The land of the few and the home of the toilet

I'm sure you're all wondering, did I make it? Yup. My plan worked. I slept for most of the car ride to Shanghai. We made it to the outer edge of Shanghai (about 575 km) in prob approx 5.25 hours of real driving because we stopped two or three times for prob 75 min…my uncle drove insanely fast. On the highway, he was probly avging 150, driving btwn 140-180 km an hour, which is like 80-115 mph. And I can't say for sure, but at least on the outside, the rest stops in China have been renovated and are a huge upgrade from years past, but that's only b/c they were THAT bad. Like scarringly bad.

I spent the first few hours of the Tokyo-Narita à Detroit flight worrying about what to declare on the customs form and then worrying about if I had made the right decision to declare food, but then I was so excited to come back to America that I couldn't sleep for the last 3/4 of the flight back (and none of the flight to RDU) even tho I went to sleep btwn 230 and 3 and woke up at 5 to go to the airport and stopped worrying about getting all my luggage confiscated at customs. (BTW, I got thru w/o having my bags checked at all! =DDD)

After today, I have been back in the US for a week, and god it feels good to be back. Not that China was bad, but I forgot how amazing Chapel Hill is and how I'm so used to American life. I'd tell everybody in China that back home, the skies are always blue…but I hadn't been in Chapel Hill for so long that I forgot and was wondering if 1. I was exaggerating and 2. If that's even possible. Let me tell you, 1. I was not exaggerating and 2. It is possible. I love waking up and not having to wonder what color the sky's gonna be. Even when it's 95 out here, it's a dry 95 and feels better than 85 in Beijing/Shanghai/Linyi.

Other than the weather, other adjustments/differences/observations during the week about life here vs. china:

1. YELLOW (freestone) PEACHES. Oh how I've missed you so much. I think I've ate like 40 some since I've got home because I think I averaged at least 5 a day…mmmm
   
2. It's weird not having to log on to the Princeton VPN everytime I want to use the internet and weird not taking a picture of everything that I eat at a restaurant now…
   
3. Nothing tastes as good…I really want mapo tofu and kungpao chicken, but it's still inferior to a restaurant in china. Sigh.
   
4. Where did all the people go? When there's a "crowd" on Franklin, it doesn't seem like a lot.
   
   1. It was weird (and nice) that I didn't have to be paranoid about if the car next to you was gonna cut you off.
      
5. I love you harris teeter. So I haven't actually gone to the grocery store at 11 pm this time b/c of my (possible) jetlag that makes me insanely sleep around 9 pm, but I love how I don't have to go to the grocery store before 9 pm to get milk. I also love how the fridge at home is full.
   
6. People saying bless you after you sneeze.
   
7. Everything seems so close now. After traveling for an hour by subway/bus/walking/car to get almost anywhere worth going to, everything is pretty much within a 10 min drive!
   
8. I love not being afraid of the ground (outside and inside) anymore, esp because now I don't feel compelled to wash my feet when I come home after wearing flip flops outside. I could lie on the road in my neighborhood and not feel like I was dirty.
   
9. Great customer service. Customer service in china was abs horrible/pretty much non existent. More on this later.
   

I wonder how long these habits/opinions will last for before I become accustomed to life in the US again.