People keep asking "how's the reverse culture shock going??"
I didn't know what it would be like to come home, and for the most part it's not been as shocking as I had anticipated. It might help that I'm leaving and don't have to integrate two very different worlds and fully re-enter America quite yet.
But I have had a few moments. Eating my first full meal at a swanky restaurant in Beverly Hills during my layover home, sipping a $14 margarita and eating a $30 plate of fish that I didn't have to pay for... that was weird.
Then there was the Saturday after I arrived, when in my exuberance to be home I thought it was a good idea to go to the mall downtown. This trip at some point involved stepping into a Williams-&-Sonoma-esque kitchen store and being greeted by a glowing shrine-like display of Thanksgiving dishes. Fully matching sets of bowls, plates, and serving platters with silvery embossed wishbones & feathers and words like "thanks" & "plenty." Beyond this shrine were further displays of matching kitchenware sets with the place-mats that match the kitchen-aid mixers that match the soap dispensers...
That was the moment where I held my arm out as if shielding my eyes from a blinding light and mumbled the words to my dear friend Anne while turning to run out the door: "I'm having a reverse culture shock moment I'll be outside...." I found the nearest brick wall and stood about a foot away and stared at it for a good three minutes.
I mean... seriously, hundreds of dollars worth of dishware for ONE meal? Where people pile on the mashed potatoes and gravy so high that no one ever pays attention to the bottom of the plate anyway? Having matching dishes itself is a luxury. As is having more plates and bowls than the number of people in your home. As is having food to put on them.
I had also never thought about game shows. It's quite ridiculous if you really stop and think about it. People fly across the country to answer questions like: who invented peanut butter?! All the while, hundreds of thousands of people sit cozied up on their couches watching this stuff enthralled... No offense to Vanna White (who really was a childhood icon) BUT, when we have lives that could be lived full of meaning in community and amidst family - playing and sharing and engaging, we sit screaming trivia answers to our TV screens...? It's a strange Western phenomena.
And then there's knick-knacks. I will withhold my diatribe. I purge my closet every 6 months and hate having random stuff lying around so I'm already biased against knick knacks for knick knack's sake. But really... remind me the purpose of a window full of porcelain swallows and puppy figurines? Honest question.
Which gets to the theme of what my reverse culture shock experiences have been about: Noticing how much time, energy and resources Americans invest in things that have nothing to do with survival. Knick-knacks and game shows and thanksgiving plates aren't necessarily bad things. They're just over the top unnecessary.
So much of the world has a poverty problem. And we can buy our recycled bags with some logo about "feeding the children" to make ourselves feel good about "doing something" for the world's poor while completely missing our own, very serious {greed + gluttony} problem. Myself included. I just hadn't noticed this before.
I didn't know what it would be like to come home, and for the most part it's not been as shocking as I had anticipated. It might help that I'm leaving and don't have to integrate two very different worlds and fully re-enter America quite yet.
But I have had a few moments. Eating my first full meal at a swanky restaurant in Beverly Hills during my layover home, sipping a $14 margarita and eating a $30 plate of fish that I didn't have to pay for... that was weird.
Then there was the Saturday after I arrived, when in my exuberance to be home I thought it was a good idea to go to the mall downtown. This trip at some point involved stepping into a Williams-&-Sonoma-esque kitchen store and being greeted by a glowing shrine-like display of Thanksgiving dishes. Fully matching sets of bowls, plates, and serving platters with silvery embossed wishbones & feathers and words like "thanks" & "plenty." Beyond this shrine were further displays of matching kitchenware sets with the place-mats that match the kitchen-aid mixers that match the soap dispensers...
That was the moment where I held my arm out as if shielding my eyes from a blinding light and mumbled the words to my dear friend Anne while turning to run out the door: "I'm having a reverse culture shock moment I'll be outside...." I found the nearest brick wall and stood about a foot away and stared at it for a good three minutes.
I mean... seriously, hundreds of dollars worth of dishware for ONE meal? Where people pile on the mashed potatoes and gravy so high that no one ever pays attention to the bottom of the plate anyway? Having matching dishes itself is a luxury. As is having more plates and bowls than the number of people in your home. As is having food to put on them.
But of course, I hadn't noticed this before.
I had also never thought about game shows. It's quite ridiculous if you really stop and think about it. People fly across the country to answer questions like: who invented peanut butter?! All the while, hundreds of thousands of people sit cozied up on their couches watching this stuff enthralled... No offense to Vanna White (who really was a childhood icon) BUT, when we have lives that could be lived full of meaning in community and amidst family - playing and sharing and engaging, we sit screaming trivia answers to our TV screens...? It's a strange Western phenomena.
And then there's knick-knacks. I will withhold my diatribe. I purge my closet every 6 months and hate having random stuff lying around so I'm already biased against knick knacks for knick knack's sake. But really... remind me the purpose of a window full of porcelain swallows and puppy figurines? Honest question.
Which gets to the theme of what my reverse culture shock experiences have been about: Noticing how much time, energy and resources Americans invest in things that have nothing to do with survival. Knick-knacks and game shows and thanksgiving plates aren't necessarily bad things. They're just over the top unnecessary.
So much of the world has a poverty problem. And we can buy our recycled bags with some logo about "feeding the children" to make ourselves feel good about "doing something" for the world's poor while completely missing our own, very serious {greed + gluttony} problem. Myself included. I just hadn't noticed this before.
(that's my long answer to the first question...)
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