"Never before have so many written so much to be read by so few."

I will write about anything that disturbs me, concerns me, scares me, puzzles me or makes me laugh. I hope to be able to educate regularly, and entertain most of the time.

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Monday, September 22, 2014

The Difference Between U.S. and Europe


 I’m in something of a quandry.  I would love to share some of the experiences I had while on our month-long trip to Albania and Italy, but I do not wish to bore people to the point they will not read past the first couple of lines.  How do I convey my thoughts, feelings and impressions without becoming a travelogue?  I have decided to break up the 28 days we were gone into topical lessons learned, avoiding the deadly dullness of the chronological travelogue motif.

I have observed over the years that European countries share some commonalities that set them apart from our American society.  Traveling in Europe is at the same time familiar and foreign.  Traffic signs, for instance, tend to be understandable to most Americans, the exception being all those squiggly lines the Brits paint on their roads.  Even the word “Stop” on the recognizable red hexagon sign appears in some countries where English is not the official language.  But it is the differences I would like to explore in this post.

I have decided that all countries (sometimes cities within the countries) can be divided into two main catagories: used-toilet-paper-in-the-toilet countries, and used-toilet-paper-in-the-trash countries.  Ewww! I hear you through the digital expanse as you ponder this.  If you want to travel outside the U.S., you will need to learn how to handle this.  We spent one night in Thessaloniki, Greece.  It was a nice hotel with all the modern conveniences one would expect.  The room and furnishings were very nice, the included breakfast was superb, but the toilet paper had to go in the little trash can.  It is not their fault.  Their plumbing would, no doubt, handle the extra load, but the old city system will not.  This is the only Greek city I have been in, so I do not know how the rest of the country ranks in this area.  Albania, our next stop, is pretty much exclusively a toilet-paper-in-the-trash country.  They also are a trash-anyplace-you-feel-like-throwing-it country, except in the better neighborhoods where everyone takes pride in keeping “their” portion of sidewalk and street cleaned and swept.

Traffic procedures and expectations is another area of difference
for which traveling Americans must adjust.  In the U.S., the pedestrian is sacrosanct (with the exception of a few places like New York City).  Not so in most of Europe.  In Albania, one must grab the hands of any little ones in his charge, look both ways, estimate the approximate arrival time of the closest vehicle headed his direction, and stop off the curb at his own risk.  If a person is walking down a narrow cobblestone street with no sidewalk available and a car approaches, he must move to the side as far as possible.  If that move is not made quickly enough, he will be encouraged by the blast of the car’s horn.  There are, interestingly enough, signs indicating the presence of crosswalks, though they seem to carry about the same amount of meaning as stop signs, which is no meaning at all.  Pretty much the same attitude exists in Italy, though I noticed bus drivers stopped for pedestrians waiting at a crosswalk. In the U.K., of course, one must learn to look to the right for approaching traffic, and that’s not as easy as it sounds.  Ingrained habits are difficult to modify.

Let me put in a good word for a traffic pattern device many Americans would likely resist, mostly out of ignorance.  The traffic circle, or roundabout, is common in Europe and I have grown to love them.  They likely were introduced as a means of handling multiple roads meeting at one intersection.  Most American roads are on a grid pattern, a situation easily handled by our current stop sign or traffic light system.  The huge advantage to the roundabout is that no vehicles have to stop and wait for a light to change, even when there is no other traffic for miles.  The roundabout does require some courtesy, which may immediately rule out any chance of them being successful in the U.S., but along with a small dose of patience the roundabout is a great way to keep traffic moving.

The last difference I would like to address is eating.  We found it interesting that in the 28 days we were gone to Greece, Albania, Italy, and England, the only sign of childhood obesity we observed was at the McDonald’s restaurant in Tuscany.  In Greece and Albania there is a steady diet of fresh vegetables, especially tomatoes (I don’t want to hear about how they are fruit), fruit, non-processed meats, and fresh breads.  Italy, of course, offers plenty of pasta choices, and pizza at every turn.  Diners in all three countries love taking advantage of the warm summer weather to eat outside every chance they get.  Any restaurant with access to even a few feet of outside space places a table and some chairs there.  For some reason, there are very few problems with bugs or bees.  It’s a dining experience I much prefer over the normal, noisy inside seating.

In my most recent post, I described the conditions of a portion of Albania’s population who are misused, abused, neglected and often despised.  First-hand experience is the only way I would have ever been emotionally connected to what I already knew intellectually.   Nobody can truly appreciate what other people experience without first-hand observation.  I always encourage people to make travel a priority.  Call it a vacation, a holiday, a mission trip, or visiting friends, just go.  Stumble through the learning of a few foreign words, feel awkward in a room where you are the only one who doesn’t speak the language, be humbled by the independence and tenacity necessary for everyday life in a country that has not been taken over by a nanny state.  Save your money.  Take a trip.  Don’t stay at the Hilton or even the Best Western.  Ride a bus, take a train, board a ferry, rent a car, walk.  Experience another part of the world.  You’ll return with a much greater appreciation for others and their circumstances.  Can’t afford overseas travel?  Ride a Greyhound bus to L.A.  Sit on the bench with everyone else waiting for the bus.  Strike up a conversation with the folks across the aisle.  Examine your feelings as you stand in that bus station in L.A.  Just step out of your comfort zone and learn something.


Next time: What I learned from all those old buildings.

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