1st world

It's weird how all of the differences between cultures isn't really noticeable until you transition from one place to the other.  

Eating on the street with little stools and fold up tables, chopsticks and plastic bowls
Eating at my mothers wooden kitchen table with ceramic bowls and wine glasses

riding on the back of a pick up truck
riding in the passenger seat of a heated car

sleeping on a board with a 1 inch thick mattress
sleeping on a great big fluffy mattress with layers of blankets

women selling steamed corn and grilled banana from hanging baskets over their shoulders
Gigantic grocery stores 3 blocks away with anything you'd ever want to eat!

For me, I didn't notice the differences until we returned home to foods and things easily attainable here that people can't possibly afford in Asia.  Things we can take for granted and rely upon like working transportation, clean water and healthy food simply don't exist for other people in other parts of the world - how could they miss what they'll never know?

It makes the problems like obesity or bankruptcy here in the States unimaginable in my mind in comparison to the issues facing people else where....our only issues come from having access to things too easily???  It doesn't seem right, does it?

When we were in Laos, I began to tell a young Lao man my age about how old my car was in the States, how it was all rusted and beaten up and ready to die at any moment and began to say: "Never buy a Ford!  Go with a Nissan!" and Rodolfo looked at me, took me aside and whispered in my ear, "Sarah, he's never going to be able to buy a car!"

That realization definitely makes me appreciate everything that we have here in the States, but also makes me wonder what things we really need to live well and enjoy life...being from the 1st world, we have that choice!