Hey, Glad to be back on my blog ;) I had just been very lazzzyyy at home and enjoying some Me time :) So, I visited US specifically Pennsylvania and some other states NYC, NJ for 3.5 months for a traineeship. It was my first ever visit to the North America and had a FREAKING AWESOME time there. When I reflected back my experiences, the people I met and had some chit-chats, I came to realize some funny, weird and also some interesting things.. So came up with 5 things I came to know about Americans :) Well, no offence ;) This is entirely based on my experience, hehe!
Here we go..
1. AMERICANS DON'T COOK, THEY MICROWAVE!!!
Are you lazy to cook and want things easy and quick? America is the place for you, hehe ;) Being raised in a country like Nepal, I was never used to go any sort of mart to buy vegetables or even groceries or buy packaged meals. Little did I know about them before even when Bhatbhateni supermarket was always there. We have STREET markets ;) or say Street Vendors where you can buy literally everything. And importantly they are not processed. I was completely overwhelmed when I went walmart to buy things to eat.. I was like WHOAAAAA.... What should I buy? This looks sooo fancy. I am never used to eat things stored in canes and preservatives. It was a total stressful time for me and I loved cooking food. While I saw my American friends used microwave much more times than I actually cooked my food. I also tried buying that 1 minute microwave packaged rice and I almost vomited as soon as I ate a spoon of it. While I had tough time shopping for foods so I limited mostly to produce section and so-called ASIAN section which only includes Chinese and Thai noodles and some Indian spices plus the most important RICE!!!!
Everything is microwavable and it was quite fast but weird for me.
P.S I loved when they cook, it was more like a chemistry lab rather than a kitchen. They have different measuring cylinders, glasses, spoons and exact amount of everything while cooking. It was soo much fun watching them performing their lab works oops, I mean cooking. Plus, they even use dishwasher to do the dishes.. How Posh!!!! ;)
2.AMERICANS LOVE CHEESE AND BREAD
Well, In Nepal I only ate cheese like once in 10-12 years hehe. I remember buying yak cheese once when I was trekking in the Gosaikunda region and the cheese was famous. But as per an online source, on average, each American eats about 34 pounds of cheese every year. I was startled that in some parties they only serve cheese and wine, hehe ;) All I know was Cheese made up of milk of yak, cow and goat... Well, I don't know about their origins but I tried to learn some varieties... American cheese, Mozzarella, Parmesian(which was great), Cheddar, Swiss, Ricotta etc etc... which sometimes also included chillies in it (peppers as American say). I never ate that much cheese in my entire life as I ate during my stay. Same goes with Bread, I have not even touched a single bread after coming back to Nepal. It's a same thing for me even if u may call them Hoagies, Sandwich, Burgers, Wraps, Panini or whatever. They all have salads, meats, cheese on them yet sooo many names and varieties. And their Motto is to Eat Big.. naah.. BIGGER as I read somewhere hehe..HAMBIGGER ;)
WHY COMPLICATING LIFE???
3. THEY CANT BELIEVE THAT VEGETARIANS EXIST
Though I met some vegetarian Americans, but it was very weird for most of them to realize that people can survive without eating meat. It was soo embarrassing that once one of the local restaurants did not even had any vegetarian dish and when I ordered a burger and asked them not to put meat on it. The waitress re-confirmed with eyes wide open and later came again with another option of adding Portobello mushroom in my burger( which was yummmy). But the usual question they asked me were: a) From where would you get proteins??? Myan, I eat lots of lentils, beans, mushroom plus much more protein rich food.
b) Do you eat diary products? Do you eat sea fish? I love DIARY products and No Fish please!!
c) Are all Nepalese Vegetarians? Noooo :( some but we don't eat Beef( Americans love it) !! It's Holy animal.
I also had to check every canned sauce and sometimes even cheese to make sure they won't include any meat. It was very tough and I missed Nepal sometimes hehe.
4. NOT ALL AMERICANS ARE WISE n RICH
Well, this can be more political but having Donald Trump as Presidential nominee is already an example of what I meant to say.
Plus, I don't know why people from poor or developing nations always assume that AMERICANs would be soooo intelligent, rich and wise. They are not super natural beings, hehe. They are like every other human being; some are wise and some are not. That's why we needed we aware, educate and inform people all over. Another thing I noticed was the problem of homeless people. I was utterly surprised to see soooooo many homeless people in the streets that you would not even see in Nepal while strolling around Philadelphia. They were begging, asking for food and trying all the reasons to fool and ask money with people. It was heartbreaking to see. I was even intimidated to walk around the streets as they would approach.
Another thing that made me ponder the issue about Global warming and how US is contributing on it while politicians are aloof. It's very ironic that the country that would be most wise, many people still deny the issue or even if they preach about the problem and what the other countries could do to mitigate while Americans themselves are one of the biggest contributor to global warming almost 15.9% CO2 emissions. They do need to think about their role as global citizen too, what are they giving up themselves before asking someone else to restrict doing something.
5. THEY ARE VERY FRIENDLY AND SOCIAL!!!
There may be many other points like USA is the only country besides Myanmar and Liberia to use the weird FPS(Foot, Pound,Second) system of measurement and also drive in the right side of the road ( In a simple way, drivers seat is on the left there)which was soo confusing for me.
Despite all these ;) , they are one of the nicest people I have ever met too. I can never pay back their kindness, generosity, love and welcoming attitude that made it easier for me to adapt easily. They aren't bully as many people think they are. They don't brag for being the world's powerful countrymen rather are very friendly and welcoming. I have been indebted my their love. Plus, as many easterners think that they are very selfish, self-oriented, reckless and always interfering in other's business, but opposite to my expectations, I found them very close to family, hard working people and wonderful people. Anything is possible there if you work hard to achieve your dreams. It surely has better system, stable politics and bureaucracy and lots of facilities compared to us but they work really hard as well that may lead in lack of personal time or time for family but that's how their society has been. Politics makes it worse and media makes it worst. Its normal that people tend to have preconception about any countries and its people even without ever going and seeing through their own eyes. The media creates illusion through the information they pass and we tend to believe. Trust me, people from all around the world are nice, kind and generous, the degree can vary but we can't label them without even knowing them ourselves.
I reckon, Diversity is surely an asset of America, the main reason for America to be the Land of opportunities. people from all class, religion, country ,color have been there and worked hard to make it Great. I will always love America :)
