This past week I was in Massachusetts for a few days. It was the first time I've traveled anywhere in the US, outside of home, in more than a year.
There was something oddly disorienting about the trip. I couldn't put my finger on it at first, then realized I was somehow expecting things to be "foreign" -- as in European. Over the last year, anytime I traveled I was a foreigner.
And here I was, back in the land of English (although accented), familiar food, familiar customs (like getting the check in a restaurant without asking for it).
It was, in a way, foreign. Just not in the way I'd gotten used to.
We lived in Massachusetts for a few years, back in the mid-80's. One morning I got up early and drove through the 2 different neighborhoods where we lived. I expected everything to seem familiar ... but it didn't. I recognized the houses where we lived and a few landmarks, but mostly it seemed unfamiliar. Business had changed, new houses had gone up, roundabouts had become big intersections, there was now a WalMart (doesn't that always seem to be the case?).
I drove along in the rush hour traffic -- Mass. drivers seemingly much more dangerous and unpredictable than anything in Germany -- thinking again how what we expect is rarely what we find.
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The drivers in Massachusetts are terrifying. The good thing is that it's so crowded, one can rarely go fast enough to be killed in the case of an accident. :/
It's sometimes a bummer how neighborhoods change. We lived in East Boston. It was the best neighborhood in Boston, untouched by Starbucks, with possibilities still remaining for the non-rich to have waterfront views. I always worry what will become of it, even though it isn't any of my business now.
I was driving on I-495 between I-93 and Rt 3. (around Lowell) Merging on to the highway, 2 cars behind me immediately pulled around me, preventing me from merging.
Then I was amazed at the numer of people passing on the right -- in the breakdown lane! This triggered a bunch of Mass. driving memories.
What a coincidence! I was born in Lowell, MA. My family moved to OH in 1971 though, so I don't remember much of it at all.
My Dad checked a few years ago ... Back in the mid-60's, he purchased a lot *and* built a house for about $30,000. He said it recently sold for nearly $500,000. That's in Andover though, not Lowell.
Crazy.
Actually I was in Andover also! Maybe I drove past your house.
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