[Tommy]

While serving in the Air Force, I was stationed in Germany for five years. My family lived in an apartment in a large home owned by a German family. Now admittedly, I did not choose to go to Germany and I was not particularly interested in adopting their culture and customs. But even if I had decided to live there permanently, it would have been hard for me to abandon many of my American ways for the German ways. For example, none of the stores were open after 6 PM on weekdays or after 1 PM on Saturday except for one Saturday per month. None of the stores were open on Sundays. It made it very difficult for me to shop for much more than food in the very small village where I lived. I didn't like the store hours and would have complained even if I decided it was in my family's interest to live there permanently. If I could have lobbied to change the laws to allow longer store hours, I would have.

My point is that it is ridiculous to expect immigrants to immediately abandon the culture in which they were raised just because they decide to live in another country. They will do what each of us would do in the same circumstances. They will keep the old practices that bring them comfort while adopting the new practices that make their lives easier, and complainng about the new practices that make their lives harder. Over a few generations, most will integrate fully into the local culture.