Returning to the US has been a little different this time around. Because of my illness (hyperemesis gravidarum), I was incredibly homesick, something I haven’t been since moving to the Regensburg area three years ago. Despite the doctors in the hospital thinking I should stay longer, I needed to come home (my ob/gyn agreed to the trip, and so did the doctors in the hospital after I told them my feelings on it). If you want to read more about my experience with excessive nausea in pregnancy, you can read about it in my latest post on Mamas Worldwide.
The first thing I noticed upon emerging into the open air at Washington Dulles, was the large number of humongous SUVs filling the parking lot (an SUV is what Germans refer to as Jeeps). I guess I’d thought things would be different now that SUVs were “out” and being green was “in”, but they were everywhere and they were even bigger than I remembered. But in the half month since I got here, well, in the two times I’ve managed to leave the house since arriving, I didn’t have the same feeling. The roads are full of mid-size cars. Thinking about it, it makes sense. My family has 6 sedans and 1 SUV for transporting food and equipment for my mom’s restaurant. What did they pick us up from the airport with? The SUV, so they could fit all our luggage in.
It’s also incredible the amount of prescription drug commercials TV viewers here are subjected to in a day. As someone who worked in the pharmaceutical industry, you might think I’d be happy about drug companies trying to increase their profits, but it’s the opposite. These commercials promote unnecessary drug use and hypochondria in my opinion, and I completely disagree with letting drug companies advertise. I always had problems with the marketing departments of pharmaceutical companies. I see that research and development is expensive (that’s the area I worked in), but I feel that drugs should not be marketed so aggressively. For me, there is a point where morality outweighs profits.
I’m not feeling much better, although I’m keeping more food down and have managed to gain back 8 of the 20 pounds I lost in the first trimester. I haven’t been out much, just visiting the supermarket on Christmas Eve and Target yesterday. I’ve canceled my New Years trip to New York, which I was really looking forward to. I was hoping to feel better already, but I guess posting will still be rare in the next few weeks.
Good news, I got a Nikon D5000 for Christmas and hope to be back to posting Weekly Winners as soon as I can. Unfortunately, HG makes working on the computer difficult. It’s hard to look at a computer screen for too long, I get nauseous.
Happy New Year! Hopefully 2010 will be a good year all around.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Christina, I’m so sorry to hear about how sick you’ve been. I hope you continue to feel better and put on weight while you’re with your family, I’m sure being with them is a relief in and of itself. Thinking of you and wishing a good slide into 2010!
I was going to make a similar posting in the next couple of days. There are always things that shock me when coming home. Living in Texas, the amount of HUGE trucks on the road are pretty shocking. Why do people living in the middle of a major city (Houston) need such gigantic trucks? Markus says it is to transport all those dead horses of theirs, but I tend to question that thinking.
One thing that always gets me though are public restrooms. Why, in such a puritan society such as the US, are there 1-2 inch gaps in the walls and the doors of the stalls? I’ve always wondered this, especially since people can just peek in…hmmmm…the wonders of the world. Hope you get to feeling a bit better so that you can get out of the house a bit more! And maybe, just maybe, well enough to go to Volt. 
.-= Jentry´s last blog ..The Sleep Sack =-.
Glad you got the camera — but more glad that we got to see you for a bit and have a play date. The boys were running around so much that we didn’t get to cover much ground in conversation!! LOL. Take care.
Sorry you had to cancel your trip. If it makes you feel any better, we’re only going around the corner for NYE — and probably going to be home and in bed by midnight
Our relatively high birthrate might be partly to blame for the preponderance of large vehicles. You’re legally required to put any child under 8-10 years in a big bulky child seat, and you can fit two of these at most in a compact car. I can deal with it, but I can also see how a lot of people take one look and decide they can’t live without the SUV.
Sorry you are still suffering, but hopefully it will ease as you get deeper into the second trimester. It sounds like being home helped. I managed to be sick the entire month of December (with only a possible mild pneumonia hanging on). I can’t imagine what you have been experiencing! I hope you get through it soon.
Happy New Year.
I have enjoyed reading your blog for a long time now. It is really a slice of heaven for me. I wish you well in 2010 and hope you feel better soon. Congratulations on your pregnancy and welcome back to the US.. I hope you continue blogging when you can. Your efforts bring a lot of happiness to so many people.
Glad to hear that at least you are able to keep food down better. That’s the first step to feeling better, right?
Excellent news on the camera, congrats! Let me know if you need any tips on the Nikon… I guess the D5000 has very similar menus/settings to my D90. I keep the picture mode on “Vivid” as it yields very colorful (yet still well-balanced) photos. Looking forward to your photos taken with it! Night shots should be great with a tripod.
Sorry about all the sickness, but congrats on the great new camera!
Even though I’m a total newbie to Germany and was only living here a month before I went home for Christmas week, I, too, was shocked at the size of the SUVs and trucks in America. And you’re also right about the bombardment of pharmaceutical commercials – I couldn’t believe it when I saw a ton of commercials for a drug that…grows your eyelashes!! They called it something like “inadequate eyelash syndrome” and of course at the end they listed all the side-effects, such as it can possibly change the pigmentation of your eye. Crazy.
.-= Jen´s last blog ..Post-Traumatic Christmas Market Disorder (PTCMD) =-.
Grazie mille! Questo articolo, me lo faccia sapere un sacco di cose che prima non ho capito!
My heart goes out to you Christina! I do hope the next couple of weeks pass by so that you can feel a bit more normal again.. At any rate, your little boy is so adorable and although it is a bit of a struggle right now, I think your new joy in your life will make up for the hard times you have been having!
Oh and those SUV’s, can’t stand them. Luckily here in Canada many more people drive cars, maybe minivans such as the Honda Oddessy and Hyundai Santa Fe. Of course Cars are more expensive in Canada and the tax is a lot higher…