Back in America

We've been back for almost 24 hours now. I thought I would list a few things on the blog that really stood out to me.

• I don't think I have "climatized" to the Thai heat yet. It's much cooler in Texas, and I'm loving it! Rusty's a little bit cool.
  
• It was nice to hear the customs official say, "Welcome home." Even though we live comfortably in Thailand, there was just something about hearing him say it.
• I kept having people help me at the Los Angeles airport, and then they would ask for some kind of donation. That was new to me.
• People complimented me on my accent. They said I still had the southern accent.
  
• I guess there are new rules for flights entering the United States. Our flight attendants to Los Angeles informed us that due to American flight regulations we were not allowed to stand up and congregate with the other passengers. Rusty and I had never heard that one before.
• When we flew into Los Angeles, Rusty noticed seeing the green baseball fields and that the city is laid out in squares with straight streets.
• We thought our flight in DFW was going to be delayed. So Rusty asked the lady at the boarding counter for another flight that was boarding, and she just changed our tickets. It was so quick, and we didn't have to go to three places to have it done.
• We had Marines with us on our flight to DFW. The stewardess made an announcement thanking them for their service to our country, and people clapped.
• The leaves are changing color in Texas!
• There were no signs in the restrooms telling me to not throw my toilet paper in the toilet.
• Changing from the word toilet to restroom in America. When I asked where the restroom was in Taipei, she corrected me with toilet. In America all of the signs say restrooms.
• Thailand is much more convenient in hotel service. They provide you with bottled water. We've been in America for almost 24 hours, and I'm about to die of thirst. All of the drink machines in the hotel are broken, and there isn't a convenience store near us. This would not happen in Thailand. Where is my 10 Baht bottle of water????
• Restrooms are cleaner in the Asian airports.
• I miss the special Thai greeting. The wai and the sawatdii kha/khrap. Hello is just not the same.
  

That's about all for now. I may have more to list later.