And this is my Mom and I at the MacArthur homecoming football game.
21 November 2008
A Few Family Pics
Here I am with my little sisters at the reception my parents gave me.
And this is my Mom and I at the MacArthur homecoming football game.
And this is my Mom and I at the MacArthur homecoming football game.
Some Getting Used To
Life in America takes some getting used to and I'm getting there, slowly.
Last week I was at the Sonic drive thru (who knew they had drive thrus?) and the lady said 'how would you like those burgers?' I took a second and then said 'well...um...I guess medium well?' The lady was really nice and said 'oh no sweetheart. What do you want on them?' and I said 'Are there choices?' And she was confused and said 'of course. mayo, mustard, tomatoes, stuff like that.' And I said 'um...I don't know, I guess I want all of it?' She was so sweet, she just said 'sweetheart, why don't you just pull up to the window and we'll get you all settled.' She didn't think I was strange, at least she didn't say that or anything.
It's not that I don't remember what you're supposed to put on American hamburgers. It's that I haven't been able to choose what I wanted on my food in a restaurant since I went to Africa. They don't have special orders in Sudan. I tried a few times to order my hamburger without eggs but they would just look at me like I was crazy and hand me a burger with eggs on it. I got so used to just accepting whatever I was given and picking things off later that I was caught off guard when I was given the opportunity to choose whatever I wanted on my burger...and then to not even be able to order without making some sort of choice, now that's just crazy. I didn't know what to do. Top that off with the fact that I was distracted by one of my many new favorite country songs on the radio and it led to a bit of an awkward situation. Thank goodness the lady was so kind and helpful.
I still haven't used an ATM or a credit card yet. I do get some strange looks from cashiers every once in a while, especially when I pay in exact change. But, in my defense, I have been conditioned to expect that stores will NOT have change. There were several times in the Sandbox when I couldn't buy something because the guy didn't have change. Even one time in particular when I was willing to not get any change back, just give him the extra money so I could get what I needed and he refused to sell it to me because he didn't have any change. Talk about frustrating. But you can just imagine the looks I get at target when I'm counting out my cash to the penny while everyone else just swipes their card.
Another thing I'm working on getting used to is this busyness thing. Everyone here is just so busy. I'm not all that busy and I don't particularly want to be. This week there was one day where I did dishes, laundry, dropped off pictures at sams, sat at starbucks for 2 hours, and grocery shopped and when I got home I thought 'wow, that was a productive day. I can't believe I managed to get all that done in one day.' Then I thought about it and really, in the American scheme of things, that was nothing. What I did is what everyone else does in the evenings after they've already been at work all day long.
I distinctly remember when I first got to the Sandbox I had the exact same struggle with not being busy. I would make up reasons to go places just to do something. First it was 'oh, I have an hour free, I'll just go to the market.' Then it came to 'oh, I have an hour free, I'll just walk a mile to the market'. After a few weeks of pretty persistent heat exhaustion I realized that it just wasn't feasible to always be busy in 100's+ and I got used to taking things a little more slowly.
People keep asking me if I'm bored and I guess it makes sense that people should assume that I am since I don't have a job and I don't have a schedule like everyone else. However I think most people don't understand what true boredom is. I mean, until you've been stuck in your house for 5 days straight without being allowed to leave (without satellite and with tricky electricity and water) you just won't understand. I actually find it pretty impossible to be bored around here, what with all the malls and starbucks and parks and libraries around I don't understand how you could be! I guess a couple of years in Africa gave me a bit of a forced appreciation for the simpler things in life but I'm pretty content with that now.
That's it for now. I guess my life isn't really all that entertaining these days but hopefully things will pick up after a while. Love y'all!!!
Last week I was at the Sonic drive thru (who knew they had drive thrus?) and the lady said 'how would you like those burgers?' I took a second and then said 'well...um...I guess medium well?' The lady was really nice and said 'oh no sweetheart. What do you want on them?' and I said 'Are there choices?' And she was confused and said 'of course. mayo, mustard, tomatoes, stuff like that.' And I said 'um...I don't know, I guess I want all of it?' She was so sweet, she just said 'sweetheart, why don't you just pull up to the window and we'll get you all settled.' She didn't think I was strange, at least she didn't say that or anything.
It's not that I don't remember what you're supposed to put on American hamburgers. It's that I haven't been able to choose what I wanted on my food in a restaurant since I went to Africa. They don't have special orders in Sudan. I tried a few times to order my hamburger without eggs but they would just look at me like I was crazy and hand me a burger with eggs on it. I got so used to just accepting whatever I was given and picking things off later that I was caught off guard when I was given the opportunity to choose whatever I wanted on my burger...and then to not even be able to order without making some sort of choice, now that's just crazy. I didn't know what to do. Top that off with the fact that I was distracted by one of my many new favorite country songs on the radio and it led to a bit of an awkward situation. Thank goodness the lady was so kind and helpful.
I still haven't used an ATM or a credit card yet. I do get some strange looks from cashiers every once in a while, especially when I pay in exact change. But, in my defense, I have been conditioned to expect that stores will NOT have change. There were several times in the Sandbox when I couldn't buy something because the guy didn't have change. Even one time in particular when I was willing to not get any change back, just give him the extra money so I could get what I needed and he refused to sell it to me because he didn't have any change. Talk about frustrating. But you can just imagine the looks I get at target when I'm counting out my cash to the penny while everyone else just swipes their card.
Another thing I'm working on getting used to is this busyness thing. Everyone here is just so busy. I'm not all that busy and I don't particularly want to be. This week there was one day where I did dishes, laundry, dropped off pictures at sams, sat at starbucks for 2 hours, and grocery shopped and when I got home I thought 'wow, that was a productive day. I can't believe I managed to get all that done in one day.' Then I thought about it and really, in the American scheme of things, that was nothing. What I did is what everyone else does in the evenings after they've already been at work all day long.
I distinctly remember when I first got to the Sandbox I had the exact same struggle with not being busy. I would make up reasons to go places just to do something. First it was 'oh, I have an hour free, I'll just go to the market.' Then it came to 'oh, I have an hour free, I'll just walk a mile to the market'. After a few weeks of pretty persistent heat exhaustion I realized that it just wasn't feasible to always be busy in 100's+ and I got used to taking things a little more slowly.
People keep asking me if I'm bored and I guess it makes sense that people should assume that I am since I don't have a job and I don't have a schedule like everyone else. However I think most people don't understand what true boredom is. I mean, until you've been stuck in your house for 5 days straight without being allowed to leave (without satellite and with tricky electricity and water) you just won't understand. I actually find it pretty impossible to be bored around here, what with all the malls and starbucks and parks and libraries around I don't understand how you could be! I guess a couple of years in Africa gave me a bit of a forced appreciation for the simpler things in life but I'm pretty content with that now.
That's it for now. I guess my life isn't really all that entertaining these days but hopefully things will pick up after a while. Love y'all!!!
07 November 2008
Bumpy Roads
Well life in America is not nearly as exciting as Sudan but maybe I can put up a few things of interest for y'all.
I'm living at home and driving my Dad's truck. He has a huge 4 door, 4WD, extended bed Chevy truck. It's so big that it won't fit into parking spaces so everywhere I go I have to park at the back of the parking lot and walk which is fine until you go somewhere without that option. Yesterday I went to Starbucks but realized when I got there that there was no way I was going to be able to park that thing successfully so I actually left and went to another one. Good thing there's a Starbucks on every corner!!
Every morning I drop my Dad off at work and then I usually go to this park that has a walking trail around a pond and walk around it a few times. I don't quite understand but somehow I am a magnet for internationals. I like it, don't get me wrong. But every day I go walk it never fails that someone stops to ask me a question or just to talk and then we end up standing there for half an hour which totally defeats the purpose of walking but oh well. Maybe it's that the park is full of Indians and North Africans and I'm the only white girl (didn't expect that in America!) so they figure I have an answer to their questions...that's my only idea. Yesterday an Indian man stopped me to ask me if I knew how he could get into coin collecting in Dallas. 30 minutes later I was playing with his granddaughter and meeting more of his friends. Another 2 North African ladies talked to me for several minutes that day too. Anyways, I guess my neighborhood is a great place to meet internationals.
Also I am loving the country music. I can't get enough. I don't know why. I had satellite radio in Sudan and there was a country station so it's not like I've been deprived of the 'cowboy music' as my Sudanese friends called it. I guess there's just something different about it when you're driving down the road in a truck along with everyone else in their trucks and all of us with our Texas accents. It's great!
People are still just as friendly as ever. Today I had 3 separate elevator conversations with 3 different people and it still throws me off when people say things like 'sure thing honey' or 'I'll get that right to you sugar'. And I love sitting at stop signs when people refuse to go, allowing the other person to go first while that person is doing the same thing so no one ends up going for a while. This 'you go ahead' mentality is completely opposite of the 'elbow and fight your way to the front of the large crowd of people' but it doesn't take long to get used to.
Today, yet again, I was the only white girl around for a while. I was down at the Dept of Health and Human Services getting a TB test. Not many middle-class white girls deal with TB on a regular basis so I was just a little bit out of place. The waiting room was filled with about 10 different nationalities which I thought was kind of fun. Anyways, so I know I was exposed to TB...repeatedly. Mary's husband had TB and not only did I spend quite a bit of time with their family but I also ate out of the same bowl as he did and I'm pretty sure that at least once I drank out of the same cup. Obviously I tried to avoid these situations but sometimes it just doesn't work out very well.
Anyways, so I went down there to the 'free clinic' that is not free but is cheaper than the real doctor and now I have to spend the entire weekend watching the red spot on my arm slowly get bigger and hoping that it won't get big enough that I need to get chest x-rays next week. We'll see. I probably don't have TB so no one panic or think I need to be quarantined, this is just precautionary. When I went in the lady was like 'why do you think you need a TB test?' and I told her that I knew I was exposed and she just looked at me like I was crazy and said 'how do you know you were exposed and where were you that you would be exposed??'
Oddly enough I've found that I feel more comfortable down in the waiting room at the free TB clinic than sitting in Starbucks surrounded by people who are in this unseen race to have the most money and to be more successful than the next guy. I mean, I can sit there and drink my caramel frappuccino and read a book with the best of 'em but I feel right at home making conversation with an immigrant who speaks poor English and is struggling to provide for her family. Have I always been that way or is that a new development in life? I'm not sure.
I'm living at home and driving my Dad's truck. He has a huge 4 door, 4WD, extended bed Chevy truck. It's so big that it won't fit into parking spaces so everywhere I go I have to park at the back of the parking lot and walk which is fine until you go somewhere without that option. Yesterday I went to Starbucks but realized when I got there that there was no way I was going to be able to park that thing successfully so I actually left and went to another one. Good thing there's a Starbucks on every corner!!
Every morning I drop my Dad off at work and then I usually go to this park that has a walking trail around a pond and walk around it a few times. I don't quite understand but somehow I am a magnet for internationals. I like it, don't get me wrong. But every day I go walk it never fails that someone stops to ask me a question or just to talk and then we end up standing there for half an hour which totally defeats the purpose of walking but oh well. Maybe it's that the park is full of Indians and North Africans and I'm the only white girl (didn't expect that in America!) so they figure I have an answer to their questions...that's my only idea. Yesterday an Indian man stopped me to ask me if I knew how he could get into coin collecting in Dallas. 30 minutes later I was playing with his granddaughter and meeting more of his friends. Another 2 North African ladies talked to me for several minutes that day too. Anyways, I guess my neighborhood is a great place to meet internationals.
Also I am loving the country music. I can't get enough. I don't know why. I had satellite radio in Sudan and there was a country station so it's not like I've been deprived of the 'cowboy music' as my Sudanese friends called it. I guess there's just something different about it when you're driving down the road in a truck along with everyone else in their trucks and all of us with our Texas accents. It's great!
People are still just as friendly as ever. Today I had 3 separate elevator conversations with 3 different people and it still throws me off when people say things like 'sure thing honey' or 'I'll get that right to you sugar'. And I love sitting at stop signs when people refuse to go, allowing the other person to go first while that person is doing the same thing so no one ends up going for a while. This 'you go ahead' mentality is completely opposite of the 'elbow and fight your way to the front of the large crowd of people' but it doesn't take long to get used to.
Today, yet again, I was the only white girl around for a while. I was down at the Dept of Health and Human Services getting a TB test. Not many middle-class white girls deal with TB on a regular basis so I was just a little bit out of place. The waiting room was filled with about 10 different nationalities which I thought was kind of fun. Anyways, so I know I was exposed to TB...repeatedly. Mary's husband had TB and not only did I spend quite a bit of time with their family but I also ate out of the same bowl as he did and I'm pretty sure that at least once I drank out of the same cup. Obviously I tried to avoid these situations but sometimes it just doesn't work out very well.
Anyways, so I went down there to the 'free clinic' that is not free but is cheaper than the real doctor and now I have to spend the entire weekend watching the red spot on my arm slowly get bigger and hoping that it won't get big enough that I need to get chest x-rays next week. We'll see. I probably don't have TB so no one panic or think I need to be quarantined, this is just precautionary. When I went in the lady was like 'why do you think you need a TB test?' and I told her that I knew I was exposed and she just looked at me like I was crazy and said 'how do you know you were exposed and where were you that you would be exposed??'
Oddly enough I've found that I feel more comfortable down in the waiting room at the free TB clinic than sitting in Starbucks surrounded by people who are in this unseen race to have the most money and to be more successful than the next guy. I mean, I can sit there and drink my caramel frappuccino and read a book with the best of 'em but I feel right at home making conversation with an immigrant who speaks poor English and is struggling to provide for her family. Have I always been that way or is that a new development in life? I'm not sure.
*
I voted. It was good. I felt pretty patriotic. It was great to see people taking advantage of their right to vote. Coming from a country that hasn't had a democratic election in, well, ever, it gives you a bit of a new perspective on life and govt and a whole new appreciation for the bill of rights, or any rights at all. I can't say that I'm all that excited about our new president but I can say that I am very grateful that I am in a peaceful country that hasn't broken out into violent riots or a country where the new president now systematically wipes out any and all opposition to his party or a country where it would be completely acceptable for the other opponent to build up a following, storm the capitol and try to take the govt over by force. Having recently been up close and personal with one of those situations (http://heathernafrica.blogspot.com/2008/05/snow-day.html) I have to say that this peaceful, democratic process is much better, even if the person you voted for didn't win.
*
I still remember back to the time I was with one of my Sudanese friends and we were talking about the election and she said 'that's amazing. So on that day everyone gets to vote? Everyone? And after that you find out who won, you don't already know? Here we might or might not have an election next year and already we know who will win.' Democracy people. Appreciate it.
A few more things I enjoyed about this week. I went to the bank and they had money there. I wrote some thank you notes and now all I have to do is buy some stamps and leave them on the front porch and they will, more than likely, get to their intended destination within 2 days. Restaurants have food, more specifically they have ALL the things that are printed on the menu. Gas stations have gas (and for remarkably cheap...$1.96!!). The grocery store had everything I could want and more and I only had to go to one store to get it all. I made dinners using recipes and I actually had available to me ALL of the ingredients in the recipes...I didn't have to pick and choose what I would cook based on the things we can 'get' here. I didn't fall down, not even once, and I didn't accidentally offend anyone by using the wrong word and calling them a name.
Last story. I was taking my Dad to work, driving his big truck, and he says 'now there's a big bump coming up here so you have to slow way down'. I slow down, don't feel a bump, don't feel a bump, feel a small bump and say 'was that it?'. Obviously my definition of a 'big bump' has changed drastically and now every time I drive over it I can see in my peripheral vision my Dad cringing because he doesn't think I slowed down enough. I really am trying to slow down Dad, I'll do better, I promise.
So that's life this week. I hope that someone somewhere is getting some laughs from my small culture shock experiences.
A few more things I enjoyed about this week. I went to the bank and they had money there. I wrote some thank you notes and now all I have to do is buy some stamps and leave them on the front porch and they will, more than likely, get to their intended destination within 2 days. Restaurants have food, more specifically they have ALL the things that are printed on the menu. Gas stations have gas (and for remarkably cheap...$1.96!!). The grocery store had everything I could want and more and I only had to go to one store to get it all. I made dinners using recipes and I actually had available to me ALL of the ingredients in the recipes...I didn't have to pick and choose what I would cook based on the things we can 'get' here. I didn't fall down, not even once, and I didn't accidentally offend anyone by using the wrong word and calling them a name.
Last story. I was taking my Dad to work, driving his big truck, and he says 'now there's a big bump coming up here so you have to slow way down'. I slow down, don't feel a bump, don't feel a bump, feel a small bump and say 'was that it?'. Obviously my definition of a 'big bump' has changed drastically and now every time I drive over it I can see in my peripheral vision my Dad cringing because he doesn't think I slowed down enough. I really am trying to slow down Dad, I'll do better, I promise.
So that's life this week. I hope that someone somewhere is getting some laughs from my small culture shock experiences.
