Being from a "weird place"

QUEENY

Mon, Nov 01 2021, 7:32 pm

I grew up in Manhattan, Washington Heights to be specific..it wasn't necessarily easy to date from there..and that's in NY. My first ever date called up freaking out that he was lost and my father had to go get him from a couple blocks away. He would not come to me for the second date, I had to stay by a friend in Brooklyn and we went out from there.

BrisketBoss

Mon, Nov 01 2021, 7:34 pm

QUEENY wrote:

Omg. Not very impressive.

vintagebknyc

Mon, Nov 01 2021, 7:56 pm

BrisketBoss wrote:

Omg. Not very impressive.

I think it tells you a whole lot about this guy before the date even started. Next!

shanie5

Mon, Nov 01 2021, 11:01 pm

dena613 wrote:

And yes, Dr. Mom’s cute pic was apropos.
I was once with a mix of in-town preteens. A girl from Los Angeles was at the event, and a few of the NY girls said. “Wow! You came all the way to the United States!!???”

Banging head

I grew up in Canarsie-thats in Brooklyn. I went to HS in boropark and flatbush. Once a schoolmate asked my friend- who also lived in canarsie- where she was from. When she answered 'canarsie' this girl asked where it was. With a straight face my friend answered "California. We fly in every day for school" and this girl believed her!

Some people really don't know their geography. Fly in from California daily?

Also, although I grew up in Brooklyn, I was considered an OOTer since I lived in Canarsie.

So, am I from a wierd place?

KJP

Mon, Nov 01 2021, 11:53 pm

Both my husband and I grew up in weird places on shlichus. But we're Chabad, and because our community is spread out in weird places, it isn't so strange to us to see an Argentina- Australia shidduch. And even Crown Heightsers marry people from weird places, because its not unusual when you've grown up seeing other Chabad people living in far flung places.

shabbatiscoming

Tue, Nov 02 2021, 1:58 am

I think one of the reasons that some people feel this way is because it is only in new york and one spot in nj where people say they live "in" town.
I never heard such a thing before I came to this site.
Its a bit pompous to think that where one lives is IT and every other place is not.
And I say that having grown up in NJ, but not the place that people talk about here as being "in" town. I never heard of this until about 15 years ago here.

DrMom

Tue, Nov 02 2021, 1:59 am

shabbatiscoming wrote:

I love when Jews from Brooklyn refer to Yerushalayim as "OOT." LOL

LovesHashem

Tue, Nov 02 2021, 2:21 am

I’ll join the club from a weird place.

Dh is also from a weird place, but less weird than me. A much larger more established community people would consider from I think more.

Every single one of his siblings married someone from a “weird place”. Maybe we’re all weird? Who knows. Who cares? Not me.

Now all of us are living in Israel, some on Aliyah and some not sure if they are staying. Nobody seems to care much where you are from in Israel.

6000miles

Tue, Nov 02 2021, 3:28 am

Kiwi13 wrote:

Okay so….

Would you rather be a normal person from a weird place?

Or a weird person from a normal place?

Or a weird person from a weird place? (I’ll let you join my club, but you gotta prove yourself 😜)

I'm a weird person from a normal place... Grew up in Brooklyn and now I live somewhere "weird". Growing up, I wished I would've lived somewhere cool, somewhere different... (The word "weird" never crossed my mind, just different.)
Because places like Brooklyn and Lakewood are so so populated, (and I only knew ppl from these places) I thought its a "typical" place to live. And anywhere else was "different" or cool. Not weird.

Aylat

Tue, Nov 02 2021, 3:47 am

endlesslybaking wrote:

She said "Oh you know, someone from Toronto or Montreal is fine. Someone from Golders Green or Israel is fine. Just not someone from a weird place."

This is the funniest line for me, putting a neighbourhood and an entire country into one category. Like, Borehamwood is unheard of, but Afula and Ofakim are mainstream? Makes me think that her knowledge of Israel = only Yerushalayim, RBS, Bnei Brak.

PS yes, I'm from a weird place (yay!) and now live in Israel bH, but on a yishuv, so maybe that's still 'weird'?

chanchy123

Tue, Nov 02 2021, 4:26 am

This reminds me of a long-running story at like to tell at work. There was once a very young American intern who worked in my office many years ago. She asked our editor (a veteran olah from the UK) once - “But how do you say this in normal English?” Referring to American English.
People in general have tunnel vision and consider their life experience normal and either do or don’t learn to accept other ways of life as they grow up.

finallyamommy

Tue, Nov 02 2021, 4:46 am

I’m from a “weird place,” though I won’t get too specific since this isn’t anon. People go “where’s THAT?” and “there are JEWS there?” and it is a conversation stopper because I don’t necessarily want to volunteer my whole life story that no, there aren’t really Jews there, I didn’t grow up frum.

FranticFrummie

Tue, Nov 02 2021, 5:04 am

Many people don't know that there is a huge Orthodox Jewish community in Mexico City. Many other people think that Mexico City is in Texas or Arizona. How could there possibly be Jews in Mexico? Oh, they speak Spanish? They must be Sephardim. (LOL, no they're Ashkenazim.)

If you want to see someone REALLY get mad, tell someone from Hawaii that "they are not part of the United States." Most of them will politely correct you, but occasionally someone will explode and say "We were COLONIZED! They wiped out half of the native population and took over. Now we are just hotel cleaners and tourist attractions." Mad

mochamix18

Tue, Nov 02 2021, 5:04 am

LovesHashem wrote:

I think we need a private forum for all the weird people from weird places.

It would be so much fun!

Yes!!! I’m all for it

shabbatiscoming

Tue, Nov 02 2021, 5:29 am

FranticFrummie wrote:

We have a neighbor from mexico city. Lovely dati woman, grew up frum etc. I think in Israel, in general, people are less surprised to hear that jews live in xyz place because there are jews from everywhere here. As it should be.

FranticFrummie

Tue, Nov 02 2021, 5:40 am

mochamix18 wrote:

Yes!!! I’m all for it

It needs to be anon enabled, and we can do posts like "Hi, I'm from town XYZ. Ask me anything!"

It would be a great way to see how Jews live around the world, and what the unique benefits and challenges are of living in those places.

Maybe we could start a thread in ChitChat, where we can keep things light?

a2z

Tue, Nov 02 2021, 5:51 am

Hey, anybody got that chutzlaretz mindset comments? You are going to America? Can you take this package for my cousin that lives in NY? No? But you're going to America. I think that is the same as IT.

fleetwood

Tue, Nov 02 2021, 5:57 am

DrMom wrote:

I love when Jews from Brooklyn refer to Yerushalayim as "OOT." LOL

Ha ha ha...so funny...I've never heard anyone from Brooklyn calling Jerusalem out of town...gee..so funny...