Where Am I?

It's hard to believe I'm in America. My Google News is still set for Australia and I'm still getting culture shock. Today's symptoms:

1. People standing on the right, walking on the left, on the escalator on the Metro. In Sydney, you stand on the left and walk on the right.

2. Big honking American appliances. I just finished looking at an apartment and it had these huge (and inefficient) American brand washer and dryer.

3. Big honking American cars. Sure, Australia has SUVs, even the detestable Hummer, but much much fewer than we have here. It really is amazing how big the cars here are. What will happen to them all, now that gas is $4 a gallon?

4. The permanent underclass thing. You know, the homeless, the addicts and alcoholics, the criminally oriented. It exists in Australia, too, especially the junkies, but it isn't so big there, at least not in my neighborhood. Walking to the apartment on Capitol Hill, I passed a strange-o inside the Metro, two at the top of the escalator to the outside, and one in the little park at the intersection of 8th St SE and Pennsylvania Ave SE.

5. So many people at work are asking me, "Are you back?" to which I typically respond, "You're not hallucinating." I plan to work toward getting my assignment in Sydney again, but how long it will take to unfold is a complete uncertainty.