Foreign Influences

Two things I hold onto from when I was 10. Two things I learned that no one can take away from me... from the British culture.

The First is my handwriting. I don't write like an American girl, but I do write in a common way somewhere. When I first returnd from England at 11 yrs, I meticulously fixed my "f" - the American version was MUCH preferred. That was a LOT of work and took hours of practice. There's no way I could change my entire alphabet... and now, there's no way I'd want to. I've seen stamps with my kind of handwriting... you know, the indicipherable kind with drawn out bumps that looks like a mysterious poet's letter. Mom found a journal once with Linguistic notes in my handwriting - a beautiful journal. It wasn't mine, but it looked like I wrote it - well, at least to all of us. Except for those "f"s. That's how I know I write quite commonly somewhere.

The Second in the "continental" style of proper eating - the correct manner of using fork and knife, etc. This one I usually hide, especially in public. If I cut a piece of meat and eat it right off the fork without switching to the right hand, I'm totally violating American Etiquette and I can feel that I'm being watched.... like someone might watch the Mowgli eat, having rescued him from the Jungle. No one's actually said anything, so sometimes I blatently enjoy myself MY way. But I value the art of not standing out, so more often I conform just enough. Except for breakfast! I fix one egg on one piece of toast and eat it delicately smushing my bite onto the back of my fork with my knife in very proper Continental style. I slowly enjoy my breakfast every morning and I always place my knife and fork in the "finished" position before taking my plate to the sink and reverting to American Mom.

It's funny to have lived in another World for only two years of my life and find that it changed two small parts of me so completely.

Well, there is a Third major difference, actually. It's harder to describe and less visible, though. My point of World View is different. From my daily activities to how I think my country should act, I am more reserved and self-contained and value maintaining myself over maintaining those around me... or rather, I believe that BY maintaining myself I can best influence those around me. This Difference, unlike the other two, actually matches my character and makes me feel connected to Europe in general, and Finland, in particular, although I've never been there.

Before you think I'm Unpatriotic, though, let me add that I've traveled enough to see that God protects us in the United States. I think it's because of our founding father's honoring Him in the beginning. There is a terrible lack of blessing all over the world from so many years of rejecting God. It's sad to think of where our country is trying so hard to go.... but right now, the blessings still linger - there's protection, an absence of terrible-ness and great potential for personal success here. In Daniel the Angel Gabriel mentions a Prince of Persia and a Prince of Greece in Daniel 10:20-21. I am not saying I know or saw anything, but each country or area feels different spiritually. As I think of what to write, I think of how many ways I can get myself in trouble with assumptions that may or may not be anywhere's close to the truth. It's a thought, anyway - that different areas are oppressed by specific Princes with strengths and weaknesses that are reflected in the areas they govern - spiritual seen in the visible.