I have been glad a lot of times that amongst the pictures I brought here from home are pictures not only of me standing in front of palm trees but also a few of my mom's home covered with snow, and even my brother sledding down a steep hill at his former home. It's a good opportunity to practice my language skills, and to explain to the people that in Northern California that it rains and snows much more often than it does in Southern California, to explain how I have lived in both places, and so forth. All the people I have met are really quite interested in how our weather is, amongst other small details of daily life, albeit much more from a standpoint of "comparing" their lives to lives of those in other countries. It seems to me to be part of a never-ending process of contrasting, comparing, complaining, and eventually shrugging and smiling.
I think that one of the most important parts of my job as a Peace Corps Volunteers is to take some of these places that are so mystical and foreign to people in Macedonia and make them real, and to become a real person to them. And the converse is also true; it is equally important for me to share the things I have experienced and learned about the Macedonian culture and enlighten those in America. Sometimes we discuss deep issues like external vs. internal locus of control and indirect vs. direct communication, but sometimes people just want to know, does it rain there? Do they have pizza? How much money did you make in California? It is difficult to explain some of these things, not only because of the language barrier but because of people (especially) who have never lived in more than one culture to see things the way they really exist within a culture, without unconsciously projecting their own culture and values upon what they think they see. I still do it all the time; it's as if I came here seeing blue and the host country nationals see red. I can only see purple now, I can never truly see red. And they can never really see blue, because they just didn't grow up in that context. But purple is enough for understanding, if you all could just see it too.
I am sure there are still those who believe that it really doesn't rain in California... maybe even some of you Americans! Well, I am from California and I am a skier, I own a rain suit and an umbrella, and I once stalled my car in a flash flood in San Diego. If you think about it, we all really have only a couple of ideas or words associated with most foreign places, and it takes a lot of effort to overcome those stereotypes and actually learn something real about that place.