SOME COSTS OF MIGRATION. Thirty-five years ago we saw BREAD AND CHOCOLATE, a memorable movie about a Sicilian and a Turk trying to find work in Switzerland in order to send money home. Leaving home is hard. There is the difficulty of the new culture and the loss of the old culture. Dilip Ratha’s older sister frets that Ratha now eats with a fork. Ratha says, “On bad days, I do feel lonely in a way that I can’t explain.”
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I know what she was talking about. London is about as bustling a city as it can get, and for a few weeks in January and February I definitely felt extremely lonely, despite having a pretty good group of friends.
The language is the same here, and I spend time with some Americans, and in many ways I still have lots of culture shock. A lot of it operates subconsciously.
Imagine, Nick, what it feels to be a Peace Corps volunteer stationed for two years (with breaks to be sure) in a remote area of a Third World country. When I left Cambridge, MA for Lesotho in 1964, I went by way of three months in London and had the same feelings as you. However, my arrival in Lesotho (colonial Basutoland), 250 miles from Johannesburg – half on dirt roads – was the real test. For the first time in my life I knew what it was to be a tiny minority!
It doesn’t help that I’m a wimp, but I suppose I was underestimating the shock I’d have.
I never knew that – Are you glad you went?
I’ve made it the basis for my whole career. especially on the publications side! The strangest part is that a week from tomorrow, Elmer and Margo will be leaving with Chris and me on a trip to South Africa that includes four days in Lesotho. When I returned to room with Phil and Elmer in 1966. I’ll bet visiting Lesotho was about the last thing Elmer ever considered doing!
I certainly thought at the time that I would get to Lesotho and a whole lot of other places that I haven’t gotten to yet. Bon voyage!
Lesotho is obscure enough that even I don’t expect many people to rank it high on their list of destinations. When I returned in 1966, the new ambassador of Lesotho to the USA deliberately mispronounced the name, so Americans might know what country he was talking about. For those who don’t know, its Le-soo-too or Le-su-tu with the accent on the soo (su)
Nick! I’m curious. Shaw talked about two countries divided by a common language. What produces the culture shock for you?