Dave is of the opinion that they got it from the DMV. That’s the only explaination I can think of.
Okay. I am from California, and I live in Michigan. In general, I don’t feel like it’s weird, or different. It’s still the US, and since I actually have lived out of the country, the minor differences seem pretty unimportant. But on Saturday, I went to a miniDopefest in Toledo, OH, and I felt like the lamest lamer who ever lamed. We had lunch at a Hungarian restaurant. I’d never heard of any of the foods. People talked about having puczkis (am I spelling that right?) on Puczki Day (Shrove Tuesday), and other Polish-y and Eastern European things. There are a lot of Catholics in the Bay Area, where I am from, but they are mostly Latino, and the Polish traditions are new and confusing to me. No one said gung hai fat choi to me for Chinese New Year, and I missed my best friend’s annual Chinese New Year party (especially the nummy Chinese candies, and those damned vinegary eggs she won’t give me the recipe for).
Anyway, yeah. I did my third year of college in Jerusalem, Israel. That was different from the US in a billion zillion ways. The one that really stays with me is that I am still freaked by unattended bags. In Israel, these are called chefetz hashud (suspicious object), and the military police are brought in to blow it up. I have been through so many security checkpoints, interrogations, and had my bags rummaged through so many times that I am supremely good-humored about any kind of security checks in the US, which are pretty much a joke compared to living in the constant paranoia of Israel (ie, mailboxes have only a slit, so that you can’t mail anything larger than a slender letter without going to a post office, your bag will be searched upon entering a supermarket, etc.).
There was a general chaos that seemed omnipresent in Israel that doesn’t exist in the US. The US is an extremely orderly, predictable nation compared to Israel. I was there during a general election (1999 election of Ehud Barak) and it was freaking INSANE. Totally unlike anything in the US. Everyone was constantly on strike, the shekel was devalued just after I got there, banks and stores were open really unpredictable hours. It was crazy, confusing, and totally exciting. When President Clinton came to Jerusalem to talk to Netanyahu and Arafat, his security detail screwed up my local traffic. I had to call my mom in the middle of the night once when a terrorist bomb blew up a bus stop on campus to assure her that I was fine. It was like living in a CNN story! I was occasionally frightened (especially when the US bombed Iraq in December 1998, we were notified that we would be issued gas masks if the conflict escalated), but mostly not. Much more than I ever did back home in California, I felt like I was living on the edge of history, watching current events from the front row.
I moved from the US to Trinidad and Tobago last summer. It’s a less developed country, yes (no Targets or McDonalds), but I don’t want to ever go back to the US. It’s the first place (including most US states) I’ve lived where people get my sense of humor. And they love to be teased, which is called “mamaguy” here. People get better looking as they age - and I’m talking men in their 50s and 60s - and many are built like guys in their 20s. The food is good, there’s a big ethnic mix (of which I am the exotic small minority) and there are beaches all around. So far I’m having trouble coming up with a down side to all of this.
Yeah? Well, ummmmm, do they have, like, ice and snow all over the ground half the year? With bitter bone-chilling cold and numb-your-nose off wind like we do here? Are the people pasty, sullen and stir crazy from not having seen blue sky since mid October? Betcha they’re not!
LL, you sure you’re not Canadian? 
Hey, Ginger, if you need lard the store I work in sells it. Aisle five, left-hand side, bottom shelf next to the shortening. You can make Dave pick it up.
Thanks, Asylum, but I have a butcher friend who found it for me. I appreciate it.
JillGat, how do you find being away from your family? For me, that’s the hardest part. Until such time as my status is changed, I can’t leave the US to visit them.
[QUOTEJillGat, how do you find being away from your family? For me, that’s the hardest part. Until such time as my status is changed, I can’t leave the US to visit them. **[/QUOTE]
Well, my one brother lives in Singapore, my other brother lives in Montana (when he’s not in prison) and my dad lives in Florida. My mom passed away a couple of years ago. I haven’t lived near any family for most of my adult life. It sucks, especially not having extended family for our kids, but everyone in my family has been a wanderer.
I believe if you simply tell them you are not a citizen that you will not have to serve jury duty. Here, anyway, they used to get jury candidate lists from registered voter lists, but have recently changed it to also look at motor vehicle license and registration lists. There is probably a phone number to call or a form to fill out. Check the instructions on the jury summons.
My experience as an ex-pat is that I am torn between two places that I love so much that are too damn far apart.