Withdrawal

You know you're going through Kandern withdrawal when...

...you find yourself perusing the Facebook Flomärkte, just for fun.

...you are beyond overwhelmed by the grocery store's massive size and amount of options, and are appalled at the high price of fancy cheeses.

...whenever you get in the car, you put your left foot on the brake, and you feel insecure if your hand isn't on the gear shifter.

The day I learned to drive stick shift

...you perk up whenever you hear someone speaking in English nearby, resulting in awkward interactions when they catch you eavesdropping.

...the foods you missed in America don't taste as good as you remembered, and you find yourself longing for some fresh, crusty German bread.

Chipotle wasn't quite as good as I remembered

...you can't remember small cultural rules like if you're supposed to smile and say hi to people on the streets or not.

...you find it hard to concentrate in stores because the music is so loud.

...and speaking of music, you seem to have missed all the recent hits that everyone is singing and dancing to at weddings.

...you scoff when someone tries to tell you about an "old" building...from the 1800s.

...you feel an intense moral dilemma when you throw away a piece of trash, and a deep sense of shame seems to follow tossing a teeny bit of plastic in the trash, instead of recycling.

Our monthly trash allotment in Germany

On the other hand...

...you are stunned by how easy it is to go to the store and leave with the product you are looking for.

...a phone call with a customer service representative becomes delightful without the frequent pauses due to typing into Google translate.

...life generally seems to take less energy than it did oversees.

...you find yourself enjoying all the SPACE -- wide roads, big yards, space between houses.

Even some of the doors were tiny in Germany!

...you don't miss having to calculate the time difference between you and your loved ones every time you try to call.

...the long wait to see family and friends makes reconnecting all the sweeter.

If you've ever spent time oversees, can you relate? Fellow BFAers, tell me I'm not the only one in the states going through withdrawal! What's missing from my list?