Should an Atheist Join a Church?

The neighborhoods we've lived in are rather sterile. You won't spontaneously meet people on the street, I'm not talking about making friends.
The life in this country is made around cars after all.
Everyone would come home drive into their garage and you would not see them unless they are leaving again in the morning. The most interaction with the neighbors for the most part is through waves.

Today I was asked to join a church. This is not the first time this has happened. Always before, I had resolutely refused this offer. I wouldn't have even thought of it.

With the exception of a short pause after the Velvet Revolution, I have always considered myself to be an atheist, even though with my own spirituality and beliefs.

But somehow now I give it a little more thought than usual.
I have to admit that so far in my 'American' life I still miss the community feeling which I grew up with.
And the church promises friendly community and fun for the children.

But should an atheist join a church?

My Pilates Class

I have become addicted to Pilates.
Every day I will roll out my purple mat to do my '10 minutes solution' and every week I look forward to my morning class.
But that's not what I want to write about.

It's about my class, or rather, about my classmates.
There are about fifteen girls in our class.
We have already been meeting for at least half a year but our class is still very quiet.
Completely quiet actually.
No one says a word to each other.

When someone enters the room there is no 'Good Morning' or 'How are you?', 'Hi', or anything similar.
Even our instructor, whom I like a lot, will enter the room and start directly with her class.

Only I kept coming with my stubborn and pretty loud 'Good Morning', just to be sure they could hear me.
This resulted now and then in a shy smile or nodding.
I've grown accustomed to their stillness at last.

Their behaviour still surprises me especially considering the omnipresence of politeness and friendly social intercourse.
Is there something wrong about our class or is there still a lot left to learn about the American culture?

Shipment Delivery

Today our new camera arrived. But I don't want to write about the camera itself, even though I'm pretty excited and... at the same time I'm not sure yet if I should keep it...

Anyway...
In California it is very common to shop online. Usually the assortment is larger online than in stores.
And considering my shopping attitude (just ask Rob) this is the best way of shopping ever!

It has been raining for a several weeks and we were afraid that even this quite expensive shipment would be left at our front door, no matter the heavy rain.
And indeed!
The courier put the package on the bench in front of our door, rang the bell, jumped in his car and off he went.
I just wonder if it happens sometimes that the package is stolen or damaged before the addressee finds it.

Just imagine practicing this way of delivery in Holland or Czech Republic!

American Curiosities?

My European friends keep asking me about America, Americans and their way of life.
Almost every day there is something on the News about this country and usually many U.S. series, movies and documentaries are presented on TV.

Do these TV programs reflect the 'American reality'?

To be honest I'm still not able to answer all questions I have got till now and I really doubt that I ever will.

I have already quite a collection of, to me interesting or kind of weird curiosities and phenomenons.
They may be 'typical American'. I don't know.
Since California is the only state I've lived in, I really can't present them as 'typical American'.

Let's say now and then I will write about things that have caught my attention in some way that I've never experienced before in any other country.
And again, this means that I can only compare to Belgium, Holland and Czech Republic.
And it is purely my personal perception.
I have no intention to criticize.
At least I'll try not to.