…in America. Not fully, but in certain ways.

For instance:

• I discovered that I am much more familiar with what 10 baht can buy than what a dollar can buy.
• The cold when I step outdoors still surprises me every time.
• Coming from a very non-confrontational culture where smiles are nearly always worn, I’m shocked by the amount of bluntness, harsh words and down-right arguing I hear both on TV and around me (why are they fighting about what kind of facial soap to buy??).
• I can drink the tap water. That’s so cool. But bottled water costs over a dollar– why?
• Is it normally this dark and depressing in Oregon during the winter? Oh, how I’ve taken sunny days for granted.
• Going into the convenience store in the airport totally overwhelmed me. I’m used to glancing at products and being familiar with them. Now even the brands I know here have changed their packaging, diversified their products… I hope no one was watching me because I must have looked like an idiot taking so long to pick out chewing gum.
• Coming from a huge, frantic, sprawling city to small-town Oregon makes everything here feel small, slow and quiet. Our local 4-story hospital which used to look so big now seems tiny in comparison to the 11-story one I frequent in Bangkok. And where are all the cars??

Observations after my second full day here. I’m sure I’ll have more later.