Sunday, November 04, 2007
Lacking lemongrass, a true culture shock!
Of all people, I never thought I'd be the one to go through culture shock, or have difficulties settling in anywhere. I never have.
But all of a sudden, I feel this bumbling foreigner, totally imbalanced, and in a grey area of existence. I'm not me, I can't be me - I can't find the cultural contexts within which to express myself. Hell, I can't even find lemongrass!
I'm trying so hard to think and speak in Spanish, that when I finally do speak Thai, English or Finnish, it's a bit difficult to express myself again. I'm finding myself 'non-lingual'.
But I shouldn't be whining, should I? Lots of international student in Australia went through that all the time in Monash. But, in defense of my situation, and that of the few non-Hispanics and non-Basques living here, I guess I'd like to mention that, well... at least they had other people from their own countries to form communities with, to speak their own language with, to make their own food with. Like I said, I can't even find lemongrass here. Lime, coriander, and fresh basil are rare commodities. I brought back ginger from Barcelona, even! Oolong tea? Forget it? Spring onion, Kaffir lime leaf, Galangal? What's that?!
Ok, so that's just food. But if you take the culinary culture as a reflection of the population here... Well, you know where I'm headed. No lemongrass = no Thais.
Not much intention of letting foreigners feel comfortable, either. Barcelona is so nice and international. They all want you to feel like you are part of the group there. They try to teach you Catalan. Here? Well, "Euskera [Basque language] is too difficult for you - don't even try."
Like the obstinate creature that I am, I set out on a mission to find the one store selling any Asian commodities in town. It was a sad little shop, barely a quarter the size of my room, with some dry and frozen Chinese ingredients. Well, I did find a big sack of Thai jasmine rice. That's a start, at least!
Am I the village fool - refusing to just blend in and behave like everyone else? Should I stop trying to be comfortable just being me?
fon @ 5:47 PM link to post * *