Day 11
Today I road the bus also known as where strangers crotches can and, most likely will be in your face. I haven't had this much action, ever. Upon entering the bus I thought I saw some guy with an I-phone snap my photo. I was delighted to see that they actually had single seats facing away from the paparazzi. Other seats lined the sides or were in rows of two seats per row. I sat down. At the next stop a woman entered and sat in the single seat directly behind mine and proceded to have a coughing spell all over the back of my head. At the next stop a woman with a mechanical wheelchair got on with her poofy-haired friend. With the wheelchair securely parked the poofy woman sat in front of me, her poofed hair residing only inches from my face. I leaned back, the woman behind me coughed. I leaned forward and saw a part of the poofy-haired woman's scalp that hadn't been seen so up close since when her mother had to wash her daughter's hair as a baby. A few more stops went by and the poofy-haired woman and the wheelchaired woman conducted a loud conversation. They either had accents that were hard to read or they couldn't speak English properly; none of their words could be made out. This went on for quite sometime.
Somewhere along the way we picked up a young Asian woman who clung to the bar on my seat while standing 2 inches from me. I tried to scoot closer to the edge of the bus only to realize I had been leaning on the edge of the bus the entire time. The woman left, I sighed, and was finally able to stretch my neck to look to my right, after having to stare out the window. As strangers on the bus seemed to look at each other and not speak to each other, fearing I may break the no-speaking rule I thought it best to look outside. But, since she'd left, I turned to stretch and survey the occupants. I turned right into the crotch of a tallish man with a hard face and a puffed winter jacket who's stony glare was on the window. I clutched my bag and gave myself a bruise trying to squeeze into the edge of the bus.
The ladies got off. And, after what seemed like hours the puffed coat man exited. It was then I stood up, firm in the decision if their was crotch-in-face going on, I'd rather be the crotch. And, as I rose, the bus driver called out my stop.
Also today I was speaking to a girl from the American South. We spoke of many things. Eventually, talking about the education system in America and how we are so ethnocentric that we don't even know where other countries are located. Which led to things we did in school, which led to things we did outside of school, which led to Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, and church camp. And, from there, we got to talking about Evangelical churches, though neither of us had grown up Evangelical. It always seems to come up when I am speaking to an American here. Just the other day I spoke with a guy from the Pacific Northwest and we were talking about the Evangelical church. Both times that this conversation has occured this week the documentary "Jesus Camp" was brought up. And, both times me and my conversation partner would recite things that the Evangelical kids had said in the film. And, we'd nod at each other and say, "That is so fucked up." But, today was different, today a Canadian said, "Well, what are people doing about it."
Dumbstruck, we both tried to think of things to say, but eventually we realized that the documentary, to us, was the equivalent of a freakshow. Those people don't want to change, and we need to see people more fucked up than ourselves. The documentary, in the eyes of the Evangelical is a good thing as it shows their faith and they may think that their displays might influence others to turn to the church. I realize now that sometimes that's what it's like to be an American. And, maybe American's ethnocentrism is just like the Evangelical's faith. It's who we are and we don't want to change it and now we've become the world's freakshow. People all over the world are looking at what we say and do and thinking, "That's fucked up."
A prime example of this occured today when I was first invited by a Dutch person and a German person to watch an old episode of "Friends" and then later invited by a Canadian to see "Office Space." For Americans these shows are funny because we see ourselves or people we know in their characters. They display who we are and we don't want to change it. But, people all over the world are looking at what "The Americans" in these forms of entertainment do and say and maybe they are thinking, "Gee, that's so fucked up." The Evangelicals may be America's freakshow, but America may just be the world's freakshow.
-Canadian Castaway
No comments:
Post a Comment