They've started to post the resumes for the French kids coming here this summer. One sounds pretty good to me, except for one phrase -- she says that she likes to play multiple sports, and likes to "make party" -- which I assume is her attempt to say "likes to party". It makes us think really? Because there likely won't be any of that here - could that be a problem? I would bet she has no idea that what she says could be interpreted that way.
I'm reading a book on French culture and customs now. So far, of the things that the French don't understand and/or don't like about Americans, I've done three of them. Um... On the other hand, it says that - at least in big cities - it's unusual to be invited to a French person's home. I don't know this, but I get the impression from other things that I read that it isn't all that unusual -- and even less so in the country. So maybe I'm not quite the Ugly American yet.
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Certainly -- after all, he was the American.
But I think our image of our place in the world has changed somewhat since then. I remember working with a guy then who said that he wanted our country to be so incredibly strong that he could go to any country, walk down alleys at 2AM, and half-drunk muggers would not touch him for fear of retribution. I suppose there's something to that view, but I don't think that it'd be much fun to be on the receiving end.
Read an article last night where the fellow said, essentially, that tolerance of others only goes so far. If you stand for everything, you stand for nothing. I think that's a simplistic view. Then again, there are days when a simplistic view suits me.
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