feature story

For our British culture class here, I had to write something called a "Feature Story" that discusses some aspect of culture that I have observed and note the similarities and differences to American culture. It's something that I have been thinking about for a while, so I figured I would just post my paper. Enjoy!

Now that I have been in England for seven and a half weeks, I have started to notice several things about the British work ethic. From what I have observed, the work ethic in England is drastically different from the American work ethic. In my American Literature seminar, we were discussing Death of a Salesman and the American Dream. Most of the students did not understand what the American Dream was, or why on earth anyone would work so hard to earn a living and advance in a career. The professor asked me about the American workweek, and how much vacation time the average employee receives. When I replied that most employees receive two or three weeks of vacation time a year, the class went completely silent. A few students had open mouths. Even the professor was not sure what to say in response to it. One of the students asked me if I actually expected to work in the States for the rest of my life and only get two weeks off out of the entire year. I replied that I was willing to do that, and that to me, it did not seem strange at all. That student was shocked that I did not feel entitled to more time off. At the end of the hour, the conclusion of the class was that the American Dream was unattainable and that it is ridiculous to work so hard and so much. I was disappointed after that seminar, because I think many of the students and quite possibly the professor, missed out on fully understanding Death of a Salesman by not understanding the American Dream. It is an idealistic dream, but it is what has shaped the nation and brought so many immigrants to the country. There is something in American culture that is not in British culture. It is that no matter who you are, or where you are in life, as long as you work hard and focus your mind, you can advance in society.

It does not seem strange to me to work that much, and I think that is because of how I was raised. My parents are some of the hardest workers I know, and they trained me to never expect something to be handed to me. If I want to provide for myself, I have to work hard and earn it. Beyond that, I was raised to never expect handouts from the government and to provide for myself when I am older without social security, in case it is not around (and I am fairly certain that it will not be). I understand that there is no such thing as a free lunch, and that there is a cost for everything. Even if I am not paying for something, someone else is. British citizens come from an entirely different perspective. While hiking in the Lake District, several of us met a British man who talked to us as we climbed down the mountain. He had some strong political views, and especially despised the American healthcare system. From what he said, he did not seem to know much about it outside of Michael Moore’s film, Sicko, which is substantially biased. He kept on saying repeatedly that the British system was so much better, because healthcare was free. I didn’t say anything in reply, because I did not want to be rude and contradict him. My perspective on it is that the National Health Service may appear to be free because there are not any bills. However, the whole system is paid for through taxes and is anything other than free. But because it seems to be free, British citizens do not see how they are paying into it and what they get out of it. Thus, they do not have the kind of drive that I see in many Americans to work hard to get something, because here, even if they do not work hard, they will be taken care of anyway.

On campus, the students are not motivated to work hard in order to get a good job to pay off their loans and live on their own. At Calvin, I routinely have conversations with friends about the future and how we plan on providing for ourselves, including paying off our debt. While I wish I didn’t have student loans, they do keep me aware of how much I am paying for my education and make me appreciate it more. Because the students at York St. John do not pay as much for their education, they do not seem to take it as seriously. Several of them have commented on how hard the Calvin students work on their studies. I have had at least two students here say to me, “Oh, I wish I had your American work ethic. I can’t believe how hard you try in school. I wish I could do that, but I just don’t have your drive.” I want to tell them that they can have that same drive, but it is almost pointless, because none of the students need that kind of drive to succeed at a school with such incredibly low standards. The first-year students here are graded only by pass or fail, which does nothing to motivate them to get good grades. There is something in British culture that does not push its young people to work hard in order to ensure that they have a good future ahead. In some ways, the people seem less materialistic and do not seem as absorbed with the mentality that buying that one thing will bring happiness. The people here seem content with less, especially in terms of objects and space. They do not work for the nice car and nicer house, at least not with the same kind of zeal I see in a typical American. From what I can tell, pub culture is prevalent here because the British are less inclined to entertain guests in their own homes. So, unlike Americans, they are not as preoccupied with showing off their wealth and status, tending to spend their money on socializing in pubs over material goods.

After reflecting on different aspects of the British work ethic, I can see both good and bad sides to it. While citizens seem less concerned with consumerism, the people of Britain, particularly in the younger generation, are not motivated to provide a future for themselves, or for their country. I am curious to learn if this is a continuing theme or just an anomaly of the current generation.

"only a life of mistakes"

I just started reading Middlemarch for my British Literature class. So far, I like it, but the Prelude is offensive to all Teresas, especially to ones named specifically after St. Teresa of Avila, like myself. I realize that Eliot is speaking about those who are like St. Teresa, and not necessarily those that are named after her. However, just because I am in the slim minority that actually falls into that category does not mean Eliot can debase my name willy-nilly. Read and decide it for yourself http://www.readprint.com/chapter-4401/Middlemarch-George-Eliot.

york minster

Today, I attended Sung Eucharist at the main Anglican church here in York. The service was lovely, especially the choir (the acoustics were amazing). I'm not sure if I will go every Sunday, but it was by far the most beautiful place I have ever worshiped. Here's a link to the church's wikipedia page--but the pictures just cannot do the cathedral justice http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_Minster.

in york

I just arrived in York Thursday morning, and I am loving it here so far. I've started exploring the city and I cannot believe how much history resides here. I live in the dorms here, and it's been nice because the dorms are so centrally located to everything. The University is right next to downtown so I can walk everywhere.
This is my room here.

And this is the view out my window.

Tomorrow, we are taking a trip to Whitby, and then on Monday we start classes. So far, it's been amazing here.

my first attempt to felt

Over Christmas break, I tried out a knitting pattern for slippers. They are felted slippers, and having never felted before, I thought I might as well give it a try while I had a top-loading washing machine. I was a little wary while knitting and when I put them in the wash. They looked like this:
But after putting them in, and letting the wool do its thing, they turned out like this:So all in all, I'm hoping to felt more things in the future. Over interim, I made a second pair, but they didn't turn out quite as well. Now I need to figure out what went wrong the second time. I meant to post this a long time ago and just never put pictures on my computer.

is Andrea Bocelli singing Jingle Bells?

This year, I stayed in Grand Rapids for Thanksgiving. Meredith and Jennifer hung around, too, so we out-of-staters decided to cook our own dinner. Andrew and Amy came up from Indiana, and we had ourselves a merry little feast. The turkey took two hours too long to cook, but otherwise, there were no food crises. Like all good Baileys, we interspersed episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia throughout the whole day. And of course, we busted out Mannheim Steamroller and Home Alone. All good things.

new hair

I cut off 11-12 inches of hair this afternoon. I've been wanting to for awhile, now. It's so nice to have short hair again.

a joke

An astronomer, a physicist and a mathematician are on a train in Scotland. The astronomer looks out of the window, sees a black sheep standing in a field, and remarks, "How odd. Scottish sheep are black." "No, no, no!" says the physicist. "Only some Scottish sheep are black." The mathematician rolls his eyes at his companions' muddled thinking and says, "In Scotland, there is at least one sheep, at least one side of which looks black."

For more hilarious jokes of this kidney, check out Wikipedia's page on math jokes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_joke.

for the love of ven diagrams

In case you ever confuse your mythical creatures http://www.flickr.com/photos/preshaa/3847027500/sizes/l/.

I am not Liz Lemon

During the summer between my sophomore and junior year of high school, I found some old sheets cut up into squares at my grammy's house. My aunt had initially planned something for them and never put it together. I started sewing the squares together that summer, and now, four summers later, I finished the quilt. It's not perfect by any means, but it's done. Unlike Liz Lemon, I finish the quilts that I start in the summer. Even if it is four summers later.

are you part of the 2% of Americans playing sports right now?

This is a fascinating graph showing how people spend their time. At approximately 2:44 PM, I, a white female between the ages of 15 and 24 seeking a bachelor's degree and employed, was engaged in computer use. I think it's striking how little time the unemployed spend volunteering and that whites and hispanics eat at traditional meal times, whereas blacks tend not to. I'm not sure what to take from that, but it sure is interesting =)

is the space pope reptillian?

I've recently discovered Futurama. A solid show that ended before it could be dragged into the ground like The Simpsons (even though there are going to be 26 new episodes sometime soon). It's full of witty one-liners and thoroughly shallow (but highly entertaining) characters. Who could ever tire of Bender's thieving ways?

I know my life is [insert disparaging adjective] when . . .

. . . I don't have a lint-roller, so I use painter's tape to remove the lint and fuzz from my black pants.

Update: Mumsy and I went to Costco tonight, and the lint-rollers eluded us there. I guess my dream of fuzz-free pants is just not meant to be.

for all my bros

I thought this was pretty funny. Sorry Mumsy and Matt, I already spoiled the fun for you.

http://batteriesfeelincluded.blogspot.com/2009/05/309.html

half-way there

I am officially done with my sophomore year of college. This last semester has been the busiest, best time of my life. I'm exhausted, but I'm going to miss it. Goodbye KHvR, you've been a great place to live the last two years.

golden joy

The sun paid Michigan a visit today, and so to take advantage of it, I took a long walk with a friend. Today was a busy day, but the sunshine was a reminder that spring is coming. I get so energized by nice weather--I love it! March is almost here. February was a good but hard month and I'm not sad to be on the other side of it.

how I spent the last few days

Today is the first day of interim break, and it feels so nice to take some time off. I took a religion class for interim, and it was incredibly easy. We had no homework and our final was to write a paper. However, Kristen, Jill and I decided to make a board game instead of writing a paper. Kristen and I counted up today, and with all three of us, we spent 90+ hours making it since last Friday. It turned out so well, though. It's called "Into Israel: From Womb to Tomb", and it is a trivia game that follows the life cycle of an ancient Israelite. The game is only for mature audiences because the class was called, "Birth, Sex, and Death", and some of the questions (while taken straight from the Bible) are pretty graphic. Plus, no kid would enjoy playing this game--it is not for the faint at heart. Probably the funniest part of the game are the "Providence" cards (thanks, Mumsy) which say all manner of bizarre things to liven up the game. They are basically like chance cards in Monopoly and we had a little too much fun writing them. Everything from "You laid bare your source of blood--lose a turn" to "You reaped some 100 fold grain--switch places with the player of your choice" is in there, and I can't take them seriously. The board itself turned out well, too. We made it out of sandpaper, so that it would look like the wilderness and then taped the playing squares on top of it. I didn't think to take pictures of it before we turned it in today, but we'll get it back and then I'll put up pictures. Overall, though, I couldn't be happier with it and now I have something to show for my class--something much more fun than a 15 page paper.

oh danny boyle

I just finished watching Slumdog Millionaire, and I loved it. It's by Danny Boyle who made Millions. It was so good, though. And now I know what movie I'm rooting for at the Oscars. Beyond being a unique story told in a fresh, engaging way, A.R. Rahman composed the music for it. And the music is the finishing touch to the film. I don't have anything else to say, except that I loved it and highly recommend it.

sore, sore, everywhere

This afternoon, I worked out for the first time in ages. The new Van Andel Fieldhouse is finally open, and it is amazing. It's worth the $125 million it cost. Unfortunately, because the old fieldhouse was so inadequate and had poor hours, I barely worked out at all last semester. So now I am incredibly sore. And it gets progressively worse every hour. I'm not sure if I can get down from the top bunk in the morning. But it felt so good to finally work out and know that I can from now on and it won't be closed for construction.

not quite there yet

Today was my last day of class for the semester, and I couldn't be more relieved. I am so ready for a break and change of pace. But before that can happen, I have two papers and four finals. Somewhere around 11AM next Wednesday, I get out of my last final and then this train wreck of a semester will be over. Unfortunately, I don't get a break next semester. The only way I could do it was to take 17 credits, which is more than I have now. But I think I will like the classes better and I will definitely like my work hours better (fewer nights, more afternoons). Plus, interim should be fun. I'm hoping that I like my class and that the workload is manageable, because I'll be dorm president and treasurer while Jennifer is in London and Paris, as well as working more hours. I also want to have fun, because that is really what January is for. So here's hoping that I make it to Wednesday morning!