My Neighborhood 2
In my neighborhood there’s lots of foreigners. It’s ok for me to call them foreigners because I am also a foreigner here. Earlier in the semester I went to my french neighbors’ place for crepes. They didn’t like my anglo way of saying crepe since I didn’t get the throaty ‘r’ in there but that’s how culture goes. It’s assimilated, then mutated to fit the locality. McDonalds gets this and that’s why they succeed in the global market. When the weather was still warm, I could listen to the sounds of my neighborhood through my bedroom window and I could hear the diversity in the air. The many languages, the breeze, and the looks of people who aren’t just like me.
I am less of a foreigner now though. I use ‘zed’ instead of ‘zee’ and I can drive to the market without getting hopelessly lost in the tangled mess of streets. Assimilation is a slow process. Difficult and not without jolts. I think the other foreigners in my neighborhood are also less foreign now too.
Are we to believe you've discovered a new language, or that you've found a new way of interpreting it?
Personally, I've found a way to survive with a variety of language barriers, despite our cultural differences.
While I may not speak their native tongue, I seem to find a way to communicate with them. What's your thought on the issue?
What are you talking about Jake?
And yeah, of course, you can still communicate with people whom you don't share a language with. Hold waving takes you far.
Hi Andy-
I found your website from a textpattern link talking about photopattern - do you know of any sites that use it? Would love to see a working copy...
Anyway, how do you like Waterloo. I'm a Canadian who went to UW for a Bachelor of Math a long time back. It would be nice to go back to school again. Delay the real world as you say :-)
It's funny that we have gone opposite ways. I just moved from Toronto to Baltimore! From the opposite perspective, I feel like a foreigner here. I have to say "zee" instead of "zed". I find that people here single you out quickly asking where am I from more than in Canada (Toronto specifically). People here always give me a hard time saying "about". It's funny. I'd love to go back to Canada though.
Hi Jonah, I like Waterloo... but really, the school isn't so important as long as there's smart people around to do research with.
That's funny that people notice you're a foreigner right away... no one can tell that I'm not a Canadian unless they ask me where I'm from or I mention it (and I could easily get away with lying). I'd probably rather be in the States right now... but not in the northeast. I don't particularly like that area of the country. But really, the US is where it's going on right now, and being in Canada makes me realize that all the more... actually, Canada has been so influenced by the US that it's not very different at all... hence why I could get away with pretending not to be a foreigner.
And Baltimore?!? You should definitely watch The Wire (a TV show on HBO)... it's about that city... shows the underbelly that you probably don't see much.
Oh and finally, I should add some things to my list of changes... like sometimes using ISO measurements (hello Celsius, but still feet and inches, no more miles-- using pints but not ounces... it's a weird mishmash). And it's a washroom instead of bathroom or restroom. But focusing on differences is what happens at first... by now, I'm just accepting that things are different. Some differences I like, some I don't, but either way, I have to accept. (I especially hate "writing an exam" instead of "taking an exam" but 'tis fine with me if Canadians want to stick with the outdated British usage of academic terms)
Well I hope that accepting is not toooo hard on you, nice pictures by the way :)
And you tell me to update more often! Tsk tsk.
1. I like your typeface, a lot.
2. This "mutating to fit the locality" thing you're talking about is actually something I might write my thesis on for film, I'm looking at the Western film genre though. Globalization is having a strange effect on the arts, particularly in America, as filming locations become negotiated (and in the case of CGI, become unnecessary).
3. Personally, I'm getting used to the act of assimilation. I guess I'm not secure enough with my own national identity to mind. I'll feel just as alien here as I will back in Colorado. But in your case the language barrier, yeah, well that sucks.