In the US, many of us were educated as children with the mantra of "We're Number One." But when you learn more about other countries, you see that they are often superior in various ways to the US. Perhaps it's time we start to better appreciate other places and other ways. If you've traveled or lived outside the US, the Free Press invites you to contribute to this column.

The Netherlands & China

Bicycles That Get Used

by Doug Collins

As a kid growing up in American suburbia, I enjoyed bikes. I started on a trike with tassles on the handles, moved up to a bike with training wheels, and soon learned to balance on two wheels (I tried a unicycle, but never got the hang of it!). But my journeys by bike were generally not far. I was daunted by busy arterial streets that confined my range to the quieter streets near home. My bike, therefore, was more of a leisure toy than a practical tool. Anywhere I could bike, I could also just as well walk. If I wanted to go farther, I depended on mom or dad for a car ride. The only practical application of bikes that I ever saw in my childhood was a local paper delivery boy who did his route by bike.

My first practical use of a bike was when I went to college. Just like many other students at the University of Florida, I commuted by bike on an uncomfortable ten-speed, the only kind of bike widely available in the early eighties. I hunched over the low handlebars and wore my heavy backpack for lack of a basket. The bike helped me get around from apartment to classroom, but it was ironic that I and many classmates were using uncomfortable sport bikes for a commuting purpose. (The "mountain bikes"--just emerging at the time--were more comfortable, but were also sport bikes, unnecessarily expensive and heavy with their super-wide wheels.) I learned implicitly in these years that bikes in America are primarily sport equipment rather than practical transportation. It's no wonder that college bike commuters generally expect they will get a car as soon as they can afford it.

In my second year of college I spent a year studying abroad in Utrecht, a large city in the Netherlands. What a bicycle education! Dutch bikes are built for practical commuting and for carrying things. You sit upright, like on a mountain bike, but the wheels are light and inexpensive. Practically everyone has a bike. Most people know how to fix flats--and are glad to teach you if you don't--so there are few runs to the repair store. Almost every bike has a front basket for grocery shopping and a heavy-duty back rack which can easily carry a crate of beer or a real-life sitting passenger. Both city and countryside have separate bike paths, so bikes are protected from cars.

The centers of Utrecht and other Dutch cities over the past twenty years have become dominated increasingly by pedestrians and bikes, and there are few cars now to be seen. The last time I visited Utrecht, I noticed the big difference. As soon as I got out of the train and into the central downtown area, I felt the peaceful atmosphere of human sounds rather than the engine buzz of car traffic. I also noticed fresh air rather than the exhaust vapors I'm accustomed to in the US. The Netherlands is the most densely populated country on earth, yet the atmosphere in some big cities there is way better than that of any residential neighborhood I've ever known in the US. Intelligent urban planning certainly has its advantages!

I returned from my study in the Netherlands, and then applied my new bicycle knowledge to the US. I took parts from free discarded bikes (there are many here), found a comfortable, wider seat and handlebar for upright sitting, and installed them on a ten-speed frame for better hill climbing. It worked great! I added rain fenders later to make it even more practical. I started grocery shopping by bike and going longer distances comfortably by bike, even loading camping gear for weekend trips. But I realized too that in the US I had to be more careful when biking, often by using the sidewalks. After all, many motorists here just aren't used to driving next to bikes.

A few years later, I got an English teaching job in Chengdu, China, and so I resided in another country where bikes are widely used. The beauty of Chinese bikes at the time (the late eighties) was in their durability and variety of form: I remember many tricycle-taxis in the city, as well as tricycles resembling pick-up trucks, which carried large loads of vegetables or other items to market. Chinese also carry heavy loads on their standard bikes through a variety of simple attachments.

The most important piece of bicycle practicality that I learned in China was the rain poncho. Instead of expensive and cumbersome two-piece rain suits, most Chinese use simple one-piece rainproof ponchos that are short in the back and long in the front, a shape which enables you to drape the poncho over your arms and handlebars while riding. These ponchos create an umbrella over your pedaling legs, and are quickly donned and doffed over your regular clothes. (I brought one from China and have been using it the past 12 years in Seattle.)

As in Holland, in China there are many lanes exclusively for bikes, and the majority of people there still use bikes. But I could tell during my stay there that the bicycle ethos in China is a bit different from that in the Netherlands. Most Dutch prefer bikes for their environmental cleanliness and the exercise they offer; in contrast, I got the impression that many Chinese will use a car or motorbike as soon as they can afford it. Because the air is already extremely polluted in China from factories and the burning of coal, the Chinese admiration for cars seems self-destructive, but it is an understandable reaction to the poverty that most Chinese experienced in the previous few decades. The Chinese government, if it cares about life quality, really should be encouraging the use of bikes. Then again, so should the US government. We stand a lot to gain from increased bike use. More people using bikes mean less dependence on fossil fuel, more money saved in the bank (car use is expensive), less money spent on roads (car use wears roads quickly), less pollution, more exercise, less demand for destructive suburban sprawl, and more demand for neighborhood shops and services.

The two biggest obstacles to bicycle use right now in America are fear of sweat, and lack of mechanical familiarity with bikes.

Many Americans hold the view that a bit of sweat from bicycling would be unseemly when showing up at work. If you really have a problem with profuse sweating, bring an extra shirt to put on after you've cooled down a bit. If people around you are being unreasonably sweat-phobic, then maybe it's your responsibility to dare to be different. Keep in mind the real underlying reason that Americans fear sweat: years of TV ads for chemical anti-perspirants that aim to profit by making people feel embarrassed about their natural body reactions.

The best way to overcome the second obstacle, lack of mechanical familiarity with bicycles, is to ask a bike-knowledgeable friend to help get you started. (And if you are bike-knowledgeable, you might offer to help your friends!). You can also get good advice from bike businesses and basic repair manuals. Some very simple tools, materials, and know-how will enable you to make most repairs cheaply and quickly.

I encourage you to start using your bike for something practical rather than just for occasional fun. Enjoy the exercise and ride safe!

Japanese teeth

In Japan, people don't worry so much about having straight teeth, like many Americans do. In fact, it seems Japanese appreciate the charm of a smile in which teeth are natural and not straight. This not only minimizes dental bills, but also gives people a more realistic concept of beauty, rather than Hollywood-type perfection. Check out Japanese magazines; you'll find that many of the models have wide smiles with irregular or crooked teeth. Because of this, they look more like regular people compared with their American counterparts.

Taiwanese Gifts

Taiwanese people really splurge on throwing parties for weddings or other special events. And instead of bringing toasters or gift certificates as gifts, the guests usually just make cash donations. The cash is simply put inside a nice card and delivered with good wishes. This works well for three reasons: 1) it helps pay for the nice party and scrumptious food, 2) it enables the recipients to use the cash to buy whatever they like--rather than having to return five toasters to the department store--and 3) it's very easy for the guests, since they don't have to decide on a gift to buy. In Taiwan, you wouldn't buy a gift for someone unless it was something that you deeply wanted them to have--you'd normally just give cash instead. If we put this into practice in the US, it might eliminate a lot of junk around our houses!

Good Ideas About Babies

Ethiopian names

If you can't decided a name for your newborn baby, family and friends write possible suggested names on small slips of paper. These papers--perhaps a couple hundred--are put in a basket. The parents then pick names out of the basket until they find one that seems to fit right. This process is more social and family-oriented than simply picking names out of a baby-name book, as we tend to do here. It's nice, too, that the baby is typically named after the birth, which can allow the parents to choose a more fitting name based on the baby's personality or appearance. Naming a child days or even weeks after birth is also possible in the US (if you are not in a hurry for a birth certificate), though many Americans are not aware of this option.

American second-hand

The habit here of donating baby clothes and toys to expectant friends works really well. Before the birth of our child, my wife and I received many free clothes and toys--the vast majority second-hand--from friends, so many baby goods that a baby shower would have been totally uncalled for. We therefore skipped the shower (to discourage unnecessary buying of excessive new stuff!) and decided instead to have a baby party one-month after the baby was born, so everyone could get a chance to meet our "little doober". And in the future when someone else is having a baby, we'll have bags of baby goods ready for them, too.