Things that struck me coming back to the US

Okay, so don't make fun of me, but I hadn't been back to the US in 2-1/2 years.  I know, that's not really long when you look at it, but apparently, as I stood there like an idiot in the aisles of Target....to the point of the salesperson actually grabbing my arm and steadying me, asking if I was okay...how embarrassing.  I think he thought I was going to faint.  Honestly, I think I might've been ready to, and I honestly think the worst part for me...was that  my mouth was hanging open in awe and my eyes must've been somewhat glazed over.  Sensory overload!  So after a week, I thought I would sit down and write a list of the things that struck me, being back "home"...and made me realize, boy, I've been gone longer than I realize!

First, let me say, my mantra over here was always, "I am going to enjoy Europe to its fullest and will go back when we're ready to move back" and "if people want to visit and grandparents want to see the grandkids, they'll just have to come over here...that's why we got a big house"...I know, cruel and selfish, but that was my thinking.  Of course, dangle a free ticket home, courtesy of the US goverment before my eyes and guaranteed seats and tickets no less....that shifted my thinking long enough to make arrangements for all of us....deployable hubby too....to go home for the holidays.

I mentioned before that we almost didn't make it due to the big snow.  Our flight day was the first day flights were flying...and later that evening, the airport was shut down to the SECOND big snow, and we would've been stuck well after Christmas Day.  Thankfully, everything worked out for us this time around.

So, after some shopping trips and a few trips just driving around, visiting a few old friends from high school no less, I sat down to make my list.  In no perfect order, these are the things that stood out in my mind, coming back to America after being gone for a bit:

• The huge portions when we went out to eat....by GOD...I had forgotten how much they put on the plates!  This goes along with my second observation below.
• The high numbers of people I saw who were truly obese.  Yes, there are overweight people here in Europe and yes, I can stand to lose some weight myself...I can't use the "just had babies" excuse anymore....but there were gobs and gobs of people just struggling to walk around, get out of their cars, and I remember stores having one or two of those electric carts in the past...not five or six!
• The all-you-can-eat buffets.  European buffets are much different, and they have no clue what a REAL buffet is....I honestly went straight to bed both days we ate buffet food.  My eyes and stomach did not know how to handle it and couldn't tell me when I was full.  I paid for that with an overstretched stomach that just plain HURT.
• The hovering in stores by salespeople...can I help you, can I help you?  I know this is a theft deterrent, but you'd be hard pressed to even chase down a customer service person in a store over here...in fact, customer service is almost unknown in Belgium and Germany.  The products are supposedly so well made, they speak for themselves!
• How many women are wearing UGGs....it's rare you see them here, except on other Americans you meet. I even saw a dry cleaner that had a sign out that said "Yes, we dry clean your UGGs"....WOW!
• The LOW, LOW prices!  I almost fell over when I saw a sign at NYC area airport that advertised a drink for $1.99.  We just paid 3,50 EURO for the same size drink at Brussels Airport!  Of course, I forgot all about the sales tax being added at the register, so I promptly gave my son only $2.  It didn't even click when he came back and asked me for 17 cents...I said, for what?  Then realized....ooops...no matter, the lady took pity on him as an international no doubt and gave him the soda anyway.  I even saw many, many things that were much cheaper than our PX overseas as well, where everything is priced in dollars too....hmmmmm.
• The drinking...and I don't mean alcohol.  I mean the Starbucks coffees and lattes and the superbig Gulps from 7-Eleven and everything in between.  Americans are always drinking, wherever they go, on-the-go, and those drinks are filled up to the top and if it's a cold one...it will have loads of ice.  You'll be lucky to get a little sippy cup size over here and forget the ice!
• The hustle and bustle, especially shopping.  I got run over a few times...of course this was the holiday season...but everything is just much....faster in the US.
• Everyone drives everywhere.  I saw very little biking and walking, unless we went to the local park, which we did once.  Here in Belgium, people ride their bikes to go shopping or wherever, in all kinds of weather.  You also see a lot of little old ladies doing their shopping, pulling their little cart behind them.  I saw no such carts in the US.
• Much is open much of the time.  It was such a thrill to go shopping at 1 am and to go grab a burger after the ball dropped on New Year's Eve....all things you can forget over here with the strict shop opening hours, as well as restaurant hours...except for places like Berlin and London....even parts of Paris shut down before midnight.
• All the TV channels!  My dad had over 1,000 channels!  I channel-surfed through them a few times...every time my dad asking me what in the world was I doing?....me answering, I just want to see what's on....him responding, then just use the channel guide function...huh?  Who knew there was a Scream Channel and a "We only show women with big titties" channel or whatever it was called...since when were there so many channels?

And, so that's what struck me, both the good and the bad.  We all of course thoroughly enjoyed ourselves...the highlight of course being with family but without shame, I will tell you that we shipped home to Belgium....a total of SEVEN boxes and had our suitcases stuffed to the maximum.  Thankfully, each of us had a suitcase up to 50 lbs we could take home with us at no charge...whew.

Have you been gone for awhile?  How do you feel about going back?  I guess there is a thing such as reverse culture shock?  I believe it now although I wouldn't have last month:-)