10 Things About Charlotte

10 Things About Charlotte That Might Surprise Visitors From Asia

1.     Jogging without a shirt

People in Charlotte like to do exercise. The weather is moderate, and many people take a jog in the morning and in the evening along the sidewalks. But, a lot of men, especially those of a good physique, often do not wear a shirt while jogging. They are indeed well built and might want to show that off, but the style is literally called “naked” in my country. This is not a beach, and I don’t understand why they have to be naked in a town. Besides, do they not get a bad sunburn?

2.     No umbrella or a golf parasol

 

People in Charlotte usually do not use an umbrella. They don’t walk outside much because they drive door to door, and do not really mind getting wet for a couple of minutes from a parking spot to an entrance. When it really rains, they open a big golf parasol for personal use (although some people still prefer not to use an umbrella and they get soaked). The Americans are big, and the greater will serve for the smaller. I wonder if it is because their umbrellas are big and heavy that they are not handy to use. For me, I often get a compliment about my little folding umbrella which I brought from my country. It’s small enough to fit in a woman’s little handbag, and we are skilled with our hands to fold it easily.

 

3.     “I’ve lived in Charlotte for ten years, but I have never taken a train. I don’t know how to buy a ticket.”

Charlotte has a light rail service which commenced in 2007. There is (only) one line from the downtown to 15.45km southward. It’s new and clean, and safe enough for a woman to take in the evening. In fact, I take the train daily to work. Many of my American colleagues, on the other hand, have never taken this light rail service or a train at all in their lives. One time there was a day that they had to take a light rail to go to a golf event because the parking was limited and very expensive. They asked me, a foreigner new to the city, how to buy a ticket and if a ticketing machine accepts a credit card, etc. It was rather funny that they looked uneasy on a train like a puppy being taken to a stranger’s house. The Americans are so used to driving a car that they are not comfortable to share a ride with strangers.

4.     Downtown called “Uptown”

 

The central city area of Charlotte is called “Uptown”. It is not “Downtown” as in the other American cities, and there is no “Downtown” area to contrast with “Uptown”. According to Wikipedia (“Charlotte center city”), there was a massive campaign in the 1980s to revamp the image of the downtown area and the term “Uptown” was introduced to the general public. It is such a simple idea to use a positive name to be positive, and it is working well. The current Uptown Charlotte is young and growing vigorously day by day.

5.     No Jam-Pack

Many people in Charlotte leave the office for home almost simultaneously at around 5:00 PM. After you patiently wait for an elevator for a while, the elevator door finally opens. If there are more than six people in the elevator, however, you should wait for the next one. Even if you see a space inside in which you can fit, no one ever moves a step to let you in. The same is true for trains. People in Charlotte need a decent personal space. You are not supposed to squeeze in it if a train is filled with passengers to some degree.

6.     Drive anywhere by car

 

Just as with other American cities, Charlotte is a car society. It’s quite natural for the people in Charlotte to drive one block to CVS and nine hours to New Jersey. Highways are free of charge, and they are freeways.

By the way, my friends in Charlotte tell me that Charlotte is “close to” the beach and also close to the mountains. In reality, it is a three hour drive eastward on a highway to the beach and westward to the mountains. A three hour drive will take me to the other side of the territory of my home country. It may be nothing for the Americans, but it is not “close”.

7.     Cars abandoned on a highway

For some reasons, there are many cars unattended and truly abandoned on a highway. If you drive on a highway for one hour, you will probably see at least three of them, and you will start to wonder where the drivers are. Do they want to dump a car? How did they get home?  Some of them obviously have a flat tire, but the drivers cannot abandon a car on a highway. I’m still puzzled.

8.     Chat with a stranger

In Charlotte, it is quite common that you get greeted by a passer-by. If you are with someone in an elevator, that person surely talks to you. If a supermarket is not crowded, customers chat with a cashier over the counter. Small talks start out of nowhere. It’s not important whether you know the person you talk to or not. If there is anyone around you, you are expected to talk to that person, and it is called Southern hospitality.

9.           Huh?  Do what?

People in Charlotte are generally friendly, but they are not used to talking to foreigners and often have a hard time understanding foreign accents. When they don’t understand my English, they get impatient, frown with discomfort and rudely say “HUH?” I know they don’t mean it, but it sounds so horrible that it really hurts my feelings. I would want to run away from the place, go home and cry as I hear that response. To be fair, it happens not only to me but to many other people from my side of the world.

10.     Fried Foods

People in Charlotte like fried foods. Americans like pickles, and fried pickles is one of the specialties in Charlotte. There’s nothing you cannot fry here. But I would like to make it clear that Sushi is not supposed to be deep-fried. However good it tastes, it is not Sushi. It needs to be named differently.