I thought some of you might be amused to find out how your country(US more exactly) was perceived from Romania, which is a small country in Eastern Europe.
So here are a few random facts:
- During communism (up to 1989) having a relative that had emigrated to US was a serious risk for all your family. "Security" militia kept checking you night and day, all the letters were cautiously read before you'd receive them and so on, fearing the "infidel" might poison you with some capitalism.
Talking about America, Americans, and anything else related was also a really bad idea.
Immediately after revolution however, a burst of american stuff came up. Especially media ones.
Dallas was a huge hit in here. It was incredibly big :lol:
My grandma named a whole generation of sheep with the character's names. She was crazy about Bobby Ewing and she could tell you all about the series with no mistake.
Also a huge hit was Beverly Hills - the teenage series + the action movies with Arnold and Jackie Chan. Surprisingly, we didnt know much about Chuck Norris untill recently (last decade)
When McDonalds came in, in was so new that the prices were actually quite big for a fast food. It was actually considered a fancy place to go out or to take your friends out to impress at first, such was their success )
Nowadays it kinda mellowed down to the "yet another fast food" place.
Ruby Tuesday has however few restaurants, with great food and incredibly expensive prices :shock:
If you were a kid 15 years ago and had jeans or sneakers "from America" it didnt matter if they were ugly as sin or 4 sizes too big. You simply rocked.
Another huge TV hit was Bonanza. A neverending cowboy soap opera.
Nowadays, my grandmother seems to go into another world when The Young and The Restless starts. Speaking of which, has it finished yet? In here they're broadcasting episode nr 6000 something.
Few years ago we had a TV show , something like "We're listening, voice your opinion" and then taped messages from viewers. A guy said in a heart melting trembling voice:
"Madam, I am 75 years old and my favourite series is the young&the restless. I heard we have 4 more seasons ahead? If so, please tell me how it ends. This definately is out of my life span"
We hardly got any of the american horse breeds around, except for some suspicious colored horses all called "pinto's" (nothing to do with any sort of breed though)
However, we got your...chicken! Quite early as well. There is an ornamental miniature breed of chicken. Everyone calls them "american chicks". I have no idea if they are american at all, but they are beautiful
A mandatory reading during my school time was Mark Twain's Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Also one of the most enjoyable.
The initial image of a "cowboy" was "guy who shoots other people and wears funky hats" , due to the huge amount of western movies we received.
I was scolded for using an american accent during my english lessons :/ British English was considered "proper" while American English was promptly shunned as if it was the language of devils and MTV or something.
Um. I can't think of anything else, but thats about it
So here are a few random facts:
- During communism (up to 1989) having a relative that had emigrated to US was a serious risk for all your family. "Security" militia kept checking you night and day, all the letters were cautiously read before you'd receive them and so on, fearing the "infidel" might poison you with some capitalism.
Talking about America, Americans, and anything else related was also a really bad idea.
Immediately after revolution however, a burst of american stuff came up. Especially media ones.
Dallas was a huge hit in here. It was incredibly big :lol:
My grandma named a whole generation of sheep with the character's names. She was crazy about Bobby Ewing and she could tell you all about the series with no mistake.
Also a huge hit was Beverly Hills - the teenage series + the action movies with Arnold and Jackie Chan. Surprisingly, we didnt know much about Chuck Norris untill recently (last decade)
When McDonalds came in, in was so new that the prices were actually quite big for a fast food. It was actually considered a fancy place to go out or to take your friends out to impress at first, such was their success )
Nowadays it kinda mellowed down to the "yet another fast food" place.
Ruby Tuesday has however few restaurants, with great food and incredibly expensive prices :shock:
If you were a kid 15 years ago and had jeans or sneakers "from America" it didnt matter if they were ugly as sin or 4 sizes too big. You simply rocked.
Another huge TV hit was Bonanza. A neverending cowboy soap opera.
Nowadays, my grandmother seems to go into another world when The Young and The Restless starts. Speaking of which, has it finished yet? In here they're broadcasting episode nr 6000 something.
Few years ago we had a TV show , something like "We're listening, voice your opinion" and then taped messages from viewers. A guy said in a heart melting trembling voice:
"Madam, I am 75 years old and my favourite series is the young&the restless. I heard we have 4 more seasons ahead? If so, please tell me how it ends. This definately is out of my life span"
We hardly got any of the american horse breeds around, except for some suspicious colored horses all called "pinto's" (nothing to do with any sort of breed though)
However, we got your...chicken! Quite early as well. There is an ornamental miniature breed of chicken. Everyone calls them "american chicks". I have no idea if they are american at all, but they are beautiful
A mandatory reading during my school time was Mark Twain's Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Also one of the most enjoyable.
The initial image of a "cowboy" was "guy who shoots other people and wears funky hats" , due to the huge amount of western movies we received.
I was scolded for using an american accent during my english lessons :/ British English was considered "proper" while American English was promptly shunned as if it was the language of devils and MTV or something.
Um. I can't think of anything else, but thats about it