Greetings all...thought I would touch base with a little update on my American adventures so far, although Jay has been keeping to entertained with the somewhart hair raising train adventures we have been having.
We are currently in Washington, having travelled from Seattle to Chicago and then here by train, across so many states that I am having to get lessons in American geography - Washington State, Montana, North Dakota, Minesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia (I think thats most of them!).
So far I am still feeling pretty ambivalent about the USA. We have seen some amazing things here, and met some aweseome people, but a number of my prejudices about the place have certainly been confirmed - and being here in a heat wave with a broken foot is certainly impacting my tolearance level - sorry jay :(
So far my favourite city has definitely been Seattle (and not just cause of the daggy sci fi stuff I got to see Jay..). While the city definitely needs to borrow some green gardens and fountains from Vancouver (which has way too many for its own good), I quite liked the atmosphere here. The people were very friendly (and yet not annoyingly so) and the fresh produce everywhere was quite remarkable. While I think Jay found the "Nirvana factor" a bit over the top, I really like the fact that their are buskers everywhere, and a real creative vibe about the place. Cocktails and great food (contrary to the rest of the US really to date) also helped.
I won't rehash the Empire Builder train fiasco - but as my dad pointed out, Jay managing to always make it rain when we are driving long distances is pretty clever, but bending train tracks is really taking it a bit far. Needless to say, I survived 5 hours on an American bus with people talking non stop about absolute total shit thanks to the total pulp-fiction entertainment of the Hunger Games. The train trip was actually still quite enjoyable and we saw some amazing countryside - but lets just say after 50 hours on a train you are really starting to push it...your stomach wants the ground to stop moving, and particularly when the food is totally processed and glutenised, you really start to want to get to the other end.
It was fascinating watching the scenery change across the different states though - I am sure this is something that not even most Americans see (especially since most are not prepared to use any form of transport other than a car or a plane). Washington State seemed completely gorgeous and I would like to see more, but I suspect if I lived in a country town in Montana or North Dakota I may kill myself - so hot, so flat, and so many towns that just look like they have been deserted. Plus all that wheat, urgh! :p
Anyway, we eventually may it to Chicago...which I am a bit ambivalent about. The architecture is amazing, and everybody was really friendly (perhaps too friendly...), but for some reason I just felt very uncomfortable there....I think at this point I began to feel incredibly uncomfortable about the distinction between rich-poor here, and the excessive amount of waste (got worse when you saw the outskirts of chicago on the train).
It seems so wrong, when even if you order a salad around here, its about as big as a house, and could feed 4 people - and then across the road there is usually some poor emaciated (usually african american) man begging for spare change. It makes no sense at all. The waste is incredible.
[I know the same thing happens in Australia - its just the extent of here, and the "gap" that seems incredible].
All the food (even salad) is also so full of preservatives and corn syrup that gluten or no gluten it makes me feel pretty sick. I also understand why so many people around here are obese - there is so much sugar in the food, that if you don't eat for 2 hours you seem to go into a weird sugar low...which almost equates with Cathy at work after not enough red bull. Again poor Jay....
I also started to feel pretty guilty about how lucky J and I are in terms of our employment conditions. Sure we have freedoms that other people don't as we have basically given up other options like having kids and working for private companies with bigger salaries etc., but when you tell people from America (and even Canada) with their 10 days leave per year, about long service leave and the length of our holiday, they almost pass out. Its pretty easy for us to criticise them for having a USA-focus and only 10 days leave, but with only 10 days leave, and often attrocious pay, reliant on tips from confused travellers like us who can blame them.
Anyway, enough of my whinging and terrible generalisations - I am feeling like a whinger today, but there are so many things I really don't understand. In particular, I just can't understand the weird insular nationalist mentality that seems to pervade here. I wouldn't have a clue whats going on anywhere in the world at the moment, let alone Australia as there is no international news. Plus its really weird that everbody here assumes that I know the intricate details of American history despite living here - when only 1 guy in Seattle has so far known where Canberra is, and Jay had to explain the difference betwen Austria and Australia to the post office (thanks George W).
Despite the above, we actually had a good time in Chiacgo - the Art Institute was just sublime, and I had fun making Jay go ten pin bowling and eat Mexican food. Plus found a champagne bar :)
I won't comment on Washington yet as we still have a few days here...but lets just say after counting 325 flags in 1.5 days, its quite worrying....I am also likely to get punched out soon, as I having trouble keeping my mouth shut when regularly hearing statements such as "being American is the best thing in the world" and "Reagan was the best president we have ever had". Calm blue ocean, calm blue ocean.
USA food update 1 to come at some stage....
x C
P.S. If you wear an Obama 2012 hat around crazy conservative people stop asking you questions.
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