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Friday, January 27, 2012

Relating

It's been a while since I've posted.  Most likely it's because we did yet another move again...this time to Rochester, NY, which is in my opinion a huge improvement from Pittsburgh.  Pittsburgh isn't a bad place, it's just too hilly, with rivers and tunnels that cause all sorts of traffic congestion that was sometimes similar to the traffic of Rome.  Hard to believe, but true!  Rochester is calm, with Lake Ontario, the Adirondacks, Finger Lakes, Thousand Islands and Canada all nearby.  I like.
I do think folks in Pittsburgh and Rochester really are nice and friendly for the most part. I still have the longing to give kisses and hugs when meeting and leaving, and so I'm there kind of awkward, or maybe the person I'm talking to is there kind of awkward because they sense me being awkward, oh who knows.  I miss the closeness of saying hello and goodbye to people.
In general it seems there is a controlled approach to relating here.  It's not that people are rude in general, because they aren't.  It's just it's a longer road to being able to really reach someone.
I miss relating in an open way like I experienced in Rome.  People who were strangers were friends after a few moments.  I suspect that having piazzas, common spaces, local businesses and condos where people pass each other and interact on a daily basis makes a big difference.  I think also having life be a little crazy and unpredictable and not always easy can make people seem a little more down to earth because they are used to things not always going their way.  Americans in general can be really spoiled.  I see on a daily basis people who get so impatient for having to wait on a line for just a little too long.  Or if they are too hot, or too cold...it is like folks have become sensitized to only their needs and so don't have the capability anymore to relate to others.
Is that it?