Shocking culture

My Aunt Julie asked me for some observations when I first got back to the States six weeks ago. Now that I’m back online I thought I’d post a few here. You have probably had a culture “shock” moment or two, even if you've never left the States (one of the great things about living in a melting pot). It would be fun to hear them if you want to post them here in response to this blog!

Being back in the States means seeing Katie and Nathan almost every week. It means seeing my grandparents who just moved to Eugene from Santa Cruz (great timing for me!). It means going out to tea with my mom at her favorite cafe instead of having a “virtual tea time” over our computers. It means spending a morning showing pictures to the group of women from my Portland church who pray for me every month. It means experiencing autumn for the first time in 2 years. lt means eating at my favorite taco spots. (There’s no Mexican food in Peru!)

It also means missing warm weather, fish, and tropical fruit. It means not getting 10 hugs a day or more. It means not eating dinner at 9pm with the rest of the country. It means not being challenged daily to make myself understood. It means less physical and cultural adventures.

But there are cultural adventures here too! My aunt had asked about culture shock. Here was my response: “I have been enjoying myself so much I hadn't noticed too much. But today I got really overwhelmed, so I can describe that. It's VERY overwhelming to go shopping. We have so many wonderful options here at the healthy supermarkets (like New Seasons) that I spent the first few trips to the store oohing and aahing over yummy healthy treats like sparkling pomegranate juice(!). But the store today was Fred Meyer, a big Target-like store. It was so hard to find anything, and I found myself walking up and down the aisles several times looking for one small thing, thinking that it would have been faster to shop at three or four tiny little stores like I do in Peru, instead of trying to navigate this small city! :) (There are some tougher cultural issues related to shopping, but I'll write another blog on that later.)

I'm also laughing at myself a lot (something I learned how to do in Peru!) because I do all sorts of inappropriate things in this culture. Like talking to everyone in the stores. I just think everyone wants to have a conversation with me, and find out what I’m up to and why I'm here. In Peru, I would be chatting with each storekeeper, the person on the bus next to me, the person in line at the deli. People are friendly, but I also stand out and make an instant conversation starter. In the States, I’m run-of-the-mill and while I really like being incognito again I miss all the interactions themselves.

Probably my biggest faux pas is hugging everyone. The door opens, someone walks in, and right away I’m hugging them, and probably air-kissing them if I don’t catch myself in time. I’ve made folks very happy who are from other countries, but I've made some North Americans jump. The strangest thing to me is that I can’t remember NOT hugging everyone in greeting! I was frustrated when I realized it wasn’t culturally appropriate--which I guess is a bit of culture shock! Next time you see me, feel free to give me a hug in greeting--and make my day!