Culture Shock

Every time I return to America after being in Taiwan for a long period of time, I notice something interesting or unnecessary about American life. The first time it was the miles of different kinds of orange juice to pick from in the grocery store. Really, how can there be a need for 8 million different kinds of OJ? Another time I remember thinking about how much space is wasted for things like sprawling suburban elementary schools which build horizontally so they don't need to put in an elevator or parking lots that are 4 times the size of the store. How many times have you gone to your local supermarket and seen it more than half full?

Every time I've returned to America, I've noticed how big Americans are getting. Just spend a little time people watching and I'm sure you'll agree. Maybe more people need to park in the last row and carry their groceries all the way to their gas-guzzling SUV rather than using their cart to push them to the third parking space from the door.

On a related note, I usually enjoy a fair amount of shopping, err, I mean buying, while in America. As I sit here this morning thinking about unpacking I need to be doing, I can't help but think about some of the purchases I made. Now, I didn't buy a lot for myself, but what I did buy surprised me. More often than not, I found myself coming out of the dressing room for a smaller size. I don't think I've shrunk since getting married and having a baby, but according to the clothes I'm buying, I have. I just don't understand this vanity sizing. I'm not extra small, but if that's the size clothes I'm buying, what do the women who really are considerably smaller than me wear? I still have a problem buying clothes that fit properly in Taiwan because theclothes are too small and I know Taiwanese women who can't buy clothes in America because the people are too small. Somewhere, there must be a happy medium, like what I used to wear.