"What's it like to live in America?"

This week we talked not only about other cultures, but what it means to be an American as well. This was a difficult question for many of us because we are immersed in American culture everyday and we feel like everything we do is "normal" and the other cultures do weird things. I was asked this question once before and I struggled to answer it then too. About 5 years ago I was in Israel and I met these Australian.twins at one of our hotels we were staying at. When they found out I was American, they immediately said "You are sooo lucky!". I didn't really understand. I mean I liked my country and all, but I didn't think it was anything to be jealous of, I thought Australia sounded pretty cool. They proceeded to ask me questions like, "What is it like to live in America?". At this point  I really didn't know what to say. I think my response was something like "I don't know, it's normal I guess". They were so fascinated with my culture, but I didn't have any cultural information to give them. In class this week, I discovered why I couldn't answer their questions. It's very easy to see the differences in other cultures, such as the squating toilets in Japan and leaving your baby outside cafes in Denmark. But when we think about our own culture, it is very hard to see the little nuances because we experience them everyday.