Friday, August 28, 2009

Odd Things of the States

Well I've been in the States for almost 2 weeks now, man how time flies! My trip here to Missouri end up being quite painful. It's very possible that I dislocated or something like that to my lower rib as I walked onto the first plane in Costa Rica. I wanted to scream and cry the entire day any time I had to move, yawn, or cough. (Thankfully the back is better now.) I ended the day with getting three of my fingers slammed in the car door; they didn't even bruise! Thankfully, so far, that's been the worse of the pain on this trip.

The first week here I stayed hidden at Dallas and Heather's house as I experianced reverse culture shock. I got easily overwhelmed, things were just strange and hearing English all around me and trying to turn off my Spanish.

So what are the things I now see differently in the states?

  • Wide open spaces and yards - the lack of walls and bars
  • Road kill everywhere
  • Learning to let my guard down - not having to assess if someone is a threat to me and not having to watch men over my shoulder when the walk pass - just in case they try to grab me
  • Feeling like I'm trapped inside due to the lack of public transportation and a car - Man I miss public transportation or just being able to walk to do my errands
  • The amount of choices we have for one type of product
  • How we, Americans, live in such excess and believe we have to have it to have a quality life
  • How wasteful we, Americans, are
  • Mall walkers - I was completely taken back today when I saw some in the mall today. Really the concept is funny; drive to a mall and then walk around it for how many minutes or hours. (my apologies if you are a mall walker :) )

The things that I have missed that I don't get in Costa Rica

  • Tooties rolls
  • Chicken Crispers from Chili's
  • Fountain Pepsi
  • Nutter Butters
  • Olive Garden
  • The Nature Center
  • Millie's Chocolate Heaven cake
  • and of course my friends and LifePoint Church.

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