Most of the people on my flight were Chinese, Chinese-American, or Chinese-Canadian. They spoke English, but they had the look of the billions of people that surrounded me for the past year. I was comfortable.
As soon as I entered the Vancouver Airport, however, I realized that everyone here is a foreigner. Completely accustomed to staring at the foreigners as they pass, I didn't know which direction to look in or who to stare at.
Further, I could understand! I could listen to conversations and understand (and be annoyed by their meaningless babble). I could read every single sign (and know that I was going in the right direction). I could understand the bus maps and timetables (and yet I still wasn't sure I was on the right one).
In other words, I endured, for several hours, a complete sensory overload. It was like being in a Wal-Mart in the middle of Times Square at rush hour. It was like Mardi Gras happening during the day after Thanksgiving sales. It was like being in a world where everything makes perfect sense, but still not being able to understand. It was, in a few words, reverse culture shock in it's early stages.
