America the beautiful?

Now that our trip is quickly wrapping up, I realize that one of the most fascinating and eye-opening aspects of our experience has been the variable responses people give after learning that we're from the U.S. Whether these destinations don't see many Americans or we just don't perfectly fit the American stereotype, I can't be sure; but for some reason there's almost always a dominant element of surprise in the reaction. Then after this initial shock ... the fun begins.

Starting east in Japan and China, our interactions with locals were unfortunately minimal, probably a combined result of language barriers and relatively reserved cultures. However, as we've migrated westward communication has become increasingly free and frequent, notably in Egypt and Morocco. Here in Morocco, after several incorrect guesses of "Français? Allemand? Anglais?" our "Non, Américain" is frequently greeted with "Vous êtes les bienvenus!" (You are welcome!) But it's hard not to cringe when this is followed, all too often, by "Great country" or "America - number one", always delivered with a poorly concealed tone of sarcasm. Alternatively, they'll immediately guess that we're from New York, California, Washington or whatever other U.S. location they've heard of. The other night we even got a curious "What part of America? Canada?".

Equally common is the politically based response. If the international community had any say in American politics, Bush would have been impeached long ago and Obama would be a shoe-in for November. Sometimes the first and only comment we hear from taxi drivers, shopkeepers, etc. are some variant of "Bush - very bad" or an anticipatory "Obama will win?!" Russell has a great pic of a typical Tanzanian painting and accompanying graffiti promoting "Obama for president" (yes, you should definitely pressure him to post it on Flicker). Just last night, while wandering through the night festivities at Djemaa el Fna in Marrakesh, we stumbled across a vendor selling a toy "911" figurine set of Bush in a tank in hot military pursuit of Bin Laden.

Three particular experiences come to mind that exemplify the unpredictable and often entertaining global impressions of American society that we've encountered ...

America .... It's not America
Considering the financial obstacles and immigration restrictions our country imposes, a visit to the U.S. is an impractical dream for much of the non-Western world. We recently met one Moroccan who had somehow (don't ask how he managed to get a visa) just returned from an extended trip to California, Arizona and New York. His overall impressions seemed positive, as he loved San Francisco and San Diego and likened Arizona to M'Hamid, the desert village he calls home. Great - one point for the states! However, the sadly amusing part of the encounter was his interpretation that California and Arizona "are not America". Since his positive experiences in these states were incongruous with his expectations, he reasoned that these states must be the anomaly, rather than the stereotype being faulty.

America ... racist and perverse
Morocco seems to have a disproportionate number of male students, many impressively in touch with - or at least interested in - western culture. The receptionist at our hotel in Ourzazate, a college student of American society, is one example of education gone wrong. Throughout the course of our conversation, he eagerly shared his expertise on America's one-dimensional attitude towards foreigners. Namely, we don't like them. Apparently, we would like nothing better than to completely close our borders to all immigrants and would never welcome visitors with the same hospitality and tolerance extended by Moroccans (okay, so maybe this isn't entirely off). He continued with a disturbingly fascinated inquiry into ... surrogacy of all things. He had learned the term in the context of American culture and despite our explanation otherwise, believed it to be a common practice in the states, where love, sex and marriage are bound by no rules.

America ... seriously?! No way!
In the village near Todra Gorge, where we passed two wonderful days, word spreads fast and even tourists cannot remain strangers for long. For example, in a shared taxi ride our second day, the driver and two of the four other passengers were men we had met on prior occasions. By consequence of his limited French skills, the driver had assumed we were French and, although not unfriendly, treated us with relative indifference. Just as we were preparing to leave the taxi he learned from another passenger than we were not in fact French, but American. He immediately burst into excited chatter and became an instant friend. American?! What time did we need a ride to the bus station tomorrow? He would pick us up from our hotel. Did we email? We must exchange email addresses. Misunderstanding my apology for not having small change as a statement that I was poor, he graciously tried to refuse payment for our ride to the gorge. In so many countries our nationality has been synonymous with expendable wealth, to which many feel naturally entitled. But this man was somehow blind to the image of American riches and embraced us with a fundamentally human welcome and understanding ... Almost too much for my jaded traveller's mind to grasp.