You would probably feel uncomfortable around Americans then. Many of us are open, friendly, rather trusting, and not hesitant to reach out to people.
I have a theory about why we are this way. I think it has to do with survival on the frontier. People who were stand-offish and didn't make friends easily couldn't count on help when disaster struck. So it behooved people to relate to others quickly upon new acquaintance, since your very life might depend on their assistance at a moment's notice.
I'd think the best way to survive in a hostile environment is to mind your own business (never be "stand-offish"), distrust unfamiliar people, help familiar people, and be ready to grab an axe when things go sour.
In another words, be a Finn.
I've heard it's customary for Americans to put superficial friendlyness and politeness above truth on many occasions. Whether that's true or not, such a trait would make it harder to establish trust. In demanding conditions real trust is paramount.
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I find this so interesting. Maybe you should write a book about it. Why not? I would be your first customer.
Btw, your English is incredibly good. wow. I am so impressed!
I'm not quite sure what you meant the subject of the book to be, but thanks anyway!
I'm no authority on *anything*, heck, I'm only 22..
I don't know if I can explain it... to me it's just plain beautiful. Not only the landscape, but also the people. Most of my family is there and all of my experiences there have been perfect. One day I will live there...
I can trace my father's line back to a guy born before 1530 - all of them germans (mostly local farmers). My mother once found a connection to the earls of Württemberg. If I rembember correctly, there was an illegitimate frome "Ullricht the well-loved"... By now, probably the majority of the people in this area can find a connection in their family treee
My wife's roots are somwhere in eastern europe. Her mother told me that her maiden name is rather uncommon. According to my mother-in-law, there was a guy who emigrated to the US. So recently, I did some google research and found some people in the US with that name and a woman in the ukraine. According to a picture I found on the net, she even seems to have some family resemblance. When I have a bit more spare time, I'm thinking about writing to these people.
Born and raised in Canada. Bit of Welsh on my mothers side, my father was born in Germany. They came over a few year after WWII, Germans were rather unpopular at the time so more than a few teachers took it out on my father and would beat him senseless in front of the class for being a Nazi. Obviously, being only 5 or 6 at that time and born after the war he had nothing to do with the Nazi regime.
My family hasn't even been here 100 years yet. They came to America during the great second-wave of immigrants (from mostly southern and eastern europe- "the undesirables")- when racist quotas were put up through waspy "nativist" political pressure. Anyway, the American Dream was a big thing back then. My great-grandparents and their family came here to escape poverty-through Ellis Island of course- and spent everything they had to settle in a tight Italian community in NEPA a few miles from where I currently live. Don't know much about the Irish-side, but I certainly live a comfortable life now.
Thinking about moving back, though. Europe is probably a better fit for me.
My wife's roots are somwhere in eastern europe. Her mother told me that her maiden name is rather uncommon. According to my mother-in-law, there was a guy who emigrated to the US. So recently, I did some google research and found some people in the US with that name and a woman in the ukraine. According to a picture I found on the net, she even seems to have some family resemblance. When I have a bit more spare time, I'm thinking about writing to these people.
About family resemblance - I had a Civil War era play that I was having my students read. It dealt with the flight of John Wilkes Booth after he shot Lincoln. There was a picture of Booth on the front of the play.
I mentioned to my students that two years earlier I had had in class a student (female) related to Booth, and who even had the same last name. A few kids piped up and said that her brother was currently in 7th grade at our school, but on another team. I mentioned this family relationship to several of my classes in the morning, and then lo' and behold, in the afternoon a boy knocks on my classroom door and said *he* was the current member of the family I'd mentioned to my morning classes.
I picked up a copy of the play with the picture of John Wilkes on the front, and the resemblance to this 12-year-old kid was just incredible ! The man had a mustache, but the boy resembled him so closely it was uncanny.
Another of my students had an ancestor who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The boy had the same last name too. Cool, I thought. heh. He was a 'great' kid. Moved to Seattle at the end of the school year.
Thinking about moving back, though. Europe is probably a better fit for me.
Shawn, I've been having the same thoughts about Europe for some time now.
I can't even begin to tell you how sick I get of that insufferable Puritan strain in America. It's oppressive, repressive, and its icy fingers penetrate so much of American culture.
Maybe I feel the cold hand of Puritanism so much because I work with kids, and because of the expectations wrt teachers mentioned in that other thread. I don't *resist* those expectations, but I get tired of worrying about them.
My impression of Europe is that it's SO much more relaxed wrt life. I feel annoyed that I have spent so much time in such an uptight society. I didn't even realize that attitudes about life were so different in Europe until this last year, after literally hundreds of messageboard and email conversations. (I'm NOT speaking about politics here, but about *life*.)
I guess I just need a change for a while. Can hardly wait.
'What' about Europe appeals to *you* over America, if you don't mind my asking?
I don't know if I can explain it... to me it's just plain beautiful. Not only the landscape, but also the people. Most of my family is there and all of my experiences there have been perfect. One day I will live there...
Doesn't everybody in Iceland know each other?
Do you know Ragga Skellasdottir (not sure about that last name though) . . . the head of the University of Rykyavik's Drama department?
Comments
but I grew up in Italy and visited overseas relatives in many countries and now I'm in the US.
I plan to marry a french girl like hélène grimaud.
www.helenegrimaud.com
she's a hotie
Originally posted by Carol B
You would probably feel uncomfortable around Americans then. Many of us are open, friendly, rather trusting, and not hesitant to reach out to people.
I have a theory about why we are this way. I think it has to do with survival on the frontier. People who were stand-offish and didn't make friends easily couldn't count on help when disaster struck. So it behooved people to relate to others quickly upon new acquaintance, since your very life might depend on their assistance at a moment's notice.
I'd think the best way to survive in a hostile environment is to mind your own business (never be "stand-offish"), distrust unfamiliar people, help familiar people, and be ready to grab an axe when things go sour.
In another words, be a Finn.
I've heard it's customary for Americans to put superficial friendlyness and politeness above truth on many occasions. Whether that's true or not, such a trait would make it harder to establish trust. In demanding conditions real trust is paramount.
I find this so interesting. Maybe you should write a book about it. Why not? I would be your first customer.
Btw, your English is incredibly good. wow. I am so impressed!
I'm not quite sure what you meant the subject of the book to be, but thanks anyway!
I'm no authority on *anything*, heck, I'm only 22..
Originally posted by Akumulator
My father is from Iceland... my mother is Irish American. I've been to Iceland 9 times. It's my favorite place on Earth.
'What' about Iceland appeals to you most, if you don't mind my asking?
They use thermal energy there, don't they?
I don't know if I can explain it... to me it's just plain beautiful. Not only the landscape, but also the people. Most of my family is there and all of my experiences there have been perfect. One day I will live there...
Originally posted by Splinemodel
There's a pretty big fan club for Marat Safin, most of which is female. But that's just one guy.
Hi Splinemodel -
I googled Marat Safin, and wow! He IS a cutie.
Doesn't seem like a very Russian name though, does it?
My wife's roots are somwhere in eastern europe. Her mother told me that her maiden name is rather uncommon. According to my mother-in-law, there was a guy who emigrated to the US. So recently, I did some google research and found some people in the US with that name and a woman in the ukraine. According to a picture I found on the net, she even seems to have some family resemblance. When I have a bit more spare time, I'm thinking about writing to these people.
My family hasn't even been here 100 years yet. They came to America during the great second-wave of immigrants (from mostly southern and eastern europe- "the undesirables")- when racist quotas were put up through waspy "nativist" political pressure. Anyway, the American Dream was a big thing back then. My great-grandparents and their family came here to escape poverty-through Ellis Island of course- and spent everything they had to settle in a tight Italian community in NEPA a few miles from where I currently live. Don't know much about the Irish-side, but I certainly live a comfortable life now.
Thinking about moving back, though. Europe is probably a better fit for me.
Originally posted by GSpotter
My wife's roots are somwhere in eastern europe. Her mother told me that her maiden name is rather uncommon. According to my mother-in-law, there was a guy who emigrated to the US. So recently, I did some google research and found some people in the US with that name and a woman in the ukraine. According to a picture I found on the net, she even seems to have some family resemblance. When I have a bit more spare time, I'm thinking about writing to these people.
About family resemblance - I had a Civil War era play that I was having my students read. It dealt with the flight of John Wilkes Booth after he shot Lincoln. There was a picture of Booth on the front of the play.
I mentioned to my students that two years earlier I had had in class a student (female) related to Booth, and who even had the same last name. A few kids piped up and said that her brother was currently in 7th grade at our school, but on another team. I mentioned this family relationship to several of my classes in the morning, and then lo' and behold, in the afternoon a boy knocks on my classroom door and said *he* was the current member of the family I'd mentioned to my morning classes.
I picked up a copy of the play with the picture of John Wilkes on the front, and the resemblance to this 12-year-old kid was just incredible ! The man had a mustache, but the boy resembled him so closely it was uncanny.
Another of my students had an ancestor who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The boy had the same last name too. Cool, I thought. heh. He was a 'great' kid. Moved to Seattle at the end of the school year.
Originally posted by ShawnJ
Irish-Italian-American
Thinking about moving back, though. Europe is probably a better fit for me.
Shawn, I've been having the same thoughts about Europe for some time now.
I can't even begin to tell you how sick I get of that insufferable Puritan strain in America. It's oppressive, repressive, and its icy fingers penetrate so much of American culture.
Maybe I feel the cold hand of Puritanism so much because I work with kids, and because of the expectations wrt teachers mentioned in that other thread. I don't *resist* those expectations, but I get tired of worrying about them.
My impression of Europe is that it's SO much more relaxed wrt life. I feel annoyed that I have spent so much time in such an uptight society. I didn't even realize that attitudes about life were so different in Europe until this last year, after literally hundreds of messageboard and email conversations. (I'm NOT speaking about politics here, but about *life*.)
I guess I just need a change for a while. Can hardly wait.
'What' about Europe appeals to *you* over America, if you don't mind my asking?
Originally posted by Akumulator
Yes they use thermal energy.....
I don't know if I can explain it... to me it's just plain beautiful. Not only the landscape, but also the people. Most of my family is there and all of my experiences there have been perfect. One day I will live there...
Doesn't everybody in Iceland know each other?
Do you know Ragga Skellasdottir (not sure about that last name though) . . . the head of the University of Rykyavik's Drama department?
Originally posted by pfflam
Doesn't everybody in Iceland know each other?
I've hear that they certainly have a lot of free sex, if that's what you're refering to.
8)