still in culture shock...

well. maybe not full-force shock. maybe more like a little sting. or something like that. it's amazing how i can live here for two years and still not catch on to cultural cues at all. at all.

example:

today at work we had a patient named joyce. (i hope it's not a hippa violation to say a first name..?) but in any case... i said "Oh, mrs. joyce, that's my middle name! i was named after my aunt." she looked at me and said, "Well... what is your first name?" I said "Stephanie." "Stephanie Joyce," she said. "Huh. You have two first names." to which i had NO clue how to respond. so i asked her what her middle name was... Marie. but then i was even more confused. marie can be a first name, too!! so i said "Ohhh."

so i was confused and trying not to be offended. two first names? i think stephanie joyce is a pretty name! was she trying to tell me that my name didn't go together? how dare she!

an hour or so later i brought it up to some of my fellow employees. heather nodded in agreement and said, "yeah... you don't have a catholic name."

*light bulb*

of course! i don't have a saints' name! duh. i didn't know this when i moved down here, so you might not either... but southern louisiana is about 80% catholic. so that means about 80% of the people down here have a catholic middle name. this all made me think. if i hadn't asked someone who understood, i NEVER would have figured out what "you have two first names" means. never. i would have been offended, when my patient was just stating that i must not be catholic. i wonder how many other cultural cues i miss... how many things i misunderstand just because... i misunderstand. ignorance. i hope to learn more and more about the people and cultures i am surrounded by.