Like a Whole Other Country

The house above was just built in the past few months and is somewhere in the 189,000 range. This is in fact a cheap house in the Bismarck-Mandan area. Down the street, there is new construction selling for 250-300. I'm not really sure who can afford any of these. There must be quite alot of people either making alot of money or living "house poor".

Many commentators have written about what the large garage in front says about our culture. My experience in Canada has caused me to think anew about the cultural context of the American garage. That is what I love about travel, it changes the way you look at things.

It is interesting to compare this new Bismarck house to the new Toronto house two posts down. Both diminutive Toronto garages would fit inside a fraction of this two car/one boat American style garage. The Toronto garage blends into the front of the house, while the American garage IS the front of the house. It raises alot of interesting questions about the cultural and societal priorities of the American middle class.