Two Frequent Questions About the U.S.

During my 35 years as an American expat living in Indonesia, I’ve been asked a lot of questions about the U.S. Some of the questions were normal –

• What it’s like to experience snow?

• Do U.S. cities experience bad traffic jams like big Indonesian cities?

• What happens to old people if they don’t live with their children in an extended family?

• Could they find rice in the United States?

There have been lots of other questions. That’s normal. Most of the questions came during the time I taught English to Indonesians who were planning to attend college in the U.S. They were excited about the adventure that they were getting ready to embark on and wanted to know as much as possible before leaving Indonesia.

Just like people all over the world, Indonesians had often gotten unusual ideas about the U.S. from movies they watched, and they wanted to know what was true and what wasn’t.

The interesting thing is that there were two questions that were asked most often during all my years in Indonesia.

These questions centered on things Indonesians had seen in American movies and just couldn’t believe.

The first question – Do people really drink water straight from the water faucet without boiling?

The second question – Do Americans really wear their shoes inside the house?

Certainly, we Americans take it for granted that we have potable water straight from the tap (although there have been some places where that wasn’t true recently). Much of the world’s population doesn’t have that luxury.

And as far as wearing shoes inside the house, I know a lot of Americans who have lately started asking people to take their shoes off at the door, but I don’t think that’s become commonplace yet.

Check out some of my other posts -

Vietnamese Salt – the Best?

Dogs Gone Wild

Riding in a Becak in the Rain

Surf Hounds – a New Breed

What Kind of Freedom Do You Want?