Being tall.

Increasingly, my height has become an impediment to everyday life. I never considered myself especially tall in the U.S., maybe slightly taller then some people, but here I'm enormous.

On the metro, many people's heads don't reach past my throat (you can really tell when everyone is crammed in the metro and there are five people pressing in from each side). In taxis my knees are always pushing into the seat in front of me, or my head is hitting the top of the car -- definitely not fun if you hit a bump in the road.

Last night I went to the movies, a gorgeous old 1920s-style theater that had been converted into a movie theater. Slightly distracting though, was that I couldn't sit down without my legs hanging out to the side. Thank God for isle seats.

I've noticed this too when clothes shopping. When I arrived in Chile the second time, I came with a little more then 10 days worth of clothes -- the expected duration of my stay. I "had" to do some shopping. Especially with a load of laundry costing $4 (!!!!) dollars each, and many new clothes costing about $5.

The sleeves of the cardigans I bought are about 4 inches short of my wrist, and the crotch of the pantyhose reaches just above my knees.

I'm not particularly tall. 5' 7" (170 cm.) or so, but here I'd have to shop at special stores in order to find clothes that cover my entire body (or the parts I want covered). Thankfully, there are many "American stores" (thrift shops) where people trade U.S. brands. Without this, I don't know what I'd do.

Lauren