When returning to America after a year in a different country, I expected a certain level of culture shock. At age 17, I went to Germany for a month; going to Germany was easy, but upon my return, stopping at the Mall of America, I started freaking out because, for some odd reason, I could understand everything being said around me. My first stop after this last year was a very common first stop for cross-Pacific flights, LAX. The first thing to freak me out was riding on the right side of the road, this was a quick adjustment for me. After arriving at the terminal, I opportunistically grabbed my notebook and jotted down a list of the things that shocked about Americans before they became normal again. Here they are:
African Americans
This was an aspect of America I was definitely missing; it is not even African Americans in general, but being in a generally diverse country. Now, Australia has a fair few Sudanese and Asian immigrants and a few aboriginals scattered across the land the Whites don't want, but for the most part, everyone you see in Australia is of European descent. How boring!
I felt at home when I was waiting in line and heard a loud, boisterous, authoritative voice yell, "Everybody, please take off your shoes! Just have 'em off before you get the belt, so we can make this quick!" I missed people yelling so much. Everything is so polite sometimes in Australia. This isn't really about African Americans either, this is just how Americans are....This little section has a bad heading. I think I just wanted an excuse to put Flava Flav on my blog.
Fat Americans
I always resisted latching on to this stereotype. In Australia, I defended Americans all I could when someone called us a fat culture, especially since Australia is the second fattest country in the world. Upon returning however, it is true. As a general cultural trend, we are bigger than other countries. Not that everyone is obese, but the average person you see is 10-20lb heavier than the people I met abroad. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, our portions are huge and our food is very fat concentrated.
Holy crap! I knew we were a wasteful society, I just didn't realize how much more we waste than other countries. Australia is ranked as the fourth most wasteful country and we are second, but don't let our ranks fool you, we suck EVERYTHING. I first noticed the water wastage. The toilets at LAX have a couple of gallons of water in the bowl. Even more water was used to push this down! In that first flush at least two unnecessary gallons of water were wasted. After living on the driest continent in the world, where water is the most precious resource, this was ridiculous. Most countries use a two button flush system, a number one (often one gallon) or a number two (about two gallons), I believe this to be the etymology of the common slang. The bowls standing water is also very low. I also observed for the first time in a year, the water spinning clockwise. People keep asking me if it was weird seeing the toilet spin counter-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. Honesty, there was never enough standing water to ever witness such a thing.
All of our things are packaged in plastic, then packaged again in cardboard. The packaging is always significantly bigger than the product... I could rant on this type of stuff for hours; it is the one thing that bothers me more than anything in the world save genocide, baby eating, reality TV and other similar things, so I'll just stop here.
I felt at home when I was waiting in line and heard a loud, boisterous, authoritative voice yell, "Everybody, please take off your shoes! Just have 'em off before you get the belt, so we can make this quick!" I missed people yelling so much. Everything is so polite sometimes in Australia. This isn't really about African Americans either, this is just how Americans are....This little section has a bad heading. I think I just wanted an excuse to put Flava Flav on my blog.
Fat Americans
I always resisted latching on to this stereotype. In Australia, I defended Americans all I could when someone called us a fat culture, especially since Australia is the second fattest country in the world. Upon returning however, it is true. As a general cultural trend, we are bigger than other countries. Not that everyone is obese, but the average person you see is 10-20lb heavier than the people I met abroad. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, our portions are huge and our food is very fat concentrated.
Wasteful Americans
Holy crap! I knew we were a wasteful society, I just didn't realize how much more we waste than other countries. Australia is ranked as the fourth most wasteful country and we are second, but don't let our ranks fool you, we suck EVERYTHING. I first noticed the water wastage. The toilets at LAX have a couple of gallons of water in the bowl. Even more water was used to push this down! In that first flush at least two unnecessary gallons of water were wasted. After living on the driest continent in the world, where water is the most precious resource, this was ridiculous. Most countries use a two button flush system, a number one (often one gallon) or a number two (about two gallons), I believe this to be the etymology of the common slang. The bowls standing water is also very low. I also observed for the first time in a year, the water spinning clockwise. People keep asking me if it was weird seeing the toilet spin counter-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. Honesty, there was never enough standing water to ever witness such a thing. All of our things are packaged in plastic, then packaged again in cardboard. The packaging is always significantly bigger than the product... I could rant on this type of stuff for hours; it is the one thing that bothers me more than anything in the world save genocide, baby eating, reality TV and other similar things, so I'll just stop here.
Important Americans
We are the most important people in the whole world. This is a completely true statement. How can I tell? Well, everyone is always busy and in a hurry. Even when buying a newspaper in the newsstand across from the gate, two hours early for our flights, we are still in a hurry. We also always have to talk loudly on our cellphones at all times so we are sure that everyone knows how important the particular call is. Also our face-to-face conversations are just as important. Everyone needs to hear every word of the conversation. Honestly, everything we say is too important to keep within a five foot radius. God, it feels good to be American.
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