Month 3, week 1
Continuing saga of culture shocks in America....
Well... what do you know - it's now month
number 3 and 1 week. So far so good - from the point of my life outside of
work that is. Work wise, well. That's another story. It's piling up, but
not much is moving. A lot of that is due to the fact that Linda, my
colleague, and I are dependent on others giving us some of their precious
time. Linda has been with P&G long enough to have a lot of pull here, but
right now we are in the midst of fine-tuning the budget for the next two
years, and believe you me, no one on the the budgeting side is worried about
what tax wants. Having said that, much to some people's surprise, we did
manage to track down 3 out of the 7 teams we need to speak to. It's not
looking good. And that's just gathering data, let alone crafting the final
defence materials. Anyway. That's what I'm paid to do, so I shall just have
to live with it.
Right now, I am in the middle of an experiment... I haven't cooked fish in
more than 10 years - something the sort of happened because I wasn't too
sure about the freshness of fish I could get in my university town of
Buckingham. Since then, I just passed on cooking fish. Now after all
these years, I'm trying to cook it again because my ex-boss is coming to
town, and has already dictated her menu. Did anyone say she could be
bossy? Anyway. I thought I'd give it a try. I don't really have to do
much as she does not like any seasoning on her food - "spoils the natural
taste of the food..." In other words, health-nut. Okay, it's got to be
good for me, but... no seasoning???
Life outside of work hasn't been too bad.
Having two universities with music departments means Cincinnati is actually
quite rich in music. Good Friday service at St George had a baroque music
ensemble playing, and of course, our church choir, which is quite good.
Howard, the choirmaster, has a great team. Anyway- a funny incident at dinner
after Good Friday service. Some of us went to Dewey's pizza for dinner.
During dinner, I was asked, "You must be musician to be sitting at this
table! What instrument do you play? Or do you sing?" Sitting with Howard
on my right, Brad (music prof) on my left, I felt so small having to confess
that I was merely a tax attorney with a little knowledge of music, but that's
all.... :-)
Speaking of music, I had a very pleasant
surprise on Saturday. I had noticed that Josh Groban was in Cincinnati for
one night only - that night itself. (Who is Josh Groban, you might ask.
WELL. He's a young lad of 23, but already a reputation of having THAT voice.
He has sung for the President, sung on Ally McBeal, sung on Oprah, sung at the
Hollywood Bowl etc etc) Anyway. Suffice to say, not only did I not have to
pay the USD300 a ticket the scalpers were asking on the black-market, but I
managed to get orchestral level seats - most expensive in the house here, and
about 30 yards front of the stage - at the normal price. Well. All I can
say is that when he speaks you know he is young, but when he sings! I was
sitting besides this Italian American, who kept telling me, "He sings such
beautiful Italian!" She pulled out a pair of binoculars and had a good look
at Josh, and then said, "Look at him, no piercing, no tattoo, just good
looking!" Err, lady, he is in long sleeves and long trousers... Anyway. It
was funny to have her there because every time it was one of her favoured
Italian pieces, she would go, "Oh!" And to a couple of the songs, like Caruso
- "Oh! I am going to cry...!" Well. I didn't go that far, but I must
admit, this young lad has a voice and knows how to tug at the heartstrings.
His current hit is an inspirational piece, "You raise me up". Which is
pretty uplifting in the "Wing beneath my wings" sort of way. Okay - some
might think this is kitsch, but I like it. And it's slow enough that I can
actually practise my sign language and sign to it. Yes, signing songs is one
of the easiest ways to learn signing... Anyway it was a good evening.
Today is Easter, so I had my first Easter
service here. Again, Howard excelled himself and the music was great. For a
postlude (after the service) he had played a toccata - so at coffee
afterwards, I cornered him and said he went for the show-off piece. His
reply, "Well...the expectation is there, so I can't let them down!" Which
was, on reflection, quite true. We would have been surprised if he chose a
boring piece of music. The Episcopal Church of the USA is part of the
Anglican Church, and can trace its ancestry back to the Church of England.
However, in the good old CoE, the section of the service called "The Peace"
was literally that - we turned around and shook hands with our neighbours,
wishing God's peace upon them. Here in the US, "The Peace" is like the vicar
calling time-out: everyone walks everywhere chatting. And I mean everyone
walking everywhere! It was like we weren't in a service any more! Then
when we get back into our pews, its time for notices etc, which when they come
from a rector like Jason, could really sound like a social club notice.
Still, I suppose I am getting used to it.
Another thing I am getting used to is
driving. Oh - I passed my Ohio driving test! I am now a legitimate Ohio
driver, no longer dependent on my International Driving Permit. The other
good thing is that this means I can travel domestically without having to
produce my Malaysian passport. Have I told you that producing a passport from
what is perceived to be a Muslim country just seems to get me all sorts of
stares? Anyway. I now have a valid license from a state in the US. And less
than one week after I got it, I needed to produce it at the supermarket
checkout because I had picked up a bottle of cooking sherry - and the checkout
lady didn't think I was over 21... Oh well. I'd like to think I still look
as young as that, but I'll put it down to the fact she probably hasn't seen
that many Chinese people. Oh yes driving. I actually like my car's cruise
control: I get to the highway, speed up to the speed limit plus about 3 (you
need limit plus 5 before they hit you with demerit points) and then hit
cruise. It's a joy to just head down the road, and the car just taking car
of everything for me. Ahhh...
Hey - finally washed my car last week. This was after one long long month.
The sun is now out more often, and when I parked besides another car, mine
looked really grimy.. winter salt and dirt. So I finally asked around for
car washes, but in the end settled for an auto wash. Yes, I know the
purists among you would scream, "That is not good for your car, it doesn't
do the best job" blah blah. But you know - it's me. A car gets me from A
to B, and I just want it to look clean. And so a USD7 auto wash it wash.
Naturally, had to go on the interstate to find it...
Right now, everyone is worried about petrol prices. Since I've arrived,
it's moved from $1.75 to just a tad under or over $2.00. And they are
screaming murder, death and other things. Well.. if you are driving the
guzzlers they do, I can see why. Having said that, my 2.5 litre car while
small by US standards is still big. But as I only drive it on weekends,
I'll live.
Remember my quip some time ago about drugs being super sized in the US.
Well.. I recently had problems with drugs here. My fault, really, I had
gone to bed with my usual dose of decongestants, but I was having such a
bad blocked nose that nothing seemed to work. I had to get out of bed,
take another decongestant out of the jumbo pack I had, and then tinkle on
the piano for nearly 40 minutes before I could breathe again. The next
morning, I happened to pick up and the pack, and actually read the
composition: well, they super sized the pack but halved the dose. So no
wonder why it didn't really work for me until I forced myself to take a
double dose... my "double dose" was actually one dose. Talk about dozey..
but hey, the tablets looked like my usual tablets...
Oh - Cincinnati is about to be invaded by 17-year cicadas. To quote a
newspaper, "They have bulging red eyes, look like demons and live most
of their lives in underground darkness, moving slowly toward the
surface. At the moment, all that separates us from them is maybe four
inches of soil." Seeing that I absolutely fear cockroaches, I really
don't know whether or not I'll be able to cope psychologically with the
expected swarming of cicadas. You don't think it will be bad? Well...
read this article (and get a picture) of the hundreds of millions of
these insects that are expected to rise soon...
http://www.cincypost.com/2004/03/11/cicad031104.html I know people
who are planning to leave the city for as long as they can. It does not
sound good...
Okay. Time to go... I have too many little things around the house to
finish off. Well, at least before my first official guest - the
ex-boss arrives...
***************************************************************************
It is our choices that show
what we truly are, far more than our abilities..."
~ Prof
Dumbledore
Homepage:
www.oocities.org/dazzakoh
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Amended on:
Sunday August 01, 2004