the Misconceptions of Americans. Part 2

“AMERICANS DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT SLOVAKIA.” This has been frustrating at times. They assume we Americans have NO idea they exist as a country, and I’ve felt a bit of judgment behind those comments. Like maybe we’re not the most intelligent people because we aren’t as aware of other countries. This isn’t true. Of course some people don’t know of Slovakia, or where it is, but that’s because it’s a very small country that hasn’t had impact on worldwide issues. But many people from the U.S. DO know Slovakia exists, they DO know where it is, and many have ancestry here (including myself), or have traveled here. I’ve tried to explain to them that the reason they know SO much about the U.S. is because we are everywhere. We are in their music, their movies, their television programs, their news, our products in their stores, and the list goes on and on. Slovakia is so small and has NO influences on the U.S. whatsoever. Slovak students have been taught things about the U.S. for as far back as they remember, because we are an influential and powerful country.

And then the subject of the film “Hostel” comes up. For all of the people who didn’t know of Slovakia before they saw this movie, they were probably better off not having ANY opinions of the country. The movie is terrible! I wouldn’t suggest this to anyone (unless you want to see it, just for the sake of seeing how ridiculous it is). The movie set in Slovakia (most likely the only American-made film to be based here) and is about a youth hostel in Bratislava. These American guys come to Slovakia as tourists and end up getting lured into this hostel, where they are tortured (quite disgusting, body parts being removed with a chain saw, while they’re still alive) and eventually killed. And for some Americans, this is the ONLY glimpse of Slovakia they’ve seen. How sad. I understand why Slovaks are angry about it.

“AMERICANS ARE A BIT CRAZY BECAUSE THEY’RE ON THE GO ALL THE TIME.” This is in terms of living situations, as well as traveling. In some of the textbooks we taught out of in Ilava, they even had articles about our living and traveling habits to use for discussion practice. “It’s Tuesday, so we must be in Munich” is the name of one of the articles. They think the whole idea of backpacking is insane. When they take trips (“go for holiday”) they go to one place and stay for a long time. They have a much slower lifestyle. They think taking on an entire city (yet alone country) in a few days is ridiculous. But Americans do it a lot. It’s exciting, it’s “how you DO Europe” and they don’t understand this. They are so surprised when I tell them how many countries I’ve been to in Europe, and I try to explain to them it’s because of the fast-paced traveling. Coming to Europe for a few weeks and going to 5 or 6 countries is totally doable in our eyes. Mostly for the younger generations, but I feel like this is a pretty broad American mentality. (They’re pretty horrified at my willingness to hang out/sleep in airports and train stations, in order to catch earlier or cheaper flights/trains. Pretty funny.)

In their conversation books, they also had an article about how many times Americans move in their lifetimes. Again, their lifestyle is much slower than ours, less focused on careers and education, more focused on family and tradition. They typically stay in their family’s house until they start their own family, and then their main goal is to find a new place nearby to settle and live for the rest of their lives. The article told them about how Americans are constantly on the go, looking for better or different schools, universities, job opportunities, vacation spots, etc. I think there is a lot of truth to this too. They asked how many times I’d moved in my lifetime, and they were pretty shocked to hear 8 times (2 in my baby years, 1 through childhood, 3 places in college, and 1 post college, plus Slovakia), especially because I’m only 23.

***This is random, but fun. We were speaking about shopping habits in the U.S., and I was telling them about Wal-Mart and other big chain stores. I told them we hired “Wal-Mart greeters” to smile and stand at the front of the store to welcome customers, and they thought this was crazy.

“Why? What do they do that for?”
“Well, because they want the customers to have a nice experience. For workers to be friendly to customers, so they will want to shop there again. And it’s a nice job for older people, or people with special needs who can’t really work in demanding jobs.”
“So their job is to just stand there? What do they do?”
“They just smile. They even have a special vest with a smiley face on it.”
“What?! HAHA!”

The idea of customer service in Slovakia is pretty much non-existent. In fact, after spending seven months here, I would say that not only does customer service not exist, but they are many times downright rude. I sort of feel like I’m inconveniencing them by being in their shop, and they seem irritated to have to deal with me. One of the English teachers I worked with, Mirka, told the students about her trip to Canada a few years back.

“All of the workers in the stores were just so NICE. It was the strangest thing, smiling all the time. And when I went to pay, and they tried to carry my bag for me, I was a little concerned that they were stealing my things! It was a nice change actually. It was strange to see the big change, once I got back to Slovakia. Everyone was grumpy again. I think it’s nice that they smile.”

When I was talking about customer service with the other volunteers, they were laughing about how small shop owners (and post offices, MAN, those post offices…) just sort of close their shops whenever convenient. We can’t figure out why they don’t want to make money, why they aren’t really friendly to their customers, why they wouldn’t stay open as much as possible, in hopes of making more sales. But they just close up, if they have to run errands, or go to the dentist, or whatever they do. The post office is open for like a one-hour slot a day sometimes, and I’ve waited in the hallway of the city building for them to open more then a few times. They’re usually late to open.

That's all for now. I have a feeling there will eventually be a part 3. Until next time! :)