I recently moved to the USA, from the middle east. My English is pretty good, and I don’t have a lot of trouble communicating with people at work or in stores. I also don’t know anyone here at all, outside of work. All my family is still back in Gaza, and I’ve been here over a year now, and still feel cut off from American people and culture.
How do you make friends and socialize here? How do I learn more about America and Americans culture? I know a bit about history, but not much about anything else.
I don’t drink or go to bars, for religious reasons. I have joined a couple of clubs based on hobbies, but still feel disconnected. I’m not sure how you socialize or meet new people here, in my family everyone came around your house all the times of the day, and here it seems like neighbors just stick to themselves. I don’t want to bug people or anoy them if that is not the customs here.
Also, what are your favorite parts of American culture and history? So far I have enjoyed Nascar and monster trucks very much, and studying mathematics.
You’ve gotten some good answers already but I’d like to stress a point I haven’t seen mentioned: It’s easiest to make friends during downtime. By which I mean, time you spend with another person doing nothing in particular. Shared activities are not bad, but if they are too engaging (work, sport, even worship) there isn’t time to get bored and find entertainment in conversation, wherein you can discover shared interests and build comeraderie.
You’ll find a lot of Americans formed their closest friendships while in school (usually high school or college). I argue that’s because there is a ton of downtime with your peers in those environments. Try to find similar environments where you are effectively “stuck” with a peer for an hour or more at a time. Hiking clubs are fantastic. Beginner art classes. Book clubs.
Beyond that, don’t be discouraged. Some people will have a hard time getting over their own inhibitions about exposing themselves to new people. And many casual friends will fall by the wayside along the way. That is okay. The ones you keep will be worth it in the end.