Americans in Europe

Have you ever been in a situation where you felt like you didn’t quite fit in? It could be for any reason. Maybe what you’re wearing, the color of your skin, your age, your sex, or any one of a multitude of other reasons. And I’m not talking about situations where others made you feel that way; I’m talking about those times when the feeling is totally from within. For example, years ago, when I was in the Air Force, a lady I knew took her older son to a Gospel service on base during African American Heritage Month. Her son, high school age, told her after the service that it was a very awkward feeling being the only white people in the service, but went on to say it was enlightening to feel how others must feel at times.
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Traci and I had an awkward feeling like that a few years ago, although ours wasn’t so educational or enlightening. We went to Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands to visit our son and his family in January. Having lived in the area myself many years ago, I knew the weather could vary in January. Still, we didn’t want to take multiple coats so we decided to take our ski jackets because they are warm, waterproof. If it happens to be warm one day, they can easily be packed into a backpack and pulled out later – wrinkle-free. It was a great idea, so we thought. We couldn’t have stood out anymore as American tourists unless we had a neon sign over our head that said “American.” Europeans don’t wear bright-colored coats in the winter. They predominantly wear dark colors; brown, black, gray, etc. And here we were in our ski jackets, mine bright green and Traci’s was neon yellow. We couldn’t have been more obvious if we were naked. At least we didn’t have to worry about anyone stealing our jackets.