How I love America, let me count the ways.....

Well, my last post wasn't quite Thanksgiving enough themed, but I was kind of in a rush and love that sign, haha.

I'm back in America getting ready for Thing 1 and Thing 2 to drop. I came back a week earlier than planned and have been able to have a sort of mini vacation before the end of days, er, the birth comes. After that, it'll be babies, babies, and babies, plus SA, all the time, so prepare your Google feed!

I've been back for about a week and it's the first few days, when still trying to get over the 24 hours of travel, not sleeping for two days, the jet lag, and the airplane/port food that you really start to appreciate America.

In no official order, these are the things I am thankful for in America:

1. Crunch Berries. Who knew that Cap'n Crunch and Trix would be so good together?!? Also, have you seen they now sell "Oops! All Berries". Brilliant. But I prefer by berries with some Cap'n.

2. Chicken Wings. Had a dozen chicken wings (while watching SEC football, mind you) last night for dinner. The chicken wing supply in America probably kills more chickens per capita and uses enough chickens to feed the rest of the world. And for that I say, God Bless, America. Yes, chicken wings do exist elsewhere in the world, but no one does them as big or tasty.

3. 100 mindless tv channels. Where we are staying only has the "basic" tv package, so we only get about 100 channels, hahaha. But now I am getting caught up on all kinds of important things and people I didn't even know existed. Storage Wars, The Virgin Diaries, and did you know there is an ESPN3? We don't get it, but I wonder how many hours of poker they must show a day?!?!?

4. Almost instantaneous Netflix turnaround times. No more waiting a full month from watching to receiving a replacement movie. Now, as soon as I place the movie in the mailbox (sometimes I swear before the mailman even comes!), Netflix sends me an email telling me my next movie is coming! I'm tempted to just mail back movies I'm just not in the mood for tonight to get them back by the end of the week it's so fast here! 'No, not feeling Bridesmaids tonight, but mail it back and we'll just get it again and watch this Friday!' Maybe Netflix should run the ENTIRE postal system!

5. Walmart. Ok, I hate Walmart. Walmart is like the hot, popular girl/guy in school who sometimes seems like your good friend and might hook up with you, only to disappear for weeks or months before talking to you again, then totally convincing you that being too busy for you for all that time is no big deal. I mean, where else can I buy my Crunch Berries, underwear, Pepsi, shampoo, a dvd, stockings (for hanging on the mantle), and Legos all under one roof? And those prices! I feel like the Target Lady in those SNL skits every time I walk in there now. "Look! They have peanut butter covered socks and a DVD of the Cars' Greatest Hits Videos for $4.99! Yippee!"

6. Cheap food. Two blog posts down, I talked about eating for $2-3 per meal in Cote d'Ivoire and how great the food was. This is true, but the wide selection of cheap food, not to mention the quantity you can buy all at once here is so disgusting it's awesome again. Food in this country is SOOOO cheap. Yeah, yeah, most expensive since like ever, unemployment, etc. But when I can buy a gallon of organic milk for $6, that is still a steal anywhere else in the world. In Dakar, I pay about $8-9 per gallon for the non-organic, gross long-life milk. And produce! Apples and oranges for less than $2 a pound?!?! That is practically free! I'm embarrassed to say how much I spend on imported South African Granny Smith apples in Dakar. And don't get me started on cheese. Sure, we Americans don't know a thing about cheese, but I'm pretty sure that most of it must bleed it. It's on everything we can buy. And it is oh, so good!

7. Wendy's new hamburger recipe. I read an article about this several months back about how Wendy's had spent untold time and money trying to make their burgers better over the past few years. They had tried just 20 different pickle combinations alone. I had my doubts b/c I loved Wendy's burgers. But let me tell you, the news ones are easily the best you can get from a chain east of the Rockies through a drive-thru.
There are more, but I should finish by adding that I did find a gym here! haha. After my last visit back where I gained 5 lbs in 20 days, I knew I'd need it more than ever, even if I have to do curls with a baby in each arm. Oh, and get this...It's only $10 to join and $10 a month! Sure, it isn't the coolest gym I've ever joined, but $10 a month? That's less than a $1 a visit! It's almost free, which is what my work gym in Dakar is. Although, this one does have more than one tv (20 I think), running water, a place to change, and not a funky smell in the air.

This must be how Eddie Murphy's character felt in Coming to America!