Strip Mall Culture. America v Britain

I am an American. I have heard my fellow Americans say time and time again that we have no culture. That we are nothing but a country full of strip malls. Everything is the same from one city to another. Same look. Same stores. Same old, same old no matter where you go.

I wrote about our visit to Stratford upon Avon. As we where standing there, on the high street of that historic town, I was suddenly struck. My husband was asking me what I wanted to see. I looked around. It hit me. Its a high street. It is exactly like every other high street in England. Same stores. Same look. Same thing. Nothing was different but that there was a few souvenir shops and Shakespeare’s house was just up the street. Most every town of any age has the higgly piggley buildings with a Ethel Austin and a Jessops in them.  The only thing I could say was “nothing”. Other then the historic site of Shakespeare’s house, it was no different then what we can see anywhere. I quickly tried to think of anything I needed. Boots? WH Smiths? No, to many people. I did not want to brave the crowds and stand in a long que for any reason. I think it was the epiphany that I needed to help not fret leaving the culture here. Its all starting to look the same. I still love the old houses, the higgly piggly, should of fallen down a few hundred years ago buildings, but in reality, its the same thing town after town. Its the same strip mall culture, dressed up in fancy buildings.

Read Full Post »

Another 4th of July.

Another 4th of July has come and gone. No great fanfare. No fireworks. No BBQ. No celebration feel. I even had to work last night and only one guy asked me if I was celebrating…um, no. Hard to celebrate when your the only one in miles who knows what it is your celebrating. The worst bit is when my husband turned up the radio while he was listening to Steve Wright on BBC radio 2 while Steve Wright wished all us Americans here a Happy Independence day and then played a bit of the national anthem, which always brings tears to my eyes. It makes me so very homesick. Easier to just think of the day as any other day. I will just have to wait until next year when I can take my British husband to see his first full on celebration.

Living abroad really brings out the American in you. Strangely, I feel more American now then I ever did back home. Maybe because that it has been added to my name… the American. Maybe because I can see all the things that I have taken for granted all my life. I do know that I have been at the butt end of some American bashing in the last 5 years. When I first moved over I was pretty timid about it all. Its easy to get the mindset, like some do, that we suck. 5 years on, I know better. I know that even though America has its problems its goodness, grace and beauty out weigh all those problems. The problems can be solved. Americans will give the shirt off their backs. Americans are open, giving, caring and overall honest. I have heard Europeans and Brits say that we are unaware of our world and don’t know what is going on. But I have found the same back at them. I come from a country that is comparable to the size of Europe. We don’t need passports to travel. We manage to get along and have only had one war amongst ourselves. That settled, we have been pretty much untied since. Europe has been in conflict with each other forever. See, after 5 yrs I have a comeback for all the stereotypes that have been thrown my way. And there have been many Stereotypes that have been. No place is perfect. Funny enough, people are pretty much the same… even the French. 🙂 I have seen enough of the warts of the world to know America is not alone with those warts.

It is strange though, how much more patriotic I feel. I am very proud of my homeland. I was surprised to see that in the UK they only fly the Union flag on special occasions. That you only fly the English flag when the football team is playing, and you can fly the Scottish and Welsh flag if you live in Scotland or Wales. Where I am from we have flags everywhere. We hang them from our front door. All public offices and schools. Its a representation of our pride in our country. I had to giggle when I was told that it freaks travelers out, reminding them of a dictatorial state. I hardly think that the US could be said to have a dictator running it, or even be compared with some place like Zimbabwe. We just have Spirit. School spirit, State Spirit, and Country spirit. We are just very proud of what our forefathers created. The freedoms we have are something to be proud of. The country that has grown is something to be proud of.

Read Full Post »