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