Americans are more than just loud, noisy and bothersome. They are also...

I get into discussions about Americans quite a bit with my family and I have been starting to realize that it is because I am not what they expected an American to be like. I was watching a TV show today, apparently my youngest host sister's favorite" and the Learn English section came on. This is a comical TV show by the way, so this is not a very serious Learn English program. It starts out with some Japanese dancing around and being goofy and then pans over to an obese man, obviously a foreigner(from a Japanese perspective) sitting on a couch in with about five pizza boxes at his disposal. This cute little Japanese girl is singing to him the whole time, asking him to do things and he responds the whole time saying things like "I don't want to," "Not right now," and "I'm tired". Thats when I realized that the status that we have held for a long time in the eyes of other countries as "Number One" has now been diminished to "Number One Fattest" and "Number One Laziest" whether we deserve it or not.

So far my host family has asked me a handful of questions about myself with regards to what Americans are like and its hard to say that there actual beliefs are wrong, because many times I agree with them.

Japanese Conception #1: Americans are picky eaters

Today my host mom said she was happy to have me around because her friends had a host student once who was picky and really wanted American food. They made him mashed potatoes apparently, and he got upset because they were served cold when he thought they should be served hot. Fortunately for me, I like food in general so I am pretty content with what is on the table, but on the other hand it is still hard for me to think of ever getting upset because my host mother didn't cook American food properly.

Japanese Conception #2: Americans eat alot

I have been trying to cut back on portions just to get used to it lately, so I eat just one bowl of rice and just one portion of dinner instead of gorging myself until I have to be rolled out. My host mom told me that compared to other Americans I ate like a bird. But hey, at least I am not picky.

Japanese Conception #3: Americans are lazy/fat

Well the TV show explains the reason for them thinking that, as well as McDonalds, Coca Cola, and really sweet candy. Needless to say I am a bit smaller than what they were expecting (although I am not small by any means to them haha).

Japanese Conception #4: Americans drive their cars too much

I don't know where they got this conception from, but I can't say that it is wrong. I know people that will drive their car to their neighbors house.

That pretty much raps it up. Sorry if this was a bit of a mean post, but I can't say that my opinion was that much different when I was living in America anyways :)

Later.