This will not be an entry concerning how my wonderful adventure in Alaska was; it will not tell you that I have seen the most amazing animals, mountains so huge they almost touched the sky and that I was very lucky with the weather and even got sunburned. No, this will be a short piece on how it feels to come back to something and experience the reversed culture shock. Alaska will have to wait a bit.
I have only been back in Sweden for three days. Three full days. And already my muscle memory jams into its well-known pattern: I can find the cups in the right cupboards on the first try, my parents computer responds as it should (but cannot change the language in this document, so every word has an irritating red underlining and is automatically corrected to the closest German word) and I still know how to bike. But then again, strange things are happening around me. My living space has grown. I am currently residing with my parents, who are out of town for the weekend. Suddenly I have access to an apartment nearly as big as the entire student housing I had on the UBC Campus, including the spaces which belonged to my three roomates. And being all alone I assumed I was free to choose beds and am now sprawled out at night in a huge kingsize bed. Now that is really a welcomed change.
Even stranger are things that I used to know but where I have adopted the Canadian Style instead. While shopping groceries today I unsuccessfully tried to grab the second handle of the shopping basket. Nope, there is only one. And that surprised me. What then in turn surprised me even more. I did not see any hand sanitizer (or people with surgical masks). And no, which I was very grateful for, no sprinkler that kept the vegetables wet. Noone packed my groceries. Also, people seem in general more unfriendly, or maybe rather more desinterested in me. Even though I know that no Canadian probably honest would like to know how I am when I approach a store and a mailperson, the Swedish seemed just a bit too concentrated on themselves and their doing.
Also, I am clearly damaged by my last job, where I was working in the deli serving customers. I looked to my left and saw the premade sandwiches and upon a closer inspection could state that they did not serve anything I have not made (but did not have the choice of turkey or any meat-and-cranberry mix). Then I looked right and automatically registered that the cheese display was not full and not in order and had to resist the immidiate urge to actually organize it. I guess I have to apply for a job in this store, I seem to be able to pull it off with honours.
The total freedom is equally weird. I suddenly have unlimited access to a phone (and I do not have to pay for it), I can access the internet when and how I want (at least once I had decided to wake my brother to receive confirmation that yes, the wireless network was on, and in addition had woken my parents via phone to learn the password) and there is noone who can demand me to go to bed early (except the time difference which does encourage me to go to bed early unless I would like to wake up with dinner or a keyboard pattern on my face).
I will enjoy this phase while it lasts. My summer is almost planned now and even if it includes family and friends, there is work to do and to find. The quite relaxed days in Vancouver, and the even more careless days in Alaska, are definitely over. And even if I enjoy the sunny days in Sweden, I already know that I will miss Vancouver for a long long time.