First Days Back in the US

It's been about a week since I moved back to the states so I thought I should check in.

Minnesota feels very normal in so many ways.  When I arrived, the thing that hit me first was how FLAT it (seriously watched the green farm plots for a good 10 minutes in awe as we were landing and was further awed by what should be a familiar landscape - just devoid of mountainous and smokestack-filled landscapes that I'm used to seeing - driving home) was but otherwise, not too many changes on the surface level.  But as time has gone on, I feel like there have been layers of realization and surprised that develop on a daily basis.

Culture shock is one thing most people are asking about. You get a lot of warnings about reverse culture shock when preparing for an international move (especially coming home after being gone for several years), but to start with, the toughest part of coming back has honestly been the jetlag.  It's taken me a full week to get used to the time difference, but I'm finally sleeping through the night here.  I think I was so focused on visiting people and doing stuff while I was here the last 2 summers that I've been home to visit, that I just pushed through the issues that come with a 14 hour difference (total day/night flip), but this time was a bit rough.  I was up at 4am pretty much every day for the first few days and found myself feeling very tired during the day.  I tried Nodoze (safe sleeping pills from the drug store) after day 2 without sleep, but they didn't help much, and it took about 5 days before I was able to safely take a nap during the day without my body thinking it was bedtime.  Before that, it just felt like doing all-nighters day after day and my body trying (unsuccessfully) to catch up on sleep in between.  I tried to just take it slow and take the first few days off, but even that plan was more of a struggle than I remembered with my family wanting to do things now that I'm BACK, and the process seemed longer than it did when I came back from 6 weeks in Asia in 2004, when I taught in China.

I thought I would be exempt from actual culture shock this time, or at least only encounter it in small doses, since I've done it before with Norway but it's funny how it hits you in the smallest ways.  Japan is just so different from home, but so normal to me in so many ways and the small situations that come with readjusting to a life without those differences in my day-to-day had definitely caught me off guard a few times.  I went to get my computer fixed at the mall this week and was stunned when the people at Apple (5 employees standing near the door) didn't overtly (and overly) express their profound gratitude to me for stopping in the store.  I waited for it, but they just stood there and didn't even smile when I was obviously leaving with purchases from the store.  I stopped in the Gap for a second to check out what's "in" here and  was halted when I didn't get a face cover to try on clothing in the dressing room or have to take off my shoes (for nice carpeting) in the changing rooms.  I had trouble with my first few showers here because I'm now so used to taking baths, but I find myself wanting to take baths more than showers now (because that's what I had to adjust to in Japan) and was a little uncomfortable getting soap in the water when I did run a bath (or realizing I can't run the bath water in advance and cover the tub so the water stays warm and can be reused because you clean your body and wash your hair before you even get in so it stays fresh).  Finally, on a different occasion, I went out to dinner with two girlfriends from high school and felt uncomfortable taking a sip of my wine when we didn't do a kampei (cheers) beforehand.  Strange.  

While Minnesota feels normal (though not necessarily like a place I LIVE still, like it has in the past), a lot of my friends have gotten married or had babies since I left which has also presented a major lifestyle change.  I'm living with my parents, getting directives on planning my schedule, borrowing a car (my old car, which I now share with my brother - and need to get around because there's no real public transport) and am getting all these questions about my life plans and when I'm going to "settle down" (in Minnesota) to a degree I've never experienced before... when I'm really still in a phase where I want to tell stories from all these cool experiences I've just had.  So yeah, I guess culture shock is hitting.  I do realize that life goes on here, though, and that even though I'm on vacation and just got home, other people's lives have gone on and that people don't necessarily want to hear all of my stories at once (or can't relate to all of them), but it's also a change from the expat community where most people I associate with do travel internationally a lot and have similar lifestyles.  It's something I guess I need to adjust to (because I'm the one who needs to relate to people at home).  It's just a reminder I've been gone a long time and life goes on... maybe has so more than I realized, even though I've tried to keep up with here while I'm gone.  

I have about 2 more weeks in Minnesota before I leave for grad school in Boston and I am looking forward to them and am really, really happy to be here.  It feels nice to be around family and friends.  Hard to believe I was running through rice fields a week ago when I'm napping with the cat now, but both lives have their charm.  I am ready to be here and feel like I left Japan content and at a good time... just adjusting :-P