I'm back

First of all, if anyone has any exciting news, please post in the comments. I tried to skim my friends' page, but um...I've been off line a long time.

So, we're here. We had so many people show up to help us to the airport the morning we left, and we were very grateful! Both for the physical help and for the moral support. Youngest son's plane ticket was waiting at the airport and so that part went okay, but it was a very sad moment when our plane wheels left Nurnberg and we realized we were really leaving. Germany still feels like reality; this US business is still very dreamlike.

In Paris we had to rush because of a tight connection and because junior's ticket was still messed up and we didn't have a boarding pass yet. We ended up running to the airplane, which meant that junior woke up and started screaming, which was bad, only the airline people were properly freaked out, so they evacuated the entire row of bulkhead seats for us. I'd heard of those cribs they attach to the wall but never seen one until the stewardess hooked one up for us. Of course, junior said thank you very much, but I'm the LAP baby, remember? But it was a nice thought.

( Read more... )

That's enough for one post. My next one will be about strange things about the US.

Weirdness about the US (my reverse culture shock)

It sure is weird to be back here. Germany still feels like real life; this is just some bizarre dream. Here are some of my first impressions:

1. Americans are FAT. Germans aren't pencil-thin, and at different times of life your body does add fat for specific, healthy reasons. But most of the fatness isn't for any of those reasons. It's not healthy to drive yourself in a motorized cart because you're too big to walk down the grocery aisle.

2. Storebought baked goods, as well as yogurt, taste like glue with corn syrup. I'm pretty sure there's a connection with #1.

3. Cars are huge, people drive for everything, and gas is gaspingly expensive.  Another tie with #1.

4. Food is expensive. Wow.

5. English is everywhere! I'm starting to be able to tune it out, but it's taken a while. I heard English in Germany a lot, but not American English. I really like the sound of it!

6. Germans smile in different contexts than Americans. German officials are friendly and professional, but not smiley in the way that you smile when you're hanging out among friends. I've always heard that Germans see Americans as friendly to a fault and that we smile too much, and now I know what they mean. It's not that either group is friendlier or not; it's just that smiles are expected in different contexts. An American official who smiles too much gives a German the impression of a dog that flops down in front of the Alpha male and exposes its throat. Not official or professional at all. On the other hand, when you go into a waiting room or similar setting, you are expected to utter a general greeting in Germany. Not so here. So in that way, the Americans seem unfriendly. Strange, huh?

7. Air conditioning is everywhere!

8. So are Evil Plastic Grocery Bags. Does each item need its own bag? Luckily the kids' school recycles them for $$.

9. Despite some recycling, I feel guilty for dumping my garbage all in the same bucket.

10. Why do my dishes look totally unfamiliar? They aren't the right size. I don't even remember half of them. Why did we keep all this useless stuff?

11. Luckily we've remembered how to drive. Sort of.

12. The library...ah!!! Lovely. :)

They say reverse culture shock hits harder than the initial culture shock. This is the longest I've been outside the US, and yeah, I'd say we're all experiencing it. I'll be finding positive things to say, too, but right now we are really missing Germany and the people who made us feel so much at home. Sniff!