Five Things That Surprise Me About Living in The USA...

I've been in the USA since April this year – about seven months solid now...I've been travelling pretty much that whole time, allllll over this vast country, from east to west and criss-crossing back again and again, giving raw food talks, spreading the message. While culturally there are clearly many overlaps between my native Britain and the USA, there are other things about life here that sometimes surprise me...I thought I'd share five of these here and would love to hear any feedback/comments any of you might love to share regarding these... ;)

1. Toilet Cubicles – one thing that has long baffled me about life in the USA is WHY public toilet cubicles seem to almost invariably have an approx. 1 inch gap around the door, so that people can easily view the toilet user through the gap if they want – and vice versa...I find this really bizarre and indeed have never seen this in any other country with such regularity – what IS this all about?
2. Diversity – this place is SO vast and sometimes I find it amusing that it's all lumped together into one 'country' (not that I'm very excited by borders/country definitions in general ;) The east coast reminds me often of Britain, with its quaint little towns, four seasons and older architecture...Florida seems like a totally different world with alligators, coconuts and rampant humidity, then there's the west coast with all its modernity, strip malls and enormous stretches of farmland...and that's not to mention the whole of the MIDDLE of this vast continent, with its mountains, flatlands, swamps and more...so much to explore ;)

on November the 14th I loved:

1 quart water
3 cups greeeeeeeeen juice: celery, cucumber, fennel, parsley, spinach, ginger, lime, apple
bowl of energy soup with fermented flax crackers on the side, followed by an apple
3 cups water
3 cups goji juice with Marine Phytoplankton and Merlin's Elixir
little plate of yummy desserts at a raw food potluck, including pumpkin pie and almond butter cookies: WOW :)
3 cups water

3. Invisible Natives – I'm surprised how little visibility there seems to be here of 'native' culture. The 'reservations' where native communities apparently now mostly live seem like a mystery to me, like a hidden parallel reality going on in this same land...I would LOVE to visit a reservation to see what is going on there...I'd also love to visit an Amish farm, as I find them kind of mysterious too – WHERE did this culture come from? We don't have 'Amish' people in Europe as far as I know – how did this come to be here? I'd love to know more abt these things, if anyone has anything to share... ;)

4. Patterns – virtually every house I've ever visited in the USA seems to have zip lock bags, mason jars and masses of pillows on the beds. Perhaps the zip lock bags and mason jars are raw foodie influences…what are all the pillows about though? There seems to be a pattern here to stack up at least five or more pillows onto beds…is this a cultural suggestion of comfort? Or to be able to watch TV in bed more cosily or…???
5. Dryers – it seems to me that almost everyone here dries their clothes using a dryer, regardless of the weather or where they live...this is definitely one of the oddest things about life here to me...in all my time here I think I recall ONE house that had a washing line outside to dry clothes and indeed many places actually have RULES in place that residents are NOT ALLOWED to dry clothes outside...HUH??? Dryers are hands–down usually the BIGGEST energy–sucking appliances in a household and they're not even NECESSARY in so many cases, with all the sunshine here...hence it really baffles me that more people don't seem to dry their clothes outside...I guess it's time to start an air–drying revolution ;)

Well, those are my reflections on surprises here for now – I'd love to hear your feedback – you can leave comments below, thanks ;)

on November the 15th I enjoyed:

1 quart water
2 cups greeeeeeeeeeen juice: celery, cucumber, fennel, parsley, endive, ginger, lime, apple
bowl of energy soup with samples of new raw essene breads on the side, followed by an apple
1 quart water
2 cups goji juice with Marine Phytoplankton
a few crudités with veggie dips followed by a little bowl of blended yum: pear, Sun Warrior powder, Irish Moss, mesquite powder, cinnamon, water, with some goji berry powder on the side and samples of a local raw chef's coconut macaroons, in NJ
3 cups water

on November the 16th I adored:

1 quart water
2 cups goji juice blended with camu powder
2 cups greeeeeen juice: celery, cucumber, spinach, parsley, ginger, lime
shared big salad with Mr. M covered in the amazing 'cheeze' sauce from Summer – WOW :) followed by an apple
1 quart water
1 cup beet/apple liver cleanser juice
bowl of blended yum: pear/ashwaganda/maca/Sun Warrior protein powder, mesquite powder, cinnamon, Irish moss, water, with goji powder on the side
3 cups water

Next weekend is the last weekend of the tour Mr. M and I are currently on, all over the USA – we speak in Maine and New Jersey and then we're DONE for a month – yeeeeeeeee–HAH :)
Sadly this weekend is also the same weekend that David Wolfe's 'Longevity Now Experience' seminar is happening over in California, so we won't be there to play in person, however, they have decided to STREAM this event live, for all those not able to be there in person – YAY :) So, you get to watch in on the events as they happen if you like, PLUS you can also re–watch the footage over and over again, whenever you like – yummy :) To get on board with the remote viewing of this seminar, click HERE and enjooooyyyyy some wild Wolfie insights ;)

All love,
Angela Stokes–Monarch. xxx