Random Thoughts On A Year Out Here

31536000 seconds, 525600 minutes, 8760 hours, 365 days, 52 weeks, 12 months, 1 year. Whatever way you look at it I’ve been out here (kind of) a long time.

To put that into perspective, all this happened in that time frame: some miners in Chile were trapped underground for 69 days, Ireland realized that they’d been spending far too much on St Patrick’s day celebrations and had to be bailed out by the EU, there was the terrible earthquake and Tsunami that hit Japan, uprising across the Arab world, everyone in the UK got a day off for some wedding, and Osama Bin Laden’s run for World Hide and Seek Champion was cut short by the A Team (USA, USA, USA!!). Arsenal also decided that they were going to give it a good go at being shittier than Spurs.

Ok in the grand scheme of things it’s not REALLY such a long time and, in general, the time has absolutely flown by. On the other hand I can remember back to when I first landed here, waking up the first morning (back when the apartment was tidy and free from the clutter that I seem to have collected) and feeling totally lost and just wishing I was back home. Even if it was just for the afternoon and to have one final Sunday lunch with my family and to hear my little sister complain of ‘meat sweats’.

Things quickly began to feel more familiar however and soon I was caught up with all my new surroundings and that to everyone I was this new, shiny toy. I guess there aren’t many visitors in Indiana. I’ve since made loads of new friends here and joined a local ‘soccer’ team.

My plan was to always see as much of the country as possible whilst I was here. Looking back at all the major places I have been over the past year, I’ve done pretty well … trips to New York, Chicago, Washington DC, California (Los Angeles and San Francisco, Pacific Coast Highway 1), and Utah (Arches National Park and the Salt Flats). All fantastic trips either travelling by myself or with friends. On top of that you have the celebrations around the US holidays like Thanksgiving and 4^th July (I know, but when in Rome …), where the families of friends I have made here invited me over. Great times.

There are still things that I find hilarious: the American love of cheese and the put-it-on-anything attitude, the complaints about the price of ‘gas’ when it gets to anywhere near $4 a gallon (in the UK it’s roughly $8.50 at the moment). There are things that I love though: the way the flag is flown almost everywhere and the pride that people have in their country (something that perhaps is slowly being eroded in the UK as Political Correctness rules), and most of all I love how open and friendly everybody is. Both locally (and on my travels) I’ve met normal people, relatively normal people, and then people that look like they are waiting for a revival of Bullseye for some 80’s nostalgia; but all have been open, engaging and easy to get along with. Well, I don’t actually include everyone in that statement. Any airport/border security officials are excluded as most look at my Visa as though it was approved by Gary Glitter.

The most amusing thing for me has been that, whenever I go out, most Americans I speak to fail to realize they too have an accent …

Me: “Hi, I’m James”

Person: “Ohh you have an accent!!”

“Ha-ha … yes I do”

“I LOVE it”

“You know, you have an accent too …”

“Do I?!” – you have to see it to appreciate the look of initial amazement.

You can’t make some of it up. I’m still trying to perfect my American accent but I just sound like a pissed off Terminator or Johnny 5. On the other hand most Americans sound like Dick Van Dyke a la Mary Poppins when they whip out the old British accent, so I’d say we’re just about square.

Then you also have the differences between the languages. Well not the languages, really, as they’re supposed to be the same one. Somehow we’ve managed to execute them in two completely different fashions. The whole tomato/tomato thing is widely quoted, but it’s true. The other day at lunch I was at a Chick-fil-a drive through, then came the usual line of “do you want any condiments with your order, sir?” so I asked for some “tomato sauce and some salt, please”. The couple of minutes that followed this simple request were pretty bizarre. The girl that originally asked, well she just walked away, never to return. A boy took over and asked the same question to which I offered the same response. “Sorry? We don’t have that” the young guy said; clearly he’s thinking ‘what the f*** are you on about?!’. So I repeated my request again. A confused look crept across his face … “Ohh you want two mustards and salt!”. At this point I’m looking around for the US equivalent of Jeremy Beadle or whoever to jump out, microphone in hand. But no, he was being serious, “Errr, nope. Tomato sauce; y’know – ketchup?”. And that was when the penny dropped and I finally got my order. I could tell you story after story of similar happenings throughout the year, but it would only bore you. Or me. One of us would get bored either way.

I’ve kind of forgotten where I was heading with this entry, so I think that will do for now.

I’m looking forward to the upcoming year and all the fun that lies ahead, but I can’t wait to see all friends and family back in the UK at Christmas.

American Sports Part IV: Baseball

After watching the US versions of proper football, their version of football, and then basketball I finally got a chance to watch some baseball during the summer months.

The closest thing we have to the baseball in the UK is probably watching paint dry rounders or, if you really squint, cricket. Like American Football the games go on FOREVER, and I was also surprised at how many games there are in a season … the teams seemed to be playing every couple of days. Although I don’t enjoy the game as much as basketball (my favourite US sport so far), actually being at the ballpark is a good day/evening out.

I’ve been to two so far: the Indianapolis Indians at Victory Field and the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. The former representing a newer ballpark; the latter an older, more historic one.

The first Indians game that I went to started off a beautiful early summer evening; it was stupidly hot and humid, we were sat out in the outfield/grass banking, and naturally I was eating a huge portion of fries and a hot dog.

Of course I bought a huge foam hand too. As the game wore on some huge storm clouds came right over, and some flashes of lightning and cracks of thunder added excitement to a game that wasn’t going in any particular direction. Then the rain started to fall and I was amazed that the players were still continuing the game. It looked dangerous with how slippery the grass must have been let alone the lightning that was streaking above our heads. By this time most of the crowd had either left the stadium (textbook fair weather fans!!) or, like us, had ran for cover beneath the main grandstand. After about 20 minutes of persistent rain the players were called off from the pitch and, in scenes identical to rain at Wimbledon, the covers were dragged onto the playing area. Thankfully Cliff Richard didn’t pop us to serenade us.

There is, however, a bit of a sing song that traditionally happens at baseball games … it’s during what is known as “the Seventh Innings Stretch” and the song is “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” – complete with organ! I found the following video on YouTube; unfortunately for you there are no known recordings of my dulcet tones fumbling the lyrics …

Not me …

My trip to Wrigley Field coincided with a weekend trip to Chicago (great city). The ballpark is a beautiful looking sporting arena, something I was able to appreciate even though it was just too hot that day. It was during a spell of intense heat that seemed never ending for a couple of weeks, so I got some nice tan/burn lines.

I liked the fan involvement with the game, the fact that if a ball comes into the stand then you can keep it. It also encourages you to keep watching the game and not to doze off … because that ball would hurt if it hit you. Something that a woman sitting near us can confirm as she was smacked in the face by a ball that was tossed to her son. The boy completely missed the ball that was thrown to him and (I don’t know what the mum was doing) it caught her. I’m ok laughing about it; she was fine. Although I now fully expect baseball karma to smack me with a home run next summer … It also reminded me of the time my youngest sister threw a stone at my dad, from point blank range, whilst at the beach when we were younger. She still claims it was an accident … : )

Indiana State Fair

Each August, the Indiana State Fairgrounds are host to the Indiana State Fair.

The Fair itself runs for over 2 weeks, within that time there are displays of produce, livestock, endless amounts of food to buy and try (surprise), rides and attractions, and also live bands/performances. For a link to some photographs that I snapped on the evening I visited the fair, click the image below!

One of the main reasons for our visit to the Fair was for the food … everyone had told me that this was one of the main reasons to go. Most if it was amazing (pork, steak, and chicken sandwiches), whilst some of it was just weird: donut burgers, deep fried butter, deep fried Oreos, deep fried cookie dough. Apparently they’ve even had deep fried Pepsi before … I still don’t understand how that’s possible. The deep fried cookie dough and Oreos were ok; however the deep fried butter was close to making me throw up. It was terrible!! There is a video that was filmed of me riding a on a mechanical bull in a challenge … but I can’t seem to find it anywhere so you’ll have to use your imagination. Below is the obligatory picture of me eating … a funnel cake this time.

It was an enjoyable evening there, the place full of people and everyone having a great time. Even a freak downpour of rain where it was almost as though somebody had switched on a shower head failed to dampen the enjoyment. The rain came down just as I was in a queue for all the deep fried food!

However, just under a week later there was a freak storm that did ruin the enjoyment of the Fair for almost everybody. On Saturday August 13th, high winds whipped through the main concert stage area at the Fair ultimately bringing about the collapse of the stage. The structure fell onto the crowd that were still gathered at the front of the stage and had not yet moved for shelter from the storm. So far 7 people have died from the incident and there were many more injured. Below are some links to news stories about the incident:

CNN

TheIndyChannel (videos)

I’m glad that I wasn’t at the Fair that night, but watching the coverage on the news it was clear to see how everybody there (the public, emergency services etc) pulled together to try to deal with the situation.

Wow …

Had no idea it had been so long since my last post …

Summer is almost over and I have plenty to update you on; I’ll get onto it this weekend…

I PROMISE.

Before then, I’d like to point you in the direction of my friend Kim. Kim works for the same Company as I do, and will be moving to the UK for 6 months on the same scheme that has sent me over to the colonies … just obviously the other way round. She’s going to be keeping a blog (I’ll take the credit for it…) so make sure you have a read of that too. I’m sure it will be a great read as she discovers the cost of “gas” and, well, pretty much everything in the UK. Not to mention how much smaller things are. Kim, and her boyfriend Tim, are also Gooners (Arsenal fans); so, you know, she’s ok. Good luck, Kim!

http://agirldisplaced.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday America …

Another American holiday: Independence Day! Or 4th July as it seems to be referred to by everybody.

I was lucky enough to use some holiday/vacation time and went to Washington, DC to watch the celebrations. With Washington being the Capital of the US, I figured it would be as good a place as any to go.

Although the flights were cheap enough at about $240 return, I thought it would be a good idea to make a mini road trip of the 1200 miles or so round journey. With the price of petrol as it is over here it probably cost half the price of the flights (if that) to get us there and back. If, however, I factor in the cost of the speeding ticket I picked up in Ohio then it would have been cheaper to fly…

The drive was easy enough the whole way there, the hardest part was trying to keep yourself interested when you’re on the same road for 300 or so miles with barely so much as a bend to make you think. Well, that was the case through Indiana and Ohio. As we passed through West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania there were amazing changes in the landscape. Ohio and Indiana, much like the whole of Norfolk back in the UK, is pretty much flat. Through the proceeding States, the landscape reminded more of scenery that I had seen in Thailand. The weather too was very jungle like; lots of mist and very humid as we drove to higher and higher altitudes.

The whole weekend was great with so many things to see and do. I think I ticked off most of the touristy things; The White House, Capitol Hill, Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial etc. I was really disappointed to see the famous Reflecting Pool, where Forrest Gump wades through to get to “Jennay”, was just a load of mud and wooden posts as it’s currently being renovated. Also went to the Holocaust museum, which sounds a strange place to go but it was fascinating and I’d recommend anybody to visit.

Click the photo above and it should take you to my Flickr account where you’ll see all the photographs that I uploaded from the trip, including the awesome fireworks show that lasted over 15 minutes. I still think my Dad’s mini pyrotechnics display every 5th November would give them a run for their money … (Americans: Gunpowder Plot 1605 – Google it!!)

Perhaps not a famous landmark in the same sense of the other places I visited, but a trip was made to Ben’s Chili Bowl. This place is famous for it’s chili and all the other food you’d associate with it. Bill Crosby and Barack Obama are some of the famous faces that have eaten there, and their pictures grace the walls inside. It was also featured on the TV show Man Vs Food, which tells you all you need to know about it really. Just to get in there to order there was a huge queue that stretched around the side of the building … something my lower back didn’t need after walking around in flip flops all day in the heat ... Stuart clearly caught the moment, but I WASN’T crying!!

The drive back was so uneventful it doesn’t warrant a comment, other than a pat on the back for successfully avoiding another speeding ticket in Ohio (thank you Mr Cruise Control)!!

The whole weekend was good fun and was great to see the celebrations everywhere, although why anybody would celebrate their independence from Great Britain is beyond me … to paraphrase an Al Murray line: “don’t call it Great f*cking America do they?!” I joke, of course.