Transitioning back to the west

It's been a jolly few days in London town with my sister Karen. She had a rough week at work, and I'm going through the 5 stages of grief over leaving India, so we had a nice relaxing weekend together. One interesting phenomenon I've experienced here is the feeling that I'm in a foreign land because so many of the Indian quirks aren't present here. Let me give you a couple examples:

Walking to the tube...

Me: it's just so weird not having people stare at me on the street. I'm just one other person in the crowd here...

Karen: it must be nice...

Me (interjecting): oh phew - that Indian guy just stared at me - I've still got it...

Karen: wait it was bothering you that you weren't being stared at? (sisterly eye roll)

At drinks with Karen's colleagues:

(Karen sets down a cider in front of me, with ice and a lemon garnish)

Me: (takes a sip) wow that's cold...

(pause for thinking)

Me: wait - it has ice in it! I knew something was different! Woohoo! 

Karen's coworkers: (collectively give me a weird look)

Getting ready to go out...

Karen: sorry that my place doesn't have air conditioning, we're just going through a huge heat wave right now...

Me: heat wave? This? This is so comfortable!!

Karen: (sweats)

Me: (puts on a sweater)

Chatting...

Me: will you let me know if I do the Indian head bobble? I know I do it but I need you to call me out on it so that I stop...

Karen: yeah sure...

(fast forward 2 hours to when we are talking with Karen's coworkers)

Coworker: ...so in the end I decided to get the green toaster...

Me: (head bobble)

Me: (realize I'm doing the head bobble)

Me: (looking around to see if anyone has noticed)

Me: Damnit, Karen! (who is nowhere in sight)

Toaster buyer: excuse me?

And 30 minutes later I caught myself doing the head bobble again. This could take a while to get rid of this new habit...

In the end, I find myself missing India A LOT. I suppose that's to be expected, though, right? I keep dreaming up ideas for blog posts on topics I haven't covered yet. Dont worry, I will continue posting as long as I can keep coming up with things interesting to say (or at least interesting for me to write). It's going to take a while to fully process how these Indian adventures have fully affected me. Months, probably. The posts won't be coming as regularly as before, but they won't stop entirely...at least for a while...