Where am I?

Where am I? I have lived in so many places and experienced quite a few things that sometimes there is a brief moment in a day where I have to remind myself where I am. It isn’t a bad thing….it’s just a extremely brief strange feeling. For instance, when I first moved back from Heidelberg, I often found it weird for a brief moment when walking down the street I would hear passers by speaking English or hear people in restaurants at the table next to me speaking English. You may think that sounds funny but I had gotten so used to hearing people speak German all around me that English became an odd occurrence and it stood out more when I would hear it. So here it so much when I got back was pretty over stimulating and a little awkward at first. I had to keep reminding myself I was back in the States. Another example, I always recognize Montana license plates since I have lived out of state for a while and sometimes when I go back to Montana I look at a license plate and for a brief second think “oh, they must be from Montana” when really, of course they are cause that is where I am in that moment :)
So, two days ago I saw someone in the grocery store that I couldn’t remember where I had known her from. Turns out I worked with her in California at the weightloss camp last summer for a short period of time. Crazy! This morning, I ran along the little beach by my house and as the waves crashed onto the sand, the rain drizzled down, and the fog rolled off the water I felt like I was in Santa Cruz again. As I came around the corner by the Planetarium and expected to see the beautiful view of the city, all I saw were sail boats, water and fog. Kinda weird how it feels like a whole different place or experience when you don’t see the normal view.
It’s also interesting how when you have been somewhere for a certain period of time it just becomes another place and you aren’t as observant or in awe of your surroundings. Things like the amazing view of the city from my bedroom window become taken for granted and not as recognizable or as amazing until someone who doesn’t see it every day points it out again. Kinda like running by the river in Heidelberg and walking down the Hauptstrasse. I still think it is beautiful and always will but when I was living there, the beauty, although it continued to take my breath away at times, became such a normal everyday sight. Not sure if I am making sense. Just saying that there is a different feeling and view of a place between the first time you see it and after seeing it over a period of many days, months, or years. I still remember the first time I came here 5 years ago and how it was a cool unfamiliar vacation spot. Now I live here and it’s just a normal occurrence for me to run along Lake Michigan or walk by the Sears Tower or ride the EL around the city. It sometimes isn’t until people come visit and you get to show them around that you observe where you really are again. I love being in different places, seeing different things, experiencing different cultures, and I’m not sure that will ever change, I just sometimes have to remind myself where I am and really be there.