Back in the US of A

It really has been great being home.  For those of you who don't know, I surprised my Mom for Christmas which was the most awesome and nerve-wracking experience of. my. life.  Let me tell you that keeping that type of secret is not easy! But that'll be another blog post.

One of the strangest things about living abroad is coming home.  There are so many weird things about being in the US, especially coming from Hong Kong.  My life there is very different from my life in the US was, but is probably the polar opposite of the life my parents live. They live in a very small (~3,000 people) town in North Texas.  So there has been ample opportunity for comparisons.  I have been taking pictures of things my Hong Kong friends would find amusing, and let me tell you, there are certainly a few choice things.

 

To start with, Texans LOVE Texas.  I am a Texan, so of course, I too love Texas, but it is really interesting seeing the level of Texas devotion present.  Take for example this.  Why yes, this is cheese in the shape of Texas.  I saw it at a grocery store in Austin.  Why does one need cheese in the shape of Texas?  One will never know, but there it is.  Perhaps there is no Hong Kong shaped cheese because with all the outlying islands, it would just end up looking like a mess (and costing $298347827394 dollars, thank you, HK cheese prices). 

My parents were given this as a gift by someone at their church the other day.  I flipped through it and it is apparently an ode to everything Texas.  Could also be titled "Why Texas is Awesome".  True enough for the most part.

 

Additionally, Texans love guns.  It has been interesting to be abroad and especially in a place like HK where guns are illegal during this whole Newtown tragedy.  But, welcome back to Texas! You can visit a variety of gun stores, including ones just for girls.  

On a related note, see this segment on the news.  I made my parents pause.  Keep in mind that this is Texas, but still I was surprised at some of these stats. 

Moving on to something less controversial, I discovered to my dismay that my room in Hong Kong is the size of my parents' bed.  Literally.  

 

Why yes, this Hot Chocolate mix is large enough to last you through the zombie apocalypse. It didn't occur to me that the reason that everything comes in small quantities in HK is that nobody has any room for large things. You should have seen me in Sam's club. I was on complete overload.  And it finally occurred to me that perhaps the reason many Americans are incapable of making decisions is because we have so many choices.  I was telling my parents that often in the HK grocery store, there are two cereal choices - corn flakes or mystery Chinese brand.  In the grocery store here there are 9837 choices for cereal.  How does one ever decide?!

 

This is one of the churches my Dad serves.  It is literally in the middle of nowhere.  There is a lot of open land here in North Texas which has been a welcome reprieve from the multitude of skyscrapers in HK.  

 

Last but not least, I discovered something fascinating.  My dad can do the Asian Squat!  I spied him doing this the other day and was completely astounded (and of course immediately had to take a picture).  I have been consistently trying to do this since I moved to Hong Kong and can honestly say I am no closer today than I was when I started.  He'll fit in just fine when my parents come to visit. 

 This is short, but nonetheless will give you a little glimpse into my temporary re-entry to US life.  I'll blog more on the surprise later, but for now, Happy New Year! May 2013 be full of adventures! 

-The Adventurer