Posted on 01/15/2007 10:23:01 PM PST by goldstategop
It was fantastic going through the locks and stopping at all the different countries, but the grandkids did not empathize with the help on the cruise ship or the native peoples. We would see their poverty and then hop aboard our luxury liner, to be served a 6 course meal including lobster and steak that night.
It was sort of hypocritical and made me feel uncomfortable. It would be a better learning experience, immersing one self with the culture, living there for a few weeks, not escaping to your luxury digs every night.
Well we call it English and dollars are always welcome, but water? We drink Bourbon.
LOL...good answers!
I usta live in West KY between Monkey's Eyebrow and Possum Trot. Really.
I eventually learned the language. Not all the native dialect, but enough for converational use.
Why have I never met one American (outside of a handful of entertainers) working on a cruise ship? I have met young people from almost every country in the world working on cruise ships -- except Americans.
Dennis did a bad job of tying these two ideas together, but I think that was the point he wanted to make.
FMCDH(BITS)
I understand his point. However, one reason there aren't as many American workers on cruise ships (in addition to the non-American registries of the ships) is that American young people have other work options ... work options with a future.
I think I read that the unemployment rate among French aged 22-25 was around 30%; they can't just go out and get a job the way Americans can.
Certainly any job is better than no job, but if I'd put a child through college, I'd expect him to get on with real life.
I understand that, however I believe he recommended the work on a ship out of high school, not college, which I agree with. A year off from "academics" and earning your OWN way while traveling could be very instructional as far as what you may want to study in college a year later.
I've never been one to push a HS grad right off to college. One years work before will help a college wannabe have a much more clear idea of what, exactly, they want to study, along with a much bigger appreciation of hard work.
JMHO
FMCDH(BITS)
Covington is probably closer to Canada than Paducah but if you have spent some time in western Kentucky, you are a friend of mine.
LOL...seven years....dang, we're probably related by marriage!
There are many jobs in America that provides heaps of leave days. But it is on the employee's part to negotiate - hard. Work culture wise, the US has more similarities with productive and East and Southeast Asia - whose people work really hard - and less like lazy-bums like Europeans or us Kiwis when it comes to attitudes towards holidays (or what North Americans call vacations).
I understand that, however I believe he recommended the work on a ship out of high school, not college, which I agree with. A year off from "academics" and earning your OWN way while traveling could be very instructional as far as what you may want to study in college a year later.
This is what the British call a "gap year". I know many successful professionals in New Zealand and Britain did little bits of this that that deemed-to-be-menial jobs when they were young. I work for a semi-rural electricity lines company in the Canterbury Region, and the Managing Director once told us in a social gathering that just after he left school and before entering tertiary studies, he took three menial jobs just to earn enough social/life experience and (of course) tuition fees. He then became a chartered accountant and of course now the boss of an electricity utility company. Many famous lawyers in NZ will also likewise tell you similar tales.
In sum, it is not necessarily a bad idea to be on that side of the job after you get out of school - it gives you appreciations of what the real world is beside the ivory tower.
I've been on a couple of trips abroad with my parents, but I think you can get a good exposure to *reality* without leaving the U.S., too ... especially if you're having to pay your own way!
This foreigner thinks otherwise. I love America, but there is something obvious to foreigners but not many Americans is that the unity and common heritage of Americans, between Noam Chomsky and Ronald Reagan for instance, is much greater than the difference. There are some things which tie the country as the United States.
If you come to New Zealand and stay for a week, you will quickly be struck with the idea of being foreign everywhere - from sports, food, culture, politics, social interactions, work vs life, etc. There is such a world that is very different from the US even we may speak the same language, and a trip here will make you appreciate what America has and this sense of appreciation will never be earned if you stay within the US border.
My brother and his daughters used to go down to an orphange in Hondourus and work. The kids had to pay for airfare and any "spending money". They lived, ate and worked (they helped build a building) at the orphanage (they may have had to chip in for meals?).
The youngest daughter after the first time wanted to do it again as soon as they got back she enjoyed it so much and bonded with the other kids. My brother told her they would once she had saved up enough money for the air fare. At the age of 13 she had it saved up again in 9 months! (Much to the chagrin of my brother!)
She's now in college and continues trips to S. America, and is trying to get into some university in Spain to complete her studies.
Interesting points! We can see so many of the world's "sights" on TV that we imagine it's more like the United States than it really is.
The converse is also true - because we watch American TV and movies many assume they already know the United States, not just politics wise. They they go to your country, even to deep blue areas like Seattle or Vermont, they found how utterly foreign, and presumably more conservative in some areas and less in others when compared with "home". For instance, this is a website hosted by Anne Hill an Australian leftie (and a postmodernist no less!) from Melbourne who has now moved to your country. Even though she has settled in a blue area - Seattle, she found there are so many cultural differences and differences and such cultural conservatism currents undergoing that it shocked her:
http://www.aussieinamerica.com/
( Hill has also written a book on this topic:
http://www.amazon.com/Aussie-America-Laughter-Lessons-Cultural/dp/1594111103
I think in general, New Zealanders and Australians like to take good holidays - we have around 3 weeks of breaks every year which also cover Christmas and New Year. It is commonly known that we play hard, but we also work hard. I understand that many Americans tend to be more on the work side of the equation - more "Asian" in the sense that many (even on this forum!) itch to go back to work even when they take leaves. Well, it is a lifestyle decision, but I don't think this attitude is my cup of tea. I like to do really hard in job but also spend holidays recharging.
Ping to Fair Go - interesting article from Dennis Prager on holidaying in Australia.
Most college-aged kids learn about where to find the cheapest booze and the best places to go to pick up members of the opposite sex. I wouldn't call that learning about life, but whatever.
Above all vacations are a necessity rather than a luxury.
Lots of people can't afford an actual trip every year, or simply don't have the vacation time to do it after they've spent it visiting relatives for various reasons. (I suppose some can get recharged after visiting relatives for a week, but not me.) I do feel recharged after I've taken a few days to just hang around the house.
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