God Bless America.
Thirty-five is the number of hours it took me to make my final journey back to "Amreeka." In honor of that, and because I'm a little jet-laggy and my mind isn't in tip-top form, I'm going to give you 35 things, inspired by 5 weeks in the Middle East, that I appreciate about my country.
In no particular order:
- Readily available supply of Dr. Pepper.
- Signs in English.
- When I arrived in Atlanta and turned my cell phone on for the first time in 5 weeks, I discovered the battery was nearly dead. Luckily there was a Kwik-e-Charge machine available but as I didn't have any 1's I went across the concourse to the Brookstone store to get change. The lady at the store said save your money, we'll charge it for you and while you wait you can sit right here in this chair and try out our new foot massaging machine.
- Toilet seat covers in clean bathrooms.
- No-Smoking areas.
- While I was waiting in Atlanta during my 4-hour delay due to bad weather in Dallas, the gate agents kept making apologetic announcements. Even though they had nothing to say but "we're delaying again, sorry," it was better than the time I was sitting in the Luxor airport waiting for a midnight flight that was apparently delayed. Nothing quite like watching your departure time come and go when you don't speak the language and aren't 100% sure you're even sitting in the right area. ;)
- Pringles.
- Freedom of Speech <ie. not having to constantly self-edit to make sure I'm not writing something in my blog that could have dire consequences>.
- Trees.
- A generally higher leaning toward not littering, especially around national monuments.
- I don't have to dial 42 extra numbers to call the States. ;)
- Not so many professional beggars.
- You don't have to check the fill-level on your Coke to determine whether the bottle's been reused.
- Traffic lights and painted lanes.
- I've never once gotten on a bus in America and wondered if it might blow up.
- American Efficiency! I was just having a conversation with a friend over the fact that efficiency is a cultural value, not a moral one. While I recognize the truth of that statement, I still appreciate our efforts to make things run smoother and faster.
- Child labor laws.
- Cheap gas. Don't laugh, it's true.
- High quality shoes <a la, not walking up Mt. Sinai in flip flops>.
- Modesty. I know we're total hypocrites in what we export to the world Hollywood-wise, but I appreciate that we generally don't put full frontal nudity on the cover of the New York Times, unlike a German paper I picked up in the Frankfurt airport.
- Honesty. Again, a cultural value rather than a moral one, but I appreciate it nonetheless.
- Microwaves.
- We don't live in an honor/shame culture.
- The price is the price. It doesn't matter if you're a girl, or a tourist, or you're a tourist but you speak the language, or you've got a language speaker with you who knows how to get a better deal...
- Bribery is not institutionalized.
- I don't have to do differential calculus to figure out how much money I'm spending.
- Breath mints and deoderant. Sorry, but I came by my sniffer honestly.
- A woman wearing a t-shirt and shorts is not immoral.
- You may not like the taste of tap water, but ours won't send you home with a new tenant in your intestinal tract.
- Not having to pay to use the bathroom.
- The American Embassy. Anywhere.
- 'Shaking the faith' of a Muslim is not a crime punishable by imprisonment or death.
- We're don't have to follow in our father's career unless we want to.
- Free public school.
- In most areas you're not taking your life in your hands to cross the street.
Comments
Nice job! You forgot a few:
36. Green grass
37. Traffic laws, enforced - i.e. one car per lane
38. MY bed!
39. Able to drive where and when I want
40. Our non-biased, accurate media - NOT!!!
Posted by: m&d | April 26, 2007 08:06 PM
Having been there with you for 2 weeks, I can attest to all of those things! Personally #4 is my fav. :)
Posted by: Jenny | April 26, 2007 06:09 PM
God bless America! So glad you made it home safely!
Posted by: rita | April 25, 2007 09:38 PM