Trip Epilogue

Little did I suspect that the biggest shock of the trip would be upon my return.

I HATE the seats on the Boeing 737 offered by American Airlines. The headrests and seat backs appear to be designed for a 5 foot person to the exclusion of a larger person. The goddamed curves of the seat and headrest actually pushed down on my shoulders, compressing the spine in a most uncomfortable manner and I was in such distress that I truly feared that I might mentally snap and lash out in anger at the on-board hired help. I'm not exaggerating here. I was dangerously close to acting out in frustration with total disregard for the consequences of the extreme action I was considering. Really, I almost lost it.

But it's not the first time I've almost lost it so that's not the big shock. That was simply a rant I needed to get off my chest.

The shock was how the USA had changed in my eyes upon my return. After more than a month without hearing spoken English, without seeing another English speaking Anglo, without CNN, MSNBC or FOX, without wide boulevards and green lawns, the sight of "Murica" was a shock.

I guess I'm out of practice. Has the overheard spoken English of strangers always been this hard to understand? 

Have Americans always looked so sloppy? Were our clothes always this wrinkled and ill fitting, or is it just our huge bodies that make us look unkempt?

Conversely, were our neighborhoods always so spacious, the roads so wide, the parking lots so expansive?

Here, the water that comes from the home faucet is considered potable, bottled water is not an essential item.

This is the land of absorbant paper towels and napkins more substantial than a one-ply generic tissue.  It's a place where toilet paper is always, always available. There's always a salt and a pepper shaker at the restaurant table.

The traffic here is so... organized. The expectation of normal behavior is so absolute that the idea of encountering unexpected behavior on the road has to be taught, drilled in as a concept called defensive driving.

Have we Americans always been so nihilistic? Have we always ignored the rest of the world?  

I'm sure all this normalcy will become normal again, just as the chaos became the new normal just a few weeks ago. But at the moment it's still a shock.