Coming to America

We are in America for six weeks - stuff to do, people to see, etc.

For many, many olim, the trip to the US in the summer is expected.  It's almost like you ask, "When are you going?"  Instead of "Are you going?"

I'm not someone to wax lyrical and poetic over missing Israel, comparing the US to Israel, etc. etc.  I mean it is what it is.

But what I found amusing was that I hadn't realized how I had gotten used to the Israeli way of things after only 7 months (sounds like a little or sounds like a lot, depending who you, the reader, are):

1.  The magazines for sale are NOT covered in plastic
2.  I did a double take when I saw the cars - so many are not white and none are very dusty.
3.  I went into an airport store and didn't do my usual pre-thinking before I walked in - What do I want to ask for?  What is the right word?  How do I ask for it?  I just spoke!  English! 
4.  The...um...facilities - the...um...mechanism.....oh, let's just say it.  The Israeli flushers are all on the top of the  tanks.  The American ones are not.  Enough said.
5. I keep looking for the code pad before I start the car.
6.  I keep expecting the yellow and green traffic lights to blink together.
7.  Drivers are so polite!
8.  People wait in line.
9. I look at traffic signs and wonder what the Hebrew translation is.
10. The day after Shabbos will be - a real honest to goodness Sunday.

Then again, I do miss some things.  Tomorrow (Friday), for example, I can't go to a mall and see everyone buying food and flowers getting ready for Shabbos.  And the DJs on the radio don't wish you a Shabbat Shalom in between songs. 

And, well, Baltimore is lovely, and I grew up here and spent most of my life here, but over the past 7 monhths I've realized something. 

It's a nice place, but...........it's not home.