Culture shock
siddhesh.substack.com
Culture shock
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Re: Culture shock
#2Hey, as another Indian immigrant here I do want to say that most of these observations are spot on.
There's a couple of things in there that are just correlated to the fact that the author is around young/wealthy people, like the low obesity rate, fancy cars, shirtless dudes, book-reading in public. I had quite a surprise when I started working at a smaller town and consistently started seeing older and grumpier people.
Culture shock is real. For me personally, I didn't feel like I was going through anything unusual in my first 3-4 months in the US, but later a lot of my choices at the time made sense through that lens.
Re: Culture shock
#3This reminds me of my own culture shock in 2001 where I, a fresh arrival to these blessed shores, was trying to cross a road to enter the local supermarket. The cars _stopped_ when I got near the pavement. That was so unexpected, I thought it was some kind of a catch and they'd try to run me over once I proceed. Then I entered the store and saw 20 (!) types of table salt and other kinds of consumerist excess. It is only then that it dawned on me that I'm not in Moscow anymore. Yet 99.99% of US natives have no idea how great their country is. Perfect? No, far from it. But pretty great, even now, in its diminished form, as long as you have the right perspective.
My second culture shock was when I went to TX a couple of years later. Everything is still bigger and more "American" there. Going back to the Pacific NW felt like going from PNW to Canada.
To Russian readers who might be put off by my US enthusiasm, some 18 years later, Moscow was also a bit of a shock. It improved by leaps and bounds in all regards, to the point where I could see myself buying property there and perhaps even spending some time there every year. United States is my "home" now, though. Feels that way coming from abroad. I kind of just exhale and relax.
Re: Culture shock
#4> Sugar here is powdered, it doesn’t come in tiny cubes like I’m used to. It’s very easy to confuse salt and sugar (as I have done) because they look exactly the same.
Made me snort. I grew up here and I've still mindlessly done this.
> There’s no kiraana stores (i.e. small local stores) that sell grains and rice and vegetables here, it seems. (Or small stationery shops, or shops of any kind.) Almost all shopping has to be done at a big chain retail store like Lidl or Megamart or Target or any of the other big-names.
There are, just not in big coastal cities. I'm biased, but I generally tell people that big coastal cities are not a proper representation of American cultures vastness. They provide a boxed and abridged experience of a very opinionated nature. Instead, traverse the states and see what each geography has to offer. You'll find those things are still alive in the Midwest and South.
> Stoves are always electric. No lighter needed.
Kinda. Places I've lived usually have natural gas, but electric ignition is standard.
> But for bathroom taps, I don’t understand why there’s two different knobs for hot and cold. It’s binary. There should be just one knob which decides the hotness of water, depending on how much it’s moved.
I've never thought about this. My current place has one, but other places have two. I'm not sure if that was just style though.
As for the comment on curtains, this is mainly cultural. Some people like them, others don't. They require cleaning (moreso than blinds) and not everyone wants to do that. For what it's worth, my mom still hangs curtains. I don't think anyone can convince her that blinds are worthy of a trial.
I really enjoyed this read. Thanks for the observations, and I'm looking forward to the next post!
Re: Culture shock
#5What a fun read! I've never been to India but it's fun to infer what the reverse culture shock would be for me from the points here. Like, can you not sit on the grass at a university there?
Re: Culture shock
#6I‘m from Germany and even I found the vastness of everything in the US remarkable. In some regards it‘s amazing: the country itself, the national parks, the wide roads, parking space, buildings. In other regards it‘s obscene: beverage sizes, package sizes in Wal-Mart (some are larger than what our local wholesale stores have to offer), and SUVs and pick-up trucks. When I rent a car on my trip, I was glad I upgraded to an SUV because otherwise I would‘ve been anxious between the huge SUVs, which seemed to make up the majority of all cars (this was in California).
Re: Culture shock
#7> Sugar here is powdered, it doesn’t come in tiny cubes like I’m used to. It’s very easy to confuse salt and sugar (as I have done) because they look exactly the same. Made me snort. I grew up here and I've still mindlessly done this. > There’s no kiraana stores (i.e. small local stores) that sell grains and rice and vegetables here, it seems. (Or small stationery shops, or shops of any kind.) Almost all shopping has…
What they call “powdered”, we’d actually call “granulated” which looks like salt. Powdered here (in the US) is a much finer confectioner’s sugar that is more of a pulverized dust than a granule.
Re: Culture shock
#8> Sugar here is powdered, it doesn’t come in tiny cubes like I’m used to. It’s very easy to confuse salt and sugar (as I have done) because they look exactly the same.
Isn't the "powder" actually a bunch of tiny tiny cubes? Certainly tinier than tiny Indian cubes :-) One thing that seems to be smaller in the US.
Re: Culture shock
#9> Sugar here is powdered, it doesn’t come in tiny cubes like I’m used to. It’s very easy to confuse salt and sugar (as I have done) because they look exactly the same. Made me snort. I grew up here and I've still mindlessly done this. > There’s no kiraana stores (i.e. small local stores) that sell grains and rice and vegetables here, it seems. (Or small stationery shops, or shops of any kind.) Almost all shopping has…
I always thought rental apartments have blinds since preinstalled curtains likely wouldn't match the tenants style. Same reason they almost always have white walls and beige carpet.
Re: Culture shock
#10[deleted]