It is quite juicy
to suddenly be able to
understand gossip,
to lean-in
learn, discover
that
I am at the core,
a RAVING busy body.
You see,
America means I am EVERYWHERE
at once,
in every booth
back office
check-out counter
girl-talk
mama talk
talking hushed voices
round the clock.
Like Jim Carrey when his ears
took on the job of Almighty G-d.
SO much! SO much!
And that’s only what was spoken aloud.
(Fahgetabout what is being shushhhed).
Then there are the murmurs, the sighs,
the oversensitive, overactive
imagination
which is all on overtime,
jet lag,
and sheer
adrenaline
at
mere comprehension.
can i get an “amen”?
For you expats or bicultural, bilinguals, how is it for you when you go back home? How does language strike you differently as you move back and forth between worlds?
Melibelle in Tokyo 
I felt the exact same way when I stepped off of the plane from Japan into the JFK airport after 3 months of being totally oblivious to every conversation, store announcement, and TV show. All of a sudden, I couldn’t get myself to tune out all of the noise- I felt myself wanting to comment on every random stranger’s conversation! It’s a very strange experience, and it didn’t really hit me until then that I was in a different country for so long!