Culture Shock and looking forward

The past week has been a bit rough for the India cohort. Kevin and I are both attempting to recover from our respective illnesses, last week's 6-day work week felt longer than usual, and the American Independence Day came and went without any break. All that has made us a textbook case of foreign travelers experiencing culture shock. We all still have really enjoyed the trip--don't get me wrong--but sometimes we just miss America a little bit. So to feel better about ourselves, we came up with a list of things we're looking forward to when we return to the United States. Without further ado, here it is:

1. Hamburgers
2. Hot showers
3. Coffee with caffeine
4. Driving my car
5. Bathrooms that don’t stink
6. Sandwiches that are actual sandwiches, not just two (small) pieces of bread
7. Fast-loading internet videos
8. Being understood the first time I speak
9. Communicating with waiters properly
10. Serving yourself at restaurants
11. Not being the only girl in either a sari/salwar kameez
12. Wearing shorts
13. No more head-wobbling
14. Soft bed
15. Air conditioned gym
16. Air conditioning everywhere
17. No more 6 day workweeks
18. Understanding what’s going on around you/being able to eavesdrop on people’s conversations
19. Being punctual. Enough said.
20. Drinking tap water
21. No more converter plugs
22. Being able to straighten your hair
23. Traffic laws.
24. American cable news networks
25. American newspapers
26. Not having to convert money
27. Not having random power outages
28. Other people understanding your humor
29. Transformers/Megan Fox
30. My own room
31. Waking up in the morning and not aching
32. My own pillow
33. Swimming
34. Not having to avoid all dogs
35. Family & friends
36. Social life
37. Not being stared at all the time
38. Not having hacker guy at work
39. Receiving phone calls
40. Being on Facebook when everyone else is on Facebook
41. Food that isn’t predominately in sauces/American food
42. Steak.
43. Fresh fruit
44. Not having to take malaria pills
45. General health
46. American television
47. Normal malls
48. Movies that don’t have intermissions
49. Pandora & Netflix & streaming online TV
50. Not having cricket dominate your sports stations
51. Church.
52. Going out in the sun
53. Clothes that stay the same size
54. Doing your own laundry
55. Having a larger wardrobe
56. No more hand sanitizer
57. Cold cut sandwiches
58. Larger living space
59. Not having to lock stuff up every day
60. Being able to keep my keys
61. Mobility
62. Independence
63. Honey Bunches of Oats
64. Real American breakfast
65. Variety in food
66. Not having to eat out every night
67. Home-cooked meals
68. Cookies (chocolate chip)
69. Swirll
70. Normal text messages and phone plans/having my own cell phones
71. Not having advertising calls in Marathi
72. Not being constantly compared to Brandon and Neil
73. Toilet paper
74. Real bathrooms
75. Normal night life
76. Music that we can sing along to on the radio
77. No more freaking car horns
78. Stop lights
79. Cleaner air
80. Taking a leisurely stroll on the sidewalk
81. Being able to run outside
82. Being alone
83. Being able to see more than just three other Americans
84. Not having to deal with the saturated drum-selling market
85. Being able to call people without thinking about the time difference
86. Not having to use Skype to call anymore
87. Not having to wake up as early
88. Not having to sit in the car for over 2 hours every day
89. Not having to monitor water supply every day
90. Bath rugs
91. Not having toilets scream at us
92. No more mothballs
93. Not having to wear dress clothes every day
94. Not having to be on the look-out for mosquitos
95. Fountain drinks/free refills
96. Knives
97. Not having to lug around heavy briefcases every day
98. Trash cans/recycling
99. Racial diversity
100. Normal/memorable names