Things I Have To Get Used To

I've been living in the US for 2 and 1/2 months now, and I would say I've acculturated well, for the most part. One would think it would be so easy to adjust to living in the US, since Manila does have a Starbucks in every other corner. Well, I've found that the little things are sometimes the hardest to learn.

I have to get used to all the doors working in a uniform manner. You pull it to go into a building, you push to go out. Sounds simple, but I still have to pause outside doors and chant a mantra (pull-in! push out! pull-in! push-out!) to make sure I open it the right way. (to clarify... doors in the Philippines open any which way; sometimes you pull to go in, sometimes you push, sometimes there's no door at all! just like most things in my country, doors don't follow a system...)

I have to get used to squirrels running all over the place. As someone used to seeing rats running about from city sewers, I still jump instinctively whenever I see these animals from the corner of my eye, half-expecting them to be rabies-and-leptospirosis-ridden rodents.

And finally... I have to get used to the speed with which Americans eat. I once joined my classmates for lunch at a pizza place, and found myself in the middle of eating my single slice as they all stood up to go after each eating two slices (and they actually left me eating alone in the table... a practice totally alien to Filipinos).