Since I moved back to the United States from China two weeks ago, I’ve sometimes felt like I’m unable to integrate my experiences there with life here. There’s a gap, a disconnect. When I try to tell my friends stories about life in China, I feel like I’m blabbing on about stuff they aren’t particularly interested in. Punch lines fall flat without an understanding of cultural context. Or maybe it’s that I can’t remember what it’s like to see things from this side.
The other day I had a chance encounter with an American who had just moved back from Wuhan. He had lived there for a year, and experienced a similar sense of disorientation after he got back. I ended up chatting with him for three hours. Though he was 20 years older than me, there was so much we had in common, as Americans who had lived in China and then come back. It changes the way you see things. Chinese cities, traffic, food, people–once you’ve dug in there, you almost feel like a foreigner when dropped back in your home culture. I have to stop myself from cutting other pedestrians off, accepting items with both hands, and throwing toilet paper in the trash can. I have to remember how to use a fork, to wait in line, to tip.
In a few weeks, I’ll be used to the American lifestyle again. I’ll shed my Chinese habits and stop talking about China constantly, to the relief of my friends. But the understanding will remain. Given the chance to peel away the layers of another society, I won’t forget those impressions easily.
自从我从中国搬回来美国，我感觉到好像无法把那边的经验带回来这边使用。已经两个星期了，可是还是好像有个界限过不了，有个分别穿不了。与朋友说中国生活的经验和故事时，感觉好像自己在说一些他们根本就没兴趣的东西。没有社会概念的了解，我所有的笑话都无幽默感，一窍不通。可能是我已经忘了从这海边往那儿看的感觉吧。
相信几个星期之内我会再习惯美式生活方式了，会把中式习惯屑了，