Observations

After being back in the states for a couple of days, there are several things that stand out to me as "I didn't realize that this would be so shocking when I returned." Here are some of the major ones.

• Kroger is the biggest store ever. It doesn't seem to have anything in it that I need and couldn't get at Intermarché or Casino, but it's at least ten times their size and overbearingly whatever-the-opposite-of-claustrophobic is.

• Waiters and waitresses WILL NOT LEAVE YOU ALONE! They seat you. Come and take your drink order. Come back without drinks to make sure you're okay. Come back with your drinks. Come back three or four times to make sure your drinks are okay. Come back and take your order and explain the specials. Come back between taking orders and delivering orders to make sure everything is okay. Every time they come back requires stopping mid-sentence to acknowledge them and then having to find your train of thought again.

• Drinks have free refills! And ice! How bizarre.

• It's really difficult to get places on foot. We have so much space.

• Our wildlife is completely different. We don't have pigeons but we do have squirrels, menacing red wasps that send me into a panic, and mosquitoes the size of birds.

• It's humid. Aix is dry dry dry! 80 degrees and sopping is not nearly as comfortable as 85 and dry.

I'm sure there are some other ones that I have missed and will think of later, but those are the ones that I keep noticing.

On another note: It sure is nice to be in close physical proximity to the boyfriend, the friends, and the family. Skype is such a wonderful tool, but it cannot and does not replace the wonderful feeling of curling up on the couch by someone to watch tv or play Portal 2.