To Be American in France.....

It's not always easy being an American in France. As patriotic as I am, there are times when it's just easier to nod my head when I'm lumped with 'les anglais', as most French people round here tend to call any foreigner who speaks English.

Throughout my time as an English assistant in a high school in Narbonne, I found myself expected to defend/explain many 'American' things, like Jerry Springer, Big Macs, guns, Bush, Iraq and obesity. Watching 'Bowling for Columbine' with my class of 30 French 18-year olds was one of the most difficult experiences, both personally and professionally, that I've ever had in a classroom.

The upcoming election is as talked about over here as it is in the States. Probably for different reasons, and with a different degree of hopeful expectations, the majority of French people I know are pulling for Obama. The idea of another 4 years of Republican rule just seems so wrong in their eyes.....

And now, with what the French are calling the latest American export, the economic crisis, I feel like once again my neighbors are looking at me as if I can provide an explanation.

In a recent poll by L'Express, apparently as more and more French are starting to feel the pinch of increased cost of living, gas prices, unemployment, the blame is once again being leveled at America.

I'm proud to be American, and I love my life in France, it's just hard sometimes to reconcile the two parts.....