Dazed and Confused...

Before lunch today I spent a good couple hours looking at myspace. I'm in Dakar for the week so the lure of free internet at the office proves to be too much to bare at times. I was glancing at my sisters' pages and then I noticed that my high school had a group there so I did a little searching for classmates. Finding a few it was pretty cool to see how people were doing, especially since I'll likely be missing my 10-year reunion next year. Yes people have real jobs, yes people have gotten married and yes people have kids (yikes!!). Anyway, this whole thing reminded me of this phenomenon that my friends and I experience after the slightest exposure to the world we used to live in. After the myspace surfing, remembering the good ole days at MHS, I stumbled out into the crowded, hot, filthy streets of Dakar for some lunch of rice and meat, and experienced a minor culture shock attack. This happens just about any time I use the internet, watch satellite tv or just about anything else that is able to transport my mind back to the simpler time in my life. The physical change of going from a room that is usually a little dark, quiet and cooler thanks to fans (or if you're lucky AC) to the bright, loud, blazing hot Senegalese street - paired with the mental adaptation that has to occur can sometimes throw off even the best acclimated ex-pats.