This will not be a post about long-distance transmission of messages
(telegraphy) or about jubilant emotion
(joy). For those of you unfamiliar with Detroit, Michigan, these are popular roads just west of the city.
Map of Joy and Telegraph
The intersection of Telegraph and Joy houses a cross-cultural Mecca of the Detroit area. That’s right! I am able to travel from New Delhi, India to Ho Chi Mihn, Vietnam within minutes. It’s quite the incredible experience.
I can shop at:
- Suraj (Indian Groceries & DVD’s of course)
- Asian Mart (family is from Vietnam)
- Joy View Meat Market (being vegetarians perogies are all I can eat here)
- Pipe-N-Hot Pizza (authentic Italian pizza by the slice)
- Anna’s Fresh Seafood (even for a vegetarian, it’s worth the peak at octopus, cuttlefish, squid and other fish imported from Asia)
- Baiz Bakery (the couple is from Lebanon - great vegetarian selection!)
- Joe Randazzo’s Fresh Produce Market (feels like Mexico)
Some of these locations, “Randazzo’s for example feels a lot less like shopping in the U.S. with about 95% of the employees speaking Spanish.
It is important to recognize that America is not the only way of life. Or the best. Every country around the world offers a variety of culture and life to experience.
Some days I will enter one of these stores and find myself immersed in a new culture, as though I am in that country. The various foods, beverages, and other products that I have never seen, tasted or used before, over whelm me. Then the language barrier is in place as I have attempted to ask questions, sometimes walking away even more confused than when I began.
Real life example:
Setting: Natalie is holding small un-boiled tapioca balls, which she picked up near the tea at the Asian market. Now she recalls Bubble Milk Tea
that she has drank both at Campus Kitchen in Kalamazoo, MI as well as in China. Yum! Amazingly delicious!
Let’s ask and find out if I can boil the tapioca balls and put it in with my tea!
[For my example, "the woman" refers to the kind Vietnamese woman that might be the store owner.]
Natalie: “Excuse me. Is this for tea?”
The Woman: “Oh, is good.”
Natalie: “Good for tea?” (Now gesturing to box of tea in other hand)
The Woman: “No, not tea. Tea. Okay?”
Natalie: “So this is not for tea?”
The Woman: “No really, it’s good. Try it!”
Natalie: “In my tea?”
The Woman: “Yes, it’s good. Try it!”
Natalie: “Boil this.”
The Woman: “Yes.”
Natalie: “Together!” (now gesturing the tapioca balls becoming larger and putting them into the tea)
The Woman: “No! It’s good. Really! Try it!”
At this point I think I kindly thanked her. Then pondered going online to research other products in the future. So, I ended up buying jasmine tea and dung beans. That’s right, not to be confused with the dung Beetle. Dung beans have a higher amount of protein than I have ever seen in my life. It’s truly incredible. There are 48 grams of protein in one cup of cooked dung beans. However, this could be a language translation error made in Asia, while trying to accommodate to Americans that wish to know the nutritious value of their dung beans before consuming them. Needless-to-say, the dung beans have proved to be a great source of protein to vegetarians. Justin and I could really feel the protein, if you know what I mean.
Overall, I walked out the door of the Asian Market and within a few moments I was back in our 4Runner cruising down Telegraph. While Justin and I backpack and are living in various countries I will not have this luxury to escape any culture instantaneously by walking out the store door to hop into my personal vehicle and see familiar American street signs and traffic patterns.
Although, I absolutely love the feeling of entering a new country through the stores at Telegraph and Joy, I wonder if it will prove to be unhelpful.
Am I currently teaching my mind and body that I can escape any culture as quickly as I find the exit and dash through it with the “ding, dong” of the awareness bell? Perhaps I am training my self like one of Pavlov’s dogs in all of the wrong ways.
What do you think?
