Sunday, October 7
Excitement and adventure!
A short note - somebody on eBay in the next town over was selling a Tablet PC that was as good as my desktop PC back home for a ridiculously cheap amount. They were selling it, now it's been sold and I own it. I'll be selling that old computer of mine when I get back after I've gotten everything off it I want to get off.
Thursday, October 4
Well hasn't it been a while!
I apologise for the delay in updates but hey, I also make no excuses other than "it's my holiday not yours, nyah nyah nyah."
Last weekend Maddie and I drove up to Cleveland, Ohio to visit my friend Sarah. Do you know how far Cleveland, Ohio is when you're travelling by car? I do. It's at least ten hours. It just may be over eleven. And iPod batteries don't quite last that long if you haven't charged it for a little while. It was fun playing the DJ in the car while it lasted though, and plenty of songs were sung.
On the way there (and on the way back) there were at least plenty of really ridiculously beautiful things to be seen. Like the view from the Appalachian Mountains over the state of West Virginia. Or the times we drove through clouds which still isn't quite something I am old enough to ignore. Or the two seperate circumstances that led us to driving through a mountain. Two different mountains, in fact. I love tunnels.
Once we reached Ohio though, it was still another four or so hours until Cleveland, and Ohio isn't that interesting a state until you get to the top of it, so we settled for frequent pit stops, CD changes and swearing at any ugly things that we drove past. I guess it was our own fault for putting off leaving until almost 4pm, but by this point in driving the both of us were very, very, very tired.
Cleveland came and I tell you what, it's a beautiful city. We found our way to Sarah's apartment quite easily and stumbled through her door exhausted from our extended period of strenuous sitting. I have no idea why but I didn't take any photos of Cleveland at all, which was terrible. For starters, Sarah's street was this narrow little street with beautiful big brick apartments and multi floor houses lining it, all old yet not dilapidated. And cheap as heck, I was amazed. Sarah's apartment was really big, with two bedrooms, a long hall, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen and a laundry, with a balcony out front, all for $575 a month. It was within minutes of the center of town too. If only Australian property prices were that cheap.
We slept pretty easily that night and the next day headed into the middle of Cleveland for walking, shopping, exploring and such. Only not much shopping went down as apparently on weekends, Cleveland shuts down early which boggled everybody's minds. We all jumped on a train and went west, to a smaller city area that was home to a gorgeously quaint little square with a statue and bus stop, and a fantastic brewery.
In the brewery, they served a "sampler" which was ten dollars and for that, you got a pot of each type of beer they made. Which was ten beers. And some of them were gloriously Australian-strength beers, one of which was an India Pale Ale which I do oh so love.
We got a little tipsy.
Oddly, Maddie and I got ridiculously hung over the next morning which put a damper on the day's activities. Oddly because we didn't drink enough to match up to how we felt, and oddly because Sarah and Max were absolutely fine and dapper. As such a lot of excursions and such that night were put on hold, although we did go visit a cool LGBT store and giggle at shot glasses that said "I LOVE BOYS." I didn't get one for anybody back home though so take that, you vicariosos.
Cleveland is on the borders of massive Lake Erie. Look up on a map if you have one for the size of it; it won't get the size across. This lake goes across several states, could float all of the ACT and looks like the damn ocean. It's a shame it also smelled really bad, otherwise I would have tried to swim to Canada. Failed miserably for sure, but I could have tried. Cleveland also has a river running through it, and we were informed by our hosts that the river has literally caught on fire. I thought "burning river" was one of them there urban legend type rumours, but I've thought a lot of very stupid things in my life so I shouldn't have acted so surprised when I found out it actually happened.
In any case, we drove around a little that night and eventually went to bed, woke up, stretched a lot then got in the car and sat still for the ten or eleven hours it took to get back. Google Maps told us the drive would only be 9 hours long but Google is Not Always Right. I harbor a little ill will towards this particular lie.
Oh and over the week I caught up on sleep, played some free video games that a friend in Canada mailed to me because he's just ginchy and spent the next weekend doing nothing at all, because it's my holiday and I'll sleep if I want to, sleep if I want to, sleep if I want to. I'm off to stare at tablet PCs on eBay more now, as there's ridiculously good deals in this country, and having my own laptop would make things a lot easier on Maddie's school schedule but I am a filthy foriegner and it is my duty to get in the way.
Last weekend Maddie and I drove up to Cleveland, Ohio to visit my friend Sarah. Do you know how far Cleveland, Ohio is when you're travelling by car? I do. It's at least ten hours. It just may be over eleven. And iPod batteries don't quite last that long if you haven't charged it for a little while. It was fun playing the DJ in the car while it lasted though, and plenty of songs were sung.
On the way there (and on the way back) there were at least plenty of really ridiculously beautiful things to be seen. Like the view from the Appalachian Mountains over the state of West Virginia. Or the times we drove through clouds which still isn't quite something I am old enough to ignore. Or the two seperate circumstances that led us to driving through a mountain. Two different mountains, in fact. I love tunnels.
Once we reached Ohio though, it was still another four or so hours until Cleveland, and Ohio isn't that interesting a state until you get to the top of it, so we settled for frequent pit stops, CD changes and swearing at any ugly things that we drove past. I guess it was our own fault for putting off leaving until almost 4pm, but by this point in driving the both of us were very, very, very tired.
Cleveland came and I tell you what, it's a beautiful city. We found our way to Sarah's apartment quite easily and stumbled through her door exhausted from our extended period of strenuous sitting. I have no idea why but I didn't take any photos of Cleveland at all, which was terrible. For starters, Sarah's street was this narrow little street with beautiful big brick apartments and multi floor houses lining it, all old yet not dilapidated. And cheap as heck, I was amazed. Sarah's apartment was really big, with two bedrooms, a long hall, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen and a laundry, with a balcony out front, all for $575 a month. It was within minutes of the center of town too. If only Australian property prices were that cheap.
We slept pretty easily that night and the next day headed into the middle of Cleveland for walking, shopping, exploring and such. Only not much shopping went down as apparently on weekends, Cleveland shuts down early which boggled everybody's minds. We all jumped on a train and went west, to a smaller city area that was home to a gorgeously quaint little square with a statue and bus stop, and a fantastic brewery.
In the brewery, they served a "sampler" which was ten dollars and for that, you got a pot of each type of beer they made. Which was ten beers. And some of them were gloriously Australian-strength beers, one of which was an India Pale Ale which I do oh so love.
We got a little tipsy.
Oddly, Maddie and I got ridiculously hung over the next morning which put a damper on the day's activities. Oddly because we didn't drink enough to match up to how we felt, and oddly because Sarah and Max were absolutely fine and dapper. As such a lot of excursions and such that night were put on hold, although we did go visit a cool LGBT store and giggle at shot glasses that said "I LOVE BOYS." I didn't get one for anybody back home though so take that, you vicariosos.
Cleveland is on the borders of massive Lake Erie. Look up on a map if you have one for the size of it; it won't get the size across. This lake goes across several states, could float all of the ACT and looks like the damn ocean. It's a shame it also smelled really bad, otherwise I would have tried to swim to Canada. Failed miserably for sure, but I could have tried. Cleveland also has a river running through it, and we were informed by our hosts that the river has literally caught on fire. I thought "burning river" was one of them there urban legend type rumours, but I've thought a lot of very stupid things in my life so I shouldn't have acted so surprised when I found out it actually happened.
In any case, we drove around a little that night and eventually went to bed, woke up, stretched a lot then got in the car and sat still for the ten or eleven hours it took to get back. Google Maps told us the drive would only be 9 hours long but Google is Not Always Right. I harbor a little ill will towards this particular lie.
Oh and over the week I caught up on sleep, played some free video games that a friend in Canada mailed to me because he's just ginchy and spent the next weekend doing nothing at all, because it's my holiday and I'll sleep if I want to, sleep if I want to, sleep if I want to. I'm off to stare at tablet PCs on eBay more now, as there's ridiculously good deals in this country, and having my own laptop would make things a lot easier on Maddie's school schedule but I am a filthy foriegner and it is my duty to get in the way.
Monday, September 17
what boots!
Right here you can see me looking through some binoculars on fantastic, beautiful Grandfather Mountain, staring out over some gooooorgeous terrain.
Oh, and possibly the best boots on the planet.
I wanted to see a bear while I was on this trip, no matter what. So Maddie suggested we go on a trip up to the mountains, and who was I to deny? We got in her car, I plugged my iPod into her car stereo and we drove for hours and hours, staying the night at her parent's place on the way as it was a long drive.
The best bit about hometowns is when I say "where can I get cowboy boots" people can instantly say "Well..." and away we drove. The last size in store in this design just happened to fit me perfectly, so I got some fantastic incredible savings and now feel like a proper American yee-haw. The store-lady was saying that this brand is apparently the brand everybody who works there wears, which is very good for me. I do like quality footwear, oh yes I do.
Anyway, after my purchase and a meal, we drove up to the mountains and went into Grandfather Mountain National Park, which led to a big drive up around windy roads while Beethoven's 9th blasted out of the car stereo and a few calls of "did I drive too far? I must have driven too far. No, it can't be this far. I drove too... oh wait, there it is."
And then we got there and we walked through the park a bit and I saw some incredible views! And there was a gift shop and I bought you another postcard, Mum, but once again I forgot to mail it so you might wind up just recieving a handful of postcards from me in November! And and and, there was these cute as hell bears that you might be able to see in a photo!I'd love to lie and say that they were out in the wild, so I totally will. The bears definitely weren't in an enclosure and I was not safe at all behind a railing. Ahem.
Anyway, bears are totally cute. One of them was sitting on its behindus and it grabbed its foot and started rocking back and forth on its butt. I thought it was majorly cute. I even tried to get a video on my phone, but alas they weren't doing anything interesting on the video. Also my phone isn't communicating with this computer.
After looking at bears, we kept wandering around and I saw a cougar! It was cute cute cute! I love big cats i love them a lot. And then we saw an American eagle! It was about the size of my entire torso and kind of an ugly bird that looked constantly confused and worried that maybe things can happen, but Maddie says it was majestic as all getup. I bet it was just her silly patriotism that made her say that. Also, she's a girl and everybody knows girl opinions are silly and easily disregarded.
There was otters too, but I'm grumpy at the otters as they kept relocating themselves to be on the opposite side of the otter place every time we'd move. Otters are one of my favourite animals but I'd rather grump about them than talk about how cute they were.
Anyway, I saw a lot of gorgeous stuff that will sound really dull in text, like "the horizon" and "some things really far away" and such. Let's talk a bit more about food as it seems to wind up being the focus of my blog a lot!
North Carolina, it turns out, is famous for its barbecue, so I had to try some while I'm still here. We drove a while at night, lost on the ridiculously wide roads that America should be more famous for before finding the barbecue place, at which I just ordered a BBQ platter with potato salad and yams as my sides.
1) We got hushpuppies with our meal for free, which are so great that I need to find out how they're made so I can have them when I go back. They're basically thin little cornbread dumplings, soaked in onion and then fried. Oh wow, do I like them a lot. They were about the size of prawns (I can't bring myself to say shrimp) and if only my stomach wasn't feeling a bit iffy, I would have eaten a billion of them.
2) The yams had a really really nice cinnamon glaze over them that was almost like a cinnamon sauce. I'm not entirely sure how to describe it, but it was really great. I've never heard of a cinnamon glaze being used for vegetables, generally only for things like donuts, but then here there are dips for vegetables and fruit, so America does a lot of things with sauces and such I wouldn't expect.
3) Barbecue isn't anything remotely like what comes to my mind when I think BBQ. It is in fact a pile of pulled pork, slow-cooked, with diced up hot peppers, vinegar and salt mixed in. And sugar too, as it was surprisingly sweet and salty all at once. It is more a sandwich meat, but not quite. It's odd and looks like shredded chicken and I liked it a lot when I put it on a sandwich or ate some with a hushpuppy, on its own the flavour had too much vinegar for me to really LOVE it but it was still nice.
I also went to an Italian restaurant which isn't anything special, Italian food is internationally roughly the same, but I had a wine with the meal - a wine I LIKED. It was a blush, specially made for that restaurant so I can't remember the exact type, but it was similar to a white zinfandel. Not exactly, it had more alcohol in than white zinfandels normally do and it wasn't as sweet as the ones I've tasted back home. I normally dislike wine a lot but oh wow, I really really liked it. I also have come to really like Sangria but that's mostly because I will drink anything with fruit in it.
I have to shower, I stink incredibly and I can't honestly remember if I managed to get a shower yesterday or not. Also my moustache stubble is starting to look pedophilic as only my moustache stubble can and I don't want that to happen. One day I'll be a real boy and be able to grow a real moustache but until then just call me Chester the Molester. A terrible thing to say for sure, but I'm a terrible person and I speak the blunt truth. Have a brilliant photo of yours truly to go.
Wednesday, September 5
Friday, August 31
and with that bolt of lightning i was reborn as The Flash
Oh who woulda guessed it, I never died!
I've been doing things that have left me too busy to do a serious post and there's been too many bits and pieces popping up to let me do another tiny thing. Writing for extended periods of time is fun anyway! These events will be reported on out of order, as that's the kind of guy I am. Messin' all up with your perception of time, yo.
Maddie had never been to Ikea and I was itchin' to go somewhere, so I said we should go to Ikea one day, but she turned me down as it was about six pm and the only Ikea was almost two states away. The next day, we got up and jumped in her car and drove on several interstates, almost past the top of Virginia, to Ikea! What happened in Ikea doesn't really need reporting on, they're all the same. They all even keep the same layout inside, basically. The journey did take almost five hours though, and that's where all the fun in this country comes from in my opinion.
To start with, on the way we decided to get some burgers. I've already mentioned how America does big burgers, but I just have to repeat myself. Dang. We stopped at a burger place where the smallest thing on the menu was 1/3 of a pound. I got a 1/2 pound bacon cheeseburger because I hate my arteries, but even with that deep-seated disgust, I couldn't bring myself to order a 2/3 pound triple cheeseburger. I felt fatter just looking at the menu.
We got there and spent a good 3 hours wandering around, as one does, then left at about 9pm, intending to get back to Raleigh at about midnight/one AM. America has funny ways of designating highways though, what with one road being I-144, US-64 and H-44 all at once. Is that a bit of foreshadowing? I'm a terrible writer, so yes that's entirely foreshadowing and I'm warning you in advance!
We stopped at an ice-cream-focused diner called Friendly's in Richmond, Virginia for dinner, and split a combo meal which worked out great; combo meals cost $12 and you got to choose two mains and two sides, which meant for $12 we got a big steak, a big piece of grilled flounder, a lot of mashed potato and a lot of broccoli.
To pause for a little side-note: people in America are far, far more receptive to broccoli than in Australia. It's great, as it's basically my favourite vegetable. Returning to our scheduled programming...
After that came ice creams, and as you would expect from the fatty fast food candy nation, it was fantastic. Then came driving back, and who can blame me for thinking Exit 64, marked with a 64 sign on the side of the road, was different from I-64. Certainly not Maddie i'm very sorry still! We both sort of realised this around the time when it was 2am and we were driving through the mountains in West Virginia. We got home around 5am, it was in my opinion a really fun journey but for some reason that girl didn't like it. How odd!
The second time of going to the karaoke bar was a lot more relaxed; a girl remembered my hillbilly name (ah'm tom-bob y'all) and the guy remembered I'm Australian, but I never had to sing any more embarassing songs or anything like that, I just got to spend it how I normally would.
College is back in here, it started about August 20 for most people. This means I'm having a lot of time by myself to wander around Raleigh (or at least the college area, as I don't want to spend $110 to get utterly lost by cab, and when you're 22 the college area is basically the funnest area anyway) and generally get up to fun and games. There's a coffeeshop that I was warned was going to be full of arrogant people, but I've been going there regularly and the only time I found someone arrogant was two days ago, when a barrista stared at me like I was an idiot because I wanted a blended ice mocha which it turns out they call a "Joe Juice." I totally made him feel like an idiot in return though by explaining that somebody from another country not knowing their arbitrary and un-labelled name for a generally uniformly-named coffee beverage was hardly the height of ignorance he made it out to be, and he seemed to actually feel bad. On account of the blushing he did. I'm clearly the king of the coffeeshop in THIS state.
ANYWAY, I walked in another direction and had lunch at a rock-and-roll themed restaurant where I got served by a really nice, sweet, unbelievably stupid girl from Georgia. She had a ridiculously thick southern accent ("bread" had two syllables) and kept talking to me and asking how my meal was going and such, and bless her soul if she didn't ask me why I wasn't still in England even after telling her about a minute ago that I was in Australia. I couldn't help but laugh inwardly and tell her outwardly that England is having trouble with the French invasion, so for my own safety I decided to flee to the land of the free where nobody will attack you. She, and I feel kinda bad, didn't realise at all that I was joking around and mentioned how America is definitely a good refuge and how I shouldn't worry about those French here, oh dear.
People from up north seem to be a lot more short tempered and let one annoying thing ruin their entire day than people from the south here. Also, people from the north seem to think anybody with a southern drawl is a total idiot. People from down south are willing to let life just go on and to not get hung up on dumb stuff. I'm much preferring the south so far, despite the fact that all the "must see" things in America are up north. This may just be northeners in the south who have grumpy attitudes, who knows. My opinion will be more rounded soon!
As for other plans, in a few weeks I'll be in Ohio, I decided to not go to Philly because outside of a former skateboarding monument there's not too much that excites me, on October 19 I'll be in Michigan and last-minute bookings for trips to New York or Los Angeles are more expensive than booking a few months in advance, so I haven't decided exactly when I'm going to let $500 go to spend a week in the Big Apple but it'll probably be mid to late September.
I have to go. Not just to the toilet, but off to greater horizons. I'll try and find ways to update more! I promise!
I've been doing things that have left me too busy to do a serious post and there's been too many bits and pieces popping up to let me do another tiny thing. Writing for extended periods of time is fun anyway! These events will be reported on out of order, as that's the kind of guy I am. Messin' all up with your perception of time, yo.
Maddie had never been to Ikea and I was itchin' to go somewhere, so I said we should go to Ikea one day, but she turned me down as it was about six pm and the only Ikea was almost two states away. The next day, we got up and jumped in her car and drove on several interstates, almost past the top of Virginia, to Ikea! What happened in Ikea doesn't really need reporting on, they're all the same. They all even keep the same layout inside, basically. The journey did take almost five hours though, and that's where all the fun in this country comes from in my opinion.
To start with, on the way we decided to get some burgers. I've already mentioned how America does big burgers, but I just have to repeat myself. Dang. We stopped at a burger place where the smallest thing on the menu was 1/3 of a pound. I got a 1/2 pound bacon cheeseburger because I hate my arteries, but even with that deep-seated disgust, I couldn't bring myself to order a 2/3 pound triple cheeseburger. I felt fatter just looking at the menu.
We got there and spent a good 3 hours wandering around, as one does, then left at about 9pm, intending to get back to Raleigh at about midnight/one AM. America has funny ways of designating highways though, what with one road being I-144, US-64 and H-44 all at once. Is that a bit of foreshadowing? I'm a terrible writer, so yes that's entirely foreshadowing and I'm warning you in advance!
We stopped at an ice-cream-focused diner called Friendly's in Richmond, Virginia for dinner, and split a combo meal which worked out great; combo meals cost $12 and you got to choose two mains and two sides, which meant for $12 we got a big steak, a big piece of grilled flounder, a lot of mashed potato and a lot of broccoli.
To pause for a little side-note: people in America are far, far more receptive to broccoli than in Australia. It's great, as it's basically my favourite vegetable. Returning to our scheduled programming...
After that came ice creams, and as you would expect from the fatty fast food candy nation, it was fantastic. Then came driving back, and who can blame me for thinking Exit 64, marked with a 64 sign on the side of the road, was different from I-64. Certainly not Maddie i'm very sorry still! We both sort of realised this around the time when it was 2am and we were driving through the mountains in West Virginia. We got home around 5am, it was in my opinion a really fun journey but for some reason that girl didn't like it. How odd!
The second time of going to the karaoke bar was a lot more relaxed; a girl remembered my hillbilly name (ah'm tom-bob y'all) and the guy remembered I'm Australian, but I never had to sing any more embarassing songs or anything like that, I just got to spend it how I normally would.
College is back in here, it started about August 20 for most people. This means I'm having a lot of time by myself to wander around Raleigh (or at least the college area, as I don't want to spend $110 to get utterly lost by cab, and when you're 22 the college area is basically the funnest area anyway) and generally get up to fun and games. There's a coffeeshop that I was warned was going to be full of arrogant people, but I've been going there regularly and the only time I found someone arrogant was two days ago, when a barrista stared at me like I was an idiot because I wanted a blended ice mocha which it turns out they call a "Joe Juice." I totally made him feel like an idiot in return though by explaining that somebody from another country not knowing their arbitrary and un-labelled name for a generally uniformly-named coffee beverage was hardly the height of ignorance he made it out to be, and he seemed to actually feel bad. On account of the blushing he did. I'm clearly the king of the coffeeshop in THIS state.
ANYWAY, I walked in another direction and had lunch at a rock-and-roll themed restaurant where I got served by a really nice, sweet, unbelievably stupid girl from Georgia. She had a ridiculously thick southern accent ("bread" had two syllables) and kept talking to me and asking how my meal was going and such, and bless her soul if she didn't ask me why I wasn't still in England even after telling her about a minute ago that I was in Australia. I couldn't help but laugh inwardly and tell her outwardly that England is having trouble with the French invasion, so for my own safety I decided to flee to the land of the free where nobody will attack you. She, and I feel kinda bad, didn't realise at all that I was joking around and mentioned how America is definitely a good refuge and how I shouldn't worry about those French here, oh dear.
People from up north seem to be a lot more short tempered and let one annoying thing ruin their entire day than people from the south here. Also, people from the north seem to think anybody with a southern drawl is a total idiot. People from down south are willing to let life just go on and to not get hung up on dumb stuff. I'm much preferring the south so far, despite the fact that all the "must see" things in America are up north. This may just be northeners in the south who have grumpy attitudes, who knows. My opinion will be more rounded soon!
As for other plans, in a few weeks I'll be in Ohio, I decided to not go to Philly because outside of a former skateboarding monument there's not too much that excites me, on October 19 I'll be in Michigan and last-minute bookings for trips to New York or Los Angeles are more expensive than booking a few months in advance, so I haven't decided exactly when I'm going to let $500 go to spend a week in the Big Apple but it'll probably be mid to late September.
I have to go. Not just to the toilet, but off to greater horizons. I'll try and find ways to update more! I promise!
Friday, August 17
Some quick photos!
Twizzlers are a licorice candy that you can use as a straw. They taste so great with diet pepsi cherry. I love candy. Oh man I love candy.
I have been fighting tigers (at natural science museums) and winning like crazy, as I am Australian and we are Inherently Super Awesome At All Things. Die, tiger. Die.
And here's the girl of greatness and myself at a metro line station in DC. I don't really have any other photos for the moment, plus hot dogs are ready and I wanna go drink some American beer and watch some movies. I will have more though fo sho, coming up later.
Thursday, August 16
Toilets are shaped weirdly
As I've yet to start massive travels and am still just enjoying all the smaller differences about American life, I guess I'll hafta talk about that for a bit!
The first major difference I've found is that bathrooms are different here. Taps are usually a knob or dial that you twist to adjust temperature and tilt to adjust flow. It's just little tiny things like that that are making me think "I am so not at home." Also, toilets are shaped pretty dang differently. Not majorly differently, it's just that they have a wider, flatter bowl and have a lot more water in them. Australian toilets are deep and have about three inches of water in the bottom. American toilets are more like an actual bowl and have about seven or eight inches in, and it fills to the point that you have to watch out for splashback. This is a real honest problem.
Fast food is amazing. Not good amazing, just plentiful amazing. And in some cases, horrifically bad amazing. A few major chains that I've had completely confuse me as to why they haven't made it to Australia; Taco Bell is my biggest confusion. It's not great or anything but it's exactly what you want out of fast food mexican and drunks want fast food mexican. There is a type of cheese that is used on a lot of things, which is a fake nacho cheese. It's pretty much a yellow goo which I think is half powdered Doritos and half wood glue that really gets into so much stuff it's amazing.
On the food front still, it's only a burger here if it actually has ground beef, a steak or chicken in it. I've gotten used to the fact that biscuits are a more buttery slightly thicker english muffin, I've come to terms with the fact that jelly isn't a wobbly mass of sugar with an Aeroplane on the box and I still can't get my head around when someone says "sandwich" and hands me a bun or a burger. Mindboggling, I tell you. And I'm already homesick for margerine. Everybody uses mayonnaise instead.
Biscuits are actually pretty good, and I think I'm going to find a way to get them in Australia, along with grits. I'm not entirely sure what a biscuit is; it tastes sort of like a buttery english muffin, only it's heavier and the outside of it isn't powdery and toastable, it's more like a bun. They're quite odd but go very very well with bacon, egg and cheese. Or with sausage and gravy. Or with most things. Grits are fantastic, they're a form of cornmeal porridge that you usually have savoury, instead of sweet. It's common to have it with tomato sauce, bacon, salt and pepper, cheese, butter or even horseradish or worcestershire sauce. They're supposedly an aquired taste but heck, I liked it pretty much straight away.
I went to a Karaoke bar. That was a mistake. They had Down Under by Men At Work in the songlist and I didn't get to choose my first song. I'm a sort of a gimmick, you see.
Conversations with most people here usually go quite well until I say a word like "tomato" or "awesome" or "strawberry" or something that I apparently pronounce so hilariously, at which point all communication stops and it becomes a game of trying to teach whoever I'm talking to how to say those words in an Australian accent. A lot of people tend to put on a really prim and proper British accent when trying to sound like me. It's weird and odd, all at once.
It's probably just that I haven't really been to that many major cities yet either, but everything feels more spread out. In Australia, there's districts of activity and long expanses of just suburban areas and not much more. Here, it seems like there's something to do around every corner, but that could just be my stinky foreigner eyes staring at everything strangely and thinking it's all new and exciting.
I'm going to go out to a coffee shop in a little while and have something fiendishly complex and delicious, then go... well, I don't even know where, but I'm sure it'll be somewhere.
Oh, by the way, the baseball game? Maddie and I walked through the gates and straight away got asked if we wanted to take part in a on-field game, so in between the third and fourth (or fourth and fifth) innings we went down to the batting cages, got dressed up like giant buns and raced another team to create a burger out of ourselves. It was fun!
The first major difference I've found is that bathrooms are different here. Taps are usually a knob or dial that you twist to adjust temperature and tilt to adjust flow. It's just little tiny things like that that are making me think "I am so not at home." Also, toilets are shaped pretty dang differently. Not majorly differently, it's just that they have a wider, flatter bowl and have a lot more water in them. Australian toilets are deep and have about three inches of water in the bottom. American toilets are more like an actual bowl and have about seven or eight inches in, and it fills to the point that you have to watch out for splashback. This is a real honest problem.
Fast food is amazing. Not good amazing, just plentiful amazing. And in some cases, horrifically bad amazing. A few major chains that I've had completely confuse me as to why they haven't made it to Australia; Taco Bell is my biggest confusion. It's not great or anything but it's exactly what you want out of fast food mexican and drunks want fast food mexican. There is a type of cheese that is used on a lot of things, which is a fake nacho cheese. It's pretty much a yellow goo which I think is half powdered Doritos and half wood glue that really gets into so much stuff it's amazing.
On the food front still, it's only a burger here if it actually has ground beef, a steak or chicken in it. I've gotten used to the fact that biscuits are a more buttery slightly thicker english muffin, I've come to terms with the fact that jelly isn't a wobbly mass of sugar with an Aeroplane on the box and I still can't get my head around when someone says "sandwich" and hands me a bun or a burger. Mindboggling, I tell you. And I'm already homesick for margerine. Everybody uses mayonnaise instead.
Biscuits are actually pretty good, and I think I'm going to find a way to get them in Australia, along with grits. I'm not entirely sure what a biscuit is; it tastes sort of like a buttery english muffin, only it's heavier and the outside of it isn't powdery and toastable, it's more like a bun. They're quite odd but go very very well with bacon, egg and cheese. Or with sausage and gravy. Or with most things. Grits are fantastic, they're a form of cornmeal porridge that you usually have savoury, instead of sweet. It's common to have it with tomato sauce, bacon, salt and pepper, cheese, butter or even horseradish or worcestershire sauce. They're supposedly an aquired taste but heck, I liked it pretty much straight away.
I went to a Karaoke bar. That was a mistake. They had Down Under by Men At Work in the songlist and I didn't get to choose my first song. I'm a sort of a gimmick, you see.
Conversations with most people here usually go quite well until I say a word like "tomato" or "awesome" or "strawberry" or something that I apparently pronounce so hilariously, at which point all communication stops and it becomes a game of trying to teach whoever I'm talking to how to say those words in an Australian accent. A lot of people tend to put on a really prim and proper British accent when trying to sound like me. It's weird and odd, all at once.
It's probably just that I haven't really been to that many major cities yet either, but everything feels more spread out. In Australia, there's districts of activity and long expanses of just suburban areas and not much more. Here, it seems like there's something to do around every corner, but that could just be my stinky foreigner eyes staring at everything strangely and thinking it's all new and exciting.
I'm going to go out to a coffee shop in a little while and have something fiendishly complex and delicious, then go... well, I don't even know where, but I'm sure it'll be somewhere.
Oh, by the way, the baseball game? Maddie and I walked through the gates and straight away got asked if we wanted to take part in a on-field game, so in between the third and fourth (or fourth and fifth) innings we went down to the batting cages, got dressed up like giant buns and raced another team to create a burger out of ourselves. It was fun!
Friday, August 10
TAKE. ME OUT. TO THE BAAAAALLLLL GAAAAAAME
Another fairly short update but just enough to let you all know I do still live, breathe and exist.
North Carolina is unbelievably beautiful. There's forests everywhere and while it's hot, it's gorgeous. Gorgeous. The lakes are incredible and I wish they didn't have big "NO SWIMMING" signs up everywhere but y'know, snapper turtles could attack my bits. I like my bits un-attacked by turtles.
I've been getting American culture down lately. Going to the mall (and buying a hat at Hot Topic) and driving around a lot singing out loudly and getting beer from the supermarket and such. I'm just about to head out actually to go to a Baseball game on Thirsty Thursdays where the beers are a dollar!
So really I should only hafta spend like thirty bucks to get a little buzz going on!
That's an overstatement but it's still pretty weak here. Not bad, but weak. I'm really excited to be going to my first real American past-time, and I'm sure I'll spend it sweating and going "ewwwww this beer has gotten warm" but y'know, that's basically what Aussie sporting events are like. I'd assume.
I'm gunna go do things now. I really really promise I will write a mondo update sometime when I can be bothered getting Maddie's laptop fixed up to take photos from my phone and stick them on the internet. I really can't at the moment though but I will!
Ciaociaociaociaociaociaociao ciao
North Carolina is unbelievably beautiful. There's forests everywhere and while it's hot, it's gorgeous. Gorgeous. The lakes are incredible and I wish they didn't have big "NO SWIMMING" signs up everywhere but y'know, snapper turtles could attack my bits. I like my bits un-attacked by turtles.
I've been getting American culture down lately. Going to the mall (and buying a hat at Hot Topic) and driving around a lot singing out loudly and getting beer from the supermarket and such. I'm just about to head out actually to go to a Baseball game on Thirsty Thursdays where the beers are a dollar!
So really I should only hafta spend like thirty bucks to get a little buzz going on!
That's an overstatement but it's still pretty weak here. Not bad, but weak. I'm really excited to be going to my first real American past-time, and I'm sure I'll spend it sweating and going "ewwwww this beer has gotten warm" but y'know, that's basically what Aussie sporting events are like. I'd assume.
I'm gunna go do things now. I really really promise I will write a mondo update sometime when I can be bothered getting Maddie's laptop fixed up to take photos from my phone and stick them on the internet. I really can't at the moment though but I will!
Ciaociaociaociaociaociaociao ciao
Monday, August 6
This is a totally tiny update
American Dominos pizza is honestly as good as Tomato Brothers pizza, aka gourmet pizza in Australia. And it's apparently BAD pizza here. I eagerly await having good pizza.
Sunday, August 5
A-MER-ICA
Alriiiight, I haven't contacted a single soul since I came here. Mostly due to Maddie's laptop being in her car, and her car being mysteriously moved by her friend, thereby removing my access to internet. And it's taken a little bit of time to get my phone up and running; not due to any external difficulties, it's just that spending $40 to get a mobile and 120 minutes of international call time means that you've gotta wait a couple days to get it activated.
If I spoke to any of you about how worried I was at getting through customs, then I was an idiot. Honestly, the guy barely even looked at me, I forgot I had food in my bag and I sent my backpack through a metal scanner with a distinctively shiv-like pen in it and nobody said anything. Hell, when they asked if there was anything to declare, I remembered I had vegemite but the girl didn't even care what that was. Well, she was curious when I said vegemite but as soon as I started talking about it, she just glazed over then said "Whatever, just go through." Funny thing really, I thought it was banned due to riboflavin or whatever. The Whalley ability to make people's eyes glaze over comes in handy sometimes.
First day was really just showing up at DC, having Maddie sweep me off my feet, almost getting lost on the way back to the hotel then heading up to the room. I stayed up as late as I possibly could - five PM - then I crashed. So did Maddie. We both woke up at about midnight, then watched a DVD, then crashed again until about 9am, and sleep has been totally regular since then.
The plane was half great, due to the massive selection of blockbuster movies to watch for free on the back of the chair in front of me, and half terrible, what with the 50 year old Korean man who was acting like a tiny kid and moving the chair back and forth like craaaaaaazy and the fact that they were mostly bad movies. Except for 300 and Meet The Robinsons, which were both great.
I had an American burger. It was greasy and awesome and I totally tipped a dude and the n he said my jeans were cool and they totally were. We took the fries up to the hotel room. We woke up with this giant-ass bag of greasy as hell fries stinking the room up. It kicked ass.
Today, the four of us went to the Smithsonian and we checked out the museum of modern art, which is always fun to do with friends purely for the bullshitting up reasons and motives behind artworks, before heading off the the planes and space museum that had a totally better and more official sounding name, but I can't remember it so it will forevermore be the planes and space museum. It was neat, I saw things that had actually BEEN ON the MOON. Thennnnnnn we went through a bit of another museum and checked out all these things about Americans in history that mean jack diddly to me but the others seemed to like it. I saw a couple famous trumpets though and totally took mobile phone pictures of them. Dizzy Gillespie's trumpet had a weird bend in it. Who knew!
We then went to a DIFFERENT museum (and I took a cell phone picture of the boner statue and of this really pretty art gallery and a couple other places) and saw some stuffed Australian animals and I told everyone how much I'd beat them up. Don't tell the Americans that I totally can't actually beat them up. It'd break my heart.
I need to go do other things now like wash this weird black stain that the metro line put on my hand, and eat a baby ruth chocolate bar, and drink some black cherry rum, and go swim in the hotel pool beause it's like 90 degrees outside. That's really just about 32, so it's not too bad, but it's pretty dang humid here in Washington, D.C.
My phone seems to have just set itself up to be able to do local calls, so I just called Maddie and found out my phone number - here it is including all the numbers you'd need to dial from an Australian phone to get in contact with it. Just write this down and call it to get me, but you totally won't be able to for two more days. It takes two days for international contacting to start up. Don't call me until I call one of you sort of thing.
Anyway; ze number: 0018-1919-946-2565
I asked Maddie how to say "I love you all" in Spanish but she's a girl and girls are pretty dumb. I love you all! Ciao!
If I spoke to any of you about how worried I was at getting through customs, then I was an idiot. Honestly, the guy barely even looked at me, I forgot I had food in my bag and I sent my backpack through a metal scanner with a distinctively shiv-like pen in it and nobody said anything. Hell, when they asked if there was anything to declare, I remembered I had vegemite but the girl didn't even care what that was. Well, she was curious when I said vegemite but as soon as I started talking about it, she just glazed over then said "Whatever, just go through." Funny thing really, I thought it was banned due to riboflavin or whatever. The Whalley ability to make people's eyes glaze over comes in handy sometimes.
First day was really just showing up at DC, having Maddie sweep me off my feet, almost getting lost on the way back to the hotel then heading up to the room. I stayed up as late as I possibly could - five PM - then I crashed. So did Maddie. We both woke up at about midnight, then watched a DVD, then crashed again until about 9am, and sleep has been totally regular since then.
The plane was half great, due to the massive selection of blockbuster movies to watch for free on the back of the chair in front of me, and half terrible, what with the 50 year old Korean man who was acting like a tiny kid and moving the chair back and forth like craaaaaaazy and the fact that they were mostly bad movies. Except for 300 and Meet The Robinsons, which were both great.
I had an American burger. It was greasy and awesome and I totally tipped a dude and the n he said my jeans were cool and they totally were. We took the fries up to the hotel room. We woke up with this giant-ass bag of greasy as hell fries stinking the room up. It kicked ass.
Today, the four of us went to the Smithsonian and we checked out the museum of modern art, which is always fun to do with friends purely for the bullshitting up reasons and motives behind artworks, before heading off the the planes and space museum that had a totally better and more official sounding name, but I can't remember it so it will forevermore be the planes and space museum. It was neat, I saw things that had actually BEEN ON the MOON. Thennnnnnn we went through a bit of another museum and checked out all these things about Americans in history that mean jack diddly to me but the others seemed to like it. I saw a couple famous trumpets though and totally took mobile phone pictures of them. Dizzy Gillespie's trumpet had a weird bend in it. Who knew!
We then went to a DIFFERENT museum (and I took a cell phone picture of the boner statue and of this really pretty art gallery and a couple other places) and saw some stuffed Australian animals and I told everyone how much I'd beat them up. Don't tell the Americans that I totally can't actually beat them up. It'd break my heart.
I need to go do other things now like wash this weird black stain that the metro line put on my hand, and eat a baby ruth chocolate bar, and drink some black cherry rum, and go swim in the hotel pool beause it's like 90 degrees outside. That's really just about 32, so it's not too bad, but it's pretty dang humid here in Washington, D.C.
My phone seems to have just set itself up to be able to do local calls, so I just called Maddie and found out my phone number - here it is including all the numbers you'd need to dial from an Australian phone to get in contact with it. Just write this down and call it to get me, but you totally won't be able to for two more days. It takes two days for international contacting to start up. Don't call me until I call one of you sort of thing.
Anyway; ze number: 0018-1919-946-2565
I asked Maddie how to say "I love you all" in Spanish but she's a girl and girls are pretty dumb. I love you all! Ciao!
Thursday, August 2
Korea loves honey.
Wow. I'll be able to update this more once I'm actually IN the USA and can bug Maddie until she lets me set up my phone with her computer so I can upload all the photos (and possibly the amazingly odd video) I took in Korea. But Korea was a damn adventure, and I'll never look at people who can't speak English in Australia in the same way again.
Going through Customs here was really, really, really easy once I found the card in English saying what to fill in where. Finding the card was a little hard, because I had to dig through a pile of Russian ones, but I found it. (Don't tell anyone that I totally missed the box that said [ENGLISH] at the top until after I'd found a misplaced English card)
So I went to the hotel information desk and gave them my details, the girl who I talked to told me to go and wait over in a seating area for fifteen minutes. I went and sat there for 20, then looked over and she had disappeared. As she was the only one at the hotel desk who knew English and there was no people from my flight staying in the hotel I was, I triple checked the stuff I wrote down. "Go to Level 3, exit door 8, the bus goes there." Level 1 wasn't going to help me OR SO I THOUGHT.
Went up to level 3, walked to the exit and four buses came, the fourth driver understood just enough English to say "No go port 1, hotel desk" when I told him where I wanted to be. I went back inside and heard an announcement in Korean just finish, then it changed to English and said "Could the red tracksuit boy with the girl's haircut come to the hotel information desk."
Who else but Whalley could that be!
I made my way down there and the girl I'd spoken to came over to me and apologised for taking so long, I said I panicked and got lost (entirely the truth) and she introduced me to a man who said "English!" and waved for me to follow, then took off on a run. What could I do but follow?
The hotel sent a limousine and he was the driver, who I found out didn't speak English at all. Two other passengers were in the car, and that made things fun. See, one of them spoke Korean and a bit of Japanese and the other was a Japanese girl who spoke English better than I did but from her own admission, could only say about 10% of things in Korean. So the driver asked the first passenger who asked the second who asked me, "are you from England?" I told her no, Australia, and that got relayed back to the driver who spoke all the Australian he knew. "Ah, Australia! Sydney! O-per-ah-house-air-rock?" I just nodded and smiled, and he seemed happy with himself. I knew the driver and the Korean passenger were talking about me, as they'd frequently say "Australian" and laugh, but so what, people talk about me all the time. I'm great. The Japanese girl and me chatted on our way to the hotel.
Now that I'm back at the airport I can see I wrote it down wrong, but the hotel didn't have my booking number, so I had to pay out the nose. 90,000 korean... things! I tell you, it was a good thing that equalled about US$70 or I woulda been freaking out.
The hotel room had a vending machine for food, drink, beer, chocolate, stockings and honey condoms. I didn't get any honey condoms although I'm regretting it now. Korea is obsessed with honey, I have to say. Snacks on the plane? Honey related or coated. Beer? I know the taste of honey beer quite well thank you very much. Chocolate? Think Mars bars with honey instead of caramel. Moisturiser and shampoo? You best believe we talkin' honey, y'all.
The bathroom was great. I forgot what it's like to be able to have a shower without water restriction woes, and the entire bathroom is your shower. The wall unit blasted water in any direction I wanted it aimed, and the drain was directly in the center of the room. Needless to say, I spent a little bit of time singing into the showerhead in front of the full length mirror in the shower. I am so great.
I found a channel on TV that was playing Bruce Willis things back to back, so I watched that and hung out in the hotel room - we were too far away from anywhere to go out, and I didn't really want to go down the weird staircase in the middle of the hotel parking lot that was neon lit; from the looks of it, it was one of those bars where all the girls wear no shirts and they fondle you while you drink. I wasn't in the mood for being fondled while I drink.
Oh god, Korea is beautiful though. The whole drive from the airport to the hotel, I was just noticing all the hills and forests and greenery and such, and it was amaaaaaaazing. I've never seen forests so dense and green and vibrant. I couldn't get a photo on the way but I tried to take one out my hotel window; my phone says it's pretty neat but that may not be the case in the end.
In the morning, I was the only one who was going to be taking the bus so the bus driver said fuck it and stuck me in the limo, driving me back to the airport. Conversation was really really limited, what with his knowledge of English already having being outlined and the total amount of Korean I can speak being "Kim Jong Il" and "Aachi and Ssipak" - the second being an animated movie about a woman whose butt sensor makes it seem like she poos 100x as much as she does so when she goes to the toilet she is rewarded with 100x the normal amount of highly addictive lollipops, so a green troll is out to get her with his smurf henchmen only a government android and two thugs don't want that to happen, also the android is a former porn director. I opted for silence.
And basically, here we are. I considered writing about how I got lost coming into the airport, but I really didn't. I just walked forwards until I almost bumped into a sign saying "INTERNATIONAL BOARDING ->" and decided to walk -> until I found where I had to go through. Customs were even easier this time around as my main bag is being shot straight to Washington, so now all I need to do is continue my trend of not breaking the law and I should be set.
Oh and Mum, the window seat I got? Nobody was sitting in between my window seat and the aisle. How radical.
Going through Customs here was really, really, really easy once I found the card in English saying what to fill in where. Finding the card was a little hard, because I had to dig through a pile of Russian ones, but I found it. (Don't tell anyone that I totally missed the box that said [ENGLISH] at the top until after I'd found a misplaced English card)
So I went to the hotel information desk and gave them my details, the girl who I talked to told me to go and wait over in a seating area for fifteen minutes. I went and sat there for 20, then looked over and she had disappeared. As she was the only one at the hotel desk who knew English and there was no people from my flight staying in the hotel I was, I triple checked the stuff I wrote down. "Go to Level 3, exit door 8, the bus goes there." Level 1 wasn't going to help me OR SO I THOUGHT.
Went up to level 3, walked to the exit and four buses came, the fourth driver understood just enough English to say "No go port 1, hotel desk" when I told him where I wanted to be. I went back inside and heard an announcement in Korean just finish, then it changed to English and said "Could the red tracksuit boy with the girl's haircut come to the hotel information desk."
Who else but Whalley could that be!
I made my way down there and the girl I'd spoken to came over to me and apologised for taking so long, I said I panicked and got lost (entirely the truth) and she introduced me to a man who said "English!" and waved for me to follow, then took off on a run. What could I do but follow?
The hotel sent a limousine and he was the driver, who I found out didn't speak English at all. Two other passengers were in the car, and that made things fun. See, one of them spoke Korean and a bit of Japanese and the other was a Japanese girl who spoke English better than I did but from her own admission, could only say about 10% of things in Korean. So the driver asked the first passenger who asked the second who asked me, "are you from England?" I told her no, Australia, and that got relayed back to the driver who spoke all the Australian he knew. "Ah, Australia! Sydney! O-per-ah-house-air-rock?" I just nodded and smiled, and he seemed happy with himself. I knew the driver and the Korean passenger were talking about me, as they'd frequently say "Australian" and laugh, but so what, people talk about me all the time. I'm great. The Japanese girl and me chatted on our way to the hotel.
Now that I'm back at the airport I can see I wrote it down wrong, but the hotel didn't have my booking number, so I had to pay out the nose. 90,000 korean... things! I tell you, it was a good thing that equalled about US$70 or I woulda been freaking out.
The hotel room had a vending machine for food, drink, beer, chocolate, stockings and honey condoms. I didn't get any honey condoms although I'm regretting it now. Korea is obsessed with honey, I have to say. Snacks on the plane? Honey related or coated. Beer? I know the taste of honey beer quite well thank you very much. Chocolate? Think Mars bars with honey instead of caramel. Moisturiser and shampoo? You best believe we talkin' honey, y'all.
The bathroom was great. I forgot what it's like to be able to have a shower without water restriction woes, and the entire bathroom is your shower. The wall unit blasted water in any direction I wanted it aimed, and the drain was directly in the center of the room. Needless to say, I spent a little bit of time singing into the showerhead in front of the full length mirror in the shower. I am so great.
I found a channel on TV that was playing Bruce Willis things back to back, so I watched that and hung out in the hotel room - we were too far away from anywhere to go out, and I didn't really want to go down the weird staircase in the middle of the hotel parking lot that was neon lit; from the looks of it, it was one of those bars where all the girls wear no shirts and they fondle you while you drink. I wasn't in the mood for being fondled while I drink.
Oh god, Korea is beautiful though. The whole drive from the airport to the hotel, I was just noticing all the hills and forests and greenery and such, and it was amaaaaaaazing. I've never seen forests so dense and green and vibrant. I couldn't get a photo on the way but I tried to take one out my hotel window; my phone says it's pretty neat but that may not be the case in the end.
In the morning, I was the only one who was going to be taking the bus so the bus driver said fuck it and stuck me in the limo, driving me back to the airport. Conversation was really really limited, what with his knowledge of English already having being outlined and the total amount of Korean I can speak being "Kim Jong Il" and "Aachi and Ssipak" - the second being an animated movie about a woman whose butt sensor makes it seem like she poos 100x as much as she does so when she goes to the toilet she is rewarded with 100x the normal amount of highly addictive lollipops, so a green troll is out to get her with his smurf henchmen only a government android and two thugs don't want that to happen, also the android is a former porn director. I opted for silence.
And basically, here we are. I considered writing about how I got lost coming into the airport, but I really didn't. I just walked forwards until I almost bumped into a sign saying "INTERNATIONAL BOARDING ->" and decided to walk -> until I found where I had to go through. Customs were even easier this time around as my main bag is being shot straight to Washington, so now all I need to do is continue my trend of not breaking the law and I should be set.
Oh and Mum, the window seat I got? Nobody was sitting in between my window seat and the aisle. How radical.
Tuesday, July 31
time to Freak Out just a Little Bit
In ten hours I'm going to be on my first international flight. Holy crap. Goodnight.
Monday, July 30
I easily claim first post
Basically, this blog is all started to help keep everyone up to date while I travel, due mainly to the fact that I am way too lazy to individually email each person.
I leave in like two days. I am so damn excited and losing heaps of sleep and I'm sure that my sleep plans for the plane will be entirely thrown away when I find myself sitting bolt upright with a giant goofy grin on my face the entire time I'm travelling.
I have yet to pack, however it should be a pretty easy thing to do; I can almost fit myself into my bag, so fitting a couple of pairs of jeans and a t-shirt or three should fit easy. I just need to keep room in there for Doyle's cowboy boots and I could probably fit every bit of clothing I would reasonably wear into this damn thing and still have room. I'm pretty sure I could fit like eleven guitars into it. Eleven guitars and an explosion.
Alright I need to keep setting this up and let everyone know the address, but yay for me, I have kicked it off old school.
I leave in like two days. I am so damn excited and losing heaps of sleep and I'm sure that my sleep plans for the plane will be entirely thrown away when I find myself sitting bolt upright with a giant goofy grin on my face the entire time I'm travelling.
I have yet to pack, however it should be a pretty easy thing to do; I can almost fit myself into my bag, so fitting a couple of pairs of jeans and a t-shirt or three should fit easy. I just need to keep room in there for Doyle's cowboy boots and I could probably fit every bit of clothing I would reasonably wear into this damn thing and still have room. I'm pretty sure I could fit like eleven guitars into it. Eleven guitars and an explosion.
Alright I need to keep setting this up and let everyone know the address, but yay for me, I have kicked it off old school.
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