Comments on: Your life is exotic to someone else

By: jenn

jenn — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:54:54 +0000

This is so funny. I think this ALL THE TIME. The other day I was thinking about this in Lowes. I’m sure Mars size hardware stores must exist in other countries but I’ve never been to one. I started thinking about what it would be like if I were a tourist from another country. Not sure why I’d be spending vacation time in a hardware store unless my suitcase lost a wheel but that besides the point. There must have been 100 choices of grills. It’s so crazy.

By: boots

boots — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 10:50:33 +0000

@Cindy – I recently moved out of New York and just wanted to comment on your Chinatown experience. Shopping there has gotten deeply weird…people go there to buy decent-looking fake versions of designer purses, watches, etc. It’s illegal to sell fake copies of designer goods and in the last few years the city has really been cracking down on it (police, secret shoppers), so I think that’s why there’s so much “Psst…you want a Gucci handbag? Follow this guy down an alley and up to a creepy 5th-floor loft.” It does feel a bit like they’re going to knock you out and sell your organs!

By: gfe--gluten free easily

gfe--gluten free easily — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:58:24 +0000

Traveling definitely gives you different perspecives on your own world. Sometimes it’s the photos of everyday life we witness while traveling that are the most compelling. And, interestingly enough, it’s also seeing how our “culture” has expanded to other countries that surprises us. Like the KFC in Grand Cayman last summer with the huge statue of Colonel Sanders outside its door. Neither hubby nor I wanted our picture taken with him, but I did snap a shot. LOL

Shirley

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:21:02 +0000

As an American expat (immigrant? it’s been 10 years) living in Europe I can say from experience it’s also true that one can be walking down the street in a foreign place and think to yourself “Oh, look at that exotic grocery!”, run in with your camera to check it out, and end up thinking to yourself smugly “Wow they do it *so* much better at home!” Not all the time, but it happens. ;)

By: jkd

jkd — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 10:44:33 +0000

No matter how much/where I travel abroad, I never get tired of checking out foreign food labeling, even/especially on familiar US products. Seeing an Arabic sign on a KFC at the train station in Marrakesh last month was truly surreal (and yep, I took a picture, but no, I didn’t eat there). I couldn’t decide whether it was funny or sad.

By: mad folly

mad folly — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 07:46:33 +0000

So true. I’m living in London now, and before that Los Angeles for two decades, but whenever I return to Indiana I’m always amazed at the history and nature and beauty all around.

By: MizFit

MizFit — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 07:07:01 +0000

I used to always tell my clients we are ALL, every one of us, someones goal weight.

(now its we are all someones Jillian Michaels :) even I can change with the times…)

it’s pretty amazing and very true.

By: Nina

Nina — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:40:23 +0000

I always feel so special when those double decker tour buses rumble past me. As though of course people that want to see NYC will find me on my way to the subway absolutely fascinating!

I do love a double decker bus tour!

By: PastaQueen

PastaQueen — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:02:55 +0000

@RG – That is a good theory, but Indianapolis is the 14th largest city in the US, so I wouldn’t exactly call it a small town. It’s Midwestern, and there is a lot of corn in Indiana, but the Indianapolis area is home to at least three quarters of a million people.

By: RG

RG — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:21:22 +0000

Well, that might not be as true as you think. When you were describing the food in London, my reaction was mostly “hunh, that’s pretty common in DC”. Every city may have its own specialties, but I think you were noticing the difference between small-town and big city for the most part. I spent a few months having moved from DC to a small town in US, having people think everything I ate was “weird” or “exotic”, where my reaction was “really? you’ve never heard of black bean dip? that didn’t go mainstream 15 years ago?” Which was clue I wouldn’t be happy in a small town. Not much struck me as exotic in exchange.