You're going where?
posted August 17, 2006 - 3:43pmWhen I first uttered the words "I'm moving to Prague" to several family members I received a list of responses that truly showed their ignorance.
One aunt stated, "That's in Russia right?"
"No the Czech Republic," I said.
"Oh...Czechloslovakia." Notice, she did not even get the name of that country right.
"Not for about ten years now."
Then another said, 'you know, they're communist over there."
"Well, they were communist and I'm sure there are still some lurking about. You know we have communists here right?"
"There aren't any communists in America!" A reality check is sorely needed here.
Yet another relative simply said, "Where?"
"Prague, it's the capitol of the Czech Republic."
"Where's that?"
"Europe. It's between Poland and Austria."
"Is that near Spain?"
"Closer than we are."
How can it be that citizens of the country who has appointed itself Protector of Democracy and World Police know so little about the rest of the world? Is it simply apathy or is it a deeper problem stemming from the educational system.
Perhaps Americans simply don't care about the rest of the world. Many of my students here chalk it up to the fact that America is so large people don't ever really need to leave the country.
But I don't think that's enough. I think everyone there needs to understand that Americans are not the only people on the planet. As a matter of fact they're not even a majority of the people on the planet. When my students ask me what Americans think of the world I do the following.
I draw my terrible map of North America. Then I draw an arrow east and an arrow west. Above the west arrow I write "Ninjas, Samurai, Godzilla" and above the east arrow I write "Castles, knights, dragons," and I simply leave it at that.
Of course it's a broad generalization and it's not meant to represent everyone. Because no one image can represent everyone of a given group.
It's just a joke... or is it?
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Comments
Yes, I understood that a few
Yes, I understood that a few posts ago.
That's the reason you left.
One of the reasons.
The smog may have been another.
Antonia Dwells
Flooding and invitations
A few mixtures is great, it really is. I don't mind that. The key word here is FLOODING, as in pour into and overflow... and then add in overtake.
Argentina!
Secret: I wasn't invited, either.
If I had to wait for an invitation, I would still be elsewhere.
Antonia Dwells
dont mind the mixing myself
I don't mind the mixing myself, that is not what we are discussing. We are discussing the flooding of a culture into another culture - - uninvited. My sister is married to an Argentinian, a very nice guy, so yeah, mixing is good. I myself will probably end up marrying someone from a different culture, you never know, but again, to recap - - the tension in Los Angeles comes from the Mexican culture burying itself uninvited into the American culture.
We can't put whitey down,
We can't put whitey down, but we can raise him up here, with us.
Antonia Dwells
Viva Mexico!
Down with whitey.
I will have to say I have a love affair with Latinas. I have been married to two (P.R. and Colombian). I 've dated almost only Latinas with the occasional salt mixed in. I love their culture, their sense of family and their language. I grew up in this culture in Florida and would not trade it for anything. The more mixing the better. My kids have Scottish, German, Irish, Cuban, Colombian, Italian and African ancestory just to name a few.
Yes. Oh, yes. Indeed, it's
Yes. Oh, yes. Indeed, it's happening.
They're moving from down there to up here, and the up-heres are moving up there, to Canada Dry.
Antonia Dwells
Mexico decided to merge itself with CA
I should edit that the culture merge was just one reason I left, not the sole reason.
Okay, when I said Mexico merged itself I meant that Mexicans moved into the Los Angeles area from Mexico at a very rapid pace, plus they are reproducing at a faster rate than the whites, thus the flooding and merging of a new culture.
Mexico decided to merge
Mexico decided to merge itself with CA...
I'm unclear on this sentence, but I like the sound of it.
Antonia Dwells
If you lived in Los Angeles
If you lived in Los Angeles you would know that what you just said has already taken place:
Mexico decided to merge itself with California. Without going into radical particulars, if you want them I'll give them to you privately, but the gist of what I want to say is that there IS tension because of the lumping of cultures in Los Angeles. That is why I left Los Angeles just six months ago.
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