"Is this a... What day is this?"As I was saying some days ago, my day trip in Amsterdam is only half the story. After I'd come back to Earth for a bit, a bunch of hostel rats convened for yet another a pub crawl (as they tend to do). As the only American present, I felt obligated to represent the stars and stripes, so I reluctantly tagged along.
I'm convinced that if there's anything that will compel roving Aussies to assemble, it's a pub crawl. I'm not sure if they teach mandatory pub crawl attendance in grade school or if there's just something about crawling and drinking that innately appeals to Australians, but either way, they always turn out in spades.
This can be an annoying thing for a non-Australian, since there's nothing like beer and numbers to convince an Australian that s/he is the shiz (despite being descended from convicts and prostitutes). It was as a result of such circumstances that I had my first genuine anti-American encounter.
Of the laundry list of things for foreigners to hate about America, one Sarah Palin has recently skyrocketed to the top of the list. To anyone not living on a farm in Middle America, the woman is seen as the quintessence of everything ridiculous about American politics.
Now I don't mean to get all political (Rock Us, Dukakis!), but I have to say I agree with them. The fact that a short-term governor of one of the least populated (and least contiguous) states in the Union - a woman whose international experience consists of egging on a mad Russki for a Cold War reprise, a woman who believes that dinosaurs and humans once lived side-by-side - wasn't immediately laughed off the political stage is something of an embarrassment.
Historically accurate.This is an opinion I'd be happy to share with anyone willing to listen. But nobody wants to hear that shit from an American when they can just as easily bark it right back and receive a few high-fives in the process. So, yeah, if you're into Sarah Palin, don't go to Europe. Or Australia. Or anywhere in Russia, for that matter.
But I digress. The pub crawl was decent enough, and I got sufficiently wasted on Heineken and sugary vodka, but I think it will be my last for a while. I had way more fun rock-star-smashing this TV I found on the way home.
"Let's see if anything's on the tube..."
"Scrubs again? Rawwrrr!!!"It didn't get me signed, but it sure impressed the hell out of a couple of Canadians.
Confirmed stereotypes:
- American politics are a joke.
- Aussies like drinking (reconfirmed).
- Canadians are extremely passive.
- The Dutch love wooden shoes.
"Do you have this in a 9?"
"Do you have this in a 9?"###
