American Culture Shock

**Brian Lehrer** (0:08)
Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and we're going to close today with kind of a World Cup-related call-in, but it isn't about soccer. It's about what has surprised you about the United States. And you don't have to be following the World Cup at all for this one. It's about what has surprised you about the United States, or New York, or anywhere else in the United States, when you first came here as a visitor or an immigrant, 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. In a way, we're asking you to put yourself into Tocqueville shoes, if you want to take that classic example. It's about what has surprised you, that's the question, what has surprised you about the United States, or New York, or anywhere else in the country, if maybe you're from New York, when you first came here or went there as a visitor or an immigrant, 212-433-WNYC, call or text, 212-433-9692.
Why do I say this is kind of World Cup related? Well, if you've been anywhere near social media during this World Cup, you've probably seen some of the videos, the international fans visiting the United States for the tournament, completely floored by things most Americans don't think about twice. Like today.com reports that fans from Japan, England, Norway, Scotland and elsewhere have been going viral trying ranch dressing, ranch dressing as a surprise to them. Have you seen that? The TSA at the airports recently had to remind travelers that ranch dressing counts as a liquid for carry on purposes. Have you experienced anything like that when you were new to New York or new to the United States? Another one older than this year's World Cup, a friend of mine who moved here from Ireland a number of years ago, couldn't believe how many bananas New Yorkers seem to eat. Bananas for sale on street corners everywhere was a new thing for this friend. So those are some specific food related culture shocks. How about yours? Have you experienced a culinary revelation, either moving to the United States or for that matter, moving to somewhere else than the New York area within the United States? Tell us your stories.
212-433-WNYC-433-9692 on the phone or in a text. Maybe your culture shock wasn't about food at all. Maybe it was scale like The Hill, that Washington News Organization. Reporting on World Cup visitors culture shock describes fans expressing actual amazement just at the size and abundance of everyday American life. Supermarkets, I think New York City residents experience this when they go to the suburbs. The supermarket aisles are how big? But people coming from elsewhere to the United States, the size and scale of supermarkets, of portion sizes, of the ubiquity of convenience stores is another one they mention. So if you have immigrated to the United States from somewhere with a different relationship to scale or abundance, what was the thing that actually stopped you in your tracks? Maybe it wasn't even the big obvious stuff. Maybe it was something small, like aisle after aisle of one kind of product. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.
And I'll just say before we take the break and then take your calls and texts, sometimes culture shock is disorienting before it's funny, right? It's that moment of realizing the unspoken rules you grew up with. Don't apply here and you have to relearn how to move through the world or this piece of the world. Maybe it's how you do or do not assert yourself in public or professional relationships. For example, we don't really haggle prices in the United States very much, right? Some context, yes, but most context, no. Maybe it's about how you dress or treat elders. And that was a culture shock point for you. Whether or not you split the bill on a first date is another one that's come up. If that's been your experience, whether you arrived here as an immigrant, a refugee, or just someone who moved somewhere unfamiliar from, I don't know, Columbus, Ohio, Norfolk, Virginia, Salt Lake City. We are inviting those stories too. And what helped you find your footing? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.
Or if you prefer the other way around, when you've gone from New York, I lived in Columbus briefly in Ohio. And one of the things that I learned very quickly was that people there were not laughing at some of my jokes that people in New York would laugh at. So, you know, one tiny example. How about for you if you moved from the New York area? So 212-433-WNYC, call or text on this kind of culture shock, coming to the US, coming to New York, or going from here to somewhere else, 212-433-9692. We'll hear what you got right after this.
Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now to your culture shock calls, like some people here for the World Cup have been experiencing about what has surprised you about the United States or New York or anywhere else in the country when you first came or went as a visitor or an immigrant. 212-433-WNYC. And we're going to start off with B. Flora in Summit. You're on WNYC. Hello.