One year in the Lone Star State

So today's the day, we have been in the Lone Star Sate, the land of the free and the brave for one whole year! Doesn't time fly when you are having fun? It just seems like yesterday when I was reading the blog by a guy called, Geoff (he used to work for the BBC and moved to the USA) in which he marked his one year anniversary, and I remember thinking I wonder what I will feel like once I have been here for a year and I honestly just don't know where to start?

I still miss home, so badly, its like huge empty space that just is there, it just never goes...... what I miss the most is being able to pick up the phone and say what I need to say, to who I need to say it, when I need to say it.

But hey, thank God or more accurately thank the genius of the human mind for the t'internet, and again I have to note how I just really do not know how our immigrant parent/grandparents coped with emigration without the mighty power of the WWW?

As a child of immigrants I now have a deeper understanding of what it is like to leave home, all you know, love and take comfort in for an adventure, the reasons maybe different, but the aim is still the same to better ourselves and to go home. I just hope that our return home is very unlike the non-return of our parents/grandparents to their homeland.

But it's not as if the language is different (sort of?!) and its not as if the cultural norms and values of the UK are so alien to that of the USA, but it is exactly this similarity that makes the shock of the differences so much more shocking!

The main things to report, one year in, is that in Texas you really need to have portion control, you have to drive, you MUST be very very careful when driving around Dallas, bling is soooo in, walking IS A sport and you must have the right gear, Southern hospitality is very warm and generous and finally you have to learn to read between the lines and look past the surface to ever know what anyone really thinks. I am still working on the first and last ones.

Adventures are fun, despite the homesickness, this is certainly an adventure, discovering the land of the free and the Lone Star Sate. It is also a voyage of discovery for me as a person and last but definitely not least my marriage. Jigna

royal mail and the US postal service

when we were younger and would visit mama and that lot over in the US of A we always thought that the post service there was magical - you just stick your mail in a box thing at the end of the drive way (and seriously the mail box looked just like the ones on bugs bunny, or roadrunner and cayote cartoons - mental and so uber americana) put the little flaggy up and it gets taken away - no messing about with those pillar box red post boxes you have to actually walk to in England. pah - no sirree they come and take your letters from you! On the other hand, they deliver to you into your mail box, whereas in England it lands on your door mat, so you dont have to check any darned box at the end of the drive it come to your door......so pro's and con's to both...

why a post on post i hear you ask??!!

well - last year jigs birthday present took a few months to get to her - we blamed the US postal service, because you could track it all the way to the Dallas sorting office.......but lo and behold, last Christmas, jigs (and das) sent us a jiffy envelope full of fun little gifts and sweets......which arrived this weekend! mental or what?? postmarked October. October people - thats right. you'd think we lived in the modern world, with all this hi-tech internet web based communications etc, but really, no wonder someone had to invent the internet, the bloody postal systems suck, either here or there we can't rely on them... (SIGH)

rant over.

on a brighter note - thanks for the gifts!! love them all! esp. the harry potter post its and the pens, don't know why you sent me a sklytherin pen, what you trying to say?!!?? and the kids book on george bush you got for stef is hilarious....

SATC Movie

http://www.sexandthecitymovie.com/?engine=adwords!10406keyword=sexandthecity

Have you seen the above website girls? So frocks and heels in May and you can not forget the cosmo's Roopa? Jigna

Stand for Change Rally with Senator Barack Obama February 20th

Stand for Change Rally with Senator Barack Obama February 20th. Wednesday, February 20th., 11:30am (doors open 10:30am) Reunion Arena, 777 Sports Street, Dallas, TXSenator Barack Obama will be in Dallas on Wednesday, February 20th for a "Stand for Change" Rally on Wednesday morning, February 20th. Don't miss it! The event is free, and no advance tickets are needed; however, entry is first come-first served (so get there early).

Wooley was going to try and make this. But I had an event to go to in Fort Worth and so could not make it, although Michelle says its like when Clinton came to talk at UT Austin when she was at college and she decided she had to go to her philosophy class and not try to get to the Clinton speech/rally, and does she remember anything about her class, no, so maybe I should skip the event and go to the rally, but I am just not up to standing around for ages, still feeling the effects being tired and ill......and if I disappeared from work for a few hours I think my boss/Michelle may have an idea as to where I have gone to?!

Here is the link to some photos of the rally, apparently you had to que for ages, so maybe it wasn’t all that bad that we missed out!
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/pt/slideshows/2008/02/pho0220_obama/

The debate is tonight in Austin, Texas and again failed in even getting close to getting tickets, security is high and so I don’t think they will let in Non resident aliens!

Is ken having a rally for the elections?! I wonder?

We are going to a fund raiser held by a firend from my book groups house, although of course he/Barack will not be there, but its a good chance for us to chat to people with similar political leanings as I am sure Wooley may have indicated he does get very frustrated hanging out with politically disinterested or even worse ignorant people.

I failed to sneak a margarita or two in on the way to/from event in Fort Worth at Joe T Gracias as Deepa and Nina will tell you excellent margaritas there! Jigna

Tea

Finally after having started my new job way back in August 2007 I have given into my tea drinking heritage and bought in some Twinings, kettle, milk, sugar, teaspoon and mug....what you may be asking have I been drinking for the last few months, herbal teas and Starbucks chai latte. Jigna

there are elections in Londinium too

the other day I was at the tube station, minding my own business on my way home, when someone wearing a t-shirt with a silhouette in blue of a foppish haired parliamentarian who is standing for the Tory's in this years London Mayoral elections - the t shirt was done in the style of the ipod ad's and was worn by an equally foppish looking teenager/young man person (no doubt some keen young party activist)

he shoved an oyster card holder in my face (again with this darned silhouette thing) and said "vote for Boris - here have an oyster card holder". to which I said " no i wont vote for Boris he's a racist moron" and i definitely don't want an oyster card holder.

I am not interested in his "eccentric" persona and his wikipedia entry describes him as a "self deprecating, straw-haired eccentric, disorganised and scatty” - which i don't care about quite frankly. The wikipedia entry also lists his numerous gaffes: there have been far too many of his "mistakes" for me to be comfortable with him at the helm of the GLA.

it wasn't right when Alan Clark behaved that way and it isn't right now.

nuff said

Valentines Day

Valentines Day.....is quite a big deal, commercially in the USA just like nearly every other event you can think of for that matter. Americans always have to do it bigger and better, even something simple like a bag of crisps/chips! I am planning to go to my art class tonight, Valentines Day, last night we were supposed to be going to dinner, I wimped out, I was knackered. We plan to move apartments this weekend and we have accumulated a whole lot of stuff in the short period we have been in Dallas, material hoarders that we are! My husband was very nice and bought me some lilies and he bought me some nice gerber daisies the other day, hum me thinks he is up to something? And some chocolates, they may be more for him though? So sums up our first Valentines Day in Dallas. Jigna

rocky

i think ive earned my name, yesterday my school took staff on an activity centre for team building, some people whinged and moaned about going, fifty-something-year-old-fat-women-smokers in particluar but most of us LOVED IT especially me, coming from ninestiles who didnt even have a christmas party let alone anything close to as how fun yesterday was!
i bloody loved it, sore now, but heres how the day went. Got there, wore my joggers everyone hates, and my hoody from dhara the one she stiched 'roopa' over julius, got into year teams (i hardly know the people in mine) and did the first activity. the weather was perfect and i was singing rocky the whole time and made my team sing it when i did the tires. was hilarious. after falling, getting muddy, doing zip line twice (once with a camera on) and traverse wall (climbing horizontally) we made good mates after holding each others bums, screaming words of encouragment, shouting expletives (some might say that was only me).

in the afternoon me and 2 of my friends hosted a workshop on animation in the classroom. was brilliant, then we all went pub (some losers went home to 'change' and came back fresh, but us hardcore army lot were comparing our war wounds) and then went for an 'indian'. i felt like a kid after a BIG DAY in the adventure playground, i was dirty, tired but had a big smile on from all my achievements in the day.

Obama - Yes we can

http://www.dipdive.com/

Check the above link out, its very impressive, I had been forgetting why Obama had been so powerful and impressive due to Hilary's recent engaging speeches, if I was voting in the Primary I would be very very torn at this stage! Jigna

Rule of law

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7232661.stm

The above is an interesting statement from the Archbishop of Canterbury, England. I am a confirmed secularist and so do not agree with the proposition that religions should be permitted to over ride the rule of law. BUT I do agree that the rule of law should accommodate religious observances and loyalties, or for that matter other loyalties as well, as long as the exercise of these practices does not impose on another’s liberty or harm anyone else.

It's like weddings, in order to be legally married in the UK, you must be married according to the legal requirements, but there is no law stopping you (and I would fight any such law) having a religious ceremony.(The only problem is that a wedding in the Church of England is automatically a legal marriage, I believe and so that’s not a true secular position, but then there is of course the history of the Church and the law in England and so there are problems, with this whole aspect of the secular theory.)

In general I do not think you can have a working multicultural society where sections of the society live in isolated communities each complying with their own religious "laws" there must be an over riding rule of law which all members of society must comply with, but that rule of law must allow for people to comply with religious practices or any other loyalties they may have.

To say that individuals can not have more than one loyalty for example to their faith, their country or their whatever is patronizing. Individuals are complex and that’s the joy of living in a multicultural/liberal society, as an individual you can express your various loyalties without limit, subject to the limit not to harm and impose yourself on another of course.

I do not want to defined by just one thing be that my religion, my political affiliation, my job, my sexual orientation, my ethnicity or my nationality, I am a complex person who has many loyalties and interests and I know that I am not the only one. Jigna

The first and foremost tea drinking socialist: the might Tony Benn

so. you'll never guess who I met yesterday????? at a conference yesterday at church house, minding my own business, I went out for some fresh air during lunch and stood on the steps overlooking deans yard: then someone I know came out and we started having a conversation about work. THEN guess who came out??? YES! Tony Benn. obviously I proceeded to talk at him, told him how big a fan I am. asked to shake his hand and he gave me a kiss!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love him! had a really long conversation. it was mad and surreal and excllent!!!!!!!!!! aaaarrrrrgghhhhh!!!!talked about lots of things - race, class, the 130 year rule. OMG.


part 2
ok ok - i'll tell you more. so he same out into deans yard witha little folfy uppy stool thing and his little rucksack thing and asked "can you smoke out here" me - "er yes...." (jaw on the floor)

then we talked about what a lovely little square it is in deans yard. i made a joke about how many times he must have been there/seen it. then he asked about where i worked, where the person i was with worked and what we did, what conference we were there for etc. then the discussion turned to the 30 year rule - he is of course opposed to it and he was at church house giving evidence to a committee of some sort on it. he made some jokes whilst filling his pipe about how old he'll be if its ever changed etc.....THEN he asked me where my parents were form and I said India, then we talked about how you ask where someones parents are from, not assuming that people who are not white are from outside Britain themselves, then he told me about all his sons wives and girlfriends etc and so many of his grandkids are mixed race, and how he is basically establishing his own little UN peacekeeping force!! right on.

erm then we chatted on a bit more and i said somehting about yes its great how multicultural london is but you cant apply that to the whole of Britain and outside big urban connurbations its very different and even in other cities mixed race relationships are rarer and people do view it as a 'different' or unusual - and worst thing is so many of my generation do think like that - they may not oppose them but its a novelty that they cant quite get their head round like......and i went on one about how disappointing that is etc - and then he said something really complimentary like 'if they all thought like you we'd all be better off!!' tee heee!!!!! ok. i'll stop swooning now. (and funny thing is i didn't even say anything about being in a mixed race relationship myself)

Super Dooper Tuesday

Not only is it pancake day today (don’t forget get the Jif - lemon - folks!) but its also Super Tuesday here in the USA, something about the nominations for the Presidential candidates for the Democrats (USA) aka Labour Party (UK) confusingly though the Democrats are blue and the Republicans (USA) aka the Conservative Party (UK) are red. So my previous explanation is for the benefit of those not in the know or in the don’t care or in the completely overwhelmed by it all aka me! And it is a bit simple, but then as far as I can see the whole thing is Super Complicated and a little simplicity is very welcome, in the spirit of simplicity, Justin Webb's blog is very good......and simple........http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/justinwebb/. And as some one else somewhere else said the fact that there is a choice between a woman and a black man with the middle name of Hussein can only be good thing, right? The BIG question remains pancakes with jam or nutella tonight?! Perplexed in Dallas......Jigna

Two car family

We in Dallas are now joining in the American way of life and are now a two car family. Nearly a year into our adventure in Dallas, we realized that living in Dallas and relying upon public transportation was useless and that all resistance is futile. Wooley decided on an old cheap-ish Volvo estate station wagon from Flower Mound, Texas, previous owner Southern Baptist Church employee, the car is "cheap and good", fingers crossed, and no souls or religious conversions were a requirement of sale, although in hindsight maybe we should have raised these as negotiating points? Wish us luck with the new member of our family.

Another American tradition we experienced on the weekend was the Superbowl, the game (American Football, the Patriots from New England versus the New York Giants, for those not in the know or in the don't care) did get exciting, much to my disbelief. We also had the not so traditional but very yummy dumplings by Scott and pakoras by Wooley, mmmmmmm.

I also read about the wonders of Motherhood, please refer to the Family Section of the Guardian last Saturday, February 2, 2008, "Living with teenagers" Dhara was right it was a lovely article brought tears to my eyes and I so want to read the book, having read all the columns but still! I also referred Wooley to the article. I do miss the Family Section although its great that you can get it on line, its just not the same as the actual paper on a Saturday morning. Although I have no kids, the human interest stories and the global aspect of the Family Section is always interesting and funny. (By the way Saturday February 2 was also Groundhog day in case anyone is interested, "Phil says six more weeks of winter!") I really do feel like I am surrounded by signs pointing the way to Motherhood, old friends subtle and not so subtle suggestions via email, FB and other comments, friends having babies etc. For now please note that Wooley and I will not be adding any further new additions to our family in Dallas in the foreseeable future! Please don’t ask why I feel the need to bog this point I just feel that the world (Okay so it may be paranoia, but then my name is Jigna.) is hinting and I need to share with the world go ahead and hint away my friend it ain’t happening, at least not now :) Jigna

Art Class

Some of you may or may not know that I have started an 8 week drawing and painting class, and the second lesson was yesterday, self portraits, last week we did gesture drawings using a model (she was fully clothed!) it was fun. As some of you know I am not so great with people/faces but the teacher is fun and the girls in the class are all friendly, all at different levels and with varying degrees of talent. I am so glad (so far) that I decided to take this class up, I am really enjoying doing some art again, the teacher is an artist who does a lot of portraits and so I think we will be doing a lot of portraits and so that should keep me challenged, will keep you posted on further developments. Jigna