This Week in America - What Americans Wanted Me to Know

A week ago I uploaded a video called The First Things Australians Notice in America.

https://youtu.be/a2mJtfnJU-8

What happened next caught me completely off guard.

The video passed 160,000 views, the comments poured in, and I found myself spending hours talking with Americans from every corner of the country. What started as a simple discussion about cultural differences became something much bigger.

This week, I'm sharing some of the stories, insights and kindness that appeared in those comments. From goodwill and community to waving on country roads, church invitations and small-town generosity, it became one of the most meaningful weeks I've experienced since moving to Tennessee.

Along the way, I learned a little more about America, a little more about the people who watch this channel, and perhaps a little more about what it means to call two countries home.

Thanks for listening.

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Thanks for listening.

Hoo roo maties.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

You better take cover. This week in America has been a strange week. A really good week, but a strange one too. A week ago I published a video to YouTube. It was called The First Things Australians Notice in America. And since then, it's gone past 170,000 views. I know there are YouTubers who get that before breakfast, but for me, that's a very big number. The comments have been arriving so quickly that I genuinely can't keep up. I've barely looked at Facebook, I've barely looked at X, and the website has mostly been sitting there politely waiting for attention. And every time I think I've caught up with the comments, another couple of hundred more appear. And at one point this week I sat down thinking I'd reply to a few people. Maybe 20 minutes, half an hour if I got distracted. And six hours later, I was still sitting there. Nikki walked past at one point and asked what I was doing. And I think my answer was something like, still replying to comments. 60 hours later. I could have driven to Atlanta in that time. Instead, I spent the afternoon talking to strangers on the internet. And oddly enough, it was one of the most enjoyable afternoons I've had in a long time. Because something interesting started happening. The comments stopped feeling like YouTube comments, and they started feeling more like conversations. The video itself was about things Australians noticed when they first arrived in America. The friendliness, the questions, the conversations with strangers, the willingness of people to stop and chat. But what fascinated me was how Americans responded. Because they weren't really telling me that I was wrong. They were explaining why these things happened, why people ask questions, why neighbors wave, and why complete strangers start conversations in supermarket aisles. One comment in particular really stuck with me. Someone wrote that Americans aren't necessarily trying to become friends instantly. They're starting from a position of goodwill until they're given a reason not to. And that really stopped me because I spent eight years trying to understand that part of America. I've always described it as friendliness. Goodwill might actually be the better word for this. And once I'd read that comment, I started seeing it all throughout the comments. People kept describing situations where the goal wasn't friendship. The goal was making somebody feel welcome. And that's slightly different. When we first arrived in Tennessee, we got invited to all sorts of things. There were church events, community gatherings, trunk or treats, school activities, neighborhood events. And at the time, we honestly just thought everybody was incredibly friendly. Looking back now, I think people were trying to help us find our place here. They were helping us build connections and helping us find community. Helping us stop feeling like the new family from the other side of the world. And another thing Americans spent a lot of time explaining was the questions. Australians, we noticed the questions immediately. Yeah, things like, what do you do? Where are you from? How long have you been here? What brought you to Tennessee? How old are your kids? Some Australians hear those questions and think, mate, we've only known each other for 14 seconds. But comment after comment said essentially the same thing. They're looking for common ground and they're looking for a connection. Something you might both understand. I thought that was interesting because Australians often use humour for exactly the same purpose. We just take a completely different route. Australians tend to test the waters with a joke, and Americans tend to ask a question. Same destination, different GPS. The stories people shared were probably my favourite part of this whole thing. One commenter told me about giving a British bloke a ride through Arkansas while he was walking across America, which sounds either incredibly generous or the beginning of a true crime podcast. Fortunately, it turned out to be the generous version. Another person told me about marching band competitions where parents from one school were cheering louder for a drummer from another school than some of his own supporters, and it was a story that I loved. There was another thread about waving on country roads, and that one made me laugh because Country Australia does exactly the same thing. If you drive down enough back roads, eventually everybody waves. Nobody knows why. Nobody really talks about it, but it's just part of the agreement. I see you, and you see me. We're both out of here. Carry on. The other thing I learned this week is that Americans are absolutely determined to explain that America is not one place. I must have read that comment 500 times. Well, that's true where I live, followed by an explanation. People from New York explaining New York, people from California explaining California. People from Florida explaining Florida. People from the Midwest explaining why everyone forgets that the Midwest exists. Texans weren't explaining America at all. They were mostly explaining Texas. And to be fair, I think they actually seem pretty happy about that arrangement. But it did remind me of Australia. Australians often talk about America like it's one giant culture, and it isn't. But I guess Australia isn't either. Because country Australia feels different from Sydney, and the Riverina feels different from Melbourne. The Outback is different from Brisbane. The closer you look at any country, the more complicated it becomes. One of my favorite moments came from a thread connected to another video I'd made recently about Australian humour. Someone who had visited Australia said that Australians can seem rude until you understand the intent behind what they're saying. And honestly, that made me laugh. Because I've spent years saying something similar about Americans. Americans can seem intrusive until you understand the intent behind the questions. It's the same lesson, but different countries. Intent changes everything. The longer I sat there reading the comments, the more I realized people weren't really defending America. They were explaining themselves and their town, their church, their neighbors and their family, all of the things that they valued. And honestly, that was far more interesting than any argument could have been. And something else happened as well. People started sending what's called a super thanks, little tips attached to comments. Now, I'll be honest, every time one arrived, I was really surprised. And not because of the money, but because somebody actually thought to do it. I guess that's what really caught me off guard. I've received several this week, along with some buy me a coffees as well. And every single time it happened, I found myself sitting there thinking, this is absolutely incredibly kind. Because nobody has to do that. Nobody owes me anything. Yet complete strangers kept finding little ways to support the channel, support the conversation, and encourage me to keep going. And I don't think I've really fully processed that yet. This whole week has left me feeling extremely grateful and a little overwhelmed, if I'm honest. But mostly grateful. One of the strange things about living overseas is that home becomes a bigger concept over time. Now Australia will always be home. And I don't think that ever changes. But after eight years in Tennessee, something else is very true as well. Because this place has become home to me. My daughters are growing up here. My daily life is here. My friendships, my stories are here. And this week, over a hundred thousand people around America reminded me why. Because underneath all the cultural differences and all the little things Australians noticed about America, what I kept running into over and over again was generosity. Generosity with stories and encouragement. Generosity with time and kindness. And by the end of the week, I realized the comments had become really more interesting than the video. People weren't talking about politics and they weren't talking about outrage or headlines. They were talking about neighbors, community, and belonging and the places that they love, the people who helped them, and hidden inside all those stories was a message that I kept hearing again and again. We're glad you're here. As an Australian living in Tennessee, that's not something that I take lightly. So if you happened to watch the video, and if you left a comment, if you shared a story, if you sent a super thanks, thank you. You turned what could have been just another upload into one of the most meaningful weeks I think I've ever had since I started the channel and the From Down Under to Down South brand. And for that, I'm genuinely grateful. That was this week in America.