So, something I hadn't really anticipated when beginning this blog, was the necessity of continuing to record my observations after returning stateside. Turns out, the reverse-culture-shock plays out in some rather unexpected ways, and I continue to find a need to envision subtitles to my daily interactions. Beyond the now instinctive gesture of handing or accepting cards and currency with two hands, and the tendency to say random phrases in Mandarin, I sometimes forget to wait in line or stay on the sidewalk. It takes me a few moments to remember that the people around me are in my time zone and when my phone rings, it's someone in this country. When I'm lucky, it's a friend rather than a stranger who has to remind me that I'm speaking English and people around me are more than likely to understand what I say. And I think it actually takes extra energy to go through the process of being stressed about an upcoming situation in anticipation of having to linguistically and culturally translate it, only to remember that I'm in my guo jia and don't have to translate, then calm myself down followed by gently chiding myself for not remembering to start with. Apparently, this also results in long pauses after someone asks me a question. I shall now take an abnormally long pause before deciding what to do next.