Ladyville, BelizeWhen I arrive in a new place, I often find myself trying to figure out what the new place reminds me of. It's silly in a way because the new really is a NEW place, but somehow arriving in Belize drove home the point that my experience of "place" is very relational.
My mind quickly turns to trying to figure out into which "categories" to put the new place. These calculations seem to be based on some combination of food, landscape, language, architecture, people--and who knows what else. So, yesterday when I went out and made a few purchases, my initial sense of place was registering as Mongolia (I will always associate ultra-pasteurized milk with Mongolia because it was one of our main staples for three years), Jordan for the McVitie's Ginger Nuts (they got me through two long years of teaching) and Thailand--both for the papayas, the tropical weather and vegetation, and the architecture.
It's early days, though, and this place may yet re-register itself on my internal index of place...
