In my perfect world, when traveling abroad, it is acceptable to knock on the door of someone’s home and ask to see inside. But my world is not that perfect, although it is pretty awesome. So my look inside non-American homes has pretty much been limited to shopping at IKEA.
A couple of years ago, I volunteered to drive our German colleagues from a business dinner to their hotel, because it was on my way home. On the way, they asked where I lived, what my neighborhood was like, and what sort of house did we have.
“You know, I live only three miles from your hotel. Would you like to see my house?”
I thought Berit was going to launch over the front seat and hug me! “Oh yes! Do you have a giant ice crusher?” she asked. So I brought Berit, Bjoern, and Uwe home to poke around a real American house. We do not have a giant ice crusher, but our circa 1982 fridge is giant, compared to those in Hamburg. Bjoern noted the double ovens: Americans eat so much, they need two ovens! (Ummmm. Thanks?) And the giant American garage for the giant American cars left them almost speechless. (It is a two-car garage, ya’ll.) Clearly, because I’m still smiling about it, it was really nice to give my German friends a glimpse inside a fairly normal American Life.
Ah, you’ve noticed? The picture in this ginnygram is not of my Hamburg colleagues. You are looking at my Shenzhen colleagues! That’s Harvey, Sabrina, Sandy, and Henry. They are visiting the mothership corporate headquarters for the week. And they are enjoying a glass of California red in front of our traditional American fireplace.
When we were all saying our good-mornings today, I broached the subject of a visit to my American home. Like Berit before her, Sandy physically jumped at the chance! And how wonderful for Harvey, who was here for his first U.S. visit!
And so I toured them through every room, bathrooms and all. And what caught their collective eye? A photo of a handsome WWII soldier, the near-crumbling books of my great-grandparents, Miss Gigi’s reinvented dress form, our lavender-colored vintage bathtub, the framed portraits of my mother and me in our wedding dress, and my grandfather’s dentist cabinet that now stores my flatware and candles in our dining room.
Oh, I so want to see how the rest of the world lives.
But I do love my American life.
ginnygram 