First Impressions

I can sum up our first impressions of the U.S. after 17 months of being away in one word:

BIG!!!

Not that it necessarily seemed that way before we left, but having been away for a while, and coming back with a fresh perspective, we have been amazed by how big EVERYTHING is here. Big cars. Big houses. Big highways. Big stores. Big buildings. Big people. Big grocery stores. Big grocery bills. Big bags of everything in the grocery stores. Big, big, big.

An older lady and her elderly husband drove up and parked right in front of us today in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, in their big, shiny, black Escalade. Now, honestly, I'd like to know why two people in their 80s need to be driving such a huge car. I joked and said to the kids that the lady had cut her living room off of her house, put wheels on it, and driven it into downtown Blowing Rock. She was one put-together lady, and I guess that the Escalade is the car to have, but my goodness, I just can't figure out why two people in that stage of life would need that kind of vehicle.

And, so, there you have it. Trying not to be judgmental here, but when you've lived in a country full of small cars (only saw a few SUVs when we were there, and they belonged to the U.S. Marines!), tiny roads, three generations of families living in small 2 or 3-bedroom apartments, small grocery stores on every corner, small restaurants, and small everything else, the bigness of things in this country is one of the first things that jumps out at you. I have no doubt that in time we'll get used to all of these things, and that they won't seem strange or unusual to us anymore. But for now, we're just shaking our heads at the super-sized everything, and all of those SUVs burning up the pavement (and a whole heck of a lot of gasoline!)