Random Update

I just thought I would update you on a few things. So as you might have guessed from the picture I have become a baseball convert. I thought it was about time to get me a baseball cap. So here is a pic of me looking very American ( you can even see dirty D in the background) and also that I do indeed have a TAN......I know you can't believe it.

Also caught a really cool band in Chapel Hill called Wild Sweet Orange. Hailing from Birmingham, AL, they were really bloody good. It was an accident they we saw them as they were the first support band for Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. Which is a fantastic name for a band, but unfortunately as the first band was so good, CFTPA were a bit of a disappointment and a bit too down beat for the mood we were in. Although they did a good job of covering Bruce Springsteen's 'Streets of Philadelphia' in a very Casio keyboard style. Wild Sweet Orange did a very good job of doing a Pixes loud/soft/loud and were really tight on stage.

In other news, I am moving on Tuesday to my new place. I am very excited about that, as it is really sweet place, so expect pictures ASAP. Other pluses include Internet that works all the time and my own TV with the 70 odd channels you get here. Also I am off to New York, NY, next Friday. Dan is coming for a week, so we are going to go crazy New York style, including going to Live Earth. Also we are crashing at Shannon's place so it is extra cool. So expect a big blog update after that, with pictures. Last time such scenes as this took place...

You have been warned. For those interested, this is Jimmy (my old house mate) asleep at 3 am on the New York Subway. Jon and I were tempted to leave him....

PS A couple of people comment but it would be lovely great to have more people post a few.

Durham Rising

Durham, NC is a strange creature. It is also known as the 'Bull City' and dirty D. I shall try and shed some light....

On the one hand you have Duke which is not only one of the top universities in the US, it is also really rich $7 Billion in the trust fund and counting (they could pay the postdocs a bit more). So it attracts the kind of people that can pay $35,500 a year (also really cleaver kids too). I was told by my boss that the undergrads drive the kind of cars the professors wish they could. While in the Duke bubble it is easy to forget the other side of Durham.

From what I gather, after the tobacco industry had a slump, employment in Durham took a turn for the worst. It is only getting better recently. This means that 15% of Durhams population is below the poverty line. So Durham is a city of haves and have nots. It does lead to some sketchy areas, and the problems that goes along with that in western culture. Durham was the subject of a documentary with the very apt title of 'Welcome 2 Durham'. This ain't no tourist promo y'all, but neither is it everyday life in dirty D.

So Durham has a kind of bad rep. I feel this is because North Carolina is actually a nice place to live and Durham is this kind of bad apple. It's not as bad as they say. There is a lot of regeneration of the downtown area going on right now. I found this cool blog showing old pictures of Durham. There was a 'celebration' of the first stage of this regeneration, this last Saturday gone. It was nice to see stuff going on downtown. Instead of empty streets and people looking me strange because I am walking. In fact it does have this feeling of impending coolness. Is Durham rising? It could well be.

Chapel Hill

I have wandered over to Chapel Hill (a map showing dirty D and Chapel Hill can be found here) a few times now. Most of it to catch some music, but food is sometimes involved but there have been complaints so I am going to try some posts without mentioning it. It is pretty well renowned for music, Ben Folds, James Taylor and Floyd of Pink Floyd fame too. Other residents of note are Michael Jordan and presidential candidate John Edwards. All the action takes place on Franklin St. Which has loads of bars restaurants and shops on. Also the UNC campus backs on to it. All in all it is a really nice place, even if it has a shop in it that Ryan dubbed 'Murder Mart', it is America after all.

We caught a local Chapel Hill band called 'the Never' (also on Myspace). Once I had got over the pretension of them, they were actually pretty good. Reasons for being pretentious: All wearing red carnations (could have got away with it if they all dressed the same), had a string/brass section but used them really poorly (i.e. all you could hear were the guitars) and also had a mandolin (or as I put it 'is that guy playing a bloody lute? he bloody well is', I was soon corrected). The mandolin was made up for, as the guy who was playing was 'face melting' (this is Ryan's term for the facial expression as pulled by 'heavy metal'/'stadium rock' guitarists circa 1984) during his solos. I do actually recommend you check em out because they could be huge and they do play nice indie pop.

Also a cool radio station KEXP if Y'all get bored of UK radio.

PS. Notice how short this post is because of no food related items.... you know who you are.

Is it really 2 months?

I have been in the states 8 weeks this Monday just gone. It is one of those strange time tricks that your brain plays on you. Some ways it has gone so fast. It feels like yesterday I was blowing the balloons......for the little party we had...

Which I am all bloody glad you made it. So anyway before this gets soppy (I was fine till I actually started writing and now I do actually have a tears in my eyes) the point of this post is things I miss about the UK and things I like about the US. I am going to try and do something like like this around the end of the month like I did last month. So obviously the point of the pictures is to say the thing I miss the most are the people, but it's also the thing what I like most here. I do appreciate that people are reading this blog. I really didn't think anyone would. So except for you guys here are the things I miss/like.

I was trying to think of something to do for my monthly musing and have been now for a few days. It hit me today what I should write about while I was walking back listening to the old iPod dancing away (like you do....) that I should write about what I miss etc. I got thinking about what I miss most.

So if you haven't guess already or are still wetting yourself at the idea of me dancing while I walk the streets of dirty D.... you don't know what I'd give right now to dance my drunken arse off in the Leadmill, Hot Pants or any of those places it's probably not a the best of ideas to show my face again. Yes Lou that means I will gladly let you jump on me while I spin you around.... if you're not banned from Hot Pants by the time I get round to going again. Also to sing all those songs that I love. To hold Jon back from saving his 'bap'.

ME MUM'S SUNDAY LUNCH........YORKSHIRE PUDDING

To sing at Bramall Lane. 'I can't help falling in love with you' came on the iPod as well today, it sent shivers down my spine. To just get lost in a football match. To celebrate a goal. To be embarrassed by my sister. To hear that bloke behind you shout the witty comments. Just one greasy chip butty. A draw (America needs to learn that winning isn't everything), seeing the Wednesday/ Leeds score and it makes your day.

The way people talk. The day in day out humour (it's still a laugh here but sometimes I say stuff and it just goes woosh). Blokes calling each other 'love'. Being able to get a good bacon butty. While the cheesecake brownie from the cafe in my building is truly an amazing creation it is not a hangover killer from John's Van or the flapjack made by his mum.

Just sitting in a pub/beer garden. I miss the interval last summer. West St.

The BBC

Public transport.....

But America has some fantastic things on offer.

I am addicted to Mexican/TEX-MEX food. Even after 'El Gigante' I still love it. I have no idea how I am going to cope without places like Cosmic Cantina. Burritos and a 'dosecki' till 4 in the morning. Good cheap food in general. Chick-fil-A and time out chicken.... Yeah I'm scared it's just turning into a food blog.

Southern life. It is a slower pace here. Yeah it is hot but I'm kinda used to it now. I even said 'oooh it was quite cool today' and the temp was 28 oC... Everyone must still think I am a madman all the walking I do in this heat but hey I'm now 12 stone and haven't even started going to the gym yet. I do like the accent too, Y'All.

Baseball. Ok its not football but I can't think of many places that I have paid £4 for the best seats that I have enjoyed more. I can think of a lot of worse. also they have 1 and a half pint beers which is always good. I'm not even going to go into the foot long hot dogs. The atmosphere is so chilled out. The 7th innings stretch. 'Take me home to the ballpark'...... Actually being able to watch sport on TV.

People saying 'I love the accent'

'Paper or plastic'. Also not having to deal with spotty teenagers in whole foods.

Having a good night out and still having by far the best part of £50/$100 in my pocket. 75p for a quart of Sol not £3.00 for a tiny bottle. Mountain Dew. It's so green. PBR for $3.

Ok this is getting long. I hope you get the picture. I said at the start it's feels like yesterday.... it also feels like I have been here ages. A lot has changed...... I'm pretty sure it's for the good.

North Carolina BBQ

I have just been for my first real North Carolina barbecue, here and here are web links just in case you like me had no idea what it is. And here is what it looks like. It's good proper southern cooking, which means its pretty bad for you, but tastes good.

Sorry for cheating on the photo but will get a real one soon. It was good though. A lot of pig was involved. I mean a lot. I had a plate and it was half a pound of meat. I had the 'pulled pork' with BBQ beans, sweet potato fries and hushpuppies. It was really good. And it only cost $10 or 5 sheets for y'all back home.

The 'pulled pork' is just a lump of roast pork that has been spiced in the North Carolina style, which I guess to most people in the UK is just BBQ sauce or a variation on that. Hushpuppies are fried dough and are really bloody good, and can be seen at the bottom of the picture. I really recommend cutting some sweet potato up and sticking it in the chip pan because they were so nice. BBQ bean are pretty self explanatory, kinda like baked beans and BBQ sauce but not as they were a different type of bean. You can also get loads of other random sides such as potato salad and coleslaw. Oh yeah and a big vat of BBQ sauce just in case you needed more.

My view is that it is a take on the good old hot roast pork sandwich, but with a spicy kick. I had one of the ways you are meant to eat it. The other way is in a sandwich, where you have it with coleslaw and potato salad. So that is very much like a HRP. Which reminds me of the fantastic HRP I had on Bramall Lane, which consisted of HRP, stuffing, apple sauce and roast potatoes.

Update: el gigante and random American stuff

Ok so I am finally eating again, two days after the carnage that was 'el gigante'. I managed a normal lunch and a tiny dinner. Also I haven't actually put any weight on..... which is rather surprising as the monster was estimated to be about four or 5 pounds(about two kilograms).

Other news: I might have a tan.... yes I know very surprising. Also I am moving in July, so pictures will be on they way as this place is sweet. I am loving the comments please keep em up.

So now for the random American stuff. I had to go to the 'campus orientation' today, yes almost two months after arriving. It started off bad, i.e. an 8:15 in the AM. I was still worried about food induced coma from the monster. I had to be there to sort out my benefits. So instead of telling everyone this first they prattled on about duke for about 3 hours first and got us to play team building exercises. You know it's gonna be bad when the person in charge says 'well I'm just a corny guy'. He proceeded to tell us lots of random trivia about duke, and I mean lots. I had read about it before I got here on Wikipedia. Then the team building games. We had to introduce ourselves and say where we are from, somehow the guy had to talk to everyone about duke basketball. Who are really good, but duke is really good at other things too, like biomedical engineering which was never mentioned. Ok rant over, there was a plus side I found out about the lemur center which I am going to be visiting soon.

El Gigante

So an introduction to 'el gigante'. 'El gigante' is found in Banditos, and is not for the weak of stomach. It is a giant burrito, which is Spanish for 'little donkey'. I'll tell you one thing, there is nothing little about this bad boy. I came to be sat in front of 'el gigante' because I stupidly said to Andy 'yeah that sounds like fun' while drunk. I think it is important to keep your drunken promises, well maybe not the 'I'm going [insert chain of swear words] kill you, you [rather longer chain of swear words]', but the stupid ones are always good. Also I guess it is part of American culture to eat a meal where you win a t-shirt if you finish it.

So there we were, three brave warriors, who had been starving themselves for days (well that lunchtime Chick-Fill-A sandwich was just a snack....hmmm maybe it wasn't the best of ideas) sat down to take their place in Durham history. When the waitress was talking about it, she did it in a hushed voice that you get when people are talking of a legend. Life was not going to be the same after this burrito. Here it is with a UK size comparison.


Here it is compared to Andy. I guess it is scary it is actually bigger than him.


This was a really good burrito to start with.


It kinda got a little painful.


But I wasn't alone.


Maybe not for Dong Woo.


Dong Woo finished first and was eying up everyones plate. He didn't even break a sweat.


I came second. It was a tough finish. The sour cream nearly got me.

Strangely the American came last....

But we all got our t-shirts and our picture on the wall. The staff were so excited that we finished. They even had to go and get batteries for the camera.


A few words of warning kids. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. I was in the safe hands of Americans who know what they are doing. Although, I couldn't think till about 5pm the next day. It was pretty tough those last few bites. I really did think I wasn't going to make it at one point. Not long after I really did regret making it. Sleeping wasn't great and it did take me four hours to eat a sandwich the next day. Looking back it was really funny and hey it saved me having to buy food the next day.

It really was worth it as I got to wear the hat.....

Some American Bands

Thanks to the man with a rather surprised look on his face, I have been introduced to some rather fine music. Which I shall share now. If you are wondering his name is Ryan and is the co-creator of a fantastic 5 topping pizza (sausage, bacon, pepperoni, mushroom and green pepper).

Now to the music...thanks to the power of MySpace

First up DeVotchKA. A kind of punk mariachi band. Lots of guitar, whistling and trumpets.

Next Neutral Milk Hotel. A sort of US Belle and Sebastian. Very nice music, not so nice lyrics

Also Man or Astro-man? Which are a cool surf guitar band

The band with the best name goes to the F....ing Champs. Which is now also our new slang for balls.... we do need to get out more I know.

Another picture, this time of Curtis and I looking rather musical. You may remember Curtis from such posts as this one. I am looking rather American in this photo. I assure everyone I still have my accent.

Baseball

I have just got back from my first Durham Bulls game, of Bull Durham fame. Which are my local AAA minor league baseball team. Which is kinda the championship of baseball. I loved it. The atmosphere was great. It was more like just sitting and having a chat and a laugh than watching a sporting event. There was a lot of American cheese, singing the national anthem, lots of silly games in between innings. My favourite was the Durham mascot Wool E. Bull. Who generally chased and harassed people they got onto the field to do the stupid games. It was cool that they had people just wandering round selling stuff, such as lemonade, cotton candy [candy floss....I am turning American] and all kinds of other healthy stuff. Also even if you have no idea what baseball is about, you can just sit there and drink beer. I also got to see 3 home runs in an innings, which is pretty rare, apparently 3 in a game is good. The Bulls won too which was nice. Another slice of American life that I am going to force everyone that visits me to see. I do like baseball, it is probably the thing that I have watched most on TV since I got here. The question is, do I get a baseball cap? The Libertines once said "There are fewer more distressing sights than that of an Englishman in a baseball cap", thankfully that was about Chavs so I think it's ok.

Softball

I had the pleasure to attend an inter-mural softball game on Thursday. It was a different affair from the ones that take place in the UK. In the UK, you play the game, get in the pub and get drunk. In the US having a few beers is part of the game, and of course you have to have spectator participation. Softball is a long game and you only do a bit of running, so you are more likely do drink than when playing football. That's just a recipe for being sick.

This game was extra funny because I work with people from both teams. There has been 'trash talk' all week. Which I added to even though I wasn't on either of the teams, but thought I should put my tuppence in. In the first innings one team was 10-4 up, things started to get a little heated but all in good humour. It finished either 18-17 or 18 all depending on which team you spoke too. I was just laughing. In the end it was very amiable and an extra innings was played and the team that should have won, won.

It was a really nice thing to go and see. It was the real America. It wasn't the all conquering, arrogant team USA that you see in the Olympics, it was just a group of people having fun and having a few beers and a laugh. Yeah one or two people took it too seriously but for the most part it was just funny. It may have helped that I was sitting drinking beer in the sun.....who knows