mundane
There was one day in Changsha when I realised everything had become mundane.
Not boring, I must emphasise. If you're in China and you're bored, it's your own damn fault. Open your door, step outside, it's always an adventure.
And yes, of course I realise that the word "mundane" has take on a sense of "boring", but I don't have a better word for that sensation that one day in Changsha.
It was no longer a sense of having arrived on a different planet, and a feeling that now this was all my everyday life, the world I live in, my new normal.
I tried to explain this to colleagues, but they couldn't get past the "boring" bit. Not boring. Everyday reality.
There was still plenty to keep me fascinated, but I had become settled, comfortable, and all those things that had at first seemed wild beyond all belief were now a part of my everyday.
Of course, this was just another stage of culture shock, and I still had a hell of a lot to learn. Still do. But that was a surprising sensation that one day in Changsha.