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Can you give any examples of experiences that felt strange when you returned? Just curious what types of things you noticed...

• wozniacki 11y ago
  Seconded. Three years is an awfully short time to notice things uniquely as though one were an insider. It has been my experience that cultures do not unfurl that easily for outsiders to be allowed in and wrap one's head around, all the motivations for the reasons why a society organizes itself in a certain manner much less, comprehend the complex inner dynamics of such organization. edit: HN is starting to become a strange place. Take the time to explain how your experiences abroad - even the short ones - helped you gain non-threadbare insights about that culture, which fully invalidate my disagreement above, rather than partake in purely intellectually-lazy flaming.
  • DanBC 11y ago
    TokenAdult is talking about his perspective as an outsider. He was in the US for 26 years, left for 3 years, and then returned to the US. He says that 3 years away from the US was enough time for somethings to feel strange when he returned.
• tokenadult 11y ago
  Those first things are hard to remember now (that was half a lifetime ago). And I later had another long stay in Taiwan, followed by another return here to the States, so I'm especially vague now about where "home" is and what is "normal." But in general the United States idea about children being "independent" from parents and parents not actively providing for them seems quite strange to me now--even though my oldest son, still younger than I was when I first traveled to Taiwan, is arguably more genuinely self-sufficient than I ever was up to that age.