There's pride in every American heart and it's time we stand and say that I'm proud to be an American

Ok so those are lyrics from the Lee Greenwood song - but in real life they are true for most Americans. They may disagree with things going on in the country and/or with the government, but they are still proud to call themselves Americans.

I'm finding more and more that this is not true of all countries around the globe. Australians have run into us many times and honestly asked why we are so gung-ho American and "Yay we're from America". We always tell them that we are proud to be an American and have no trouble telling others. We asked them aren't they "yay australia" when they are abroad - to which they responded no. There is really only the kind of nationalism that America finds common place here during major events like a national sporting event.

A common joke/ light insult to Americans here is to ask them what part of Canada they are from (knowing full well they are Americans). After being informed about this, we respond in an equally joking manner by eaching picking a different province of Canada and trying to do a terrible accent and playing it dead-pan. It really throws them off, before we jokingly tell them the truth.

We had meetings right when we got here about attitudes towards our home country. One thing they did say is that Australians strongly dislike the French, which was not good news to the group of French students that were sitting near us. Those students have tried hard to convince people who ask them that they are from Montreal - to varying success.

I noticed this in Europe in each of the countries, and the same applies here as well. People/ businesses do not fly the flag. The only time that you see an Australian flag is in a large public square or a government building. Even then, sometimes it is the state flag rather than the national flag. People have told us that they don't understand why we fly the flag at our homes and businesses, and why when they are in our country they see endless flags. I think one of the big problems that people have while trying to comprehend America and its citizens is their inability to understand that we can divorce the country from the government. America is our country, not our government, and not our government's country- in countries that I visit around the world this does not seem to be the case- and people who dislike America tend to make the mistake of lumping America and the United States Government as the same. Regardless of your political affliation, you would have to admit- as Americans they are not the same to us.

I guess I should end this section the same way Greenwood did- God Bless the USA

Anyways...

Tuesday-

Classes did start, and I did go to them. My first class, Living Human Rights, is actually taught by a professor who attended Notre Dame in South Bend. He is an American who moved down here and hasn't gone back. The class is going to be a lot about personal reflection and your own beliefs of which there is no wrong answer as long as you put some reasons behind everything. It seems interesting. It was my only class of the day, and the tutorial for it does not start until next week. There are quite a few Americans in the class with me as well, so we will be able to help eachother out.

We had another catered dinner- this time lasagna and home made potato wedges with corn on the cob. One thing that they do not have down here is Katchup. What they do have that is similar is "tomato sauce" (or sauce for short) that is not the same as what we call tomato sauce. It is not bad but not the same. What they do put on potatoes, however, is better than what we use. Unlike the vinegar that British influenced countries often use, they use a sweet chili sauce on french fries that is awesome! Much better than any fries I have ever had. They also use sour cream on french fries- also pretty good. We had salad with the meal, and here again is another difference between US food and Australian. Sure they have salad dressings that have the same names as ours. But none of them taste the same at all. Ranch here is white, but not that creamy and very very sweet. Italian, Thousand Island, balsamic, etc etc all taste nothing like their American counterparts. I'm not saying they taste bad, just different (although some are worse).

Now for the greatest Australian food product ever:

Solo Soda is awesome! I could drink this stuff non stop everyday. It is sorta like lemonade soda- but way better. It has some real lemon in it. They also make an equally good lime soda that is tremendous. They are great because they are not too sweet and actually taste like the fruit they are supposed to be flavored like. If anyone ever sees this stuff in the states let me know - I will have to stock up. (Coke makes a similar competitor product [though not as good] called Lift, but it is not produced in the states).

Runner up- TimTams. They are a delicious chocolate fudge cookie that is amazing. Anyone who has ever been to Australia knows TimTams and Solo. These need to be exported to the States ASAP.

Not a big Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday celebration here in Fremantle. Nothing really went on at all.

Wednesday I have lots of classes and will write to you about them to let you know how they seem.

Also, a quick housekeeping note- I changed the settings on this so that people who want to leave comments can do so without creating any accounts or logging in or signing up. Sorry that I did not do that before. I hope that this will encourage more people to leave comments and to ask me questions about anything in that manner.