Strange folk, those Americans (6)

[photo via Kami's Flickr photostream]

I had promised to tell you more about meeting up with Kami Huyse the other week. Actually, I'm glad she has already done the bigger part of that job. Saves me some time to cut to the chase, the political chase, that is.

Like Kami also mentioned, we talked, amongst other things, about politics, both in the US and in Europe. And what struck me the most is the fact that there is apparently a huge gap between what we think we know about each other's situation and reality. Especially on my behalf - after all, Kami's husband is Belgian so I am sure she probably has the advantage of a "bicultural" family.

Anyway: my idea of the US being a relatively monolithic block (the Easy Rider feeling: you can ride/drive from the East to the West coast and still eat the same burgers, speak the same language, stay in the same kind of motels,...) has changed more than I had expected. I knew, of course, that the US is a bunch of States united into a larger union, but that the differences between the different units were that big, did come as a surprise. A comparison which touched base as far as I was concerned, was that Texas was a bit like France: since they are bigger than their neighbours, they tend to consider themselves as more important too. On the other hand: I have always suspected George Dubya to have Napoleon-like traits.

Anyway: our conversation was too long and interesting to sum up in a blog post, so I'll just be antisocial with this social medium and keep the rest of our conversation to ourselves. Which reminds me: we also had some interesting discussions about Second Life and about the potential reach of social media. As you might know, I am a bit of a sceptic. And the news that 1/5 of the Belgian population has never even been online, which also got picked up by Philippe Borremans, does not make me any less...

Fortunately, there are still Belgians (even when living in Finland), like Piet, who have discovered social media and who are using them really well. I couldn't resist borrowing this little piece of footage from his blog; after all, it is completely in the spirit of this post:

And while we're at it - just one for the road:

Comments

[Sidney]

Kami is a gorgeous woman and I understand very well you couldn't stop talking... ;-)

[Serge]

Kami, if you're reading this: I can not be held responsible for comments (especially those coming from Sidney) made on this blog... :-D

[Kami Huyse]

I am reading it, and I guess I can't be too upset that someone thinks I am gorgeous. I guess we should let him know that my husband was taking the pics ;-)