ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 243

Posted on September 24, 2013 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Kid President

I was not fully aware of the Kid President in the USA until my friend Tom mentioned him yesterday on his blog.

He’s a dude!

So, he’s like a mini Obama giving out advice and positive statements. He is the self-proclaimed voice of a generation.

Kid President was borne out of the simple belief that kids have voices worth listening to. The belief is that kids can change the world as well as grown ups.

Kid President says, “Love changes everything. So fill the world with it.”

So what would a UK Kid Prime Minister look like? Oh, I hate to think he might be a bit dull and one of those young Conservative wallys* who talks in an upper crust accent, snorts a lot at unfunny jokes about the state of the pavements in their community, and carries a clipboard around, taking note of inappropriate things as makes his merry way along the disempowered UK high street.

* ‘Wally’ is an excellent word from the 1980s in the UK, which, in my belief, should be reinstated as the top dissing word, much like ‘plonker’. 🙂

Britain’s finest

Anwyay, all hail the Kid President. He rocks.

The Ubiquitous Pumpkin

Well, flippin’ heckythump, there is so much pumpkin paraphernalia around, I can’t believe we haven’t had an invasion from Planet Pumpkin right here in Howard County, Maryland.

People are queuing up to get their Pumpkin Spice Lattes, there are a plethora of Pumpkin Pies in the bakery sections, and Pumpkin Beer adorns the shelves in the liquor stores.

Look at them all!

So, why do Americans love pumpkins so much and why the explosion in marketing of the big orange squash-type thing?

The Huffington Post noted that this year, the word “pumpkin” seems to be creeping its way into hundreds of foods, drinks, and other products – teas, marshmallows, soy milk, Pop-Tarts, and Pringles. Pringles? Really?!!

Ugh, I’m gonna barf….

But what has spurred this explosion in marketing a big orange squash?

It’s more about the pumpkin feeling than the pumpkin flavour or nutrition, apparently.

And although pumpkin beers and pumpkin breads have been produced since colonial times, that they weren’t always the specialty foods that they are today. There is a nostalgia for this old-fashioned, rural way of life, which the pumpkin depicts (that no one ever really wanted to stay on, but everyone’s always been romantic about), experts say.

Nowadays, a real pumpkin isn’t even necessary to elicit these old-timey feelings. Many modern pumpkin and pumpkin spice products like beers, cookies and chocolates don’t contain any actual pumpkin. What?! Artificial flavouring? Who’d have guessed….?! 😉

There was even an uproar last month over the shortage of Starbucks’ iconic pumpkin spice latte. The Wall Street Journal reported that the coffee chain’s seasonal beverage contains no real pumpkin; a Starbucks spokeswoman said it “contains a natural and artificial pumpkin spice flavor.” There we go, pumpkin spice latte fans.

Hold on, there ain’t no pumpkin in this fella!

Banking USA style

I wish to apologise to the lady in the bank whom I had to talk to via a computer screen, who could not understand me, and consequently got the giggles. In the UK we don’t have banks where you talk to the teller on a phone via a computer, nor plastic bottles that you put your money in and then press a button to send it down a chute.

It all felt a bit surreal, and unnecessary. But funny, too. Ah, America, you do make me smile! 🙂

Posted in Travel | Tagged America, American, Americans, artificial flavoring, banking, Blog, Britain, British, Culture, expat, high street, hocoblogs@@@, Howard County, Huffington Post, Kid President, maryland, Obama, plonker, Politics, President, Prime Minster, Pringles, pumpkin beer, pumpkin pie, Pumpkin Spice Latte, pumpkins, Starbucks, UK, USA, wally, Young Conservatives UK | 8 Comments

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 242

Posted on September 22, 2013 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Views of DC

Washington DC – it’s picturesque, non? Especially from the top of Arlington Cemetery. The graveyard itself was mind-blowingly massive. You can’t help but be blown away by the sheer scale of it, and the importance of the people buried there.

And, of course, JFK himself is buried there, with his family members beside him.

General Lee’s house has the fine views and a lovely garden. It’s hard to think that once upon a time the land was also ‘home’ to many slaves……

The house overlooks the Potomac River and the National Mall in Washington, D.C (see my pics below) and during the American Civil War, the grounds of the mansion were selected as the site of Arlington National Cemetery, in part to ensure that Lee would never again be able to return to his home. However, the U.S has since designated the mansion as a National Memorial to Lee, a mark of widespread respect for him in both the North and South.

News across America…

I’m not just going to talk about the weather and the PTA and the small town things that happen during my time in the USA on this blog. I also want to share some of the news in America this week that has been thought-provoking for this Brit….I’d love to hear American and British views on these things to get different perspectives.

Coffee, muffin and a gun no more

My cop buddy mentioned to me this week that Starbucks has reversed its stance on customers carrying guns into its U.S stores, asking them to leave them at home instead.

I had no idea that the person behind me, when I’m ordering my latte, might be carry a weapon. It just wouldn’t occur to me.

This is just one of the pictures doing the rounds on the internet

The request was made in part because more people had been bringing guns into Starbucks over the last six months, prompting ‘confusion and dismay among some patrons and employees’, the Starbucks chairman, Howard Schultz, said.

In an open letter to customers issued late on Tuesday, he said: “Our stores exist to give every customer a safe and comfortable respite from the concerns of daily life.”

University of Alabama

Black students at the University of Alabama have accepted offers to join traditionally white sororities, after a week of protests about segregation among the campus’s Greek organizations.

On Friday 11 black students and three students from other minority groups received bids, or invitations, to join historically white sororities. Four black students and two students from other minority backgrounds have accepted those invitations and the number is expected to rise as the academic year continues.

University of Alabama (pic courtesy of the Guardian)

University of Alabama sororities have been segregated since the institution first accepted black students, 50 years ago. Of the 33,602 students enrolled in the school last year, 13% were black. In 2003, the first and only black woman pledged to one of the university’s traditionally white sororities – Gamma Phi Beta – through the formal recruitment process. The school’s traditionally African-American greek organizations integrated in the 1980s.

Racism in Leith

The tiny town of Leith in North Dakota braced itself for a potentially turbulent time this weekend. Its 24-strong population is set to be overrun by opposing busloads of neo-Nazis attempting to create a white supremacist community there and their anti-racist detractors.

Jeff Schoep, commander of the American National Socialist Movement (NSM), is preparing to travel from Detroit to Leith to hold a town-hall meeting and press conference on Sunday afternoon. On the NSM website, he describes the trip as a “gesture of goodwill”, but goes on to say ominously that the aim is to “plant the seeds of National Socialism in North Dakota”.

Anti-racist activists are also expected to descend on Leith from other parts of North Dakota and neighbouring Minnesota. “We cannot accept this racist hatred they are bringing here – Leith is in crisis and is crying out for help,” one of the organisers, Jeremy Kelly, told the Bismarck Tribune.

It’s now Sunday afternoon, and I don’t yet know what the outcome of these events in Leith is.

North Dakota

For the residents of Leith, the prospect of a weekend filled with white supremacist grandstanding is highly unwelcome. The town mayor, Ryan Schock, told the UK Guardian newspaper “people are very concerned. They do not want people to come to this town who have hate in them.”

Leith’s conundrum began when a newcomer called Paul Craig Cobb began buying up deserted plots of land two years ago, accumulating 12 plots in total. Last month it was revealed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors right-wing extremism, that Cobb, 61, is in fact a white supremacist wanted in Canada for promoting hatred in a blog.

Posted in Travel | Tagged American Civil War, American National Socialist Movement, anti-racist, Arlington Cemetery, Gamma Phi Beta, General Lee, Greek, guns, Jeff Schoep, Leith, Neo-Nazi, North Dakota, Paul Craig Cobb, Potomac River, racism, segregation, slaves, sorotities, Starbucks, The National Mall, University of Alabama, Washington DC | 5 Comments

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 241

Posted on September 21, 2013 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Make sure you’re comfy, this is a long one… (that’s what she said / as the actress said to the bishop…) – sorry, couldn’t help myself 🙂

So, it’s been a busy few days in the land that is America.

Let’s kick off by talking about….

Politics

I am still fascinated by American politics. I love the buzz of it, the co-ordination, the passion, the speeches, the trays of Dunkin’ Donuts, the fans and supporters, the music playing when people get up to talk, the way the politicians high-five the crowd as they work their way through to the upbeat sounds of the Jackson Five.

It’s a sea of signs!

Shooting

So I went shooting with my cop buddy. It rocked. My knowledge of guns was ZERO, and now I think I understand and respect guns. Shooting at targets in a controlled environment….it’s fun! Pistols are so much heavier than they look and the kick back is fierce when the bullet comes out. The rifle, for me, was more intriguing, having to line up the target through the viewer and I was more successful at this. ‘Not bad for a rookie,’ came the response on my first attempt.

We discussed guns and their role in society. Being British and not having them in my life at all, I began to understand the controls around them, the licenses and the safety measures. It became clear through our discussions that much of the tragedy and subsequent discourse and issue around guns is based on fear of them. I guess I am inclined to believe that it’s the people behind the guns that are the killers since the gun is, as explained to me, ‘an inanimate object’. It’s the person who pulls the trigger….. still, there will always be opposing views on guns and the role they play in society.

Pistol shooting

Check out my shooting!

You so need these ear defenders!

At the range

Expert shooter 😉

In action!

Charity events

Last night we attended the charity event Vintage Affair for Voices for Children. This is basically wine tasting for a great cause.

Columbia is a small town – there were so many faces I recognised from the pools, the gym, the school playground. But that’s a good thing because it made me realise how tight and supportive this community is.

The wine was good and the company excellent…..in fact, I think the wine was rather too good….my other half mumbled something about ordering a whole case of wine at some point in the evening. 😉

There was also a silent auction, which he was confused about. ‘I thought it was just like normal bidding in an auction, except you don’t say anything,’ he said. Again, a little too much wine tasting, me thinks.

The oyster bar. Lush.

Glamming it up in the name of charity 🙂

The prison debate

So, today I talked to one of my co-writers at the Baltimore Post Examiner about my intention to write a journalistic piece on a prisoner and the prison system in the USA and we came up with an alternative idea, which may appease some of you who expressed concern.

Because the idea behind the piece is to talk predominantly about U.S prisons, find out how they operate and what leads someone into criminal behaviour, to look at the rehabilitation process and how they come out the other side, the focus is now going to be on someone who has done that.

So, I’ll be talking to an ex-offender, someone who has been through it and reformed, someone who is now a motivational speaker to inspire others into rehabilitation and who can tell their story and explain about prisons and what happens in them.

A positive outlook

It will be fascinating. Watch this space.

Baltimore Post Examiner

I love writing for this online newspaper. We get to write about all sorts of stuff – there are really no limitations. Our editor explained to us today that the online version will be available in two languages shortly.

‘But it already is,’ declared my writer chum. ‘We have American English and Claire’s British English.’

It’s true. I think sometimes my Britishisms are a headache for my editor, but he gets it – we do speak such different languages sometimes!

Writers being creative, see?! Pic courtesy of the lovely Bill Hughes 🙂

Posted in Travel | Tagged accents, America, American, Americans, As the actress said to the bishop, Baltimore, Baltimore Post Examiner, Blog, British, Columbia, Courtney Watson, Culture, Dunkin' Donuts, editor, expat, hocoblogs@@@, Howard County, Jackson Five, language, lifestyle, pistols, police guns, Politics, prisoner rehabilitation, rifles, shooting range, That's what she said, UK, USA, Vintage Affair, Voices for Children, wine tasting, writing | 7 Comments

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 240

Posted on September 20, 2013 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Prison penpal

So, my next mission is to get myself a prison penpal.

I know, I know what you’re thinking. I’m nuts. But the idea behind this is to find out about the U.S. prison system, how that person came to be in prison, what their life was like beforehand, and how they plan to rehabilitate and what they’ll do when they get out.

Additionally, I am also interested in meeting, or at least talking, to someone on death row. There are still death row inmates in Maryland – Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, an outspoken death penalty opponent, has yet to commute the sentences of the state’s five death row inmates (despite his role in pushing a repeal of capital punishment that takes effect next month.)

So, I’m first of making contact via Meet an Inmate. I have a choice of male or female penpals, although I think many of them are looking for a love interest, which, obviously, I’m not.

I chanced upon Sonny. At first, I thought ‘WTF!’, which is interesting, since his first comment on his profile is this:

‘Hey, I know you’re thinking to yourself what the f*#k!’

Hello Sonny

Yes, Sonny, I did think that, sorry. He adds ‘I am a lot to take in! But I’m worth getting to know. I’m not going to blow smoke up your a*s by telling you a bunch of BS just to get you to write me. The truth is, this place really sucks and I’m tired of being alone.

I’m looking for someone who is looking for me. As you can see, there is just too much to me to put in a short intro. What you really need to know about me is that I’m open-minded and kind. Oh, and I like tattoos, lol! I look forward to hearing from you soon.’

Anyway, I haven’t made up my mind who to write to yet – so many choices! And I am nagging a prison in Maryland to see if they’ll let me visit. It’s a whole new world in there…..

Western Correctional Institution is located just outside the City of Cumberland Maryland

Posted in Travel | Tagged America, American, Americans, Blog, British, Culture, death row, death row inmates, expat, hocoblogs@@@, Martin O'Malley, maryland, pen pal, penpal, prison, repeal death sentence, State Governor, UK, USA | 9 Comments

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 239

Posted on September 19, 2013 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Going shootin’

Tomorrow I’m going shootin’. Yes I am. I’m heading to a shooting range following an invitation from a police guy and his girlfriend who read my blog.

Apparently, this is their new toy.*

Oh my……

I’m a little bit on the nervous side! It looks so…well, so real!

And I have had to think hard about the appropriate attire to wear. I’m sorted, I think….

*NB: I know this is not a toy. Yikes, a real firearm.

Southern Gent

I wrote an article recently about the Confederate Flag and how we Brits might interpret it. Rememember…?

So, from that a Southern gentleman has been in communication with me, offering me lots of suggestions about the flag and information about the South in general, which has been fascinating.

He’s been telling me how he’s been reading and learing about U.S. history for 20 years now and is creating a piece about it. He’s also given me some authors to pursue – the writer, Jessica James, who lives in Virginia (I think). She has written a couple of historical fiction books, as has Virginia Beard Morton. Her book is ‘Marching Through Culpepper’, and it’s ‘a romance as well as history’. I like a bit of historical fiction, so I’ll be dipping my nose in, for sure.

Looks like a bodice ripper!

This one is a little more sedate, perhaps

Thank you, Southern Gent 🙂

Posted in Travel | Tagged America, American, Americans, Blog, British, Confederate flag, Culture, expat, guns, historical fiction, hocoblogs@@@, Jessica James, Marching through Culpepper, police, rifle, shooting, shooting range, Southern gent, Southern history, UK, USA, Virginia Beard Morton | 11 Comments

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 238

Posted on September 18, 2013 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

An appreciation of my American adventures

I wrote a guest post for the website Brits Across the Pond this week about how I view our life out here.

It’s a different life, and we are in a situation which allows to see things, experience things and achieve things, so this piece is an appreciation of our American adventure.

You might want to check it out and get my take on how we’ve decided to embrace new experiences.

(NB. My life in the UK wasn’t actually drab…it was just, well, just not like this one at all!) 😉

The American adventure

Posted in Travel | Tagged America, American, American adventure, Americans, Blog, British, Brits Across the Pond, carpe diem, Culture, expat, experience, hocoblogs@@@, lifestyle, Thoughts, Travel, UK, USA | Leave a comment

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 237

Posted on September 18, 2013 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

The other side of America

I’m getting itchy feet (no, it’s not my new ‘sneakers’) to see the other side of American life – that is, the one I haven’t seen much of yet. I’ve seen glorious America, bright lights, big city, fascinating history and incredible landscapes and views, but I haven’t seen the OTHER America. I’ve encountered some areas in DC and Baltimore, but only fleetingly, and it’s left me curious.

Why do I want to see it? Because I want to get a full perspective on the United States, its people, cultures, demographics and politics. And because I’m nosy and interested and find it fascinating just how polarised it can be.

A recent article, which calls these places ‘the wrong side of the tracks’, made me realise there is still much for me to see.

The article states that Google Street View ventured into ‘some of the most down right dangerous places in the world’, and that these ‘places you really wouldn’t want to find yourself.’ They are, they suggest, ‘some of the most notorious areas ever’.

Liberty City, Miami

Skid Row, an impoverished area of Los Angeles has the largest population of homeless people in the United States, somewhere between 3,000 and 6,000.

A dilapidated house in a run-down area of Houston’s fifth ward.

Auburn Gresham, Chicago

So those are some of the areas that Google Street View picked up on. Bear in mind that the article also featured Bogotoa, Columbia; favelas in Rio de Janeiro; Ferentari in Bucharest; the Jane and Finch district of Toronto; Golyanovo District, in Moscow, Russia; Troeshina, a suburb of Kyiv in the Ukraine; a Mexican barrio in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City; and Glasgow, Slough and the Aylesbury Estate in Walworth, London.

Out of that list, I’ve only been to Slough and there I think I only went to Debenhams and a Wetherspoons pub, both fairly quickly, before getting robbed blind by a gypsy lady selling me heather, who told me I would wear a crown one day and have six children (what on earth was she on about?!).

Slough. Sigh.

Anyway, the point is I do want to see these places in America, as well as all the picturesque bits. Maybe when I return to the UK I might have desire to visit the Aylesbury Estate, who knows, but for now, the places that they call the ‘wrong side of the tracks’ have an appeal and a draw to me in America, because I just want to see for myself…..

The Gun Control Debate

Just a little statement that I want to share with you in light of the shootings yesterday in D.C.

“He definitely lived the American Dream and achieved it,” Jain said, standing outside Pandit’s home. “It’s disheartening that the one flaw in the American system is the uncontrollable proliferation of guns.”

M. Nuns Jain was speaking of his friend Vishnu Pandit who was killed yesterday.

Posted in Travel | Tagged America, American, Americans, Aylesbury Estate, Baltimore, big city, bright lights, British, Chicago, Culture, DC, DC shootings, Debenhams, expat, favelas, Glasgow, Google Street View, guns, hocoblogs@@@, homelessness, Houston, LA, lifestyle, London, M. Nuns Jain, Mexico, Miami, Moscow, polarised, poverty, Rio de Janeiro, Skid Row, Slough, The American Dream, Toronto, Travel, UK, USA, Vishnu Pandit, Weatherspoons, wrong side of the tracks | 6 Comments

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 236

Posted on September 17, 2013 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Guest blog

I often meet people through my blog whose experiences and adventures need to be shared.

Rachel is one of those people. I asked her to write about why she came to America, what she has found out so far, and specifically about Atlanta, where she is based. I’m heading to Atlanta for the USA Netball Championships in November, so I have a keen interest in the area. After all, I hear it’s significantly different from this East Coast part, and it’s always intriguing to hear what Brits have experienced in various parts of this vast land. Rachel writes a blog too, all about living there. It’s super fun!

This is Rachel’s American Ride So Far….

Hey! I’m Rachel and this is my first ever guest blog post so a big, huge, mahoosive thank you to UK Desperate Housewife USA for asking me to get involved!!

I’m a British expat who’s lucky enough to have waved goodbye to dull and rainy Blighty and set up home in hot and sunny Atlanta! I’ve been here for 8 months now and I’m loving every minute!!! And how did I get here? Well it’s all because of this man and frozen cakes!

Rachel and hubby 🙂

Yep we made it to Atlanta because my lovely husband works for a frozen cake company! And yes we do get cakes and have to taste them to see if they’re good or not! Amazing I know!! One day he came home when we were living in our lovely flat in Leeds and said ‘We’re taking over the running of the American office, how do you fancy living in Atlanta?’ Well as you can imagine this didn’t take much thinking about! At the time I was working as a freelance journalist and after a few minutes of thinking (well actually it was more like seconds!) I said a big fat YES!!! And that was that, we were heading to the States, well once we’d been to the Embassy for our visas and had the removal men come around to pack all our stuff up!

So what’s life been like since I moved here? Well there’s been some culture shocks, some things I’ve embraced whole heartedly and others that I’m happy to just let pass me by! So here’s my list of the pros and cons of being an expat in Atlanta:

PRO: THE WEATHER
Now this is something I seriously cannot complain about! The weather here in the South is amazing!! Just about every day there’s bright sunshine and seriously hot temperatures! A definite culture shock from the dull, wet and miserable Leeds that I left behind in England!! A typical day in Georgia kind of looks like this:

Lovely jubbly!

Not a cloud in the sky! It’s definitely not something to screw your nose up at! But, and at the risk of the Brits back home saying ‘you don’t know how good you’ve got it’ it can get too hot! Especially in August, or the dog days of August as they’re called here in Hotlanta! It’s so hot you literally can’t do anything without getting hot and sweaty! Even walking out to the car is a huge task and if you sit by the pool you have to have a dip at least every 10 minutes because you just can’t stand the heat anymore! Right now I would say it’s a nice temperature, it’s in the high 80s meaning you can sit outside without ending up drenched in sweat (horrible visual I know! Sorry about that one!)

You can’t go for a walk without needing a complete change of clothes when you get back! Having said that, this year has been one of the worst summers for years..typical when we turn up! It’s rained more so far this year than the last 2 years put together – I’m blaming our British visitors! Every time they came so did the rain! Since my brother left about 3 weeks ago we haven’t seen any rain at all!! I think there’s something to be said for taking the weather with you!

CON: THE BUGS
Yep living here in the South there are LOTS of bugs and when I say bugs we’re not talking little tiny things that don’t bother you, oh no we’re talking HUGE ones that scare you to death!! In fact right now there’s a MASSIVE spider about to eat it’s pray on the other side of our porch screen, I’m just glad it’s on the other side of the screen! If it wasn’t I definitely would not be sitting here right now! There are also cockroaches. Yep you heard me cockroaches. They’re huge vile things and despite the apartment people spraying the place for bugs they still manage to get on the balcony and occasionally inside our apartment! It would appear the beautiful weather that I just branded a pro is to blame for these beasts too! Oh and I spotted this little, or should I say big guy on my way out the other day…

The bugliest bug

I have no idea exactly what he is but I know that I don’t like him!

PRO: THE OUTDOOR LIFESTYLE
The weather here in the South means you can spend a lot of time outdoors…something I am so grateful for! I love being outside, especially when it’s bright and sunny! There are loads of places here to take a walk, chill out, meet friends and just take in some of the amazing scenery! In fact here in Atlanta it’s like living in a forest! There are so many trees you wouldn’t think you were living in a huge city that’s home to 6 million people! Here’s the view from my balcony…

Trees…..

Yep nothing but trees! In some areas of the city, one minute you can be in the middle of some huge skyscrapers and the next you can turn a corner and you’re in suburbia with huge houses surrounded by trees! Although if you’re a hay fever sufferer you’d probably class the trees as the biggest CON ever! Around Easter time the pollen starts to fall and literally leaves yellow dust over EVERYTHING! Sometimes it’s so thick you can see it in the air and feel it on our skin!! Eugh!

CON: YOU CAN’T WALK ANYWHERE
If you want to go somewhere in Atlanta you have to take the car. Simple as. Before we moved here we thought we could have one car to share like we did back in Leeds. Oh how wrong we were! Everything is a drive away. You want some groceries, you need to get in the car. You want to go for a walk, you need to get in the car to drive to the trail. You want to go on a bike ride, you have to put your bike in your car and drive to a bike trail. I kid you not!! That’s one thing I miss from back home, being able to take a stroll to the local pub on a Saturday afternoon or evening or walk to the shop for a few bits and bobs. If you go out at night somebody has to drive, taxi’s are also practically nonexistent, and the ones that are around are always a little bit dodgy! This also means that the traffic
here in Atlanta is horrendous!! Never ever leave the house during rush hour, or the three-hour rush hour that lasts between about 4:30 and 7:30pm. Your usual journey time will double and you’ll be crawling in traffic as far as the eye can see!!!

PRO: SHOPPING
Yep as a (temporary) lady of leisure I’ve spent a lot of time shopping over the last few months (well not too much or my lovely husband would not be happy with me spending all his money on clothes!!) and believe me the shopping over here is good! Especially the outlets! If you go on the right days some stores can have an extra 50% off already discounted items, saving you loads on designer stuff! However it also makes you want to buy more because you think it’s such a good deal!! Whoops!

CON: AMERICAN DRIVERS
So when I came over here I had to get used to driving on the right hand side of the road and driving on the HUGE roads, and when I say huge I mean 6 lanes wide!!! I went from one extreme to the other and instead of having a small car like my little Peugeot I left back in England I joined the SUV club so that I could be high up and see more whilst I was driving! It made me feel so much safer!! Now I’m not saying every American is a bad driver, that is far from the truth but you do get the odd few who really don’t seem to know what they’re doing! And when they take their tests in a car park (yep, I got my Georgia driver’s license by taking my test in a car park and going on the road for 5 minutes and doing nothing but turning left!) there’s no wonder they struggle on the real roads! The majority of them don’t know what an indicator is and they often pull out in front of you without any notice on the highway! Just the other day I had to slam on my breaks as a woman pulled into my lane without indicating! Don’t worry I beeped at her!!

Then there’s the truly ‘Southern’ things we’ve experienced:

THE FOOD
Now if you’ve read my blog you’ll know that half the time it revolves around food, not good when you have a wedding dress to fit into in a few months time!! Eeeeek! (Yes I am already married but seen as though we said ‘I do’ on a beach without anyone knowing we thought we’d do it all over again next year with our friends and family!!) And here in the South the food really isn’t helping me to fit into said dress! Everything and I mean EVERYTHING here is deep-fried!! Fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, fried pickle spears, fried okra, fried catfish…you get the gist! And then there’s the stodge…waffles, biscuits and gravy, pancakes, hush puppies, cornbread, tater tots, sweet potato fries…the list is endless!! And every single thing is delicious! Oh and it’s usually covered in cheese just to add that extra bit of tasty-ness and up the calories even more!!! And we can’t forget the weird concoctions that strangely work like waffles bacon and maple syrup…

Wow, ace.

I was adamant this combination would not work before I tried it. I mean sweet and savoury in my book should not go together but I was shocked…it actually works VERY well indeed! Then there’s the fried chicken and waffles, this one I still haven’t tried because I’m sure it won’t work! Fried chicken should be eaten with copious amounts of mac n cheese or fries, not waffles! But I’m sure one day I’ll be persuaded to give it a go and I’ll probably rave about how good it is!! Oh and there’s the HUGE portions…check out this salad I bought the other day…

Salad southern style

Seriously who needs that much lunch? I think I managed just about half of it before giving up! In fact the portions are so big that most people take a goody bag home for later!! Definitely something you wouldn’t see back in the UK!

THE SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY
Everybody down here is so friendly…they call it the Southern Hospitality! Wherever you go people ask how you are, strangers who you walk past say hello even though you’ve never met them before and flash you a smile! At first I found this strange and a little bit weird, bearing in mind I come from England where people are much more reserved!! But I’ve got used to it and now I kind of like it! I join in and give people a smile and say hello to random neighbours in my apartment complex! There are times when it can get annoying though, especially when you’re shopping! When I’m out clothes shopping I like to take my time, look slowly and without any interruptions…something that is not allowed in Atlanta!! As soon as you walk in the shop they pounce ‘How are you today?’ ‘Is there anything I can help you with?’ ‘Are you looking for something in particular?’ No! I just want to take my time and look at what you’ve got!! If I need some help, I’ll ask!! That also took some getting used to but I know how to handle them now!!

So there you have it…my take on life in Atlanta so far! There’s definitely still lots for us to experience here in the States but so far I’m liking what I see! We’ve already learnt a lot since moving over here and I’m sure we’ll be learning and embracing loads more in the coming months and years! We’ve become keen basketball and baseball fans and with the football (American not Soccer!) season now upon us my husband is trying to teach me the rules of American football…that one hasn’t got my attention just yet but I’m sure it will at some point!! And after living the life of a lady of leisure since moving here in January I’m now officially allowed to go to work thanks to my work permit arriving in the post a few days ago…I think my life here is about to change and with it will come a whole wealth of new experiences! And guess what…I can’t wait!!

Posted in Travel | Tagged Altlanta, America, American, Americans, Blighty, Blog, British, bugs, cakes, calories, Culture, dogs, driving, Embassy, England, expat, expats, food, food portions, fried chicken, fried food, Georgia, hocoblogs@@@, Leeds, lifestyle, maple syrup, netball, rain, salad, Sourthern hospitality, spiders, SUV, trees, UK, USA, visas, waffles, walking, weather | 2 Comments

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 235

Posted on September 17, 2013 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

The Miss America debate

Well, I can’t blog today without mentioning this debate engulfing America.

So, the The Miss America pageant broke new ground this year by crowning Miss New York, Nina Davuluri, the first contestant of Indian descent to win the top prize. Unfortunately, in the time of social media, the racial trolls crawled out from under their Internetland bridges in droves to protest.

A beautiful image of Nina

A few just sighed and wondered why the winner wasn’t Miss Kansas, Theresa Vail. Miss Kansas won fans early on because of her military background, and for being the first Miss America contestant to bare her tattoos. Amazing. (I’m being sarcastic about the tattoos.)

This sort of thing is on the Interweb. Really?????

A supporter of Nina stated about the tattooed Miss Kansas: ‘While I like her ink and thank her for her service in the National Guard, there is nothing about any of those three things that should automatically qualify her as Miss America.’ Totally.

By winning the title of Miss America, Nina has demonstrated that Americans come in all varieties. After all, in a competition that included one contestant rocking a knee-brace (Miss Florida) and the first ever contestant with the tattoos in the form of Miss Kansas, this year’s batch of beauty queens was pretty diverse, all said and done.

Thankfully, the lovely Nina says she has “to rise above” negative comments by these trolls, who have called her a “terrorist” and linking her to “7-11” and “9/11.” One even stated ‘This is America, not India’ and ‘9/11 was four days ago an she gets Miss America?’ Honestly, what has 9/11 got to do with it? Because she has dark skin she’s somehow connected to what happened on that day? What kind of absurd troll logic is that?

Some of the nonsense on Twitter today

What decade is this I wonder? Are we taking 10 steps back? I hope not. Is racism really so rife? Sadly, it appears so.

Today in Washington

Today’s shooting in DC. Another one, surely not – that was my first thought. Where? Is everyone safe? Sadly they weren’t. A terrible day, a terrible tragedy.

Police and firefighters respond to the report of shooting at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C

Guns, guns, guns – when will I understand you?

It reminded me that I’m going to a shooting range with the police this week and I have so many questions about guns, their place in American society and what it’s like to be armed.

I hope I am able to share some answers with you. Sleep safe, DC.

Posted in Travel | Tagged America, American, Americans, beauty queen pageant, Blog, British, Culture, expat, guns, hocoblogs@@@, India, Internet, internet trolls, Miss America, Miss Florida, Miss Kansas, Miss New York, Navy Yard, Nina Davuluri, patriotism, racism, shooting in DC, social media, tattoos, Thoughts, UK, USA, Washington | 2 Comments

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 234

Posted on September 16, 2013 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

The tea scene in Breaking Bad

There’s a scene in the latest season of Breaking Bad where a woman walks in to a diner and asks for Camomile tea, which, she is told by the waitress, is not available. ‘Earl Grey, then,’ she says despairingly. ‘With soy, not dairy.’ ‘We don’t have soy,’ replies the waitress. ‘I’ll just have an English Breakfast then,’ says the woman, sighing. ‘Liptons,’ says the waitress, ‘we just have Liptons. Liptons is pretty much all we have.’ ‘Just hot water, with lemon,’ the woman states, resignation setting in.

Nooooooo!

How I can relate to this little scene! Liptons flippin’ teabags, they’re everywhere! 😉

A little bit of cricket in HoCo

An international cricket match took place in Howard County this very weekend – Brits, Australians, Iranians, Americans – we got together to do a very British thing on American soil. The sandwiches were cheese, not cucumber, but whose complaining?! The weather was fine for a bit of leather on willow and many runs were made in chaffing pads, but cricket it surely was!

I might hit the ball like a hockey player, and the Americans might hit it like a baseball, but we all just about made it work. There’s a place for cricket in the American sports calendar, I’m sure of it.

In fact, I hear calls for a very proper cricket match in Columbia in the Spring…I think it might just happen!