"silly strings" or spaghetti fun

I’m pretty happy to experiment some really funny and crazy things while I’m in the US. I remember from movies, that US have party strings – strings that are in the bottle, like hair spray or whipped cream. When I saw it in the store I got excited as a kid. And it was just 1 dollar… (maybe that’s why the color wasn’t the best).

Anyway, me and a friend of mine wanted to do something crazy. So we decided to decorate a door of our friend. And we knew he’s gonna be away at the time of our action. We planned! Got prepared! Got there!

Action!

Well… Hollywood movies are such a lie! These strings do not stick to things as you would expect. We wanted to do something cool, something nice… and maybe a little bit bad and totally unexpected… Wanted to decorate the door and stairs. Turned out to be like we just trashed his apartment. It looked like dirty pink spaghetti all over the staircase.

So later he called me and told that what we did was not good and these “silly strings” were not a nice thing at all. Whatever!!! WE had fun!

And Neighbors who saw us doing it definitely had fun too. Those guys, actually, had the most fun, cuz they saw us some other time doing some decoration work again :))

“I’m a professional Christian”

coming back to the topic of religion, churches, etc.

“I’m a professional Christian,” – said N., who preaches sometimes at the local Baptist Student unit. “Smells” like money to me. So this guy is actually being paid to talk to us about spiritual issues (issues with no monetary value attached). Those are the issues that you cannot really talk about unless you have passion and strong desire, otherwise, your lesson will go nowhere. Does that mean his inspiration to talk to us is not true, not motivated by his believes, but motivated by check that he’ll get at the end of month? Might be. A lot depends on a person here.

I guess it is ok to have paid staff in the church, but those should be people who really can deliver a message and truly believe in certain things. Screening for job in such a place should be very strict. The guy I'm talking about does a terrible job. He really needs to work on his delivery more… Maybe he needs more money to get motivated to improve??

“Professional Christian”

Now what that is supposed to be?

Does that mean the message you come up to talk about are paid? Do those who pay tell you what to talk about and how to interpret certain things in the Bible (And yes, Bibles here come with interpretation. Probably different churches have different interpretations. That’s interesting… Meaning creation? Why not to let people understand things for themselves? I always though of Bible as a book with personal interpretations. It is different for everyone and its lessons are different for everyone).

Is Christianity a profession? I always though of it as a true devotion to God, no monetary value attached. But Religion and churches here are huge business. It’s getting the same way back home now too with more people going to churches.

Well, anyway, I truly believe that believing in God, religion and churches are three totally different things that are often not connected at all.

tea... i want some tea

I want a cup of tea. Yes, black please. No sugar. And no ice, please!!! And... is there any way I can get a cup of hot tea??? (with the look that tells I'm almost sorry for these "weird" drinking preferences).
I really have totally different drinking preferences. Tea should be hot by definition. No ice in my drinks!!! Not at all. And, by the way, if you haven't noticed yet, it's WINTER!!! Winter is cold, by definition. (although, south of the US barely gets any snow).
maybe something wrong with my definitions of TEA and WINER? Possibly...

secrets

My experience with Americans led to a wonderful discover: there are two types of secrets. 1) Secrets that you are not supposed to share with others and 2) secrets that you probably can share.
Wow! That is something new. I though secret is something you do not talk about. I was wrong. People actually specify if they don't want you to talk about a secret. Weird! I though I can just say it is a secret and people would know that it is something they should not share with others.
It is quite interesting that people tell you a secret and then they add that it is something you cannot share. So the word "secret" probably has some other meaning than just something that should not be shared... Mystery!
Or maybe it is a common thing here to share secrets? Or maybe it is just a common expectation?
But anyway, anytime someone shares a secret with me and asks not to share it with anyone else - I cant help smiling.

oh yes... international students are not adequate: you share secrets with them and they laugh.

but good lesson for me: do not expect Americans to treat your secrets the same way as you friends from home.

towels

What is a towel?
Isn't it a thing you use to dry your face, body and hands? Well, that's what I thought a towel is. For me it is a very functional thing. There are two different categories of towels - for kitchen and for people. Those that are for people are different in sized depending if they are for hands or for a body.
Today I went in a bathroom and was so confused. There were so many different towels of different sizes hanging in different places. Some of them were rolled (different in different manner). There were so many of them so I had no idea which one to use and I was so afraid to mess everything up. Have you ever feel frustrated from not knowing what to do? I though something like that can never happen with towels. They are just things to get dry your hands or other parts of your body. Apparently, they are more "sophisticated" than that.
I remember the same confusion 4 years ago when I came to my host family house for the first time. Reveley mentioned at least 5 different types of towels when we were in my bathroom. There were towels for hands (I know what that is), towels for body/after-shower (fine with that too), towel for face (what??? what about the one for hands? or for body? aren't you touch it with your hands when you dry your face?... anyway - ok), towel for feet (or really? I guess USSR never had those...), towel to step on when you get out of shower (well, that is luxury). All of these were different sizes and different in texture. And there were also towels that were used for decoration.
Kinda overwhelming, isn't it?

articles

They are in fact placed in the text randomly! The only 2 rules that always apply - 1) they should be in front of a noun, not after. And 2) "a" and "an" are for singular nouns only. These are the main rules. Everything else is random. Totally random!

I met with a former professor of English during my Thanksgiving trip. She tough me a lot 4 years ago. Thank her so much for everything!
At some point in our conversation I told her about my problems with articles and she said that articles are used differently in British English and American English! As a student I've learned British English that is why I cannot say "I'm going to the University", I would never use article there. Maybe that's a part of my problem?
Well, I always though that grammar is the same in both English languages. I was so wrong. Now the whole issue with articles does not make any sense to me.
Isn't it like fashion or custom? People got used to something in a certain way and stick with it for their life. And if you not a part of a community you would never get why they all do it this way and not the other. In case with articles whole nations stuck to certain ways. If that's it, then it is totally random to me. I'm even more confused about articles now.

I WANT THE CUP OF A COFFEE - and I don't care if doesn't make any sense... and I don't drink coffee anyway.

Seems that getting the rules about articles is more difficult that I though. (if randomness could ever be determined by rules...)

Thanksgiving grin

Coming back to the topic of shopping in the USA.
I went to post Thanksgiving sale to the mall of Lynchburg, VA. Well... I was not really planning to buy anything, just wanted to see if everything was almost free on that day. I guess you know the answer. There were no free stuff. Seems like some stores even increased prices so they would be able to display 50-70% discounts.
There were two things that I did not really liked:
1) People did not seem to be happy. And that is holiday. They all were searching for something and seem not to get any satisfaction in their search. Maybe buying is not what you need? But everyone still was shopping, running from one store the other. I wonder will there be ever time when people would not be so crazy about sales? I feel like many of those people bough stuff they did not really need, but it was "such a good deal," so they could not miss it. So they were really shopping for good deal, not to satisfy their necessities.
2) It is a holiday... such a wonderful time to spend with the family... nope... people did rush to the shopping centers (not all of course).

As Jonas Ridderstrale, Kjell Nordström said in "Funky Business: Talent Makes Capital Dance:" it is an era of shopping and fucking. Well, they are probably right.

God's game plan

Religion is one of my favorite topics. There are so many question, not so many answers. Well, you just have to believe and be strong in your believes.
I might get back to the topic of church and religion again, but for today I just wanted to share my experience at the Baptist Church.
1) I've learned a new word - "pew". Awesome, isn't it?
2) I sang... and I loved it.
3) I saw a very interesting name for the Bible - "God's game plan." Interesting.
Basically this version of a bible has regular text that the bible has and interpretations.
First of all, I prefer when people interpret things themselves and not get limited by someone else's vision. Isn't that framing? Something that PR or Ad people is accused of.
Second, how appropriate is the name? Game is something not always serious, sometime just to have fun. Of course it can be strategic too. It's like in ancient Greece where Gods played with people's lives. But what if it is really a game, is that the reason why people are saying we'll do what God wants us to do, but some of them just do nothing saying that God, probably, doesn't have any mission for them? It's something really difficult for me to understand. I truly believe that people should be active and should not wait for the sign from above.

shopping the american way

We've created us a credit card mess
We spend the money we don't possess
Our religion is to go and blow it all
So it's shoppin' every Sunday at the mall
Shania Twain

Well, yes! you cannot imaging a single city without the mall. And people are in fact obsessed with clearances and good deals. Shopping is one of the main things in the lives of many Americans.
Well, I actually wanted to talk about grocery shopping.

I've been to Sam's Club this Sunday. That is something amazing. Can you image huge packs of everything? of absolutely everything - starting from salad to fresheners. Like a pack of 12 fresheners - to make sure that at the end of the third bottle you would hate this smell for the rest of your life. Or 72 rolls of toilet paper! The whole year with the same brand. I don't think it's loyalty, cuz at the end, you'll be so sick of this type of paper... You would see it in your nightmares. That is economy. "Small is beautiful" principle doesn't work here.

Some things were packed in the right sizes. Actually the majority of things were packed just right. Right enough for it to keep freshness while being used.

I'm used to do shopping very frequently, cuz lets say bread or milk (100% organic) stay fresh just for 3 days. So you have to shop frequently. But here people do it maybe once a week or twice a month. That's why they have shampoos in packs of size of almost a gallon. If, by any chance, this shampoo will fall on your feet while you take a shower (and things happen) you are in trouble... more precise ... you are in a cast for the next few weeks.

But I'm sure Americans are used to it...

students, time and romance

I went to the movie yesterday and decided to walk form there to the place where I live. It is just 1,5 miles (I've checked with google maps). I got out of the movie at around 10 pm. The temperature outside was close to 32F (almost freezing point). I felt like it was the perfect weather to walk.
I went basically through all the campus and I haven't met a single person! Why? Is it too cold? Not for me! and not in general...
Is it too late? Are you kidding me? for college kids? no way!
Or maybe people do not really walk here? That's probably it.
I just remember that back home there are couples on campus walking till midnight. And they do it all year around, unless it is not colder than -15C (~5F). That is something that differentiates campus from any other place - couples are everywhere and all the time.
So what's different with students here? Don't they fall in love? Or they prefer watching movies, going clubbing or something else but indoors instead of enjoying privacy and fresh air of the outside? Might be. They even enjoy artificial flavor sweets more that natural fruit, so indoors vs outdoors thing should not really surprise me...

And you know what, you could see stars really well yesterday.

Well... I guess I had a romantic walk with myself yesterday :) and nobody around! Just me&me.

ladies' talk in the ladies room

It happened to me in this country so many times before and today it happened again. It is so weird... weird to talk to someone in the restroom. I'm fine with greeting, but everything else should be outside the restroom. You do not talk to someone who is behind the door, seating and "resting." Moreover, you do not talk to your professors in the restroom! I'm saying "don't" but that's what people do here and they seem to be fine with that.
In my culture it is kinda unacceptable. We even have anecdotes about those who talk in restrooms.

And talking on the cellphone while in the restroom is not really nice. I would be very disappointed if I would learn that some person was on the phone with me when s/he was in the restroom.

And you know what? They discuss everything there, starting from weather to food! Food is not a topic for the restroom!

Wednesday's lessons

There are two:
1) People are so great! (as if I didn't know)
2) Women and Men are different when fighting... but seems like girls are smarter with their strategy

In details:
1) I went to Cheatham's Garage today to change my fan belt. Those are very nice people. Seems like it's family business. They've checked my belts and tighten them... and not only the one I wanted, but few more and did some other really nice things. I would need to return there to change boots and repair oil leak. The thing is - they didn't charge for anything today. They said I can pay everything on Friday. Wonderful! These people trust other people and they seem to build relations, real relations. They probably do not send reminders about oil change, but they talk to their customers and are listening to whatever they have to say. While I was there several people came and in addition to talking about cars they've asked them about their families and other things. They knew more about their customers then just info on their car and car related habits. Very personal approach - works well. Too bad big corporation struggling with CRM cannot reach that level of privacy.
Isn't that great? building relations and trust provides you with loyal customers, and benefits both sides emotionally. Actually, I'm so excited about the place that I would suggest only this company if anyone would ever need a piece of advice.

2) I went to self-defense class. I loved it. Punching - is something I love. And they said use all possible methods to escape, even biting. Biting!!! That's exactly what I do all the time. Don't even remind me about this strategy - I'll use my teeth right away if I ever feel the danger.
Anyway, coming back to the lesson. He said that guys usually fight till there is a winner. Girls, when have to fight, do all possible to escape/run away. If they can discourage the other side, they do not keep fighting till the winning end, but run away!
I think it's smart. Why put yourself in bigger danger that you already are?
And the same principle is in climbing and while water rafting. If there is a chance to avoid danger - just do it. All the climbing trails avoid the most dangerous things if possible. In rafting the ability to avoid danger - that's what is count when you judge about people's ability to rule the boat. Although, when river's category is 3 or below - you may go through all the dangerous spots just for fun.

My day was great!
Now I want to figure out, where and with whom can I master all the punches they've tough us today.

peanut butter jelly sandwich or PBJ

I've tried it today!
I've heard about it so many times, but never could imagine that someone really would put grape jelly on top of peanut butter. I always thought that maybe peanut butter is kinda like jelly in texture and that is why it is called PBJ. Well... they really put jelly on top of PB.

And it tastes very good! But still it is like "can I, please, have a sandwich with sugar and sugar?" Too sweet.

And now I understand why people have grape jelly at their fridges... I never buy this one, because it does not work for me. I usually mix jelly with hot water and drink it... (sounds weird for this country and for home country too,,, this is our family thing)

I'm so happy I don't have peanut butter at home. PBJ does not sound to be very healthy.

greeting people

When I got back after my first visit of the US, people though I was way too polite - I would smile a lot and say "hi" even to clerks in the bank or somewhere else (and we do not greet those we do not know). Partly based on this politeness I became very good friends with a girl who got back from UK. She became more polite too. We were known as the most polite people in our department.
Greeting is a norm as well as "how are you" question. Although people usually do not expect any negative answer here, and I'm totally fine with any answer as long if it's true. If greeting is a norm, does that mean that I'm in trouble when someone does not say "Hi" at the beginning of the letter to me?
Personally, I try to put "hi" or some kind of a greeting in any message, unless it is not one out of several messages in conversation. And when I do not get greeting from a person I feel that maybe I've done something bad.

Or is that a form of a conversation where greeting can be omitted? What about SMS? is it polite not to say "Hi" there?

bed time story: experiencing american mattresses

Have you ever try to sleep with someone on the same bed here in the US? I'm not asking about any bed activity, just sleeping. Let's say you are visiting a friend and he/she does not have spare bed so you share and let's say the size of bed is either full or queen.
I have experience sleeping on several mattresses - cheap and expensive, big and small, nice and not so nice - and all the time I would have the same thing. If you share it with someone, or someone would just sit on the side of the bed while you are lying in there - you would feel like you are on the ship in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. These mattresses do not suppress any movements, but the opposite - they make them to resonate. It feels like someone is jumping on the bed while you are sleeping.
It is fun at the beginning, but what if you are just fell asleep and the other person decided to turn from the right to the left side - get ready for shaking experience! These mattresses may result in motion-sickness.
Is that the way to promote privacy and individual sleeping? :))

but local mattresses are so good for jumping!!!

my school is my prison

For me any building, where people spend significant amount of time, should have walls, a roof, at least one door and windows to make sure that during the day the insides of the building are lighted.
But there are exceptions! For example a warehouse. Some people do work in them and they do not see a lot of day light. Another example is a prison. I've never been to one, but for some reason I believe they might not have windows... Lamp light has some suppressing effect on people and when people do not see enough of day light they get depressed (and feel punished). Also absence of (day) light make the space look smaller and does not give any feeling of a freedom. And again, view from the window kinda "extends" the room and make it look bigger.
Imagine my condition when I went to my college for the first time. Building looks really nice but it has windows only on the third and second floors out of five floors. More over, for the person who spend a lot of time outside there was not enough air on the first floor (which is almost under the ground).
Modern architecture is a wonderful thing, you can create whatever looking good, but don't forget about people who will be working/living in that building. Don't forget about functionality of the building. It is not about attracting people's attention, not in case of a school.
Actually the more you pay attention to that the more building with very little on no windows you see. It seems to be ok for the US. Even the place where I live... really small windows...
But what at least about energy saving and not turning the lights on during the day?

"my job is to make my professor happy"

I had a wonderful discussion today with a friend of mine. He is TA (teaching assistant) for some professor in the school. TAs are responsible for administering tests, check tests, take attendance and etc. So basically they are responsible for the less interesting part of the teaching process.
So we've been talking about situation that he had with one of his students and he said at some point that his job is to make his professor happy.
Well isn't that a very hard job to make someone happy? People are so unpredictable. On the other side - isn't it the easiest job ever? All you need is to make your boss to smile and treat t as his happiness.
The funny thing about it was that it can be translated to my language also as satisfied. And we often use this expression "my only responsibility is to satisfy my boss" referring to our jobs. But this expression has 2 meanings one of which includes sexual context. People use this expression as a joke all the time. If only my friend knew what I had in my mind when he said about making his professor happy... I'm sure he would not say something like this again... :)

shopping for tomatoes

Have you ever seen people who smell each tomato before they put it in their basket??
Know what??? Those are internationals. And know why?? We want TOMATOES - red vegetables with distinct tomato smell.
For some reason tomatoes here do not taste like real tomatoes and do not smell. But those that do smell taste so much better then others.

I wonder if those who shop for vegetables in stores as opposed to farmers markets (and even in Earth Fare tomatoes are not good) ever tried good tomatoes? But maybe people just do not care? I know already several people who do not like veggies and fruits - which seems to be almost like impossible to me. Aren't fruits and some of veggies the most tasty things in the world?