Saturday 7 February 2015
Tuesday 13 January 2015
The most important meal of the day... USA style
Ok so I can't say I have tried any of these so don't know how good or bad they are, but I have commented on the cereal selection several times so thought I would take a pic of a few that stood out this week at the store.
All of these no doubt appeal to kids and the majority of men, they don't however appeal to this mum. This is mainly because I could imagine these would take our toddler tantrums from 'a solid effort' to scenes from the exorcist.
A lot of people warned us about the hidden sugar in the USA diet (bread etc), these pictures support my argument that there is nothing 'hidden' about the sugar here.
At least it's whole grain right?
MARSHMALLOW! Undoubtedly good and essential part of a hot chocolate but in cereal?!
I'm going to go ahead and say those are not naturally that colour.
But hey whole grains!
These I included because they just look gross
And this one was probably my favorite
G has decided these warrant further investigation. Actual little cookies for breakfast? Or just chocolate cookie Flavoured?
And then what would America be without its Pop Tarts?
Especially when they come in these varieties
Can't say no to great value right?
7 vitamins and minerals - this one has health food written all over it
I have no words.
Suffice to say we have started making our own muesli.
Tuesday 6 January 2015
90 days in South Texas
90 thoughts and observations. Totally based on our experience of one town of one state.
2. Petrol is about 50c a litre. We can literally fill up our car for about $30
3. You do get used to driving on the other side of the road
4. Pickles are commonly served as a side with sandwiches and can be bought individually
5. Supermarkets are massive and sell everything including clothes and TVS
6. Walmart is actually cleaner and better organized than most Warehouse's
7. Dollar stores are awesome. I decorated our entire Christmas tree for $11
8. Everywhere has free wifi
9. You are nothing without a credit history and social security number
10. The only things that aren't cheaper here are Christmas trees, spray oil and second hand cars
11. There are so many more family restaurant options. I doubt we will get to all of them before G's work permit expires. And they are actually family friendly. Great kids menus, space to have a high chair at the table.
12. Alcohol here is super cheap. Beers for $3-$5, cocktails are $6ish
13. At least in Corpus Christi, people can't drive in the rain. There have been three separate instances of people flipping their cars in the last 24 hours alone.
14. The local news is very local, we even get told what the local high school is having for lunch that day
15. Having both a Netflix and Amazon prime (similar to Netflix) account is actually overwhelming. Does mean we are finally catching programmes like Breaking Bad (I know right)
16. Homesickness can hit at any time
17. Convenience stores (dairy's) sell beer and gallon sized fountain sodas but not actually anything convenient like eggs, bread and butter
18. I miss NZ dairy more than anything else food wise. This surprises me as I'm not generally a big dairy eater. The cheese here is weird and orange.
19. Damn is seen as a swear word. Still getting used to the southern colloquialisms Y'all.
20. It is harder than I imagined to go clothes shopping. When you have two little guys with limited time for shopping and you have no idea about any stores you have to put in a lot of groundwork exploring before you have an idea of a store that you might be able to nip into to buy something.
21. Sneakers and jeans.
22. Shipping costs to NZ are exorbitant. UPS wanted to charge me $160 for a parcel weighing 1.5kgs
23. We have become accustomed to 'valet trash' in record time.
24. There are some amazing homewares stores here. Everytime I discover a new one I totally remodel my NZ house in my head.
25. If you miss a sale, next week there will be another one
26. So many more gluten free choices available in supermarkets. This is both a good and a bad thing. Gluten free ravioli would be my favorite find.
27. America doesn't do Christmas crackers or Christmas pudding
28. Tipping hasn't been too big an adjustment and I usually only have to do it when we eat out or get Theo's hair cut.
29. I still haven't seen guns except in law enforcement
30. There seems to be about 5 different levels/ types of police here - sheriffs, constables, police, state troopers etc
31. Medical insurance (even subsidized) is expensive and inconvenient
32. People still fax things, write checks and do money orders here
33. Counterfeiting money is a big problem and some places hold money up to lights before accepting it.
34. The most common Christmas lunch food in south Texas is tamales.
35. A4 paper size is different to A4 at home.
36. Coupons are a big deal and there are heaps dotted around the supermarket attached to products. Our supermarket even does a deal where you buy one thing and get seven things free. I must do it sometime. The first time I used a coupon I got free jar olives with my jar of gherkins. Score!
37. Every fast food place has an alarming selection of frozen ice cream based drinks available. Google Dairy Queen if you don't believe me.
38. I have only seen one mum breastfeed in public.
39. America really knows how to do holidays and how to celebrate seasons. I have actually over heard women discussing how they decorate their house for fall (autumn)
40. Crafting is a big deal here. Mums actually do those Pinterest crafts with their kids instead of just pinning them. Who knew people did that? Theo has been loving it.
41. NZ is so lucky with its kindy system. Nothing like it here.
42. At least in CC everything - signage, packaging, advertising etc is way more bilingual than NZ will ever be. This is despite us having two official languages and USA having none
43. If you thank a person for holding a door open for you, the response is always the same. 'Uh huh'
44. Thanks to the Internet I've met some really cool mums and their kids here. Parenting and its joys and struggles is universal
45. Facebook took about a day to work out I was in the US and now emphasizies the US content instead of friends from home. This really bugs me as I see a lot of sites like Buzzfeed and not so much of you guys.
46. Pedestrians have right of way in all car parks and people just saunter across the lot without any sense of urgency.
47. When you are in a country that drives on the other side of the road, people naturally do the same with their trolleys I the supermarket. This has been harder to get used to than the driving.
48. Most restaurants, convenience stores and supermarkets sell milk in 250ml bottles - awesome for toddlers when you are out and about.
49. Supermarkets sell a lot of convenience foods eg hard boiled, peeled eggs in bag, little plastic containers with a hand full of grapes plucked off the vine, cut up pieces of fruit or cheese in containers. The eggs are too weird for me, but the fruit is actually handy if I am rushing through and T decides he needs something to eat. ( so everytime I'm there).
50. Some stores (Walmart, target, Sam's club) have fast food joints in them. E.g target has both a Pizza Hut and Starbucks in it
51. Museums are way more kid friendly. The San Antonio children's museum was amazing.
52. I never thought I could miss Swedish rounding so much. Pretty sure if they tried it here some groups would be convinced the government was stealing from them
53. Fall means pumpkin spice and it's seems everything can be flavoured pumpkin. We even tried pumpkin cider. It was as good as it sounds. Bleh.
54. Overall we haven't found bread to be too sweet but cereal is really gross. Very sweet and full of artificial flavoring.
55. Each holiday seems to bring with it themed baby wear. Just before Christmas I started seeing St Patrick's and Valentine's Day onesies
56. Coins here come in ridiculous denominations. We have had to start rolling all our left over coins to take to the bank to exchange for notes
57. It's a weird feeling when you see something like a yellow school bus - so familiar after years of U.S tv but still weird to actually see that they exist
58. Adverts for lawyers on tv and radio actually exsist and they are as bad as Saul on Breaking Bad.
59. Bathroom to bedroom ratio in houses especially new builds is like double NZ. We have two in our three bedroom apartment
60. I love the tv adverts for medication here. 20% of the ad is about how the drug can fix you and then the remaining 80% is all the side affects. I almost cried the first time I watched one - couple strolling along the beach, holding hands while the very serious voice over lists things like suicidal thoughts, anal leakage and unwanted hair growth.
61. A pump bottle in NZ is $3.50. This whole pack of water -24 bottles for $3.
62. We are slowly educating our local Starbucks about fluffys
63. Lucky for us, we don't drink coffee. If you are coffee fiend, don't visit the US.
64. Black Friday sales are awesome. We bought a camera this year for $400 down from $ 900.
65. Churches here offer parents days out or parents nights out where for very little money you can drop your kid off for the day or evening and they essentially babysit them for you. Open to anyone in the community.
66. The freeway systems here are incredible. All flow on from each other with underpasses and overpasses going all directions.
67. Motorized scooters are available at supermarkets and Walmart. There are no restrictions on who can use them.
68. I have seen a checkout operator at Walmart literally on oxygen. Had the tank beside her on a little trolley. I am tempted to think this has something to do with their healthcare system?
69. Lawyers advertise on billboards
70. Petrol stations sell beer in giant cans. In singles and with a paper bag of required. Stay classy usa
71. Eggs yolks are really orange and most eggs have white shells (remember them?)
72. One assumption that has been totally dispelled is the lack of true international food. Our supermarket sells lots of Thai, Japanese and Korean products. Only thing really lacking is Indian food.
73. Everywhere has free refills on fizzy drinks.
74. PIN numbers are not needed with your eftpos card at all places. Some places just scan it and you sign for it. No one ever checks the signature. I cant understand how this is a good idea. Surely it makes way more sense and is more secure for you to always give your pin.
75.Tax is not included in the price listed and is added when you check out. This gets me every time, especially at places like the museum where the fare is $9 and then when you go to pay its $9.09. So if you have cash you end up with more useless coins. I would literally rather pay $10 and have tax included then a stupid number like 9.09.
76. Thank God for skype and viber
77.Our license saga is still not behind us. I have mine but Garth's was sent to our old address. We had tried to notify them when we moved but they wouldnt change it without proof we have been there 30 days - which we hadnt been at the time. By the time we had, the license had been sent. They cant just resend it, instead he now has to go back to the office, change his address, and then wait the 6 weeks for it to be send out again. We have now been dealing with his license since September 25.
78. There are lots of community activities on offer almost every week to go and do and we are enjoying this aspect of being in a bigger city again.
79. The stupidest question we have been asked by someone to do with NZ is whether it is a state within the USA. The scariest part of this was she was working for a company that does G's security clearance and background check for work.
80. The weather forecast is a lot more precise than home. They tend to give you the temperatures morning, noon and night and have been really accurate so far.
81. Our city has dedicated hurricane evacuation lanes on the freeway out of town.
82. I have not seen any snakes but a snake skin was found in a playground that we play at every week.
83. The best thing about watching the New York ball drop at New Year's is that they are an hour ahead of us, so I was able to watch that live and still be tucked up in bed relatively early.
84. There are so many TV channels that we literally cant keep up with it all. I rely on Buzzfeed posts to tell me if something good is coming on TV.
85. G misses cricket. I don't.
86. We were invited to three different families for their Thanksgiving. Such a cool gesture and was so appreciated. As for Thanksgiving itself - im not totally convinced. Cool idea behind it, undone by gross consumerism the next day. And if you think about it, its kind of Christmas without the presents and where's the fun in that??
87. They collect sea turtle eggs from along one of the beaches here and then release the hatched sea turtles back into the water 15- 25 times a year. Huge crowds go down to watch.
88. During the fall harvest season, Pumpkin patches are created at churches and you can go along and select a pumpkin for carving or decorating. They even set up little places for you to take pics of your kids there.
89. Santa photos here are another level. Kids in matching outfits, dressed to the absolute nines. I saw one little girl about H's age dressed in some many frills and layers of red netting and frills that she was barely visible. The mall Santa was the most realistic Santa I've ever seen, so weird when he opened his mouth and had such a southern drawl!
90. The sea temperature here in winter is the same as it is in NZ in the summer.
and to answer some people's questions - What is G's job here? He is working at a Oil refinery in the technical team as a process engineer with oversight of a couple of units. So that probably doesn't actually answer any questions but that's what he does!
So there it is 90 observations for our first 90 days here. Cant believe it has gone as fast as it has. There have been hard days where having family and friends in the same time zone (at least) would be great and then awesome days getting out and exploring. We are looking forward to three family visits in the next three months with my cousin, my sister and my parents all arriving at various times. We have two little people's birthday's to celebrate as well as my 30th. Exciting times ahead as always.
73. Everywhere has free refills on fizzy drinks.
74. PIN numbers are not needed with your eftpos card at all places. Some places just scan it and you sign for it. No one ever checks the signature. I cant understand how this is a good idea. Surely it makes way more sense and is more secure for you to always give your pin.
75.Tax is not included in the price listed and is added when you check out. This gets me every time, especially at places like the museum where the fare is $9 and then when you go to pay its $9.09. So if you have cash you end up with more useless coins. I would literally rather pay $10 and have tax included then a stupid number like 9.09.
76. Thank God for skype and viber
77.Our license saga is still not behind us. I have mine but Garth's was sent to our old address. We had tried to notify them when we moved but they wouldnt change it without proof we have been there 30 days - which we hadnt been at the time. By the time we had, the license had been sent. They cant just resend it, instead he now has to go back to the office, change his address, and then wait the 6 weeks for it to be send out again. We have now been dealing with his license since September 25.
78. There are lots of community activities on offer almost every week to go and do and we are enjoying this aspect of being in a bigger city again.
79. The stupidest question we have been asked by someone to do with NZ is whether it is a state within the USA. The scariest part of this was she was working for a company that does G's security clearance and background check for work.
80. The weather forecast is a lot more precise than home. They tend to give you the temperatures morning, noon and night and have been really accurate so far.
81. Our city has dedicated hurricane evacuation lanes on the freeway out of town.
82. I have not seen any snakes but a snake skin was found in a playground that we play at every week.
83. The best thing about watching the New York ball drop at New Year's is that they are an hour ahead of us, so I was able to watch that live and still be tucked up in bed relatively early.
84. There are so many TV channels that we literally cant keep up with it all. I rely on Buzzfeed posts to tell me if something good is coming on TV.
85. G misses cricket. I don't.
86. We were invited to three different families for their Thanksgiving. Such a cool gesture and was so appreciated. As for Thanksgiving itself - im not totally convinced. Cool idea behind it, undone by gross consumerism the next day. And if you think about it, its kind of Christmas without the presents and where's the fun in that??
87. They collect sea turtle eggs from along one of the beaches here and then release the hatched sea turtles back into the water 15- 25 times a year. Huge crowds go down to watch.
88. During the fall harvest season, Pumpkin patches are created at churches and you can go along and select a pumpkin for carving or decorating. They even set up little places for you to take pics of your kids there.
89. Santa photos here are another level. Kids in matching outfits, dressed to the absolute nines. I saw one little girl about H's age dressed in some many frills and layers of red netting and frills that she was barely visible. The mall Santa was the most realistic Santa I've ever seen, so weird when he opened his mouth and had such a southern drawl!
90. The sea temperature here in winter is the same as it is in NZ in the summer.
and to answer some people's questions - What is G's job here? He is working at a Oil refinery in the technical team as a process engineer with oversight of a couple of units. So that probably doesn't actually answer any questions but that's what he does!
So there it is 90 observations for our first 90 days here. Cant believe it has gone as fast as it has. There have been hard days where having family and friends in the same time zone (at least) would be great and then awesome days getting out and exploring. We are looking forward to three family visits in the next three months with my cousin, my sister and my parents all arriving at various times. We have two little people's birthday's to celebrate as well as my 30th. Exciting times ahead as always.
Friday 2 January 2015
Tuesday 14 October 2014
Feeling ten years younger and its not a good thing...
One of the things we have found really frustrating is how hard it is to start life again at 30 and particularly in the states. This is a country where everything is centered around your social security number and your credit history. Both easy enough unless you choose to try to work there as an immigrant. I can only compare the frustration to one where you need a job but can't get one without having job experience but can't get the experience without first having a job. I feel like im 17 again, and I have to say, I dont like it at all.
Firstly social security numbers (SSN) are needed for everything. We naively assumed they were like IRD numbers - just needed for tax purposes - nope. We couldn't even get a cellphone plan without them. They are like an intrinsic piece of being a functioning member of society here. The hardest part of this process is that you cant apply for a social security number until you are in the country and it takes 10 days to be sent to you. 10 days where you cant buy anything that requires a credit check like a phone plan, sign a house or car lease. It even caused issues with G being entered as an employee at work, having his pre-work drug test etc as every system is based on it. The kicker is that on our work visa we are not allowed to enter the country until 10 days prior to starting work. So you arrive and literally have to spend the first ten days waiting to be able to do the things you need to do to set up your life here. We are very very fortunate that G's work has provided us with a furnished apartment and a rental car for the first 60 days so we weren't too caught out but I cant help but think of others who may can come here on a similar visa but without the support from their company.
The credit check is another hard thing when starting life again at 30. We essentially have no credit history that is recognized over here. It doesn't matter that we own a house (the value of which, with houses prices here, would buy a pretty sweet house) or that we have both had VISAS and Mastercards for over ten years. It doesnt matter what we have in the bank back home. It only takes into consideration what you have here. So we have been trying to start to build a credit history here. Ways included cellphone plans - that was out the first ten days as no SSN, leasing a car - nope need a SSN for that, credit card - yes okay but you need to load money onto it and use it more as a debit card because we have no credit history. So that's what we have had to do. Slowly starting from the ground up.
It has been a really frustrating process, every time we take two steps forward we end up being bumped back a step in the process. We have decided that we want to continue to lease an apartment in our complex after the corporate lease ends and they have a newly renovated 3 bedroom here. Nothing in Texas is small and it suits us perfectly. We have no interest in maintaining lawns etc but obviously need one for T to run around in and this is perfect. Huge grass area, couple of rugby fields big, big swimming pool, and best thing a gym on site. I can leave our apartment and go for a 40 minute run and be back in the house 43 minutes after leaving. But of course we failed the credit check because we have no credit history and G's SSN was issued after June 2011 ( why that date is important?). Sigh. Luckily we have been able to secure the house with an additional months rent as a deposit so nothing too dramatic but still meant making a simple process a lot more drawn out than it needed to be.
Another thing has been forms of ID. We need state issued ID like a driver license to do things like lease a car (our preferred choice for our primary car here). Sweet. We have 90 days to drive on our NZ licenses before we have to have Texas ones. I have been absolutely dreading having to do a drivers test here. Not even sure I could pass one in NZ again. Then I saw the Texans drive. Need to use the off-ramp three lanes over? No worries. Wait till the last minute and then veer hard right across all three lanes at speed. The bigger the truck, the later you leave it. In fact maybe I will fail because I don't drive aggressively enough, or because I try to stick to speed limits. No consistent speed limit here, in 3 kms along the same stretch of road you can have 3 different speed limits. Not that it matters especially on the highway as it appears to only be a suggestion.The only time I see speed limits adhered to is school zones where you can only drive 20 miles per hour. Apparently the fines start at $500 so they are taken pretty seriously. Anyway 90 days to get a license. So Garth goes to sit his test in his first ten days. Nope. You have to be here 30 days before you can sit a test. Why? No reason. Its Policy. So instead of us, as immigrants and used to driving on the other side of the road, wanting to do the local testing and therefore theoretically show we are safe to drive here, we cant. We have to sit twiddling our thumbs till the magic date.
We have managed to use our passports for ID for some things. Dont worry I have been able to buy alcohol. A matter which became a bit more fun when I saw the prices ( and sizes) of alcohol here. 1.5L bottle of NZ wine for $15 no worries mate. The passport has led to a few humorous/ worrisome questions. At one pre employment check for Garth, a government employee asked Garth for ID, when he responded I have a New Zealand drivers license and passport, will that work? She looked him in the eye and responded ' I'm sorry to ask, but can you tell me if New Zealand is a state? Not a hint of sarcasm.
Im sure every country is just as bad for this kind of thing but we have found it very frustrating. We are now getting 'better' at playing the game. We expect delays when doing the 'simple' stuff. When we go to do things like sort tax numbers for me and the boys ( we don't get SSNs) we know now to take every piece of documentation we have ( a sizable folder thanks to US bureaucracy), including pieces they haven't asked for, and including printed copies of 'online ONLY - these do not need to be printed' forms from the federal database ( as we have been asked for these when applying for G SSN), we know that we all need to go to prove we exist even if the appointment is for one of us, we know to pack for a full days outing including clothes, food, toys and everything else little people require, in fact the only thing we have yet to be asked for or have needed is a vial of our blood. Im sure we will get to that though.
Monday 29 September 2014
The things Ive found....
Things I've found hard
1. Sleeping all night. H has adjusted no worries. T seems to alternate between great nights - once sleeping 14 hours, and terribly - waking at 2 or 3 in the morning and not going back to sleep till 6am. Im not too tired during day as im busy but when boys go to bed, I'm just physically shattered.
2. Wishing family and friends were here especially when I see things and think oh this person would like that.
3. Writing and editing this blog on my phone. Grrr...
4. Money - We are currently doing everything in cash. All notes look the same, sizes aren't logical and a 1 c coin ffs! My approach so far is to pay for everything with notes. Might just take the kg of coins I seem to have collected in change and bank it.
Things I've found harder than expected
1. Getting boys into the car in the heat especially as it's so hot inside the car. Its ok with G off work as he can pre-cool the car. Will have to think about how to go about getting them in, and the car as cool as possible, as fast as possible.
2. Lack of fresh air. Im not a big air con person much preferring windows open but here thats not practicable. Trying to get out for walks and to sit by the pool when I can. The mosquitos have obviously sized me up as fresh blood ( in every sense).
3. Food shopping. I knew everything in the supermarket would be different but I never really realized how hard that makes it, especially trying to read labels ( dreaded sugar content for t, gluten free for me) on everything. Makes it quite the ordeal.
Things I've found easy
1. Shopping. Already been to target. Total amaze. Only had half an hour there before we had a meeting at the bank but managed to to fill a trolley quite easily. Can not wait till I get a proper look at the shopping here. Sidenote: Walmart is way cleaner and better organised and less crazy than the Internet promised. I was both disappointed and relieved not to run into too much crazy. It also stocks some similar baby products - toys etc that ive bought for the boys before at like quarter of the price. G pointed out the the 55" samsung smart tv we paid $2500 for at home there for $700.
2. Settling into our accommodation. Bigger than expexted and sweet facilities including a gym with kids playroom, pool and beach volleyball court (or giant sandpit in t's eyes). T is loving time in the pool and again im making the most of G being off to swim kidfree.
Things I've found easier than expected
1. Finding fresh good quality salad and veges - everyone warned me about the food but we are about 5 mins drive from an organic supermarket and of course it's waaaay cheaper than nz.Tonight we had Salmon orzo salad packed full of asparagus, cherry toms, corn and black beans. Not quite the hotdogs with cheese from a tube that people kept warning me about.
2. Opening a bank account was easier than getting our last video store account. Literally a passport was all that was needed.
3. Driving. Yep I've been driving. Even been out without G as co pilot. Its actually quite fun. I really like our rental car. Hardest part was a left hand turn at a busy intersection. And I pretty much have to chant ' lefty loosy, righty tighty' at every turn to remember which side to turn onto, but im sure/ hope that will get easier. Observation - seems like everyone here leases their cars/ buys new. We have literally seen less than 5 cars older than 2 or 3 years in the week we have been here. But that might be the area we are in? Will see how this holds up as we drive further out.
Things that have weirded me out
1. How polite the sales/ reception ppl are on the phone. The phone manner here is really different. One person I rang today answered the phone saying ' This is Dotti, I can help you'. And she could and she did but the NZ in me made me think. .. 'hold on Dotti, let me be the judge of that'....
Another women at a bank thanked me a couple of times for asking when I replied 'Good thanks and you?' when she asked me how I was. The ma'am thing just makes me feel old.
2. Really orange cheese. So far the cheese has been the worst thing about living here. We are trying lots of types but T has stopped eating it altogether.
Things we have done.
1. A couple of toddler gym times. One in particular was awesome and T had a ball
2. Met up with a group of mums in a meetup.com group who were super friendly
3. Been to the Texas State Aquarium complete with splashpad and dolphin show. T absolutely loved the splash pad.
4. Been to lots of shops and the mall here. H already has some new clothes and T some new toys.
5. Found a pretty cool playground down the road from us after it was recommended to us. T had been asking every day to go to one, so took advantage of a couple of cooler mornings to go.
6. All come down with a nasty cold, sore throats etc. G and I taking turns to look after boys or rest. Hopefully it will be gone before long. Poor H is totally miserable tonight
7. G went to a friday night high school football game. Such a massive thing here
8. Had stereotypes confirmed when a hairdresser asked if we drove to Texas from NZ. Not often am I rendered speechless...
Things im grateful for
1. Skype
2. The ten days before Garth starts work to explore and find everything.
3. Google.
4. Knowing a couple of people before we got here who have been invaluable for advice and recommendations.
American Flags seen: 47 Texas Flags: 5 Guns: 0
1. Sleeping all night. H has adjusted no worries. T seems to alternate between great nights - once sleeping 14 hours, and terribly - waking at 2 or 3 in the morning and not going back to sleep till 6am. Im not too tired during day as im busy but when boys go to bed, I'm just physically shattered.
2. Wishing family and friends were here especially when I see things and think oh this person would like that.
3. Writing and editing this blog on my phone. Grrr...
4. Money - We are currently doing everything in cash. All notes look the same, sizes aren't logical and a 1 c coin ffs! My approach so far is to pay for everything with notes. Might just take the kg of coins I seem to have collected in change and bank it.
Things I've found harder than expected
1. Getting boys into the car in the heat especially as it's so hot inside the car. Its ok with G off work as he can pre-cool the car. Will have to think about how to go about getting them in, and the car as cool as possible, as fast as possible.
2. Lack of fresh air. Im not a big air con person much preferring windows open but here thats not practicable. Trying to get out for walks and to sit by the pool when I can. The mosquitos have obviously sized me up as fresh blood ( in every sense).
3. Food shopping. I knew everything in the supermarket would be different but I never really realized how hard that makes it, especially trying to read labels ( dreaded sugar content for t, gluten free for me) on everything. Makes it quite the ordeal.
Things I've found easy
1. Shopping. Already been to target. Total amaze. Only had half an hour there before we had a meeting at the bank but managed to to fill a trolley quite easily. Can not wait till I get a proper look at the shopping here. Sidenote: Walmart is way cleaner and better organised and less crazy than the Internet promised. I was both disappointed and relieved not to run into too much crazy. It also stocks some similar baby products - toys etc that ive bought for the boys before at like quarter of the price. G pointed out the the 55" samsung smart tv we paid $2500 for at home there for $700.
2. Settling into our accommodation. Bigger than expexted and sweet facilities including a gym with kids playroom, pool and beach volleyball court (or giant sandpit in t's eyes). T is loving time in the pool and again im making the most of G being off to swim kidfree.
Things I've found easier than expected
1. Finding fresh good quality salad and veges - everyone warned me about the food but we are about 5 mins drive from an organic supermarket and of course it's waaaay cheaper than nz.Tonight we had Salmon orzo salad packed full of asparagus, cherry toms, corn and black beans. Not quite the hotdogs with cheese from a tube that people kept warning me about.
2. Opening a bank account was easier than getting our last video store account. Literally a passport was all that was needed.
3. Driving. Yep I've been driving. Even been out without G as co pilot. Its actually quite fun. I really like our rental car. Hardest part was a left hand turn at a busy intersection. And I pretty much have to chant ' lefty loosy, righty tighty' at every turn to remember which side to turn onto, but im sure/ hope that will get easier. Observation - seems like everyone here leases their cars/ buys new. We have literally seen less than 5 cars older than 2 or 3 years in the week we have been here. But that might be the area we are in? Will see how this holds up as we drive further out.
Things that have weirded me out
1. How polite the sales/ reception ppl are on the phone. The phone manner here is really different. One person I rang today answered the phone saying ' This is Dotti, I can help you'. And she could and she did but the NZ in me made me think. .. 'hold on Dotti, let me be the judge of that'....
Another women at a bank thanked me a couple of times for asking when I replied 'Good thanks and you?' when she asked me how I was. The ma'am thing just makes me feel old.
2. Really orange cheese. So far the cheese has been the worst thing about living here. We are trying lots of types but T has stopped eating it altogether.
Things we have done.
1. A couple of toddler gym times. One in particular was awesome and T had a ball
2. Met up with a group of mums in a meetup.com group who were super friendly
3. Been to the Texas State Aquarium complete with splashpad and dolphin show. T absolutely loved the splash pad.
4. Been to lots of shops and the mall here. H already has some new clothes and T some new toys.
5. Found a pretty cool playground down the road from us after it was recommended to us. T had been asking every day to go to one, so took advantage of a couple of cooler mornings to go.
6. All come down with a nasty cold, sore throats etc. G and I taking turns to look after boys or rest. Hopefully it will be gone before long. Poor H is totally miserable tonight
7. G went to a friday night high school football game. Such a massive thing here
8. Had stereotypes confirmed when a hairdresser asked if we drove to Texas from NZ. Not often am I rendered speechless...
Things im grateful for
1. Skype
2. The ten days before Garth starts work to explore and find everything.
3. Google.
4. Knowing a couple of people before we got here who have been invaluable for advice and recommendations.
American Flags seen: 47 Texas Flags: 5 Guns: 0
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