America versus......

[Prana]

Thanks Pandora!

Yes, America as a whole is very patriotic, and I think many really do feel that we are the be-all-end-all and that everyone wants to be 'us'. Now personally, I have a lot of pride in America for certain things, but absolute disgust for other things. But I think I'd feel that way no matter where I came from...different places just value different things, and some is good, some is bad.

Maternity leave does suck. I believe California is trying to do better, and trying to allow for paternity leave as well. With my job, I can take as long as I want, typical is 3 months, and most use up their annual leave and sick leave. We can take longer, and without pay if we choose, but may not be guaranteed our job back. I think the American way is very focused on work and working 80 hour work weeks to make ends meet. You are nothing if you don't work, work overtime, and live, breathe, sleep WORK.

I'm all for individuality, but I would love to see uniforms become more commonplace in schools over here. It would be so much less of a hassle for the kids. But certain parents over here find it necessary to create arguments over every little thing, so the schools would probably be sued over 'freedom of speech' infringements or something.

As far as our health care goes, I think we have really good care. With the new healthcare reforms that are being put into place....I'm sort of nervous. I don't think people really understood what would happen on a larger scale when Obama implemented the new healthcare system, but I guess I really don't care. I tend to just do whatever I have to do based on our laws, pay whatever I have to pay for taxes, and then I'd prefer to be left alone. Politics aren't really my forte.

I get what your saying about religion/politicians as well...many people are still under the assumption that we are a Christian nation, but America was sort of supposed to be the 'Land of the Free', 'Land of Opportunity', giant melting pot. I'm not really sure why America is so focused on religion, especially Christianity. This statement was not meant to offend anyone...I have no problems with any religion or anyone who believes in what they believe in. I just don't think it has any place in the running of a country.

I'm glad you mentioned the idea that many Americans have no idea what is going on outside this country. When I was younger, this notion used to really bother me. We hosted a Spanish exchange student when I was 12 or 13, and my Aunt hosted a Spanish exchange student from when I was 11-18, so he became a part of the family, so to speak. The student we hosted basically told me that many outside this country feel like Americans are clueless. I felt bad that American's in general didn't travel internationally the way that a lot of Europeans did, and it made me feel stupid at that age. I'm glad she told me, though because it made me curious and it made me want to know about other cultures and countries, and it made me want to travel and experience things. Granted I haven't been to many places. I was thinking about it the other day though, and America itself is HUGE! There's many places in this country I haven't seen, but plan to. I think a large part of the reason that many Americans do not travel internationally is that the flights are long and sort of tedious.

When you travel from, for instance, France to Spain, or Norway to Sweden or Finland, would you typically fly? How does it work if you were to drive or use another type of land transportation? Do you have to go through customs the same way you have to at an airport? For example, we used to be able to drive to Canada without the need of a passport (this has since changed),and the border police would just ask you a few questions and check your license. If they were uneasy about you, they'd search you and your car.

 

[Prana]

My husband e-mailed me this article from, "The Wall Street Journal".

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html?KEYWORDS=chinese+mothers

I might not have gotten around to reading it if my 18 year-old daughter hadn't read it immediately and had such a strong response to it. Her response made me dig into my pile of e-mail and read it and I was glad that I did because I found it very thought provoking. I think that the title is, "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior". It appear to be written about Chinese mothers in the United States. I really recommend it!

Deb/AGBF

Thanks AGBF! That was really fun to read, and definitely interesting to compare!

 

[AGBF]

My husband e-mailed me this article from, "The Wall Street Journal".

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html?KEYWORDS=chinese+mothers

I might not have gotten around to reading it if my 18 year-old daughter hadn't read it immediately and had such a strong response to it. Her response made me dig into my pile of e-mail and read it and I was glad that I did because I found it very thought provoking. I think that the title is, "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior". It appear to be written about Chinese mothers in the United States. I really recommend it!

Deb/AGBF

Thanks AGBF! That was really fun to read, and definitely interesting to compare!

Thank you for taking the time to read it and to comment, Prana!

Deb

 

[Pandora II]

When you travel from, for instance, France to Spain, or Norway to Sweden or Finland, would you typically fly? How does it work if you were to drive or use another type of land transportation? Do you have to go through customs the same way you have to at an airport? For example, we used to be able to drive to Canada without the need of a passport (this has since changed),and the border police would just ask you a few questions and check your license. If they were uneasy about you, they'd search you and your car.

- If I was going to Northern France I would go by ferry and take the car. (For my wedding my father and I took the ferry over to France to pick up the wine - you can import it free of charge to the UK that way although you need proof that you have a personal event that require that amount of alcohol - otherwise you pay a massive amount in import taxes).
- For Paris or Belgium I would take the Eurostar train.
- Ireland, we drove to North Wales and then took the ferry to Dublin and used the car to drive round Ireland.

- If I was going to other places I would almost certainly fly as it is quicker.
- If I was already in mainland Europe and wanted to move from country to country and hadn't taken the car then I would use a combination of ferries, trains and planes depending on price, convenience and where I wanted to be and how quickly.

Yes, you do need a passport to travel outside the UK. Most European countries (except the UK and Ireland) are what are called 'Schengen Countries' after an agreement signed in Schengen in 1985. This allows free travel between member countries, however most European countries require you to produce a passport or Identity Card when you book into hotels so I can't really see the big difference - you need official ID no matter what.

We have quite strict Customs and Excise in the UK - especially with animals as we are rabies free unlike mainland Europe - and a lot of searches for things like drugs, excess amounts of booze and cigarettes. You also have to go through Imigration Controls.

 

[Prana]

Thanks Pandora!

 

[4ever]

I'll try to speak for New Zealand, but living in a large city my perception is probably a lot different to many other areas.


Many young girls in America feel it necessary to dress inappropriately, to the extent where my husband and other men feel like they can be arrested just for being in the general vicinity. Is this common in other countries as well?
I don't see this that much in New Zealand. Usually the worst of it is young teens in singlet’s and (really) short shorts in summer, and occasionally I'll see something that makes me think "wow that's not appropriate" but it's rare. I found when visiting the UK that the teens going out clothes where much more revealing than New Zealand.

TV shows and reality TV figures are pretty bad. Think Jersey Shore, and what is that new one on MTV? The commercial is a highschool girl in a short dress telling her mom she's going out to study, then ending up going to some rager party? I find this stuff unbearably stupid, and plan to teach my kids that behaviour like that is just dumb, but I'm wondering how prevalent these types of shows are in other countries? Most of the reality shows we get like this are American, we get a few NZ reality shows like New Zealand’s next top model but most of our reality shows are competitions based not just "hey look at these famous people doing dumb stuff".

Are others as celebrity obsessed as we seem to be in America? How closely do others follow or even care about what goes on in Hollywood or with celebrities? It seems that you can't even get the news here without having to be reminded of some celebrity in some way, shape or form. Pretty much the only celebrity news we get is American, in New Zealand we don't have celebrities, we have "New Zealand TV personalities", which I guess is our way of telling them not to get too full of themselves.

Are uniforms commonly worn to school, or are kids allowed to dress in what they want? Uniforms are by far the norm. I went to one of the very few high schools which allow 7th form students (last year of high school in NZ) to wear mufti (our own clothes).

Plastic surgery. How common are breast implants for weddings, nose jobs for high school graduation gifts, massive lipo and the works for Moms trying to stay young, etc? I feel like many in the States feel that self worth lies in outward appearances and the cost of the purse you carry. It depends on where in NZ you are. In many areas it would be completely unheard of for someone to have purely cosmetic, elective surgery. In bigger cities it happens, but it's not common at all. I work in one of the most affluent areas in Auckland so I do see that people are getting work done, but I think they are by far in the minority.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to ask this, but what are your perceptions of America/Americans in general? I live here, and I think that there are a lot of things to be proud of, but a lot of work that needs to be done. My perceptions have changed, when I was younger all I saw of the US was through TV programs, movies and the News (at least 40% of our TV programs are American- we don't have the population to support a large TV industry in NZ) so I saw America as very shallow, materialistic, violent and incredibly stupid . I think there has been a reasonable amount of America bashing going on in NZ and other countries; Americans are stupid being the most common perception which probably comes from all those reality shows you spoke of earlier. But America is such a huge country with a massive population, I now know the vast majority of Americas are not anything like what the rest of the world sees in movies and TV programs. I also know many Americas through PS and everyone I've spoken to here are intelligent and genuine people.

Is everyone else obsessed with the upcoming royal wedding ? Seems to be that America certainly is...don't get me wrong, I'm very excited for William and Kate, but there just seems to be a lot of nonsense coverage regarding the two of them, and I feel bad for her with all the comparison's to Diana and speculation rubbish. Not obsessed but we are a British colony so I do read a few of the "updates" in the news. I'm looking forward to it and will probably stay up to watch the broadcast but I's say there is probably an equal amount of people who doesn’t give a crap.

Is teen pregnancy an epidemic?
"New Zealand has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the developed world, with about 50 teenage girls in every 1,000 falling pregnant. Of these pregnancies, about half of them result in abortion, meaning there are upwards of 3,800 babies born to teenage parents in New Zealand every year" (www.kiwifamilies.co.nz,,, teenage parent overview) Behind the US for teen pregnancies and around the sames as the UK and Wales.

 

[Prana]

Thanks 4ever!!
With regards to your comment about teen pregnancy, how available are contraceptives? Do they offer sex ed classes?

 

[Porridge]

Birth control is readily available and accepted. You get it from your GP. Also the morning after pill is available, but only on prescription.

Minor update on this here in Ireland for anyone who is interested; Boots, probably our largest nationwise chain-store pharmacy, announced today that they will be providing the morning-after pill over the counter, without prescription.

 

[Prana]

Birth control is readily available and accepted. You get it from your GP. Also the morning after pill is available, but only on prescription.

Minor update on this here in Ireland for anyone who is interested; Boots, probably our largest nationwise chain-store pharmacy, announced today that they will be providing the morning-after pill over the counter, without prescription.

Thanks for that update, Porridge! I'm not sure how we go about getting the AM after pill here...I think through planned parenthood. I'm not sure if you can get it just by visiting a pharmacy.

 

[zoebartlett]

This is a really interesting thread. I'm always interested in hearing how others perceive America, and I'm not surprised by a lot of what I hear. If you've never been here and the majority of what you see are the reality shows like The Jersey Shore and other programs like that, I can definitely understand how people can be turned off. Obviously this is a big country and there are many, many places here that don't focus so much on outward appearances, etc., but yeah, we're not always put in a positive light. I guess I should say that we don't always put ourselves in a positive light.

 

[zoebartlett]

Deb -- thank you for posting that article. It was an interesting read!

 

[Prana]

This is a really interesting thread. I'm always interested in hearing how others perceive America, and I'm not surprised by a lot of what I hear. If you've never been here and the majority of what you see are the reality shows like The Jersey Shore and other programs like that, I can definitely understand how people can be turned off. Obviously this is a big country and there are many, many places here that don't focus so much on outward appearances, etc., but yeah, we're not always put in a positive light. I guess I should say that we don't always put ourselves in a positive light.

Well put, Zoe!

 

[anchor31]

Anchor, good call with the oversized EVERYTHING.

Another question for everyone---what about stores like Walmart and wholesale stores like costco, Sam's club and BJ's? Do these exist elsewhere?

What about fast food joints and eating out? What type of restaurants are most commonly frequented? How available/marketed are fast food places such as McDonalds?

There is at least one Costco in Canada...DH and I bought a camera during a vacation in BC.

Haha... There are Costco's all over the country! We also have Walmart, but not Sam's club or BJ's (maybe just a different name). Let's see... We don't have Target or Macy's; our equivalents would be Zeller's and The Bay (formerly The Hudson's Bay Company, the oldest retail stores in the country). We have a lot of fastfood franchises (McDonald's, Wendy's, Pizza Hut, you name it) and some of our own (La Belle Province, but I warn you, do not eat there), and of course, Tim Hortons. I think there are some franchises in the US, am I right? Oh, and we have a pretty neat amusement park in Montréal called "La Ronde", but it's now owned by Red Flag.

Fact that some people may find interesting... A recent survey (2010) indicates that the 2nd greatest fear among Quebecers is... assimilation. No, not from the Borg, from the big bad English-speakers. Yes, my province lives 250 years in the past.

My husband and I have always dreamed of moving to Canada, but not until Target is established up there! lol Oh, and Trader Joes!

MC, apparently I was right about Zellers being our equivalent of Target... Just read that within a few years, Zellers will become Target. http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20110113/target-canada-110113/