Sunday 26 September 2010

I'm becoming indoctrinated.....

You know you've been in the States for over a year when:

1) You are not surprised when people start asking you in mid September what your kids are going to wear for Halloween. (What's more, you even have it sorted, having craftily picked up a couple of $5 costumes from a secondhand sale).

2) When local mothers start on their favourite conversation of which doctor or dentist in town is the best, you can happily join in (rather than wondering why the hell they don't just go to their nearest one?)

3). You finally know what the following food items are (even if you had to look them up on Wikipedia)

a) S'mores
b) Sliders
c) An 'open-faced meatball hero'
d) Fixin's

The last two were on Littleboy 2's school lunch menu. UK readers, any guesses without rushing to Wiki?

4. You don't have to spend embarrassing moments in shops trying to work out what's going on with your small change (clue: five cents is bigger than ten cents).

5. You don't refuse a lift home from someone, even if you just live around the corner and are quite happy to walk. They will just think you are weird.

6. You have already started thinking about what you'll be doing at Thanksgiving....

17 comments:

susie @newdaynewlesson said...

LOL-what you mean that all people all over the world are not like that???

Elsie Button said...

that whole halloween/christmas thing is like that here now (maybe it always was but was easier to ignore before somehow?)

Open-faced meatball hero... um... a slice of bread, with 6 meatballs on top with melted cheese and gherkins and bacon??

As for Fixin's... off to wiki it, and the meatball one too (obviously i didn't have a clue)

Uly said...

You are not surprised when people start asking you in mid September what your kids are going to wear for Halloween. (What's more, you even have it sorted, having craftily picked up a couple of $5 costumes from a secondhand sale).

Yes, but do you have your candy and are you making a boo bag?

2. LOL at the idea of pickles with meatballs! Though bacon sounds nummy....

Still and all, it sounds like a bad lunch choice for a kindergartener. Yet another reason the nieces don't get hot lunch. (They wear uniforms. I'm pathologically obsessed with keeping them looking decent at least until January. Ana's have to look good the whole year so her sister can grow into them.)

Pond Parleys said...

We have spent a lot of time this weekend pulling an old computer apart - for a robot Halloween costume. We now have a bag full of wires, technical looking things, screws and switches. Perfect!
(Expat Mum)

Jen Walshaw said...

I have no idea, so please tell me, doesnt sound anything like Sheppards Pie and roast potatoes, which is the boys menu for lunch tomorrow

Iota said...

I can't do sliders, open-faced meatball hero, or fixin's. Sorry. Failed. And I've been here 4 years.

And yes, why IS a dime smaller than a nickel? That took me ages to get used to, and I had to give myself a little rhyme, which went 'a dime is small and it's ten, a nickel is big and it's five". That was the only way I could get the knowledge to stick. It's particularly annoying, because 'dime' and 'five' are so similar, the dime jolly well SHOULD be five cents.

Unknown said...

Yes but do you say 'have a nice day'? And how often? Give up on the open meatball thing. The only Fixin I know is what you do with a G&T, innit? x

London City (mum) said...

Ummmmm...

*scratches head*

LCM x

Nota Bene said...

I hope your answer to 2 is the obvious one!

Dumdad said...

Dunno any of those answers!

A Modern Mother said...

So what ARE you doing at Thanksgiving (my favourite day of the year)

Paradise Lost In Translation said...

Wow, you really have 'gone native' ;o)

nappy valley girl said...

OK...(drum roll)

S'mores - this is two Graham crackers (a popular brand of cracker) with a melted marshmallow in the middle. Apparently it's what everyone does around campfires. And it's short for 'some more'.

Sliders - These are basically mini hamburgers. I was very puzzled by constantly driving past a burger joint that announced 'Sliders are here!' on a placard, but I never got around to looking up, till I was at a party and these were served. 'Mmm, sliders' someone exclaimed....

Open faced meatball hero - A hero is another (New York?0 name for a french bread (or 'sub') sandwich. So, I'm presuming this is an open sandwich with meatballs - which seems rather bizarre...

Fixin's - apparently this means condiments. So, you would go into Subway and have your salami sub with all the fixin's.

Hope that cleared everything up!

Susanna - Thanksgiving is still at the planning stage, but we are planning to spend it with some fellow expats and possibly order in some special American dishes...

Mwa said...

10p is bigger than 5p.
50p is bigger than £1.
Took me a while, too.

Home Office Mum said...

The only one I had no idea about was sliders. I knew the others except I thought fixins were not condiments so much as the other bits - like salad and toppings.

Guess what, USA might be back on the cards for us. Not imminently but certainly as a prospect. So remind me again where in Long Island is commutable to the city and has good sailing and nice people/schools....

Iota said...

S'mores have chocolate in there somewhere too, I think.

Tanya (Bump2Basics) said...

Yup, S'mores do have chocolate in them too as Iota says. I have such a sweet tooth, I should know!

Had no idea about the sliders though!

I hope that you guys get to enjoy a real traditional USA Thanksgiving. Did you last year?

As for Halloween, I've already started thinking of what I can dress LLC as, heh....