Oh you dont know how long ive waited to use that title for a blog entry! Im back here now, in Stockholm Sweden, enjoying the simple pleasures of a normal Scandinavian life in the winter months… that is walking around in the freezing cold saying "Its colder this year.. but not as cold as the big chill of ’05"… Oh how the years move fast up here. However, nevertheless I am back and not in America anymore, so this is the part where I give you my deep and personal cultural insight into what Ive seen, where after you read it with glee…. as quickly as you can so you can go to the photo section and look at pictures of any cute girls ive taken lately. Ive got one new good looking gal in there, shes a big one alright and shes a greenish shade.. and I dont mean Elphaba from Wicked, which I might say is a fantastic show which I throughly wave my wrist to and give 3 eggs up. Check my last set of NY photos in the pictures section
Ill start with New York, a city that blew me away with its diversity, energy and heart. Its an insane place, 7.5 million people living on an island the size of a regular Australian parking lot and not just any people too, a crazy mix of cultures and everyones interacting and honking their horn at each other to prove their love. Honking means you approve of someones driving right? Right. Ok, beside all the great theatre and food and endless sights to see, New York struck me a personable town. You wouldnt expect it I know. I got the feeling that in amongst the congestion and breakneck speed of life, people are just searching for a connection with one another, whether it be a stolen glance as you meet someones eyes walking down the street or a smile from someone else who is rocking out to their iPod on the subway or asking a stranger for directions in a dark alley and them being curiously cheery about it, I get the feeling that in such a huge city, New Yorkers find their own little bit of peace each day in smaller, more random things. I dug this vibe, I dug it a lot. If I went with some buddies, I reckon I could live there… sitting by central park, sitting big bowls of skim lattee as my friend plays guitar and we discuss another trivial within an inch of its life thusly blowing it up to gigantic proportions… oh its so clear, like more than a dream, like I can really see it!
Did I mention I saw Charlotte from Sex In The City at a Starbucks near Central Park? Yeah we had a moment. I heard someone talking loudly about the writers strike, I turned around, she said hello, i said "hey" back….deep man. She them proceeded to say hello to everyone else in the store as well as several dogs in the general vicinity but our one was special. I know Im going places.
We had some really good days in Pittsburgh, we had an awesome group of people and we hung out for the week and had all good times. I expected it to be good but definitely not this good, everyone was so nice and cool to us… actually I have a small feeling Carisa and Dieter were worried about how their Australian entourage might view Americans up close and personal. Make no mistake however, I am very impressed with this country. Ok sure they think if you need to carry more than 3 people in a vehicle it has to be a godzilla sized SUV or unless your breakfast is the size of a football it wont even hit the sides but the people are really lovely. I think americans are people with a lot of heart and a lot of personality and I can respect that. Maybe I have been in cold nordics for too long but the spirit of the people, be that some stirred patriotic pride at the smallest waving of the flag or going insane because the Steelers just got another touchdown, that spirit really got to me, they get into stuff, they get excited by things and thats something I can dig. They get criticized for saying stuff like all "ooohh thats FABULOUS darling" and other mock genuine comments but the people I spoke to were all great. Sure they say stuff like "I appreciate that" all the time but its like any throw away line which every language has. It should be noted we were on the east coast, maybe thats a California thing, I dont know. Yeah they can be more outgoing with their words than others but i dont think it takes long to work out whats what.
So cowboy hats off to you America, I had a jolly good time! I will say it was nice to get drunk and loud with some native english speakers again. Rock on.
oh and G Man, Im so sorry dude. I love you man.
ps. if you just skimmed my text, heres a link right to the hot chicks
