- Minnesotans still proudly rock the ‘socks and sandals’ look (picture above of our friend Don sporting his combo at the cabin)
- Everyone has a fancy phone and no one knows how to use them
- There is a SERIOUS problem with obesity in the states
- Food experiences fail to live up to the idealized memory I had in my head
- Overbooking your schedule = Unnecessary stress
- Things are not as fun without your husband to enjoy them with
- The excessive amount of road construction here mitigates the initial pleasure of driving again
- Never assume that Minnesota weather will follow normal patterns (2/3 of what I packed is unwearable due to temps)
- The financial crisis is impacting people in very real ways – 60+ year old women working at Banana Republic, Sale signs EVERYWHERE, more tragedies in the last 2 months than I’ve heard of in years
- ‘Minnesotan Nice’ is still alive and well – even a recession can’t destroy that :)
My dad is proud to rock the “socks and sandals” every day…I hear you on that one.
Sarah – I’m totally with you on the food thing. I have to say that most of the food in the U.S. was pretty blah and in fact at a couple really fancy places – it was awful. Not sure if that means the food in Congo is really that much better or I’ve just gotten used to it here. So glad you are having a great time at home though!
Well said, Sarah. Thanks for the warning/preview in preparation for our trip back to MN!
Re: #4 -isn’t that weird how you remember something tasting soooo luscious and then when you actually taste it again it just doesn’t live up to that memory – think it may have something to do with the actual moment of the memory – who you were with, what you were doing that made the tasting so much better. But nonetheless – just weird!
It’s Friday, and that means that the Weekly State Department Blog Roundup is up – and you’re on it! 


Here is the link:

 http://cyberbones.blogspot.com/2010/09/weekly-round-up.html
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Hm…the food thing scares me. I want good food!
I’ve definitely had ones that met expectations, I was just surprised by the ones that let me down!