Dateline: Melrose Park, Illinois
It has been over 3 months now since I moved to this western suburb of Chicago. The move itself and the adjustment has been very satisfactory -- much less difficult, in many instances, than I had anticipated. I'm still "in transition," though. A lot of normally mundane, everyday life things are still new and exotic. I still get stung by culture shock occasionally. But I must be making progress, since I feel I can blog about it now. :-P
Just off the top of my head...
Some things I like about living here:
1.) There's a small but fabulous public library, and I have a card! I can check out books and even movies free of charge. If my library doesn't have an item, I can usually get it through interlibrary loan. All this abundance still blows my mind.
2.) Although we don't have a car, there are several supermarkets within walking distance of us, and most of them have authentic Mexican food ingredients as well as lots of cool items for kosher, Polish, Indian, Italian, and other cuisines.
3.) Postal service is relatively inexpensive, reliable, and quick. Yeah, I know a lot of people complain about the U.S.P.S., but until you have lived in the developing world, you don't know good we have it here.
4.) This is the Midwest. We are not sophisticated like Out East nor cutting-edge trendy like on the West Coast. There's no ocean here, or mountains, or deserts, no canyons or glaciers or sleeping volcanoes ... just prairie (and a big lake, of course.) I love living in what truly is (despite its being a cliche) the country's heartland.
A couple of things I don't particularly like about living here:
1.) Folks always have the heating turned way up, and I feel like I am going to suffocate. Our apartment is so overheated that we regularly need to open the window -- when it's snowing outside! Even the public buses and subway have the heat way too high. I'm all for avoiding frostbite, but this is just too much. I wonder why the stores even bother to sell sweaters in the wintertime; inside, it's too hot for them, and when you go outside, you are all bundled up in a big coat anyway.
2.) That nasal Chicago accent. I suppose I will get used to it in time, however. I may even acquire one myself! lol
I'm sure more lists will follow.
It has been over 3 months now since I moved to this western suburb of Chicago. The move itself and the adjustment has been very satisfactory -- much less difficult, in many instances, than I had anticipated. I'm still "in transition," though. A lot of normally mundane, everyday life things are still new and exotic. I still get stung by culture shock occasionally. But I must be making progress, since I feel I can blog about it now. :-P
Just off the top of my head...
Some things I like about living here:
1.) There's a small but fabulous public library, and I have a card! I can check out books and even movies free of charge. If my library doesn't have an item, I can usually get it through interlibrary loan. All this abundance still blows my mind.
2.) Although we don't have a car, there are several supermarkets within walking distance of us, and most of them have authentic Mexican food ingredients as well as lots of cool items for kosher, Polish, Indian, Italian, and other cuisines.
3.) Postal service is relatively inexpensive, reliable, and quick. Yeah, I know a lot of people complain about the U.S.P.S., but until you have lived in the developing world, you don't know good we have it here.
4.) This is the Midwest. We are not sophisticated like Out East nor cutting-edge trendy like on the West Coast. There's no ocean here, or mountains, or deserts, no canyons or glaciers or sleeping volcanoes ... just prairie (and a big lake, of course.) I love living in what truly is (despite its being a cliche) the country's heartland.
A couple of things I don't particularly like about living here:
1.) Folks always have the heating turned way up, and I feel like I am going to suffocate. Our apartment is so overheated that we regularly need to open the window -- when it's snowing outside! Even the public buses and subway have the heat way too high. I'm all for avoiding frostbite, but this is just too much. I wonder why the stores even bother to sell sweaters in the wintertime; inside, it's too hot for them, and when you go outside, you are all bundled up in a big coat anyway.
2.) That nasal Chicago accent. I suppose I will get used to it in time, however. I may even acquire one myself! lol
I'm sure more lists will follow.
2 comments:
Hello, Robin!
How nice that you've almost gotten used to living in your country again! The thing I don't like very much is that comment about having lived in the developing world... I'm very sorry to admit that I think you were a little bit too optimistic about my country!
Now, about culture shock and abundance, let me tell you that when I lived in Chiapas, my mother visited us for a couple of months. She was in charge of doing the shopping because I had just given birth to Mauricio (my second son), so she went to the market (no supers there, at that time), very rustic grocery stores, and so on. I remember she was absolutely shocked because of the lack of goods and the high cost of almost every thing, including tropical fruits and vegetables which were grown in that part of the country! One of her virtues is the ability so spend money wisely, so she felt uncomfortable about paying too much money for the "regular" groceries. She even established a kind of barter trade with our neighbors: I grew mangos, tomatoes, guayabas that she efficiently exchanged for papayas, chicken, potatoes...
But the story does not finish there, when she returned to Mexico City and she went to "her" regular market, she says she couldn't buy anything because she couldn't choose from the great variety of products or understand why the same things cost about half the price (compared to the price in Chiapas)!
My shock was quite different: it was about the profound feelings of anger and resentment Chiapanecos had for foreigners, but specially for us "the chilangos" and it took time to understand that the origin of all this was the injustice present in almost every thing. That is a blessed country, fertile and rich in many senses; nevertheless most of the chiapanecos live in painful poverty and their culture has long been looked down and despised by "civilized" people... But enough about my story.
Best wishes for you and your family,
Rosa María
Hi Robin.
Una parte de mi se siente feliz que te hayas mudado (mientras seas feliz y los tuyos tambien, que el mundo ruede)
Otra parte de mi (y de miles de Cenlex-tudiantes) seguro te extrañan mas a muchos maestros no solo de Ingles sino de la vida.
En fin, si y fui una vez y estuve dos meses, creo que alguna vez podre volver a "los states" y visitarlos.
Recibe un abrazo.
Perdona si me perdi tu fiesta de despedida (seguro estuvo buenissssima).
Sorry for the people that don't read spanish, don't worry I only say good things about our dear dear dear and most beloved english teacher:
Robin G. Blake.
Best Regards.
Hasta la vista
Arrivederchi
Au Revoir
Bon Vojage
See you soon...
Atentamente:
Who else.... Jorge Armando.
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