Culture shock

"Culture shock". It's a term used to describe the feeling of disorientation a person feels when they go from one culture to a very different one. It really is a "shock" in many ways. One that never seems to go away no matter how many times I cross the atlantic. I mean how can you just slip easily from one world to another. From conspicuous to invisible, from hot to cold (I can't believe it snowed again this morning, I was hoping for spring) from dusty to clean, from dry to wet. Yesterday I had the wierdest sense that my worlds were not too distant. A couple times I almost inserted into conversations about the "next door neighbor" who is next to my parents in Kenya or "when I get back to the house" 12,000 miles away. I stopped myself and realized the delusion. I think it's normal though. It's just culture shock.