Steering away from Local

Usually the biggest hurdle in thinking about and discussing something is realizing that it exists in the first place.  We can be completely blind to patterns all around us simply because we haven't identified them yet. 

There is a pattern in traveling and living among different cultures that I'm trying to put my finger on.  I'm not even sure what to call it.  For example, I really like Ethiopian food and loved going to an Ethiopian restaurant in DC when we lived in Maryland.  I have also traveled to Ethiopia a couple times in East Africa, but more than once when I am ordering food in Ethiopia they insist on bringing me something Italian like lasagna.  There are several layers to this; making me "comfortable" with assumptions about food I would like (I look European and Italian is European); pride in showing me that they can make good lasagna in the restaurant and seeing what I think about it; but also there is something I am calling "steering away from local" for lack of a better phrase at the moment.

Here in Hawai'i fishing in the sea is a central part of Hawaiian life.  For some reason, years ago, a freshwater lake was constructed near one of the ubiquitous military bases here on Oahu and stocked with bass, which I forgot about almost as soon as I heard about it.  I was talking to a Native Hawaiian guy about taking T fishing from a boat.  Of course I was thinking of going out in the ocean; I have never fished in the ocean from a boat before.  He started talking about the stocked bass pond and how to get to it which threw me at first but then I realized he assumed I would want something "more like home" for fishing from a boat. 

There are examples of this from when we lived in Germany too.  In fact, I don't think I've ever lived in or visited a place where more assumptions (true or false) were made and applied to us (as a short cut for asking us what we thought) than in Germany.  In Germany there is a weird view of what most Americans are like that comes from popular TV shows, biased news reports, and visiting NY city.  Germans seemed genuinely surprised that I would be interested in having a garden plot, going hunting or fishing, learning local dialects, being involved in the community, etc.  Instead I was directed toward the nearest city and/or fast food packed shopping mall with English language movie night or the English language section of the bookstore for what "we would be interested in." 

These events seemed odd, as many things in daily life do, and usually I forget about it and move on.  However, now that I have identified a common patterns I am keeping my eye out for more examples.