'Merica

Hello friends 

Thought I would write a short blog post since I'm a) overseas and b) sitting alone at a restaurant with nothing better to do.

I'm in the south/central US for work on a client here. I spent the weekend in Houston with some colleagues, who are there for work for a different client, before flying up to Kansas City (Missouri.....not Kansas) for the week. Unfortunately I'm here in KC alone - I have a team working for me here, but they live in KC. So in the evenings they go home, and it's dinner for 1. 

It's been over 4 years since I was last in the US (unless you count a half day jaunt to the outlet mall near Bellingham two years ago-which I don't) and even then, that trip 4 years ago was Vegas (which also sort of doesn't count). The only time I've been down south before was in 2010 when I visited friends in Arkansas and Texas (Austin).

So I thought I'd share some observations about the south/central US, because, well, it really is a different world to both Sydney and Vancouver. 

1. Football - the last time I was here, it wasn't football season. This time it is, and these states really are football mad. It's like hockey in Vancouver on steroids.  On Sunday, everyone walks around in football jerseys all day (i.e. At the outlet mall at 11am when the game is on at 7:30pm) and it's a constant topic of conversation around the office. In fact, as I'm writing this now, there is a football sports show on the tv above the bar.  We went to a game in Houston and despite the fact that it was rainy, cold and dark, the parking lot was full of tailgaters with unbelievably elaborate set ups (tvs, stereo systems, an ice sculpture of the Texans logo you can do shots out of, etc). 

2. Healthy Eating - to put it simply, there is no such thing. You think to yourself: "I'm going to be healthy and get a salad for dinner tonight"....Wrong. The salad is a) going to be 3 times the size of any regular portion and b) going to contain at least 4 of the following: cheese, bacon bits, candied nuts, egg, croutons, avocado or ranch dressing.  I would say that on average, you are given 2xs as much food here as you need to eat, and it's usually fried and covered in sauce.

3. BBQ- speaking of covered in sauce and being healthy....I've had BBQ twice while here. Once in Houston and once in KC. Both places are famous for their BBQ but they are different. It's in the sauce apparently. The BBQ in Texas is sweeter and in KC they have something called "burnt ends" which is what they are famous for. In both places I went to authentic BBQ restaurants - the verdict? Texas for the win! KC BBQ was delicious and the kind of thing you could eat more often and more of; but Texas BBQ was guilty pleasure, hangover dream, kind of stuff. 

4. Wine - it sucks. Crappy California Chardonnay everywhere. Hello...it's not 1995. 

5. City Planning - the concept of a bustling "downtown" or "CBD" doesn't really exist in these cities. In Houston there were a few offices and hotels lumped together which was the only semblance of a downtown core. Instead, random tall buildings were just mixed in everywhere; amongst neighborhoods, on the side of the highway, etc. KC definitely gets the win on this one. At least there was a defined downtown core with some pretty looking historic buildings and a bar district, and distinct neighborhood areas with restaurants and shops. Houston was strip mall central (and strip club central it seemed). 

6. Walking places - no one does it and you are looked at like an alien if you attempt to. I parked in downtown KC for the day and it was only $12! And apparently that's expensive. Of course people drive when it's that cheap. There is also a noticeable lack of taxis and public transportation. I don't think I saw a single taxi in Houston - we Ubered everywhere.

7. People - people are very very friendly. Like scary friendly. I'm not much for small talk, but everyone here is very chatty so it's easy to end up in a conversation with a complete stranger. 

That's about all I've got. I'm on my way home to Van now but I'll be back here in three weeks for work again. Whoopie!

Merry Christmas
Sio

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