Thursday, January 10, 2013

Leaving the US.. again

We left the US to head back to KL on January 8th, after 8 weeks of spending time with our family & closest friends.  I have to admit... being back in the US, after living in Asia for 10 months, was just as much of a culture shock as moving to KL!

Ryan and I both kept saying how shocked we were.. just by the smallest things we used to take for granted living in Dallas. Just the ease of life in general - here are a few examples:

1) going through a drive thru when you're hungry or thirsty
2) using your credit card for EVERYTHING ($1 bill = not a problem!)
3) the ease & convenience of the postal system (nobody mails anything in SEA..it just disappears)
4) how much you can accomplish in one afternoon; we ran errands and got everything done in a few hours.. that wouldn't taken days (or weeks if you can't find the product) in KL
5) how nice & considerate people are to each other
6) the cleanliness of everything - restaurants, playgrounds, professional offices, etc..
7) not being nickled & dimed for everything - in Asia we're expected to pay for napkins at restaurants, refills on all drinks, parking fees everywhere you go, even going to the restroom at some buildings!

The list goes on... it was hard to think about going back to Asia after you get "spoiled" for a few weeks in the US.

But then we started thinking about the things we missed - our friends, our amazing condo and spending breezy nights by the pool, being only a 1 hr flight from gorgeous beaches, Madison definitely missed her school and her friends, we ALL missed our lovely maid Josie!  Leaving the family was hard, especially my sister and her new baby girl Novella, but we hope to have some more/new visitors in 2013, and showing them all the GOOD things Asia has to offer!