I loved this passage I read in "The Virgin Blue" this weekend. It made me laugh so hard because it perfectly described how I often feel as an American here in Australia.
"In fact French women in this city were so different from me that I often felt invisible around them, a dishevelled ghost standing aside to let them pass. Women strolling around in Toulouse wore tailored blazers and jeans and understated chunks of gold at their ears and throats. Their shoes always had heels. Their haircuts were neat, expensive, their eyebrows plucked smooth, their skin clear... As I walked around I could feel them glancing at me discreetly, scrutinizing the shoulder-length hair I'd left a little too long in cutting, the abscence of makeup, the persistently wrinkled linen, the flat chunky sandals I'd thought so fashionable in San Francisco. I was sure I saw pity flash over their faces.
Do they know I'm American? I thought. Is it that obvious?
It was; I myself could spot the middle-aged American couple ahead of me a mile off just from what they were wearing and the way they stood. They were looking at a display of chocolate and as I passed were discussing whether or not to return the next day and buy some to take home with them.
'Won't it melt on the plane?' the woman asked. She had wide, low-slung hips and wore a loose pastel blouse and pants and running shoes. She stood with her legs wide apart, knees locked.
'Naw, honey, it's cold 35,000 feet up. It's not gonna melt, but it might get squished. Maybe there's something else in this town we can take home.' He carried a substantial gut, emphasized by the belt bisecting it and hugging it. He wasn't wearing a baseball cap but he might as well have been. Probably left it at the hotel.
They looked up and smiled brightly, a wistful hope shining in their faces. Their openness pained me; I quickly turned down a side street. Behind me I heard the man say, 'Excuse me miss, sea-view-play.' I didn't turn around. I felt like a kid who's embarrassed by their parents in front of her friends."
5 comments:
I like the quote you read about Americans. I'm sure you don't stand out in the same way, though. The couple in the book sounded loud and obnoxious...which is how most Americans are, truthfully. Besides the difference of skin color, couldn't you always tell the Americans apart from the Europeans when we were in Thailand?
Rob, I enjoyed imagining you laugh out loud while reading that. It was so funny I could picture them in my head. That could well be a SNL routine, eh?
this is very funny. I can imagine why you laughed so much especially since now your in that situation. I don't know what it is but it's the same thing here. I feel like I can spot a foreigner even a utah foreigner. why is that?
Robyn,my email hasn't been working for a month now. I don't know what is wrong and Rich doesn't make time to fix it. I just wanted to let you know why you haven't heard from me in a really, really long. Hopefully, we'll figure it out soon. I am so excited for you to come back to the US!!! Will you please schedule ONE (or more)days that we can scrapbook together like old times?
I loved that part of the book too! So true, so true. You can always spot the Americans, and I quite often feel embarrassed for them. And myself.
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