Hubby not coping with US culture !!

[ginger1981 0]

Dayton is..... well it's not the nicest place to live in the world but I believe that it is what you make of it. I haven't come across many immigrants here, but there does seem to be quite a large (for Ohio) Indian population south of the city.

We go to an Indian supermarket in Centerville, I can't remember what it's called but I will try to find out and let you know. It's on SR725 in the same strip mall as Goodwill and Diamonds the strip club (gotta love Dayton!). Anyways, when we go we're the only non-Indian people there, and they always have fliers and info about events going on for Indians. Might be worth checking out, if just to talk to some other Indians and find out about goings on in the community.

I'll try and think of the name and let you know. There are also a number of Indian restaurants in the area, maybe you guys could go for a meal and he could ask if they know of any Indian meetup groups or events going on.

I wanted to ask you...have you been to Jungle Jim's yet outside of Cincinatti?

Yes, many times - got to stock up on marmite, pickle and various Indian/Thai/German foods! I try not to go too often though as I inevitably end up spending way too much $...

Nicky can't even let me loose in Target without me wandering around for an hour or two and getting stuff I don't need. I think if we went to Jungle Jim's I would wander off and never be seen again like Jimmy Hoffa.

Is the British food section pretty good?

Edited September 1, 2008 by ginger1981

[catrocks 0]

Dayton is..... well it's not the nicest place to live in the world but I believe that it is what you make of it. I haven't come across many immigrants here, but there does seem to be quite a large (for Ohio) Indian population south of the city.

We go to an Indian supermarket in Centerville, I can't remember what it's called but I will try to find out and let you know. It's on SR725 in the same strip mall as Goodwill and Diamonds the strip club (gotta love Dayton!). Anyways, when we go we're the only non-Indian people there, and they always have fliers and info about events going on for Indians. Might be worth checking out, if just to talk to some other Indians and find out about goings on in the community.

I'll try and think of the name and let you know. There are also a number of Indian restaurants in the area, maybe you guys could go for a meal and he could ask if they know of any Indian meetup groups or events going on.

I wanted to ask you...have you been to Jungle Jim's yet outside of Cincinatti?

Yes, many times - got to stock up on marmite, pickle and various Indian/Thai/German foods! I try not to go too often though as I inevitably end up spending way too much $...

Nicky can't even let me loose in Target without me wandering around for an hour or two and getting stuff I don't need. I think if we went to Jungle Jim's I would wander off and never be seen again like Jimmy Hoffa.

Is the British food section pretty good?

It's not bad but it's not huge either. They have mainly biscuits and chocolate, and a lot of novelty British stuff... teapots, cook books etc.

We have a better one in North Dayton (more expensive but closer) run by this sweet old Welsh man who often gives discounts! We tend to save Jungle Jims for when we need major things like pickle and paxo stuffing

[frustrated1 0]

These are growing pains of moving to a new country. I think most of us underestimate the emotional adjustment of facing an alien environment in adult age.

He needs to get connected with the Indian community in Ohio, which I believe there is a big one. There are a tonne of people in North America that are of a different colour and speak with an accent. He probably is more self conscious of it because he's new here.

he should find a temple, an indian grocery store, attend an indian concert and start meeting people. Getting a job will certainly help things. simply moving to a more indian concentrated city like chicago, new jersey, new york is really not the solution. He has to get comfortable with this infrastructure in general. Once he's busy working and settles into a routine, he'll realize that he really doesn't have time to sit around chit chatting with neighbours! (although a good thing).

try this site:

http://apnaohio.com/

[Mefrie 1]

Ironically, this reminds me of the complaints my sister's husband voiced when he was just her fiance and our family first took him to meet our grandparents in West Virginia. Ironic, because he's just from Mississippi! He complained the people were cold to you, didn't greet you when you walked by, and looked at him strangely and asked him to repeat things because of his southern accent.

These were issues I hadn't really noticed before, but he was right! We live in Alabama and everyone, I mean everyone, pretty much does wave or smile or nod or say "good morning" or "how are you?" or "hi" as you walk down the street, unless it's a large enough crowd that doing those things would exhaust you. I'm a transplant form the north, so I respond to those greetings automatically, having gotten used to them, but I very very rarely initiate them, and when I was in West Virginia and they were omitted, I never noticed the lack until Turner pointed it out!

He got super-angry after he'd smiled and nodded and waved at about five people as we walked along a nature trail, and not one responded. He told us how, in Miss., if his family was riding in their boat down the river, they stop and talk to EVERYONE regardless of whether or not they know them, and if you didn't respond to someone greeting you, they'd figure you were rudely snubbing them and might get out and slug you right then and there. I love West Virginia, so I thought he was being a little silly at the time and was kind of mad at him for thinking West Virginians were rude, but that doesn't change the fact that this was a very real issue for him.

We experimented by smiling and waving at the next woman we were soon to pass. She ignored it, so I let out a great big "Hi! How are you?" as we approached, while being careful to let my body language (staying to the other side of the trail, not slowing down or turning completely towards her) show it was just a passing greeting. She reacted as if we had threatened her, shoulders hunching, speeding up and looking at us warily....but she DID smile and give a weak little nod as we passed. Humoring the crazy southerners.

So...West Virginia is next door to Ohio, maybe the "don't talk to strangers" culture is not that different? If you do move elsewhere in the US, consider the deep South, your husband might very well feel more at home with some warm southern hospitality. Of course, he would also get some ignorant ####### asking if he was "one of those Muslim terrorists" about one or two percent of the time (people down here tend to say what's on their mind, and if they don't have much mind to begin with, well.....) but the other 99 percent of the time, friendly people. Here in Mobile, Alabama we have a good Indian community, with many students at the university here augmenting it. So...that's just my two cents, good luck with this issue!