Spend Yourselves: First World Solutions

Monday, November 30, 2015

First World Solutions

Having lived overseas for an extended period, I've done culture shock. Having returned from overseas after such periods, I'm also familiar with its cousin reverse culture shock. But this week, seeing the U.S. through the eyes of our Bolivian guest, Teolinda, I'm experiencing something different from both of those. What's the word for viewing your own world through new eyes? I think maybe the word should be "grateful."

Here in North America, we gripe about ridiculous things so often that our friends have to give us a reality check by reminding us of our "First World Problems." But what if, at least for a little while, before the Thanksgiving glow wears off, we didn't dwell on our First World Problems, but appreciated some serious First World Solutions. I don't flatter myself that #FWS is going to become a thing, but for a moment, I'd like to recognize just how good we have it.

Here are the things Teolinda has experienced for the first time this week:

Dishwasher - In the developing world, a dishwasher is a person with a sponge, and the water is so limited that it's only used to rinse the dishes. I'm still working on getting her to use it.

Clothes Dryer - When her sisters used to live with us in Bolivia, they washed their clothes by hand, a washer was a luxury, a dryer was unheard of. Now, she's intrigued by both commonplace appliances here. Not only, does the dryer save the time and effort of hanging things to dry, but she recognized right away the softness she'd been missing all along, and I'd been under-appreciating.

Self Check-Out - Do whaaat? She was pretty blown away by this First World Solution to long grocery store lines.

Expressways - Just days after Teolinda arrived in the U.S. we loaded her up in the car for our first road trip, to add Georgia to her list of the states she's visited. She was mesmerized by the roads. "Are all your roads like this? Where is the dirt?" Then with a chuckle, "All our roads have cows and chickens meandering on and around them..." Oh man, do we take our interstates for granted!

Heated Car Seats - Cause it is way too much to ask to wait 3.5 minutes for the rest of the car to heat up, we need our buns warmed immediately!

Crock Pot - I threw some spaghetti squash in the crock pot one of her first nights here, and totally forgot to tell her what I was doing. It wasn't till we were eating hours later, that I realized how confusing cooking by plugging a pot into the wall and leaving it all day, must seem.

Thanksgiving Dinner - Possibly the culinary definition of excess. We had 25 mouths to feed with our Thanksgiving feast, and afterwards, you could barely tell it had been touched. I tried hard to find a translation for "feast" in Spanish, but I don't even think Teolinda could wrap her head around having so much extra food, we never came up with a Latin equivalent.

Apple Pie - Appropriately, we introduced her to two of the most American things her first week here; Thanksgiving and Apple Pie. Apple Pie is definitely the solution to the first world problem of not having enough desserts to binge on after the most gluttonous meal of the year!

Pretzels - I don't even think she knew she needed a savory alternative to potato chips, but now she probably doesn't know how she lived so long without them.

Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels - As if pretzels didn't rock her world enough, then we introduced her to the peanut butter filled variety. #mindblown

Candy Corn - Turns out candy corn is not an acquired taste, Teolinda took to it straight away. Unfortunately, she's gonna have to wait almost a year to get another fix. #FWP (Never mind, Jon just reminded me you can get candy corn all year long. #FWS)

Ping Pong - Because we have dryers, dishwashers, crock pots, and paved roads saving us so much time, we have room in our schedules (not to mention our houses) for such a treat as table tennis.

Black Olives - Black olives may not fit perfectly into the first world solutions category, but they are certainly a luxury I am thankful for when reminded that Bolivia only has green olives.

Golf Carts - Not that walking around golf courses, or retirement communities is a struggle in developing countries, but a tiny car to get you to the grocery store, or the next tee, is an invention that should not be overlooked as an innovation that has saved many well... steps.

So, seriously, guys, let's quit our bellyaching and look around, we've got it pretty good. Let's look for things to rejoice in this season, and maybe like Teolinda's amazement at all our treasures, it will be contagious...