hi america

i'm in california! it's interesting and strange to be here after two years, because at the same time it's perfectly normal. but i have noticed a few interesting things since being back.

i remember when coming back from japan to the US when i was younger that i especially noticed how open everything was, and the roads seemed huge! that makes sense coming from living in japan since all japanese roads are quite small. this time the roads didn't seem big, because chinese roads were big (even though i just came from japan, but i've gotten myself used to the way japan looks now). i did notice how wide open everything seemed though. driving on the freeway from san francisco to turlock, there are just all these open spaces. crazy.

and i think the rolling yellow hills are beautiful. you may think, "look at all that dead grass..." but they look beautiful to me. and the windmills on them are familiar.
ok so i didn't actually get pictures of the windmills...those are power lines.

here there are hay bales.

when i got off the plane, i was thinking, yay america! which surprised me. usually i don't think such things. then i saw a bunch of american people going through customs and was brought more down to earth. i also thought, how weird these people dress. you'd think chinese people dress weird, but i'm used to the way they dress. strange american clothes!!! i think i'm developing a taste for chinese fashion and prefer it. haha!

i was slightly shocked when driving home, my dad stopped the car in front of a cross walk just because someone had barely stepped into the road. what?? cars do that? i realized that when i drive, that may be the mistake i make. i'm sure i'll be able to drive fine and follow all the rules of the road and drive on the right side of the road (in japan they drive on the left), but if anything confuses me i bet it will be how to drive around pedestrians. i'm used to being a pedestrian in china, and that is my concept of how pedestrians should act now!

i went in the grocery store only to buy milk (i'll buy other important food things later), and my mom told me to go to the self checkout since i only had one thing. self check out??? i felt so dumb that i didn't know how to use the thing! and it was like a robot in the grocery store, which is kind of cool. also, signing for a credit card was weird.

one thing i wondered before i got here is if i would feel like i had to take my shoes off when i got to my parents' house. i didn't. in my parents' house, leaving my shoes on if i want was normal. i felt weird wearing them in the house later though and took them off. but when i went to a friend's house, i definitely almost took my shoes off when i was standing in their doorway! but i caught myself and didn't. =)

the other thing i've been noticing is super nice houses everywhere. it's like everyone in turlock has a nice house in the suburbs with yards with mowed grass and trees and everything. crazy. do these people know what nice houses they live in?? and yards! amazing.
i also notice specific things that make houses nice on the inside, like nice tiling and countertops and lovely carpet throughout the house. people have gorgeous wooden bookshelves. my parents have great water pressure! they also have nice faucets, and they have a garbage disposal?? i forgot about those. their dishwasher is crazy nice, and their oven and stove too. wow. amazing appliances!

also, the reason i'm writing this right now: hello jetlag. last night, my first night back in the US (my plane landed around noon), i was tired and was trying to convince myself i needed to stay awake until 8 PM or so. until around 5 PM suddenly i wasn't tired anymore. so i was relieved, i thought, this will be easier. 9 PM: i'm not really tired, though i feel like i should be. 11 PM: my body is exhausted but i'm still not really sleepy. i read until i felt sleepy and went to sleep at midnight. i hadn't slept much on the airplane either. when i finally went to bed, i was technically laying down to take a nap at 4 PM japan time, so going to sleep at midnight felt weird. i woke up at 8:30 AM, and thought, perfect, i will get up now. then i woke up around 12:30 PM. oops. i officially now have jetlag. and 12:30 PM here is something like 4:30 AM japan time... i felt super confused!! now it's almost 1:00 AM and i'm not tired at all. i will have to try reading myself to sleep again! good thing i'm on SUMMER VACATION!!!! :D