Since we've come back I've been able to see some of the loveliness more clearly than ever before. It's an exotic place!

My fresh eyes are also singling out things that were commonplace before the break and making me notice now:
-A little girl who's obviously been given the privilege to carefully hold the morning's sacrifice to the gods while walking proudly before her mother on the way to a nearby shrine.
-An old woman of the lowest caste scraping up dried human dung off of a lane as part of her job in keeping it clean.
-The constant aggression that people in this city have just to survive and make their way in the mass of humanity.
-The contrast of the surprising generosity of someone going out of their way to interpret for a foreigner who's gone past their language capability.
-The watchful eyes of men that look at me like I've stepped out of a fashion magazine (while I'm in basic local clothing) simply because of the color of my skin, and the assumption that I probably have the morals to match.
-The lovely faces of the women at FS!!! They make it worth it and it's good to be back!