After being gone for a year I noticed a lot of things in my two weeks back to the homeland. Here’s a list of silly observations for your reading enjoyment.
- Portion sizes are huge! I has the hardest time finishing my food for the first week. We went to Blackwall Hitch in Alexandria for restaurant week and after inhaling my salad (yay! fresh greens!) I could barely eat any of my main course and didn’t even want to look at dessert.
- Service is so fast! Our waitress at Boatyard in Annapolis apologized for the wait on our cocktails after bringing us water and appetizers about four seconds after we ordered them. Really, it’s ok.
- Commercials are scary and make you think you need everything. I’ve not been exposed to TV commercials for a full year. In the mornings after Sean left I binged-watched Spongebob (yes, really) and then got bombarded by commercials my poor AFN-conditioned brain wasn’t ready for. Suddenly I felt the need to go back to school shopping a redecorate my house. I had to actively remind myself multiple times that I’m not in school – nor do I have children going back to school – and I don’t have a house to redecorate.
- Our interstate system is an engineering triumph. You guys. Roads. That make sense. It’s a thing and you should be happy they exist in America.
- Malls are cool but very loud and crowded.
- Huge alcohol sections in grocery stores. Yes, Dushanbe does have liquor at some major grocery stores, but nothing like what exists in the U.S. I went to Target and the first thing I see is two rows of wine. What is going on here?!
- Sticker shock. Body wash is expensive you guys.
- Credit card machines are amazing. No cash? No problem! Just figure out if I need to swipe or use the chip for the love of God.
- Music hasn’t gotten any better. Sorry, it’s true. At least it’s not skull crushingly loud techno.
America, don’t ever change.