Thoughts

Thoughts, comparisons, jet-lagged reflections:

Americans are DIVERSE. There are so many different colors/ethnicities/sizes/opinions/persuasions among our people. The word "diversity" doesn't even exist in the Japanese language. Because of our diversity of people, the products and services available in the USA is so diverse: so many different kinds of foods and services!

Americans are tall! And many are shockingly obese. We each gained about 5lbs in the 2 weeks we were there. Most of those who are fit have memberships at gyms in order to compensate for the typical American beef-bread-cornsyrup diet.

Americans are friendly, verbal, and generous. Rural-Nebraskans are particularly open and generous. It was wonderful to be with such gregarious people!

Transportation in Nebraska is auto-centric. Buses and trains are rare. Nebraskans don't walk for transportation.

Omaha is flat and spread out. There appears to be no city planning to reign in overzealous suburban-sprawl developments. Houses are HUGE. Mansions are not unusual. Americans might think they are being squeezed financially due to increased charges for gas, but citizens of the USA live like royalty (is it all on loan?).

America is violent. I was shocked to watch the Omaha evening news and watch reports of multiple recent murders. There are signs on the doors of clinics, jewelry stores, etc declaring that people must not bring handguns into these facilities. People lock their doors and watch their belongings. In Japan violent crime and theft are shocking rarities.

American foods are familiar and yummy. I LOVE WHOLE FOODS. And I loved being able to recognize everything on the shelves. We returned with a suitcase full of lentils, split peas, garbanzo beans, organic peanut butter, yellow mustard, 'reeses' peanut butter cups, Mexican 'pulparindo' spicy tamarind candy, and oatmeal.

It was so good to be home surrounded with love and friendship and familiarity. Other than driving on the other side of the road :D, it didn't feel like much of a challenge to re-acclimate to home. Perhaps we will experience more reverse-culture shock in August when we return for good, but this wasn't difficult.



Tomorrow we return to work, to test our re-acclimation to Japan.