A few more observations

I am well behind on posting photos and blogging the real adventures.

At some point I will catch up and there will be entries about roller skating, a visit to the hi fi store that Dave and I spent many hours at in college and rafting down the Cache La Poudre river today.

In the meantime, here are just a few more things that we technically know but still tend to be surprised by after being out of the US for so long:

1. Sales tax!  Yes, we are fully aware it exists (and it does in Germany too)--but we are so used to having the VAT tax included ih the marked price that we have had our exact change ready to go a half dozen or more times, only to realize that the tax was not included and our "exact" change is anything but.

2. The size of drinks.  A small here tends to be the same as a large in Germany.  I now get a deer in the headlights look when they ask what size I want and have to ask to SEE the cups.

3.  Right on red.  I seem to have completely forgotten this essential driving skill.  We have ONE stoplight in Heidelberg with the special sign that allows a right on red.  Just being able to make them any time it might be safe?  Yeah, I am not sure I will ever remember that I can while here.

and things that we just ENJOY:

1. Ranch dressing, need I say more?

2. Iced water at meals.

3. Good iced tea.

4. All the ketchup I want with my fries (or other food).

5. KBCO (if you are not from the Boulder area, you'll have no idea.  Sorry.  I miss this station any time I am not in Boulder, so it isn't a USA thing--just a Boulder thing).

6. Really friendly waitstaff.

and things that annoy me:

1. Car alarms!

2. All the money is the same size and color--makes digging out the right bills a pain.

3. Exceedingly slanted political TV shows (maybe we have these in Germany and I just miss them?  But I kind of doubt it--things seem less polarized in Germany).

4. Drivers who weave in and out of lanes, and generally drives who are not focused on the road.



So, there you have it, a few things that are striking us as different in the last couple of weeks--after nearly 5 years away.

--Hadley