Did you miss me?
Anyway, I'm back in Santiago after two lovely weeks at home with my family. I posted about reverse culture shock last year too, but I'm gonna post about it again this year because it was completely different and unexpected. I kind of thought I was over being surprised at the differences, but apparently there were some things that I forgot about life in the U.S.
1. Central Heating. Okay, so I know that it exists as a norm in the US and I'm so thankful for that considering my first few days in Vermont were downright frigid. However, I forgot how much NOISE it makes. As soon as the thermostat kicks in it's like an engine revving up. I mean, I lived 18 plus some years of my life listening to this noise, but I had completely forgotten about it. At my parents' house it was especially loud and seemed to rattle the registers. When it turned on the first night, I sat up in bed and thought: "Earthquake!"...then realized where I was.
2. Options. There are like 500000 brands of everything and so many varieties! I got very overwhelmed in the cracker aisle in Hannafords. More than just Galletas de Agua and Galletas de Soda. Thank God for that. Also, the variety of cheeses! And no Mantecoso as far as the eye could see. Double Thank God for that.
3. Driving. This isn't really culture shock, I just don't do it here in Chile. My license was a casualty to this unfortunate incident, so I really haven't driven more than quick jaunts since December 2008. However, I decided to bite the bullet and go to the DMV while I was home and can now legally drive in the US. The good news, it's like riding a bike. You don't really forget how to drive. I think mostly because my parents moved to the boonies, a half an hour drive from a major grocery store, it seemed like it took forever to get anywhere. (That being said, they live in a beautiful spot right by a major lake and it was very peaceful and the first night my ears were ringing it was so quiet [besides aforementioned heat turning on]).
4. Getting the check RIGHT when you finish dinner at a restaurant. Although sometimes I think it's a pain to have to flag down the waiter here in Chile, I find plonking the slip on the table two seconds after I've taken my last bite of food to be a bit jarring. Give me a minute to digest, please!
And in true Chile fashion, I was welcomed back to my adopted country with a one hour wait to get through Immigration and had all my bags checked by Customs. Oh joy.
7 comments:
yea i'm going to have to say that food variety was one of the happiest most wonderfulest things for me about moving back to NYC after 2.5 years in stgo. queso mantecoso has ni una gracia. not that US cheese is so great ( i hate cheddar) but at least you can get cheese from all over the world here (well and in NYC of course you have all the farmers and stuff in state that produce all sorts of stuff but i realize thigns aren't like that all over the US). also re: checks - i personally LOVE getting my check quickly - though i've gotta say i think that's reserved to fast food or super casual type places. No one will throw the bill at you at Per Se. And i've found that most places in the US that are casual at least have their servers say "just let me know and i'll bring the check when you're ready" instead of plunking it on the table. maybe things are diff in VT? jealous of warm Stgo weather right now.
Glad you had a good trip! I notice my ears ringing all the time here when I first wake up on Sunday mornings and it's really quiet. Yikes, that can't be good...never happened to me before I came here.
Everything you mentioned above is what I still expect to be the norm.. I guess I'm still in normal culture shock. Yesterday I actually said "Don't you love how in the US, when you want something, you can find it easily, pretty much no matter what it is" and he was like, "Yes", no defense. I guess that falls under options category. But seriously, try to find a trash can without a lid that is half way not ugly and pillows for putting into throw pillow cases!
Que bueno regresaste bien, que y podrás disfrutar del calor del sur (del continente xD).
Sólo me referiré al punto 4: En Chile sería algo rudo por parte del mesero irte a dejar la cuenta si no la has pedido, por que algunas personas después de la comida principal ordenan un postre, o un café, o si están en un grupo dejan pasar unos minutos y luego ordenan más cosas.
Imagina que comes con un grupo de amigos, y luego de comer, antes de poder pedir algo más, te llega la cuenta... Acá al menos lo interpretaríamos como "ok, ya comiste, ahora lárgate, y si pensabas pedir algo más, olvídalo".
Ahora que recuerdo, en mi escasa experiencia en EEUU, nunca nos fueron a dejar la cuenta antes de que la pidiéramos.
KM: You hate cheddar??? Having grown up with my grandfather being the manager of the Cabot factory probably influenced me a bit, but I honestly think cheddar is the best cheese in the world. Not the shitty orange dyed stuff, but good, aged, wax covered cheddar....yummmm. And about the check thing...yeah I was at a diner and an Applebees type place where it happened to me. At the nicer restaurants I went to we asked for the check, but it was right after we finished. I guess maybe what I like about Chile is the custom of sitting around and chatting after a meal and not feeling in a rush to get the check.
Heather: Come stay at my place and your ears will never be ringing, not even on Sunday mornings! I think I live in the neighborhood of teething babies, angry dogs and people doing home construction projects...
Lana: I agree that it's nice to know where to buy things. I almost bought so much stuff when I was home just because I know where to find it there (even though I know it exists in Chile). I had to cut myself off because I didn't have room in my suitcases.
Marmo: Estoy de acuerdo, me gusta esto de no ir a dejar la cuenta altiro. En mi caso (como ya comenté a KM) los restoranes donde me pasó fueron restoranes de comida rápido (o sea, más o menos, estilo Fridays). Pero aquí NUNCA me ha pasado, incluso una vez en Pizza Hut cuando había muchas personas esperando mesas. En este caso, prefiero el "Chilean Way"...jaja.
I can't believe you find a variety of cheeses on the US. for me they all taste the same, and unless you are rich, there is no way you can get good european cheese. ah, and cheedar cheese which is actually british, is not radioactive orange, but yellow and much more milky on the flavor. Americans are so different to the rest of the world!
Javi: I'm not sure where you're from, but compared to Chile, there are SO MANY CHEESES in the supermarkets that I go to near where I live. I hate the orange cheddar cheese (if you read my comment carefully you would see that I said I DON'T like the orange kind). A lot of places dye the cheddar, especially in the southern part of the U.S. But where I'm from (Vermont) it's yellowish-white. Cabot Cheddar (from Vermont) is the best in the world, and that's not just my opinion, it wins prizes every year. You should try it sometime!
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