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American way of life, customs and traditions

Nowadays young Americans tend not to live with their families but in apartments in the cities, shared rental houses in residential areas where everyone is more or less of the same age. Young people often move away from home when they leave school (if they can afford it) into shared apartments or small one-room "studio" apartments. They do their own cooking or cleaning, and go to the family home per­haps for the weekend.

Young married couples may move to new suburbs where most people have young families. Some even build their homes themselves. If a family income goes up they often move to another suburb, where the houses are bigger, with two or even three garages, perhaps, a swimming pool, a family room for watching TV and, possibly, an exercise room with special equipment.

Older people often do not live with their grown-up children. Many live in old people's homes. Some live in special retirement communities, built for old citizens, where' there are no young children and the atmosphere is quiet.

Americans are frequently on the move, and some families change their homes every few years. Every year, 20% of Americans move house. A married couple could start life in an apartment in New York, go on to a white painted wooden home in New England, with small windows to keep out the cold in winter, and end their life in a sunny house in California, where oranges grow in the garden, and big windows give a wonderful view of the swimming pool and the ocean.

"Hobbies" are a great English and American tradition. Many people have pets as their hobbies. They keep dogs, cats or rabbits, which are the most popular, but birds, fish and other creatures are also kept. Some people train dogs to do tricks, or keep pigeons to race and carry messages. Gardening is one of the most popular hobbies among Americans of all ages.

Others are mad about their cars, pickup trucks or their motorcycles. They spend their Saturdays and Sundays washing them, painting them, or buying new equipment to make them go even faster or make them more impressive.

Children and teenagers are great collectors. They collect stamps or postcards, or pictures of favorite baseball, football or pop stars. And, of course, CDs and tapes are very popular items to collect.

Many people, especially retired persons who have much spare time, attend evening classes to learn cooking, languages and literature, ballet or body building. They may also organize themselves into special interest groups of those, for instance, who love traveling, or path-walking.

Most Americans love to spend time outdoors, and many go for holidays or long weekends into the 35 fabulous national parks. These magnificent areas of countryside include tropical forests, high moun­tains, dry deserts and prairies full of wild animals. The idea of these parks is to keep different parts of the nature as they were before man arrived. There are camping places in many of these parks as well as museums.

Americans are also interested in culture. Millions take part-time courses in writing, painting and music, and on weekends the museums, art and concert halls are usually crowded.