What 12-year old Danes think of Americans

This is the story I have been waiting to blog about for almost 3 weeks but I kept forgetting to do it because I have been doing so many other things also. Finally, it is time.  Be prepared, it's pretty amusing.

A few weeks ago Andreas asked me if I'd like to visit his school for one of their English classes.  Heck yes I wanted to! I was excited to meet his teacher and see all of his classmates again, whom I had met and danced with at Andreas's fødselsdagsfest (birthday party).  So Monday morning a few weeks ago, before I had to go to the city for my Danish presentation, I followed Rebecca to school on our bikes and I met Andreas there.  He took me to his classroom and they took attendance and then the teacher (who apparently was a sub since Andreas's actual teacher was sick) asked Andreas something and he asked me if it'd be all right for them to just ask me some questions about being an American in Denmark.  Of course! (I kind of love to talk about myself).  I hopped up to the front of the room, sat down on a stool, introduced myself since just a few of them didn't already know me from the party and then I waited for their questions.  Once the questions started they did not stop until the whole English classtime was over.  I think I will just try to recreate the best of the the hour-long session of "question and answer with Rachel". 


Also, I will finally make use of the awesome color and font effects that I have here but never think to use.  
Girl Dane
Boy Dane (I don't remember exactly who asked each and every one of the questions, but some of them I do remember specifically...and you might see why) 
Me


Where are you from in America?
I'm from the middle. From Iowa.  It looks a little like Denmark because it is flat and brown in the winter and green in the summer.  


What is your favorite thing in Denmark?
Well I think my host family is my favorite thing:  Rebecca, Andreas, Karina and Jesper (and Tiger).  I also really love the pastries and being able to bike to the city because it only takes 45 minutes. 

What is your favorite type of wienerbrød? (danish pastry)
Um....snegel (mostly because that is the easiest to pronounce)

What is your favorite food? 
Cabbage (but they didn't believe that answer so I had to say:) ok I really love chicken with pasta and pesto. And of course I love pizza. (that answer got approval from all of them)

What is different between living in America and living in Denmark?
Oh, a lot of things.  Here it is nice that I can go to the city every day and I can either ride my bike there or take public transportation.  The public transportation here is amazing!  We don't have that in Iowa.  I always have to drive if I want to go to a city.  It is nice that I can go shopping whenever I go into the city.


Do you like to shop?
Yes.  Maybe a little too much, haha.  


What is your favorite store in Denmark?
Oh, I don't know.  Maybe H & M.  I also like Vera Moda and the department store Illum. 


Do you miss your home?
Yes, I definitely do miss my family, and my cat.  But I really like living with Andreas and his family so I am very happy to be here. 


Do you play World of Warcraft?
No.
Why not?!?!
Um...I just don't really like to play them and I am too busy doing other things, I don't have time to play.  One of my friends plays and he tried to teach me one time and I didn't really like it. 


A little while later in the questions...
What is your friend's name on World of Warcraft?
I'm not sure what his WOW name is but his real name is David.
(the Danish boy then looked very pleased with himself) Oh! I think I know him!!
haha

What do you think of the rules in Denmark? In America you can drive when you are 16 and drink when you are 21. In Denmark you can't drive until you are 18 but you can drink when you are 16.
Well, it was good that I could drive when I was 16 because I had to get to school by myself.  I guess I didn't mind waiting until I was 21 to drink but I think it would be okay to have the legal age be a little younger.


Are you glad you can drink now?  (this was asked by Andreas)
Well yes I do like drinking wine with your mom and dad sometimes at dinner. 


But, Rachel, have you ever drank so much that you got sick? (also asked by Andreas)
UHHHH (picture me turning bright red here) well....um.....uhhh...(i am a terrible liar) yes, one time I did. I drank too much of this very sugary drink and then I danced a lot and it just made me sick.  It's a bad idea...don't do it! (I tried to save it, not sure how good of a job I did)

Thanks for that one, Andreas ;)

Can you speak Danish?
Not very well, I am afraid. I know a little but I wish I could speak it better. It is a hard language.


What can you say in Danish?
(Again, picture me getting red...but I tried my best) Jeg kommer fra USA.  Jeg hedder Rachel. Jeg bor i Bagsvaerd med Andreas, Rebecca, Karina og Jesper.  Jeg er enogtuve.  (and that was about all I could think of on the spot, but the kids seemed pleased with my feeble attempts)

Can you say rød grød med flode? (and all the kids giggled and anxiously awaited my response because that is one of the most difficult things to pronounce)
rud grud meh fleewde (thats about what it sounded like as I tried to push the words out of my mouth, haha)
(Just so you know, that is a typical Danish desert of red berries with whipped cream)

Do you have a boyfriend?
Nope.
Have you never had a boyfriend?  (the following questions are from Andreas)
I have had a few boyfriends. I just don't have one right now.
Do you wish you had a boyfriend?
Not really.  There are too many fun things to do in Copenhagen to worry about having a boyfriend. 
But Rachel, do you ever get lonely? 
Um...(red again) well, Andreas, I guess so. Just a little sometimes. 
And will you have a boyfriend when you get back to the states?
Well, I don't know.  I guess that will depend on if I meet a boy I like or not. 


So now the 5th grade class at Andreas's school knows more about my personal life than my own parents (except now they know too since I'm sure they are reading this ;)  hehe

And now for the even more interesting questions:


How many people have you shot?
(insert super shocked and confused Rachel face)...wait, what?!?
How many people have you shot?
None!
Yes, you have. I can see if on your face. 
Nope, I really haven't. I do know how to shoot a gun but I have only shot clay pigeons (then one boy had to explain in danish what clay pigeons are).  I promise, I've never shot a person.  Is that what you think of Americans?
Well, yeah. In America it is so easy to get a gun, not like in Denmark, so we think you go around shooting each other all the time.
Ok, that is not exactly true. We don't even have a gun in our house. I only know how to shoot because we have a hunting farm.  
I think you guys watch too much American tv and play too many videos games. 


Did you know that America shot Osama?
Yes, I did. I woke up this morning to some facebook statuses about Osama bin Laden being killed.  I am surprised you know. 
It was on the Danish news this morning.  Are you glad he is dead?
Well, I think some people are relieved because they think nothing else will happen to America now, but I still think it sad that we had to kill a person.
Are you scared to fly back to America now?
No. 
But some terrorists have said that if America kills Osama, they will take revenge?
Oh....well, um, I wasn't scared.  But now I might be. 
They have said they will set off the A-bomb.  What do you think of the A-bomb?
Ummm...that is a rather political question.  I think any kind of bomb that could harm innocent people is a bad thing.  (how do you even begin to answer a question like that??)

Do you like Obama?
Yes, I do. I think he is doing about as good of a job as he can.  I think a lot of Americans expected too much of him and now they are upset.  


These kids sure know a lot about the world.
Apparently I do not because the next question was...

Do you like Lars Lokke Rasmussen?
ummmm....who?
Lars Lokke Rasmussen?
uhhhh....well...hmmm... (finally the teacher came to my rescue: He is the president (prime minister) of Denmark.)
Ooooooh! (who looks like a big idiot now? Definitely me)
Well, I don't actually know Danish politics very well (surprise surprise, ignorant American) but from what I can tell it would be good if Denmark gets a new prime minister soon.  

Thankfully they weren't too offended that I was clueless and the girl agreed
I don't like him. We should get a new one soon.


How does it feel to go to a country and everyone just speaks your language? You don't really have to do anything because they all know how to talk to you.
Well, it makes me feel really bad.  I wish that I could speak your language, I really do.  I feel lazy and kind of ignorant (then the teacher explained in Danish what ignorant means) because you guys are so good at english and english is the only language I can speak.  
Then we had a small discussion about how Danish children watch a lot of American tv and listen to a TON of American pop music.  One of the girls has been listening to American music since she was born and that is how she learned most of her english.  Fascinating.  I guess I better start watching Danish tv comedies.

They also asked me a lot of other simple What is your favorite....color? place? thing to do? sport? candy? ect ect, but I think I covered the most interesting ones already.  Those 12-year olds really know a lot more than I expected and they were not afraid to ask anything (especially my own host brother! hehe)  But I figured I better be honest with them because they are growing up quickly and will soon find things out for themselves.

So it was pretty awesome to get to see those kids again and hear what they think of America. Until I came here, I really had no idea how huge America is.  Not only physically (it's gigantic!) but also culturally.  America has a huge influence in many European countries.  However, what I think is even cooler than that is how distinct each European country is even though some of them are smaller than Iowa (Denmark, for example).  Denmark is culturally completely separate from Sweden, Germany, the UK, so on and so froth, even though they are all so close together.  Each country has grown with different events, leaders and political movements.  All of these things have created very unique national identities for each country.

Gosh I love these things that I never would have known if I stayed in the little Knox bubble back in Galesburg, Il : )

That's all for now!