I have been back here in the states for 10 months but I still find a few things to be strange or awkward for me here. Nothing big, just little things that make you realize you are different or not 'normal'. You, know, just a little odd.
For instance, I still stare at people and feel embarrassed for them as they walk around in public places like stores or malls conversing in loud voices with no one at all.! I see it nearly everyday, and yet, it still throws me for a loop. Then I realize they are talking on their 'Blue tooth' and I am the weird one for not knowing this!
Checking the mail box everyday. I have not had a mailbox for over twenty years, have not seen a mailman or had any reason to think I would need anything so urgently that I need to check every day.
In the jungle, our mail was delivered once a month by the missionary pilots in a large cloth bag. They hand delivered it. I had the next month to read and answer it all as I would then return the bag with my out going mail and he would deliver any new mail.
Well, here in the USA I am supposed to check my mail every day. I get a call from the management office where we live, at least once a week, as they remind me to check the mail box in the office. My box is full and running over, they say. And it is!!! With ...junk!
Putting my purse down! I DO NOT EVER put my purse down in public, even in church! And I never put my purse on the floor. Purses do not go on the floor...I do not know why but you never do that in Venezuela!
Phones! They are so stressful! We used to have two 'skeds' a day on the ham radio...scheduled times for checking in with town to let them know we were ok and to hear if they had any news for us from the outside world. Once in the morning, once in the evening.
Now, I will be talking on the house phone, and my cel will ring! Then I toss it to someone, and their cel will ring! I have seen all four of us sitting in the same room speaking on four different phones at the same time!!!! That is not normal! people in the same room should be speaking to each other and one phone is one too many.
Just little things that often make me feel as if I am a stranger, not sure where I fit in to it all ...
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21 comments:
LOL, I'm guilty of the bluetooth, but I don't try to talk too loud. Actually I try just to use it in my car or at my desk when I don't want to hold a phone to my ear.
I'm with you on all of these, but especially the first one. I was quietly shopping at the grocery store the other day, and there was this man talking loudly into his no hands phone set up. I could hear every word he uttered from forty feet away. Then he called his wife to get specific instructions of what to buy at the store. I see men on their cell phones calling their wives every time I go to the grocery store.
Everything you write about is so true- all of it is a sign of lack of manners, IMO.
The worst thing for me, is watching someone need for the cash register to tell them how much change to give back to me.
And Heaven forbid! I give the clerk some pennies too- they are lost in the woods.
By the way, what happened to all your margin thingies?
You are not strange. Now the strange thing is that I am 25 years old and I hate the telephone. I think it was the worst invention ever made. LOL!!!
I have to wonder. Who is the advanced culture? Stress kill yet we do nothing but make it worse. Hmm
Ok, I have the same problems...but I haven't spent 20 years in teh Jungle to excuse it....
I'm so bad, when folks are talking...I think they're talking to ME!! Drives me nuts.
And hubby has to get the mail or it'd sit there, and I never answer call waiting or another phone when I'm talking to someone. That's what answering machines are for. People look at me funny when I say I don't always answer the phone. If I don't feel like talking I'll call you later!
And if I put my purse down, I'll leave it behind...just watch.
So, you have an excuse...I'm just a weird-O.
I need a one of those too. They made it illegal to use a cell phone while driving unless you're using a hands-free device. But I need a new phone first. I suppose I'll have to get used to the States when we move back. No more going to the clinic for cheap drugs. No more having my bags loaded into the car for me at the grocery store. No more pulling up to a restaurant, honking (if necessary) and having someone come out to take my order. {sigs} I'll really miss those things.
What a perspective! Yeah, I hate it when everyone is talking at once on a different phone, but not a single one leaves the room! That's funny about the mail, but to be honest with you, I think it's a genetic thing with us. My pretty mailbox is near to my home, right at the end of my driveway. I have received 2 notices in the past 2 years to please check my mail daily so the carrier will have room to place the newest pieces! I've trained Shane that checking the mail is now one of his new chores. Once in awhile Agustin still has to bring it in at the end of the day though. LOL
Oh, my, I totally understand!
Hope it is ok, I added you to the links on my blog!
The world slows down when you leave the big city and the west eh. Phones, i dislike phones, few ever call when it's a good time. I have one of those fancy [at least that's what i think] cell phones, but i don't take it around with me everywhere.
LMC, I don't know, I see everything in my margins!!!!!
K, No problem! I'll add you to mine this weekend.
:-D I know what you mean. I hear a lot about how much people hate bluetooth.
You won some awards! Come see my latest post (posted on friday)
Okay now I am worried.
I do walk around and speak to things. Always have. I think it is sort of an organizing thing.
I never put my purse down in public either.
I hate phones. I carry a cell but detest it.
Good post
HTOITA
Great post, Rita, and for sure I'm with you on most of these things too....I do not fear putting my purse down---as I should--- in what I think are safe places though....
That was very interesting!!! I'm with you about the bluetooth thingy!!! By the way, I was stunned to realize you've been back 10 months. Life is flying by tooooooo fast!!!
Susan
You know, you never really get over it. I've been back in the States for 14 years now and I still feel awkward some times. Especially in the Mall or the Grocery Store...well, pretty much any place there is a large gathering of Americans.
What a funny post! I can't relate to it all but I can relate to the blue tooth ear pieces. I still think people are talking to me when they are on those.
Ham radio, how interesting, never seen one actually.
I sure enjoyed this one!
Well I have to say that the blue tooth thing gets on my nerves. In the pharmacy where I work people come in all the time and I think they are talking to me. Then they turn their head and there is that stupid blue light flashing! Makes me feel like an idiot!! :-)
How long can we talk on the cell about what kind of green beans to buy, and why would any intelligent woman leave her purse
in the grocery cart, sometimes
wide open, and she's walked away from it? But the saddest social loss I see is that people of all ages are losing the importance of listening to each other.
lol..wowow!..check my email a few times a day too..ha
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