[Culturechat] Culture Shock

[tillhouse]

All much the same in Ca. except we look from the shore to the hills, then
mts.  Lights on all night?  Even our night security lights have been
extinguished.  Better thiefs take our $$ than the power companies with their
$600 bills.  Pool is empty, freezer unplugged, big appliances run only at
night.  But still, it's home----our home and we love it.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Vance Roy" <gigli.saw@virtualnewport.com>
To: "culturechat" <culturechat@untours.com>
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2001 10:12 AM
Subject: [Culturechat] Culture Shock


> FIRST: Let me say that I am a citizen of The United States of America,
> first, last, and always. I pay U.S. taxes and have a U. S. passport.
> This won't change. SECOND: I have no illusions that CH is Utopia by any
> means. (Got to be careful of all those large case words. They can get
> you into a pot of trouble. Right S?) Third: as always, anyone who feels
> that I am "dissing" the USA always has the print, roll, and you have to
> guess the rest; the chat Gestapo are everywhere. On to the subject after
> this disclaimer.
>
> OK, I won't really say that I am a victim of culture shock. Maybe
> "culture surprise" is a better characterization. CS works traveling both
ways.
>
> Other than the two years that I was a POW at the U. S. Naval Hospital in
> Boston, I have never spent any appreciable time in New England. Well,
> surprise! I am now in Rhode Island, and I will be here for a part of
> each year. Other than RI of course, I will be in the USA. Each of these
> have given me a bit of a CS (culture surprise).
>
> Until recently, my visits to the USA have been measured in days, or at
> most less than a month. These times were broken up into visits with
> various people in different places. There was no time to absorb a
> culture. That has changed somewhat now.
>
> During the flight over to Boston comes the first thing out of the
> ordinary. This form for customs that they pass out. Going to CH, they
> could care less what you want to bring in. Not really, but almost. If
> you have a valid passport (Hal made it in once without this) and even
> look like that you may have had a WASP in your family background, you
> are in there. It does make things go faster if you are not bringing in
> ten kilos of butter or cheese. Believe me, I can see the wisdom in the
> U. S. Customs procedures; it is just something different. Then for the
> big shocker. Boston. A massive airport sitting on the precipice of the
> "Big Dig". Crowds of people speaking what sounds as if it could be a
> language related to English but not quite. Cars, buses, trucks, and
> whatever all trying to squeeze into tiny lanes between massive pieces of
> construction equipment and detour barriers again perched on the edge of
> a man made Grand Canyon that is likely the best example there ever will
> be of a hole into which money (legal and illegal) has, and is, being
> poured. Cab drivers duking it out in the middle of the street. It is
> enough to make me regress to my old Boston personality with which I
> survived my POW years (being as nasty as I can be with a pleasant look
> on my face, using some words that my mother never taught me, and by
> doing this gaining the trust of the natives that I won't seduce them by
> using anything that could remotely be called good manners.)
>
> Next comes the Interstate Highway System. This was a marvel that I saw
> built in my lifetime. It had a short life, and now, in spite of the gas
> prices, it is obsolete. 4-6 lanes of traffic choking the way to
> Providence. Most cars carrying one person who looks like a horse in
> blinders and is usually talking into a cell phone. Gradually this
> dissipates into the best scenery this side of CH, Aquidneck Island,
> Newport, and the beaches.
>
> Rhode Island is a small state. CH is a small country. Something seems
> good about that. The residents of Newport are used to obscene rates for
> everything. Food, lodging, real estate, etc. are expensive as they are
> in CH. I feel more at home already. This time of year all are
> anticipating the lemming like onslaught of the Manhattenites who come
> from "The City" each summer to try and maintain their sanity. The
> drivers in RI are a different breed than those in Boston. Instead of
> guerilla warfare, people actually stop and wave you through a left turn
> or onto a main street. This takes some acclimation. I was afraid that it
> was a come on for a broadside until I saw it done to others. Again, it
> reminds me of CH. A visit to the post office which I thought would
> result in the need for a flak jacket. It did not. On the contrary, I was
> met with something akin to southern hospitality. This wasn't a fluke. I
> did it several times to make sure that it was real. I find the people in
> RI to have a special manner about them. Talk about Yankee brogue! It
> could take the paint off a wall. Could be close to the "Schweizer
> Deutsch" that I hear at home.
>
> BUT??? (Devil made me do it). Where are the mountains? Not a berg in
> sight. Ocean and beach but no pinnacles into the sky. There are great
> seaside places for a walk or a run, but this place needs some mountains
> in the worst way. On the other hand, one can walk to the beach, and the
> sea aroma can be very pleasant.
>
> A visit to my favorite grocery store reminds me again of the plenty in
> this country. Again, like CH. The USA seems to have become one big snake
> oil show at times. Vitamins, minerals, supplements from trees and roots,
> as well as oyster shells. Take this for memory, this for vision, this
> for that, etc. A million dollars seems to be on everyone's lips right
> after "Survivor". The television shows have it all. A channel
> exclusively devoted to everything except ax murder on the cable system.
> The %#@**&^% commercials! Every eight minutes the latest news for
> consumers on everything. There is no sanctity on anything anymore. If
> you are too dry, they can fix it. If you are too wet, they can fix that
> too. If you excrete too much or too little, never fear, there is help in
> this or that potion. At least with the ever present commercials for soap
> powder and panty liners in CH, we are given the whole program in between
> the five minutes of propaganda at the beginning and end. The quality of
> some of the drivel is the same here as in CH. Who needs to hear from the
> housewife whose husband left her for the family cat, or the woman who
> gave birth to an alien? Do these folks really have anything to say that
> will enrich our lives?
>
> The lights, the lights!!!! All on and always on. The house next door is
> totally, and I mean it all, illuminated all night long. I fear it won't
> be long until I am walking out of the house and leaving the lights on.
> On the other hand, at least in RI, recycling is easier. Just drag it to
> the curb. In CH one has to load it or tie it up.
>
> Enough for now. More comes to mind each day.
>
> --
> Vance C. Roy
> gigli.saw@dplanet.ch
>
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