Being Foreign

Been musing over the last couple of days about what it is to be foreign. Its been interesting the last couple of months seeing how natural Helsinki became. What I wasn't expecting though was to find everything so strange when I came home. I wouldn't say I fitted in in Finland, obviously- my language skills if nothing else set me aside as an outsider! but yet coming back home, somewhere I've called home for 20 years- nothing seems quite right. There's an air of familiarity about the place but driving on the left side of the road (even thoughI didn't drive in Finland), seeing the Arriva buses, walking through town, green trees hanging over Wigan Road...there's just something about it all which is familiar but not quite natural. This was only confirmed yesterday when I went to mass for the first time since October. Once more there was something familiar about what I used to do every day...and yet something that wasn't quite right. So not fitting in anywhere at the moment how long is it going to take before I've settled in properly??