2024-03-19 21:17:44
[The Epoch Times, March 20, 2024](Comprehensive report by Epoch Times reporter Li Yan) “I love my motherland, but Germans generally believe that the glass is half empty. And here, people have an innate optimism ( Thinking the glass is half full), I cherish and love this optimism very much,” said Saabok, a German citizen with a U.S. green card.
“Is the glass half empty or half full?” is an English slang term used to express the different mentality of pessimists and optimists facing the same thing. Optimists see the glass as half full, pessimists see the glass as half empty.
CNN Travel often reports on how Americans “fulfill their dreams” in Europe. However, there are also many Europeans who never return to Europe following crossing the ocean to the United States. As for the reasons, they are different. But most of the interviewees chose to settle here because of American culture and spirit.
Aggressive “Cowboy Mentality”
Florian Herrmann, 44, is from Munich, Germany and first came to the United States in 2006 as an exchange student at the University of California.
When it was all over, he returned to Germany and was recruited to work for a small family business in Wyoming. Eventually, he founded his own travel marketing company, Herrmann Global, in the United States.
“The mentality here is ‘Let’s try it,'” he said. “If it doesn’t work, they say, ‘Well, you did it, and now you know it doesn’t work.'”
Herman lives with his American wife and two children in Lander, Wyoming, a small town with a population of less than 8,000 people. He plans to apply for U.S. citizenship when the time is right.
“You know the police, the court people, the neighbors. My friends came to see me from Germany and saw me waving to the police and didn’t know what I was doing.” He added, “I feel like an American. This country is so… I’ve done a lot and I’m grateful for that.”
“Innate optimism”
Gabriele Sappok, 54, left Stuttgart, Germany, in 2006 and founded the company Imagine PR in New York with her German husband. Americans’ optimistic attitude towards life inspired her a lot.
“I love my country, but in Germany the glass is generally seen as half empty. Here, there is an innate optimism (that the glass is half full) that I cherish and love very much .” The German citizen with a U.S. green card said that when she returned to Germany, Germans would complain that Americans would casually ask you how you were doing “without really caring.”
She said she explained to them, “In the United States, I get really happy when people ask me how I’m doing, and it’s a gesture I appreciate.” She was frustrated when the United States “sneered at it.”
“It’s a good country, it really is a good country,” she said. “As long as I can work and do what I’m doing, I wouldn’t think of moving.”
“come on”
Laurence Noguier is from France and is a partner of Bistronomic restaurant in Chicago. She moved to the city in 1998 when she was 27 years old.
She said she values America’s entrepreneurial spirit. “In America, if you have a project, a good work ethic, a little common sense and a will to succeed, you really find an audience, a support system and people who tell you ‘Go for it!'”
“If they have connections or resources, they’ll share them with you and help you get to the next step,” said Nogier, 53. “As a woman in her 50s, America makes me feel important, and age is not. Judgment criteria.”
She has a green card and plans to apply for citizenship this year. She said that while health care costs in the U.S. are “pretty high” compared to Europe, “the cliche that the U.S. doesn’t have health insurance and pensions is actually wrong.”
“While I’m proud to be European,” Nogier said, “I wish everyone might come to the United States and try to discover themselves in another world.”
“Melting Pot”
Clodagh Lawless is the owner of Chicago’s Dearborn Tavern. She grew up in Galway, Ireland, and first came to Ireland in 1998 following her parents obtained immigrant visas for the family. U.S.
“America is a melting pot, bringing together people from different cultural backgrounds. This brings a lot of secular education that you can’t find in any school or university.” said Lawless, who became a U.S. citizen in 2017 and also likes Chicago weather.
Lawless said her sons loved being Irish-American and were very proud of their Irish heritage and of their mother “who is now American.”
“Becoming an American citizen is one of the proudest moments of my life,” she said, adding that the opportunities afforded by being an American always bring tears to her eyes.
“Just take things as they come”
In 1979, 17-year-old Lorna MacDonald came to the United States from Penzance, England. At that time, she was crossing the Atlantic in a 45-foot sailboat with her mother, father and brother.
She said they landed at Singer Island in Florida and originally planned to head to the Chesapeake Bay, but fell in love with St. Augustine in Florida during the voyage.
In 1981, MacDonald and his family opened The Raintree, a beloved local restaurant that remains today. In 1986, she became a U.S. citizen.
“Here, you will meet people from all walks of life every day.” She said, “It is rare to make irresponsible remarks to people here, and more people are happy to take things as they come.”
“I call America home,” McDonald said, but England will always be home.
Editor in charge: Lin Yan#
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