I have lived for a total of 11 years in the USA. So I should know how the USA works, as a country. Yet every time I visit, I still feel like I get culture shock.
I recently visited the USA again around New Year's, as usual, to visit family. I have family in southern California, and so I landed in Los Angeles International Airport. Southern California can be a sprawl, and yes, you need to drive everywhere. Everywhere you look, things look the same. There's massive highways, there's plenty of cars, and there's strip malls and parking lots, all over the place. Sometimes, the visuals can make things feel rather alienating.
See, I love my neighbourhood in Europe, where I can simply go down from my apartment building and find a restaurant or a nice shop a few minutes walking distance. But this is not possible in California. You have to drive all over the place, and you need to know which strip mall contains the thing that you're looking for. And if you don't have this knowledge, then you would probably think that there's nothing available.
Actually, there's plenty of things available, but you just need to look and find out where it is. While I was there, I found very tasty Mexican cuisine, but it's located in a warehouse building, that I wouldn't know existed, except for the fact that my family knows about it. And when we got there, it's actually rather popular, and there are relatively long queues. We also went to Indian supermarkets, to find curry leaves and other authentic Indian spices. And of course, there's the Filipino supermarkets and food sellers, where one can get authentic bibingka and other Filipino goodies. You just need to know where these things are.
I suppose it is also the same in Europe, that you need to know where these things are. But perhaps it is the driving aspect that disturbs me. In California, it feels like if you don't know where these things are, you'll just end up driving and driving, with no destination, and you'll just see endless stretches of road.
