Living in America experience

Ruu_Old

Just a general experience thread, not look for a long debate on this. I have been living in the USA for 5 years now and luckily only came across this the one time which is nice.
I know immigration in the USA is a hot topic right now considering what is going on in Arizona at the moment.

I had my first negative experience as an immigrant recently. I work in a public library deal with people all the time. Most days, someone comments on my accent and loves to hear my story of where I come from, etc.

I had one patron who called and wanted some sensitive information on her account over the phone and I recommended that she come in with a photo ID for confirmation. She kept asking me to look up her info but I refused, in the end she hung up and said that she would call back when she could speak to "someone who could speak English". I am well educated and speak better English than most people! She called a different department who transferred her back to me, I told her again she would need to physically come to our building to deal with her issues. She said "maybe we shouldn't have foreigners working at American libraries" and hung up, last I heard from her.

The first time, I laughed it off but the second time I bugged me a little. I know there are negative things that go on across the world and I do my best to ignore them unless the effect me. I feel sorry for people who are ignorant or living in such fear. I also have come to dislike the term foreigner as it is used by such ignorant people in a derogatory fashion and a way to look down on someone. I shouldn't complain really, first time I have heard something like this, normally it is the opposite with someone asking me if I like living here, etc.

Black Swan

Hi Ruu! Sorry to hear about that one ethnocentric fool, when you were just trying to protect her library account, and perhaps reduce identity theft.

I've stickied this thread for more stories, to share "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" (thanks Clint) of living in US America to see if there is an interest, provided that it doesn't turn into a slug fest.

I've been across the pond in California for over 4 years now on scholarship at university, and my Irish accent has been received quite well (although I now mix Irish and American idioms). Home grown Californians seem to be generally curios and want to engage someone raised from afar, especially in coffeehouses so prevalent in the state. Of course, California is teeming with people from other lands, which makes for an exotic and fun mix for conversation over a cup of java.

The Austrian born state Governor Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger with his heavy accent symbolizes more openness to foreign born like me than perhaps in some of the other 49 states, although the heavy immigration (often illegal) from Mexico sometimes becomes an issue, especially for California cities not far from the southern border. Illegal immigration is one of many campaign issues this year, but in the long run most will be naturalized as in the past. But legal immigrants and visitors to California seem to be welcome more often than not. That has been my experience.

You have a story about immigrating or staying for a long time in one of the 50 states (or territories)?

Ruu_Old

Thanks, just looking for experiences.
Yep, I was purely trying to protect her account and just our policy of privacy, it would have been better to see her in person than try to verify information over the phone.

silja

Ruu: having been here for 5 years, are you going for citizenship soon?

I've not had bad experiences as such, just head-shaking ones. Like when I went to the local grocery store (we are extremely fortunate for Arkansas to have one within 10 minutes walk through a pleasant park), and somehow it came up that I walked there, and the cashier asked me if we had cars in Ireland. Or my nice (20 years old) talked about Star Wars, and asked if they showed that in Ireland. Or my husband and I actually convinced the same niece that leprechauns existed, and he'd seen one.

What I would say to people moving is to be prepared for culture shock, even if you looove the country and have visited many times. I had visited the area I now live in several times, but it still hit me hard when we moved here, and took me a good year to get over the culture shock, which really only went away when I got pregnant again and made friends with other birth activists (as VBAC is banned here, but that's a whole other story!). One thing that especially struck me- living in the bible belt I should have been prepared- is the "Christian-ness"; every football game starts with a prayer and most meetings too. People quote the bible at eachother,the social life of a town revolves largely around its churches (of which there are as many as pubs in Ireland, and all full on a Sunday!).

Ruu_Old

Yep, when I rake together the funds.