These little town blues are melting away

Today was another crazy day as I tried to get ready for Roma's return and my depearture to NEW YORK CITY! I am very excited you might guess! Oh yes, I'm also going to see David and Karen! I'm excited about that too, I just didn't put it in caps lock!

I'll be back on Wednesday when no doubt there will be a full report and pictures!

There isn't time to tell you about the thickness of Tina today, leaving my house keys in my mail box and my mail box open to the world, but I'm sure you can imagine it yourself.

I don't see what all the fuss is about

Do you ever wonder what a TV documentary would show of your life, you know all the bits that you hoped nobody else saw? I cringe at the thought of seeing myself on TV, and yesterday's trip to the petrol station makes me cringe even more.

First of all I pulled up on the wrong side (the right side for my Yaris, but wrong for the Focus)

Then I drove round to be on the right side and saw that the pump was out of order.

I drove onto another pump, being careful to still be on the right side.

I got out of the car and tried to fill up. Then I noticed the pre-pay only sign.

So I went to pay. I walked up to the doors of the shop. I waited for the doors to open. Then I realised they were not automatic.

I went in and paid for my $20 of petrol, handed over two $10 notes and I waited for my change.

Oh my goodness! Please never have a camera crew follow me around, I couldn't cope with the shame it would bring to my family.

But this is what I couldn't believe, my $20 nearly filled up the tank. I worked it out using some helpful conversion websites, to convert gallons to litres and dollars to pounds, that my petrol cost about 40p per litre! That's not a typo, I did mean to press a 4 and a 0. 40p a litre!! Everyday there are news reports here about the high price of gas and how it's going to continue to rise blah blah blah. But 40p a litre?! It hasn't been that price at home since the war. Well ok, maybe not that long ago, but still. 40p a litre! What are you all moaning about?! At that price I'd buy a SUV, not trade it in to buy a hybrid!

Another win for Paul's team

So here are some of the suggestions I got from last week’s headlines:

You just can’t lie and say you got stuck in traffic in the country
You just can’t smell good in the country
You just can’t find a 24 hour Tescos in the country
You just can’t help being bored in the country
You just can’t get Pizza Hut to deliver in the country
You just can’t drink starbucks in the country
You just can’t keep secrets in the country

Building confidence with a Mantis Tiller
Building confidence with choux pastry
Building confidence with crazy paving
Building confidence with sword grass
Building confidence with rampant mediocrity
Building confidence with green playdoh
Building confidence with incontinence pants

But here are the much awaited answers. I took photos of them for fear that they would not be believed unless seen.


But I wonder can you beat it with a big stick?!


Of course, a birdhouse, that well known confidence booster!

One other thing - it has been brought to my attention that I said 'googles' in my last post, I clearly meant 'goggles'. Multiple internet search engines are no good at protecting your eyes from exploding plates.

We both said some things we didn't mean

Yesterday was a crazy day in work where nothing went right and everything took longer than it should have. I should have been more wary of the day when I was awoken by David stomping his way to his car below me. As it turns out the travel alarm clock is not that good afterall.

Other things that went hopelessly wrong included:
- an exploding plate that apparently is not oven proof
- a printer that could not print a single page, only the entire document.
- a printer that could not print an entire document, only pages and pages and pages of gobbledegook
- a printer that could not print anything at all

Let’s hope today goes better. I plan on achieving this through staying as far away from the printer as possible (we both need time to cool off from yesterday’s harsh words) and watching out for exploding plates. Safety googles and a hard hat would help.

Weekend update 3 and the coolest light that ever lived

This weekend there was nothing as exciting as a hotel closing on you when you are still a guest or a trip to another state to report on. But it was still worthy of a blog update so here we go.

On Saturday I took myself on a trip to Asheville. Just two weeks ago I thought I was brave driving myself to Walmart but this weekend I went on an interstate and everything! Much like Columbus himself, I like to explore! I chose to explore the Mall. I don’t think there’s that much undiscovered land to truly discover anymore, so I’ll have to take what I can get. Plus this way I get to shop!

I researched my trip thoroughly, Google Map provided with me a set of directions (from my neighbour’s house but I thought I could brave that part of the journey on my own). But with that and my map I was able to put together my own route there involving less interstates and therefore less possibility of me ending up in Kentucky! I only messed up once, coming off at exit 53B instead of 53A. I mean, really, if there are two exits shouldn’t they get their own numbers, none of this A and B crap? I realised after I had set off that perhaps it wasn’t the best weekend to go on such an adventure seeing as everyone I knew was away, if I had an accident (heaven forbid) or got lost (at least it’s not an accident) who would I call? No one I knew was around! But it was too late for this thought driving along the interstate.


I consider it an insult when a lorry passes you on a motorway, let alone three. However driving on your first interstate, at the speed limit, with the steering wheel on the wrong side I really wasn’t that put out. (And despite what this photo might look like I had pulled over to take it. Honest.)


Here’s the proof – Sears was the closest I could get to a sign of the Mall.

The Mall is a decent size, with all the important shops there, Abercrombie, Pacific Sunwear, Aeropostale and American Eagle. And the really great news is that Old Navy opens in the Spring! I didn’t buy anything in any of these shops though. I decided to keep my purchases to absolute necessities. Such as…


A new pair of trainers. My others are ages old, and the soles have been stuck done countless times, and these were a good deal, and oh so pretty, and I really really needed them! Plus I swear they make me run faster!


A new light. I’m so much more interested in lights than candles (aka burn-down-your-house-sticks). I think this is the coolest light I ever saw! Unfortunately, due to my amateur photographer skills, it looked better in the photo turned off, but trust me when I tell you this light is class! It will break my heart to leave behind (weight to ship it will probably cost about 5 times the actual light and voltage differences mean it probably won’t work anyway!) but I decided that it will enhance my stay here. And it goes very well with my duvet. So I bought it.

I also bought a memory card for my US phone. Thanks to Alan with the advice. It is too small to take a photo of. I think per square millimetre (it’s less than 1cm sq) this is the most amount of money I have ever spent. On anything. Ever. It wasn’t that expensive, but is that small.

On Sunday morning I went to church. I went to the 9.40am service and as it turns out when you get up earlier you have more hours in the day! Who knew?! I was home at 11.00am and didn’t know what to do with myself. But church was good, and close. I missed Maggie at it though so sat on my own, aww! But the minister did say that any first time visitors should go to the back at the end of the service to get a welcome pack. I like welcome packs so obviously I was first in line (that or I was the only 1st timer). It reminds me a lot of the packs you get during freshers’ week, except there were no condoms or pasta ‘n’ sauce in this one.


Including: A mug, a pen, a cross for your pocket and a poem on a card about the cross in your pocket.

The church service was good, and I could actually tell you exactly what the sermon was about! This might have something to do with the fact that there was a handout with missing words on it included in the order of service. I’d like to mock but this works for me, I pay attention and write extra notes in the margin. ‘Sir, do I get extra marks for that?’ The minister even had a couple of funny little video clips to illustrate his points, very nice! People even felt the need to clap them. These people surely don’t know the rule and clapping in church. Unless it’s for children reading, acting singing, dancing… pretty much anything involving children, then you don’t.

In the afternoon I watched a bit of ‘The Great Escape’, a great Sunday afternoon film. There are many, many ‘classic’ films I’ve never seen (eg ET, The Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind) but I’ve seen The Great Escape. It always makes me a bit sad when Ives gives up and tries to escape in broad daylight when they find Tom, and of course at the end. I remember reading something about repeats and Christmas scheduling, Jeremy Clarkson (he of Top Gear fame) said something along the lines of he had to buy the DVD of it because they don’t show it on Christmas Day like everyone thinks and that’s exactly what he wants to watch on Christmas afternoon. I myself am happy enough to watch it whenever the powers that be decide to show it, and that was yesterday (and probably today, tomorrow and the day after that – crazy American repeats). I like war films like that, you know, stiff upper lip, best of British, let’s get the buggers kind of attitude. Maybe totally unrealistic but that’s for another time. Plus it has the most addictive theme tune ever.

In the afternoon I also made time for a journey around the lake. And as said above the trainers improved my running abilities! I put music on my phone to listen to as I went around and ran to alternate songs. It just so happened that the running songs were shorter than the walking ones and also they seemed to come a lot on the downhill stretches. But that was merely a coincidence, I’m not smart enough to have worked that out.

Incidently, on the way round the lake I saw two separate people wearing what can only be described as jamie bottoms. Was there some of sort of pyjama wearers convention on? Don’t they know I am the Queen of Jamies? I should surely have been invited to this. Somebody at the PBWC (Pyjama Bottom Wearers’ Convention) is going to lose their job over this.

Anyway, back to the point, yes there was one. When I was 11 (some freakish Athletics knowledge coming up…I’m available for pub quizzes) Liz McColgan won the 10,000 metres at the World Championships in Tokyo. I dreamt of one day becoming an athlete and winning a medal at the Olympics (at a young age I knew they were the real deal). I think I can let go of that dream now. I will never be Liz McColgan, as if there was any doubt. Running sucks. And hurts. It makes you tired the whole night long. Nope, I will never be never be Liz McColgan. But I am stubborn. I like setting myself little challenges to see if I can do them. Like at the gym at home, I try to row 100m in 1 minute, I know I have to row like Sir Redgrave himself but I can do it and it annoys me when I don’t. I have set myself the goal of running around the lake, so I will continue on that quest. Plus, the sooner I achieve that goal, the less I need to endure the pain of running.

‘Did you learn that when I was in Woodwork?’ (A true HIGNFY fan will understand the reference)

Art and Betty dropped round some magazines for me yesterday. They promised them when I was round borrowing kitchen stuff, and as Virginia would say, bless their hearts! I wasn’t expecting Heat or OK but what they gave me kind of reminded me of the game that they play on ‘Have I got News for You’.






A selection of my current reading – Backyard Living, Country Woman and Wonderful West Virginia. In Backyard Living there’s even a competition to win a Mantis Tiller! Nope, I don’t know what it is either!

So this week our guest publications are Birds & Blooms (Beauty in your own backyard) and Country (For those who live in or long for the country). Yes, those are the actual taglines.

1. You just can’t _______ ______________ in the country

2. Building confidence with ______ _______________

So if you’re bored you can fill in the blanks, laugh on your own or email them to me and give us all something to chuckle at. Answers will follow next week.

Things I'm glad I bought

1. Walmart throws – cheap yet stylish! There will be room in my suitcase for these when I’m coming home. That’s assuming they don’t go all Primark and disintegrate.
2. Straightners – straight hair makes the world a better place.
3. Martha Stewart Everyday range cushions in cream– and I’m not even a cushion fan but these are great!
4. Benedryl – flipping mosquitoes.
5. Oven gloves – the oven does not come with a burn warning.
6. Chips Ahoy Chocolate and White Fudge Chunk Cookies – mmmmn mmmmn!
7. Collander – is there another way to drain potatoes, rice, pasta and sweetcorn? If there is I don’t know it.
8. Shout stain remover – I spill, a lot!
9. Torch – it may only have cost 84c (with batteries) but it stops me from breaking my neck on the steps up to the house when it’s dark (duh!)
10. Kettle – I don’t even drink tea or coffee and it may have the record for the world’s slowest boil but I use it a surprising amount.

Things I'm glad I brought

1. Sunglasses – great for walking/attempting to run around the lake.
2. Flip flops – yup still wearing them.
3. My Oakland hoodie – cozy at night.
4. Laptop – great for so many reasons, not least watching West Wing DVDs
5. Memory stick – I can write emails and blogs at night and take them to the office the next day to send/upload.
6. Dictionary & Thesaurus – surprising choice perhaps but I use it a lot!
7. Camera and associated cable – does this really need an explanation?
8. Phone and associated cable – ‘boing boing’, a new appreciation for Nokia and uncover photos!
9. Double sided sticky tape – 101 uses, well actually just one – sticking things!
10. Travel clock – I’m as surprised as my parents will be that it actually wakes me up! Although this morning it went off at 7.15am and I got up at 8.10am.

I heart Nokia

Yesterday was an exciting day. I got the equivalent of my National Insurance number, opened my bank account, applied for a credit card here and got my mobile! At the bank I got to pick out the design on my cheques, I went for Mr Potato Head! Actually though! I don’t know if Peter (Mr Finance Man and opening-bank-account-helper-man) knew whether to laugh or cry. I want to say they were tears of laughter but I’m really not too sure.

Getting a mobile here was not that easy. You practically need to sign your life away before they give you one. I looked at getting a pay as you go type mobile, but they don’t work the same way. You have to pay $1 a day for service and then for all your calls and texts, made or received. The monthly option was better for me because I get free evening and weekend calls. And out of my monthly line rental I get free minutes. However, and this is where is gets really crappy, calls I receive at peak times (unless they’re from other Verizon people) get taken out of my minutes!! What a crazy system! I did not ask to be called, why are they charging me?! This is clearly just a way for mobile companies to get twice as much money. If I go over my free minutes then I get charged an extortionate rate, so needless to say should I go over my free minutes I will not be answering my ‘cell phone’ unless it is after 9.00pm (when off-peak starts, another reason to moan, why so flipping late?!). It is no wonder texting didn’t really catch on here! If you have to pay for every single one your phone encounters, I wouldn’t impose such a charge on my friends either!

The next thing for me to moan about is the type of phone I got. I’m a Nokia girl. Since I got my very first phone way back in the last millennium I’ve always had a Nokia. I think I’m on my 4th now. I think they are the best, they are simple to use and seem to have a certain modicum of common sense built into them. As Karen Next Door says ‘once you’ve had a Nokia everything else is shit!’ Well how right she is! My phone is a Motorola and seems to work in the exact opposite way to a Nokia and with no common sense at all. I think it’s a conspiracy. I would have picked out any Nokia they had in the shop because you know what you are getting with a Nokia, but they didn’t have any! Not one! I think it might be because of America’s love of a clamshell phone, until recently Nokia didn’t really have any. Anyway, I had no choice but to cheat on Nokia and go Motorola. I feel bad and I’m not happy so I hope Nokia wouldn’t be mad at me. I spent most of last night trying to work it out and I made some progress. But when it came to trying to get photos from my new phone to my computer there wasn’t a way to connect my ‘cell’ to my computer. With brilliant Nokia you get a data cable which goes from your phone to a USB port, with sucky Motorola you get nada. Nothing. Zip. Zero. Zilch. I went back to the shop to ask them and they said that the only way I could do it was to email from my phone to my email address. Now surely there has to be another way! I will have far too many uncover photos to pay 25c every time I want to do that. I thought maybe I could Bluetooth them across to my clever Nokia, but nope, they seem to not want to connect. The other way I was thinking was to get a Bluetooth dongle thing for my laptop, although I’ve never used one so I don’t actually know if that’ll work. There is a slot for a memory card in my phone but I can’t seem to find out what sort of memory card it takes, it looks like a very tiny hole and the reduced size memory card in my amazing Nokia is even too big for it. So I’m really at a loss at this point. Maybe if some of you have some clever ideas (and I’m really looking at you Alan) you can email me. Until then I will be carrying on with my super Nokia for undercover photos. I heart Nokia.


It’s a flippy phone. It came with and leather case and belt clip thing. I decided it looked a bit rare so took it off! I might get bullied if I look rare! They’ll pick on the rare Irish girl with her rare cell phone cover. I can’t have that. I must look cool at all times.


Apparently it was 10.15pm when I took this photo.

PS Since writing this I have been on the Motorola website and have discovered that you can buy a cable/bluetooth thing and CD Rom with the programme for your computer for a mere $60! Hmm... might just need to suffer it.

I also feel slightly bad at writing such a negetive blog about my new phone. I sound like right spoilt little princess, so here are four things I like about my new phone:
1. It flips open. I open and close it even though I know there will no message or missed call. I just like doing it.
2. My wallpaper appears as a watermark throughout all the menus.
3. I like the dual screens, the outside one can be used as a screen for taking a photo of yourself.
4. There's a flash on the camera! Although this might conflict with my undercover photo taking. And there does seem to be at least some light at the end of the tunnel regarding my phone and computer link up.

But despite all this I still heart Nokia. But maybe one day I will be able to say I half-heart Motorola?

Self-timer fun in my new house

Living Room

This is taken from the kitchen. That’s the front door. You walk straight into the living room. You can see the new sofa cover and throws (Walmart), a coffee table and table lamps (Virginia) and TV (Roma). Sofas are SEJ provided. I used the leaves as my inspiration for the décor, choosing autumnal colours for the living room.

Dining Room

My dining room table and 3 (?!) chair set (SEJ provided). The centre piece of my table is a bowl (Art and Betty) of seasonal fruit. You can just see my supersized one-person fridge (SEJ).

Kitchen

Sadly there is no dish washer included in the property, how I wish for the dish fairy!

Bathroom

Unsatisfactorily located beside the kitchen giving only one door between them. Bath mats from Walmart. Bath/shower out of shot.

Laundry Room

Doing my washing, actually I’m fake-doing-my-washing for the purposes of the photo. Can you tell? Washing basket (Roma)

Upstairs bedroom

Bed covers and mirror both Walmart. Chest of drawers and bedside table provided by SEJ. You can just see the other bed on the very right.

Overview - from the front door

To the very left, out of shot, are the stairs to my bedroom. At the back of the shot is the dining room, and to the left, the kitchen. The door on the right just behind the sofa is a cloakroom type affair. The door at the back right is the laundry room. You can just see the door way, at the back left, to the downstairs bedroom and empty room.

Weekend 2

Another fun filled and packed weekend. Here are the photos and report. This weekend I was even in Tennessee! I saw signs for Dollywood, it’s not too far away so there’s a trip to be planned!


Hurray! Here’s the cable man! He came on Friday, after I spent 3 evenings with no TV. All you would need to do to punish me is take away my TV. I like having a background noise. I like having TVs all over the house on so you can follow a programme while walking through the house doing whatever it is you are walking through the house. Sadly I only have this little TV here, kindly donated by Roma, so there’ll be no walking and watching TV here but sometimes you can’t have it all! I have 70 odd channels here, including some decidedly crap ones, but last night I was able to watch Series 7 of The West Wing and Series 2 of Desperate Housewives so it’s not all bad news!

On Saturday I went to the Waynesville Apple Fest on Saturday (if I’m truthful, it’s the reason I came here!). There were a lot of these types of clothes. I don’t know why they were on sale at an Apple Fest, some things are beyond our knowledge.


Maybe some of you will be lucky enough to get one of these little babies for Christmas! Styling!

After the fun that was the Apple Fest I came back home and got ready to go to Walmart to change the sofa cover I bought on Thursday night. Walking down the path I hit a branch with my toe cut it open! And that’s why we weren’t allowed to wear flip flops at camp!


In my defence, it was more camouflaged by the leaves than this photo would make it appear.


Sorry feet-hating people! But it would not stop bleeding! Incidently my short second toe is the result of a shorter metatarsal bone in my foot which has pulled my toe in (so says Jude, my podiatrist friend).


I did not bring plasters with me and had not yet had such an emergency so had to go to Walmart with a kitchen roll bandage! I’m too cool!

On Sunday Virginia and I drove to Maryville, TN to see Grace and Stephen (from ICYC). That was very cool. I had seen Virginia’s photos of ICYC on Thursday night and talked about Steve and how he was in my small group. She knew already that they were both going to TN this weekend and arranged it so we could surprise them! Stephen knew I was in NC but had no clue we were coming and Grace just had no clue! She’s invited me up to Wisconsin sometime, so yay!


Grace preached and as she left the pulpit, she walked out of the church to the airport. So Virginia and I took them. Sadly I’ve got my eyes closed but oh well! Steve has a new haircut. It was bright bright red before! Trying to decide which I prefer!

Who's gonna win?!

I am announcing the Inaugural Write to Tina Awards, organised by the Thoughtful Incoming Notes Association (TINA). But here are the rules (pay attention, it’s like a Dave game on Chris Moyles!)

Rules
1. There are 2 competitions to enter: The Race (whereby the winner is whoever gets their post to TINA first) and The Golden Prize.
2. In The Race there are 3 categories in the UK and Ireland section:
-Postcard (must have more than 30 words)
-Letter (must contain 2 sides of written material)
-Parcel (must contain something exciting* inside)
3. UK and Ireland competitors may only enter in one category.
4. There is only 1 category in the USA section of The Race, all mail will be accepted.
5. The Golden Prize is for the best article* of post received and is open to all. Points will be awarded for creativity and originality and may not necessarily reflect the size or monetary value of the article of post.
6. There are 5 prizes on offer, one for each category in The Race and one for the Golden Prize.
7. The closing date for entries to be received in The Golden Prize is 7.11.05
8. The category winners in The Race are determined by the article of post (in the competitor’s chosen category) to arrive first.
9. In the event of there being more than one item to arrive that day, the category winner is the one on the top of the pile. Competitors must trust the TINA to adjudicate fairly, there can be no appeals made against the validity of the winner.
10. A competitor can only enter the Inaugural Write to Tina Awards twice, once in The Race and once in The Golden Prize.
11. All competing entries to the Inaugural Write to Tina Competition must be marked as such and clearly stated which competition a competitor is entering.
12. Winners will be notified by email and receive their prize via return post, provided an address is known.
13. Prizes will be chosen to suit the winner and will be picked by the TINA.
14. There is no cash substitute for prizes. Prizes should be gratefully received.
15. Competitors wishing to enter the Inaugural Write to Tina Awards can email the TINA to find out the address to post competing items.
16. Any clarification of the rules may also be fielded to the TINA
* as defined by the TINA

Oops again!

Last night I thought I’d b really smart and move my second sofa (I have two!) to make an L-shape in my living room. When I did this I decided that it looked a bit minging and so looked to see if I could take off the covers and wash them. To my joy I could! I went to the washing machine to see if I could understand how it worked. American washing machines are weird, I have some experience of the from camp. (I’ll give you an example, on the settings like delicates and regular, there’s a setting to permanent press. What is permanent press?) So I happily took off the covers and bundled them in the machine and off they went. I made my dinner and all the while heard the machine going, I had a smug satification that they were being cleaned. The sofa is not, well how do I say it? It’s not to my tastes! So I had planned to get a throw to put over it. For right now all I wanted was to know it was clean. I heard the machine stop and eagerly went over to it. When I lifted one cushion cover out, I don’t know why, but I thought I’d check to make sure it hadn’t shrunk before putting it in the dryer. To my absolute horror when I laid the cover over the cushion it was a about 15cm too small!! Agh! ‘Maybe it’s the wrong way round? Maybe it’s the wrong cushion!’ Nope it was all right! I would type the words I actually said but I don’t think they are befitting a princess! When I went back to the machine I discovered a dial which had the options hot, cold, normal! Guess which one it was set to?


Yeah so that’s not going to fit anymore!

But here’s where Walmart comes into its own. They sell sofa covers. So I went out to get one, the one I chose was slightly too big so I need to take it back today. But where else could you get a cover for your sofa at 8.30pm? Yeah, ok maybe K Mart!

This morning I had to wait for the cable man to come. He gave us the hours of 8.00am-10.00am. While I was waiting I decided to do my dishes from last night. I broke one of Art and Betty’s glasses (as in drinking, I did not take their spectacles!). They said it didn’t matter what I broke, so long as it wasn’t their set of 3 bowls that were a wedding present (they’ve been married 48 years) so now I think I will put those away in the back of the cupboard. I was using one as a fruit bowl but I’d rather buy a cheap bowl from Walmart than break it! Might also buy some glasses too, then I can take at least some of hers back.

I’m still waiting for my posting address to be sorted. You would think it’d be easy? Not here! Apparently the postman doesn’t deliver on my street and it’s further complicated by the fact we now need to split the address into A and B. So I might need to get one of those wee boxes with a key, or maybe a PO box, but David also needs to change his address! Crazy! But rest assured the prizes will be worth your while! Ooooooh!


I thought this was an interesting choice to have in the supermarket. They are candles with Jesus and different Saints on them. What’s more curious is where they were located in the supermarket - on the aisle with sweet and sour sauce! Oh I ordered my ‘cell phone’, no fear it has a camera too! More surreptitious photos then!

Oops

Last night I went round to Art and Betty's house. They live just around the corner and they offered me lots of kitchen things, so I went round. Art is a retired Methodist Minister (isn't everyone?!) and works in the Museum. He's a bit of a talker!

They explained the Southeastern Jurisdiction to me. As it turns out the United Methodist Church is divided into 5 Jurisdictions, and the SEJ is one of those...so that would be bigger than a circuit then!

Home sweet home

I moved yesterday to my ‘apartment’! Yay!


This is it! It’s the portion on the left hand side (from the brown railing). See the carport? My bedroom is above that. There’s also a living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, a second bedroom (with a queensized bed!) and some other room attached to that (its purpose it yet to be determined). I share the building with David, he lives on the right hand side. He works for the SEJ (who run the lake, kind of like the circuit, I think), we share laundry facilities. The house is owned by the SEJ too.


This is the driveway that leads up to the car port, you can just see it. I don’t know if this picture really show the steepness that well, but it is! You can also see the tree (on the left) that Roma sadly reversed into and that is the very reason why I will be parking at the front.

Inside pictures will follow shortly soon when the place is decent enough to show. I will also be running a ‘Write to Tina First Competition’ as soon as I get my mail box sorted. You might want to get pen and paper at the ready so you get a head start!

Twenty three things I’ve discovered

1. An automatic car will move all of its own, even when your foot is nowhere near the accelerator.

2. Americans like too much ice in their drinks. I have concluded that this is the reason for free refills. You just don’t get enough first time around.

3. I like surreptitiously taking photos with my phone far too much.

4. There’s no limit to the stupid names Americans can have, eg first names -Royce, Holman, Gay, Gipson, and Polly (for a man). Surnames – Wishmyer, Ha and Brickhouse (I wonder what she is built like?).

5. It is near impossible to accurately guess a young American’s age.

6. No matter how many times I say my name, they say it back wrong. The difference may be subtle but I know what is right and wrong.

7. The woman in the office next to me enters her office about 20 times an hour. I never see her leave it though. Has she got a secret exit door?

8. I can talk in a high pitched polite manner for an inordinate amount of time.

9. There is no such thing as buying a packet sandwich, like the kind from Boots or Tesco.

10. Being able to turn right when the traffic light is red is wrong. In fact it makes a mockery of the whole traffic light system.

11. Getting called ‘lady’ or ‘ma’am’ in shops makes me laugh out loud.

12. There may be about 70 odd channels on cable, but repeats are plentiful. I have seen various stages of the classic that is ‘The Karate Kid’ about 4 times. Incidently, I discovered the baddie (Johnnny?) is what I imagine Malfoy in the Harry Potter books to look like.

13. There are not enough speed signs on roads. This is a speeding ticket waiting to happen.

14. It turns out the burn hazard on my straightners was for good reason as my thumb is prone to touching the flicky out edge.

15. I must always ask myself if I need to go to the toilet before setting off around the lake.

16. I would win a Best Dressed Lake Junaluskan award hands down. Maybe come the summer there is just such a contest in Hicksville?

17. Different time zones make no difference to my lateness. I’m late around the world.

18. A country has no business this warm in October. I walked round the lake last night (actually I ran about 0.02miles, from little acorns…) and when I came back I was this colour. I had to turn on the air con in my room in order for my face to return to normal before setting off to get dinner.

19. When I go to get in the car and discover I am about to get in the wrong side, I can easily pretend that I am just putting my bag in.

20. However, when I go to turn out of a junction and see a school bus heading straight for me because I am on the wrong side of the road, there is no pretending (Sounds worse than it was).

21. I am as scared of the ducks which waddle around the lake as I am of pigeons in Cornmarket. I find the potential for them to fly into my face terrifying.

22. I should put down the lid of the toilet before I flush for fear that I too may be sucked away. Fierce.

23. Finally…and I really hate to put this one down…I can drive approximately half a mile without taking the handbrake off.

Let me introduce my car, _______

The females in my family name their cars. My car at home is called Izzy. My mum’s car is called Brody. Her old car is (present tense, he's not dead) called Yody. I like naming cars. So I need a name for my American car. I’m thinking something along the lines of Chip, Chad or Hank. Something funny and typically American. Any ideas?


I keep forgetting that there’s a little bit more after the back window, but I don’t think I’ll be doing any parallel parks here. Let’s face it, I don’t even do those at home.


From the inside: you’ll notice the steering wheel is on the wrong side, the automatic gear stick and the all-important cup holders. There are only 2, my Yaris has 5. But that’s ok, I’m sure there are some things the Focus does better! You’ll hardly see the air conditioning button, but excitingly, it’s there. I use it all the time. Seriously though, what will I do when summer hits? Also you’ll barely see the CD player. I have yet to find a decent radio station. The car horn does a funny beep thing when I lock it twice (oh they found the Focus also had remote central locking), that saves me worrying about whether I locked the car. But it makes me jump every time. When I unlock it the light comes on which I think is pretty cool, it also comes on when I switch off the engine. I really do think I am easily impressed.

My weekend update (try to stay with me, it's long!)

Sunday night and I am coming to the end of my first weekend in the States.

But first of all I have some pictures (I can imagine your shock) from Friday. Roma and I went to Asheville to try to sort out my temporary Social Security Number. This was completed with amazing ease considering it is a government operation.

We also went to Office Depot to get me a new desk chair which was fun to pick out. I worked in DYCW for 11 months and had a broken chair for about 10.5 of those months. When anyone sat at my desk they frequently over balanced and I seem to remember someone actually falling off, but that could have been my memory exaggerating the point. I had mastered the art of balancing on it and so I think David never considered it a priority. However about 2 weeks into Sharon working there she had a new chair. Maybe it’s something you do for new people.

Anyway here’s my new chair. I like it a lot!




This is George helping me build the chair. Actually I just passed him stuff. I am quite experienced at this job from helping Father. I like George a lot. He’s very down to earth (as you can see - he sat on the front row at the Pope’s funeral and here is on my office floor building a chair!) and he laughs at my hilariously funny jokes. He’s very kind. He always opens Virginia’s car door (and sometimes mine if I don’t get there first!).



We went to the mall’s food court for lunch. I got Panda Express. Mmmn. I got Orange Chicken, Kung Po Chicken and Fried Rice.


I didn’t realise I was being so obvious!

On Friday evening Roma (standing at the back of the picture in pink) and George had invited a group from the University of Kentucky to have a pizza for reasons that are too long and dull to explain. I sat beside a girl who was a bit too annoying for my liking. For example when I asked her her name she replied ‘Lydia, like in Acts’. Ok then.


The pizza reception. Sadly 'Lydia, like in Acts' is not in this photo.

On Friday night I went to Maggie’s. We made cakes for the Kentucky students (again long and dull) and watched a video, Ray. Quite good, although I was too tired to enjoy it fully.

On Saturday morning I drove myself to K Mart.


This proves it.

In the afternoon there was a craft fair thing on in Waynesville which George and Virginia had invited me to go to. Virginia bought me a little giraffe for my desk. They close the main street and there are stalls and all that carry on. They had cloggers (not the Dutch kind, it’s like square dancing...apparently) and a Scottish bagpipe band (from America) in the full regalia. It actually drives me insane that American say ‘scotch’ instead of 'scots'. I don’t know what is actually right, but I think I am!


I got this picture message from Julie at the Weekend. It’s made out of those alphabet letter sweets that you can get in Newcastle (I traditionally buy them there). But you have to wonder why she just didn’t text that to me? Not that I’m ungrateful for any text/picture message you understand. I appreciate every 'boing boing' my phone makes. I’m just saying!

On Sunday I went to church with George and Virginia. Maggie Valley UMC is remarkably like Whitehead Methodist, so I’m thinking I won’t probably be making that my church. But it was nice to go with them. For lunch I did something that I don’t think I’ve ever done before. I had fast food! What’s even more crazy is that it was George and Virginia who took me! Taco Bell are not renown for their Sunday roasts so I had a quesadilla.

When George and Virginia dropped me off at the hotel where I was booked in for another night at least, we saw this sign.


Ok so my photojournalist credentials are slipping, but you can kind of tell what the top line says (especially if I tell you the name of the hotel is the Terrace Hotel).

What sort of hotel closes and locks its doors without telling its guests? Turns out I was the only guest so they decided to close but nobody told me! I was allowed to go in and pack up my stuff. They had not thown it over the balcony or left it outside for me to gather up. Virginia came up with me, which was slightly embarrassing because in the morning I chose a shower over tidying. So now I’m in the Lambuth (with a 'u') Hotel. The upside of the move is that the lobby has wireless which my computer works with!


Looks a bit more fancy!

It’s up by the cross. Which incidently, yesterday there was a wedding there. I could have watched it on channel 10! I did not however because I’m just not that sad!

After furiously packing up my belongings I drove myself to Walmart. I think I may be losing some of my Christian morals. I would never go shopping on a Sunday. The earlier Taco Bell incident has clearly tainted me.

Again, proof, if it were needed.

I love Walmart. If you asked me my favourite aisle in a supermarket I’d say the cosmetics and shampoos aisle. Same question for Walmart, I’d struggle to decide. They’re all so good. There is no such thing for me as running in for one item in Walmart. I like to walk around the whole shop. Today I was in for about 45 minutes. I think my love for it began at camp. We’d have 24 hours off before the next batch of kids would arrive. Time was precious but there were just some things we all had to do. For example get photos developed, get a bicycle repair kit, get a prescription, buy envelopes. All these things could be done in Walmart and save us valuable time. However this love is only in America. I do not like to hear reports about Asda and Walmart and their dominance in England and am scared of either coming to NI. I’m a small town girl and I like going to the grocers and the newspaper shop, and then hitting the big smoke for slightly more unusual items. Plus Tesco has won my allegiance. Clubcard points, you’ve got to love them.


Despite my love of Walmart I find this scary. I nervously walked through this area (but returned for a picture, I know, just call me Kate Adie).

The Lambuth Hotel is not doing meals until Wednesday so I had to buy my own outside. So something else I’ve never done, had fast food twice on Sunday. Another part of the '... your way thin' range.


When in Rome…I went through the drive through.


A word of warning. Leaving leftover Burger King in your room does not leave a pleasant odour.


Meesy thinks they made that word up.

Tonight I went to a concert for the UMCOR Katrina Relief. The band were alright, but a little full of themselves and without much cause to be. I came back to the hotel and watched the rest of the West Wing (series 7, ooooh!).

Not much else to report, surprising given this treatise. Virginia says she thinks she’s found an apartment. I really hope it’s decent, she seems to think so. Maybe go to see it tomorrow. The one yesterday afternoon should be reported to environmental health, well at least the carpet should be tested for communicable diseases.

George has gone to Europe for about 3 weeks and Peter is on holiday so it’ll be quiet. Maybe I’ll actually get a productive day’s work done?

Hello my 18

Apparently the average Briton has 18 friends. There are loads of types, family, neighbours and even carers. This was in the Daily Mail that I got free on the plane (Right up to date with my reading!). Right beside it had a little bit about a study that discovered factors involved in making someone happy. It said that children and pets were important factors in peoples’ happiness. Fair enough. But interestingly this study said the greatest single factor in making someone miserable is the number of times a person uses their mobile phone. The more you use it, the more unhappy you become. Huh. Why do you suppose that would be? I suppose it depends what you are using it for. I imagine that executives and brokers and what not would use their phones a lot and I also imagine that they lead stressful lives and that might make them unhappy. I like using my phone and I use it a fair amount. But I use to text and call my 18 friends. I’ve never had a stressful job where I had to call colleagues about important and stressful things. So I think the study is wrong, I don’t the correlation is about the number of times you use your phone, it’s about what you use your phone for.

Hey look! A post with no photos!

If I had been in NI this weekend I would have been away with my YF to Castlewellan Castle. I’ve been going to that YF since 1992 when I was in 1st year and to be honest it’s probably the reason I’m a Christian. Church wasn’t that exciting for us and I think had it not been for YF we would have strayed! But anyway, I have been to every YF weekend bar one. That one weekend I missed (arguably) has changed my life! Instead I went to Autumn Soul 1999, the year Mike Yaconelli spoke. I had never been before and wasn’t in the Methodist youth scene at all. I sometimes wonder what direction my (albeit) short life would have taken had Kari not pressed me for a decision on which I was going to do if the two weekend were the same dates. The conversation went something like this:

Kari: What are you going to do if Autumn Soul and the YF weekend are on the same weekend?

Tina: I don’t know, but I don’t think they’ll the same weekend.

Kari: Yeah but what if they are?

Tina: But they won’t be.

Kari: Yeah but just say they are, what are you going to do?

Tina: Hmm…well I suppose I’ll go to Autumn Soul since I said I’d go to that first.

So when it transpired that the two events were the same weekend I had no option but to go to Autumn Soul, I had already declared that was what I would do. So instead of going on the weekend I went to Autumn Soul with Kari and Carrick Methodist, from that I did Autumn Soul Tour, from that I did TOM, from that I decided to do teaching and from being known on TOM I worked in DYCW. All those experiences have led me to working for the World Methodist Council and me being in Lake Junaluska instead of being in Castlewellan this weekend when another YF weekend is in progress.

The whole thing of predestination messes with my head too much. I don’t know if I would have ended up here without making that first decision. Would I have ended up doing Methodist youth things and doing TOM? Would I have gone to Brazil this summer? I really don’t know but I guess you just need to have faith that your life is in God’s hands and that he will offer you the choices and you need to do what you feel is right. I made the decision on what I felt I should do and what I felt God wanted me to do. I could never have known the opportunities that have come my way when I decided that I would go to the '99 Autumn Soul, no way. Neither do I have any way of knowing what I could be doing now had I gone to the '99 YF weekend. No idea. But I don’t need to. All I need to do is trust in God and let him guide me.

My new best friends!

So here it is then. My new car!


It’s the red one! The other choice was the old beside, a Taurus.

I decided it was just too big. David said he was disappointed in me for not choosing the Taurus! But the Focus is just more similar to what I’m used to. I already have my work cut out for me driving on the wrong side!

I bought these hair straigtners the other day. They've got an edge that you can flick your hair out. I have yet to master that art!


Well if you don't say it, someone will sue!

Went out for lunch today yesterday with Maggie. She works in the office building but not for the WMC. She’s young! She worked as an intern for 3 summers at the WMC. She’s from Macedonia originally but has been here for 7 years.


They called this a panini. Clearly a toasted sandwich! Also served with pretzels and fruit salad! Weird!

I rearranged my office yesterday. Well, Roma's husband Wayne did most of the lifting and I directed.





I can now day dream out the window looking at the lake. Except that Maggie told me today that they sometimes drain it in the winter! Boo hiss!