Posts Tagged ‘North America’
Working to live, living to work
Reynaldo Ulloa, 19, said his father wanted to return to Cuba, and had spoke of its advantages. “He says the lifestyle is better,” said Mr. Ulloa, a criminal justice major at Miami-Dade College. “Here you live to work, but there you work to live.” But Mr. Ulloa said he had little interest in moving to [...]
Irish English and American English
Language is of course one of the most common obstacles to communication across cultures. It often surprises us, though, when these obstacles crop up even among individuals who speak the same language, albeit in different countries. There is a popular quote attributed to George Bernard Shaw about England and America being “two countries separated by the same language.” [...]
How immigrants assimilate
There has been much talk in recent months about the growing Hispanic population in the United States and its effect on the country. One of the fears articulated is that we could be creating a separate Spanish culture in the U.S. However, a recent story in the Washington Post indicates that some of those fears may [...]
Contemplating American culture
Happy July 4th, Americans! Today seems like a good day to contemplate some of the many facets of American culture. First, an article from the Journal Star of Lincoln, Nebraska, that examines some of what it means to be an American: Unlike many other countries where blood and birth define citizenship, America is a nation of [...]
The Chinese and the Americans
The Chinese are busy with preparations for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. Apparently, they are planning for every contingency in an effort to make an impression on the world. According to this article in the International Herald Tribune, the government is even involved in a campaign to improve the manners of the Chinese people in [...]
Vacation culture
American workers and employers are beginning to recognize the benefits of having and using vacation time. Part of this trend is driven by younger workers who value quality of life issues and a balance between work and personal time, according to an article in the Christian Science Monitor. Even so, the U.S. work culture is quite a [...]
America within the Americas
There was an interesting column recently in the Los Angeles Times by Richard Rodriguez in which he discussed what he saw as the birth of a Latin American consciousness in the United States. He suggested that in the future the U.S. was more likely to see itself as an integral part of the Americas. Here is an [...]
Creative Brazil, Orderly U.K., Optimistic U.S.
Lots of World Cup coverage in the news this week. Last week, one of my posts discussed the influence of culture on a country’s style of soccer play, particularly as it related to Brazil. This past Sunday, the New York Times published a sports magazine with a few Cup articles. If you read through the stories, you’ll [...]
Adapting medical care to culture
Medical facilities in the U.S. are becoming more aware of the need to adapt their practices to different cultures, as evidenced by this article about New York area hospitals. (This) reflects a broader national shift in health care as urban hospitals move beyond the translation services that started becoming common in the late 1990′s and [...]
‘Road Trip USA’
Ah, the enchantment of the American road. Rolf Potts uses his Yahoo travel column this week to interview Jamie Jensen, author of Road Trip USA. Jensen discusses the attraction of this uniquely American journey: In Europe, you have towns and cities where people walk around; in America, we drive. It’s the difference between the passegiata [...]
From Italian architecture to American reinvention
Interesting piece by Roger Cohen in the Sunday NY Times that discusses some of the cultural differences between the U.S. and Europe. Cohen begins by talking about an Italian architect who was recently wounded while working in Afghanistan: … his presence in the western city of Herat was somehow comforting, even if what had happened to [...]
Immigration and national identity
It goes without saying that immigrants are central to the U.S. identity. But that doesn’t mean that Americans have always agreed about the issue of immigration. Far from it. Descendants of the early U.S. settlers struggled to assimilate the southern and eastern Europeans that came after them, such as the Italians and the Poles. Today, those immigrant groups are equally [...]
Stay current with the Riel World
Follow me on Twitter
Join me on Facebook 
Subscribe by EmailMeet Bob Riel
Bob Riel is a writer and a traveler. Go here to read more about Bob, his work and the Travels in the Riel World blog.
Great American Road Trips
Two Laps Around the World
My travel memoir - Two Laps Around the World: Tales and Insights from a Life Sabbatical - is about two round-the-world journeys with my wife.
Visit Travel Blog Exchange
