Fatalnie. That’s what my Polish teacher, Pani Paulina, was forced to exclaim when she heard the changes that have come over my family since we came to Poland. After all, she knows what Americans are like – everyone does. Americans drive around in big SUVs and eat at KFC or McDonald’s. Americans watch a lot of television, buy their goods at Walmart or over the internet through Amazon.com. Americans are constantly on-line. Amusing when you compare this capitalist habit to the “lines” of the former Eastern bloc: Poles and Soviets used to be “on line” constantly too, but for entirely different reasons. On line for hours to use sugar ration coupons in the late 1980s in Moscow, or on line for seven or more years at a time to receive an apartment or a car in the 1970s. But “on-line” in the 21 st century means that Americans are toggling between devices: iPods and iPads and MacBooks and Kindle Fires, listening to music through earbuds or noise-reducing headphones;...
A blog about travel and staying put, reading and writing, food and food for thought.