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May 08, 2006

Missing Things Stateside

Sarah of trying to grok has returned to the States after being in Germany. She is very excited since.....

Walmart became a symbol for everything that I missed about the United States: convenience, consumer choice, customer service, and buying a football at three in the morning.

Her post reminded me of something I had read in the past about the End of the Cold War. I did not find where I orginally read this, but I did find it here.

End the Cold War: Between 1958 and 1988, some 50,000 Soviet citizens traveled to the U.S., most touring an American supermarket on their trip. The supermarket showcased how a free-market economy could deliver abundant, affordable food and became a metaphor for what capitalism could do and Communism could not. In his autobiography, Boris Yeltsin gave this account of his 1989 visit to a supermarket in Houston: "When I saw those shelves crammed with hundreds, thousands of cans, cartons, and goods of every possible sort, for the first time I felt quite frankly sick with despair for the Soviet people. That such a potentially super-rich country as ours has been brought to a state of such poverty! It is terrible to think of it."

It really hacked off a few people that Wal-Mart was a symbol of anything good, but that is a whole other conversation.

When we came back from Germany the last time, I was ready for a Big Red! I had not had one in 3 years and I think I forgot what it tasted like. When we arrived in Virgina we looked for one but realized it was a Southern drink. I had to wait until we drove to Arkansas to visit my Grandparents. I can remember the excitement of finding it in a store. It came out of one of those old time coke machines, it was in a bottle, and it was goood!!!

Posted by on May 8, 2006 09:52 PM |

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Comments

The last part of your post bought up a lot of memories. When we got back from Germany in 1973, I craved sweet iced tea. The second time in 1982, salad bars were popular. I thought they were great. I like Wal-Mart too. The other day, I was walking into Wal-Mart when I realized that almost everything that I was wearing I bought at Wal-Mart: capris, blouse, sandals, purse, underwear, and sunglasses. I'm a Wal-Mart model. Ha, ha, ha!!

Posted by: PrimoDonna | May 9, 2006 06:27 AM