Recently I've been reading about 'reverse culture shock,' which, frankly, sounds entirely unfair. Why should it be a shock to return to my own culture? It's MINE.
I'm not entirely sure I believe in the whole thing, but everyone says it happens so I suppose I will have to take their word for it. The other day, I visited Mr. Price, a South African clothing chain store. It was weird. It looked and felt exactly like an American store, something along the lines of Express or PacSun, complete with the really annoying canned music. It even smelled like new clothes. (What is that smell, anyway? The shipping boxes they came in? Dry cleaning?)
And it just didn't feel right. Didn't feel normal. It was quiet and the sales people weren't unnecessarily pushy, but I just kept feeling I had to get out of there.
So, yeah, I guess maybe there's something to this re-entry thing. But it's still not fair.
2 comments:
Agreed... I can tell you a little about my reverse shock if you want sometime :)... When are you heading back to the states? Blessings Mariel!
Sept. 15 is the big day. And I would love to hear any advice/warnings you might have.
Post a Comment