Erincita

"That's so American"
Monday, December 04, 2006

I was listening to a radio show on the way to work this morning and the disc jockey mentioned that Gwenyth Paltrow has made a comment that Americans are unintelligent in comparison to people in Great Britain. Johnny Depp was another example of a celebrity who has gone overseas and, after adopting another country, attempts to disown his own. As a little sidenote, it is nearly impossible to disown this county once you're a citizen. You have to be at an overseas consulate or something. Anyway, the subject matter got me thinking about my experience as a U.S. citizen in another country. My greatest compliment from a Chilean friend was that her opinion of Americans (and by "American" I mean the United States) changed after she met me. I also recall an Australian I dated who said to me that "Americans are almost tolerable in their own environment". In Australia, saying "that's so American" is an insult. Why do people hate Americans? Just something I thought I'd throw out there.

While we're at it, I enjoyed a great American passtime on Saturday night: swing dancing! Normally I'd choose salsa over swing any day, but there's this New Year's Eve party I'm planning to go to and there's going to be a swing band playing, so my choices of dance styles will be extremely limited. If you can't beat'em, join'em. Obviously I'm still learning, but swing is growing on me because there's some moves you just can't do in salsa dancing. Like most ballroom dancing, if you have a good lead then you're pretty much okay. I went with friend of a friend who was able to make me look good, whether I knew what I was doing or not. Next week we'll probably get to go salsa dancing so I get to teach him a few things.

7:54 AM |