During a recent conversation I questioned Michelle on what it was like going back to the states (she went back over the Spring festival).  I've heard from her and others of this 'reverse culture shock' and I believe it but I just wanted to understand it better.  She said there's the standard things- you can suddenly understand strangers' conversations, people are more polite, don't spit everywhere, you can drive a car again, etc.  But, she continued, one of the strangest parts was talking with her friends and family.  They ask "how's living in China" and you just can't say.  I mean you can say you see skinned dogs for sale on the street, but that will give the wrong impression.  Its not that you live(d) in a different place with strange things, its that that different place is your home, and that those strange things become the norm.  That is a thing that you cannot impress upon people with words.  And now, returning home you have ! to interact with people who have little idea what that life is like.  It's different like seeing your high school friends the summer after college.  You've all had different experiences, but they've been the same type of experience.  There is a sense of commonality that you can bond over.

I went on a date in China (my first date in a long while, to be honest).  She's a college student doing some classroom observation as part of her degree.  The date went well enough, and I will probably ask her out again.  But its really weird not being able to read the other person.  I can make some sort of guess, but due to cultural differences (especially pronounced in fields of romance) I really have no clue what she made of the event or of me. 

Whatever, I had fun.

-The Wandering Norseman-