Comments on: Americans and Unicorns http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/12/15/americans-and-unicorns/ Listen to stories on anything from honeymoons to WWII, from award-winning journalists to first-time writers alike, from anywhere in the world. Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:25:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: Julie Steimle http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/12/15/americans-and-unicorns/#comment-1415 Tue, 09 Jan 2007 17:51:39 +0000 http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/12/15/americans-and-unicorns/#comment-1415 I am glad Morf put my thoughts to print. Here are a few others that have been on my mind. I don\'t know if he thought them also, but my experience may have been different than his. I had taught in China for three years, and to be frank, I had gotten used to the strange questions my students had asked me about how my country worked, and I had forgotten how confusing some of them got. When you teach English, you also teach culture. Sometimes in the middle of teaching culture you find yourself tangled in such vast differences that explainations don\'t work half as well as visual aids. I started picking and choosing movies to show so mys students could see what I could not say. The hard part about that was explaining to them as they watched the films was what was real and what was made up by Hollywood. It took me forever to convince them that most U.S. neighborhoods were quiet places with no car chases; that most American families don\'t run around having affairs; that most people don\'t act like those women in Sex and the City; the average American citizen needs a car just to survive, and some bicycles are expensive. I have to admit, I miss the public transportation they had in China. Taxi\'s everywhere for what I considered dirt cheap and busses that took you to nearly every place in cities with or without a metro. But I think what I learned more in China is that we in the U.S. really know nothing about that country. I had to go there to see it for myself. It was nothing like I was told back in the States. Both countries have funny notions about the other. When I wrote my family about my experiences and told them mainland China was not half as communist as we had been taught, they didn\'t believe me. When I recited all the details about the booming business I saw everywhere, they were flabbergasted. When I mentioned my Muslim, Christian and Buddhist students, they were shocked religion had even been allowed. I found a cell phone system superior to the ones we use in the States, more convenient to boot. I found fruit in abundance and of so many more varieties than in the States, as well as green leafy vegetables. And though I missed the variety of cheese we have (and continued to loathe the tofu varieties they had), I found the abundance of delicious food available at inexpensive prices something to love. Yes, I also saw the poor. They were hard to miss. You would pass them while riding the bus to places. But I also saw the entrepreneuers, those that would even stoop to piracy to make a buck. Actually, alot stooped to piracy to the point that it was a joke among many that visited the country. I have a Chinese roommate here in the U.S. now on a Fulbright scholarship. She is often offended by the presumptions her American co-workers make. They all ask her the same questions: How does she like the U.S.? & Does she plan to stay? I know our history is full of happy immigrants that came here for opportunity, but she said to me quite clearly, \"How rude are these people! Why would I want to stay here? I love my homeland.\" Of course, I suppose she was born to priviledge. Several of the students I taught in China were also. They were the ones that ditched class, expecting to bribe their way into passing the exams. They didn\'t know what hit them when they failed my course. The poorer of my students knew their education was an opportunity to get out of their former circumstances, and they worked hard earning the grade they got. They are the ones that will succeed in the world. Besides, I also know a few others that came to the U.S. to escape China. I had also tutored a brilliant boy who wanted desperately to leave the country, though I think his notions about the U.S. were a bit too much based off of TV (He was a big Sex in the City fan). I suppose the world is full of all types. I am glad Morf put my thoughts to print. Here are a few others that have been on my mind. I don\’t know if he thought them also, but my experience may have been different than his.
I had taught in China for three years, and to be frank, I had gotten used to the strange questions my students had asked me about how my country worked, and I had forgotten how confusing some of them got. When you teach English, you also teach culture. Sometimes in the middle of teaching culture you find yourself tangled in such vast differences that explainations don\’t work half as well as visual aids. I started picking and choosing movies to show so mys students could see what I could not say. The hard part about that was explaining to them as they watched the films was what was real and what was made up by Hollywood. It took me forever to convince them that most U.S. neighborhoods were quiet places with no car chases; that most American families don\’t run around having affairs; that most people don\’t act like those women in Sex and the City; the average American citizen needs a car just to survive, and some bicycles are expensive. I have to admit, I miss the public transportation they had in China. Taxi\’s everywhere for what I considered dirt cheap and busses that took you to nearly every place in cities with or without a metro.
But I think what I learned more in China is that we in the U.S. really know nothing about that country. I had to go there to see it for myself. It was nothing like I was told back in the States.
Both countries have funny notions about the other. When I wrote my family about my experiences and told them mainland China was not half as communist as we had been taught, they didn\’t believe me. When I recited all the details about the booming business I saw everywhere, they were flabbergasted. When I mentioned my Muslim, Christian and Buddhist students, they were shocked religion had even been allowed. I found a cell phone system superior to the ones we use in the States, more convenient to boot. I found fruit in abundance and of so many more varieties than in the States, as well as green leafy vegetables. And though I missed the variety of cheese we have (and continued to loathe the tofu varieties they had), I found the abundance of delicious food available at inexpensive prices something to love.
Yes, I also saw the poor. They were hard to miss. You would pass them while riding the bus to places. But I also saw the entrepreneuers, those that would even stoop to piracy to make a buck. Actually, alot stooped to piracy to the point that it was a joke among many that visited the country.
I have a Chinese roommate here in the U.S. now on a Fulbright scholarship. She is often offended by the presumptions her American co-workers make. They all ask her the same questions: How does she like the U.S.? & Does she plan to stay? I know our history is full of happy immigrants that came here for opportunity, but she said to me quite clearly, \”How rude are these people! Why would I want to stay here? I love my homeland.\”
Of course, I suppose she was born to priviledge. Several of the students I taught in China were also. They were the ones that ditched class, expecting to bribe their way into passing the exams. They didn\’t know what hit them when they failed my course. The poorer of my students knew their education was an opportunity to get out of their former circumstances, and they worked hard earning the grade they got. They are the ones that will succeed in the world.
Besides, I also know a few others that came to the U.S. to escape China. I had also tutored a brilliant boy who wanted desperately to leave the country, though I think his notions about the U.S. were a bit too much based off of TV (He was a big Sex in the City fan). I suppose the world is full of all types.

]]> by: Lee Lyons http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/12/15/americans-and-unicorns/#comment-1000 Mon, 18 Dec 2006 18:45:28 +0000 http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/12/15/americans-and-unicorns/#comment-1000 Well, I love teachers (having been one myself off and on for almost 20 years), but even I hadn't been, I would certainly love Morf. Great observations, Morf. Having gone to grad school at the University of Illinois, Chicago, with a number of students from the PRC, I can attest to their initial wonderment and suspicion when faced with commonplace American things like the array of choices in supermarkets, the luxury in which our pets live, the luxury of a 3-bedroom apartment with doorman, etc. I always liked this oberservation from one of my Chinese friends best. The thing she simply couldn't get used to in America, more than any other, she said, was paper towels. !!! Paper towels?? Yes, things you buy in order to Throw Away. Well, I love teachers (having been one myself off and on for almost 20 years), but even I hadn’t been, I would certainly love Morf.

Great observations, Morf. Having gone to grad school at the University of Illinois, Chicago, with a number of students from the PRC, I can attest to their initial wonderment and suspicion when faced with commonplace American things like the array of choices in supermarkets, the luxury in which our pets live, the luxury of a 3-bedroom apartment with doorman, etc.

I always liked this oberservation from one of my Chinese friends best. The thing she simply couldn’t get used to in America, more than any other, she said, was paper towels. !!! Paper towels?? Yes, things you buy in order to Throw Away.

]]> by: Ran Owyang http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/12/15/americans-and-unicorns/#comment-982 Sun, 17 Dec 2006 07:54:13 +0000 http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/12/15/americans-and-unicorns/#comment-982 How insightfully profound regarding the conundrum of contrasting paradigms. How insightfully profound regarding the conundrum of contrasting paradigms.

]]> by: Morf http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/12/15/americans-and-unicorns/#comment-977 Sat, 16 Dec 2006 20:34:35 +0000 http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/12/15/americans-and-unicorns/#comment-977 Well yes, though it took me at minimum, a few weeks to realize this relatively obvious answer - but actually that isn't the answer. Illegal immigrants are, ahem..."illegal" therfore not even remotely recognized as either full citizens or even as anything other than temporary and disposable. Plus, illegals comprise perhaps one percent of the US population - and in many parts of the country are invisible or non-existent. Far from the ever-present peasants you seen on virtually every street across Asia. Perhaps a truer answer would be that machines do our dirty work. BTW, on this issue I recommend the film "A day without Mexicans". Well yes, though it took me at minimum, a few weeks to realize this relatively obvious answer - but actually that isn’t the answer. Illegal immigrants are, ahem…”illegal” therfore not even remotely recognized as either full citizens or even as anything other than temporary and disposable.

Plus, illegals comprise perhaps one percent of the US population - and in many parts of the country are invisible or non-existent. Far from the ever-present peasants you seen on virtually every street across Asia.

Perhaps a truer answer would be that machines do our dirty work.

BTW, on this issue I recommend the film “A day without Mexicans”.

]]> by: Kevin Coughlin http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/12/15/americans-and-unicorns/#comment-962 Fri, 15 Dec 2006 21:21:21 +0000 http://www.commonties.com/blog/2006/12/15/americans-and-unicorns/#comment-962 I am surprised he couldn't answer that Mexican Americans and illegal Mexican citizens are the ppeasants in America. I am surprised he couldn’t answer that Mexican Americans and illegal Mexican citizens are the ppeasants in America.

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