Okay, not really – but I have gotten Sam and Dom into watching baseball. Dom seems to actually be getting into it – while Sam seems to be enjoying hanging out with us and rooting for the other team. The three of us sit and watch it on my laptop, drinking beer, and as always, teasing each other unmercifully. Last night after Dom got some good zing in on Sam, Sam put on my catchers mask and announced “THIS IS NOT ONLY A PHYSICAL BARRIER BUT MY EMOTIONAL PROTECTION SHEILD!”
At this point, Dom smacked him across the front of the mask with my fielding glove. Sam kind of yelped and then said “BUT AT LEAST YOU DIDN’T HURT MY FEELINGS!”
Pictures of this whole ordeal are currently uploading…
I do feel I’ve done my part in sharing culture with the Brits though. Dom gave me rugby – I gave them baseball. And, conveniently, because neither country shows the other ones sports – I’ll probably never get to watch another rugby game again after I go home, and unless Dom buys the MLB.TV subscription, he’ll never see baseball again. Yay for media rights monopolies.
One of the most astonishing things I have learned since being over here is how little American History we actually learn in American schools. My mother can recited all of the American presidents Washington-Truman! (Truman was president when she learned this neat trick.) I’ve always thought of this as some cute oddity that only she could do. BUT ALL OF THE BRITS CAN DO IT TOO!!! What the hell!?!?
I’ve also realized I never learned anything about World War II, or WWI for that matter. My AP History class in high school started with Pearl Harbor and ended with the US single handedly defeating the Nazi’s, saving the Jews and then going headlong into fighting communism. Regan said his “Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall” bit and there again, we single handedly defeated communism while the rest of the world cowered in our greatness.
I realize now how stupid this all is, but, when the American education system teaches you that, and nothing but that, you never have any reason to object. Seriously, from the time when they taught us that ‘the Indians were our friends and then they all decided to move to Canada,’ to ‘World War II was a war between the US and The Nazis… we’ve had not a moment of intervention where someone said ‘by the way, everything you have learned is bullshit.’
Granted, part of this “OMFG” is because Sam is an American History major. I know he’s going to know more about the history simply because of that, but it’s more that I’m amazed at how much they actually teach us in school is just blatantly wrong.
For the record, people in Europe give absolutely no credit to the US for the Berlin Wall falling. When we were in Berlin, and went on a “The History of Berlin” tour (Which was great, by the way) neither the US or Regan were mentioned once… oh, and apparently WWII was not a war between the US and the Nazi’s exclusively. (Okay… I already knew that, but I knew that because of what my parents and grandparents taught me – NOT because of what school did.)
Conclusion: my cultural awareness continues to expand. Horray!
I believe that’s all the story I have for now. I’ve got a lot of homework to do today, as we are hosting a baseball tournament against a bunch of different universities this weekend, including Oxford. Stories about that and our past few practices to come!
Thanks for reading!
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