Tuesday, August 10, 2010

My first US observations

My initial observations being back stateside:
1. Square Land Plots-
Compared to flying over NZ, the US was so much more consistently structured in its development as i looked out the plane window

2. Hot-
Going from 12C=54F to 35C=96F in a day was a shocker with the change of seasons over night.

3. It is Light a lot later-
Also weird for it to be 9pm and still light out since i switched to summer time over night.

4. Flags-
After being patriotic and friends commenting on our respect for the flag, i notice the how many more US flags around houses and places i see compared to the NZ flag in New Zealand

5. Stomach getting used to the food-
It always happens and i always forget, but it usually takes my stomach a little while to change to the quantity of food and different food consistencies that i eat in the US compared to NZ

6. Hispanic/ African American Influence-
I wish i remembered my spanish more. It is weird getting use to hearing spanish and seeing a different style of light brown people always around.
People also have different accents and it is interesting to hear the lingo of african americans and even the voice differences. It is also hilariously good to see more swagger and baggy jean sagging again... oh how i missed that.

7. Being a Minority to Normal-
I went from being one of the few who stuck out as an american with my accent to just being one of many back in the states. This is not a "woe is me" statement but an acknowledgement that this hasn't been my world the past 2 years, that i am just one of the many, and that it will take a little time to re-find my place in what is a more natural everyday life.

8. American Dream Mentality
We were driving by and looking at some nice houses and condos a long a lake and i was surprised at how quick my mind drifted into dreaming about having a place on the water and what i could do to make that happen on the future (haha on a pastor's salary haha ! :)

1 comment:

Coloradonegrito said...

Kia ora, Brent. Great to see you observing some of the differences. Some good questions to ask yourself now are :What are some of the more subtle differences? & How has your worldview changed by being in NZ & what are some of the things that you now find different in terms of values cf. Your peers?