Afraid of America

Reverse culture shock--I'm trying to preempt it. Today I held my last official class. Granted, I still have one student to tutor, a singing competition to conduct, and dinner with seniors to hold. However, I'm done with class and Chinese test prep(Level 4 needing 1,200 characters was Sunday) and it's slowly occurring to me that I will actually return to my former definition of normalcy in 5 days. Having adjusted to China over 9 months, I wonder can I even return to normal?

What do I do when the roads and sidewalks are free of potholes and motorcylists?

How will I order things in English when for a year I haven't needed language and get by by pointing and saying "这个" (zhe ge=this) or "那个" (na ge=that)?

If I already stare at the sole Westerner walking down the street, what will I do when they're all Westerners?

What do I do when I realize a beer costs more than 10 cents?

And, after a year of being stared and pointed at while being called "foreigner," can I point out Chinese people and yell "foreigner"? Payback.

Worst of all, being an English teacher has made my English worse. With all the Chinglish, the Chinese English textbooks that use unnatural English, adapting my word usage and sentence structure to the students' level of comprehension, I totally can't speak good English.

See you soon, America.