Fish Out of Water

Watching Jennifer adjust to life in America has given me a front row seat to a living experiment in sociology. She is in the full throes of culture shock. I find myself ever vigilant to see the world through her eyes, silently wondering what will next trigger her fascination. The gas-station car wash, the zoo, cold weather, eating Mexican food for the first time: this place is very much a theater to her and she dances on the stage of change; I enjoy watching the show.

The change in culture has been as equally rough for her as it has been fascinating . Living in the United States is very different from living in the Philippines. Family and friends are over 8000 miles away and the closest substitute I can give her is the Filipino Channel Network. The food is strangely foreign to her and that is only offset with a constant influx of rice from the local Tom Thumb store. Sometimes the onslaught of English gets to her (after a year of Ilonggo I can empathize). Adding to the differences, a bit of isolation fever sets in from time to time when things become overwhelming to her senses.

For all of the change she has faced, I likewise face some newness. A closet full of female clothing, a now cramped bathroom, and the ever present reminder that I must head straight home after work are all things I haven’t experienced in a long time. These are by no means bad things but change is change [insert 'Who moved my cheese?' quote]. Despite all the upsets, I can easily state that all the change is worth it.

Her simplicity and lack of experience on all things American has given me a renewed vigor for life. It is somewhat impossible for me to explain being a part of her first-time experiences: first time eating grapes, first time watching a 3-D movie, and first-time experiencing fall weather (just to name a very few first-times). It reminds me of that memorable line from the ‘City of Angels’:

Maggie: Well, it tastes like a pear. You don’t know what a pear tastes like?
Seth: I don’t know what a pear tastes like to you.

I know that the culture shock will one day go away. She will no more be surprised from me having her “taste” the Ora-jel or sending her outside [48 degrees F. & sub-zero to a Filipino] to check the weather. The gas station car-wash will never be as awesome as that first time and I imagine on that day, King Kong will no longer be a scary movie to her. All of the good, the bad and the ugly of this country will phase into a shade of gray that roughly means things have become a bit more normal in lieu of her island upbringing and that the disparity of American/Filipino culture has softened. Fortunately for me, that day is not today.

Posted by Jon Kokko on December 3, 2011. Filed under Diary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry