Racism

Today I witnessed the scariest thing. I was shopping with my Romanian roommates at this store called “Smart and Final”. As we were checking out with our stuff at one register, I started overhearing some whining and complaining from a customer at the other. The customer was a white, blonde woman, overweight, with high blood pressure problems (she got red really easily). She was complaining about the Mexican woman standing behind her in line. I don’t know how the whole thing started, but as I listened more closely, I hear things like “You come to our country and take our jobs” “You don’t even speak any English”, “ Go back where you came from”, “I pay taxes here”.

The Mexican woman’s English was indeed quite limited, so she couldn’t quite come up with a rebuke. As soon as she raised her voice to say anything in broken English, the white woman got more agitated and red in the face, and carried on with her rants.

At some point the white woman said to the cashier “Get this woman off my back … I spend thousands of dollars in this store”. The cashier by the way was not white.

So it’s like the Mexican woman is some kind of annoying animal, and the white woman owns the freaking store because she spends money there regularly. Plus she pays taxes, and the stupid Mexicans want to take her job and her tax money. Oh boy, I wanted to say something, and probably should have. But I was in shock, and not really used to a situation like this – I mean I’ve been in America for 10 years, and this is the first time I heard something as blatant as this.

Weather

Well, I haven’t a single cloud since I came here. It might seem like a good thing, but it’s getting difficult. The heat is oppressive, there’s nowhere to go from the sun, and the temperature today is a bit above 35C / 95F. In this temperature you can’t really do a whole lot outside, and can’t really open windows (like you could in Copenhagen at 10-15C and rain). Just a 30 minute walk to the store is already difficult, and forget about running. Also the ultra-violet index is 10 out of 12, so it’s actually kinda dangerous, sunglasses are a must, and sunscreen is highly recommended.

Labor, mexicans

Yesterday I observed an interesting phenomenon when we went to a restaurant.
There was a regular (white) server / waitress taking the order and bringing
the food. And then there was a mexican guy, who was taking away plates and
drinks as we were finishing up. So basically when the dinner is finished,
you pay the white waitress a tip, while the mexican guy does a lot of the
dirty work. 

Then this morning I saw a mexican guy near a store holding a sign promoting that
store with an arrow. It was a very sad sight. Apparently it's cheaper to hire a
mexican to hold the sign in place than to put it up properly on a pole or something.

Also a lot of times there are certain places along the road where you can pick up a
few mexicans to do a daily chore - like help you move, or buy groceries or whatever
else you want. 

On another note, but still related. This morning I saw a yard sale in an apartment
near where I live. Even though it was the same neighborhood, the people selling the
stuff didn't speak any English, I mean they couldn't even name the price without
using their fingers. Also they were selling all kinds of videotapes, all of which
were in spanish. It's very bizarre, coming in from Denmark and being able to speak
English with just about anyone, and finding people in America who can't speak any
English whatsoever. In particular for Spanish speakers and some areas of Texas,
Florida, and California, you can live your entire life without speaking a word of
English, there's Spanish TV, Spanish movie theaters, Spanish grocery stores, Spanish
documents. I guess you don't even have to know English to pass the citizenship test,
since America doesn't have an official language.

Commercialism, Danish

In the cafeteria at UCLA (as well as a large number of other US schools), there are TVs all over the place, with college television broadcasts. These TVs are visible (and quite often audible, too) from any corner of the cafeteria. Half of it is obviously commercials, and 90% of it is not informative – entertainment, shopping tips, and junky corporate news. The latest and greatest is the snippets from the Republican convention, and W’s charming smile. Unfortunately puking buckets are not accessible as easily as the crappy television programming! I really don’t miss the intrusive bombardment with information I didn’t ask for.

I checked into Danish courses today. There is a pretty sizeable Scandinavian department at UCLA, with Elementary / Intermediate / Advanced courses for Norweigian / Swedish / Danish. Also there are some courses on Scandinavian literature, such as Kirkegaard / H.C. Andersen / H. Ibsen, as well as Scandinavian cinema. That sounds really cool. To my utter dismay, however, in the Autumn 2004, only Elementary Danish is offered. And even that was cancelled, for lack of interest. The Swedish course on the other hand has a waiting list on it. What a bummer!

HigherEducation, Consumerism

This morning I had jetlag and got up at 4:30. Went to school on the first bus after 6am, and to my utter amazement, the campus was quite full of ppl by 7am. Med students in scrubs getting off their night shift, but also a lot of people who came in early to get a head start on their day.

UCLA is one of the best schools in the country, so I suppose ppl have to be quite disciplined to make it. But this is more than I expected.

Yesterday, I went looking for cell phones, and I had a lot of requirements:

1) The cell phone had to have a built-in organizer

2) Which synchronized with MS Outlook

3) It had to work in Europe (be “quad-band GSM”)

4) It had to come without a subscription

5) It would preferrably have a built-in camera

Despite this heavy series of demands, I found 2-3 satisfactory options in the first phone shop I walked into. Then I went to several others, and was able to find the fancy phone of my dream – again and again. That’s one thing I love about America – being able to walk into a store and immediately find exactly what you want – and for a reasonable price. (OK, the price is a bit high, I’m gonna have to investigate better options)

What else did I notice in LA?

Everyone has blinds and mosquito screens on their windows, ppl use paper towels in the kitchen (instead of toilet paper like in DK). The sun shines all the time, the humidity is generally very low and it rains rarely. The sun sets fairly early – it’s actually dark by 8pm. I think LA is around the 35^th parallel.

Gas prices have gone up significantly since the last time I was there – by about 10%. Driving in LA still sucks, just as I remember it: lots of traffic, and the distances are long to get anywhere. I don’t know if it’s my imagination, but there seems to be more large cars in California, than I remember from last year: Hummers, SUVs, pickup trucks, semis, and other disgustingly huge vehicles with only one person in them. It was probably the same before, it’s just that I was coming from Ohio instead of DK.

The air is not so fresh, a bit opressive actually. It’s harder to run – it could be partly because of the dryness, but I think it’s the general air quality too.