I'm an American!
When I was in England, I learned all kinds of fun new things. I learned about the diversity of a single language. And how easily it is to misunderstand someone simply because their slang is different. For example, I was told by our coach driver that one time he was driving a bus load of American teenager's. It was near the end of the trip and they were all tired so he made the comment "Come on boys, keep your pecker's up." (or something)
A stone is 14 pounds or 6.4 kilograms (as if that really matters to us). It is a measurement greater than pounds, so your weight would come out stones with the left overs being in pounds.
Example: I weighed myself this morning in stones- since my totally cool digital scale can be changed to stones- and I came out with 10 stones 7 pounds. Which translates into 147 lbs.
WooHoo *doing a little skinny dance*
I loved England, I loved Scotland, I loved Wales. If I could pack my bags today and go I probably would. It was a glorious trip and I got to learn so much about other people and chuckle a little at how they see us.
I heard people describe Americans as blunt, trusting, inquisitive (meaning we're always asking questions), and motivated. I heard about the pirate John Paul Jones -which really made me laugh-. And I heard our money referred to as Yankee Dollars.
When my plane landed in Detroit and I was ushered down a corridor towards a sign stating "US Citizens this way." I nearly wept with pride. I nearly bounded down the walk shouting "That's me! I'm an American!"
Have you ever seen the movie 'The Saint'? My favorite scene in that movie, which is in fact one of my favorite scenes in any movie, is when she is running towards the US Embassy. The bad guys are inches behind her, one of them grabs her coat and she slips it off her arms sobbing. The Embassy is getting closer, she breaks through the crowd of people and shouts "OPEN THE GATES, I'M AN AMERICAN! I'M AN AMERICAN!"
The soldier on guard opens the gate and she falls into his arms, another soldier shuts it behind her, leaving the bad guys outside. Then with her firmly, safely, wrapped in the arms of a US soldier the other one says to the bad guys, "Step away from the gate. I said, step away from the gate."
My heart absolutely bursts with pride when I watch that scene. It makes me punch the air in excitement, and want to rewind and watch it all over again.
I love my country. I love the idea of travelling and living overseas, but the pride and possesiveness I feel for the place of my birth and protector of my freedom's never diminishes when I am abroad. In fact it swells inside of me until upon landing on US soil I want to run, sobbing, shouting "I'M AN AMERICAN! LET ME IN!"
The boys- being teenager's- all burst out laughing and he had to ask what was so funny. Evidently, pecker is slang for chin in England.
I also learned that they weigh themselves in stones over there. Stones? Yeah, that's about how I reacted. So today I looked it up.A stone is 14 pounds or 6.4 kilograms (as if that really matters to us). It is a measurement greater than pounds, so your weight would come out stones with the left overs being in pounds.
Example: I weighed myself this morning in stones- since my totally cool digital scale can be changed to stones- and I came out with 10 stones 7 pounds. Which translates into 147 lbs.
WooHoo *doing a little skinny dance*
I loved England, I loved Scotland, I loved Wales. If I could pack my bags today and go I probably would. It was a glorious trip and I got to learn so much about other people and chuckle a little at how they see us.
I heard people describe Americans as blunt, trusting, inquisitive (meaning we're always asking questions), and motivated. I heard about the pirate John Paul Jones -which really made me laugh-. And I heard our money referred to as Yankee Dollars.
When my plane landed in Detroit and I was ushered down a corridor towards a sign stating "US Citizens this way." I nearly wept with pride. I nearly bounded down the walk shouting "That's me! I'm an American!"
Have you ever seen the movie 'The Saint'? My favorite scene in that movie, which is in fact one of my favorite scenes in any movie, is when she is running towards the US Embassy. The bad guys are inches behind her, one of them grabs her coat and she slips it off her arms sobbing. The Embassy is getting closer, she breaks through the crowd of people and shouts "OPEN THE GATES, I'M AN AMERICAN! I'M AN AMERICAN!"
The soldier on guard opens the gate and she falls into his arms, another soldier shuts it behind her, leaving the bad guys outside. Then with her firmly, safely, wrapped in the arms of a US soldier the other one says to the bad guys, "Step away from the gate. I said, step away from the gate."
My heart absolutely bursts with pride when I watch that scene. It makes me punch the air in excitement, and want to rewind and watch it all over again.
I love my country. I love the idea of travelling and living overseas, but the pride and possesiveness I feel for the place of my birth and protector of my freedom's never diminishes when I am abroad. In fact it swells inside of me until upon landing on US soil I want to run, sobbing, shouting "I'M AN AMERICAN! LET ME IN!"
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