Thoughts on the US

Now we have been here in the US of A for the better part of a year we have been considering and discussing our thoughts on the country.

Language

Symi has been fascinated how in a country that speaks the same language as us there are so many words that we can't use. Just a few examples:

Australian                              US

toilet                                        restroom or bathroom

bin                                           trash can (they have no idea what a bin is)

car park                                   parking lot

ute                                           pickup

cool drink                                soda

petrol                                       gas

gas                                          propane

thongs                                     flip flops

we play with lego                    they play with legos

Lego or Legos?

On reflection it is much easier for an Australian to be aware of the American words than the other way around. We suspect this is an indication of how much American TV we watch and how little Australian TV those in the US are exposed to.

Accent wise we are constantly asked if we are New Zealanders or Australians. Evidently they worry we may be upset they get it wrong. We have heard so few Australian accents since we have been away that they now sound quite strange to our ears when we hear them. We are unable to hear each other's accent. The only exception to this was in Whistler where there are so many Australians that Fiona was asked if she was a local!

The other issue we have is pronouncing the letter R which no matter how we say it people don't understand - this is a slight problem when you are spelling Waller. The letter T is noticeably absent from many conversations.

Exchange in a supermarket

Fiona: Hi, can you please tell me where the butter is?

Assistant: the what?

Fiona: the butter (trying hard to pronounce the word well)

Assistant: sorry?

Fiona: the butter (sounding more and more English)

Assistant: I'm sorry...

Fiona: the yellow stuff you spread on bread

Assistant: oh you mean budderrrrr 

Food

As I am sure we have mentioned we are eating well. There is no shortage of fresh fruit and vegetables and we are finding cooking in the RV easy - especially with a BBQ. The thing that continues to surprise us is the sugar in everything. After 4 months we found our first loaf of multigrain, wholemeal and sugar free bread - yum. Even though people assure us you do, there is no way we will ever get used to the sugar levels in the bread. We have found that sourdough is our best bet for low sugar. We buy plain greek yogurt and is about 15% sugar!

The slightly worrying thing about the bread (and English muffins which are low in sugar) is that they last forever and still seem to taste reasonably fresh. We are not sure what preservatives we are eating and if this will shorten our lifespan - or preserve us for longer. Looking at ingredient lists on some items is positively frightening. We are working on the premise of eating non processed food where possible and not thinking about the rest. With wine we are blissfully ignorant as no alcohol content is given on the labels.

Meat has been a learning experience as many cuts have different names here. Our favourites for the BBQ have been flank steak and flat iron steak both of which are tasty and tender if you rest them. We tried a London Broil steak which I think is meant to be similar - it was tough. Not sure if we cooked it incorrectly or it was a poor piece of meat. We have also been experimenting with ribs. We have been cooking them in the slow cooker with both a BBQ sauce and an asian sauce - yum.

Coffee

Spending a lot of our first two months in Utah we found it strange that there did not seem to be much of a coffee culture.This highlights our lack of knowledge about the Mormon religion.We knew they did not drink alcohol but were unaware they did not drink caffeine either. On crossing the border into Colorado coffee appeared again.By that time we had

lashed out spending $15 on an electric drip filter coffee maker. Five minutes with the generator on and we can make coffee and microwave milk anywhere. Actually that is pretty much all we ever use the generator for, although it does have the added bonus of charging the batteries.

All in all I think you have a much better chance of finding a good cup of coffee in rural Australia than rural US. We have certainly found some good coffee but it is hit and miss. Starbucks coffee is easy to find but they tend to roast their beans too dark for our taste - it makes it bitter. Wow we sound like such coffee snobs.

Wildlife and scenery

Both the wildlife and scenery in this country have far exceeded our expectations. We have seen such a variety of wildlife it is amazing. Symi has taken multiple photos of every animal we have seen so we are in no danger of forgetting any. Lucky we have digital technology - Symi is still perplexed when we try to explain how it was in our day when we had to pay to get photos developed.

Other Strange Bits and Pieces

Light switches are upside down.

Cars and RVs here seem to need to idle for 10 to 20' before driving off!

Symi doesn't like hot chocolate here - it's too sweet

You can't pump your own gas in Oregon and New Jersey - not sure why

Manners

As far as we can tell everyone in the US has delightful manners. Meeting anyone who is anything but polite is a rarity. Crossing the road is an experience - people stop for you. At crossings without lights you mostly just have to step onto the road and the cars stop. Once again we do not have much experience in cities. When you are on a bike cars give you lots of space which is nice.

Assistants in shops and supermarkets go out of their way to help you. One piece of advice is do not ask for help if you are in a hurry. People are very helpful, but outside the cities in the US nobody seems to be in any sort of hurry. We have lots of time but sometimes feel like things are being done in slow motion.

We have stayed in all sorts of campgrounds and we have only had one episode of noisy neighbors and they were well quiet by midnight. There does not seem to be any of the drinking and inconsiderate behaviour that we have come across in Australia.

Hospitality

We have met so many lovely people here. We have been welcomed into peoples' homes, fed apple pies and generally looked after. We did not realise how exotic we would be here. Many people here think traveling for 12 months is positively astounding (we have been asked if we are independently wealthy!) As many people here only have two weeks leave a year they do not travel for long periods. That said we have met quite a few people who have retired very early and now travel a lot.

Meeting people - Tod and Barry on the left have the farm near Washington

Many people have given us contact details and said to contact them when we are in their area. One couple we spoke to for only 5' on a walk came and found us in our campground to invite us to stay with them near the Grand Tetons. Another couple we met on a walk invited us to stay on their farm (that was the Washington one) and yet another offered us the use of their ski chalet. On top of this we were lent a car for a week by Corey from Bozeman.  Others have been very generous with tips on where to visit and where to stay in different areas. Just yesterday Rob borrowed a couple of tools from someone to fix a problem with the black water pipe in the RV (not a pleasant job). They had to leave before he was finished and insisted we keep the tools.

The US is a fascinatingly diverse country in it's geology and it's people. We are truly lucky to spend this time here. Having said that Fiona had a dream that we had sold our house in Crabbe Place and was very relieved to wake up!

We will be heading home in January next year and we are really looking forward to seeing everyone.