Too busy for reverse culture shock?
There has definitely been a bit of reverse culture shock, but it hasn’t been as bad as I was expecting. Probably because I’ve been so busy starting the new school year! I feel like I’m constantly working, even at home. I moved in over a month ago and there are still dozens of boxes I haven’t unpacked.
But you don’t want to hear about that!
Here’s how the reverse culture shock is going…
- Driving again is nice, but I’ve refused to drive in downtown Seattle when I visit. I take the bus, and that is quite a culture shock. Waiting on a bench for 30 minutes is something that would never happen in Madrid. I miss the Metro a lot.
- Different expectations at work. In Getafe our school started at 8:30 and the teachers arrived at 8:20. In Mattawa our school starts at 8:00 and teachers arrive at 7:15 or earlier.
- Shocking food prices! Milk, produce, wine, you name it, it’s more expensive.
- Not being able to jet off to some exciting new country for a weekend. It’s weird not having trips to Germany or Italy to look forward to. I went to Seattle 2 weekends ago and I’m looking forward to a Hot Air Balloon Festival in a few weeks but that’s it.
- Health insurance! I wrote about that here.
- Being able to overhear conversations in public! Living in Europe, my ears would always perk up when I heard English. They still did for the first 3 weeks of being back, but now that’s done.
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