Erinn Goes Abroad

Change

Sometimes I wonder what I do differently now in the 8 months that I’ve been here.

When my friends from Atlanta came to visit, they said they noticed differences in the words I use. We giggled about saying “rubbish” instead of trash. We would use it as frequently as a possible, in a put-on, ironic sort-of way.

But I suspect there are other changes, changes I may not readily perceive. For instance, I remember when I first arrived and noticed the flip of a light switch is the opposite direction. The down flick is on and the up flick is off here. It was frustrating to come to a row of light switches and unwittingly tinker with them (especially if they weren’t uniformly switched in one direction). Then one day I didn’t notice. I caught on, I was switching the light switch the “right” way, the kiwi way. I haven’t thought about it again until now. 

There must be other changes that I won’t notice until I return to the US. I wonder how I’ll feel when I realize them.