Back in North America

We wondered how we would adjust coming back to North America. Would we experience reverse culture shock, which we hear can be worse than the initial culture shock? We seemed however to just fall back into our old lifestyle. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I did not forget how to do tasks that I used to do on a daily basis such as cooking, dishes and laundry. It was a little strange to drive a car again after months of no driving. Although we missed our friends in Colombo, we certainly enjoyed some aspects of the North American lifestyle.

The first place Rob and I went when we arrived in Hawaii was to the grocery store. We were overwhelmed by the quantity and selection of foods. We walked around likes kids in a candy store, quickly scooping up all the things we had been missing – Yoplait yogurt, chips & salsa, microwave popcorn, goldfish crackers, Quaker granola bars.

We took endless hot showers as hot water, as particularly unlimited hot water, is a rare commodity in Sri Lanka. We thoroughly enjoyed driving on well paved empty highways void of pedestrians, cats, dogs, cows and the like. I also tried to do as much breathing as possible as the air is much less polluted in Hawaii than in Sri Lanka.