back in the USA

i'm back in the US for most of the summer, and i feel like i actually have something interesting to write about!  (that i am allowed to write about on a blog....unfortunately, most of the stuff i find interesting that happens in my life is not something i should write about on a blog...)
but anyway, here are some of my observations since being back a bit more than 1 day so far:

• driving makes me feel rich.  also, it felt weird to drive for the first time after 2 years.  i was worried i would be this super careful slow driver, but after a little while, it just felt normal again.
• so this re-confirms that i do like driving.  but i feel no desire to ever own a car again.  too much responsibility!  but if i lived anywhere suberby-like here where my parents live, i guess i would have to own a car again.  but, no need to worry about that right now!
• i realized when i was in the store that i don't really look at people.  in china i think i often don't look at people because if i do, i will just see them staring at me, and i don't want to think about the fact that pretty much everyone is staring at me.  here i found when i did look at a person, they often smiled at me or said something nice, which was slightly shocking.  i'm used to stares or questions about where i am from or laughing and comments that they think i can't understand or just exclamations of "foreigner!!"
• i've seen a few things that make me think of chinese english in china, things that i would take a picture of if i was there.  i wanted to take a picture of "butt cream" that i saw in walmart.  seriously???  i think it was for babies, but the product is actually called that!  also, my dad has some powdered mustard seasoning stuff that is called "Ground Double Superfine Mustard."  i know what they mean by "superfine" but it also sounds hilarious.  it's probably so old that it wouldn't have sounded funny.
• being in the US this time doesn't feel as weird as it has in the past.  i guess i'm used to going back and forth more.  it feels more like one more cultural experience.  it doesn't feel like home.
• oh, and i went to renew my driver's license today because it will expire while i'm in china, and i had to take a written test because i'm renewing the license so early--passed the test with no studying at all and only 1 wrong answer!