Following the Equator

10 things Americans should know about the world

2009-11-18T11:26:55-05:00

We Americans come from a big, powerful and influential country, to say the least. As if being a big (No. 3 in population) and wealthy (No. 1 economy) weren't enough, we've also managed to have a disproportionately large world influence culturally. It’s like Goliath becoming the planet’s most popular TV-show host.

It's long been too easy for us Americans to be content to gaze a bit too admiringly at our own navels when it comes to our world view; this dulls our appreciation of how much of our everyday lives is provided to us by other countries that are often half a world away.

As part of the 2009 Geography Awareness Week Blog-a-thon, hosted by National Geographic's My Wonderful World Campaign, this blog post required us to boil down, to a list of just 10, the things that Americans should know about their world. It seems to us that the best use of these 10 is to help close the gaps we may have in fully appreciating our daily interdependence with the wider world.

Here we go:

Download Google Earth 5 if you haven’t already. Do it now. It will take about 10 minutes to download, but there is simply no good reason why every American should not be armed with this awesome made-in-California tool of global awe and appreciation. Plus, your enjoyment of the rest of this post depends on having Google Earth installed (click the links to download Google Earth files that will fly you from the United States to the countries named).
Google Earth it: Go to China, where just about every plastic item around you was likely manufactured.
Google Earth it: Go to Japan and South Korea, where most of our consumer electronics come from.
Google Earth it: Go to Germany and Japan, which make up the lion’s share of our auto imports.
Google Earth it: Do a flyover of the countries that make a lot of our clothes: Mexico, Brazil, Italy, Turkey, India, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia (China and Japan make a lot of them, too).
Google Earth it: Go to Colombia and Brazil, which are largely to thank for your morning cup of Joe. Sugar with your coffee? Go to Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Brazil, where we get most of our sugar.
Google Earth it: Do a flyover of the countries that make America's other vital "cup of Joe," oil/petroleum: Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.
Google Earth it: Go to Costa Rica and Ecuador, which supply us with most of our bananas (Why bananas? More than half of all U.S. fresh fruit imports are bananas.)
Google Earth it: Do a flyover of the countries that supply our "will-you-marry-me" moments, i.e., our diamonds: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Botswana, Russia and Australia.
Google Earth it: Go to India, which has likely had a hand in building some part of any software you might be using (even Google Earth). It's also the place that's on the other end of the line when you call a lot of help desks—you're often a long-distance caller without even knowing it.

So there is our list. If you're ever tempted to think that talk of "our global world" doesn't apply to your life, we hope this persuades you to reconsider.

And, whether you've just downloaded it today or have had it all along, please go and have fun exploring the globe with Google Earth. It's an amazing homegrown tool. Do a favor for your fellow Americans who built it: Be its most avid users and learners.

The rest of the world pays a lot of attention to us because we have a lot to do with their lives; we owe them the same attention, for the same reason. Getting a solid sense of where our neighbors are and what they do is our collective jump-start toward that goal.

For more about the 2009 Geography Awareness Week Blog-a-Thon, hosted by National Geographic's My Wonderful World Campaign,
please visit the My Wonderful World Blog.

links for 2009-11-11

2009-11-11T17:04:31-05:00

The wall shattered | Voice of America

The portion of the wall which is located in Boston, was originally located near Bernauer Strasse, on the western side of the then-divided city of Berlin.

(tags: BerlinWall ef-education-first history Germany Berlin Boston)
El muro hecho pedazos

La porción del muro que se encuentra en Boston, estaba localizada inicialmente cerca de Bernauer Strasse, en el lado occidental de la entonces dividida ciudad de Berlí

(tags: BerlinWall ef-education-first history Germany Berlin Boston Spanish)

$200 discount on 2011 tours with EF

2009-11-05T15:33:13-05:00

It's not too early to begin planning a 2011 educational tour, and EF is giving student travelers a huge reason to get started now.

We don't normally post promotional offers on this blog, but this one is just too big to pass up:

All participants who enroll on a 2011 tour with EF Educational Tours by December 15, 2009, will receive a $200 discount on their tour's Program Fee.^*

That's right: $200 off! Just for signing up now for your 2011 tour.

Here's how to start taking advantage of EF's biggest discount ever:

If you're a teacher, you can call an EF Tour Consultant at 1-800-637-8222, or you can start planning online.
If you're a student, find out if there's a teacher at your school who travels with EF, or you can start a tour at your school.

For more information about EF Educational Tours, visit eftours.com or call 1-800-637-8222. Or post your questions or comments below.

* Terms and conditions apply.

links for 2009-11-03

2009-11-03T17:04:31-05:00

Adventures of Osage teen captured in ‘Life on Tour’

Brooke Bodensteiner spent 10 days over the summer sunbathing on Barcelona's beaches, savoring authentic tapas and losing herself on Seville's winding, maze-like streets.

(tags: EF-tours LifeOnTour video educational-travel educational-tours student-travel Spain EricBeato Iowa highschool)

links for 2009-10-30

2009-10-30T18:13:01-04:00

EF Tours Reality Travel Show in Season Two

Want to see what it's really like to be on an EF Tours European trip, live and practically in person?

(tags: EF-tours educational-travel educational-tours student-travel LifeOnTour Spain video)
A Tour to Remember

(tags: EF-tours educational-travel educational-tours student-travel Hungary Poland CzechRepublic Germany highschool SouthCarolina)
Students Travel through Europe with EF Tours

(tags: EF-tours video)
ef tour photos - Raffi Aashil

(tags: EF-tours photos CostaRica France Paris EiffelTower)

So that's what Clint Eastwood sounds like

2009-10-28T11:21:15-04:00

The first movie my wife ever saw in the original English version was The Bridges of Madison County. She was quite taken with the experience of hearing Clint Eastwood's real voice for the first time; until that point, she'd only heard Clint dubbed into Spanish, by a Spanish actor who probably also dubbed Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Hanks.

More movies would bring her more revelations: Jack Nicholson's real voice, Robert De Niro's real voice, and the real voices of a host of other Americans, right on down to Steve Urkel (American TV shows were dubbed into Spanish, too). For her, there was no comparing the English voice to the Spanish dubbing: The real English was far superior and far more satisfying.

(This preference extended to me; at the time, my Spanish must have sounded like a dub-job gone wrong, particularly when I made attempts at humor. She urged me to stick to my native English until further notice).

But not all countries in Europe dub their foreign-language movies; many countries keep the original English (or French or Chinese, or whatever the original language is) and merely put subtitles in their language at the bottom of the screen.

My wife and I would later meet many friends and colleagues from all over Europe, whose mastery of English seemed to follow a reliable pattern: Those who hailed from countries where American movies and TV shows were in "OV" (Euro-notation for "original version") would have near-native English pronunciation. Those whose American movies and TV shows were dubbed into the local language fared less well at English pronunciation. Our unofficial conclusion: Constantly hearing English on your TVs and movie screens will affect your English for the better.

Check out this fantastic color-coded map of Europe showing who dubs and who doesn't. Scandinavians and the Dutch are famous for their perfect English, and the map bears this out. France, Spain and Italy are big dubbers, and perfect American accents from natives of these countries are much harder to come across.

And lest you think crisp English perfection is geographical (i.e., a northern European phenomenon) and not the result of dubbing, witness the English of young Portuguese and Greeks, which is markedly better than that of their fellow Romance-language southern neighbors. Greece and Portugal don't dub their American movies and TV shows.

Germany is something of a special case: Germans are the most dedicated dubbers, but their English is usually quite good. But the Scandinavians and the Dutch are better. When your native tongue is Germanic (the case for said Germans, Scandinavians and Dutch), you have an advantage in pronouncing English because it's not such a departure from your own accent. So there's no reason (other than rampant dubbing) why Germans wouldn't sound as effortlessly and dashingly authentic in English as their neighbors to the north.

My wife's verdict: Spain better ditch the dubbing, pronto.

What's your verdict? Send over your thoughts and comments. C'mon.

Go ahead. Make my day.

links for 2009-10-26

2009-10-26T18:03:20-04:00

Teacher and traveler has shown students the world

Bonnie Bishop — who has accompanied students on more than 40 EF tours — retired from teaching Spanish in June, but she’s not quite ready to hang up her traveling hat.

(tags: EF-tours educational-travel educational-tours student-travel travel Massachusetts highschool GoAheadTours)
Adams, Jefferson hit the road in England

Retracing the patriots' 1786 tour of England. The itinerary they devised offers as fine an introduction to England as any offered by modern tour companies.

(tags: England travel history Jefferson Adams)
London's Tube will have (some) air conditioning next summer

(tags: travel London England subway)
International Halloween Parties

(tags: Halloween travel Thailand Ireland holidays)

links for 2009-10-21

2009-10-21T18:02:12-04:00

Splitting the Earth

Yesterday was the 125th anniversary of the day the world decided to officially designate Greenwich, England, as longitude 0° 0' 00" (the line known as the Greenwich Prime Meridian).

(tags: England longitude imaginary-lines)
Top ten things not to forget on a trip

(tags: travel tips packing)
Road trip: By way of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and London

(tags: EF-tours educational-travel educational-tours student-travel UnitedKingdom Ireland Scotland Wales England London Kansas announcement 2010)