Things We've Noticed

When we moved to Asia, my grandmother sagely advised that we note things that seemed unusual to us, because after a while they might seem routine.

It seemed impossible at the time.

But we duly noted:

• the grandma catching a ride in her husband's wheel barrow
• the small motorcycle/tricycles piled impossibly high with Styrofoam for recycling
• and the men who would ride up and down the street playing a recorded message from the megaphone dangling from their handle bars, seeking old appliances: computers/air conditioners/refrigerators... their plea for appliances droning loudly from tinny speakers.

So now, as we return to this land and set up our life here again, we note the things that seem unusual ....

When did ...

Every label start having both Spanish and English?

I love it! It's like having flashcards everywhere. (This was a technique some of my friends employed when learning Mandarin, carefully labeling light switches, and appliances with their name in pin yin.) Even in our little white bread community, pages from the Mathematics workbooks are coming home with English on one side and Spanish on the other. In an odd way it makes me feel more settled, our world is remaining somewhat diverse. And, I'm hoping with a little time and effort the 'Spanish flashcards' on everything from my dish soap to Math homework, will help me brush up on my rusty skills from High School Spanish. It's like a free language lesson!!

High School basketball begin to require three referees?

Menard's start selling groceries?

Grocery carts get so big?

When did Everything (everyone?) get bigger?

I have seen baseball sized garlic (aptly named elephant garlic... but does it taste like garlic or elephants?), unusually large (and presumably tasteless) cucumbers ...

Bei Bei commented the other day about the number of kiddos who wear 'pants like pajamas' to school. Is this a dumbing down of dress or, as MGJ suggested (in whispered tones -- which I found thoughtful and discrete, not demeaning) Are some kids unable to fit into pants with zippers? (And before you get up in my grill, I do realize there is a need to insert an "Hello Pot, I'm Kettle, you're black" here. To that end, and in an effort at full disclosure, I will also share here that I outfitted myself with a pair of dashing grey sweatpants for our painting endeavors at The Bungalow, and promised Mr Johnson, before he had time to express any chagrin, that under no circumstance would I leave the house clad in elephant toned, elastic waist pants!!)

And speaking of grills, have you seen the size of vehicle grills in Middle America? Hiding, not so discretely, engines with names like Hemi and Allison, with seating for eight and gas mileage in the single digits. I now completely understand why there was an outcry about Obama's kabash on off shore drilling ... nobody wants to pay more at the pump when they are fueling up 30 gallons (114 L) at a time.

When did said vehicles start prominently displaying so many slogans and vinyl decals?

I have a moderate toleration for bumper stickers, as growing up my father loved to embellish the family 'grocery getter' with nuggets like 'I heart my gas hog' or the little fake switch inside, next to the headlight knob that read, 'activate rocket launcher.' I can even respect a subtle campaign sticker ... candidates name and election year.

However, I married into a family without an affinity for car stickers. Mr Johnson distinctly recalls going out to the carpark in the Wisconsin Dells after watching the Tommy Barlett show, only to discover that the clever marketing people at the Dells had plastered a Tommy sticker to every bumper in the lot. My father-in-law, the senior Mr Johnson, spent the better part of 30 minutes removing the adhesive ad. And I have to say I kind of agree... after spending a good chunk of your annual wage on a vehicle, it doesn't make a lot of sense to 'bling it up' with a $2 sticker.

So we have never had an "support the troops" ribbon magnet, "Can you imagine what that does to the paint color, it doesn't fade along at the same rate as the other paint," Mr Johnson carefully explained. No bumper stickers for us either. So, as I'm sure you've guessed, we're not going to add vinyl stickers of our family as stick figures to our back window, even if we go to Disney World or get six cats.

Yes... I shamelessly stood in a Target parking lot and took this picture.

Click below to see a witty shot on a blog I follow:

http://jedsmommy.blogspot.com/2010/10/oy.html