Things

So, the luggage arrived at the Residence Inn in White Plains (highly recommend -- excellent decor and very clean, except for the shady elevators), and the weekend was over too quickly but was relaxing. Sometimes it is nice not to do anything earth-shatteringly fanatastic :)

It has come to my attention that my site is not actually New York and New Jersey, but Neuvo Mexico without the cacti. I have never seen so many signs everywhere with the big words in Spanish and the little subtext in English. This is interesting and fun for my brain, since I can practice my espanol, but it is just bizarre.

Sunday, went to Grace Episcopal downtown, just a few block from my temp abode (and the opposite direction from Macy's), and the service was a bilingual service since they have reached some outreach funding goal. It was actually the coolest service, and I still feel ashamed for having the fleeting thought that maybe it was not the church I should go to as I turned the corner and saw a non-Anglo going in the front door (you kind of learn your place and not to cross out of it in the South, although I have always been one for not staying in the lines). I was definitely in the minority (probably 85% black and hispanic), but it was truly an amazing experience and more welcoming than many other places of 'worship' I have been in.

It is kind of comforting in an odd sort of way to be where your accent doesn't make people do a double-take. If you continue a conversation with them, you can see them being oh-so-polite and waiting an appropriate length of time before they ask it -- 'Where are you from?' -- even though it is the onliest thing they want to know about you (they do not really care what you think about the weather or your opinion of Gordon Brown). It is kind of funny, because you can actually see the question festering behind their facade of normal conversation in a sort of telepathic subtext. If I pre-empt the question with the answer (as in, 'When I was growing up in Louisiana, we used to raise rodeo chickens...'), they look all alarmed and try to pretend like they had no query of any sort in that conversational direction (I learnt to enjoy messing with people's brains from my mama, although she is MUCH better at it. There is so much to learn!). Of course, sometimes people DO do a double-take when I am working and don't respond to initial queries in a British accent, but I mean in everyday normal stuff (like shopping at Macy's).

New Things that also make me happy in the US:
* trains clang (as in, 'Clang, clang, clang went the trolley' kind of clanging)
* there are PLUGS in the bathroom! (I am so sick of having to do my hair in the bleeding kitchen -- I mean, there is water THERE, too.... it is my hypothesis that the entire UK's fire sensibility has been formed by 1666, but honestly, most people have learnt by now that it is not a smart move to dry your hair or iron whilst in the bath or shower. We should move on!)
* hotels have Jolly Ranchers in the little welcome bowl on the front desk!

New Things that vex me in the US:
* NY metro 'signs'
* cell phone companies. They are evil b-----ds. Calling your own voicemail costs YOU minutes. Calling THEIR customer service costs YOU minutes. Receiving calls costs EVERYONE minutes.
* taking street walking directions from Americans. Do not do this. Americans do not walk, therefore there is apparently no difference between 'the next traffic light' and 'the fourth traffic light down the road' (those three in between are particularly tricksy and sometimes invisible). You will probably become lost. People are also going to look at you funny if your destination is more than 2 minutes walk away.