Things I Miss, Things I Don't

Two things happened to me recently: I just returned from a three-week trip to the U.S., and friend of mine in the blogging world (and the real world), Melanie Jennings, just "tagged" me in a more sedentary but just as fun adult version of the kids' game. So combining the two experiences, I'm going to play--who doesn't like to be "it"?

So I have to:

• link to the person who tagged me
• post the rules on the blog
• write six random things about myself*
• tag six more bloggers at the end of the post
• leave a comment on the blogs to let the bloggers know they've been tagged
• let the tagger know when my entry is posted

* Random information has its place, but since this blog is mostly about my experience living in Ecuador, I thought I'd list the surprising things I do and don't miss about living in the U.S. Having just returned, I now remember . . .


1. I do miss Alaskan Amber Ale, and a handful of other good microbrews. I'm not a beer fanatic by any stretch, but drinking Pilsener (the watered-down Budweiser-esque Ecuadorian beer that is the only thing available in Tena) week in and week out tends to deaden the tastebuds.

2. I don't miss advertising. Of course we have ads in Ecuador, but not on the table tops at the food court, and not on the outside of the jetway ramps at the airport (fly into George Bush International Airport in Houston and you'll see what I mean), and not on the sidewalks. Nor do we have big billboards (except shameless self-promotion for the local government's great construction projects) marring the stunning vistas.

3. I do miss The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. For those of you who are fans, no further explanation is required. I don't know if that kind of humor would go over well among Ecuadorians, but there is certainly a cast of politicians here who would make great fodder for an Ecuadorian version of Jon Stewart.

4. I don't miss straight hair, much. A few friends commented when I was in the States, "Oh, your hair is so nice and curly!" Although I appreciated the compliment, I was disappointed (and technically, gentle readers, it was "wavy"), having spent an hour blow-drying and luxuriating in the fact that for a few weeks I would be in a climate that wouldn't make my hair look like an electrified q-tip. But the futility of trying to keep my hair straight in 90% humidity is helping me reach a state of quasi-Buddhist acceptance of my hair's place in nature, and keeping my hair dryer coiled up in the corner of my medicine cabinet is an attempt to adapt to my environment. It's a growth experience.

5. I do miss technology. A friend of mine in San Francisco showed me his new iPhone, and I was dazzled. All the pretty pictures! Only lawyers, politicians, and bankers can afford the iPhone in Ecuador. Money is scarce here, but time is plentiful, so we spend it waiting in line at the bank, the electric company, the water company. We spend far too much of it getting people to follow through on what they say they will do. Automation technology, if it were implemented across major institutions throughout the country, would free up time to make us more productive of course, but it would also free us from the stress of dealing with smug bureaucrats.

6. I don't miss technology. On the other hand, I almost never have to punch through the options on a phone tree. I never speak to someone at a call center on the other side of the globe. I never get into fights any more with the insurance claims adjusters who lied about the status of my claims so the company could delay payment. In Ecuador, people can't hide behind technology as an excuse not to do their jobs, and companies can't use technology to obfuscate their customers until they give up demanding the service they were promised. And the fact that most of us don't have iPhones or that level of consumer technology means we're not multi-tasking as much, which at least in my case means less chatter in my head and more room for thinking, not to mention eavesdropping on the chatter of people in line at the bank.

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Now, who's "it"? Jeremy King, Susan King, Susan Ito, Chris Canaday
Those are all the bloggers I know . . .