Reverse Culture Shock

We've officially be on US soil for 51 days.  We already shared about our first 2 weeks in the US, which was spent celebrating Christmas and New Year's with our families.  To be honest, the 4 weeks following that went nothing as we'd planned, hoped, or anticipated - but that's another story for another time.  Today I thought I'd share some of the "reverse culture shock" that we've experienced over the last few weeks.

• Billboards - everywhere!
• We landed in Philadelphia late on the Tuesday evening before Christmas.  The city was beaming with lights and advertisements for everything from radio stations to healthcare providers to various types of food.

• Everything is huge.
• Are you sure this is only a single lane?  This is how wide a two-way street would be in Europe. 
• We need napkins, but the smallest quantity is 300.  Or toilet paper; a pack of 24 or 36 rolls?  What about just 12?

• Speaking of toilet paper, it took me a few weeks to not freak out every time I dropped it in the toilet.  
• In Lesvos, the toilets are not meant to take toilet paper, which meant that there was always a little trash can with a lid beside the toilet for depositing the used paper.  After being so careful not to drop TP in the toilets there for 2 months, it took a few weeks to get used to flushing it again.

• Also, all of the toilets in America have the flush handle on the side; in Europe they are typically on the top.

• Tipping.  What?!
• In Europe, it's rare to tip.  Sure, you can leave a euro or two if you are exceptionally pleased with a service, but it's never expected.  The day after we landed in the US I went to the hair salon for a much needed cut.  I had asked my local friend before going if 1. the salon took credit cards and 2. how much I should tip.  I was proud of my preparedness.  After my cut, I handed the girl my credit card and asked her to add the tip.  "Oh, we can't put tips on cards," she told me.  Uh oh.  I was stuck.  After two attempts at withdrawing cash from two different ATMs, I gave up.  I was exhausted, overwhelmed and could not search all over town for a mere few dollars.  Sorry, stylist; you did a great job, but I just landed from 5 years in Europe.  

• People are super friendly and very helpful.
• We never consider the French to be rude - until we go elsewhere.  Salesmen, servers, and any other number of people we've come in contact with have been very kind, friendly, and helpful.  While sometimes I'm happy to be left alone while eating, it's refreshing to have good customer service from knowledgeable people.

• Grandparents.
• This is, perhaps, the easiest thing to get used to.  Jordan's parents live 15 minutes from us and 1 mile from Target and the mall.  One day I dropped Judah at their house, grabbed a Starbucks, walked leisurely around Target, and made some returns to the mall.  Judah enjoyed himself, Jordan got some much needed work done at home, and I had some quality alone time.  Jordan's mom has been keeping Judah during our weekly pre-natal appointments, and they've already provided more meals than we can count.  What a treat!  We're actually at their house right now; Nana is playing with Judah, Jordan's studying Hebrew, and I'm catching up on emails and blogs and admin. (My parents are 3h30 from us, and we're looking forward to spending more time with them in the coming weeks and months as well!)

• Laundry is fast.
• Did you know that it's possible to have an entire load of laundry washed and dried in just 1hour?  In France, we couldn't do one load of wash in less than 1h30.  And in Lesvos, with no dryer, it sometimes took days for laundry to hang dry.  It's amazing.

All the clothes are ready for Bébé Baguette #2!