When we lived in Chennai, there were times when we would have India moments. When the frustrations or cross-cultural experiences just got to you and you wistfully recalled the US and all of it's shiny newness. Whether it was the way someone would wait in line behind so closely that they touched you, or the lack of a line at all. Or the apparent lack of self-preservation of anyone on the road, whether they were walking, riding a bike, or driving a car. Relatively small things on the grand scale of problems that happened on a daily basis, but sometimes they just got to you.
Now that we're back in the US, I somehow find myself having lots of India-meets-New Orleans moments. There are amazing similarities to life overseas, although maybe I've just forgotten that things can be just as frustrating here? The first one I noticed was about our car. I joked with Oscar about the impracticality of buying a Jeep. How wrong was I?! I don't know how many times I've turned down a road here and said "Thank goodness we have a Jeep!" while navigating uneven pavement and pot holes. The other day Walmart ran out of skim milk.
[I feel this requires a side note. I do not like Walmart and this is the first place I've lived that I actually choose to go there. Target is my usual go-to, but is unfortunately 30 minutes away and the least impressive Target I've ever been to. Walmart on the other hand is just a few minutes from Oscar's school, super convenient, relatively nice, and honestly cheaper. Sure, things randomly sell out and the clientele fits every cliche, but that provides for an "interesting" shopping experience.]
Another experience that comes to mind is when I registered Oscar for his race last month. What should've taken 2 minutes, took half a day and each encounter got more and more India-like - from circular phone conversations to misinformation to business offices shut down during the lunch hour.
Which brings me to yesterday…
It's no secret that we miss the cold weather and snow. Livi doesn't know snow and Little Oscar says he doesn't remember it now, which is quite possible since the last time we were in snow he was 4 when we lived in Hoboken. How happy was I when we heard that Loyola was having a spectacular snow extravaganza from 6-9pm! They advertised a snow maker, cookie decorating, ornament making, and a special visit from Santa on their front lawn. They even had pictures from last year's event to get you excited. Awesome! I got together with another family and we headed out on a school night.
We arrived at the locational 6pm and found it odd that families were kind of milling about in all different directions, and wandered over to where we thought it would be. A nice family stopped us on our way and told us the event was cancelled. Apparently the generator for the snow machine broke, so they packed everything up and called it a night. Um, what? We decided to investigate further since we figured at least there would be cookies or ornaments or something, only to be stopped by a lovely student saying the event was cancelled and would not be rescheduled. All the supplies (which I'm still not sure existed) were packed up. Wait, if you plan a major event for hundreds of children wouldn't you have hundreds of cookies and other supplies to deal with? Nothing. Zip. Nada. Children were crying (mine included). Parents wandered around the lawn aimlessly, wondering how someone planning an event for children could be so clueless about their level of expectation for the event, and their dismay when there was NOTHING there. So, parents held an informal kind of protest, letting their kids run amuck on the front lawn and campus buildings. The organizers seemed perplexed that we'd linger, but clearly didn't understand that the kids just wanted to do SOMETHING. Anything. One cookie? A piece of paper and a crayon? I'm still shocked, although I know I shouldn't be. Yet another India-meets-New Orleans moment I'll call "Computer says no snow"…. There's no snow! Wait, no snow? This was supposed to be a snow event! Abort! Abort!
Well, kids will be kids. We recovered from the initial disappointment, and ran amuck with the other bewildered families.
Now that we're back in the US, I somehow find myself having lots of India-meets-New Orleans moments. There are amazing similarities to life overseas, although maybe I've just forgotten that things can be just as frustrating here? The first one I noticed was about our car. I joked with Oscar about the impracticality of buying a Jeep. How wrong was I?! I don't know how many times I've turned down a road here and said "Thank goodness we have a Jeep!" while navigating uneven pavement and pot holes. The other day Walmart ran out of skim milk.
[I feel this requires a side note. I do not like Walmart and this is the first place I've lived that I actually choose to go there. Target is my usual go-to, but is unfortunately 30 minutes away and the least impressive Target I've ever been to. Walmart on the other hand is just a few minutes from Oscar's school, super convenient, relatively nice, and honestly cheaper. Sure, things randomly sell out and the clientele fits every cliche, but that provides for an "interesting" shopping experience.]
Another experience that comes to mind is when I registered Oscar for his race last month. What should've taken 2 minutes, took half a day and each encounter got more and more India-like - from circular phone conversations to misinformation to business offices shut down during the lunch hour.
Which brings me to yesterday…
It's no secret that we miss the cold weather and snow. Livi doesn't know snow and Little Oscar says he doesn't remember it now, which is quite possible since the last time we were in snow he was 4 when we lived in Hoboken. How happy was I when we heard that Loyola was having a spectacular snow extravaganza from 6-9pm! They advertised a snow maker, cookie decorating, ornament making, and a special visit from Santa on their front lawn. They even had pictures from last year's event to get you excited. Awesome! I got together with another family and we headed out on a school night.
We arrived at the locational 6pm and found it odd that families were kind of milling about in all different directions, and wandered over to where we thought it would be. A nice family stopped us on our way and told us the event was cancelled. Apparently the generator for the snow machine broke, so they packed everything up and called it a night. Um, what? We decided to investigate further since we figured at least there would be cookies or ornaments or something, only to be stopped by a lovely student saying the event was cancelled and would not be rescheduled. All the supplies (which I'm still not sure existed) were packed up. Wait, if you plan a major event for hundreds of children wouldn't you have hundreds of cookies and other supplies to deal with? Nothing. Zip. Nada. Children were crying (mine included). Parents wandered around the lawn aimlessly, wondering how someone planning an event for children could be so clueless about their level of expectation for the event, and their dismay when there was NOTHING there. So, parents held an informal kind of protest, letting their kids run amuck on the front lawn and campus buildings. The organizers seemed perplexed that we'd linger, but clearly didn't understand that the kids just wanted to do SOMETHING. Anything. One cookie? A piece of paper and a crayon? I'm still shocked, although I know I shouldn't be. Yet another India-meets-New Orleans moment I'll call "Computer says no snow"…. There's no snow! Wait, no snow? This was supposed to be a snow event! Abort! Abort!
Well, kids will be kids. We recovered from the initial disappointment, and ran amuck with the other bewildered families.
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| Livi covering up "the baby" |
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| Oscar playing in the shadows along one of the upper walkways. The campus is small, but really beautiful |
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