i live on the Bluff in a city called Durban in South Africa :) i was born there and i been living there all 18 years of my life :) no we dont ride elephants or have wild animals roaming in the streets yes there are lions but they are kept on game farms :) and yes believe it or not when i went to america some idiot asked me if i knew what a cell phone is or if ive heard of facebook :(
No, we don't ride kangaroos, have BBQ's every day, or play with boomerangs.
But, we ARE the only ones (besides the US) who received Ty The Tasmanian Tiger 3!
@Mudge: That is sad that you experienced that, but stereotypes exist about most countries. For example, I did a service trip in Ghana and was constantly bombarded asking if I was rich or famous, if I would give people money, and my personal favorite, I was proposed to by at least 30 men, probably cause they want to come to America. I mean, my parents are fairly wealthy and I would love to consider myself famous...but of all the places I've traveled (been to South America, all over Europe, Africa, and about to go to Australia) I have yet to experience a single country where I was not instantly noticed/singled out for being American.
@Mudge
Oh, ethnic and national stereotypes. I've had my share of those. Well, almost. The people I've met who wanted to ask me some "things" always hesitate, and then just ask me where I'm from since they're not used to the idea of a dark-skinned Asian person. And then they complement me on my English and ask why my first language was... which is English.
Actually that last part, I can't really blame them for asking if they've heard my parents talk like that. I was just taught only English so that when I came to America, I wouldn't be inserting strange words while talking to my teachers. Happened to a few of my older cousins. It was pretty hilarious though.
I think it paid off. Since somehow, I have a slight Jersey accent (and keep in mind I'm also a dark-skinned Asian girl) when no one else in my extended family does. And I live in southern California.
Heee, had to jump in on the stereotypes thing for a bit of a funny story. I used to teach German and have been there many times, all over the place. Before all that, we had a German exchange student my junior year. At this point in my life, I lived in northern Indiana, close to the Michigan state line, where I grew up most of my life (nearly entire extended family still there). Within, oh gosh the first few days, our exchange student asked us where all the cowboys were and the ranches because she hadn't seen any yet. Turns out many (not all of course, like anything) Germans had the idea that most of the U.S. is sort of West Texas, at least in the late 1980s. We all were sort of blank and like, "Um, well, this is Indiana...we have um...corn! And basketball...no cowboys." (See how I threw that regional stereotype in there? :) Well...it's fairly true, though:) When I first moved out of state, I was surprised to discover that not every single household had a basketball hoop on the garage....
@JDtreble - and you host GenCon in your neck of the woods. Been trying to get there. Even had a corporate invite by a game publisher with room and everything. :( Damn car.
@JD, Chicago's not so bad! I'm here, Lillith is here, serfer0 is here, I *think* knitmeapony is here... and all you have to do to "get" an accent is go visit somewhere else! XD (There's also a sleepy little Glitches In Chicago group... *pokepoke*)
@FF, where are you now? I have friends who do GenCon... Indy's not as accessible from Chicago as one might think, though. =/
@Mudge, I thought everyone knew that lions are in Kenya! ;)
Owlet- holy cow, I crept your Facebook (Sorry, I'm not a stalker I promise! :D) and you live like, 30 minutes from me! :D I graduated from DAR. I'm happy someone lives near me! :)
@JDtreble: I freakin' LOVE Chicago. Grew up about 2 hours away. How on earth can you think it's boring? The museums, the PIZZA (oh, laws, the pizza, please send me some via teleport, okay?), the shopping, the waterfront... I really miss being near Chicago.