Landing with a 3 hour delay at Dulles International Airport didn't exactly put me in the excited mood. My first time in DC and all I could think about was bed. An hour long wait through customs didn't help either (especially when one looked across the room at the US citizens section which had no queues whatsoever). To be fair I'm lucky to have a visa in the first place, bearing in mind I had to wait a jolly good 2 months for mine to go through. The fact that Americans are so strict about the criteria down to the issue of passport photos size (I gave in a 4cm sized one but was told I had to get a 5cm sized one) makes me wonder why I got one at all.
Coming out of arrivals though certainly changed the dejected mood I was in because my new landlady was standing in the middle of the crowds of welcoming people in a fuscia coloured tunic and a huge smiling sun sign. This evidently can make even the most depressed man in the world happy. This lady is the epitome of what the French call "une maman poule". She's Hungarian and the minute we arrived home, she began doting on me like a mother hen. I am sharing the house with her and another very nice Canadian girl. I have the whole top floor to use at my leisure with the kitchen and living room downstairs as shared areas.
I now have a week free before I start work, which reminds me, I haven't told you all why I am actually in Washington DC. For a year I am going to be doing a series of 3 month internships. The first one, which will last until December is at the British Embassy. So before that starts, I plan to be as much of a tourist as possible. I've been on a SERIOUS learning curve adapting to this "American way of life" -
- there are ice cube despensers infront of fridgers which ALSO have a "crushed ice option"
- water coolers offer cold and hot water hot enough to make hot chocolate
- there are buffets in the middle of supermarkets
- grapefruit juleps and whiskey sours are amazing drinks
- the local Pizza Hut lady does not know where Belgium is
- Department stores have escalators just for trolleys (so while your going up your escalator, your trolley is right next to you going up another)
- the pedestrian traffic lights have massive count down timers to let you know how much time you have to cross the road
- a check is a bill
- a cell is a mobile phone
- to convert Farenheit to Celsius you minus 30 and divide by 2
- when asked where you are from and you say you are from England, people automatically think you personally know Joanna Lumley
Coming out of arrivals though certainly changed the dejected mood I was in because my new landlady was standing in the middle of the crowds of welcoming people in a fuscia coloured tunic and a huge smiling sun sign. This evidently can make even the most depressed man in the world happy. This lady is the epitome of what the French call "une maman poule". She's Hungarian and the minute we arrived home, she began doting on me like a mother hen. I am sharing the house with her and another very nice Canadian girl. I have the whole top floor to use at my leisure with the kitchen and living room downstairs as shared areas.
I now have a week free before I start work, which reminds me, I haven't told you all why I am actually in Washington DC. For a year I am going to be doing a series of 3 month internships. The first one, which will last until December is at the British Embassy. So before that starts, I plan to be as much of a tourist as possible. I've been on a SERIOUS learning curve adapting to this "American way of life" -
- there are ice cube despensers infront of fridgers which ALSO have a "crushed ice option"
- water coolers offer cold and hot water hot enough to make hot chocolate
- there are buffets in the middle of supermarkets
- grapefruit juleps and whiskey sours are amazing drinks
- the local Pizza Hut lady does not know where Belgium is
- Department stores have escalators just for trolleys (so while your going up your escalator, your trolley is right next to you going up another)
- the pedestrian traffic lights have massive count down timers to let you know how much time you have to cross the road
- a check is a bill
- a cell is a mobile phone
- to convert Farenheit to Celsius you minus 30 and divide by 2
- when asked where you are from and you say you are from England, people automatically think you personally know Joanna Lumley
- coke is pepsi - no questions
I have now been adventuring out everywhere on a discovery mission. More update soon
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