American cultural education, suggestions requested

It has been so long since I have written a substantive blog post and for my followers and readers, I humbly apologize.

I have had many different demands on my time and while I wanted to blog, I began seeing its lure as a source of possible procrastination from accomplishing other things that needed to be finished. Hence the cyber silence.

I will be resuming my travelogue of places I visited in France because there are still many sights that I know people will be interested in and perhaps have not heard of before. Such as the village of Peyrusse la Roc that was once conquered by Pepin le Bref.

Here is a taste of what is to come.

Charlemagne's father may not have conquered this particular ruin, but he did conquer whatever was standing there in the 8th century.

In the meantime, I wanted to ask my readers for some suggestions. My husband and I are hosting an exchange student from Belgium for the school year and we wish to make sure she has as complete of an American cultural experience as possible.

There are many ways where I am trying to help her become as "Americanized" such as teaching her the subtleties of American English versus the Queen's English which she was taught in Belgium. For example the country France should be pronounced as if it rhymes with pants and not ambiance.

The word "can't" has to sound like pant and not Immanuel Kant.

I have a working checklist of things for her to complete and I wanted to ask for additions to the list that I may have overlooked. The ones with the X after them have been completed, the rest are things are waiting to be tasted, seen or experienced.

American food:

corn on the cob X
apple pie X
pumpkin pie X

strawberry shortcake X
hot dogs X
barbequed ribs X
pot roast X
Kraft macaroni and cheese X
potato salad
tater tots

steak X

Thanksgiving turkey / dressing

Mashed potatoes & gravy

Prime rib

Fast food restaurants:
McDonald's X
Burger King X
Arby's X
Taco Bell
Kentucky Fried Chicken

Movies:

The Wizard of Oz X

Back to the Future X

What’s Up Doc? X

West Side Story X

Oklahoma

Sound of Music X

South Pacific

Annie Get Your Gun

Star Wars

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure X

Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey X

The Breakfast Club X

National Lampoon’s Animal House

Blazing Saddles

Young Frankenstein

Some Like it Hot

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory X

Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Hair

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Television:

How the Grinch Stole Christmas X

Charlie Brown Christmas X

Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

All in the Family
The Cosby Show
Family Ties
Barney Miller
Dark Shadows
Cheers

Activities:

High school football games X
putt putt golf
hiking X
Legoland
Disneyland
skiing
picnic on the beach X


Thanks in advance for your feedback,

Linda