What moment in time?

I thought that after having been in Japan for one full year my culture shock in coming back to the United States would be pretty severe. Suprisingly, it really hasn't been. Other than the driving and speaking English all the time, things seem pretty comfortable. I was trying to figure out why this might be, and I believe I've come up with an answer.

The last time I was in Japan I hung out with American friends pretty often, but we relied mostly on the Japanese way of doing things. This time, I knew my way around Kyoto; I knew where I could buy cheap foreign goods, I knew how to cook them, I knew where to get English language books, and I spent more time with American friends. I think that even this little extra bit of my home culture mixed in to Japan made it easier for me to adjust when I got home this time.

Of course, there were exceptions. For example, this weekend was Fort Wayne's annual Johnny Appleseed Festival. The last festival of the summer, this two day even marks the apple season with the celebration of pioneer days in Indiana. All of the things being sold are hand-made crafts, everyone selling things is dressed up in settler costumes, and most of the food is cooked over fires. It had been a good five years since I had been to this festival, and I was struck with such an odd feeling of being out of place - not only was I in the wrong country, I was in the wrong time period!

In any case, I've been home now for five days and I am competely adjusted to the time, the food (mostly), the driving, and the English speaking on television only startles me for a second now.