Advertisements and Choices

One thing I noticed when I got back to the US that I'm pretty sure wasn't around or at least wasn't as common when I left are those square bar-code things in public places.

I recently learned they are actually called QR (quick response) codes. The image above is for the mobile version of Wikipedia.

I haven't tried this out, but I hear you can use a smart phone to scan the code, and it will take you to a website related to the advertisement. According to Wikipedia, that is called mobile tagging. I have seen them on "For Sale" signs on houses in Richmond, on trains, in malls, etc.

I'm guessing that most of you have known about these for a while and may even use them on a regular basis, but it was new to me. =)


One thing that hit me pretty hard when I got back was the number of choices available for nearly everything. I was completely overwhelmed at the grocery store when I had to choose between between over ten different kinds of onions. In Mundri, you go to the market, and onions are either there or they aren't there. You may see two different types of onions, but they are probably the same price. In the US, in addition to the different varieties, you then have to choose if you want to get the organic type or not. Most of the onions at the supermarket were huge, so I really only needed half an onion. It took me about ten minutes to make a decision and that was after I walked away to calm myself down and remind myself that they are all onions and pretty much any onion would work for the meal I was planning on making.