A Thankful Holiday?

The Big Report

JUMBOTRON! What an earth is a "jumbotron"? It is a new word for our vocabulary, and to be honest I initially thought it was made up by some super nerds who dream of making things bigger and better. Perhaps our readers are more familiar with this new over-sized technology than we are and now salivating in ore of our encounter. We have now become 2 of a select group of thousands who have heard and experienced the JUMBOTRON! Now for the uneducated like ourselves, the jumbotron is a large, well a jumbo screen at the new Cowboys stadium which we visited last weekend. Some stats on this screen: a couple of years ago it was the largest high definition TV in the world at a staggering 72 feet tall (22m) and 160 feet (49m) wide, 30 million light bulbs, it hangs 90 feet above the field and has 80 000 seats....the stadium cost $1.1 Billion to make! So yes another great example of something that Texas does bigger and better than anywhere else?

The last 2 weeks.

So last weekend we headed to a football game at the new Cowboys Stadium. This involved a long train ride and then a lift at the end to the game with Kristen and Jacob (looking forward to getting our own wheels next week!). Coppell High School were playing their first playoff match against another local Dallas High School, this was a great opportunity for us to go to the stadium for the bargin price of $10 instead of the regular/ludicrous tickets from $150 (nosebleed)-$14 000 to see the pro teams play. The stadium itself is very impressive at first look, as I mentioned earlier it was only finished a couple of years ago - 2009. Well actually everything about it was impressive. They even had padded seats unlike the typical seats we have in our stadiums, so that was nice. The game was a good contest between the two teams, but the real entertainment happens at half time. Coppell is a large high school in the Dallas area, and at half time provide some lively entertainment, there marching band (who is apparently one of the best in the WORLD), Lariette drill team, Cheer leaders and the Spirit Squad all perform short routines. Fair to say there was lots going on and it was a sight to be seen. The teams all spend hours practicing, the band spends even more and the result are some very slick performances.The opposing school also performed, however there band was a quarter of the size of the Coppell team.

We weren't brave enough to sample any of the football food. A hot dog covered in smushed chilli looking stuff was not very appealing. So by the time we got on a train and headed back to downtown Dallas we were both pretty hungry (especially after missing one train by a seconds, giving us a 20min wait!). Anyway we ended up picking a very touristy spot for a late lunch in the middle of downtown. This was our first time in the middle of the city when there were actually people around, our previous visit had been hampered by torrential rain. So it was much nicer to see people out and about enjoying the nice autumn weather. The restaurant was called Smokey Bryans and the menu was crazy, meat, meat and more meat! I ordered a pulled chicken, pulled pork and cheese sandwich with sides of macaroni and cheese and coleslaw, Aaron ordered hot barbecue wings, yes we shared. Check out the pics of our delightful lunch and Az's inability to keep all the food in his mouth, he is a grub. It was actually good, despite the scary look!

 

The past week at work was fairly unremarkable for me. We have started recruiting more participants for our study and I have been learning other new techniques. Aaron has landed himself a casual retail job for the holiday period which is going to really help us. So far the job hunt has been frustrating, and getting passed the initial application seems to be very challenging. Whilst Dallas certainly has a lot more jobs available than other parts of the US, there is still a lot of competition! So keep your fingers crossed Az can get some interviews soon.

This week at work was a short week. For those of you who are interested a couple of astronauts landed in Kazakstan on Monday and were flown in to Houston for testing on Monday night, our boss headed down to conduct testing on them here is a cool link if you are interested in life on the International Space Station












http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doN4t5NKW-k&list=PL2aBZuCeDwlR6Qzc29uzmOApP0A9Tu4QF&index=1&feature=plpp_video

We had a Thanksgiving Lunch on Tuesday at work, the IEEM provided ham, turkey and the trimmings, and all the staff brought along a side. I made my staple pumpkin, pear, spinach and feta salad it was very popular. There was so much food left over, despite everyone over indulging. In true American style nothing went to waste with most people taking a plate back to there office big enough to feed the average family. Crazy. For actual Thanksgiving day we entered a local fun run called the Turkey Trot. The distances for the run were either 5km or 8mi, I was a little hesitant at attempting an 8 mile with my current fitness but we had agreed to give it ago. Aaron got called in to work on Wednesday night and didn't finish until 11pm, so we dragged ourselves of bed early Thursday morning to head off for our fun run with 40,000 other people. It was perfect weather for the run, sunny with a small amount of cloud cover. Once the race kicked of at 9am, it took us 23 minutes to actually cross the start line and we couldn't really run until the 3km mark. It always amazes me in fun runs why the walkers all want to be at the front. This fun run also had a lot of prams and dogs, so there was plenty of dodging and leaping over the poo. By the time the two distances split we were in space and able to keep a nice rhythm. We finished the race together, Aaron definitely could have beaten me on the day but he ran with me and held my hand over the line, so I better start working a bit harder!! The remainder of our first thanksgiving involved making home pizzas and chilling out watching the Dallas Cowboys. They lost, but the other team were really good!

We got to experience our first Black Friday, well Aaron got experience first hand, it kind of passed me by... This is another American tradition that is hard to comprehend. Starting the evening of Thanks Giving (8pm for some, midnight for most) shops open up, signifying the start of Christmas shopping with what people consider, specials to die for! I was asleep Az had the pleasure of experiencing this phenomena in his new retail role. So let him paint this picture!

It was a cool Autumn night, the stars were shining and at 11:20pm, I cruised along the darkened, rough road towards the unknown, expecting nothing but the quiet night and clear entry through the front door of his work. Still half asleep and approaching the shops I could not believe his eyes! It was as if it was the 1970's and tickets to the "Beatles" were on sale. There was a cue about 200m long of people waiting to enter the store. Sneaking through the back door, trying to hide the fear in my eyes I got set for the unexpected. A slow 15 mins passed when the doors opened and about 1000 people came running into the store (literally running). For the next 4.5hrs the till which I was manning was running red hot, with a cue circled around the store of people waiting to pay. It was not until 4:30am that things started to get quiet and I served the last person in the cue who had been waiting about 1.5hrs. From speaking to the customers their goal was to complete all their Christmas shopping in this one day and that this was only their first stop. Luckily for all the customers, we were sponsored by Red Bull and they all left with a 4 pack to keep them going! At this time I had a chance to look up from the till, to see the bedlam, there was clothing and stuff everywhere!!!!!!  Now this was only a quiet store when it comes to Black Friday. There are 2 stores "Walmart" kind of like Kmart, Woolworths and Big W combined and "Best Buys" (JB Hifi on Steroids) feel the brunt of the customers as, people camp out for days to ensure they were the first to get through the doors. In the past people have been trampled to death at these sales, CRAZY!

And as a closing remark I would like to point out how ungrateful Ez is with having a full head of hair. Some of us less fortunate people have what is commonly called thinning hair, and we try to hold onto every strand, we cherish it like a fine wine! The other day when cleaning I had to clean out the vacuum, and what did I find? A collection of hair, simply discarded by Ez like it was worth nothing. I almost shed a tear at the sight, the sheer quantity!

Halloween, Burgers & Pomegranates

The Big Report

Now as we have been reporting things in Texas are generally big. You would think one exception would be the groceries, those everyday items we all purchase wherever we are in the world. A potato is a potato, an onion is always an onion and the humble pomegranate is a pomegranate no matter where you purchase it from. But yet again Texans take the previously standardised fruit and veg to a new level. I am not sure what creates this phenomena, if it is artificial or simply an evolutionary adaptation on behalf of the fruit and veg, so they don't feel inadequate in a place where everything else is big, but even these simple items are double the size of those produced anywhere else I have been. Initially we were hesitant and fearful of these giant abominations but as with all others things we have grown to accept their difference and consume with vigor.  Even sausages take the eater to a new dimension here!

The Weeks Past
We are back! A week off, with not too much happening we thought one action packed and mind boggling blog would be more fun!

October 31st was our first authentic experience of Halloween! Now I understand that in some areas of Australia, Halloween has recently grown in popularity, but Az and I had not experienced this in Brisbane. I arrived home on Halloween eve, with Az excitedly wanting to take me on a sunset bike ride. It was close to 6.30pm so I was less enthused, it took some convincing, but I put some bike shorts on and off we pedaled into the sunset! Az can be such a romantic :)  The suburbs close by to us are a real mix. To our east is a large Latino community with some interesting characters, whilst to our North it is a new/old area, new as people are buying older houses, knocking them down and building giant new houses that look like old house and castles. These streets are very similar to those that we grew up seeing on American television shows and movies, big elaborate houses. Earlier in the day Az went riding to get himself into shape so he can beat me one day in the future around Whiterock Lake and noticed that some of the really giant houses close to the lake were setting up there decorations for Halloween. The sun was slowly setting, we casually peddled towards the lake, as the night started to light up with vibrant decorations at the eve of Halloween. The sun was still on its way down so Az lead me to the lake to watch the moon rise over the water.

What we next experienced was an unexpected bonus. The moon was creeping over the horizon, we excitedly tried to capture this spectacular scene with our fancy camera but found it difficult to do the scene justice... We will let you be the judge of how you think we did?

Halloween at IEEM continued the experience for Ez as it meant large supplies of "candy and chips", which allowed plenty of opportunity to sample different types of American chocolate, to be honest it would of been rude not to try them all. That evening we were invited to a Halloween Party so after Ez got home from work, we jumped back on our bikes and pedaled over to nearby Marquita St. for a gathering with local families. The party was hosted by the same people who has held the engagement party Az attended previously. They are lovely people and we met some more great people, in particular we met a rugby coach called Ren and his hilarious wife Paula. Apparently there is a large Union competition in the US and we had just met the local coach for Dallas. We ended up chatting away and finished with an invite to "Thanksgiving" at there place after the local "Turkey Trot". We will tell you about this in the future.

There is a local burger bar near by to us and it seems to be the easiest place to reference when telling people where we live. So last Saturday night we set out to find out what all the fuss was about. Az's new favourite football team was playing so this made the trip to the bar even more exciting, burgers, drinks and football, wow! The bar is called Jakes, and the burgers were ridiculous, as were the beer glasses! We enjoyed our first experience but not sure we will be making it a regular thing, I don't think our hearts/waistline would appreciate it! If you can read the menu check out the heart attack that is burger number 5!


Az the dork that he is has finally had his working rights approved, we say finally but really it took a lot less time than we were told which is great. Also on the positive I have found a new hairdresser who is just around the corner!

Whilst I was at the hairdresser, Az was making new friends at a nearby bar. Angela and DW were interesting, fun characters who are also descendants of "swamp people" from Mississippi. One of them grew up with a huge gator regularly hanging out in their back yard that they would hand feed, just like in that movie Lake Placid. Well they decided that they wanted to show us more of Dallas and asked if we would like to join them in an area full of live music called Deep Ellum, it was an interesting place. First we parked behind a bikie bar as it is the cheapest and safest parking. Then we wove our way through some streets to arrive outside a place called TREE which had a que 100m long of kiddie boppers waiting to get in. Apparently they get some top acts there, DW saw Vanilla Ice there once. We were definitely too old to go in there this time and we needed food so we went next door to the pizza place and had a brush with a TV celebrity!!

Well she was not really a celebrity but featured on the national geographic taboo series called "Bizarre Bodies" Some of you might have watched the show 60mins when they had the lizard man, cat woman and those other people who do bizarre things to their bodies. The girl that sold us Pizza was one of those people, with horns inserted under the skin in her head, covered in tattoo's, and all those other scary things some people decide to do to their bodies. Ez wanted a photo but was a bit scared to ask. For those of you who want to see what I mean there is a link below to the episode, she is featured at about the 4min mark. Now if you decide to watch this please don't do it whilst eating, or when children are around or if you don't like the sight of blood. It is quite disturbing! So the night finished by watching some live music in a venue called "The prophet"....

 Local Shopping centre "North Park" has ducks and turtles, inside playing in their pond. They were pretty cool!

Az fitting into his new role as homemaker, baker and cleaner.









That's about all for the last couple of weeks, I do warn you only watch the episode if you are not easily disturbed.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/taboo/videos/bizarre-bodies/

What's in a name?

The Big Report
As Shakespeare once wrote, "What's in a name!" The longer we spend in Texas the more it is becoming evident, that our names are really somewhat of a novelty. Now naively we never really expected it to be such a difficult concept for those we encounter, however it dawned on us last weekend in Oklahoma when we were regularly asked to demonstrate how we would pronounce our names differently. Our names were a Big Problem!
To get you all in the picture on what we are talking about and for those random readers from Russia and abroad who don't know us, our names are Aaron and Erin. Since we have been together it has become apparent that in some parts of the world such as Germany, Japan and the USA our names are pronounced the same "Earin" and "Earin". When we are not together people appear comfortable and manage to communicate without issue or concern, but when we are together there is considerable confusion. We watch and listen, waiting in anticipation as people try to pronounce our names differently. Attempting to communicate with either the boy Earin or girl Earin. Those we have met so far practice and try but it is becoming apparent that it is something we will just have to get use too. Alternatively we could do as Erin jokingly suggested prior to leaving Australia and use my middle name Bobby!!! Our big dilemma - To change or not to change, that is the question!

The week past

Not a great deal to report this week, Erin got sick, Aaron gave himself a stylish haircut (not quite as cool as Bobby's above), and the weather started to change! Brrr!
We ventured out in the windy, bitter weather of Friday night to explore one of the local restaurants/bars "The Gin Mill"! We had walked past this place a number of times as it is on the way to our local fruit and vege shop, so we were both eager to try it out. From the street there is an outside area which is enclosed by a bamboo fence and a water feature along one wall, there is just something about water features that draws me in (actually it's just water). We arrived about 6:45pm, just in time for the end of happy hour, half price appetizers and cheaper drinks. So we indulged and ordered a delicious starter as well as our mains. I would have to say that this is the first time we have truly been challenged by the quantity of food we have ordered. The appetizer was hummus, olives, grilled capsicum, fetta and flat bread. Instead of getting the typical amount of bread you would expect in Australia we had half a plate full, very generous! In addition to this we also were given side salads with our main which were more like a typical sized salad in Australia, with 15 types of dressings to choose from, I chose a sherry vinegarette (not great) and Aaron a blue cheese. Our mains arrived and were generous and delicious as well. This place is certainly a winner in our book and I am sure we will be back again!

On Saturday night Aaron went to a friends engagement party, whilst Erin lounged around at home coughing up a storm. At the party A met more nice friendly Texans and got an offer to learn how to dance country style "the 2 step". In future blogs I am sure this will be an entertaining feature when we hit the country dance scene. Oh and we also got our dose of surf as we watched "Chasing Mavericks" at the cinema.

Well that's about all, hope you are all well!

 - Our Apartment Block

-Date night and Erin working her way through the boutique beers.

An uptown fancy bar, displaying the Texan dream - "Fired Chicken and Champagne". Living the dream

Big Cars, Bright Orange and Masses of Tissue Paper

The Big Report
Over the weekend we got to experience another BIG American tradition - Homecoming! For those of you who are ignorant about this tradition like Erin and I were just last week, it is huge University celebration around a home game of American Football, against a team that they have a high chance of beating.  As we have seen in American movies there is also a homecoming king and queen, marching band, tailgating and a walk through the night prior. So whats big about homecoming, EVERYTHING! The big band, big footballers, big cars, big TV's and satellite dishes.The most unusual thing though is the decoration of the sorority and frat houses. For months leading up to the big event the boys and girls team up with thousands of dollars, hopefully some cold beverages, chicken wire, graph paper, tissue paper and a simple pen. A scale picture is drawn on graph paper, including numbers to signify colours and then the students go to work on creating their vision. For hours the boys and girls fraternize using the humble pen risking RSI and arthritis to push coloured tissue paper into the chicken wires holes creating something that is quite spectacular, yet in a bizarre, time consuming sort of way. These things have moving parts, 3 dimensions and thousands of people filling the streets the night before the game to look at the splendor.

The week past!
A little late on getting to the blog this week, a little tired after the weekend and my slack husband, had his cleaning to do first :). Apologies! Another week down with a few milestones. I received my social security number which allows us now to open up a bank account and a number of other luxuries like a electricity account (don't worry we haven't been without power for the past 4 weeks). It does allow you to build a credit history, however this is not achieved easily as we have also discovered. First you must find someone willing to give you credit (i.e. a credit card, we were suggested a particular company who is generous towards those without a history - based on our current situation they have allowed us $300!) So we are building a credit history! Small steps...

Really our week was spent anticipating our first weekend away to another state and the opportunity to experience an American tradition a college football homecoming game at Oklahoma State University. We were hosted by an ex-homecoming princess, her soon to be prince, and family for the weekend. It was a loooonng drive to Stillwater, Oklahoma but totally worth it. The end of the drive culminated in a creative display of the local Fraternity and Sorority community passion. Termed "walkaround" we were met at (9:30pm) with hundreds of ex-alumni and tissue paper displays of all kinds. We were hosted by the wonderful Radka family, who welcomed us in to their house despite the strangers arriving almost at midnight!

Saturday morning arrived a little to quickly for our liking, we were out of the house by 8am with the game due to start at 11am, there was tailgaiting to be had!. We headed to Stillwater for the much anticipated spectacle. Now unfortunately for us the game was an early one, meaning that the famous festivities were a lot tamer than we were expecting. We did however observe some impressive set-ups as seen in this picture, it is not uncommon to bring along your portable satellite dish and flatscreen television so you can view the game from the comfort of your "tailgaiting" spot or venture in to the large stadium for more upclose viewing and action. Our plan was to enjoy the game from a local institution - "Eskimo Joes". The expectation was that we would have to "stalk" a table to get one for the game. We arrived just prior to the game kicking off - the bar was already packed and no tables available, luck was on our side, or maybe the fact that most of the people at the bar early were heading in to the game so we ended up with the best seats in the house to watch the game and sink a few beverages whilst eating a Joes tradition, cheese fires.

Prior to kick-off Aaron and I explored a bit of the campus and purchased ourselves some mementos, an orange t-shirt for A and shirt for me. We had now evolved into the orange coloured OSU Alumni. Game on! Aaron then spent the entire game asking a thousand questions learning the ins and outs of the game (poor Jacob), drinks were sunk, food consumed and fun was had.

What a small world it is. Not only do we have a firend that went to OSU but my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin also went to OSU. So before heading to Oklahoma we got in contact with Aunt Tami in Brisbane in hope of catching up with her cousin Shemarr at the game. I had thought that we had missed the opportunity to catch up, but at 9am I received a text from my "cuz" to say he and his son were heading to the game. Aaron and I met up with Shemarr and his son Scott and their tailgaiting crew at halftime. It was soooooooo nice to see a familiar face, my first since being in the US.

So thats about all for now. Keep in touch!

Evolution...

Prior to moving onto this weeks big report I once again need to give credit to the humble pickle. From its simple beginnings as a cucumber, to its time spent fermenting in vinegar, brine or ?? to become a household favourite in the US. Who could of thought life for a pickle and a pickle eater could get any better. But the next evolution has arrived!! Saving the consumer from getting pickled fingers, providing the grip you need to stop that slippery sucker from getting away, making consumption a sheer pleasure; its "the pickle on a stick".Could life be any better?

The Big Report - The average Texan Family Car 

For those of you who have traveled to the US you would of noticed that the car spaces in all the car parks are huge. You could fit 2 average European cars in each! Now there is a very simple reason for this phenomena, that is the average Texan family car. The Chevrolet started off as a basic pickup and served the generations for years but as all things Texan it was too small and simple to survive the Texans pride in being the biggest and best. Over the years the wheels got bigger, trays grew larger and were soon big enough to carry one of those toy like European cars with an engine big enough to tow a truck and rattle your bones as it passes. As with the pickles the next evolution of vehicles has emerged. The average (not even the biggest) Texan family car pictured below populates the streets. Should these vehicles become an Australian dream as well?

The Week Passed

The weekend started with dreary weather again and I started to wonder if we were really just weather jinxed! We bravely attempted a Saturday morning bike ride despite the temperature being around 10 degrees, a temperature we are not used to unless visiting family and friends outside of the Sunshine state. After 5kms we decided that it was best to turn around and head home, my ears were hurting, fingers were blue, it was that cold.

Sunday was not much better but we had planned to check out the Texas State Fair and thought the cooler conditions may actually make for a more favourable experience due to smaller crowds. The Texas State Fair is famous for displaying all things Texas. In particular for frying everything and anything, so we were both keen to see what there was to offer. On arrival  we were screened for any concealed weapons by two guards along with all the other patrons, it was pleasing to note that weapons were not allowed in to the fair. If carrying they could be checked in, you were given a ticket like we get in a cloak room and collect it upon departure. WOW that's different!

The fair grounds itself was BIG, you got a big welcome from the big cowboy and consisted of all the apparent best Texas has to offer, including a big car exhibit with all the national dealers, big sideshow alley, local producer exhibits and big deep fryers. My favourite experience was the only small thing we noticed all day. the miniature donkey show that we randomly stumbled across in the search for the longhorns, they were adorable and definitely not big. The highlight for A was seeing the famous Texas Longhorn, he was so excited! After enjoying the exhibits and checking out all the food options A settled on some Alligator for lunch and I had some fried chicken and waffle, washed down with fried chocolate cake for dessert. These were just some of the delights on offer, for those more adventurous there were things like chicken fried steak, fried watermelon, fried peach cobbler and a Fannie Flagg favourite "Fried Green Tomatoes". Our hearts did flutter with nerves of an sustaining a heart attack on entering this place.

The working week began with more induction for me and essay writing and job hunting for A. And how could I forget A's birthday! We had a delicious dinner at a local restaurant (no fried food).

Back to work talk I am not the only newby at the IEEM, meaning most people are needing to practice particular aspects of the testing we perform. Both A and I had the pleasure of doing VO2 max tests this week, A's first one and my first one with this system. As well as measuring your oxygen consumption during exercise we also measure cardiac output which is pretty cool (I think), but makes the test more challenging. The final measure of cardiac output is made at the end of the test, whilst you are still running meaning you need to have at least seven breaths to inhale some gas and then breath it out over seven breaths before the treadmill stops. It's also more technical for the person controlling the test (hence why we were practicing). I am guessing due to his brilliance that A performed significantly better then me in the test. His wedding vow promise to beat me one day is starting to become a reality :) unfortunately I missed his test due to more induction...

 The rest of the week was pretty stock standard. I worked, A cleaned the house, cooked the meals and met me at the train each afternoon to walk me home. We found a good way to ride to my work avoiding the crack houses and enjoyed an afternoon riding around the Art district and Uptown in the sun checking out all the trendy people and their dogs, whilst turning heads by riding bikes on the roads and wearing helmets. Happy Days!!!