The Big Report - The Dallasian Woman
For those of you we have spoken to over the past weeks you will know that we have confirmed the Texan stereotypes, and introduced you to a whole new world of thinking about people, places, religion, politics and a general way of life. What we haven't given much attention to up until now is what I call the Dallasian woman. Within this geographical area we have  observed 3 distinct species, 2 with very unique characteristics. The first species, barely worth a mention is what we all consider the normal woman. These probably constitute half the population, are a pleasure to meet and socialise with, and can be found anywhere else in the world!
Secondly and thankfully becoming more difficult to find in the wild, is one living the American FOOD dream! Initially we thought the stereotypes of Texas being one of the fattest states, was a fable. Unfortunately the more we get out and about the more it becomes a reality. Hopefully with education, restrictions of "soda size" and removal of some addictive snacks (Flamin Hot Cheetos!one of the most addictive snacks apparently available, there has been discussion about banning the sale, if you watch the clip, take not of the reference to the red hands, this is a tell tale sign of a Hot Cheetos junky!) this species continues to decline in numbers and soon becomes extinct (that's Aaron being positive, Erin is a little less confident)...

The final and most interesting species exists in pretentious circles, enjoys yoga and tanning, has a surgeon on speed dial, has not seen her feet in years, self injects Botox, is friends with Louis Vuitton and wears more gold than Mr T. This unique breed is always worth a gaze purely out of amazement and occasionally to work out if it is a man or a woman. A growing species that usually migrates in packs and often referred to as GCB's (Good Christian Bitches of course). Certainly not a dying breed and as time progresses we will try to get a live photo. At present we have been too afraid to whip the camera and face these beasts, but with time courage will build. 

The week past...
Our working lives are now fairly routine with Aaron starting his new job and having to finally get out of bed when the alarm goes off in the morning. Aaron or should I say Coach P is enjoying his school and the challenge of teaching a new subject - Forensic Science for those of you we haven't told yet! Luckily he is working in a school which is not be as scary as he thought teaching would be here based on what we see in Australia. He applied for and thankfully did not get a in the Dallas State School district where he would have to get through security and metal detectors each morning. He is working in a charter school which means the school is neither a private or public school. It is state and privately funded, the students are generally from financially disadvantaged families who parents would not of attended University. There is a simple lottery system (just the student name) to allow entry to the school, with 2000 families on the present waiting list. So far there has been no talk of small weapons training for him in his role as a teacher, and Aaron has been making the most of his opportunity in forensics to discuss with students their opinion and views on weapons, which he is pleased to say the next generation is not as gun happy as their parents and they generally want to see a change to gun laws and definitely don't want teachers armed!

A delightful cowhide...

Now on to my soap box. Everyone back in Australia next time you go in to one of the large chain supermarkets, or hopefully local independent supermarket or market be thankful that this food has not been kept in cold storage for months before making it to the shelf. Fruit and vege in Texas is not what we are use too. It is a struggle to find truly fresh fruit and vege, let alone the quality we have in Australia. This perhaps helps explain why there are such issues with weight in this country. The second astounding thing is the amount of additives in apparently fresh meat. Not only are most of the animal products treated with antibiotics, they also have colour added after processing and salt! Incredible. Anyway I am almost now a vegetarian  however the quality of the vege is questionable and I would starve, or just have to live on giant onions. Anyway rant over, please everyone enjoy the fresh fruit and vege available to you.

Just what we always wanted, decorative cow horns. 

Getting some pony action...finally!

Some serious head gear! 

Last weekend we attended the Fort Worth Stock Show. This was our first trip to Fort Worth, which is an older area and more stereotypical Texas like than Dallas. Dallas is not considered to be very representative of the real Texas... Anyway we were excited to see the other half of the Metroplex. The Stock Show included the usual fair that you would find at an agricultural show in Australia. It was just a lot larger and there were a lot more cowboys. We spent an hour or so walking through the trade stalls and seeing the delights of country Texas. Aaron and I were amazed at the cost of a real pair of cowboy boots (Emu and Alligator are popular, look cool, but are expensive -$500+!); there were plenty of shiny rhinestones as new age cowgirls like their belts to sparkle; there were cow horns for the bonnet of your car or your lounge room; lots of wooden furniture; guys selling tractors, windows and statues. It was an eclectic mix. We were hoping to see the rodeo, but unfortunately it had sold out. So that just meant we had more time to walk through the livestock area and gain an appreciation for the $$$$$, grooming and blow-drying involved in showing animals. Certain schools have programs for there students that requires the students to work with the animals and take them to shows. They collect winnings and when the animal is sold they also collect those funds which they then use towards paying for their graduate education. Amazingly they can make enough money to pay an entire University education!

Ez meeting the Longhorn

Longhorn giving Ez the evil eyes... after the mother to the just outside the picture charged at her!

We hope to be able to make it back to Fort Worth and see the rodeo as it runs for the next couple of weeks. Hope everyone is well in Australia and safe in the wild weather.

A New Yorkers Christmas!

Whooooohoooo! Was our reaction to the amazing generosity bestowed on us by Aaron's cousins in New York who decided we couldn't spend Christmas alone and gave us tickets to NYC to spend Christmas with them. This was just what I needed, poor Aaron has been dealing with sad Erin who has been homesick and wishing on a daily basis that we were back in Australia. So a trip to look forward too and some friendly, familiar faces  to spend Christmas with was very exciting.

Matching Christmas sweaters, not something we would normally
wear on a warm Chrissy day in Aus, but very popular here..

We exchanged presents before we left and it was lovely to have some gifts from home to unwrap, we were very grateful (and the Cadbury chocolate lasted less than a week, thanks mum)! More on our Christmas following the Big Report

Big Report. 
As the history books show us there are important dates and times.  For example 1770, Captain Cook hits the shores of Australia, 1861 American Civil War, and 1941 the Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor. For those of you who are history buffs, you would notice I left out the most important date and probably the most significant event of 1941, if not the 20th Century. This dates signifies the creation of a childhood dream. One that was given as a reward or to put a smile on your face no matter how bad the grazed knee was. One that was creamy on the inside and crunchy on the out. Yes it was the creation of the forever desired and eternally delicious M&M. From these humble beginnings as treats for GI's in WWII, to the creation of Red and Yellow in 1960 and the gradual addition of other colours to the family, this delicious, melt in your mouth chocolate has become world famous. With Red and Yellow reaching cult status, the American's have taken the love of these characters and their creamy centres to a whole new extravagant level.
Have you ever dreamed of 3 floors of M&M's, every possible colour, your nations pride displayed in M&M's and the ability to fully furnish your house with M&M branded products. NYC can make your dream a reality, WOW!

The Weeks Past
We spent an action packed three days seeing the sights of NYC and soaking up the holiday spirit. We flew in  and headed to the family pad in Queens. The afternoon we checked out Central Park as Aaron had a  burning desire to strap on the skates and hit the ice. The air was bitterly cold, but the atmosphere was awesome, the line for the ice skating however was not. So to avoid turning into an ice cube we passed on the skating and went to check out the Christmas markets in the park, before walking through the city to Fao Schwartz. Here we went inside to check out one of the most famous toy shops in the world, Ezzy was in heaven. She looked like Charlie taking a ride in the great glass elevator. After dragging her out by the scruff of her collar as she wanted to buy the entire shop, next on our agenda was the window displays at Saks 5th Avenue. Unfortunately this year the displays were not that festive, but it was nice to walk through the shop, ahhh heating. Next we headed to the pinnacle of Christmas displays...The Rockerfella Centre! The tree was spectacular...and those damn tourists were packed in like sardines in a can! So many people bustling through to sneak a peak at the tree and some, well thousands hitting the ice! After snapping a few picks and soaking up the Christmas joy it was time to feed the hungry beast! So where do you go when you are with a bunch of Irish Italians? An Irish bar, Irish Murphys of course.... With our stomachs full, lips wet and feeling warm again we stepped back out into the hustle of Time Square, and then strolled back towards the carpark before heading home.

After a solid sleep, some NY bagels for breakfast we were off again with our ever enthusiastic and knowledgeable tour guide, who I have to say would of been lost without our devoted and incredibly competent male navigator, who shall not be named due to his modesty! Today we explored the wharf area which was still trashed after the storms. Caught a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty, and got up close with the "Stock exchange bull", somehow last year when I visited NYC the bull had alluded Sal and I, but this time, with the help of Aaron (surprisingly enough he can find his way around) we found the bull! Now most people take the bull by the horns, others take them by the balls! By this time we were pretty, freezing so re-hydrated  and warmed up with a hot chocolate before setting off for the next landmark, the 9/11 Memorial. Unfortunately the line to buy tickets was extremely long, instead we walked past the site to the new Freedom Tower! This is one mammoth structure, and is nearly finished. I remember Sal telling me last year when I visited that the workers didn't come down at lunch time because it took half an hour to get down and up alone, so someones job is to get all the lunches from the many food places around the site. Lunch was next on the agenda, and a trip to Little Italy for some New York Slice was in order! Some peoples lives revolve around food, Aaron being one of those people. Again we were treated to a delicious meal on Christmas Eve cooked by Theresa. To help us feel like being at home Theresa made a special trip out and brought us a leg of lamb, mmmmm delicious!

Christmas Day was a blast! It was lovely to wake up and be surrounded by family, the sounds of rustling paper and laughter. The morning went by quickly with chatter, delicious food, some single malt Scottish Whiskey for Aaron and Sal, and Theresa preparing the food for lunch. This makes us look lazy and for Aaron it looks even worse. The fact is we hated not helping, but Theresa would block us with a flying hip, any time we tried to help.

Turducken, what a treat!

As lunch got closer things got exciting with anticipation of meeting more relatives of some description and Erin learning how to fold Manicotti. Our only hesitation was if we could fit any more food in after over indulging on cheeses. With the desire to be hospitable, we stretched a little and made room for lunch which was a feast! Turducken, Manicotti, Vege's and more. Unfortunately Aaron had to work the next day so we packed our bags over the afternoon and headed to the airport in the evening for a long trip back to Dallas.

Rolling like a pro, embracing the Itallian, yummo mannicotti

Now we went to NY with the hope of getting a white Christmas, little did we know that it was going to dump down with snow in hot sunny Dallas, and they say "climate change" is a myth. After waiting an hour for the shuttle to get back to our car in the freezing cold, we literally skated through the icy carpark and found our snow white car with the doors frozen over to the point I could not open them. Luckily I was given some gloves for Christmas so I bashed and cracked the ice around the door, let Erin in and put the heater on to keep her warm, whilst I acted like a man and scrapped the snow and ice of the windscreen, what a MAN! We got home about 2am definitely ready for sleep.  

It takes a Man to crack through that!

Shake It!

How Cowboys Role

Mirrored Saddle

Since NY we have been lying low with Aaron working nights and weekends in the retail world and trying to save some money. Aaron worked NYE and NYD so when he finally made it home at 9pm NYE we had dinner, a bottle of bubbles and watched the ball drop in NY at 11pm our time, before retiring for the evening. We are getting older! Since then we haven't been totally boring. We went Texas Two Stepping with some people Aaron made friends with. This was an experience! Imagine a big barn with hundreds of authentic cow boys and girls, a mirrored saddle disco ball, a country music band, busty blonde barmaids and a dance floor that was set up like a race track with crowds going around in circles "step together, step together, through, through"! The  most fascinating thing, it particularly grabbed Aaron's attention was for about a 15min block the music changed from country to main stream and all the barmaids got up on their bars, turned their butts towards the crowds, put their hands on the wall and worked it for the entire time. A once in a lifetime experience!!

Thats's an update on where we are up too now. The only other news is Aaron got himself a new job. He has gone back to the world of teaching and is working for a NFP called Uplift Education. It is an organisation who works with disadvantaged youth with the aim of breaking poverty cycles, getting them into uni and improving their life chances. I got a little lucky here as the school I am working at is North Hills Prep, the first uplift school which is now considered one of the top state schools in the USA and had 100% of students get accepted into Uni last year. The kids are great, no guns or gangs, it is safe and there is another Aussie working there which is nice. The only crazy thing is I am teaching grade 12 forensic science/psychology, which I know nothing about. I am also their track coach, swimming coach and in the not too distant future I should be taking over the position of director of sports. The other bizarre thing is what they call me, I am officially Coach Pittaway to the students and staff actually call me Coach!!

Central Park, Awesome

Central Park Markets

F&O Schwartz - a childs dream

Rockefeller Tree

Take the bull by the balls!

  

Christmas Day

Rocking the Sweater

The art of Mannicotti 

Betty

The "Godmother" (Theresa's Mum), Betty and the Beast

Hope everyone is well, and has had a great start to 2013, and most importantly is busy planning there trip to Dallas in 2013!!!

Getting in to the festive spirit!

Well it's been a few weeks since our last post, mainly because not too many exciting things have been happening. I thought that we best post an update pre-Christmas because I am sure post-Christmas we will have plenty to tell you!

The Big Report - A Texans love of Guns!!!

As you will have all seen in the news Americans in general love their second amendment rights to bare arms and Texans are one of the strongest supporters. For those of you who don't know it is legal to carry concealed weapon in Texas and in one of our neighbouring states it is legal to carry a visible gun in a holster like the old western days. For us this is a bizarre concept and one which I cannot comprehend. What is even more bizarre is the fact that you can purchase any type of gun you like including an assault rifle capable of firing hundreds of rounds in seconds. Recently we ventured into "Dicks Sporting Goods" to buy something foreign to Texans, sporting goods in the form of tennis rackets. To our surprise 1/3 of the shop was dedicated to guns, camouflage stuff, hunting towers and other similar things. As long as we did not have a criminal record we could simply get a licence and purchase our own arsenal. Guns were displayed the same as we would display a cricket bat in Rebel Sports.
The most puzzling thing is Americans don't understand why they have so many mass killings. Some believe that it is because not enough people carry guns to stop those who want to hurt others??? Recently I have had heated discussions with some gun owners, who confess that they need their guns to ensure the safety of their home and family. That they would not hesitate to shoot someone who was trespassing. Following their justifications that they are needed for personal safety I then ask the question of how many guns you have? Commonly they have multiple and some semi automatic weapons. I ask are these necessary to protect yourself and the answer is if you are attacked by someone with an assault rifle you need the same or better to defend yourself, not surprisingly the sale of assault refiles has increased since the recent shooting. When will some people learn??????

The weeks leading up to Christmas. 

Well the past few weeks have flown by and we have now been residing in the U.S. of A. for three months. Now for our Mums that means three months closer to being back in Australia, for us it means further assimilating to the American ways. Since our last blog the largest change we have experienced has been the purchase of our little car. This has changed our lives in many ways. No longer do we spend half a day each week walking between the supermarket and our home, laden with our weekly shopping. We now drive! This has meant trips to other shopping centres outside  of our neighborhood (if I am putting you to sleep I apologise) which has broadened our shopping experience greatly. The car has also meant that I have not been catching the train to work. This is both good and bad, good as I get to work in half the time, bad because I don't get any walking in. My bike is still out of action after my crash, but we have all the parts now so hopefully will start riding again this week.

We had a little snow early last week. We thought the car was iced up, but it turned out that it had snowed over night. A lovely surprise. Despite being in the Northern Hemisphere we both were expecting milder conditions in Dallas, and whilst it is mild most of the time (22 today!) the cold is bitter, for this Queenslander at heart!

Aaron has continued his career at Urban and as you can all imagine is working hard in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

A Texan sized dog bone!

Christmas decorations at the local Mall

Getting in to the festive spirit at home and out and about.

Aaron before heading in to Cartier for my Christmas present....I wish!