Anonymous American
Traveling alone (in general) is wierd.
At the Taj and along the way I would come in contact with other American tourists. Mostly they were in groups. When I say contact, I mean I could identify them as Americans because they were talking amongst themselves, usually wore shorts (Indians and Europeans for that matter) don't wear shorts), and were sometimes significantly larger then the other anglo-saxon tourists.
Being by myself, I had no one to talk to. Without language and from my appearance, I guess I didn't appear very American. So much so, I would go as far to say I was avoided at times.
When someone from India would speak to me, they often asked if I was from the UK. When I told them no and where I was from, the conversation quickly turned to our country's leadership. Yeah - the humiliation of this country's leadership makes a great conversation piece (not).
My guides and some Indians I met along the way spoke English, but not to the point where a friendly conversation could be held for longer then five minutes.
Maybe next time I'll wear a "God Bless America" t-shirt to identify my nationanlity and get some of that homestyle conversation and interaction I crave.
Or maybe I'll suck it up and quit whining.
- b
At the Taj and along the way I would come in contact with other American tourists. Mostly they were in groups. When I say contact, I mean I could identify them as Americans because they were talking amongst themselves, usually wore shorts (Indians and Europeans for that matter) don't wear shorts), and were sometimes significantly larger then the other anglo-saxon tourists.
Being by myself, I had no one to talk to. Without language and from my appearance, I guess I didn't appear very American. So much so, I would go as far to say I was avoided at times.
When someone from India would speak to me, they often asked if I was from the UK. When I told them no and where I was from, the conversation quickly turned to our country's leadership. Yeah - the humiliation of this country's leadership makes a great conversation piece (not).
My guides and some Indians I met along the way spoke English, but not to the point where a friendly conversation could be held for longer then five minutes.
Maybe next time I'll wear a "God Bless America" t-shirt to identify my nationanlity and get some of that homestyle conversation and interaction I crave.
Or maybe I'll suck it up and quit whining.
- b
posted by JenBob at
12:45 AM
2 Comments:
I did as much as I could NOT to appear so american. Isn't it also interesting that we say "I'm from the US" but when they ask they don't say "are you from the US?", they usually say "Are you from America?". It's like Christopher Columbus or something. I always did my best to be gracious and not say much. I would see other Americans (many times young travelers) would would get in very heated policial discussions and defend the USA. It just seemed to further solidify the American image. Dunno, maybe I'm a bad american, but I found it better to listen, smile, and hold my tongue in most cases. After all, I'm a guest in their country. Of course, if people wanted my opinion, I would certainly share it.
Zackly!
Post a Comment
<< Home