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.
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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.
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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.
1 comment:
I AM getting good laughs. Keep them coming! :) It's good to know that I'm not the only crazy one when I come back from overseas. It's good to hear you are adjusting well to life in America again. What's next for you?
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