So on our museum trip yesterday, we unfortunately also came across a species that is not rare enough, the ugly American (ugly referring to their demeanor and attitude). Stopping at a cafe for tea and tiramisu, we soon noticed a group speaking English. The parents and teenage daughter sat down at the table next to ours and we began to engage with them in pleasant conversation. Here from Dallas, the group was part of a larger tour that was made up of collegiate singers. We exchanged niceties and brief travel stories however we were soon put off by their attitudes.After having been in Brno for a whole four hours, they felt qualified to say that they felt the area and all it's people were "depressed" however they were sure that given a few years stores would take off and such (this was after I told them I had been to Poland and they made a joke about concentration camps so I was already not impressed). After trying to engage us in an American-style status game (who's children go to what school, who's more successful...) and having made a snap judgment about an entire country, we felt it best to leave before we reminded them that they were here from Dallas (which I believe is currently the fattest city in America and the site of the Kennedy assassination so how high can their horse be?). After a brief venting session where Tom and I went over everything we wish we had said to them in defense of the country that we have greatly enjoyed getting to know, we decided that there are some people who just view the world in one way, and it is not possible for that perspective to change. I will however read Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain when I return to the States as Tom suggested it fit that situation perfectly.
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