Culture Shock

As many of you have probably heard, after three years of serving in Germany, I expect to return "home" sometime this summer. Despite all of the challenges that life here has presented, I am sad to be leaving and hope to be able to return overseas in the future. As I begin to plan for my arrival in the States, I have noticed some things that we probably take getting used to, for instance:

1. Returning to a church of 2000 where almost no one knows my name after being in a church that has had 10-30 people for 3 yrs.; Having my voice swallowed up by super-loud folk, rock, and contemporary worship songs after getting used to everyone knowing whether or not you are singing and picking out the songs each week.
2. I have lost my sense of pricing. For example, I have no idea how much milk, butter, or bread costs in Michigan or how expensive it is to rent a 1 bedroom apartment.
3. Although I still do not always have an instinctive sense of how much something weighs in kg, I am even less certain of lbs. now.
4. I don't feel comfortable asking my "close" friends all of the details of their lives now. It'll take time before I venture out of "sharing mode" and try to delve into their private worlds again.
5. Many things that I once thought of as conveniences or good deals in the States now seem like wasteful luxuries (unlimited packages of ketchup and napkins, "supersizing" and free refills, driving a car to a store less than a mile away just because it is raining, using a dryer rather than air drying clothes, air conditioning and central heating)
6. Re-entering the University in a country where the average age of graduation is not 28 and where things like customer service, accessible professors, and well-maintained grounds are taken for granted.
7. Losing access to excellent public transportation.
8. Not being able to speak German. Losing closeness with my German friends.
9. Giving away most of my German books and not being able to get more in the States.
10. Eating different foods.
11. Not living in a wonderful, international city which has offered me something new to see everyday that I have been willing to look.