Reverse Parallel Country

In case I hadn't already made it clear: I loved living in the States. I loved catching the bus and hearing my African American bus driver gabble to herself, I loved hearing about Libby, Andie and Paige's high school, I loved walking past American houses and smelling American flowers and seeing crazy animals, I loved talking to Americans about God and eating their funny foods and going to their funny games and even just wandering the aisles of the supermarket...I had a a stimulation overload, every waking moment.

Of course, Australia is always home and I have that natural but unspoken bias about Australia being pretty bloody amazing...but the States was a great place to be. And I can understand that with a president they're now proud of, it may be an even greater place to be. 

Now, my old housemate, Melissa has come to visit. :) Five years on and finally, a reciprocal! I've been so excited about it for ages! She's here with her two fabulous buddies, Jeanne and Walter and I'm really enjoying being back around the buzz-drug that is America. It's so great to hang out with them, and I've been blessed with two days off to do it!

Now I always assumed that Australia was like America, only a parallel universe. Okay, so we have less highway, more nothing, less snow more dirt etc, etc, but I for some reason assumed that an American's visit to Aus would be equally as exciting....that everything and anything would be fascinating, that we were 'the same' but 'different'...

But it's not? I tried to think of things to tell them to do, but I don't think anything seemed that exciting...and now I feel a bit silly? Like a little kid showing my finger painting to Monet? Like a life coach trying to give advice to the Dalai Lama...?

I still think our country's fabulous...but it's dawned on me that perhaps my excitement at seeing a squirrel or my fascination at contrails or the buzz I got from trying beef jerky...that it will never be reciprocated? That we're really not that exciting to anyone else except ourselves?

I don't know. I put it down to a few things.

1) Australia's not on the movies. The movies can hype-up, romanticise etc anything. And just about everything in the States is featured in a movie. So seeing everything there is exciting.

2) I'm a pretty excitable personality. I get excited about things a lot. And easily.

3) It was my first trip overseas. Just having my feet on the ground in another country thrilled my socks off...

4) They've been traveling for a while now, so perhaps it's all just worn off...it gets like that.

But maybe...maybe I have to wipe America off my 'countries to convert to Australianism' and try for somewhere in Asia instead? Perhaps somewhere without open fields or clean air...? Maybe Americans will never be as thrilled with Aus as I was with the US?

...

Or perhaps I just need to be content and not care what other people think about Australia. At the end of the day we can sit down in our own house - in a quiet neighbourhood, with clean air and fresh water, with the freedom to pray and read our Bibles, with excellent education, with little fear of being broken into, with plenty of sunshine and Vitamin D - and drink our wine and cheers (to the best kept secret in the world - you guys know what I'm talking about ;).