Sunday, July 02, 2006
what i miss about the united states
when i was in ecuador brandy and i would talk about different aspects of “living in the US” that we didn’t realize were amenities until we went without in our ghetto guayaquil. things like “running water” reigned the top of the list =) hahahah…
being in the UK has definitely been much nicer than the stuff we put up with in ecuador, but there are still a few things i am putting on my list of “things to appreciate about living in the states”
they are:
1. street signs! yeah… no corner street signs here. instead, they just post it on the building on the corner of the street… well… on most of the buildings on the corners… well… you just have to look for it. i suppose no one really minds that there aren’t consistent street signs because it doesn’t matter - the streets change names every few blocks! i was on this one street that had at the least 4 different names in less than a mile. yeesh! so… i’m grateful for the street signs
2. stores stay open past 6pm. ooooh - this one was hard to get used to… the stores close at 6pm, and the restaurants stop serving food at 8pm, and the bars close at 11pm. back home, add 3 hours to that - 9pm for the stores, 11pm for food, and 2am for bars. in spain, i’ll be looking forward to hours even later than that! the good restaurants don’t even open until 10pm or later!
3. deodorant. HA! this one… yikes… especially when you’re in the “tube” (subway) during rush hour and the train is not air-conditioned, so it starts getting musty, and you can smell everyone around you… marlene and i have been taking 2 showers every day, once in the morning to get ready to go out and then another one after a day of touristing so that we can wash the city grime off us - and so she’s dubbed us the two cleanest people in london! =) hahah!
i know that there are other stuff that i’ve been thankful for but at the moment, i can’t think of them, so this list will have to do.
what things have you encountered in your travels that made you appreciate ‘home’ more? i’d love to hear about it!