Cultural Clustering

When living in America, I could never quite understand why Latinos and folks from other cultures tended to cluster together and wouldn’t adopt the local food, language and customs.

Now, I UNDERSTAND (as I eat a Reese cup imported from the US and sip iced tea). While they respect, accept and observe local customs, etc., expatriates (myself included) cling to what they know. And while they accept the new culture, they don’t want to abandon their heritage or past. They seek out others like themselves so that they have a taste of home without leaving their distant borough.

So. While I still believe that Americans should be able to speak English, or aspire to do so in the future, in order to more fully integrate into the culture, I now adamantly believe that immigrants should maintain their native language and cultures, as well.

Perhaps all this is just a way of my saying that while I am soaking in all the European culture that I can while here, I still can’t bring myself to use some of the vocabulary in good conscience. To me, a biscuit is something that should be covered in gravy! And chips are yummy with dip 🙂