I thought I would give my mom an opportunity to share her experiences after spending her first week in the USA!
So here is her account:--------------------------
A lot of folk have been asking what everyday life is like in the USA. From what I have seen it is very quiet and peaceful, even in Grant and Liesel's complex, one hardly ever sees anyone else. Everybody is very friendly and when one enters a shop the assistants say "good morning, how you doing" - they also ask "can I help you with anything?" One thing that amazes me is that there are no boundary fences between the properties, not even down the sides of a property. How does one know where to mow the lawn - where does your property begin and where does the neighbour's property end??? Are you mowing the neighbour's lawn???? The only exception is where a family owns a pet, they erect a small fence to keep the animals inside. No high 6 ft walls, just a small wire fence. I really enjoy looking at the houses, some very large and larny in this area - we went for a drive down Chairman’s Row and had a look at some of the property there, some which sold for over $1000 000. All the houses seem to be made of wood, even the apartment we are staying in - we can hear the people above walking when the floor boards creak.!!!! Another thing that amazes me is that about half the houses fly the United States flag - these people are really very patriotic. Most houses also have wreaths hanging from the front door and most windows as well. Lots of houses also have Christmas displays in the gardens, everything from the Nativity scene, to blow up Santa Claus and reindeer. There are lots of lights in trees and around the windows and front of the houses. Grant has bought a living Christmas tree and bought lights and strung them from his balcony and they have a wreath at the front door. All the shops have Christmas carols playing and many display Nativity Scenes - different from SA??? Also there is an amazing variety of goods in the shop – like buying Rice Crispies in about ten different flavours and colours!!!!
Yesterday afternoon we went sledding in the remnants of the snow. I went down a hill in the sled, rather scary when there is only about 3mm of plastic between your bot and the snow!!!!!! I went down shouting "Oooo Oooo" all the way and landed just the other side of the sludge. Lee and Grant had been mad enough to try sledding on Thursday in the falling snow, and Friday in the bitter cold. It was still very cold today but there was not such a biting wind. After lunch today Grant and I went for a drive along the shores of Lake Erie – it was lovely to see the lake in the sunlight all blue and sparkly after the snow. The lake is huge and one cannot see the other side. I must say I take my hat off to Grant, driving on the wrong side of the road and also negotiating the snow and ice – I am sure it can’t be too easy!!! Here when the robot (traffic light) turns green you can drive – not like in SA where you have to watch and make sure that the taxis have finished turning into your lane!!!!!!!!!
Despite the below freezing temperatures I have not really felt cold - the coldest was, I think in Washington when Grant and I went walking in the cold wind - that was cold. Here we are in and out of the car and the shops all the time so one does not get chilled to the bone. Something else that amazes me is that there are not many big, enclosed Shopping Malls with undercover or indoor parking. Most of the shops are spread out with parking lots. This means than one has to run in the falling snow from the car to the shop, and then out again in the snow to the next shop - if only they had more Malls like Westgate etc. We had just on three days of snow - it cleared yesterday afternoon and today it was sunny, although the temperature was still just on freezing point.
This morning we went to Providence Church where the Sunday School was giving their Christmas programme. The theme was the Bethlehem Star, and the little ones were to sing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”. At first Nathan was not too keen to sing, but after watching the others he got the hand of it and started doing the actions and sang “Twinkle Star”. He was really cute, just about the youngest of the group. Made me feel quite weepy!!! Everybody was very friendly and chatted to me, asking me where I was from etc. etc. Maybe they were intrigued by the accent.
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