The last of Thanksgiving and Fall before Christmas and Winter

Is it winter? I'm still going to open market today. It's December, there's no snow. People are still eating Kürbis (Pumpkin). I'm wondering if the extra batter for my pumpkin pie is still good or where I could find somethings that purees and what that has to do with questioning whether or not it's winter.

Today I'm going back to Boxxi today for some cheap fresh fruits and vegetables and I'll hopefully be back for the Trödelmarkt (flo market) tomorrow. These pictures are from two weeks ago.

(Cheese and More...)(123 grams of More please!)
(I love the way this guy to the left is looking at me and how I didn't notice it at the time.)


(I also like how this guy isn't looking at me )

And here's the last post about Thanksgiving. Here are some of my favorites of the hand-Turkeys the kids drew at school. They're supper awesome and I had them hanging up in my apartment for the big day. I may or may not give them back (well, ok, I'll give them back, I promised.)

(An American artist wanted to buy this one, but he couldn't afford it)

Health Care in the US and Germany Part 1

One of the teachers I don't know very well said on Wednesday that we have to go to the Zahnartz and I thought I had just misheard him and that he ment HE was going. I didn't quite understand why he was only teaching half a class instead of canceling it, but you know, whatever. But APPARENTLY there's yet another way in which the German healthcare system is better than the American. A dentist comes to the school every year to check on the kids' teeth. And when something is wrong, or even if nothing's wrong, the parents are informed. This is to make sure nothing is ignored if the children have bad parents forget to go to the dentist.

I think this is great. It's apparently paid for by the state which is also great. I dont' know why I find this so crazy. But it's like a doctor coming to your house! (That happens in Germany too, apparently.) They also brush with fluoride instead of using those little trays full of it that we use. The nice dentist and nurse were nice enough to answer all my questions, I should've taken a picture. ("EYYY MS. SIMMONS KANN DEUTSCH AHHHHH""No I can't, shut up, children, or speak English")

This is all opposed to in the US where we're just expected to have responsible parents.

I wanted to prove that German kids have healthier teeth because of it, but I don't learn anymore so my google skills have disintegrated a bit. Feel free to do the work for me. I would, of course, also be pleased with information that proves Americans have better oral health. Win-win. I wouldn't be surprised by that either, though, because no one seems to floss here. They think it's silly and don't use it. And I look for it (that's right, I looked in your bathroom!). I really just can't believe it. Are we being brain washed in the US? I can't believe that either....flossing is just important! It just is! (No, but really, Germans, it's important.)

Side note: I need to go to the dentist and am not insured for it...should I have bribed the dentist here? You think 1.34 euros would have been enough? I've been having those I'm-losing-my-teeth-dreams again..."in dream" that means I've been feeling insecure. I'll feel more secure when a dentist tells me I'm not losing my teeth.

EDIT: And then I was reminded that doctors do come to our schools, or at least they came to my school. No one ever checked my teeth, but they checked my eyes and hearing. (Raise your hand if you hear a beep.) That's pretty great. I give Germany 2 points and USA 1.2. I think that's fair.

It's hard to be a white male!

"The Price of Arrogance: A Financial Crisis changes the World"

http://medienkritik.typepad.com/blog/

This blog is about how the German media perceives US. I find it very liberating, to be honest. I've been reading the Spiegel in German class and we’ve felt pretty offended. Being in a position in which we feel the need to defend America is a pretty rare occurrence…and I think we’re not sure quite what to do with it.

Like many Americans who've been abroad I've felt, at one time or other, embarrassed to be an American. EVERYONE talks about America and Americans like...well, like they know what they're talking about. People watch Friends and see Bush in the news and think they have enough information to judge 300 million people.

"People", and I'm really just talking about young Europeans, act as though they're informed, but then ask me to answer for the entire United States…and only say what they expect to hear. I've met very few people (all of whom have been to the US) who understood why asking me to represent Americans is ridiculous. I can't tell you how many times I've heard the question, "what's the weather like in America?" GUYS, THE USA IS BIG. PEOPLE ARE NOT THE SAME.

Europeans accept that other Europeans are different, but not that Americans are. I can only assume it's because they don't meet many Americans. They use this to make another judgment. That Americans hate travel and people who are different than them. But when I tell people I never met an Italian or German before I made the effort to fly over to Europe...well...let's not talk about that, or America is expensive. Um, hi. Europe is expensive.

But the only thing more annoying than being asked to represent all American citizens is not being asked to represent even ONE. I'll admit, at first I liked it, but now I'm offended when people say that I'm a "European" or in one-way or another an EXCEPTION, somehow not really American. Even if there are parts of my personality that are not shared by the majority of US citizen, this does not mean I am in anyway exempt from being an American, nor do I want to be. I don't have to be embarrassed about being an American, because I'm proud of who I am as a person and that person is an American. My parents are American, I was born in America and I went through American public schools. Some of my best friends are Americans. My first boyfriend was American. My kindergarten teacher was American. My Grandparents are Americans. My dog is American. Do people understand that when people talk about ‘Americans’…they’re talking about all these people (and dogs)?

I didn't even MEET a European until I was 17. A boy once told me that I had "needed" to come to Europe. Like it cleansed me or opened my eyes. I'm not saying it didn't, but not in the fundamental ways that boy thought it did. If I learned anything in my time abroad it's because my upbringing in an American city by American parents allowed me to.

I just don't know what some people think. Do they think I'm an outcast when I'm home? That people throw rocks at me and tell me to go back to Europe? I know that I'm really great and all, but some people just need to accept that I'm 'normal'. I do not feel in anyway out of place in Minneapolis....

And yet...where's my picture here?

http://medienkritik.typepad.com/blog/2005/03/sterns_gallery_.html

And it's true what's said in that blog. If we did that about Germany it would be outrageously offensive and considered in bad taste.

Does any of this sound defensive? It would make sense that it would, because I'm being defensive. People keep pushing and I hold it in and then this is the result. I'm sick of feeling like I shouldn't be proud to be an American, like everyone else gets to be proud of whatever they are. Other countries have bad leaders, but we're made to think that OUR government is all that there is to our national identity. That and our ever present consumerism and superficiality...and ignorance. But that's it.
We Americans are led to believe that we have no culture and that makes it very hard to be proud of it. It is, in fact, part of our culture to think that we have no culture. Globalization, or Americanization, is somewhat to blame.
And just a note on that. When I was in Berlin I went into a McDonalds ONLY when GERMANS wanted to go there...and guess who was inside feeding the beast that is McDonalds...GERMANS. Guess what McDonalds needs to succeed in Europe...EUROPEANS.

I'm scared that part of American culture has become being embarrassed to be an American. But of course as I write that I recognize that I'm only talking about Americans my age that have studied abroad.


And really all I wanted to tell myself was...get over it. It sucks, but boo-woo. I have and will continue to have identity problems, but really...who cares. I belong to the most powerful country in the world and my most often complaint is that too many people speak my language, making life TOO easy for me (I'll try not to get into that now). I have SO MANY privileges as an American...I think I can deal with a little mischaracterization.