Athletic and healthy

I always believed that Americans being an unhealthy (food related) and big (as in fat) nation is a stereotype. Now I'm convinced it really is a stereotype.

Of course, Boston is far from a typical American town. And yes, about 70% of locals are students or young professionals. And yes, Boston has a reputation of being a sporty city because of its famous annual Boston Marathon. And also Red Sox and Celtics, etc. But still - Boston is a rightful representative of the US nation. And it's far from the stereotype image engraved in most Ukrainians' (worlds'?) minds.

I've never seen this many joggers anywhere else in the world. It's amazing! No matter what the weather is, time of the day, holiday or weekday - there are crowds - literally - of joggers all over the city. A friend of mine from California was very surprised when we were showing him around: 'What happened? Where are they all running? What day is it today?' Yep, it's like that everyday. I see people with gym bags everywhere. Bikers, walkers, runners, canoers... you name it.

And people here are very fit. And attractive. And those who say that Ukrainian women are the most beautiful in the world - heh, come to Boston! Before we moved to US, some people back in Ukraine told me things like: 'Oh, you're probably gonna gain weight, like everybody who goes to live to America' or 'It's those preservatives, antibiotics and growth hormones that they add into all their food that makes it so unhealthy - what are you gonna eat?!' Whether it's partly true - I don't know. But I must admit I was a little worried about my well-being (and by this pretty word I mean 'whether I'd get fat', because I've always been slightly overweight, and I just couldn't afford to gain more of that soft goodness). Another reason for my concern was the fact that I was raised mostly on my grandma's organic produce and, well, Ukrainian food, and didn't know how my body would respond to long-term commitment with American food. Also, I absolutely looooooove American sweets, especially chocolate chip cookies. Oh, actually I have a new favorite now - Whole Food's banana chocolate chip muffin - tastes like Heaven. So you see why I had reasons to be worried.

Well, it's been a little more than a year now, and all of my organs still function. Moreover, I lost some pounds and actually reached my 'ideal weight' as they call it. I work out at the gym regularly and have never felt better. Also, our eating habits got so much healthier! Jamie and I used to cook everything with lots of butter and mayonnaise, had barely any green, orange or yellow veggies on our menu, drank soda a lot more. Now we make sure we have plenty of color on our plates (most of the time we either roast or steam veggies), use mostly olive oil for cooking, try to drink more water and 100% juices, we also added tofu and quinoa (crazy healthy stuff) to our grocery list. Quite the change - at least for me (sigh... the joys of having a Dad who cooks amazingly delicious dishes, but also pretty unhealthy and fattening). So, Ukrainian know-it-alls, we have a few things about healthy food and lifestyle to learn from Americans.

Weirdos everywhere!

Okay, so Jamie says it's not a cultural thing. It's just... a thing. But honestly, Boston is the first place so far where I've seen anything like this.

People on the T (local subway) are really weird sometimes. Like 'psychopath' weird.

The guy with headphones in his ears, singing along OUT LOUD (like, really loud) - wouldn't be as bad if he wasn't also dancing to his music. Pretty good moves, actually. Some may say: oh, he is just free in expressing himself. Maybe. But so is the 'hissing guy', who hissed at me all the way to work? And the guy who was making obscene gestures to the people around him while waiting for the T. One of the things he did really offended another guy. In fact he came up to him and said 'What's your problem, man?!' I thought he would punch him in the face. The sad thing is - this strange guy seemed to not have control over his movements. I don't know if he was even aware of what he was doing.
Then there is this girl who does ALL of her makeup procedure on the T. She rushes in to find a seat available, so she can start her beauty session. And out come the foundation, the liners, the shades, the blush, tons of brushes, etc. etc. Her hands move vigorously as she applies a ton of foundation all over her head. Maybe it's only disturbing to me. I don't feel comfortable even putting some collorless lip balm on my lips as people are watching...

Also, this woman who clips her nails on the T. Ewwwwww..... Can you imagine? Pieces of her nails flying out into the crowd of people as she perfects her manicure...

But the weirdest of all the weird things is this. People around not only seem to be not bothered by it at all. They don't even notice it! (except for the guy who wanted to punch the other guy in the face)

So the question is: perhaps it really IS me who is the weird one - too concerned about what others may think, raised on the strict Soviet rules of public behavior? Or would all of those above mentioned things be a little out there for an average American, too?

Boston = a home for aliens

I don't even know where to begin. I guess I'll start from a very broad image, my biggest revelation since I moved to Boston.

God blessed me with a several amazing opportunities to travel through the US, as well as a few other countries. And everywhere I went, the question 'What is your name?' has always been followed by an 'Oh, so where are you from?' Either my strange name - Dasha - or my accent (which I do have no matter how hard I try to conceal it) give away my foreign self. But in Boston... so weird... I never know what's gonna follow the question 'What is your name?' No one seems to be surprised by my name, or accent, or appearance, or the color of my passport. They've heard names a lot harder to pronounce, and seen passports of all colors of a rainbow. The thing is - in Boston, MA everybody is from somewhere, mostly from abroad. Here I don't feel like an alien. I had this strange feeling - that I belong here - the moment we moved to the Bean town.

I remember as I first tried getting a coffee in Starbucks. I felt anxious placing my order, I repeated the phrase a few times in my head, perfecting it, making sure it was short and clear: 'A medium Latte with no sugar and a chocolate chip muffin, please'. Sounds so simple. So I thought... The guy taking my order didn't understand me. He asked me a question, that I in my turn did not understand either. It all went wrong. Apparently in Starbucks you're supposed to ask for a 'grande', instead of a 'medium'. I guess that caught him off guard. Although who doesn't understand the universal term 'medium'? Anyhow, I helplessly looked for Jamie - just what I really wanted to avoid doing on my difficult journey to independence. As he saw my eyes full of terror and confusion, he rushed to my rescue.
I got my latte after all. But my self dignity and confidence suffered badly. 'I can't speak English, Jamie! People don't understand me!' - I exclaimed in despair. 'It's not you!' - Jamie said. 'The guy can't speak English! He is Indian, his accent is much stronger than yours. I couldn't even understand him in the beginning, it took me a while to figure out what he was saying... People will be having trouble with understanding you - mostly because of their poor English. Don't judge them, they're foreigners.'

After this little incident, I'm not worried anymore about somebody not understanding me. They hear all kind of accents all the time and should be used to them by now. I'm sure mine isn't the worst they heard.

So yeah, Boston feels very natural and right. Any foreigner from anywhere in the world will feel at home here.