Weeks 2 and 3: 25 April - 04 May 2011

Am officially an alcohol free-zone! Three weeks dry and not counting. BUT, boy I could have downed a few today. Here I am in the land of milk and honey cookies, or rather hi-techery - and already I'm on my second mob and my laptop is teetering on the brink of implosion (as, actually am I - thanks to it!). Watch that space then!
 


Not such a good idea?


Looks like in the short-term I'll be lurking in the library again - some arcane rule means that only peeps who declare an intended residency of six months or more are allowed to join - five months just doesn't cut it. Which means I have learned to speak with a faux US accent and make friends with the other library itinerants, all the while with an eye on a vacant PC spot in which to shimmy when "Frau Braun" isn't looking. Interesting peeps in the library, students, scholars and housewives and people with a lot of luggage. Or that's what I thought at first. In fact it IS people with a lot of luggage, snail mode - they carry their worldly belongings everywhere they go. The library is a haven of warmth and calm (unmolested by police or those intent on nefarious activities), but I have to say they are a little "fragrant"!

The weeks sandwiched two hectic and complementary weekends at the house. The first was a "spring cleaning" weekend; lots of brute force and ignorance in hoiking fridge/freezers the size of walruses out of corners and a bit of slapdashery wall-washing and carpet shampooing. The second weekend saw an influx of Comcast employees who adopted our home as one of their projects in their equivalent of the "One Day Challenge" (the company I used to work for had one day each year when all employees would volunteer/raise funds for charity). Comcast calls it "Comcast Cares Day" - I like that.

About 50 employees turned up at the crack of sparrows and split into two teams. The first stayed at the house and painted fences, garages, kitchens and bathrooms. The second team went around the corner to help prepare for a plant sale next weekend - I was scooped up with them and spent a frenetic hour writing hundreds of labels for plants. All went swimmingly until the main gardener chap came over and asked what a "Bee Bomb" plant was (x 100 labels). Hhmm - you try saying "Bee Balm" in a US accent and see how it sounds to your "English trained ear". Anyway... I like my name better :O)

Of course all activity over the last couple of weeks was interspersed with contacts, touch points and conversations too numerous to recall au sujet du MARRIAGE! We have had wall-to-wall, ceiling-to-floor, non stop coverage and a week on the whole wedding is STILL being aired in full. Naturally, I AM the world authority on Wills and Kate - at least in my little world. It was very reminiscent of when I was in Austin, TX and I had HUNDREDS of condolences offered to me on Diana's death, culminating in some kind soul pinning a black ribbon on my front door - bit gruesome that. So back to last Friday. It was probably a mistake to venture out and speak - or at least do so without my "library accent". Questions I was asked "Does William have a surname?", "Do you know Kate?", "Did you attend Diana and Charles' wedding?" and (my personal favourite) "Will Fergie become queen?" (Don't ask).

The other big talking point of course is the demise of Osama Bin Laden. At dinner one evening, one of my hosts, K (a well-travelled woman who has also lived overseas) described how shocked she was the first time she realised that Americans and the US as a society aren't perhaps universally held in quite the highest esteem in other parts of the world as that in which they hold themselves. K posited that the "dancing in Times Square in celebration of OBL's death", maybe wasn't a behaviour that would necessarily be looked upon favourably by the rest of the Western world. K approached it from a "Noblesse oblige" standpoint, but no, nothing doing... the celebrations were very well received in this house.

As you can see above - have acquired wheels - another bargain - courtesy of a local non-profit organisation of which there really area surprising amount. $25 for bike, lock and helmet. Hurrah! AND this week FINALLY someone turned up the thermometer - we're now at low to mid 60s. Double hurrah!. Oh, but someone left the tap on - cue major floodage. Burlington lies on Lake Champlain, the flood level of which is 100feet, currently it's at 104, wet, wet, wet indeed!

Strange fact-ette of the week: How big is a can of Diet Coke? 330ml, I hear you cry. But no, not in the US - here the standard can size is 355ml. How WEIRD is that? We globalise on complex issues such as software, Air Traffic Control and even war. But we don't use the same can size?

I leave you reassured that I am using my time well and am engaging in a continuing education program, albeit low-key and economical. So far have learned where all the states of the US are - by completing a puzzle designed for 7-13 year olds. Much entertainment among the housemates as I struggled to place Maryland and Maine, Ohio and Oklahoma (don't laugh - you try it :O)

TTFN