>>The proof that I'm still Serbian is that any attempt to describe my status would begin with "it's a long story". Though, I may have gone native in many ways - the event an hour ago may be a symptom (finally caught the neighbor's girl with her dog crapping on our lawn, shouted a few hot slogans at her, she picked it up, and I promised them a career on youtube if this repeats, all very loud).
>
>Gone native? :o)

I confess to indulging in a bit of colonial vocabulary here and there, pretending to be a new Lewis & Clarke, or rather a Margaret Mead. It's a very interesting country, albeit not as colorful as was expected and advertised.

>The problem with a definition of "native" here is that there really isn't one (other than my relatives living on the reservation). With a country full of folks whose recent ancestors came from elsewhere or who themselves came from someplace else, "native" contains a whole bunch of diverse cultures, beliefs, and practices. :o) One "native" neighbor may be absolutely nothing at all like someone living on the other side.

Native in the sense that "when in Rome...". I wasn't referring to any particular subculture (though you were completely right about my neighbors, they are like heaven and earth), but the number of everyday habits that I have adopted - and then a few that I didn't. If I could only reconstruct a whole week from, say, 12 years ago, and compare it with this week, I'd probably see many differences. Then compare both with my neighbors, and I guess there would be even more differences.

OTTOMH:

Back home I never, but do here:
- have a reliable car
- have to go out to smoke
- walked down the main street without saying hello to a few people I know
- went for a weekly grocery shopping
- telecommuted more than one day a week, even when I owned part of the company
- had all the power tools - had some, but not nearly such a complete set
- walked over the carpet with my shoes on
- yawned without covering my mouth
- had junk mail (though I hear it started there too)
- paid by mailing a check - it had to be cash on the spot, or paying at one of the approved offices (bank, post, SDK) and then sending proof

Here I never, but did at home:
- ride a bicycle with purpose other than the ride itself
- watch TV
- make more than four phone calls a week (usually none)
- visited friends for no reason at all, unanounced
- met an acquaintance accidentally on a public place
- buy vegetables and fruit at the marketplace (because it's the same as in the grocery)
- carry a nylon bag in my pocket at all times, because I may find something to buy along the way (wife may call and tell me what to buy when I get back from work) and they may not have bags
- ride the city bus
- loiter
- buy bread