Well, I’ve been here over 4 months now. I’m adjusting, finally getting some sense of direction so that I can drive around without getting utterly lost. I’m figuring out where things are, have been to a few nice restaurants. Still miss Tbilisi and all my friends there terribly. I guess that’s not going to go away. But I am pushing onward, forward, trying to figure out where I fit in this new place.
As I go through my days, I notice a fair number of things that are … different. Not so much different from Georgia, that’s to be expected, but different from anywhere else in the U.S. where I have lived or spent considerable time. Admittedly, that’s not too many places, and outside of New York, they’ve all been on the West Coast. Still, I thought it would be amusing to list some of those things here:
First – friendly people on the street. People say hi, greet you, smile, etc. So, that’s nice, it’s ok, a little confusing at first, but I like it fine. Just not to be confused with anything even remotely resembling actual human contact/outreach/friendship. In fact, in 4 months, I have been invited to dinner, for instance, once. And that was by someone from Massachusetts.
Second – road kill. There is so, so much of it. And it stays on the road pretty much forever, or at least until the poor body decomposes. ‘Nuff said.
Third – driving skills. Well, there’s a lot of guys driving big trucks who are pretty aggressive. The NC equivalent of L.A. SUVs I guess. But the main thing I’ve noticed is a pathological inability to understand how traffic roundabouts, of which there are quite a few, are supposed to work. Every single day on my way to work I screech to a dead stop behind someone who doesn’t seem to comprehend that a yield sign to enter a roundabout with NO CARS IN IT is not the same as a stop sign.
Fourth – one of my favorites, North Carolinians have an irrational love of vinyl floors, or as they call them, “luxury wood-like planks.” Or similar ridiculous names. In the course of house-hunting, I have had to reject so many nice houses, a lot of them built 50+ years ago, advertising themselves as “historical” or “traditional,” because they have plastic floors. Yes, my fellow North Carolinians, that’s what “luxury” vinyl floors are. PLASTIC. They don’t look like wood, they don’t feel like wood, they are not easier to take care of, they scuff just like wood except it’s harder to get the scuff-marks out, and they are FAKE.
This house is for sale for $229,000, built in 1945. Classic bungalow.
Look at this. It’s enough to make you weep.
Fifth – a lot of streets here are also highways, I guess. So you might be on a freeway called 15/150/85 – they also have a love of multi-numbered routes – or it might be a regular road, like Duke or Roxboro, which are also 15/150 (though not 85). The street might just be a kind of normal, regular main street, or it could be some monstrous, 8-lane road (no sidewalks, because no one would be crazy enough to walk on these super-roads) that rolls you through innumerable shopping centers and car lots. It’s so confusing!
Last – development. Lots and lots and lots of development. And all of it looks the same. For instance – here’s where I currently live:
Nice enough – could have been a lot nicer if instead of tearing down the historical warehouse that actually was in place and just leaving a wall for decoration, and then building cookie-cutter modern apartments around the wall, with vinyl floors, they had actually refurbished the existing structure, but ok, whatever. Now, here’s what they are building directly across the street, right next to a park and popular weekend farmer’s market:
The whole city is like this. Everywhere you go is being devoured by these huge buildings, often several of them together, except for upscale, residential neighborhoods, which are rapidly shrinking. There are loads of new home developments everywhere, too, which look pretty much exactly like you would expect – rows of identical houses with big garages in front, and miniscule postage-stamp-sized front lawns.
There are still a lot of nice areas, an interesting downtown (though oddly devoid of pedestrians), and a big arts center, but the character of the city is in severe danger of being lost, I fear.
OK, so these are largely negative things, but sadly, those are the things that stick out to me. There are some things I like – let’s see – well, there are a lot of flowering trees. I think they are cherry trees, all white (note – I’ve been corrected, they are Bradford Pear Trees, non-native, invasive and smelly, is the information I have been given!). Also, the leaves turn in the fall and it’s very pretty. Hush puppies – they are very delicious, as is the fried chicken. Also, though I’ve only been there once, I kinda like the Waffle House chain of restaurants. But all-in-all … so far I have not been deeply impressed. The politics of the state are quite bad; witness the recent scandal in the Ninth District, resulting in a new election after the “winner’s” son testified before the Election Commission that his father was specifically warned about the voter fraud that was endemic through his campaign. But that one scandal is just the tip of the iceberg, apparently.
I hope that over time I will find more to love, that I will get more involved in political activism, and that I will become happier here. Right now, I’m focused on finding a real home, doing well in my new job, and trying not to think of warm, delicious tonis puri (Georgian handmade bread baked in stone ovens, about 50 tetri a loaf – that’s about 18 cents US) at the gigantic supermarket where a loaf of slightly stale rye bread is $5.00.
The Next Big Adventure 