Wednesday, September 14

Stage 2 rage


You might like to check out this article about Americans' "residential mobility" driving their desire for familiar, national brands.


On a related note, I've been thinking about the stages people go through after moving to a new place. In stage 1, you romanticize everything (see Jolly good! and the fourth paragraph in this post). Even the weird stuff is new and exciting (oh look! the hot and cold water flow separately out of separate faucets! how quaint!) But then you enter stage 2, angrily replacing your rose-colored glasses with I-hate-everything glasses (I hate separate faucets! I always freeze or burn my hands!).


Another example.

On Saturday, I walked half a mile to Angel to shop for new trainers (= UK English for running shoes. I hate the word trainers. See what I mean?). My knees started aching halfway there and I angrily thought 'WHY DO I HAVE TO WALK EVERYWHERE? I MISS MY CAR.' I didn't find any shoe stores in the area and I angrily thought 'WHY CAN'T I DO ALL MY SHOPPING AT ONCE INSTEAD OF WALKING MILES AND MILES TO INDIVIDUAL STORES?' The grocery store was completely out of salmon fillets, so naturally I thought, 'UK GROCERY STORES ARE DUMB. THEY'RE ALWAYS OUT OF EVERYTHING.' On the way home, I stopped at Boots to buy deodorant and the grand finale of Saturday's stage 2 rage descended upon me when I rediscovered that Brits don't use stick deodorant. All deodorants, besides one or two overpriced speciality brands, are spray-on or liquid roll-on. Infuriating. I HATE LIQUID DEODORANT.

And so forth.

I pride myself in being positive and adaptable in new places, but sometimes I too am irritated by the unfamiliar. Sometimes I just want to get in my car and drive to Wal-Mart where I'm certain to find my favorite, non-liquid deodorant. Confession. 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL
You've definitely settled in now. Some things are just irritating aren't they? Never did get to liking or understanding that separate faucet thing

Love
Mom

Han said...

Well, I HATE STICK DEODORANT AND MISS ROLL-ON, and I HATE THE FACT YOU NEED A CAR TO DO ANYTHING HERE.

It takes an uncommon amount of strength to get through the 'i hate everything different from home' stage. We should be thankful that we're among the minority of people in this world who can do it, and in fact will keep doing it for the rest of their lives rather than staying in one place.

Love Hannah