As I meander through daily rituals different then those I am accustom, I sometimes feel distressed and yet other times feel excited. Many times throughout the day I notice subtle differences in non-verbal communication, and I notice that I immediately judge whether I am comfortable with it or not. It?s like a reaction to a ball thrown at you. Some times you decide to catch it, and others you decide it best to dodge it. As I have now been in India for over 6 weeks, I continue to be surprised by small events throughout the day, but for the most part feel fairly comfortable here. With the exception of wishing friends and family were closer or more easily reached, I feel as if I am a part of this environment. The process of acclimating ones self to a new environment can vary greatly from person to person as I have seen with another expat I hang out with. He has been here much longer than I and is in a new stage of his experience, one of aggression and distaste for those things he is not accustom to. Interestingly, this process has been studied quite a bit and there is some interesting information out there talking about the ?culture shock? curve.
General definition:
http://www1.appstate.edu/dept/freshmanseminar/Faculty/Fac_Manual/Transitions/U_Curve.htm
Link that even shows the extended culture shock curve (incl. when going back to your home country)
http://www.ukcosa.org.uk/images/shock.pdf