I’ve always been skeptical of “reverse culture-shock,” especially for people returning to the States from volunteering abroad. It’s not that I don’t believe in the concept at all – I recently had an experience with an automatic-flushing toilet that can only be described as startling, so I realize it exists. But I never bought the “I just feel like we have so many unnecessary amenities that I don’t even want” narrative. Acknowledging that they’re unnecessary – both to survival and happiness – feels valid. But I can’t buy the idea that it would feel annoying or frustrating to have clean, constantly running water, air conditioning, or paved roads – any of the commonplace amenities that make life significantly more comfortable.
A month into my return home (Michigan), I standby my opinion that it’s very easy to return to 20+ years of habitual first world comforts (constant Wifi is already losing me a lot of friends). Yet I also empathize more with those who have expressed difficulty adjusting – it’s weird. Lacking a more eloquent/sophisticated format, I decided to simply make lists of the welcome and unwelcome adjustments, to describe what being back in the States is like after a long year in Cof.
Note: Neither of the lists include missing the students and Cof community, the happiness of seeing friends and family, and the taste of Honduran mangos in comparison to Michigan mangos, which are so obvious they must be considered givens.
Welcome Adjustments
The consistent internet and resulting length of time I can spend on Reddit or streaming Beat Bobby Flay
Coffee shops that are (usually) devoid of 12-year-olds and video game consoles
Chickens are on hidden farms or dead in the appropriate grocery store aisle
The convenience of avoiding social interaction through U-Scan lanes
24-hour diners**
A selection of beer so vast that I spent 28 full minutes making a “Build-Your-Own-Six-Pack” at Kroger.
Having a car and being able to drive anywhere I want at any time of day, which means I can go to Meijer to buy Men in Black II at 3 AM if I feel like it.
Being sweat-free for multiple hours at a time.
Feeling something tickle your arm and feeling confident it isn’t an ant.
**San Pedro has a Denny’s, but I like options.
Unhappy Adjustments
Not being able to use “the internet went out” as a convenient excuse for not responding to texts/emails.
The elaborate production of going to a grocery store when you only need three eggs and a pineapple.
Frequently overhearing Jason Mraz and never EVER overhearing J Balvin.
US babies are, generally speaking, less adorable than Honduran babies, and US parents are WAY less receptive to strangers commenting on or touching their aforementioned babies.
The look the Whole Foods grocer gave me when I told her it was hard to carry the paper bag without handles and asked if she had plastic.
Construction. Everywhere.
Starbucks baristas who correct you and say “grande” when you ask for a medium coffee
Avocados that taste like off-brand Crisco but cost $1.50 each
People that go running in special triathlon gear before 8 AM.
The crushing futility I feel when the U-Scan lane won’t scan an item.
Seeing something promoting “peganism” (going vegan and Paleo) with neither irony nor an explanation as to what foods are left to eat.
Both lists could continue ad infinitum. But as August rapidly approaches, I find myself excited to go back (and not only because I’ve finally finished all of Silicon Valley). While I can already feel the impending loss of hot showers and Goldfish, I’m ready to see how much taller my kids are, to get a fresh baleada and all the Cof gossip from my homestay mom, to meet the new volunteers and the adorable new Kinder kids — in essence, to go home.
