I love it. "Home has changed. You have changed. You have adapted to another culture and now you must readapt." Don't be bitter about it. Get on with it. The ad

I love it. "Home has changed. You have changed. You have adapted to another culture and now you must readapt." Don't be bitter about it. Get on with it. The advice that "People at home aren’t as interested in hearing about your foreign experience as you are in telling them about it" also resonates with me and can be a tough pill to swallow. In some ways it's similar to oversharing upon returning from a holiday. It shouldn't hurt too much when most people don't care how amazing or difficult it was. When your foreign experience is part of your identity it can be easy to take that disinterest personally. If you look/sound/act at first impression as the other culture it can feel like every introduction starts with satisfying the person's curiosity. When that curiosity is immediately followed by disinterest the incongruity can be jarring. For my partner's reentry I suggested that we have a short one sentence answer explaining where we were so that the conversation could move on quickly and save the rest for those who are genuinely interested. I think wtbob's comment that "It's not about better/worse; it's about different." is very helpful. There is a time to compare and denounce the absolute and relative merit of an aspect of a culture but it can be unhelpful if those criticisms are just an outlet for frustration. For the cross-culturally mobile parents in the crowd please please please consider that your children's experience might be very different than your own. The Reverse Culture Shock - Managing Reverse Culture Shock page [1] has lots of practical advice. I also highly recommend reading Third Culture Kids : Growing Up Among Worlds [2]. I would also recommend it to those who are reflecting upon their own childhood intercultural experience. [1] https://www.state.gov/m/fsi/tc/c56076.htm https://www.state.gov/m/fsi/tc/c56076.htm [2] http://www.crossculturalkid.org/third-culture-kids-excerpts/ http://www.crossculturalkid.org/third-culture-kids-excerpts/