Turns out we had 14 people (total, ourselves included) for dinner last night. Chicken Paprika turned out a bit on the chewy side but everyone politely pretended they liked it. As chef, I got a bit of applause and, sadly, found that flattery still makes me blush. I am *sigh* weak-willed.
As the Americans in the room with Germans, Brazilians, Poles, Portuguese, and Turks (and as the only new friends to this friend circle), everyone was quite curious about us and what we were up to. Oleg (from Poland) commented, "it's like you guys are from Mars."
This, combined with me being incapable of shutting up, meant we talked about America for about half the night, spanning all sorts of topics: the Pacific Theatre in WWII, the use of nukes, the Cold War, the reasons for the invasion of Iraq, what people in the US think about guns, socialized medicine, terrorism, Europe, the environment, obesity and health, spying on ourselves and our European allies, and all sorts of other stuff. It was a tough hot-seat. Government policy in the US is not an easy thing to defend, but 2 great things came out of it:
1) I think I gave some really clear explanations--some biased and some nobly objective--to our European friends that gave them some appreciation of the complexities and context of the US and why we're not the same as the Continent, and why some of what we do is either understandable or entirely legitimate even though it's different from how they do things.
2) I clarified my own positions on a lot of issues by explaining them to people who didn't already have strong and informed opinions about them.
And coming out of it, I'm both more troubled at our current state and hopeful about the long-term than I was before. But I continue a trend where my identity with my country is increasingly separated from trying to defend my government. I'm also following a trend where I'm realizing there is such a range of culture and society across the States that it's very hard to say one thinks like an "American" in many spheres, except in those few that we separate from the Europeans entirely.
For an example of the Euros' current feelings about our government (but not our people, as while they are baffled by us at times, they know there is a difference), this magazine title says, "The False Friend:"
As the Americans in the room with Germans, Brazilians, Poles, Portuguese, and Turks (and as the only new friends to this friend circle), everyone was quite curious about us and what we were up to. Oleg (from Poland) commented, "it's like you guys are from Mars."
This, combined with me being incapable of shutting up, meant we talked about America for about half the night, spanning all sorts of topics: the Pacific Theatre in WWII, the use of nukes, the Cold War, the reasons for the invasion of Iraq, what people in the US think about guns, socialized medicine, terrorism, Europe, the environment, obesity and health, spying on ourselves and our European allies, and all sorts of other stuff. It was a tough hot-seat. Government policy in the US is not an easy thing to defend, but 2 great things came out of it:
1) I think I gave some really clear explanations--some biased and some nobly objective--to our European friends that gave them some appreciation of the complexities and context of the US and why we're not the same as the Continent, and why some of what we do is either understandable or entirely legitimate even though it's different from how they do things.
2) I clarified my own positions on a lot of issues by explaining them to people who didn't already have strong and informed opinions about them.
And coming out of it, I'm both more troubled at our current state and hopeful about the long-term than I was before. But I continue a trend where my identity with my country is increasingly separated from trying to defend my government. I'm also following a trend where I'm realizing there is such a range of culture and society across the States that it's very hard to say one thinks like an "American" in many spheres, except in those few that we separate from the Europeans entirely.
For an example of the Euros' current feelings about our government (but not our people, as while they are baffled by us at times, they know there is a difference), this magazine title says, "The False Friend:"
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