Bill Bryson, a “must read” author, writes about his return to America after living in Europe for 20 years and he talks about how he is now a stranger in his own country. We were not gone long enough to be completely out of touch with America or to be completely clueless on what is happening around us but the truth is that in our short time away we lost a piece of our old selves somewhere in the Middle East and we are coming back with new eyes that are gazing on unfamiliar scenes. I have been noticing little things like how Americans smile and say “hi” to each other, how they don’t use their horns when driving, how they will complain about the price of gas but still drive everywhere, and how so few Americans wear head coverings. These are subtle differences but in the spirit of Bill Bryson, I thought I would share occasional “I am a stranger here” moments as they come up.
Today I had my first “I am a stranger here” moment when I purchased some food with a $20 bill and received two $5 bills as change. I looked at the money and realized that she did not give me the correct change. She must of had some foreign currency in the register because I received some bills that were like nothing I have seen before. She looked at me strange when I explained her mistake and then received the news that our country decided to print new money this year. I have never seen the new $5 bills and did not even know we had plans for them so I was quite happy to look my country’s strange new currency. I was even happier to notice that we are finally adding color to our bills so they are now almost as interesting as some of the other currencies around the world. I was also happy that it did not matter that the Shekel is trading at 3.32 to the dollar.
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