Absence notice

[Spider]

I've seen people sleeping on the street, and there was this one guy sitting in the rain with a blanket over his head and a sign that says Hungry and Homeless. So I gave him some pennies. Ok they're probably just buying booze with it but I don't use the small coins anyway.

Man, give that guy some more money, cause if your on the streets and its raining...you'll need a drink, lol

[wichita]

I've been trying to talk my chinese coworkers into taking me to Chinatown in Chicago sometime. I would love to experience it, but I think it would make me uncomfortable without a translator. I would love to see all the shops and here the language in use, not to mention the food!

The town I grew up in only had 5000 people. My friend's mom was from Taiwan and taught geometry at the Junior High, one of my other friend's mom was from Mexico, and we had one black family move in for a year or so, but other than that everyone else was just boring old white people. So the foreigners in our town mostly consisted of Sooners migrating north from Oklahoma. I can totally relate to unintentional aversion to othe races and ethnicities. It's not necessarily racism, it's just the shock of being exposed to something different. My first two years at University was a culture shock. Only 2 out of about sixty grad students in the chemistry department were American, so I had a lot of cultural growth to do in a short amount of time!

[Nixit]

Well, you really don't have to have a translator to go to Chinatown. I've been to the Chicago one... maybe it's just because I don't really like Chinese food, but it wasn't that great. But that's just from a very picky teenager.

[formerly known as hf]

it's just the shock of being exposed to something different. My first two years at University was a culture shock. Only 2 out of about sixty grad students in the chemistry department were American, so I had a lot of cultural growth to do in a short amount of time!

:)
I has the totally opposite experience. Where I come from in London has the greatest ethnic mix in the capital, noth of % non-white and the numbers of 'types' (African-Caribbean, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese, Turks, Greeks, Slavs, etc etc...)

Yet, going to uni, I was shocked at how unmixed it was - there was only one black guy in my halls of 40 people in the first year, and the racism, or plain ignorance that I meet is horrendous. When I explain that I was one of only five white people when I was at secondary school... the reactions I get...

I can't imagine being in a place where there's 'the black family' as much as many peolple couldn;t imagine walking down their high street and hearing people speak, and shops named, in foreign languages more than english...

[SekoETC]

I gotta leave like in ten minutes! Arrgh arrgh argh!! It's really expensive in here but other than that I wouldn't mind staying. Definately if I win the lottery then I'll come here for longer.