I am BACK!

I am back in the USA! Its been a week, I wanted to wait a while to write about it since I knew that each day would bring some new and unexpected experience or emotion. So far I think that the only cultural shock that I have really experienced is that everything seems the same. Not like thats a bad thing but I am so used to traveling to something new and unexpected. I tried to relax and take a breathe as much as possible but was constantly placed in a situation where smiling and talking was a must along with story telling. I love telling my stories, and I love love love it when people are interested. I really can talk about the things that I have seen, and done forever! Not that I want to but I love when people can see through my eyes what I have seen just based off my words. 
There are several shocking and somewhat silly things that I am having trouble adjusting to. The fact that I can understand the TV and the radio really bothers me, and I mean REALLY drives me insane. When I was in Istanbul I missed the news, I missed knowing what was going on in the world and really being able to understand and hear the latest happenings. Well after a week of waking up to the Today Show I have had enough! The TV is by far the most annoying aspect of being back, I physically and mentally cannot watch it! Its like my brain turns into a traffic jam. Not an American traffic jam, I mean the kind you see on Fridays in Sultanhamet Square during the noon prayer on a hot day when all the tour buses decide to squeeze through the miniature streets while its 90 degrees outside. Ya, that kind, right in my head. All my sense go crazy and start to fire in all the wrong directions its nuts! Then there is the cultural shock of being able to understand every conversation every person is having inside the store. Most of the time I have to restrain myself from correcting their poor grammar or politically incorrect sentences. One women (in Wal Mart surprise surprise...) I wanted to scream at because she was on her cell phone while her toddler was being allowed to roam around the fruit and veggies picking up and licking every other piece of produce. I am not saying things like this didnt happen in Istanbul its just that I was less keen on noticing since I was focused on just trying not to cause too much attention myself. 
There are also the things I knew would be different like the expensiveness (is that even a word?) of groceries, the convince of drivers who actually obey the lays of the road. I love not having to walk on cobble stone but miss its unique "old" feel. I bought and enjoyed some skittles the other day, Starbucks is within my price range again, and I can  tex/call/email/facebook/twitter/ from my blackberry again which is heaven for me. 
I think that being back in the USA has been an alright shift so far.