Posted by alexandra_k on April 23, 2009, at 20:24:29
In reply to Re: the ongoing saga » alexandra_k, posted by Phillipa on April 23, 2009, at 12:29:14
> have you considered Psychologist?
Yeah, considered it for a while. I think that there is more math in psychometrics. Not completely sure... Thought about it... I guess medicine opens up other options for me. Like surgery. Or a yet to be discovered love of the GI tract...
Will go back to NZ for the student loans and allowances scheme. I think... Well I haven't travelled in the US enough to know... But I think the difference between the north and south might be a little more like the difference between Australia and New Zealand than the difference between New Zealand / Australia and the USA. Maybe more regional difference in the US than in regions of Australia / New Zealand. That wouldn't surprise me. But Southern Hemisphere to Northern Hemisphere is different again.
The first day I discovered I didn't know how to cross the road. I figured the red man meant 'don't cross' then the man would go white - which I figured was the equivalent of green or 'go'. But then just as I was about to cross the man would turn red again ('stop') and start counting down 11, 10, 9, 8, - seconds until I could go? WTF??? The traffic didn't make sense. Could kind of get my head around them trying to hit me from the opposite direction but didn't understand the give way rules so at a loss when the crossing signal was out (as they frequently seemed to be). Repeating 'look left, look left, look left' every time I got to a road worked quite well - but took a while to get the hang of recalibrating that back such that I remembered to look right once I got half way. Not talking about being mowed down by japanese imported cars here, talking about being slammed by an SUV (I can't run / jog). Took months for walking to feel safe. I still try and be a passenger by gaining entry through the drivers door.
The half of the menu that I thought I understood turned out to be different from what I had thought. The other half... Well... I couldn't tell whether I'd never heard of that before or whether I couldn't translate through the accent or whether something else was going on. 'D'ya wanna peeeeeeeeeeeeeeekle' - I never would have thought that someone would offer me a pickle when I ordered a sandwich. I felt rude only eating one third of the meal. I thought I was failing to understand the tipping thing (worrying a lot about offending) and took a while to see that different people simply have different views on that so it didn't matter so much. Hardly any of the brands in the supermarkets were familiar to me. Things that are expensive back home are cheap here and things that are cheap here are expensive back home. I needed to completely change what I ate (including basic staples) in order to live off a budget on food that was palatable to me. I still haven't quite figured out some things (though eventually found bread that wasn't too sweet for my palate and cheese that is reasonably priced and not orange).
I'm not a tutor I'm a teaching assistant. I don't run tutorials I run sections or recitations. I don't mark work I grade it. I still can't compare a grades value back home with a grades value here. I needed to learn a whole new system. I didn't know what I was or what I was supposed to be doing or how I was supposed to do it. Disorienting. Then the seasons are reversed, night and day are fairly much reversed, month and day are reversed. Took me several days to figure out how to get the converter to pump water through the shower (needs a force of water going through before it will convert) 'cause I've never seen such a contraption before.
Things have settled down and now I have schemas for crossing the road and ordering food etc. It is hard when you don't have schemas for such things, though. I never would have expected all these differences... I've seen Americans on TV... Things didn't seem that different...
poster:alexandra_k
thread:892154
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20090421/msgs/892419.html