We just flew in from our whirlwind "N. needs to experience a REAL American Thanksgiving" tour. The visit included my pop's house in Kansas (do NOT insert Dorothy joke here) to get the full Turkey Day experience, see my Pennsylvania bro, catch up with some friends, and reacquaint myself with the step-nieces/nephew.I think that for now bullets will just have to do:
- OVERSTIMULATION on the English already! It is everywhere! My ears are tuned into the stuff and I can't seem to block it out. Maddening.
- Is it me or is Chicago ALWAYS cold as ... hmm, I guess hell doesn't really fit in here... OK, cold as a well digger's ass in November? Cold as a witch's tit in a brass bra? Cold as a cast iron commode. Perhaps you get the idea.
- Chicago is filled with pro-Obama stuff. Yup, I even bought a shirt that says, "1-20-2009, The End of an Error". LOVE IT!
- My home town is building a huge arena in a depressed, downtown area. Visitors will actually have to walk about 3 blocks to get to the place, and they're pissed.
- Renting a car is expensive. It might even get more expensive because N. has fallen in love with the Nissan Murano... uh oh!
- The grocery stores in my home town have all taken to including a "home" section complete with furniture and bedding. WTF? Do I really want to have sheets and raw chicken in the same basket?
- Coke Zero is hard to get in America... shame.
- Six flights (three coming - three going) and no delays, no luggage troubles... it was lovely. Well, as lovely as spending an entire day traveling halfway around the world can be.
- Has anyone else noticed how LOUD Americans are? I felt like I was constantly surrounded by a group of people who just wanted to shout at each other. (Inside voices, people!)
- Dinner with all the trimmings with not one but two groups... one is family, the other friends... thankfully not both on the same day.
- Football... Nebraska Cornhuskers... not at their best may I say.
- Macy's Day Parade complete with goofy news people saying inane things about huge balloons with such a tone as to let you know they are reading the pre-written statements and would never actually THINK these things.
- Pumpkin AND Pecan Pie!
- Sweet potatoes AND mashed potatoes... to hell with the double starch rule! No one complains when you have two vegetables.
- Tearing apart a wishbone... and winning!
- Drinking way too much as a way of relating to the family around you.
- Reading a fat Thanksgiving Day newspaper to scope out Black Friday ads.
- Black Friday shopping starting at dark thirty.
- Friday evening meeting up with friends, preferably at a bar.
- Last minute dash to the grocery store for that forgotten item.
- Realizing after desert that the rolls are languishing on the counter instead of being served at the table.
7 comments:
It was fabulous seeing you again! And N. was very charming! Glad to know you both made it home safely.
Whoah, I bet you had to put N. in the decompression chamber after all that fun. :-)
Sounds fabulous, though. Sometimes those loud, whirlwind experiences are the best, aren't they?
Glad to hear that your trip went well... mine was really excellent!
I hope to see you soon
! Sounds like sensory overload to me (but also a lot of fun). WHat did N think of it all?
Welcome back! I need to get home for Thanksgiving some year.
A great trip it sounds like...even if it was whirlwind.
And as for the 'double starch' thing...I would figure it's nothing new, considering the Germans have that down to a science :)
Sounds like a great trip! I can sort of relate to your feeling of seeing it through your beloved's eyes, as my wife is from Russia and never observed Thanksgiving until a few years ago, with me. Oh, it was a trip when she experienced it with my family. We had several immigrant friends of ours at our Thanksgiving, too, and oh, the questions they've asked!
Sensory overload is what Thanksgiving is about! Glad you got to go home to experience it. Glad you came back to Germany safely. Did N. kiss the ground when she got home? ;-)
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