Changing Rooms

Since posting a couple of shots of my apartment the other week, i found myself deluged with e-mail remarking that it was a) very nice, b) rather bare, c) had wood floors that you can dance on and d)lacked a minibar. In some cases it was also e) all of the above (thank you Andrew!). Well, not wanting to disappoint, i took it upon myself to go furniture hunting to fill out the place. Actually, that's not really true. All i did was sit on my backside and receive an e-mail from a friend (Thach-Giao - who lived in the apartment before i did) informing me that he sister and sister's boyfriend were moving to LA, they had some furniture up for grabs (before Labor day - this coming Monday) and was i interested. The items in question - a fouton, a dresser and a computer chair - were definitely something that got my attention so i e-mailed off for more details. To cut a long story short, the prices on sale were in good condition, very reasonably priced ($125 for a 9 month old fouton, $40 for a nearly new dresser and the chait for free) and as an added bonus, could be delivered to me - thus saving me lots of hassle with getting a truck and friends to help me move them.

So, yesterday at 6.30, they arrived and that was that - $165 (about 90 pounds) and a few minutes later, and my apartment was feeling much more homely. I can't describe how nice it is to have somewhere else to lounge on other than my bed. The dresser now means that i have a bit more storage space for clothes and helped make my walk-in wardrobe a bit less cluttered. The computer chair means that i now have the luxury of having a chair at both my desk AND table at the same time!!! Good or what! (I can hear you all shaking your head in bemusement, no doubt). Anyway, the best outcome of all this is that i now have additional sleeping space for those of you wanting to make the journey over here. I'll be expecting you!

Storm Front

Most of you are probably aware by now of the devasation caused by Hurricane Katrina as it blazed a trail across Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennesee and Kentucky. Particularly hard hit was the city of New Orleans - which lies in a delicate position, given that it is a few metres BELOW sea level. Pictures on CNN tonight saw a city completely deluged with floodwater. Conditions were so bad that casinos, large buildings usually present on barges at the sea front (don't ask) were picked up and deposited on the highway by the sea. An oil rig in Mobile Bay for repairs was pulled loose and got wedged under a bridge. Last I heard, the death toll was 80 and was definitely set to rise.

Living, as I do, in a SE coastal city that resides at sea level, there is a sense of awareness about developing hurricanes - particularly those heading for Florida - as there is a good chance that they will crossover and bend back across the Panhandle (the thin strip of Florida at the NW of the state) to hit Charleston. The last big hurricane that hit Charleston was Hugo in September of 1989 - some of the lab staff can remember it well - essentially, a mandatory evacuation of the city was called. The same thing happened a few years ago (1999) when Hurricane Floyd was approaching but veered off late in the day towards North Carolina, giving something of a glancing blow here - enough to uproot trees and take a few roofs off mind you. This time, Charleston was lucky - Katrina stayed out to sea longer and went further west - but it was tense times for a couple of days.

The season this year (June-November) is currently breaking records for the number of storms and hurricanes so far (we're up to K already - when Hugo hit, it was three storms less and a month later!). Of those predicted, three are proposed to hit the USA badly. With experts suggesting a link between the increased number of events with global warming, some might say it is an irony that the world's major polluter (and one not in the Kyoto accord) bears the brunt of the storms. I say that it's all very well to judge from afar - but come out here to the danger zone, see the devastating effects at a much closer distance, and there's a good chance that you'll think differently.

The Magic Number 3: Return to the Office!

After nearly eight weeks of absolutely nothing from the Social Security - including no response to the e-mail and an annoying habit of putting you on hold for eternity, i FINALLY managed to get someone on the phone to see what the hell was going on. Of all the blind luck, i managed to get the new person in the office - one who'd just moved from New York state where the offices were run in a very different way. To cut a long (boring) story short, she managed to find me on the system, despite her repeated insistence that my birthday was the 20th April 1979 and not the 25th (the phone line wasn't bad, so i guess she had hearing issues. Or just wasn't listening). Not only was i on their system, but all my details were on the Homeland Security system - the thing that they need to check before they issue the card and number. So, why the lack of a card? Wouldn't you know it, I needed to speak to someone else and was promptly connected through to the answer machine. A couple of days and irate answerphone messages later, and I finally found out what the problem was - yes, my application had been lost!

The solution? Only ANOTHER trip to the wonderfully sanitised Social Security Office. Only this time there's a ticking clock (of a kind) cause they're moving on Wednesday. Guess where i found myself at 9.00 this morning? I had hopes of being seen quickly - cause there were two people at the counter (one of whom was the lady i needed to see) and they seemed to be going through the line quite quickly. But of course, Sod's Law stepped in and insisted that the person directly in front of me at the right window would take at least 30 minutes to complete their business. After what seemed like an ice age or two, she FINALLY hauled her ass out of there and i got to the counter. The result? My card will be here within two weeks - probably by Friday. Forgive me if i don't hold my breath!

A Mind to Murder

Those of you that know me well, will recall that i have a fondness for murder mysteries - in particular those of Agatha Christie and if you know me better still, that i have written a couple of mysteries myself (written for my enjoyment rather than any need to get them published). It was with some joy, then, that a few weeks ago, i received an invitation to a Murder Mystery dinner party on August 27th i.e. last night. For anyone who hasn't been to one, you are given a role to play for the evening - one of the suspects - and you have to assume that character for the night. Each character is given a booklet with some background information - and the game is played in three 'rounds' accompanying the various courses. Each course has some pre-round dialogue - and then there is certain information that you have to reveal over each round, usually in the form of accusation. The rounds are also times when you can quiz the other suspects. Basically, you can't lie BUT you can be evasive. At the end of rounds 1 and 2, there are summaries given (by CD) and then at the the end of round 3, accusations are made. Of course, at some point along the way (varying according to the game), the guilty party is informed that he 'did it'.

Ashley and Jim were the hosts and treated us all to some great Italian food (the game was entitled 'Pasta, Pistols and Passions' and had an italian theme) as well as some very entertaining acting (Ashley was Clair Voyant - and had a fantastically garish dress - we all insisted she wear it to present her lab meeting this week, Jim was the family priest - what more needs to be said?). My role was of a French Vineyard manager - Bo Jolais (I know!) which gave me the opportunity to do some gloriously stereotypical French-ness. It was a lot of fun indeed - everyone got into their roles brilliantly and it was a good laugh - with accusations flying across the table! When it came to the big reveal, none of us had guessed who the killer was - although i had something of an idea - ME!!! The plot was reasonably well constructed - between us we had guessed some of the 'twists' - but not so overly complicated as to make it unsolvable - hindsight helped us see the clues that were 'hidden in plain sight'. As for the murderer Bo Jalais? He's currently on the run in parts unknown - i doubt he'll be making any sudden reappearances.

Drive Thru

Went out for dinner tonight with some friends from the lab - my first Indian meal since arriving in the UK at the only decent Indian restaurant in Charleston apparently (from the Yellow pages, its the ONLY restaurant, but i am assured there are others). I had my signature dish that i use to judge all Indians (a Biryani) and it was pretty darn good, i have to say. And this comes from a Curry Mile veteran of Manchester. On the way to the restaurant, in need of some cash, I paid a visit to the Bank of America - more specifically to their Drive Thru Cash Machines - something that i have never come across before. This is, i guess, intended to be more efficient - enabling you to make a quick stop before whizzing off to your next destination. The more puzzling thing, for me, as i used this cashpoint (i had to get out of the car i should add, as it was oriented to the driver's window) was the fact that it had Braille on the keypad. Far be it for me to explain how they expected the blind driver to make it IN to the drive thru, let alone to park level with the cash point is beyond me. I guess it explains why they had such wide roads to get to them though.

What struck me even more, was the fact that there are quite a few things that are drive thru here. Aside from the obvious (McDonalds et al), there are drive thru video rental (fair enough), drive thru chemists (a quicker way to get high!) and even drive thru off-licences....sorry, liquor stores. I can't help but wonder (Carrie Bradshaw again!) what this could be extended to. Drive thru weddings? (sure this exists somewhere, Las Vegas probably) Drive thru hairdressers? Drive Thru plastic surgery? (Nip and tuck whilst the engine's running!). Ultimately, this can be boiled down to the same question - is this efficiency or laziness? And can a country where the obesity rate was recently found to have increased in 48 of the 50 states afford to have its citizens virtually living in their cars?

Flooded (Part 2)

It seems that there's something about Wednesdays in Charleston at the moment - last week, i was treated to the first really bad downpour since my arrival (enough to flood a lot of downtown) and this was certainly not helped by its coincidence with high tide. Imagine my dismay, then, when i looked out of the window at work this afternoon to a thunderstorm that, admittedly, was impressive (forked lightning galore!) but automatically made me realise that i'd probably be wading home again. Fortunately, this time, it lined up with the approach of low tide and, as a result, any wading was kept to a minimum (a couple of metres from my steps, i had to remove socks and shoes). As I sit now, in the relative comfort of my apartment, i am fervently hoping that the rain stops (its the kind of rain that you can't see but gets you very wet) and that the waters can go down by the morning (there's no way in hell i'll miss work tomorrow as its free breakfast day!). So as you read this, think of me twiddling my thumbs and staring out the window. And heres a couple of pics to help! Remember, this is only half as bad as what it was last week.

Dress Sense

A friend requested (some time ago now actually) that i write a post commenting on the American fashion sense or, mainly, if they had one or not - as the person in question recalled it being quite bad from a previous visit. Having been here a while now, and taken the time to go browsing round the malls (exactly like British shopping centres except the kids and adults are naturally louder), i've had a chance to look at both the clothes on sale, and the ones that people wear. As you can imagine, there's something of a leaning towards shorts (even in the lab - not sure if i'd do that with all those chemicals sloshing about). But in all honesty, i haven't really seen any real absolute horrors that should be taken by the fashion police and locked away for life - so i can't really take the piss out of the Americans over this one. At least the ones i know anyway.

Whilst no real clashes have been seen in terms of mixing and matching, there are some things that you would like to change. The rather large women who insist on either a) not wearing bras (seems to be mainly coloured woman) or b) wearing trousers and tops so tight that every roll of fat can be seen - but then, lets face it, this also happens in the UK too (although there are perhaps a few more larger people here). There is also a big fondness for Burberry over here - something that no longer exists in the UK thanks to the evolution of Chavs. However, it's quite difficult trying to explain what Chavs are to the average American (non-scientific) and so i just advise them not to wear it if they go to the UK - who knows what they'd be mistaken for!

The Hotel Clarke

Ok, so after much delay, i FINALLY managed to get round to putting some pictures on the Blog. Not of much admittedly - i haven't got a digital camera just yet (wait until pay day!) but have taken a couple of shots of my apartment here in Charleston with my webcam. At least it gives you an idea of how nice my place is (and thankfully a bit less bare now i have a desk and chair). Anyhow, please please please let me know what you think - any advice on decor and furniture shall be duly read, laughed at and ignored. The Hotel Clarke is (nearly) open for business. Enjoy!!

Carded

Having managed to sort out an American bank account with relative ease (unlike getting my social security number - seven weeks and counting now. And no reply to the e-mail i sent, or answering of the phone. Bloody idiots!), i've put my British bank cards into (temporary) retirement - luckily for me, cause i was very weary of the accusative looks when handing over a bank card that they hadn't seen before. The number of times I was asked to type in my pin number as well - despite me mentioning the fact it was international and so not likely to work that way....hell, you'd think the accent would've been a clear hint (unless i'm developing a US twang already, God forbid!). Anyway, i now have the luxury of being able to use my American bank card wherever i go. And i've found myself, already, becoming very American in that respect.

Being from Yorkshire, I was very much bought up on using cash wherever possible - and debit cards for larger amounts, but again only if i had the money in the account. As most of my friends and family could tell you, i'm generally pretty carreful where money is concerned - always have been and probably always will be. I just hate the thought of being stuck. Anyway, over here, transactions tend to be nearly all carried out by bank card, be they big or small. This is, in part, cause there aren't huge numbers of cash machines about the place (unlike in the UK) and most of these charge you to use them anyway. It's becoming something of a habit of mine now, to pay by card also. Generally, i can see the point of view - it's quick, easy and convenient. The only worry, for me, is that it can become very easy to lose track of how much you've spent. Still, with the exchange rate as it is, i'm usually smiling all the way to the bank.

Full, half, skinny, low, no.

Broadly speaking, in the US, there are two major types of people - those who need to eat more and those who need to eat less. In cruder terms, this could be split into the health freaks and the overweight people. Of course, this is oversimplified - and there are undoubtedly many people in between but on the couple of occasions i've visited major US cities, there seems to be a surprising number of people who fit into these two categories with little room to manoeuvre in between. Of course, being a major source of capitalism in the western world, the companies here have risen to the challenge. Thus, in nearly every restaurant and grocery store there are low fat alternatives (as in the UK admittedly). But then this goes even further over here - with the presence of NO FAT alternatives - such as the no fat baked crisps they have (the make is Lays - the US version of Walkers). Of course the only major side effect of this is that they tend to taste like corrugated cardboard.

Naturally, with all this health food around, you'd imagine that the people are going for it like crazy in an attempt to compensate for that Big Mac they had this morning - but on my experience so far, this isn't the case. Quite simply the no fat stuff tastes of not much at all. I made the mistake of buying some no-fat cottage cheese a few weeks back (I mistook it for low fat) and it was not much beyond a very thin milky nothingness - barely resembling the cottage cheese that i know. Switching back to the low fat stuff was something of a respite. This just proves that you can't change a person by diet alone - the no fat stuff tastes awful and is probably chock full of God-knows-what as well. Me, i prefer to go for the 'eating healthily but not to the point of obsession, and working off the excess calories in the gym'. This way, as an added bonus, you get to check out the talent as they work out!

After the Flood

Waking up this morning, i found that the waters had gone down somewhat over night - but still had to wade through a few inches of water to get to the (much drier) main road. Again, i was thankful that i'd bought a new pair of trainers (sorry, tennis shoes) a couple of weeks back so at least i had dry shoes to change into. At work, i found out that i wasn't the only victim of the flash floods last night. Ashley had to park outside her neighborhood and wade in to get home, carefully avoiding all the bags of leaves that were floating around (trash day tomorrow so everyone had thoughtfully put them out to be carried away by the rising waters). Kaz, a Japanese post-doc, ended up having to be rescued from his car when it got stuck in the middle of a puddle (he had to get it towed this morning) and it was quite precarious driving for others as well. I had visions of a repeat performance this afternoon when it began to rain again - but fortunately, it was just that light rain that you can never really see but gets you very wet. The drainage system, this time, managed to take the strain.

Being from the UK, it's almost a tradition to grumble about the varied weather we have there - be it occasionally very hot to generally cool and damp, to often freezing cold. Yet in my few weeks here in Charleston, i've had all this and more so - except (quite appopriately for America), it's been more extreme. And this is before any hurricanes have gotten close to us yet.

Water, water, everywhere (but not a drop to drink)

Hailing from Manchester, as i have for the past few years, you kind of get used to the rain - to the point where it almost becomes a comfort. I, personally, have never minded it much - sure it can be annoying and cold but, at the end of the day, it's just water. Unless you happen to live near Sellafield and then it could probably strip the clothes off your body. But that's another story. Now, living in a semitropical climate means that you occasionally get the odd tropical downpour. Like today. Having a slight gap in experiments, i decided to run home and get a bite to eat. That was my first mistake. My second, as i found out half an hour later, was not to pack any waders in my suitcase. Not that i had any to begin with. Y'see, as i was bounding up my steps, there were a couple of spots of rain that rapidly turned into a storm - thunder, lightening, bucketing rain and wind. Normally, i love storms, particularly when viewed from indoors and i don't have to go back outside in them. Anyway, half an hour later, my stomach was full and i went back out.

Amazing how 30 minutes of rain can turn a perfectly normal street into something resembling a river. Taking the plunge (literally), I blessed my un-naturally long legs and waded out to the main road which hadn't been covered that much, only to be soaked by a passing motorist in his hummer. As if there weren't ENOUGH reasons to hate Humvee drivers! Ultimately, i squelched my way to work and, thankfully, had a change of clothes (my gym stuff but who cares? It was dry!). On the way back, the rain had stopped, the main roads were beginning to drain and it was a short wade back home. As i type this now, the street still looks like a river and a duck has been quacking outside my window for a good 45 minutes (if i had a shotgun, i'd put him out of his misery). With luck (and when low tide arrives), this'll all have gone by the morning. And if not, i'm having Duck a l'orange tomorrow!

From a distance...

One thing that had never really struck me about the US until i'd visited was the sheer size of the place. I mean, this is a country that covers four international time zones (compared to our paltry one in the UK - still, at least we have the Greenwich Meridian as the zero line!) and which can house the UK a little over 39 times (heck, the UK is just smaller than Oregon here and that's not even the largest state). As you can understand, the perception of things over here is quite different. In some ways, this can be plain ridiculous - on telling a couple of people (not in the lab i should add) that i came from about 3 hours from London (after the cliched question asked to most people from the UK or England), the prompt reply was that they were surprised that there was anywhere in the UK that was three hours from anywhere else. It sometimes makes me wonder if some Americans see the UK as a desert island with a palm tree on and little else. It's either that or London bordered by a few miles worth of cobbled streets and thatch-roofed cottages (got to have those!).

On the whole, though, this perception is quite surprising. In the UK, Manchester to Yorkshire (about 2 hours) was quite a drive, over here it's barely to the next state and generally considered 'in the neighborhood'. On a plane, you can go from Glasgow to London in about an hour or so. Over here, New York to Charleston was 2 hours - and that's about half of the East coast distance. A recent acquaintance drove from California to Charleston - taking about five days to do so (with a couple of overnight stops). In five days, you could probably go from Lands End to John O'Groats a couple of times. With distances like this to deal with, it suddenly becomes easier to understand the American reliance on the car. Now if we could only get some decent drivers...

A Game of (nearly) Two Halves

As you can imagine, moving from Manchester to the US has often led conversation round to the subject of football - sorry, soccer (when in Rome and all that). This is mainly thanks to Manchester United (spits on floor) who i have made a point of disliking largely on principle but mainly because of the immensely annoying (and always red-faced) Alex Ferguson. So, with an Englishman amongst the ranks, a few of the guys decided to organise a kick-around on Sunday and, naturally, i was invited along. I don't know if they were expecting me to be the next David Beckham (although i can do a pretty good vocal impression) or what, but i went along none-the-less, if only to burn off a few of the hearty American calories that i've consumed since i got here as much as anything else.

Okay, so point one - organising to meet at 5PM was not the best idea, particularly when the sun is still up and it's rather toasty to say the least. Point two, it's nearly impossible to run for more than five minutes in these conditions without having a shot of adrenaline and a few hundred volts from the cardiac paddles. Three - running around in sweat-soaked T-shirts is not very comfortable. Four - playing on the opposite side to an Italian is not the best idea in the world. And five, its very hard to play football - sorry, soccer - when you have at least a foot excess of limbs. Suffice to say, it was entertaining (at least for the passers-by who watched on occasion) and we all felt a bit better for it after. At least, that is, until we got up this morning. Thus, i have spent the best part of the day wandering around with immensely stiff and sore legs. I kind of get an idea why footballers get paid such ridiculously large sums of money now.

Culinary contributions

Its been something of a busy weekend for me so far beginning on Friday night with a chinese meal and drinks with some of my lab - a final hoo-haa for the summer students that have been there the past few weeks and are now heading back to their respective campuses (campusi?) for the coming academic year (its shifted a few weeks in further forward to that in the UK). The restaurant - the Red Orchid - is one that i'd visited once before and is absolutely fantastic - it's widely held to be the best Chinese restaurant in the area by most of the people i know - including two Chinese so it must be good. Only thing is, of course, is that it's not chinese chinese - as you'd expect to find in Manchester's chinatown - but Americanised chinese. That doesn't matter, though, as it's still fabulous.

This got me to thinking (I feel like Carrie Bradshaw in "Sex and the City" when i say that) about cuisine in general. There are particular genres of food that we're all familiar with - Italian, French, Greek, Thai, Chinese and so on. There is also an American category but i wonder what most people would consider this to be. Certainly here in Charleston there are distinctive Southern foods - but as a whole, what is an American dish? Most people, I guess, would go for hamburgers or something along those lines - and the US certainly gave us the Fast Food revolution - for better or worse. On asking a few people round the lab, one of the summer students summed it up as follows: "The American contribution to world cuisine is to steal ideas off everyone else and then use it a few decades later pretending we came up with it ourselves". I think that maybe an overly harsh way of looking at thing (even though it did come from an American). What do you think?

Small Talk

When it comes down to it, the art of small talk is not something that the English excel at (I say English rather more than British). Witness the trains, buses and undergrounds crammed full that are usually complete vacuums for human conversation - unless its between two or more friends. Indeed, the over-riding impression, certainly in most British cities, is that you're all to busy going somewhere to think about chatting with someone on the journey. It's also very much like that in the US cities i've been in - New York, Chicago, Washington DC - people are all to busy hurrying to the next appointment or lunch or leg wax or whatever, but whereas in the UK, we sit in stony silence, you can't really shut people up over here.This is also the case in Charleston. A number of times as i've gone about my daily business, people will happily chat to you given the chance. This morning i went for coffee and had a five minute chat about the pluses and minuses of drinking decaf over regular to a lady who i've never met before and probably never will meet again. Conversation end, we both wished each other a good day (as opposed to 'a nice day') and off we went. It's nice and pleasant - a 'no strings' chat if you will (once the talk is done, that's that).

Compare this to an anecdote from Jeremy Paxman's very good book on the English as a race. Two Englishmen meet whilst riding on camels in a very empty desert. The camels, happy for the company, refuse to move for some time. The men, being English, both sit there resolutely in silence - not wanting to speak first and not really sure how to go about it. I say they should have just said 'sod it' and started talking about the weather. But then i guess you can only say so much about ridiculously hot sunshine (as well i know!). Anyway, the moral of this story is that, to paraphrase Bob Hoskins, 'It's Good To Talk'. So get on with it!

Pangs

Despite having been here for a few weeks now, i've been generally surprised at the lack of homesickness that i've experienced so far. I think this is, in part, due to the excitement of the new - increased by the fact i'm in a different country. It's probably also due to the fact i've been getting into the swing of things at work, and so my brain has been pretty active - i've basically not had time to think about home. And lastly, the fact i have (still) no TV and only recently got a computer means that, in terms of the wider world, i don't get much chance to see whats going on. Admittedly, this probably would be much the same even if i HAD a TV (American news is, so i believe, not very good at looking beyond its own borders). To date, the only major pangs i got were on July 4th - it seemed like such a family thing, it made me miss my own, and around the time of the London bombings - for obvious reasons.

Now, i can add today to that list. This morning, instead of the usual Thursday lab meeting (complete with free bagels and juice!), there was an OSHA meeting (safety stuff) which i managed to get out of as i did it all about eight weeks ago. Afterwards, there was a brief presentation by Ashley (mentioned numerous times previously) on a meeting she went to in Wales followed by numerous photos of the trip (they spent time in London and Wales). It surprised me how the sight of many familiar landmarks of the capital made me suddenly miss the place. Thankfully, this had passed by lunchtime and it was business as usual. I know this is perfectly normal - much as i bitch about the UK, its always going to be my home. I guess its just a matter of riding the storm when it comes.

The Magic Number Part 2

For those of you that are waiting for me to get a landline (yes, there are a couple of people), i have to ask for a bit more patience on your part. This is not my fault - it is primarily due to the phone company insisting on having my social security number - yep, the magic number is still not here yet. This is likely because some government 'official' still hasn't decided whether i exist over here yet (although curiously all the companies are happy to take my money. Funny that!). Anyway, i've tried to get in touch with the social security by phone only for them to have no comment (read: they couldn't be bothered to answer the phone) and they don't have an e-mail. I would write a letter to them except the last time i tried to find the post office in Charleston (using directions off of friends and the yellow pages), i ended up lost in the deep dark depths of downtown Charleston (i even made it to the lower point of the peninsula). However, there is light at the end of the tunnel - the sister of a friend of mine has recently received her number after 7 weeks (nearly at that time point!) so there's a good chance that mine will be here soon.

On other fronts, please please please feel free to add comments to the posts here - i'm pretty sure that you don't have to be a member to do this. Of the three comments i have so far, two have been from Americans and one from a friend in Liverpool. At least give me a bit of feedback as to whether i should be more or less vicious about the Americans (kidding, Mum) and if it's entertaining or not.

Anyway apologies for the rather bland posting today - i'm recovering from a couple of long days in the lab (hence the lack of post yesterday). Sure i'll be back up to full speed tomorrow. But then that depends on how the meeting with my boss goes in the morning.

Steak Out

Imagine, if you will, a Saturday night in Manchester - large groups of people heading off into town to get completely sloshed on any number of alcoholic drinks. Now, hop over the Atlantic to Charleston - and a Saturday evening of dancing lessons. Yep, you guessed it. After bowing to much pressure from many friends (who shall remain nameless) I decided to take a friend here up on the offer of going to some Saturday night dancing where we were taught how to Swing, Shag, Salsa and Merengue (of which the latter two are my favourite i should add). It was great fun and utterly exhausting.

And one better way to satisfy an appetite worked up by all this energetic dancing than to have a steak - my first one since arriving in the US. Kellie, the friend i was with, has lived in and around Charleston for some time and so knows a fair few decent places to eat. Last night we went to TBonz - a gill and grill steakhouse (i.e. seafood and steak) where we had buffalo shrimp (melt in the mouth, belive me) and i followed it with a sirloin that had been marinated in teryaki, pineapple juice and tropical spices. It was fantastic! And the best thing was that i didn't feel to guilty - having burnt off any number of calories with the dancing. Suffice to say, i've been practicing my steps for next time...triple step, triple step, rock step.

Nine till Five (What a Way to Make A Living!)

So, as you've probably noticed (or maybe not, i don't know), these posts have been pretty regular - virtually every day save for odd ones here and there. Whilst i have my laptop now, this wasn't always the case and so you can pretty much figure out that i've been coming into the lab every day (or therabouts). When i decided to come over here, i had been warned that this was much the case and that my boss would expect me to work. In the initial couple of meetings that we had, he said that he doesn't force people to work all the hours they can (and, indeed, he doesn't expect people to work them either) but he did say that he finds that people who treat it as a 9 to 5 job find it hard to move projects forward at a reasonable pace. For me, personally, science has NEVER been 9 to 5 as even if i'm not in the lab, my mind invariably wanders back on to ideas and theories, possible experiments and so on (not all the time, i should add - usually when i'm sat on a bus, or sat doing nothing in particular). Certainly, throughout my PhD, the best ideas used to come at the most inopportune moments - a couple of times at the gym, one time at the cinema (i had to discreetly write a text message to myself to ensure i didn't forget it). Added to this the fact that i often used to nip into the lab on Saturday and/or Sunday means that its not something i'm unfamiliar with. Plus, the main crux of academic science is that you HAVE to be passionate about it, you have to love the subject because you wouldn't put up with the (relatively) low pay and the hours that you do have to put in. Please don't get me wrong - this isn't a rant, just more of an observational post.

The major differences between here and the UK (both generally and for me personally) actually help to make coming in at the weekends more enjoyable (that's right, enjoyable). The first is the fact that virtually EVERYONE in the lab is here on Saturdays as well: as i type this (it's just before noon on Sat), the lab is feeling pretty much like any other day this week. This is, perhaps, less so on Sunday (for obvious reasons here in the South) but it helps you feel like you're not alone in doing this - one of the worst things about in my Manchester lab was that i was nearly always the ONLY one in on Saturday - again, not that i minded, just made you feel a bit isolated in some ways. Another plus is the proximity of my apartment to work - literally about 5-10 minutes walk. Thus, if i have to nip in to change some solutions (takes about 5 minutes), it isn't such a rigmarole to get here - again, unlike in Manchester which was a good 20 minutes to get to work (including waiting for buses etc.) Finally, having moved over here on my lonesome, this means that virtually all of my new friends/acquaintances are all colleagues - so i don't feel that i'm missing big social events by being here. The fact that i've also got a pretty decent social life right now means that work is not a hard cross to bear. All in all, the hours may be long, but i love the job i have, its constantly changing (and often surprising). So would i swap this for a 9 to 5 (sing away Dolly Parton!)? Not on your life!

For the Love of the Game

Yesterday evening, another box on my list of "Things to do in America" was ticked - namely, i went to my first baseball game. Now i know what you're all thinking (probably because i was thinking the same) but before you launch into a rant about how its just Rounders and they've ripped it off, let me point out the fact that Rounders, as far as i know, is not played anywhere beyond secondary school - feel free to correct me if i'm wrong - and certainly not at professional level. And, besides, there are - as i found out last night - a number of differences between the two games. Now, i'm not going to list these in any way, shape or form cause, frankly, it'd probably bore the pants off both you and me. What i will say though is that i had a great time, very much got into the spirit of things and could see myself getting quite fond of the game.

The match yesterday was between two local teams (as the States goes)
- the Charleston Riverdogs and the Greenville Bombers (Greenville is a SC city/town, a bit nearer the middle of the State if memory serves). These are two minor league teams that are affiliated with some major league teams - the Yankees (NY) for Charleston and the Redsox (Boston) for Greenville. The game is played over nine innings but cannot be tied so, as happened last night, it can go to extra innings (we only had an extra one). Charleston ultimately won - but it was very tense indeed. Unsurprisingly, a trip to the stadium is as much a social event as it is for watching the sport (its considered relatively slow here. They should try and watch cricket)and there's plenty of food and drink stand (i bought some boiled peanuts - a South Carolina delicacy that are much nicer than they sound). Most importantly (for me anyway) is that the game last night reminded me very strongly of a particular episode of "The Simpsons" and had me having to bite my tongue to stop laughing at inappropriate times (like during the US National Anthem where the singer kept changing pitch and key at random throughout). Suffice to say, this is one national sport that i may become quite interested in. Even if the World Series DOES only feature American teams!

Pump Up the Volume!!

Something i've noticed happening often since arriving in the US is a general inability of the natives to hear what i'm saying. Now, originally i attributed this to difficulty understanding my accent but more recently, i'm convinced that this isn't the problem. Now the lab here can be quite noisy sometimes - vacuum pumps going, centrifuges whirring etc. etc. which could also account for this, but, again, i think it's something else (control experiments have been performed - i am a scientist here). Y'see, i think that Americans have somehow developed hearing so that a person can't be heard unless they talk VERY LOUD or even shout (the big mouths often seen here too, would have naturally developed as an evolutionary advantage!).

Most of the time, people can understand me here - hell, even the non-US folk can understand what i'm saying (they absolutely love me cause i can "talk well" as they put it). So i don't think its me. Yet most of the US folks in the lab (not all i should add - there are expections) seem to have trouble hearing me even when i'm feet (sorry, metres) away - they mostly either don't respond at all, or say "Do what?" - i've no idea where this comes from, but its bloody annoying. I think its a c ommon saying too cause the guys here aren't the only one to say it!! Anyway, the moral of this story is - if i should come back to the UK and be talking rather too loud for your liking, either tell me to shut up, or just make exaggerated motions of stepping back and putting your fingers in your ears. I promise i won't think you're crazy!

Gym

After putting off the inevitable for as long as humanly possible, i finally gave it to my inner health freak today and hauled my sorry backside to the gym. Have joined the MUSC University gym for two main reasons. The first is that i get it cheaper as staff at the university ($300 for a year - about 166 pounds which is good in my book). And also cause it's right opposite my building. This is especially handy as, like today, i had a two hour incubation in the lab so nipped over the road, worked out and then back over again, with plenty of time to spare. Of course, the fact that i probably won't be able to move my arms and chest very much tomorrow is par for the course - i guess its my own fault for stopping going for a couple of months.

Anyway, the gym itself is very good indeed. They have a large range of weights and machines - although annoyingly the weight plates are in kg but the dumbells are in pounds and so i spent some time doing conversions in my head. Also, as it was the middle of the day, it was pretty quiet - but not too quiet so there were people around to spot me if i needed. After a 45 min weights session, it was off to the other end of the building and the cardio stuff. They have both an indoor and outdoor running track (who would run outdoors is beyond me) and so i did a few laps (indoors). Weird thing is that, at one end of the track, the sun shines through the windows whereas at the other, there's plenty of fans and cool air so you end up doing a rather lopsided lap running fast out of the heat and slow in the cool air. So, exercise done, i feel much better for it now. As for tomorrow, well that's another story.

Bite Me!

All those at home who worry that my good-natured anti-American-ness has been a bit close to the mark (Mum - that's you! :-) ) should fear not - the title of this post isn't because i've had a big argument with those Americans in my lab - or the locals, or indeed anyone (my halo is well and truly gleaming!). On the contrary, it's back to that previously touched upon subject of wildlife - in this case, the Class Uniramia (aka Insectia). As you can imagine, there are a whole number of bugs here that are more prominent - owing to the more temperate climate. The 'palmetto bugs' (aka cockroaches) are often seen both scuttling and flying about (outside, thankfully) and it's not uncommon for a dragonfly also to go whooshing past when you least expect it (I know they have them in the UK - but i haven't seen them before).

On the flight over, i ended up chatting away to a fellow passenger - a very nice American lady (who had dual citizenship with the UK) - about all sorts of things. She gave me some tips on what to do and what not to do (one bit of advice was to use ceiling fans well over air conditioning as they are cheaper to run). She also warned me about using sun block if i'm going out in the sun for prolonged periods (advice i've heeded) and also about getting plenty of insect repellant. Alas, i've not quite managed to get round to this last point just yet. Suffice to say, the bugs are having a fair old time of things - and evidently like the taste of English flesh (as someone pointed out to me, it's probably the closest they'll get to royalty). Anyway, i made the mistake of sitting down on my wooden porch swing the other day, only for me to receive a few bites in thanks (i didn't realise for a few moments and of course it was a bit late then). Fortunately, they don't last long and have now gone - usually what happens when bitten by the pesky 'no-see-ems' (as gnats are called here). Suffice to say, i was straight to the shop the next day to get a tube of (extra strong) insect repellant - lets see if the little buggers will touch me now!!!

Laundry Day

After procrastinating severely over the ever-growing pile of washing in the corner of my apartment, i decided that today i would finally get round to doing my laundry - largely because of an unexpected earlier finish at work that i had anticipated. So, i crammed it all into a bag and wandered off towards the laundrette - the nearest one is a short walk away - for only the second time (i went out and bought a few things not long after arriving cause i really couldn't be bothered to clean them). The laundrettes here are much the same as at home except, as you'd probably imagine, they're a bit bigger - some 60-odd washing machines and a good 40 or so dryers. There's also the drop-off service too where, if you really like the idea of someone else handing your dirty washing, you can leave it for collection later. At least you don't get to see the looks on their faces as they go through it. Whilst bigger, its hardly comfortable - there are thin wooden benches lining the aisles that wouldn't be out of place in a changing room. Picking a machine at random, i threw in my washing - raising an eyebrow at the sign cautioning not too overload them (they're so big it would comfortably fit a great dane and still have room for a chihuahua or two). Then it's a matter of sitting and waiting. And in my case watching everyone else.

You get a sense from the place that it's quite a social hub for those that use it. There are usually groups of two-four people scattered about dissecting the weeks events. Everytime the door opens, someone from the back usually shouts a greeting. You even get the obvious students who sit there either devouring or writing notes (i managed to restrain myself from taking my papers there to read). The cycle itself is over pretty quick - and its on to the driers (again, ridiculously large and probably eating enough electricity to light Wembley Stadium), a quick 20 minutes later and its back out the door. All in all, i'd been in there for a little over an hour - not too bad going really - so i don't feel its too much of a pain to do, although i'm glad for one thing - at least you don't have Dot Cotton whinging in your ear.