1) Wilderness and being able to swim wherever you want and naked, if you must.
2) Service. Everywhere from free water at a restaurant to peeing in a café without buying anything to painting your nails in a store without buying the nail polish (that may not be legal, actually) to just getting a waitress (or server, but I'm not about to pretend that I'm PC) to come around to you other than when she damn well pleases.
3) Music. In Euroland, Jam music = "huh?" + North America has some good indie pop.
4) Friendliness, which I've apparently forgotten about. My American friend (who's idea it was to come up with this list; we needed to get more posi about our country) had to remind me. I actually wouldn't believe her until a German friend who'd visited his girlfriend in SoCal recently vehemently agreed with her. Still, I think that a lot of people appear friendly in contrast to the Germans.
5) Guys. I'm not digging the whole androgynous Euro-look.
6) Products. Amanda's parents came to visit all the way from Alabama not too long ago and with them they brought things like instant grits (polenta is essentially instant, but still), Jimmy cake cornbread mix ( vegan!), Pop Tarts, Nature's Valley bars, vanilla extract, Secret deodorant.... I never new I'd find such comfort in a brand. Oh! Memories are fading back... How about Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Fruit Roll Ups? And Dove conditioner? Yes, these things I actually miss.
7) Drive-ins.
Well, that's about it for what I miss. Everything else I can do without.
3 comments:
Do you miss cheap gas? Ours is up to $3.50-$3.60/gal. What is it there? I'll bet it's still cheaper than Eurogas. Androgynous Euro-look. hmmm. Must have started with the Scots. I noticed the Brits are courteous, albeit not gregarious. I found the more rural I got in France, the people were friendlier, dirt poor, and proud of it. Good List. I guess we could go on and on about the foodstuffs, but I get the idea. Remember Hiroyuki Someya taking 5 cans of CheezWiz back to Japan exemplifying American food?
Hiro- hilarious! I do remember that, but didn't have nearly as much a grasp on the meaning of it at the time. I guess I thought that the japenese don't have cheez whiz like the germans don't have brown sugar. You know, I've never tried cheez whiz.
I've got no clue about the gas because a) It's in litres and b) I don't drive. I miss when I could fill up my tank for under $20.
Germany used to be very friendly, but times change. I haven't been there in more than 40 years.The Scots are still the friendliest and most "open" folk in Europe. They also come close to speaking English!
You should try living in a war zone for a year if you really want to miss American things and service!
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