Somebody's Watching Me

Living in a relatively small town in the states, one gets used to the idea of people watching. Not creepy-peeping-stalker watching, but it seems like whether it's Friday dinner with the girls, where you walked your dog, the question of who you went on a date with last or if you appeared at the community council meeting on Thursday afternoon or if you went out on Saturday night, someone always knows the answer.

Here, it's similar, in a way. It took about 5 seconds for the neighbors to realize that there were Americans moving in and you get the idea that the barber, the shopkeeper, the parents of the kids who play in the sand and dirt outside our apartment building are always keeping one eye out to see what we're up to.

But I've started to realize that they aren't just watching us to see what we'll do, they're watching us to see if we'll do what they expect us to do. And all of their expectations are based on the trashy TV that is licensed here. We're just a newly-moved-in cast of some horrible series. They must be waiting for us to start conducting illicit affairs out in the open and then kill each other over hidden stashes of money, and maybe kidnap their children for some nefarious purpose.

According to the media's information - a selection straight from the worst of Hollywood flicks and TV - Americans are sex-obsessed, crime-ridden, money-grubbing, foul-mouthed, irreligious degenerates. Pair that with the news, and you can add war-mongering fiends with irresponsible foreign policy to the staggering list.

We have several friends here, people who have been exposed to us and other foreigners, who don't buy into the stereotypes, but there are a lot of people we meet and with whom we're combating the image from day one. It's a tough place to be. And it certainly makes me think about what I'm doing and saying...does it back the type or crush it?