Viewing yourself by viewing others

As I stated in my previous post, you can often learn a lot about yourself by learning about others and their cultures. Its hard to "hear" your own accent, because its what you've considered normal for your whole life. I remember there was one guy at my job who was relatively similar to me: we came from similar neighborhoods (predominantly black, Caribbean middle class), and dressed alike. Watching him speak to the other guys at work was sort of like watching myself in an out of body experience, and I actually heard my accent. It felt really weird like hearing your voice on a recorded message.

I remember visiting family in Pennsylvania, and hanging out there for a while, going to check out the mall, checking out some of the night clubs, and etc. I wasn't in the city though, I was in Bethlehem. I hated it; almost the whole town shut down at 4pm, no stores, or anything was open. I also remember noticing how talkative the people were, and if someone walked by you, it was pretty likely they'd say "hello", or greet you somehow --even a brief nod. I really wasn't used to that, and at first it seemed as if it was some kind of setup for them to distract you to scam you somehow, or the beginning of some kind of con game.

However, they were just genuine hellos. Coming back to New York I could tell the difference immediately, and I even almost felt like foreigner when I first got back. Everything was so lively and exciting, I couldn't wait to go out that night, since something is always going on regardless of how late it is. It put things in a clearer perspective, and I really understood more of how "city folk" are viewed by visitors.