The world according to Americans...

The other day I came across an interesting article which I would like to share with you by copying it here. It is written by Lynne Diligent, an American working and raising a family overseas.

Unfortunately, I must agree with her. I experience similar attitude here even today. You can see the American “We’re number one!” mentality (described below) all the time.
The maps are cartoon depicts but you would be shocked how much they actually represent the views of so many people.

I "love" to hear especially from these opinionated Americans who have never lived abroad or have never even been outside of the USA, in a better case have seen a foreign country from a cruise ship, majority of them don't speak any foreign language, but somehow they seem to know everything better.
Perhaps it is time to 'take blinders off'....at least sometimes.

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Why Foreigners Sometimes Think that Americans View the World as Geography Cartoons Depict
July 18, 2011

by Lynne Diligent






What Americans are first taught about the world as children. This looks like a 1970-2005 point-of-view.

These maps represent what Americans are first taught about the world as children.
For a majority of Americans (speaking as an American now overseas) these maps are maps about feelings, rather than about knowledge.
It’s true that there are some Americans who never progress beyond this viewpoint, but the majority of American adults are not quite this uneducated.  Among those who are, it comes from the “We’re number one!” mentality that pervades what children are taught about America (or at least were until recently).

This view of the world looks more like how Americans felt in the 1950s and 1960s.

No matter how knowledgeable we become, it’s true that we can look at maps like this and understand the reasons they are drawn that way immediately–from our first knowledge as children.  That’s what makes them cartoons, that some of those feelings stay with us forever,  in spite of our knowledge.

Anyone who lived through the Reagan years certainly remembers the country feeling just like this!

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London time

When I turned 21, I decided to go and live in the UK.  It was a big deal for me at that time. It was just a couple of years after my country went through the Velvet revolution, so we were finally allowed to travel. After that event and before moving to the UK I only went for vacation in Greece. It was my only abroad experience.
This was very different, and it took all my courage. I was going to stay there for a year working as an au-pair, but mainly improving my English skills. So I did, and arrived in London. I could hardly communicate, I had only textbook English, and literally almost everything was new to me, but today I can say that it was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

My host family was not originally British, but I actually didn't mind. On the contrary. It was quite an 'international house' :-), and they were great. I stayed in touch with them for years.

At first I lived in Mill Hill (A), and later moved to Totteridge (B). Both of these areas are part of the London Borough of Barnet in North London.

(Note: Unfortunately, my photos from this time aren't digital yet. I am planning to convert them in the future. So, I am using pictures from the internet)

Mill Hill

"The area's name was first recorded as Myllehill in 1547 and appears to mean "hill with a windmill". However, the workings of the original Mill are in the building adjacent to the Mill Field. Mill Hill Village is the oldest known inhabited part of the district, a ribbon development along a medieval route called 'The Ridgeway'. It is thought that the name 'Mill Hill' may be derived from a mill on The Ridgeway, built on an area of open ground (now a park) known as The Mill Field.
The village is bounded on the north and the south by Green Belt land, and its High Street, at 100 yards, is the shortest in London. The area's proximity to the city made it popular as a country retreat from the 17th century onwards, and large houses and quaint cottages survive.
William Wilberforce (MP, and abolitionist of the slave trade) and Sir Stamford Raffles (founder of colonial Singapore) both briefly resided here, the former being the patron of Mill Hill’s first church, Saint Paul’s. As late as 1960 five shops existed in the Village (Griffin's sub-Post Office, The Blenheim Steps, Cook & Son (sweets and groceries), Hawes Brothers (grocers) and Vincett's (butchers)) but although the buildings survive, they have all since been converted into private houses, as the retail focus in the area shifted to Mill Hill Broadway." - Wikipedia



Mill Hill Broadway

Mill Hill Broadway

Totteridge

"Called Tatarige in the 13th century, the settlement is probably named after someone called Tata. The ridge is the high ground between the valleys of the Dollis Brook and Folly Brook. Over the centuries the rural qualities of Totteridge have attracted well-to-do families. Cardinal Manning was born at Copped Hall in Totteridge in 1808. With the opening of Great Northern Railway station in 1872, late-Victorian and Edwardian mansions were built around the old village. In line with overall trends in the late-1930s, following the conversion of the railway station (in operation from 1872 until 1941) into an underground station (from 1940) on the Northern Line, smaller properties were built within walking distance from the station (Totteridge and Whetstone tube station). In 1968 much of Totteridge was designated a Conservation Area, and no major developments have taken place since then.
Totteridge was a civil parish of Hertfordshire covering an area of 1,604 acres (6.49 km²) and formed part of a thin protrusion into Middlesex. It became part of Barnet Rural District and had a parish council from 1894 to 1914. It then formed part of Barnet Urban District from 1914 to 1965. In 1965, the parish and urban district were abolished by the London Government Act 1963 and the area was transferred from Hertfordshire to Greater London, to become part of the London Borough of Barnet.

Saint Andrew's church stands on the ancient circle site, with a chapel known to be located here from 1250. The ancient yew tree in the churchyard is about 2,000 years old (as estimated by Kew garden's experts) and is the oldest tree in London (also included in the book "100 Greatest Trees of London).

Totteridge has many spacious detached properties in a green setting that are highly valued; some of them are among the most expensive houses in London. Thus its past and present residents include the rich and famous, such as Arsène Wenger, Frankie Vaughan, Des O'Connor, Cliff Richard, Mickie Most, Hank Marvin, David Dein and many top footballers." - Wikipedia





Totteridge Lane - my way home, almost at the house

 

 

When I wasn't spending time in the West End = central London I would hang around Hendon, Edgware, Finchley, or my favourite Hampstead Heath.




Hampstead Heath - a large, ancient London park, covering 320 hectares

In the end I stayed for almost 3 years, it felt like home. I had a great time, but it wasn't always easy and fun. I guess I was experiencing typical ups and downs, but it definitely changed my life.
I have so many memories! I have just remembered how I tasted the typical British black tea with milk  for the first time and immediately loved it. It was also in London where I had for the first time salted butter - on my croissant, and immediately hated it. I just couldn't understand that combination. I guess that my topping it with jam didn't help :-)
....It was just a begging. I had so many experiences!

It is about fork

I am one of these people watchers, so when I moved to the US I noticed one thing right away, they eat differently! At first I thought it was just that particular person's way, but no, they all eat that way. So I investigated and realized that it is the American way.
We Europeans have a different method, so called European style. The fork is held in the left hand, the knife in the right and both by thumb and forefinger, so the palm hides the handle. Once you cut a piece of food, you just put it straight to the mouth by the left hand while pointing fork down.



European style

In the American style the fork is shifted between the left and right hand.  It starts the same way, the knife is held in the right hand and the fork in the left, but once you cut food on the plate into bite-sized pieces, you put the knife down on the plate and transfer the fork from left hand to the right hand and then move food to the mouth. The fork is held almost like a spoon or worse with clenched fists.
Also, what I see all the time, whenever food is soft enough to cut with the edge of the fork it is done so. You only use knife for cutting steak etc. So what you normally see are people sitting at the tables with one hand on their laps and the other hand "forking" their food.
To be honest, to me it looks horrible, like you don't know what to do with your hands when you eat. Maybe it is because it reminds me how we teach children to eat. Their motoric skills are not yet developed for this task, so an adult usually precuts everything first and a child tries to deliver the food in the mouth with whatever way they can find.
Well, I got used to it. I mean, I got used to watching the American style, I am still feeding myself using the European way :-) It is also considered the proper style everywhere else.

American style

There are different eating techniques around the world - with hands, chopsticks and so on, and it is great. We all have traditions, I just didn't expect to find differences in this area in the US.
What is interesting, as I found out, is that the "American style" originated in Europe, brought to America by British colonists and is still used in the US today while Europeans moved on and modernized their utensils style.
Funny thing is that when you watch American movies, everybody typically uses the European style. Has the Hollywood modernized too?!

I have found the above pictures at the following website, but even there, what you normally witness in the American restaurants, is described as incorrect hence the red cross = wrong. I guess we all need to refresh our Dining Etiquette skills.

By the way, the utensils... a knife, a fork etc. are commonly called silverware in the US, but don't be surprised when you get a plastic knife and fork, ....and everything else - a plate, a cup etc. It is definitely the world of plastic here. It is more sophisticated plastic I guess, nevertheless still plastic. This is how it looks like. There are many versions...in restaurants and hotels too. It drives me crazy, I am not camping!  I suppose I could write a whole new chapter on the topic of 'American Dinning'.

How we got to Colorado

When I lived in Nebraska, one day I was thinking, "There must be something else that happened during this stay here!", so my husband and I decided to visit Colorado.

We started our trip in (A) Lincoln, Nebraska and headed towards (E) Denver, Colorado on I-80. It is about 8 hours in a car, but takes much longer because you have to make several stops, so here they are.

I must tell you travelling that part of the Interstate 80 was probably the most boring time I have ever spent in a car. This is what you see for hours and hours...you just feel it will never end.

(B) Great Platte River Road Archway Monument - Kearney

Being on the Mormon, Oregon, California Trails, the Pony Express and the Lincoln Highway Kearney is home to several museums. One of them is Great Platte River Road Archway Monument, which spans Interstate 80. It contains exhibits that trace the history of the Great Platte River Road from the Oregon Trail days to the present.

(C) North Platte - Bailey Yard

North Platte is a railroad town and home to Union Pacific Railroad's world's largest rail yard Bailey Yard.
North Platte is served only by freight trains today, but during World War II the city was famous for the North Platte Canteen. Tens of thousands of volunteers from North Platte and surrounding towns met the troop trains passing through North Platte, offering coffee, sandwiches and hospitality.

The Golden Spike Tower and Visitor Center is an eight-story building which overlooks the railroad staging area. The tower and visitor center are open to the public year-round.

(D) Ogallala

The town's name comes from the Oglala Sioux tribe. It is also known as Nebraska's Cowboy Capital and it first gained fame as a terminus for cattle drives from Texas during 1875 to 1888. These trails are known as the Western or Great Western trails. Cattlemen met in Ogallala's hotel and saloons with Texas cattle drovers and haggled over prices to be paid for cattle which were used to stock Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, the Dakotas and Montana, and were also shipped east on Union Pacific. The business boomed during summer months. Today you can visit Ogallala's Front Street Museum depicting the era. It is open year-round at Front Street and is one of Ogallala's western and historical attractions.

http://www.ogallalafrontstreet.com/index.htm

Lake Mcconaughy is located 9 miles north of Ogallala. It is a reservoir named after Charles W. McConaughy - a grain merchant and mayor of Holdrege, Nebraska. It is a popular location for fishing, boating, water sports, camping and hunting.

I also got myself a souvenir at Ogallala. At that time we were about to relocate, and I wasn't sure whether it would be to Chicago or China. Yes, that is how crazy my life was at that time. So, I wanted to have something from Nebraska, just in case I was moving to Illinois - another US state or from the USA, in case I was moving to China. I wanted something that would represent both, and this was perfect - a photo album, but it is not your typical photo album. This one is made from a recycled car license plate made by Littlearth http://www.littlearth.com/home.html

And when it seemed that we would never leave the flatlands, here it was in front of us, out of the blue - the peaks of the Rocky Mountains. That is the moment when an entirely different adventure started...in Colorado. I will write about it later.

The life of Cardinal

The fist time I have ever seen a Cardinal was when we moved to Nebraska. I couldn't believe what I was seeing in my garden. What a beautiful bird, and he can sing. If you haven't heard this bird before, watch the video below.

You can see and hear these birds here in Chicago area as well. They are everywhere.

Usually you spot a couple. What a picture, I have never seen this before!



 

"The Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) is a North American bird in the genus Cardinalis; it is also known colloquially as the redbird or common cardinal. It can be found in southern Canada, through the eastern United States from Maine to Texas and south through Mexico. It is found in woodlands, gardens, shrub lands, and swamps.
The Northern Cardinal is a mid-sized songbird with a body length of 21 cm (8.3 in). It has a distinctive crest on the head and a mask on the face which is black in the male and gray in the female. The male is a vibrant red, while the female is a dull red-brown shade.
The Northern Cardinal is mainly granivorous, but also feeds on insects and fruit. The male behaves territorially, marking out his territory with song. During courtship, the male feeds seed to the female beak-to-beak. A clutch of three to four eggs is laid, and two to four clutches are produced each year. It was once prized as a pet, but its sale as a cage bird is now banned in the United States by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918." - Wikipedia




 Northern Cardinal in the USA

 

My husband and I are bird watching enthusiasts, so a bird feeder was the first thing added to our garden. It didn't take long for our Cardinal couple to find it, so we were really enjoying the view, and not only that. We were so lucky, and witnessed much more. There was a medium size needle tree right in front of our den window. One day I found a nest there, and this is the story:



Week one - 3 eggs

I wonder how long I have to sit here...



 Finally hatched...

We are really hungry!!!



I swear...I have no idea what happened, but it is just me now. Is anybody coming to feed me?

Father: I am really glad I have found this feeder. Mother: Stop talking and eat!

Father: That is enough, let's go. Mother: I am not flying back and forth the whole day.

What on earth...Where is he?

 

Father: I have found him!



Mother is really angry, she wants you to start flying and finally feed yourself.



Absolutely, positively NOT ready

You can't be serious. You want me to fly up there?!

Not happening.

I need to hide somewhere else...

Maybe here, one just needs to blend in


 

Baby: No! I am not going...!Father: Enough is enough, you can't hide forever


 

Who says -forever-, one more day in another bush, maybe...

And how did it end? We did see him flying. YES, we did. Actually, we saw his very first flight - around our house being followed by the mother and father. And from that day on, we were watching 3 Cardinals on our feeder.