TimFountain

I was with you until this part. WTF does that have to do with anything? Talk about off topic....

Anian

I cut out some of the backstory, which was a bit longwinded, so I can see how that comes out of the blue! Probably suffice to say that the mother is pretty religious and is aiming for grandchildren, the father just rolls with it.

dlake02

THANK YOU !!!! What I originally said was that there were two things that SURPRISED me about the Bay Area given that, from the outside, it is a very modern, go-ahead, stereotype busting area:

1) That there is even a debate about parents (note PARENTS, not Mums....) working. In THE PART OF THE UK I AM FROM (again, not talking for all of the UK, just what I know), that debate/ship probably sailed years ago (mid-80s, I think) and whether Mum, Dad, both, neither work full/part time is not really a debating issue any more, supported by government policies in the face of a decreasing birth rate. To have people come up to us and say (and yes this has happened four times) "It's a shame you have to work and can't be at home full time" is just SO 1950 and patronising !!!!! I EXPECT it in the Deep South, Texas, Utah, mid-west, etc. But in Silicon Valley in 2012 ?????

2) Religion. That shipped DID sail in Europe in about 1950 and is to the point where less that 4% of the population even CARE about religion, let alone practice it in the UK. And again, I am not surprised that ill-informed and ill-educated (in my opinion) views persist in some areas of the US, but again, IN SILICON VALLEY in 2012 ???

It is the dichotomy of outward modernity and deep-seated traditional debates and views in Silicon Valley that was of interest to me, and whether what I was seeing should surprise me or was atypical.

Is it not possible to discuss and debate ANYTHING here without getting the "WE do it like THIS" thrown back ???? I thought America was built on challenging norms ?

As to heading back to the UK - well, my role in my job in a multi-national is to try to bring a wider-world view to our strategy office which is located here. There is a concern in several quarters that much technology strategy is being determined by 1/22 of the global population and having non-USCs involved would help diversify thought and improve relevance. Unfortunately, many of the ~330,000,000/6,600,000,000 seem to be unaware that the other 6,270,000,000 even exist which makes the job rather difficult but I see it as crucial to the area of technology I work in that we have a world, not a single country, view.

Bob

http://www.tabletalkpie.com/home.htm

I was talking about those mini Table Talk ones

The cherry is the best, though apple isn't to bad...for a buck or so a pie, not bad

Bob

I had the same thoughts about MA...gay marriage, universal healthcare, lot of high tech/research and top uni's....I didn't expect this place to be quite so conservative under the surface and that's a slight understatement, considering the image is of a very liberal state.

Maine, which seems far more liberal in comparison for many things and that's a pretty conservative state.

robin1234

Agreed, the cherry is very good. Is it made of cherries, though?

robin1234

The Catholic Church has a bit of a stranglehold in MA, in my experience. Plenty of Catholic lay people and priests are very progressive in politics and social issues though..

Lorna at Vicenza

Come and live here ................ plenty of non progressive priests as I have discovered just by minding my own bloody business.

robin1234

Hmm.. I'm just in the middle of reading Portrait of a Lady, I was thinking I could live in Italy.. I realise things may have changed since 1880 though..

Lorna at Vicenza

Just one example ........ not all of them are like this mind, but often one is enough to make you think :

The kids and myself leaving a shop on the very, small main, village street. As we come out I tell my kids in English that Mummy is not buying a lollipop today as they have had enough.

Tap on shoulder from behind and a very, smart, polite and nice voice asks,

" Mi scusi Signora for butting in, but could I just ask what language you are speaking to the lovely kiddies in?"

I turn my head and immediately think to myself "shit! It's the priest" but I limit myself to saying, "English" in an even tone.

Well bloody hell ... his whole body and attitude changed and he spit at me "urggh !!!! Protestants then !!!!!"

My Italian is good enough to get very brassed off by this. I don't care what we are, but you do not presume anything - so I turned around and in perfect Italian I said,

"Excuse me. Don't you dare to presume that every English person is a Protestant - just like not every Italian is a perfect Catholic !"

He had no answer to that and turned on his shiny, black heels and left us alone.

Bluegrass Lass

I guess I just don't see that comment as unusual at all. I would think many parents would love the ability to stay at home with their kids. Why do you find so offensive? Besides it being an 'old-fashioned' idea to you, what else about non-working parent bothers you?

Who says that a person has to give up their faith in religion in order to be modern? Being religious and being modern doesn't necessarily have to be mutually exclusive (and that's coming from a non-religious person). I've met plenty of very well-educated people who persist in their religious beliefs. As an engineer, I know quite a few other engineers that continue to have religious beliefs and are quite devout. I can't explain it, but I don't let it bother me. To each their own!

yellowroom

I hope you added in a few gesticulations too. I've only been to Italy on holiday but love how expressive everyone's body language is!

Lorna at Vicenza

Oh yes - lots of body language and finger wiggling and arm waving etc.

It's amazing how quickly you pick all that up. Possibly because it's easier than actual words, and a lot can be said with arms, hands and fingers and head shaking etc.

AmerLisa

Sounds good to me!

Sally Redux

I personally wouldn't say tho someone, "t's a shame you have to work and can't be at home full time", I think the tone is rather rude.

I don't think anyone really cares about others' religious beliefs unless one has to hear about it all the time, and most religious people can't seem to resist bringing it up every few sentences.