good ole america

I'm back in the States for the holidays... and it's been pretty great. I keep getting asked if I'm having culture shock, and my answer is always "not so much..." Since I grew up here, there isn't anything that's really been "shocking." America does feel a little like Stepford now though.... the roads are paved beautifully, everyone follows the traffic laws, there is no trash littering the landscape... Just little things like that make this country feel extra-pristine. But there have been a few funny things that I didn't expect.

I walked into DSW shoe store on one of my first days back and got totally overwhelmed when I stepped in the door. There are so. many. shoes. So many. I could ask for a pair of grey boots and they could bring me 27 different options. In Uganda, you'd be lucky to stumble upon a single pair of grey boots, and they probably wouldn't be in your size. There are so many choices here, not just for shoes but for everything. There is a whole aisle in the grocery store devoted to cereal. And those familiar American brands I get so excited to see are everywhere. Duncan Hines cake mix. Every flavor imaginable, and guess what? It's there today and it will be there tomorrow, and the next day, and the next month. My favorite brand of crackers. It's not going anywhere. This is a common problem I've faced in Uganda... I find a brand of something that I like and the next time I go to the store it's gone, only to resurface at a different store across town after about a month or so.

The other big things I've had to get used to is all the white people. I know, it sounds strange.... because I'm white. But seeing another white person in my neighborhood in Kampala rarely ever happens, and spotting other muzungus around the city happens occasionally. Because of this, I've gotten into the habit of scoping them out... Sometimes I try to guess where they're from or I make up a story in my head about what has brought them to Kampala and what they're doing in the city. Doing this when I see other white people has become quite a habit after 6 months of it.... its become a pretty automatic thing. But that creates a problem when white people are everywhere. It means that I'm on sensory overload when I'm in big crowds, or driving, or basically anywhere in public. I'm constantly scanning the crowd and watching all the people. And it's gotten kind of exhausting. I'm on white-people overload here in America. A funny and unexpected adjustment to make.

But so far its been the simple, normal things of daily life in America that have been the most enjoyable. I was skyping with Julie and she asked me what my favorite moment had been so far, and it was this: sitting on the floor of my friend Kellie's room while we went through her closet, picking through her old clothes. I sat on the carpet with her roommates and for about an hour we just laughed as new articles of clothing were presented and either rejected or passed. Its the little day-to-day, seemingly so normal, things like this that I miss the most.

It's good to be back in the States. Strange in some ways, familiar in others. But its definitely been a good vacation so far.