Culture Shock

Well Livermore has been an experience so far. I guess we did not realize how different it is from Stockton or that we would notice so much. First, was our experience at Comcast returning our cable box. Immediately at the door I pointed out there was not a security guard AND once you were inside there was no one waiting....maybe it was the time of day. To top it off there was not a glass partition between you and the workers. It was kind of weird because the woman talked to us in a friendly manner and was able to help us. This is unheard of at Stockton's Comcast. We chalked that up to just the luck of the draw. We must of just chosen a good day to come in.

The second shock has been shopping. Leaf and I went to the grocery store one day and we both felt odd...not in a bad way or good way. Just strange. It was one of those things you cannot put your finger on...then Leaf pointed it out. EVERYONE is white and middle class! We felt totally out of place. Not that being white and middle class is a bad thing but when you are used to diversity it is shocking to not see it. Okay, there was one or two people who were not white....but you get the point. Both Leaf and I agree that having diversity in Stockton was a bonus. It was amazing to me to see kids in my classes all get along even though they spoke different languages and came from totally different cultures. For the most part the kids just took it for granted that they lived with people from all over the world. I think when you grow up in a place where everyone looks just like you and/or everyone is somewhat in the same socio-economic group you develop a skewed view of the world. It is a life experience thing. Not that you have to experience everything to understand it; there are just some experiences in life that have to happen.

The flip side of Livermore would be the neighborhood I worked in back in Stockton. My students assumed that all white, middle class families ate dinner together at a table and had family meetings to discuss issues. It was really funny to hear their view of what it was like to be me....I then had to break the sad news that my dad had more street credibility than them and that he was darker than they were.

I guess the third shocker for us is that despite years of schooling and a great job we are yet to find a house. It is frustrating to say the least. We have actually bid on 5.5 houses (it will make sense later). The first was over priced and they pulled it off the market. The second is still sitting there and over priced. The third we missed being the buyer by a day or so and had a back up offer on it and the original offer went through. The fourth we missed because we figured it was the 4th of July and we could wait until today to put the bid in. Well they got an offer yesterday and took it. With that news I was really frustrated and ate some pie, then I had to go shopping. When I got back Darlene and Leaf had a list of houses for us to see so we ran out and looked not wanting to miss any more. We found a beautiful house that we really like on a 1/4 acre lot! With our luck we figured there was already a sale pending....well there was not, just another offer so we put our in the mix and we should find out by Monday night.

Until Monday