ethnic oddities 4 T

[Sapphire]

Hey Saph - I love Michigan. I grew up 3 miles from the Indiana /Michigan line near South Bend. Spent many vacations and day trips to Lake Michigan (Tower Hill), skiied all over, visited friends who went to universities up there. My two best friends live on small lakes in southern Michigan and I love visiting them every summer. My favorite memories of my youth in Michigan are canoeing on the St. Joseph River from Buchanan to Lake Michigan and camping half way with a bunch of friends.

I didn't mean to belittle Frankenmuth, I had a great time there and enjoyed seeing where my friend grew up. I guess I was just surprised to see that someone else had been there.

? Where in MI are you?

I think I did a very bad job of conveying the teasing tone and "tongue-in-cheek" nature I intended in my post - I'm not actually offended by anything said about Frankenmuth! (Or Michigan, for that matter!) I'm sorry I wasn't more clear with my intentions!
As for where I am - Livonia.

lol!
i'm tellin ya 4° in may! what's it like in january?

Easily -17 (celsius) or lower depending on what part of the state you are in! Especially in the Upper Penninsula - where b*ll*ck warmers (long underwear!) are considered a fashion statement. LOL

why not? it's begging for it

Ain't that the truth?

hmmm, that's a matter of opinion, or was i just there on a bad day? anyway, what's with all this chicken dinner stuff? bavarians eat sausage not chicken, preferably something disgusting called 'weisswurst', i guess they hit on the chicken idea to appeal to people of all races and religions, but authentic it ain't.
and another thing, why is it that tourist spot equals shopping mall?

No, you weren't there on a bad day. Unfortunately. America is not known for having tasty food (despite our beliefs to the contrary) - that's why "ethnic" restaurants are so popular here. We poke fun at the English for their "dry, tasteless sandwiches" and don't seem to comprehend that all the best foods and restaurants we have in America actually represent foods from other countries and cultures. We're also arrogant enough to assume that the "chinese food" or "french food" or whatever we get at the local restaurant owned by 4th generation Americans actually resembles, in any way, the food you would eat IN China, France, etc.

Americans as a whole are exceptionally ethnocentric with narrow world-views, myself included. I have my favorite local Chinese restaurant - but I at least know from experience that all the dishes I like best there have very little resemblance to food I've consumed while IN China. Probably the only food I've eaten in American that really resembles true "local" dishes in other countries has either been consumed while visiting a friends' house - or at a small handful of Middle Eastern restaurants here in Michigan, owned and operated by families from Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi, etc. They are few and far between, sadly - we have a propensity for "americanizing" everything we touch - particularly in places like Frankenmuth.

huh? only? in two hours i could be at the baltic sea or in the middle of poland, but i'd never dream of going on such a long and arduous journey. especially not on a sunday morning, and especially not if the destination was a place like frankenmuth!

Cultural difference - a 2 hour drive here isn't considered a "long and arduous journey." Remember - land of excess, home of the enviromentally unconscious.

Most here don't consider a 2 hour drive to be particularly daunting. Not having to pass a border crossing between states causes a shift in our perceptions from the rest of the world. I live about 30 minutes from the Canadian border - my husband and I go to Canada almost weekly. Toronto is a regular weekend destination. We don't think twice about crossing the international border between Detroit and Windsor - it's a matter of course. However, the majority of my friends outside of Michigan consider it to be a HUGE deal. "Wow, you're going to a foreign country!" Perception is everything.

If I could be at the Baltic Sea in 2 hours - that's where I'd go. My alternative is the Great Lakes - I can be at Lake Superior (largest lake on the planet) in about 7 hours. Lake Michigan in about 4. These are a weekend getaway.

Lake Huron in 2 1/2 hours, Lake Erie in about an hour and Lake Ontario in about 3. These are day trips.

Keep in mind - the Great Lakes cover 95,000 square miles of surface area. Few realize just how enormous these 5 lakes are. Lakes Superior, Huron and Michigan are considerably larger than a number of states AND countries. Between the 5 lakes, you have a surface area larger than New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island combined.

Another difference - remember that a good number of states in America are actually larger than entire countries. Since we don't have border crossings between our states, there is a lot of interaction between them. While you might plan an entire weekend just to travel to another town 50 miles from you, thousands of Americans commute that far each and every day just to go to work. Thousands more work "across state lines" on a daily basis. One of my good friends lives in Indiana - if she crosses her street, she is in Ohio.

150 miles for a "day trip" is not that unusual here.

think again. if you say you are from detroit in berlin or london you will be greeted as if you come from the coolest place on earth (i know, i know), but the fact is that many people think it must be fabulous because so much great music comes from there, especially because it was the birthplace of techno. michigan is just another state.

I want to get to know the people you know. LOL We've had people move away from us on the tube when they've heard us say we're from Detroit. Granted, that was several years ago.

However, I have noticed that if we say we're from "Michigan," we'll get a few blank looks. Say "Detroit," and people always know where we're talking about. It's either the music - or the cars. LOL

i think 'incredibly beautiful' is stretching it. how would you describe nepal or kenya then? the sand dune place is kind of nice and err, well, it's ok, you know. i went to macinaw island one may and froze my b*ll*cks off. how do people live there?

How would I describe Nepal or Kenya?

"Heaven on earth."

I suppose it depends on what one finds beautiful. I found this on the net -
Porcupine Mountain in Upper Michigan -



To me, this is incredibly beautiful - minus the strange guy wearing the odd boots. LOL

Michigan has waterfalls, sand dunes, the lakes, "mountains" like the Porkies (only in American would we call a bunch of hills "mountains," and then slap a nickname on them like "The Porkies." ), and thousands of square miles of untouched forests. Personally, I kind of like the fact that most of the rest of the world doesn't know the beauty that can be found here - I don't want my state to become a tourist trap. Given the chance, many would put up a gift shop where that man is standing in the picture, selling postcards with images of that gorgeous vista - the images taken BEFORE the view was spoiled by yet another shopping mall, of course.

I like it just the way it is.