Small Town Gone Global (or "Where are you from?")

There is a question that some of my friends claim I ask way too early in basically any conversation. That being: "Where are you from?"

What can I say? I am sincerely interested in where people are from, what they do there, their customs, way of life, etc. etc. It's why I travel in the first place and the answers to those questions really intrigue me. It doesn't mean a person has to be from Liberia or Barbuda either--- I'm intensely curious about what life is like in Madison and Decatur too.

If I had to guess, the question came out of my time bouncing around the United States on the Greyhound Bus as a 19 year old. Back then staying at a hostel was a thrill and a luxury. The great thing about staying in a hostel in America is that no one is American. They're all travelers. So by bumming around my own country I had this whole international experience by staying at hostels--- and early in my conversations I always wanted to know: "Where you from?" because everyone's country was new to me.

Of course I'm not the only person curious about these things. It is the first thing that locals ask me when I visit their countries too.

In an interestingly ironic twist, answering my own favorite question has been never been easy for me.

When I travelled to Dubai in 2005 I thought of telling people I was from Canada...But I couldn't do it. As much as I oppose the war, the president's idea of international relations (except the back massage he gave Merkel which was painfully, awkwardly hilarious), and pretty much everything else the Executive Branch does, the United States is my country, these are the mountains I grew up hiking in, the rivers I learned to swim in and the people who I grew up with. So I'm from America.

This led to an interesting situation with a cab driver from Saudi Arabia, my girlfriend Katrin, and me.

CABBIE: "Where are you from?"

KATRIN: Germany.

ME: The U.S.

CABBIE: Oh...I love Germany.

KATRIN (laughing and instigating): Hmmmm, and what about America?

A long pause and thoughtful stare from the Cab Driver

CABBIE: I love Germany!

Which summed up what he was feeling about perfectly without uttering an unkind word.

---

More recently, I have been unsure which part of the United States to say I'm from. I was born and raised in Oregon and Oregon where a man can get some elbow room is my true home. But very, very few people know where Oregon is, and I invariably end up having to explain that it's not Ohio.

Sometimes, when time doesn't permit explanations, I say California instead. This isn't really a huge stretch --- I have spent a big chunk of the past ten years in California.

When I do say California people want to know which city. My town is close (in the global sense) to LA so I normally say Los Angeles. Which is painful, because for all of its virtues LA is a place I don't particularly want people thinking I am from.

So sometimes I waffle.

Which brings me to the conversation that led to this post.---

SCENE: A fitness studio (gym) that I joined in Bavaria to help absorb the twelve pounds of dumpling and sausage that I was eating daily.

CHARACTERS: Me, German Employee (early 20's)

HIM: Where are you from?

ME: (hesitation) California

HIM: Super! Where in California?

ME: Umm... (Tons of waffling here) Laguna Beach.

HIM: Oh, like from the TV show?

ME: (weak grimace)

HIM: COOL!

----------------------

I never had to pay to rent a towel for the next three weeks.

The reason this interests me is that Laguna Beach is a town of less than 30,000 people. It is (during the off-season) quaint, charming, and resting on top of some of the best beaches in America.

There are only 30,000 residents! That's far less than the aforementioned Madison, Wisconsin or Decatur, Alabama. But because of an MTV Reality Show, Laguna Beach is one of the most globally recognizable cities in America. I swear. I've had very similar conversations to the one transcribed above in Israel, Italy, Thailand and Australia.

Now, as much as I might be tempted, I won't go off into a rant about what exactly it means that people all over the world are getting their perceptions of America's youth from MTV's LAGUNA BEACH: The Real Orange County --- but it is interesting to note that people all over the world are taking notice of it. America is the World's Leader in Media-Created-Culture and this is what we are giving people. This is the insight people get into our lives, customs and rituals. (Okay, I snuck a short rant in there)

My personal reaction to this? Let me just say, the next time someone asks: "where are you from?" I'll answer Oregon, and stick to it, no matter how much explaining it takes.