AMERICA

Geez! I'm in America. Let me tell you that I am in culture shock. First, I got onto my flight in Cape Verde at 4 a.m. I was the only person to board the plane that had come from South Africa. After they got my one peice of luggage on the plane and I was seated, we headed for Atlanta. I rarely see television, so when I got on the plane and had my own TV, I was interested in watching new movies. So, I started a movie and fell asleep in about 1.2 seconds. I slept until we were about 2 hours away from Atlanta. I woke up, started to watch another movie, then the plane landed with about 2 minutes left in the film, so I missed the final scene! GREAT!

Real culture shock set in when I got to the Atlanta airport. First, everyone was speaking English. Second, everyone is FAT in America. Third, there are more restaraunts than necessary in the A terminal of the Atlanta airport, thus the overabundance of overweight people. Fourth, I could flush the toilet paper down the toilet. Fifth, there were actually paper towels in the bath rooms to dry your hands and more than that, there was actually running water. I, of course, used the hand dryers because I don't believe in wasting paper, but I digress. Let's see, next I sat in the DC airport and listened to the news about the winter storm on CNN and about Cheney shooting his hunting partner in the face! What an idiot.

Sidenote about Dick Cheney: You mean to tell me that this man is responsible for running our country? Now I know I want to get back to Cape Verde - and fast! I mean, I even took hunter's saftey in junior high and know enough to always know where your hunting partner is at all times. Sounds like a conspiracy to me. I can hear it now, "Hey Bill, let's go hunting together." "Sounds good Dick, see you in the morning." "Oh, Bill why don't you head over there and stir up some quail for me to shoot." "If you say so Dick, you're the Vice President after all, so I trust you." Next thing you know, Dick shot the poor guy in the face and he didn't even die, which I'm sure wasn't calculated into the plan.

Returning to my story of culture shock. I got into a cab after landing safely in DC an hour late. I got to my hotel room! I got to watch some television last night. Thank goodness there were great programs like the Bachelor: Paris on! I went to the grocery store and just stared at everything. I had an almost impossible time deciding what to buy. I finally got a pre-made ceasar's salad and some grapes and called it quits. In Cape Verde, if you want bread, you just get the one loaf that's there. If you want cheese, there's only one kind (if they have it at all). In America, they have 500 of each thing. It's ridiculous. So, after my mildly successful trip to the grocery store and after spending an hour just walking around and looking at everything, I got back to my room.

I finally got to shower. A nice warm shower was wonderful. Even better than that were the washers and dryers in our hotel. Even though I had to pay about a million dollars to use them, my clothes are SUPER CLEAN. Hand washing sucks and it doesn't get your clothes all that clean (espcially the way I do it, I am too lazy to scrub). The dryer was heavenly! My clothes all shrank back to their proper sizes! It was awesome. My jeans actually fit again, mostly! It was excellent!

Now I'm at the Peace Corps office where I can make free phone calls to anyone in the US. SO, send me an email with your number if you want me to call you. You can also call me at the Virginian Suites hotel. The number there is (703)522-9600. Just ask for me at the front desk. I meet with the specialist today at 1:00 to decide my Peace Corps fate! Once I know more about that, I'll post again! Txau!