Less than two months ago I was in the UK visiting family and friends on my annual trip back. It was, as always, wonderful to see everyone even to catch up with friends that I haven’t seen since I moved here in 2001 but reconnected with thanks to Facebook. One of the weird and sad things I noticed this time about going back was how out of touch with British culture and society I have become – flicking through magazines I had no idea who any of the celebrities where, even worse I barely knew what was going on politically. Just doing simple things like getting on a bus – something I did multiple times a day when I lived there, I had to ask for instructions.
Being away from the country you were born in will probably give you a better idea what it means to be from that country. I know I have found this to be true, and similarly so have other British ex-pats I have asked about it. That is a wonderful thing – usually rose tinted mind you, but it definitely gives you a sense of identity. But now it feels like it was ripped away from me. The Britain that I associate myself with is all about BBC dramas, Radio 4, Sunday tea whilst watching Antiques Roadshow, The Guardian and Independent newspapers, Earl Grey tea on rainy days, fish and chips and custard creams. Now I feel like I am in no-mans land. I don’t belong here or there.
It wouldn’t have been so bad if I could say I had fully immersed myself in American culture and society but I have not. I have simply survived as I got used to being a different country. I have of course familiarized myself with American culture, but I’m ashamed to say I know absolutely nothing about how this country is run and little about it’s history.
I need to learn about America. I know what it stands for and a little about its culture – mostly west coast biased but my best friend is from Minnesota and my boyfriend from New York so that helps understand the vast difference across the country.. it’s kind of like being from North or South England from what I have observed.
My mission for 2008 will be to learn about American history, luckily for me that’s only 231 years to catch up on, well as it stands as America. I would like to go further back and understand about the lives of Native Americans before the pilgrims landed. Thank God I didn’t move to Greece or Italy!
If any of our American voices have any suggestions for stuff I must make sure to cover, or even books I should read I would be grateful.
Not Goth, 34, Redondo Beach, CA, USA.
December 10, 2007 at 3:31 am
Oh-oh… You may have opened the floodgates on this one!
First though, I must comment on how perfectly you summed up the feelings that accompany the ex-pat experience for me… Never have I felt more a part of America than I have since I left America. And we are biologically designed to remember the good stuff, which I think is okay, as long as we do remember without ‘bad’ there can be no ‘good.’ I know that my idea of America differs from what my experience was and what it will be when I go back, but that’s okay too… just have to keep those pesky expectations in check or else I will have to run off to some other foreign locale as a response in no time at all.
Now… what to read?
Please start with Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present.” It is the book I use for AP US History and reads like a novel. He has a wonderful variety of source material that will also send you on tangents of your own.
Then, in the spirit of Presidential elections (one of my very favorite times in the states… I actually still get all emotional about it in spite of the fact that my vote seems to be the kiss of death…) read HST’s “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, 1972.” I had my seniors read this when the last “election” occured in the US and it was amazing to see them identify all the parallels and the pitfalls of political campaigns and elections, because we are all so human after all. [Further bolstered by "All the President's Men"...]
If you are ready for more…. Alex Haley’s “Autobiography of Malcolm x, as told to Alex Haley” (and Haley’s “Roots” is also awesome.) Steinbeck’s “Travels with Charley” or of course, “The Grapes of Wrath” are really good… Bill Bryson can get a bit, well, Bryson-y quite frankly, but his books “A Walk in the Woods” and “The Lost Continent; Travels in Small Town America” are great fun. Then there are others like “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” or “Helter Skelter” or “In Cold Blood” for a little bit of the underbelly….
I could go on… and on and on…. but I will let you tell me if you want more….
December 10, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Remind me to re-read this post at this time next year when I’ll have been in France for at least 8 months. Right now, my Americanisms aren’t readily apparent to me. But, I’m guessing that they will come into sharp focus in the coming months.
As for recommendations, go to Williamsburg and Monticello (Jefferson’s home) if you’re ever traveling through Virginia. It’s been a long time since I was in Wiliamsburg, and it might be a whole lot hokier than I remember, but the grounds are pretty, the buildings old, and you can get a decent feel for one of this country’s older seats of government. Jefferson’s house, though, is likely just as interesting now as it was then.
December 10, 2007 at 7:42 pm
Thanks Amanda. I am really glad that you could relate to being away from home sharpening your sense of what it is to be American.. If you ever get time I would love to read a post on your thoughts about that. I found Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present on google reader so I am going to start there until I can get to the library. I will definitely keep the others in mind too.
Melissa.. I will
I don’t think you could have picked a more different country to live in than France. I look forward to your observations on it. I hope to eventually go and do lots of the history tours of America. I really want to go to Mount Rushmore despite everyone always tells me there is nothing there other than the mountain. I also plan on going to DC to see the Lincoln Memorial etc – that would be wonderful.
December 11, 2007 at 5:12 pm
What a great endeavor, NG. I’m inspired to join you.
When I was in the airport over Thanksgiving I came across a copy of “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” . . . I didn’t buy it, but made a note to check it out later.
Amazon says it’s the “classic, eloquent, meticulously documented account of the systematic destruction of the American Indian during the second half of the nineteenth century.” . . . . “Using council records, autobiographies, and firsthand descriptions, Brown allows great chiefs and warriors of the Dakota, Ute, Sioux, Cheyenne, and other tribes to tell us in their own words of the series of battles, massacres, and broken treaties that finally left them and their people demoralized and decimated.”
So it’s not exactly a feel-good-charmer, but I’m adding it to the stack of books I hope to read sooner than later.
December 13, 2007 at 1:05 am
i remember transiting through heathrow airport one december from the US to bahrain and they had added euros to the currency, and it hink changed some of the british coins. i had absolutley no idea what i was counting out to give the woman for my cadburys xmas variety pack. felt really weird. of course i still struggle with US coins, they make no sense as their are no numbers; theyre “the big silver one”, “the tiny silver one”, and hte “medium silver one thats a bit thicker”
December 13, 2007 at 11:56 pm
Oh you are so right about the coins in the USA needing numbers. It’s confusing although I think I have it down now. I wish all the notes weren’t all the same colour as well – I don’t know another country that does that aside from here!