我是美国人

As of two weeks ago, it’s been it’s been a year since I moved to China. From studying abroad in college, I was prepared for an important role I had to play as an expat: to talk about, if not take responsibility for, Americans and the stuff they do. 

The only time I find myself getting defensive, however, is during conversations about culture. I have no impulse to automatically defend the American political maneuverings of the last ten years. I usually nod along when people talk about Iraq as a mistake, or outwardly laugh at the “get your socialist hands off my medicare” crowd. At the same time, it takes a lot not to roll my eyes when I hear, “You can’t trust anything the American media says.”

Then, there’s the most annoying sentence, ever: Americans don’t have a culture.

This is when I get defensive. It’s nowhere near an exhaustive list, nor is it ordered in any particularly way, but I can’t help think of things that are great and culturally American. 

1. Road-trips. It could be to the neighboring city or clear across the country, but the open road has shaped the lives of more than a couple American icons and teenage summers. 

2. Thanksgiving. Just our excuse for bringing together people who love each other enough to publicly point out each others’ flaws. 

3. Halloween. I realized how special it was after I explained the holiday to my class of five-year olds. They were astounded adults could be duped into the practice (trust me, it’s nearly impossible to leave a kid speechless, but I did it). 

4. Neighborly strangers. I miss being stuck at an intersection because of a “No, you go... No, you go.... ” exchange with the car across from you; or, seeing people in line at the cash register pooling their change for a kid who came up short buying a soda; or, the woman driving you from the thrift store to your new apartment in North Park with the table she saw you unable to fit in your 99’ Civic. 

5. Garage sales. It’s where I got all my reading material in the early FOB days. 

Sure, it’s a hodgepodge of many cultural legacies, not-so-distant historical events and improvisation, but American culture isn’t bland. 


*BTW, the pic in the post is of the USA Pavilion at the Shanghai Int'l Expo.