Photo by rovenimages.com on Pexels.com

This was purely coincidental, but I landed in the US in 2017 on Independence’s Day, watching fireworks from the plane. We got married in May but my visa wasn’t ready until late June, which was actually a great “delay” as I got to spend more time at home with my family before moving across the ocean permanently. Since then, every July Fourth, Jon & I would add to the count of how many years I have been in the US.

As I have been living here long enough, there are certain things that seem normal to me until my mom arrived and pointed out things that did not make sense to her. Below is her list which I find interesting:

• When you turn your key clockwise, the door is locked. In Vietnam, you turn the key counter-clockwise to lock the door.
• Shoes are worn from outdoors to indoors (yes mom, huge culture shock for you!). In most Asian countries, we take off our shoes at the doorstep before entering the house. Interesting fact in Japan: the shoes are turned facing the door so that when you leave, you don’t need to turn your shoes 180 degree.
• Turn the switch up for light on, and down for light off. It’s the opposite in Vietnam.
• Generally, you can turn right on red, unless there’s a “no turn on red” sign. In Vietnam, you can only turn right on red if there is a “okay to turn right on red” sign.
• Many kinds of medicines that can be bought at local pharmacies in Vietnam require a prescription here (she’s a doctor so this is super surprising when she found out she could not just get amoxicillin over the counter!).
• Don’t even get her started on pounds, miles, ounces, etc.

On a brighter note, my mom very quickly realize that the society is much less judgemental here, in general. No one, literally no one, would question her outfit. No one asks if she puts on weight, or comments on her hair when she doesn’t have it colored to hide the grey roots. During our conversation, I also shared with her great things about living in the US, from my standpoints. I don’t need to know anybody inside an organization if I want to apply for a job there. It’s also not necessary to know a doctor so I can get treatment at a hospital when needed. Nobody would ask about my salary, comment on baby Haruki’s development, or compare me with other people my age. So yes, I don’t know how long it will take me to feel that I’m at home here, and refer to the US as “home” as when I refer to Vietnam, but it is truly a good environment to live in.