Carol Bontekoe

This blog has been keeping track of my adventures since 2004. The stories and the adventures have come from my college dorm room to Uganda, Peace Corps Kyrgyzstan, learning Dutch in the Netherlands to living in the wilds of Homer, Alaska. I went back to school in Amsterdam to study Theaterwetenschap (Theatre Science) at University of Amsterdam. And now my adventures as a Fruit Fly, a Sexy Unicorn, and creating a movement with Team Sparkle in Chicago.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

'Merican

Around here people hang flags to let people know what/who they are. There are Frieshe and Dutch flags all over the place. The occassional Swede slides in and I have even seen a Welsh flag(have to admit I was proud of myself for even remembering what that flag was). Riding along on my bicycle the other day I saw the biggest, loudest, most obnoxious motorcycle I have ever seen. What was hanging off the back? The good old Stars and Bars!
I was forced into a flashback of camp where I thought about all the times us 'Mericans stood together, and took what the British thought were insults and turned them into compliments. It all started one day when a few too many drinks had been consumed and Jason and I sat in Stephanie's car and told off Scottie. Also, adopting a faux Tennis Sam's Dad's accent(Texan all the way baby, her father is quoted as saying "Hillary Clinton. is. a. Bitch!"). One of my favorite rants on being an Amer-I-Can I ever went into was about how I loved waking up in the morning and breathing that good ole 'Merican air. I love being able to see my air. I want when I take a deep breath to be able to feel the air settle at the bottom of my lungs. A bunch of other 'Mericans joined in and went with it. Finally, one of the Brits stopped us and goes, "You know you're making fun of America don't you?"
Of Course we did!
That's the fun of being 'Merican you can embrace what ever is bad or stereotypical about this country and splash on a lil excessive pride and it just makes you that much more 'Merican.
I looked down at my nice sweet, old, worn out Dutch Bike and then back at the tricked out Hog coming down the road; and I did the only thing I could do. I threw my fist into the air and gave a good ole fashion YEE HAA!!! Cuz these colors don't run! You either embrace it or spend your whole life hiding from it, and lets face it... I'm a lil too big to hide.

1 comments :

  1. Anonymous said...

    these colors don't run.

    ...perfect.

    - heather mcneil