So, yes, I got back fine and well.  Was SOOOO happy to be home.  The US just feels so different and I am for sure proud to be Canadian now...  Just because we speak the same language, look alike, watch the same tv shows and participate in the same pop culture, drive the same cars, share a border, and have the same voltage coming out of our walls really does not make us the same.

First, I gotta say their grocery stores rock!!  I ate aerosol cheese on almost everything- that stuff is a hoot and I miss it already.  There is alot of stuff there, even in small towns that we can't get here- more flavours and varieties of items that we do have, and completely different brands, too.  It's also nice to just get stuff off the shelf without have to wade through French labelling.  No offense, but it is annoying to have to read a language I don't really understand when I'm in a hurry, I'm sure many French people have the same complaint.

Then there's other stuff that wasn't so cool.  Billboards everywhere- big and glossy and completely in your face- and  the top two categories seemed to be religion based or for 'gentleman's clubs', both sporting the stars and bars.  I'm sure there's a message in there about the mix of consumerism, God, patriotism and the sex trade.... What do they worship and is the medium still the message in this case?

The stark contrast between the wealthy and the poor.  The rich were so very very rich, the poor lived in mobile homes that should have been tore down 20 years ago, the roofs covered in tarps held down by old tires.  And this wasn't an isolated home, I saw many many inhabited houses like this throughout the trip.  A good example would be in Texas.  In Dallas-Ft Worth and in Houston, I saw Hummer limos, luxury car and bike dealerships, classic Mustang and Corvette dealerships on nearly every corner.  Lots of upscale shopping and beautiful homes.  But to do the delivery in Houston, we had to go to a poorer, out of the way area, where windows might be made out of cardboard in houses, the school had a fence with razer wire, and we saw a vandalized and now useless semi tractor in a back lot.  Didn't see much inbetween.  Downtown Houston was breathtakingly beautiful... if you looked past the empty storefronts, the poverty and signs of recession all around.  If you got past the guilt of suddenly feeling like you were better off than over half of the population that you could see.  I always thought that I believed in self reliance and capitalism, but I suddenly had a new appreciation for the social services available to just about every Canadian.

Racism.  Wow.  I am guilty of having some judgements based on race, mostly because of experiences working in customer service... stuff like expecting to be treated poorly because of a cusotmer's culture not treating women well, expecting to have to haggle on prices, expecting to have difficulty communicating, or being less than impressed by different hygiene standards.  I work hard to ignore that stuff, but it did develop from having those experiences repeated many times, and I was always happy when my initial reaction was proven wrong.  Not something I'm proud of, but I deal with it.  In the states, I saw segregation of races that I didn't think existed anymore.  Go into some areas and see nothing but black faces or nothing but white faces.  A hairdresser told me (quite openly) about how she doesn't care for serving foriegners- Canadians don't really count, btw, but mainly the 'towel heads'.  (My thoughts 1- some of them may have been born there, 2- when would a hairdresser have a turban wearing customer?).  She then proceeded to tell me how she likes the Martin Lawrence show, but it's okay, because there are some white people in it.  She was quite comfortable sharing her views with me and it was all just a matter of fact.  Like, OMG, WTF????!!!!!!! I have never heard people just talking about being a flaming racist before as if it were a no bigger deal than the weather.  I have heard about it but it so different when it's right in front of you.

Information.  I watched the news a couple times down there.  Did you know that R-Calf is just trying to protect Americans and if the border is open to beef that the US will become a dumping ground for tainted meat?  Did you know that the US is a world leader in beef raising practises and testing for BSE?  I didn't know that either, must be why it tasted so gamey- better practises and all.  Also, everyone is out to get them so watch out, lock the doors, just say no to foreign trade, drugs and the boogey man.  They are really good at getting half the story across on the tv news. 

Sure, Canada is not perfect, we do have poverty, homelessness and the uninformed.  But, as a whole, we have a much more open and tolerent society, who generally tries to care for it citezens.  We look outward more, past our own noses and borders.  We try to have an understanding of how the world works, of how our past has brought us to where we are today, and where we will be in the future.  Canada is one of the most wired countires in the world... we learn, we travel, we care, we participate.  I am glad to be home.

Or I'm making too big a deal of this, and should buy some salvation from a stripper wearing a flag.