Norwegian visitors

We had some Norwegian visitors with us over the weekend.  Leif’s cousin Geir and two of his buddies.  Fantastic friendly people!  They’ve been in Vancouver for the Olympics and cheering on the Norwegian hockey team (may need to be a bit more cheering, but that’s another story.)  They had a break between games and decided to come down to Seattle for a few days to take in the sights.  None have been to the USA before – so it was fun to help introduce them to my country.  This is the first time we’ve had people visit us from Norway with the exception of Leif’s parents.  (so for all you Norwegian friends reading this:  Yes, Leif has been here 10 years and we’ve now had 1 non-parental/brother visitor….1!!  And since he was a cousin it doesn’t even count as a ‘non-family’ visitor.  Get the hint friends ;-)

With their visit however, there was a bit of unexpected stressfulness on my part.  You want to make a good impression…. not just my cleanliness, hospitality, and cooking skills – of course I want to impress there (and no doubt I shined :-) ha… but when this is someone’s first visit to the US, you act a bit as an ambassador.  I felt as if everything they saw, heard, experienced, ect…. in the presence of ME would virtually be their impression on the country (especially since they were here only a short 24 hours).  So America I am.   The good, bad, an ugly I’m afraid.

In my years of marriage to a foreigner and traveling to Norway often over the years, I am keenly aware of the stereotypes and ideals that people have on Americans and our lifestyle.  And in recent past years, it hasn’t always been easy to be an American abroad when the conversations turn to politics and social issues.  And even though I tend to agree with my foreign friends on many issues, the US is still my country and one I can’t help but want to defend.

So I tried my best to dispel them of their negative preconceived notions of Americans …. as I served them gigantic sized portions of dinner, and drove them around in our huge, gas guzzling mini-van, and they took rest in our hugely, over sized house. 

Hopefully their quick 24 hour impression of America was one of courtesy, kindness and relief that we’re not all GOP nuts. 

….and thankfully no one was mugged and no law suits were brought about while here.

 

…. oh yeah, and thankfully none of them needed medical attention.