Yesterday, two khumbi rides and an hour and a half later, I arrived in my friend alyssa"s shopping town with my jaw dropped in shock.

My shopping town is a plaza with about 20 or 30 stores, including a pizza place, a grocery store, and several clothing and furniture stores. It has almost everything I could need. But not much else.

Alyssa's shopping town, was an actual city. Many streets filled with different restaurants, shops...there was even a library! Even more weirdly, there were white people there!

We ended up meeting with two education volunteers at spur, a native american themed restaurant. A native american themed restaurant... in south africa. Cacti, both painted and real, covered the walls, american music and television were playing and the menu could fit right in at a chain restaurant at home. Sitting with three other americans in the restaurant, as I ate cheese quesadillas and watched espn, it didn't feel like I had left home.

However, my real moment of culture shock came as we left the restaurant and went to the supermarket. Again, it felt like we hadn't left the U.S. I stared open mouthed at the twelve different varieties of feta cheese, the fruits and vegetables that you could buy pre sliced for some extra rand, the rack of magazines that went across the store. "Who needs all that choice?" I wondered.

But I was happy to pick up some soy sauce and pasta sauce. I contemplated buying some other stuff, like slivered almonds and tahini, but after consulting my budget I stuck mostly to the basics.

I also wondered if this made a huge difference in alyssa's and my services. But after talking to her, it didn't seem that way. She lives in a village similar to mine, working at a home based care, with a similar family structure. The only difference was that she had more choice in her shopping town.

I found a shortcut which made the return trip only about 45 minutes. I arrived home the same way I usually feel after a trip, tired, overstimulated and very very happy to be home in bundu.

I like my small town life here in south africa. But it was very nice to learn that a sliver of america exists pretty close by