I am new to buddhism and I want to know some places where I can be like myself ya know?

You're new, so how were you introduced to Buddhism? Is your primary practise chanting activities or meditative techniques? Both? Or a better question might be what drew you to Buddhism? In any event, I may unable to answer your questions to your satisfaction because I'd need to know more. I'm an American Buddhist minister in Buddhayana tradition. I'm working to transform my home (originally built circa 1920's as a school) into my city's First American Buddhist Sangha House. If the Buddhadhamma is to be propagated to a wider American audience, then ALL Buddhists in the USA, regardless of sect or nationality, must put aside their sectarianist squabbling and OneWayist attachments and make the Buddha's teachings & practices culturally relevant to native born US citizens. The Three Pillars of American Buddhists are FAITH, STUDY, and PRACTISE. We practise chanting activities and meditative techniques to achieve the self-perfected state of the enlightened and become a buddha in this lifetime and we study the Buddha's teachings towards that same goal. We have faith in ourselves to achieve Buddhahood in this lifetime and in our Buddhist practise to change our karma and we also have faith that the universe will unfold as it's supposed to karma which is merely cause and effect. I own a yahoo.group you may be interested in: AMERICANBuddhism@yahoogroups.com