Field Report #2: Spring Break, USA
Spring Break in the USA…Florida beaches, wet t-shirt contests, wild debauchery, fun in the sun.
Well…not exactly, when you’re 20+ years out of college and travelling with your family of four in tow. Then Spring Break moves northward to that great state for lovers…Virginia. Which also has a beach. Whose skies are sunny but whose air is still cool-breezy and water still winter-chilled in the first days of spring. Not a booze cruise in sight.
Fortunately, with Colonial Williamsburg and suburban Washington, D.C. also on the itinerary, we were not doomed to spending our entire vacation figuring out what to do at the beach when credible beach weather is still about two months away.
In addition to visiting with too-rarely-seen family, I as always used the opportunity to re-immerse myself in the sights, sounds and rhythms of life in the U.S., paying close attention to where and how they differ from those in Germany.
This time around, I am going to let images do the talking for me. (Well, wordy captions will do the talking as well.) Wherever I experienced something typical of my beloved homeland, I clicked away. So, without further ado, I present a short and by-no-means-exhaustive list of “Yaaass, I’m back in the U.S.” images:
This is consistently one of my first food purchases when I’m back in the States. Why, oh why has this not caught on in Germany? Germans, feel the magic of chocolate peanut butter ice cream!!! (Picture bonus: there’s a reference to those funky and oh-so-American quarts and ounces!)
No one in the world does cake frosting like American supermarket bakeries. Just be sure you have a place to lie down once you fall into a sugar coma!
Okay Germans, what are these? Anyone…anyone? Why it’s a cornmeal muffin and its deep-fried cousin, the hush puppy. Both are side dish staples of southern American restaurants. Lick those fingers!
WAIT! Before licking those fingers, make sure you sanitize them! Yes, we Americans are comparatively germ-o-phobic (no, that is not a reference to a fear of Germans!). We love us some sanitizing wipes (and hand gels, and soaps, and sprays, etc., etc.)!
Interestingly, for all our germophobia, we are Zen with that most communal of thirst quenching stations…the public drinking water fountain. Germans, WHY DON’T WE HAVE THESE? So much easier than schlepping around a water bottle!
In America, everything is awesome!!! Including household cleaning products!
Service with a name and a smile. “Kelly”, bless her heart, accomodating my husband’s allergies (is that a wink-y?)
Americans in Europe and Europeans in America have one thing in common: they spend half their vacation re-calibrating their sense of dimension. Extra large coffee, anyone?
I was determined to have my shaggy-haired son cut and coiffed at a good ol’ American barber shop. No frills, no fuss, no appointments.
I couldn’t resist, after my last blog post about we Americans and our disposable flatware. But, we’re upping our game…we make it *look* real!
You have been duly warned: in the States, we are, um, generous with warning notices.
And, it wouldn’t be the USA without patriotism:
On private homes, office buildings and elsewhere, Old Glory is almost always in sight. Pop quiz for the Europeans: how many stars and stripes does the American flag contain, and what do they stand for?
In the U.S., it is common to see parking spaces reserved for military veterans, who hold a place of high esteem amongst the American population.
For the German traveller in the United States: have a bout of homesickness? We’ve got you covered:
You even need a coin for the shopping cart! But sorry: still can’t help you with German bread.
We’ll even set you up on a “Rhine” river cruise! (running till 6:00 pm, a.k.a. 18:00)
Want to know the deeper cultural significance behind the images above? Book an intercultural training and you’ll be in the know!
Excellent! You have a real talent for this kind of thing!