What waFor [[s your childhood impressions of the various Countries of the world?
Posted 07-04-2014 at 04:44 AM by tenkier7
Quote:
Originally Posted by KathrynAragon
Har har, good idea for a thread.
Here are various ideas I had about different countries when I was a child:
1) England - Frog and Toad Together and Winnie the Pooh have tea with Hobbits - everyone lived on the edge of a river in a sort of Hobbit hole - or they lived on the moors with a crazy aunt locked up in the attic.
2) Germany - Cold and full of people with very stern faces. Eastern bloc Germans were always hoping to score a car that wasn't made out of plastic and wood, when they weren't getting shot trying to jump over barb wire in Berlin.
3) Spain - Hot and dirty and loud. Everything revolved around bulls - either bullfights or being chased down a street by a bull. Sangria seemed to play a prominent role, and all the women wore those big skirts and beckoned for drinks, or help in a store, or their children, by clicking castanets.
4) Japan - well, I actually lived in Japan as a child, but we lived on a military installation, so my images of Japan outside that installation were of bullet trains and lots of bustling crowds, serene temples and rock gardens, craggy mountains, shopping and eating dinner on top of high rises in Tokyo, and quiet monks or artists painting beautiful paintings in silence. Oh, and I loved the communal bath rituals. To a kid, they were comforting and nurturing.
5) Italy - narrow streets smelling of pesto and petrol, women calling from upper windows, mopeds, laundry hanging across the street, and rather greasy young men hanging about in groups on street corners.
6) France - Everyone wore black and white striped shirts and berets and there was an inordinate number of mimes on the streets. Lots of cheese, and bad accordian music.
7) Canada - cold, Canadian bacon, people in fur coats who were interested in sports that I didn't understand at all.
8) South America - Everything was backwards but Jesus was standing there with His hands outstretched over all of it, so it couldn't be a heathen place. Did everyone wear striped shoes and ponchos there, and lead a donkey by a rope?
9) Africa - Land of tall, mostly naked people carrying spears. Cool huts though.
10) The US - since I was a military brat and we lived overseas when I was small, I had this vague memory of the US which consisted of redwoods, the Grand Canyon, the Parthenon in Tennessee of all things, and riding with my grandfather on his tractor. Oh, and lots of older relatives who made really good divinity and fudge and who would always let me lick the bowl when they were baking.
As I matured, I realized that I was very right...and very wrong...about many of my notions.
Here are various ideas I had about different countries when I was a child:
1) England - Frog and Toad Together and Winnie the Pooh have tea with Hobbits - everyone lived on the edge of a river in a sort of Hobbit hole - or they lived on the moors with a crazy aunt locked up in the attic.
2) Germany - Cold and full of people with very stern faces. Eastern bloc Germans were always hoping to score a car that wasn't made out of plastic and wood, when they weren't getting shot trying to jump over barb wire in Berlin.
3) Spain - Hot and dirty and loud. Everything revolved around bulls - either bullfights or being chased down a street by a bull. Sangria seemed to play a prominent role, and all the women wore those big skirts and beckoned for drinks, or help in a store, or their children, by clicking castanets.
4) Japan - well, I actually lived in Japan as a child, but we lived on a military installation, so my images of Japan outside that installation were of bullet trains and lots of bustling crowds, serene temples and rock gardens, craggy mountains, shopping and eating dinner on top of high rises in Tokyo, and quiet monks or artists painting beautiful paintings in silence. Oh, and I loved the communal bath rituals. To a kid, they were comforting and nurturing.
5) Italy - narrow streets smelling of pesto and petrol, women calling from upper windows, mopeds, laundry hanging across the street, and rather greasy young men hanging about in groups on street corners.
6) France - Everyone wore black and white striped shirts and berets and there was an inordinate number of mimes on the streets. Lots of cheese, and bad accordian music.
7) Canada - cold, Canadian bacon, people in fur coats who were interested in sports that I didn't understand at all.
8) South America - Everything was backwards but Jesus was standing there with His hands outstretched over all of it, so it couldn't be a heathen place. Did everyone wear striped shoes and ponchos there, and lead a donkey by a rope?
9) Africa - Land of tall, mostly naked people carrying spears. Cool huts though.
10) The US - since I was a military brat and we lived overseas when I was small, I had this vague memory of the US which consisted of redwoods, the Grand Canyon, the Parthenon in Tennessee of all things, and riding with my grandfather on his tractor. Oh, and lots of older relatives who made really good divinity and fudge and who would always let me lick the bowl when they were baking.
As I matured, I realized that I was very right...and very wrong...about many of my notions.
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