Friday, April 20, 2007

Faulty Perceptions...

So, I wander a lot when I'm reading people's blogs. After I'm done posting a comment, I often wander through the blogs of other people that posted then I read their comments and wander on to a blog that one of their frequent readers messaged from...(make sense?)

Anyway, on my wanderings today I came across a bunch of posts from outside of the US (doesn't anyone in America blog?!?!) and they were talking about the Virginia Tech shootings. A couple of the blogs really gave me a perception check of what people out there think about the US. I have to say, they were not impressed! Some of the stuff they talked about was true, but other things they wrote about were really, REALLY stereotyped things from the media.

So, I got to thinking about all the new people I've been meeting while blogging and realized the majority of you are from Canada, the UK, and NZ. So, here is my fun for today. I'm going to post some things that I visualize when I hear about those places. Since I've never been outside the US, I have no idea if they are true, false, or completely made up. I'd love it if you did the same about either Missouri or the USA. I just thought it would be interesting to see how very little we know about each other or how very right we are! LoL. I know I've pretty much got nothing when it comes to other countries but, *takes a deep breath* here it goes, please help me fill in the gaps where I need help!

Canada

1. Our neighbor to the north! (At least I know that is right)
2. I think cold, wintery place. Especially further north.
3. I think about a moose. Yeah, you heard me a moose! A big, dangerous one that wants to eat Americans lurking near the border. hehe
4. I think you have provinces, kind of like our version of states, only they are much larger. And, 5. I think about failing the geography test where I was supposed to name all the provinces.
6. I think about those stinking quarters of yours! You know, the ones that make it over the border and people here will refuse to take! Ooh! and I think about the fact that they are steel, which is cool, because they stick to magnets.
7. I think about the prices being higher in Canada.
8. I think cheaper medication and the debate over whether the US should have government run health care.
9. I think about people speaking French. I know, not everyone speaks French, but some people do!
10. I think you have a government, but I'm not 100% sure what it is =0p I think it is more like a British Government, but the economy is more like the USA??
11. I think about beautiful, old churches.
12. I think about fur trappers and traders. hehe. Isn't that part of your history?

United Kingdom
1. People from Ireland and Wales don't like to be told they are part of England. hehe. We had an exchange student here last semester and she always puffed up when people said she was from England. =D
2. Chips are french fries! Fish and chips are icky. Vinegar is bad. (oh, wait! Those are just my opinions. hehe)
3. I'm more familiar with the U.K. government. Parliament is really fun to watch on the television. Especially the House of Commons (is that the right words?!?). You have a monarchy, but it is pretty much in name only. and you get a vote of no confidence, lucky you!
4. I think of unemployment. I can tell you exactly why too. We watched a show in one of my classes about how British teenagers were out of control and having lots of children. It was supposed to teach us that America wasn't the only place where social reform was occurring, but 5. I remember the unemployment the most because I thought it was a frighteningly high number.
6. I think soccer and World Cup.
7. I think about old castles and the Tower of London --Lots of old, old, OLD history.
8. I think about constables not carrying guns and how much of a foreign idea that is to me.
9. I think about you driving on the "wrong" side of the road.
10. I think about taverns with beer.
11. I think of pretty green fields where urban life hasn't intruded and big cities where it has.
12. I think of rain.
13. I think of pollution.
14. I think of funny accents that Americans can't do properly =D but honestly, I love the way you speak.
15. I think "I speak English" but in truth I speak American because our word choices are very different at times. hehe
16. I think the cost of your gasoline is mind boggling.

New Zealand
1. I think Zena, Warrior Princess! That is where the filming was done, right?
2. I think gorgeous, beautiful, breath taking scenery
3. I think island below Australia
4. I think Tasmanian Devils, even though I'm not sure they have anything to do with NZ
5. I think that I have no clue what kind of government you have and that I've never even thought to consider it before.
6. I think amazing literacy rate (random fact given to us in class the other day)
7. I think you speak English, but I'm not sure if there are any other languages that are also spoken.
8. I'm thinking (just now thought about it actually) that if you speak English you were probably colonized by the English at some point in time. Maybe for spice trade?

Yeah, so those are some of the things that I think when I think about where you live. I'd love to hear back from all of you and I'll write a lengthy post (probably Monday) based on your responses. (Blogger really had a field day with my formatting. Sorry about that =0/ )

Have an awesome weekend everyone!!

P.S. For those of you want to get fit for a wedding. Sparkpeople had a cute reading today.

8 comments:

Chris H said...

Ha ha ha... yes we speak English, and some of the "indigenous" people speak Maori... It is a beautiful country, lots of greenery and sheep! Zena was filmed here, but we ain't like her really! All very civilised actually, what you may see on Tv about mud pools and people wearing grass skirts is just tourist hype. We wear proper clothes. We have a democratically elected government, it can change every 4 years.... Tasmanian Devils lived in Tasmania/Australia mate.. our icon is the Kiwi, a wee flightless bird.. We are not part of Australia! The English buggers "colonised" New Zealand a couple hundred years ago, you got that right. It's a nice place to live on a whole, a fair bit of crime in the biggers places, but better than some places I can think of. It's a long way to go to visit most other countries, we are out on a limb so to speak. It can be nice and warm in summer, and friggin cold in winter, but not as bad as they get in Canada etc... we only get to about -5 degrees on a bad day! We are totally up to date with modern technology, and actually lead the world with some of our innovations/medical discoveries etc. We only have about 4 million people here, not very crowded. That's all for now, gotta go walkies.. have a lovely day...

Anonymous said...

hahahaha you make me laugh...Canada is somewhat like you descibed..I'll make some adjustments. 95% of Quebec speaks french including moi :)and there are many others in the rest of canada but it is mostly english except for some maritime provinces like new brunswick which is like half half. Moose are hard to find when you are in a city, there mostly in the woods, it does get cold up north but Montreal (in Quebec, where I live) is about the same temp as northern New York, we are only an hour away. We have 10 provinces and 3 territories, government is conservative and as for the fur traders ......I leave you guessing :)

Annieann77 said...

Your funny! ;)

I think Canada can get hotter then some of the states during our summer months! Even way up north in the arctic it's not always winter, they have a summer too where it's nice and warm (24hr of sun which make it hard to sleep -- but it is warm).

I've never seen a moose, just deer, unless I go to the zoo! :)

Yeah - your a little short on the province count but I always thought that there were 52 states?!


In my home city (St.Albert, AB) French was manditory in grade school. I never continued through high school so I don't know much French , instead I took German. Vas ist das? he he

Iain said...

Scottish People don't like to be considered as English either. It can't be easy being English! We love them really.

pointing the weigh said...

I'm British and that was pretty damn good about England.

Our police have guns when called out = armed response units but they don't walk around with them on them, we still have the bobby on the beat which is nice although on the beat bobbies aren't as commonas as they used to be.

We are doing a lot about pollution now, infact even smoking is now banned in public places....yeeehaaa this has just come into force.

The chippy is a favourite place and fish and chips is a popular meal and everyone likes vinegar, having said that I can take it or leave it.

Oh WOW! Yeah our petrol prices are just some sort of joke....extortionate and EVERYONE complains about it, apparently our country is very expensive for a load of things also known as rip off Britian.

We call taverns...pubs

Employment is quite high and I have to say in my opinion there is a lot of british men that don't want to work but they will fiddle....meaning claim benefits but slyly work and people that work legally pay their taxes for people fiddling the DSS.
In my avenue alone there must only be about 6 men that legally work, the rest claim benefits and sneak out to work also....makes me so DAMN angry.

Oh the house of commons, makes me laugh also, all that pomp.....I'm sure they don't need to do all that...heehee.

A lot of folk are anti-royalists, I am, a load of absolute tish tosh....teehee

I think our country is very old fashioned we seem to keep to old traditions.

We do have lovely countryside...beautiful in fact.

I enjoyd reading your idea's of England, well done

Hugs

Nuka said...

What a good idea! I am from the states and very much enjoyed this post. :P

JFarrlley said...

How can you think of Canada and not think of Strange Brew?

http://imdb.com/title/tt0086373/

Canadians...what a bunch of hosers, eh?

AshleyHami said...

LOL - I had to laugh as I read your post, and some of your comments ;)