First impressions
OR
Not born in the USA
(Male readers beware: this email is written by Cate and contains shopping references)
Being in America is a strange experience. In one sense everything is so familiar that it seems like you haven’t left home but then, as you go about your business, you discover that all the details are different and you can’t assume anything. It’s a bit like looking at a photograph that you recognise but that’s slightly out of focus.
The first couple of days, I definitely experienced some culture shock. It wasn’t so bad for Michael - he’s been here a number of times before and knew what to expect and generally how the rules work. Going to a restaurant, a supermarket - even what you can buy at a supermarket (or rather what you can’t), all involve new rules and customs. Most of the time, Michael knows the rules; sometimes we work it out, and sometimes we just give up and smile and say ‘We’re Aussies - please tell us what the hell we are supposed to do!’
Everything in America - we’ll the bits we’ve seen anyway - is big. Big roads, big cars, big buildings, big malls, big food servings, big coffee. Apart from what it’s doing to the planet there’s also the feeling that in many cases quality has been sacrificed for excess. This is particularly true with food - you have to be very careful what you order in a restaurant and what you buy at a supermarket - for example, the fabulous looking cornbread with jalapenos and cheese that I bought last weekend was sweet (and proved inedible).
We have found good quality food here but you have to go searching for it. We found a fabulous delicatessen last week that stocks wonderful produce from all over America and Europe and we stocked up on great bread, fabulous cheeses, pate, olives, cornichons - you name it, we went to town. We’ve also found a couple of excellent supermarkets - the one closest to us (and, rare bonus, actually within walking distance!) specialises in locally grown, organic food. And last week we enjoyed fabulous and cheap hamburgers at a traditional style American diner/restaurant.
There have also been plenty of enjoyable aspects of adjusting to this sister-culture. Learning to drive on the right-hand side of the road was a blast! It was kind of like learning a new video game (although you have to bear in mind that you don’t have a couple of spare lives up your sleeve.) Shopping at the Gap was also fabulous - plenty of quality there, and the prices! Macy’s was pretty incredible too, though I was feeling severely jet-lagged the afternoon we went there, so flaked very quickly. (O well, guess that just means I’ll have to go back sometime!) Walmart was sadly disappointing but Marshalls (a kind of cross between Best and Less, FSW and Target) was fabulous! O the shoes!! (I’ve been very restrained (for me) and only bought two pairs so far!)
Our first week in America ended with a three-day weekend thanks to the 4th of July holiday on Friday. We were very willing to throw ourselves into a festive, American, patriotic cultural experience but it was all remarkably low key. Michael’s work colleagues weren’t planning to do anything much but watch baseball on TV and chill out. But we, intrepid travellers and adventurers, headed off in search of parades and fireworks. We didn’t find any parades, and only saw fireworks from a distance but we did wander through the main local Princeton celebration - a kind of low-key fete in the grounds of ‘Morven House’ in Princeton (which served as the seat of Congress - and therefore made Princeton the capital - for a brief few months in 1783). Enthusiastic guides in period costume showed groups through the house (which was beautiful) and encouraged us to appreciate and celebrate our liberty and freedom - which of course made us cynical Aussies smile to ourselves, because we’re far more into knocking than appreciating (which is a good thing, right?) But hearing about the war of independence at first hand does give an insight into one of the formative events of the American psyche and provides a context for American patriotism and the focus (you might even say obsession) with civil liberties and ‘no one - especially the government - telling me how I should live my life’.
But let me conclude this rambling missive with my absolute favourite, all-time best thing about America ( I should perhaps add so far, but I really can’t imagine anything beating this):
As it grows dark, the air lights up with moving, shimmering flashes of greenish white-light - fireflies! Often at night after dinner we go for a walk just to look at them. In daylight they are just rather non-descript brown bugs but at night it’s like watching very delicate fairy lights flashing all through the trees or, as in Michael’s perfect analogy, like a thousand tiny camera flashes in a darkened stadium. I often also think that it’s like having little glowing fairies flying all around you - whimsical I know but it’s such an incredibly beautiful, even moving, experience - one of the most beautiful encounters I’ve ever had with the natural world. If there was nothing else to enjoy in the US it was worth coming all this way just to see the fireflies. And the wonderful thing for us is that they’re actually not widespread. A lot of Americans who are here from other areas working with Michael had never seen fireflies before coming to Princeton. It’s quite special to think that we are based in one of the few places in the US where this incredibly beautiful experience can be enjoyed everyday - definitely something to appreciate!
With love to all,
Cate (&Michael)
(Next week’s bulletin - New York, New York!)
PS. It’s not been easy sorting out our address book from over here so feel free to forward - especially to any family members as we don’t have all addresses