Marianne's thoughts

Marianne, our Fort Lauderdale blogger, continues to share her diary entries with us:

Dear Diary January 21st
If you don’t like windy weather don’t go to Fort Lauderdale. The wind comes from the Atlantic Ocean but I really like it.

When I arrived at the airport here in Ft.Lauderdale, I saw many wheelchairs. Disabled people are treated very well here. There are toilets for handicapped people everywhere, and every bus has space for wheelchairs. Perhaps it is because a big percentage of handicapped people come to Florida when they retire. All these people come from the north of the USA and even Canada where it is cold and there is snow in the winter.

I observed people walking along the beach. Young people are jogging. There are sidewalks everywhere, except on the highways. In Europe cyclists use the sidewalk, here in the US this occurs very seldom, they respect the law and the pedestrians much more
 
I would say that 90 percent of the people are smiling. They say hi, hello or how do you do. Even young people greet you like this and they are very nice to the older people. The others, that are not smiling, are tourists from other countries or they have a life full of burdens and worries.
 
Every day I see the sun and very seldom it is raining, and if it rains it is only for a very short time.
 
In my opinion, the USA is the most blessed country in the world, they have a 24hours Christian channel, TBN, with very very powerful programmes.

The Americans are very generous. For example, if you buy a cake in a cafeteria, you often get two or three napkins. In Europe they think first about the environment and pollution and therefore, we only get one napkin there.

The day I arrived, I didn’t have any change to pay for the bus so I asked a lady in a little motel near the bus stop if she could change my five-dollar bill. She couldn’t, but she gave me a dollar and I was not allowed to give the money back the next day.

I am so excited to be here in Fort Lauderdale and I wish I could come back every year for a few months.
 
Yes, my dear Diary, I can tell you more and more positive things about my life here. However, I also see one or two bad things.

I feel that if employees are working more than 40 hours a week for a year, they should have 4 or 5 weeks vacation per year, also the minimum wage per hour is very low. There is something wrong with the system.
 
It seems to me that the bus system should be changed. If they don’t have timetables at every bus stop they don’t respect people that take the bus. Every bus stop should be named. I have a feeling that the government thinks of people who have to take the bus as second class citizens. The bus is used by workers, clever people (who left their car at home) and very old people, tourists and students like me. We come from many different countries outside USA and there are many of us. Sometimes I wish that citizens of Fort Lauderdale couldn’t get gas anymore and they all would have to take the bus. I think that the government could make it more comfortable for people to take the bus. I wish the image would change: loosers do not take the bus - smart ones do
GOD BLESS AMERICA!
 
PS:  Oops I forgot the food. In Europe we judge Americans for what they eat. We think they only eat hamburgers and drink Coca Cola. I see it like this: in Europe we have to choose too if the food is good for you or not. It is the same here in the USA . The grocery stores are full of vegetables and fruit and so on. In restaurants you can order vegetables and salad as much as you want.
 
One more thing. My hairdresser (his family comes from Russia) said and I agree: The people with prejudices and so on are only jealous!!!!