It has been three months, minus two days, since I have returned from South Korea after having lived there for six years, minus two months and eight days.

I read somewhere that returning to the motherland can feel as shocking as landing in a foreign land. Everything is the same, only just a little different. Like waking up from a coma - suddenly you are an outsider in your own country.
For me, re-inter grating back in North American culture has been difficult. Like my surroundings, I am still me, but just a little off.

When I first arrived in Bundang, Korea, I was worried about my bowing. Was I doing it right? Was I offending or garnering acceptance from my newly found Korean friends?

Strangely, I find myself insecure with my own traditions in Canada. I find myself wondering if i have completed cultural tasks according to social mores and customs. The other day, I walked into a store and the person behind the counter asked me how I was doing and the usual small talk. I responded in almost forced gregariousness. Was I doing it right?
I wasn't used to all these strangers talking to me all the time.
I find myself getting tense trying to match the customs here to what I remember from before.
This is a hard thing to explain unless you have experienced the "reverse culture shock" yourself. I am proof that it is true, and indeed this is not a vestige of some pompous, egomaniac wanting to feel important.
There is a shock involved in returning - a shock perhaps in arriving at the place where you first began your journey.