Levend Engels

GETTING TO KNOW THE USA

It’s the 15th of November 2008, half past twelve. It’s cold and we’re eating our lunches while we’re waiting for the tram to arrive. Finally, there it is! We’re heading for the Lessius Hogeschool in Antwerp (as all the fifth-year students of our school are). After a 10-minute walk from the Groenplaats we get there. We are among the first to arrive. After a short wait we can enter the building and 5 minutes later we’re settled in a big auditorium on the first floor to get to know the USA. Will it provide us with a new view on the USA? We’ll soon find out …

In the auditorium there was a lot of noise. Everybody was excited as we didn’t know what to expect. Then a woman entered. Was SHE the teacher?! She looked like a student! The buzzing grew even louder than before, but she silenced us rather quickly with a firm: “Quiet, please!” She introduced herself as Ms O’Connor and she explained she  came all the way from the Northeast of America. She was exactly how I imagined the “standard” American woman; she was like in the soaps (she even had an accent).

First she tested our knowledge of American history (Benjamin Franklin, Martin Luther King Jr., 9/11, …). Then she talked about all the stereotypes and prejudices about Americans, after which some insensitive brute yelled “They’re fat!” through the room. Some students were amused, I wasn’t. Fortunately she wasn’t offended. She even told us that in America they make fun of their own differences and stereotypes. Next we started with the geography of America. She told us about the four different parts of America and all the customs and traditions of each part. It was really interesting. At first I had a lot of mistaken ideas about America but I was mainly “mislaid” by the current state of things there (president Bush, the wars, …). After all they did manage to do some pretty good things with their country.
We were at the end of the first part of her presentation. After a 5-minute break she started with part number two.
The second part was more fun for me. The theme was: ‘American Traditions’. On my top 10 list things I like, foreign traditions are on number five or so. She talked about Halloween and how it had become the feast as we know it today. I  already knew quite a lot of Samhain, All Hallow’s Eve, … and trick or treating but I never realised how much the original feasts had fused and changed throughout the years. It’s amazing what Christian religion and a lot of fantasy can do with feasts that were originally Samhain, Samhna, Samon, … Secondly she told us about Thanksgiving and everything that comes along with it. I thought it was something like New year’s eve but it was very different. For example: the feast lasts 3 days, there’s traditional food, there are parades, … and it’s very religious. The Indian population of America doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving. Instead they celebrate the Day of mourning but it all falls back on the same principles, being together with your family, friends and loved ones.

America is just a melting pot of all the different people and cultures in the world. I learned a lot from this presentation and enjoyed it very much. I hope events like these will be repeated in the future.
Eric Valck (5HUMb)

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