Great movie scene- My Cousin Vinny- Marisa Tomei & Joe Pesci -true Brooklyn New Yorkers arrive in SMALL town Alabama. Marisa Tomei (in a very tight leather/spandex sparkly cat-suit like outfit) asks if they have good Chinese food there (yeah right), and then after being insulted delivers a great retort of "Oh yeah, you blend".
At times that is how you feel as an expat. Sticking out like an Aussie impostor. Of course we have the advantage of somewhat speaking the language; although folks still look at you oddly for your vocab choices. But you don't feel local- you have to pause to convert how many pounds of turkey you want from the guy at the deli counter in milligrams, you need to look the other way when crossing the street, and then there are those heavy coins to get straight (not to mention that you end up carrying around a 10 pound wallet).
Transition update:
We still have no rental house but have been enjoying our vagabond experience of camping out at the office apartment. It is such a great location- we are started to get used to (spoiled) that we are in the thick of all the action. Being homeless of sorts doesn't seem to phase the kids (ok I'm talking about Nate since Reese doesn't pick up on much of anything). Of course he would be with living in a prison cell if his Cars collection was there to play with. According to Nate we are now ok to live in Australia after discovering that they sell the Car movie cars here (at a nice premium of course).
Warning to any locals reading this, please stay clear of the left sidewalks. We have purchased a car (at the cost of a small condo in Seattle; so I guess we could always live in the car). Michael has quickly adapted to driving on the left and has already learned a set of new favorite shortcuts (to the annoyance of our built in navigation system). I, on the other hand, am not 100% comfortable behind the wheel and am still prone to drifting to the left. Today upon returning to our garage was told- "well done, good improvement....only one near collision on the round about"- I guess that is progress ;)
2 comments:
Mims - LOVE the blog and the kids look so wonderful. You really are in the middle of an amazing left-side-of-the-road adventure and going with the flow seems to be the best route. Maybe an exercise regime could include lifting those coins. In an effort to keep gigi in the loop I will fax her your blog updates...meantime know that you all are seriously missed by us here and we're sending many hugs your way. xxxxpenny et al
what kind of car did you get?
miss you!
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