I almost didn't screw it up!!

[Utar]

It all looks decadent and delicious. Challah first I ever heard that term before, then again I don't get out much these days.....

 

[mcordelia]

I think it depends where you live whether you are familiar with Jewish traditions or not. When I used to live on the east coast, I learned a lot about Jewish culture, but here in the Midwest I guess there aren't as many Jewish people so it's not as much of a melding of the cultures here.

 

[Utar]

I think it depends where you live whether you are familiar with Jewish traditions or not. When I used to live on the east coast, I learned a lot about Jewish culture, but here in the Midwest I guess there aren't as many Jewish people so it's not as much of a melding of the cultures here.

Makes sense, in my life time I have known Jewish families that where not much different in their culture than mine. I have had Jewish friends that I would not have ever known they where Jewish unless they told me. But having said this they grew up in my part of the world and after a few generations melded in making no difference at all. There was some in the differences of holidays, but no one ever made a big deal about it.

Now I have new neighbors living across the street from me that are Jewish and moved here recently from New York, and they are completely different in their culture, so much so they are having problems fitting in with the surrounding people. But they follow a very strict Jewish doctrine which confuses people that don't understand. For instance my wife made them a really good welcome pan of pasta hair shrimp, her best dish, and our new Jewish friends refused it. They where polite but at the same time kinda rude, if that is possible, instead of thanking her and saying we cannot except, and then explaining. They insulted her by politely saying we don't eat anything that is not blessed by a rabbi. My wife's disappointment was very evident and she was embarrassed. It was probably unintentional on our neighbors side of this, but again points out to the difference in cultures even from one part of the US to another.

My wife and I gave the pasta shrimp to our old time neighbor next door, and he ate it up like candy asking for more.....

 

[mcordelia]

Ouch, I'm sorry you had that experience! I'm glad that the pasta dish did find an eager taker though!

Having spent some time traveling in the US, I have concluded that different regions of this country are as varied in their cultures as different countries are in europe for instance. A swede and a Frenchman are going to have vastly different interpretations of what constitutes a "nice meal" and similarly someone from the Northeastern United States is going to have a very different value set and manners than someone from the deep south.

We had a coworker start at our work a couple of years back, he had been displaced by hurricane Katrina and had moved up to the northeast with his family in search of work. Nicest guy ever, but whenever he talked to a female he always called them "ma'am", regardless of age or how well he knew them. One of our other coworkers almost made a complaint to HR about him because she thought that him calling her "ma'am" was him deliberately mocking her, because that's just not the culture where we were. It took getting some used to on her part that this is just how he was as a person, but it was certainly and interesting learning experience. I can't say that I wasn't initially offended myself when I got "ma'am"ed, but luckily another co-worker had given me a heads up about it!

I'm sure anyone who is from the south reading this probably thinks that my female co-worker was a nut, but I see it from both angles. Just because you share the same language doesn't mean that you can march into someone else's hometown and behave how you've always behaved and expect things to go smoothly!!

 

[Utar]

You are so right about cultures and language differences and I have experienced this personally as a child. Before the seventh grade I always lived in East Texas, north of Beaumont in small towns. During the seventh grade our Dad took a new job in Louisiana and I ended up going to school in Opelousas, Louisiana. I had a deep East Texas accent and said worlds like ya'll and over yonder. Boy was I ridiculed and made fun off because of this. I was so miserable that I begged my Father to move me somewhere else. He did so after only few months to Lafayette, Louisiana. The kids there where much more tolerant and there was a larger mixture of kids from different parts of Texas and Louisiana.

 

[mcordelia]

Kids can be so mean to each other, and 7th grade is not an easy time to move!!

 

[PheonixKingZ]

You are so right about cultures and language differences and I have experienced this personally as a child. Before the seventh grade I always lived in East Texas, north of Beaumont in small towns. During the seventh grade our Dad took a new job in Louisiana and I ended up going to school in Opelousas, Louisiana. I had a deep East Texas accent and said worlds like ya'll and over yonder. Boy was I ridiculed and made fun off because of this. I was so miserable that I begged my Father to move me somewhere else. He did so after only few months to Lafayette, Louisiana. The kids there where much more tolerant and there was a larger mixture of kids from different parts of Texas and Louisiana.

I used to live in Louisiana - not a fun state to be honest... humidity killed me half the time, and the other half, the accents.