What do I think?

When someone asks me what I think of something, I immediately think of memories from my childhood. I remember that the few times every couple of years that we came to various places in America, I was recurrently asked, “What do you think of…?” Whether it was an attempt to document out family vacations or to preserve the funny sayings of our childhood, my mother would sometimes ask what my sister and I thought of things- American things. Then, she would scribble down any memorable thing we said. After living overseas my entire life, I was quite oblivious to everyday aspects about living in the United States. Not general things, like better infrastructure or road signs being in the English language, but just little things. For instance, the average American would walk in to Wal-Mart being completely unexcited, but when we even had the chance to visit any superstore, we would rush in and stare at all the colors commenting on the decidedly exceptional amount of products. 

So, when moving back to the States, if our plan was to try to avoid culture shock, then staying in Los Angeles for the first few weeks was probably not the best choice. Because of Disneyland’s extreme plastic production and entertainment methods, and the city’s inconspicuous consumerism, we were slightly overwhelmed by everything.  I mean it was a very exciting visit, but it was like an extraordinary crash course in acculturation. Landing in the airport I recall wondering out loud when Diet Sprite came out and my sister running up to a vending machine and saying, “People sell electronics in here now?” However, not just products are different in the States, water is different. People don’t drink the sink water in Mongolia; they don’t want to get sick.

Consequently, I was looking forward to being able to drink sink water. And my sister, who at the time forgot it was okay to do so, gasped and said something along the lines of “Kalli! What are you doing? You can’t drink that, remember?”

Now, in hindsight, I can see how comical our situation would have been to an onlooker. I’ll admit, I still enjoy pressing the button in a functional elevator or using the common, developed-country conveniences like a water fountain. 

-KW