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The Little Things You Notice When You Move to the West
Particularly interesting for those living elsewhere
I’ve lived in two foreign countries for a decade in each. Finland and the U.S.A. differ significantly from Moldova, where I grew up. I could write an entire book on all the intricacies, but here I want to mention just a few small things that still puzzle me.
Fruits and veggies growing by the sidewalks
I live in a residential neighborhood with single-family houses. It’s a middle- to upper-middle-class neighborhood in the north of Seattle. The sidewalks and the yards are mostly well cared for.
What mesmerizes me is how Americans plant all sorts of edible plants and flowers on the planting strips (the area between the curb and the sidewalk). In Moldova, strangers would harvest produce and cut flowers overnight. But here, neighbors don’t take each other’s stuff, even though it’s grown on public land— the planting strip belongs to the city.
What’s more puzzling is that the growers themselves often leave the tomatoes, carrots, strawberries, and other veggies and fruits to die, even if they’re perfectly edible. In Moldova, leaving unharvested produce to rot would be unthinkable.
