Only a few some hours ago,

I was swimming in the ocean, feeling the sunshine and sea breezes, listening to the sound of waves and swinging leaves of palm trees. Here I am in my apartment now--The sound of waves is replaced by the noise form the refrigerator and instead of seeing the ocean from a window, I am looking at the computer screen. I spent the holidays in Maui Island and had an absolutely amazing and mesmerizing time there. When I close my eyes, the scenes and memories there vividly crowds in on me -- the immense blue ocean and sky, the pristine ocean water reflecting the sunshine, the rainbows arched over the mountain, the half moon, the night sky filled with the diamond-like stars and a shooting star, the sudden rain storm, the distinctive smell of the tropical island, turtles flying in the ocean, the evening glow creating drawings in the blue canvas that are more beautiful and convincing than any other abstract drawings in the world, the sky and the sun beam from the water, the clouds traveling in the sky, the flowers like plumeria, hibiscus, the pineapples and the sugar cane fields and more…. I opened my arms to the sky. I stretched my mind and body to the ocean. Then, when I open my eyes again here, I start wondering if all that was really real? Right, I am not good at dealing with an "in-between-time" after a trip, feeling deeply void. It takes me more than a week to really be back to reality. No matter how fast I can travel around, thanks to one of the human's greatest inventions, an airplane, my mind seems to still remain in the Stone Age. Some people like my ex-ex BF who frequently travels around the world for his work know how to deal with this "in-between-time" situation. I used to be amazed by how quickly he could adjust himself to be back to real time. The minute he was at the New York airports, he was already in NY time-mode, acting as if he was never gone anywhere. I found him a bit insensitive and he thought I was too melancholic to look back to the memories of the trips. For me, though, it is almost unbelievable that there are completely different types of life going on within this same Earth. Could it be true that the place like Maui Island where people follow the time of the Earth and the place like New York City where people follow the time of “self” coexist? (You Must Be Kidding!!) More over, there are thousands or millions places where nothing really relates to each other. So, this is when a trip becomes a "trip." In fact, I was completely tripped out by greatness of Hawaiian nature, besides one disappointment--no matter how far I flew in the air to get away from America, I still found the America in Maui Island – The big shopping malls, McDonalds, loud Americans and etc…(well, I used to live in Oahu Island, so what was I expecting?) Whether I am “too” melancholic or not, let me take my time to be completely back, as I will be eventually anyway. So in the mean time, I am spraying the perfume that I got in the Island all over my apartment, having Hawaiian coffee and pineapples to hold on the bewildered memories…