Perhaps the most shocking of all is the dearth of news and information. In Romania, I had no TV, but I had a short-wave radio. I tried to listen to the BBC World Service, although up in the mountains, proper reception required that I hold the radio “just so” with one hand and continuously finesse the tuning dial with the other. The Peace Corps provides each volunteer with a subscription to the European edition of Newsweek magazine, and though I was glad to be reading world news in my first language, much of the news from America contained terms with which I was unfamiliar — bling-bling? Red or blue state? Venti?
Romania RPCV Lee Knox says Home is a little less familiar
Home is a little less familiar
By Lee Knox
Special to The Star
I was welcomed back to America in a hail of fireworks! OK, so it was the Fourth of July and the celebration was not in my honor, but after living in rural Romania for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer, “welcome home” is how I felt.
The “reverse culture shock” hit me immediately: trucks and SUVs (instead of small cars swerving around horse-drawn carts), half-acre wide grocery stores, and air conditioning! Although Bucharest has many of the accoutrements of modernity, I lived in a Transylvanian community made up of six villages with a total of 5,500 people, twice as many sheep, half as many chickens and one medieval castle.
Perhaps the most shocking of all is the dearth of news and information. In Romania, I had no TV, but I had a short-wave radio. I tried to listen to the BBC World Service, although up in the mountains, proper reception required that I hold the radio “just so” with one hand and continuously finesse the tuning dial with the other. The Peace Corps provides each volunteer with a subscription to the European edition of Newsweek magazine, and though I was glad to be reading world news in my first language, much of the news from America contained terms with which I was unfamiliar — bling-bling? Red or blue state? Venti?
My community had an “Internet café” with six old computers on dial-up. Any sophisticated news Web site, like CNN, contains so many graphics and animation that only a very dedicated newshound could wait for it to open; and with a wood-stove as the only heat, “surfing” the Internet during the long winters required wearing coat, hat and gloves.
I did not realize how “out of the loop” I was until I returned to Kansas City. I am lodging with my parents until I get resettled here, and they turn on CNN each morning while we drink coffee. Not only are we subjected to “up-to-the-minute” news, we are placed “at the scene” by modern technology.
Then Dad brings in the newspaper. While they read the entire thing every day, I have had to ease myself into it little by little. I don’t understand most of the political cartoons (heck, I don’t even understand the funny pages) and even the “Career Opportunities” section is baffling. I saw a job opening for the director of “a local CDC.” I thought the Center for Disease Control was in Atlanta, only to find out that CDC now stands for a “community development corporation,” which could be located anywhere.
I allowed myself to live in a state of suspended information these past two years, and I must admit that being ignorant of the day-to-day goings-on of American life did provide me with a certain amount of bliss. But, by easing back into society through reading The Star, I hope to be in the know, and employed, by summer’s end. Then, I just have to catch up on technology … what the heck is VoIP anyway?
Lee Knox lives in Overland Park.
