What is it like where you live?

[jellysundae]

41 minutes ago, phill said:

Sometimes you can buy golden syrup in worldmarket, definitely in squeezy bottles at least. It's better in tins though, its thicker but very sticky and messy.

 

Those squeezy bottles are a travesty! *throws them all down a deep hole*

Syrup in a tin or nothing!

And that's my calm and collected opinion on this subject.

I LOVE how the design on those tins has been the same my entire life.

[Kute]

I guess I'll be making a trip to world market then. 

[sunny098]

For me I'm from the SF Bay of California. It's true, you can literally meet people from all backgrounds here. I hate getting too political, but I do enjoy the open LGBT friendly environment, but I hate that liberal California has the strictest weapons/gun laws in the US.  Just a while back I was looking into getting a hunting license, and there is this license, that permit, and then you have to take some sort of safety course. In this respected, I wish I lived in a slightly more conservative state. 

Weather here is awesome, no snow to worry about, and you can wear shorts and flip flops like half the year. The basic Californian fashion.  It is awesome seeing how everyone gets so amazed when the bay does see it's rare snow fall on the peaks. Such a rare sight here. During the summer, you pretty much get burned alive, but not as bad as the ones living in Central Valley. Ha! I do wish the Sierra Nevadas were a bit closer (I have to drive like 2-3 hours from where I live), but at least wilderness is with in reach (I'm a wilderness girl), and it is a great way to get away from the summer heat. Yeah, where I live, the road names are all Spanish too but it is expected as this used to be part of Mexico. Something else I hate is probably the traffic. Last time driving home from Stanford it took me 2 hours to drive like 10 miles. Oh gosh! They really need to build more roads! Earthquakes don't hit me where I live in the east bay too much, I feel a shake now and then, but back when I used to live in Fremont, a shake once monthly, I got used to fast. As for food, you just can't beat the awesome Mexican food here. Ha! I love Mexican food. It is so good. 

[Kute]

On 5/25/2018 at 10:58 AM, sunny098 said:

For me I'm from the SF Bay of California. It's true, you can literally meet people from all backgrounds here. I hate getting too political, but I do enjoy the open LGBT friendly environment, but I hate that liberal California has the strictest weapons/gun laws in the US.  Just a while back I was looking into getting a hunting license, and there is this license, that permit, and then you have to take some sort of safety course. In this respected, I wish I lived in a slightly more conservative state. 

Weather here is awesome, no snow to worry about, and you can wear shorts and flip flops like half the year. The basic Californian fashion.  It is awesome seeing how everyone gets so amazed when the bay does see it's rare snow fall on the peaks. Such a rare sight here. During the summer, you pretty much get burned alive, but not as bad as the ones living in Central Valley. Ha! I do wish the Sierra Nevadas were a bit closer (I have to drive like 2-3 hours from where I live), but at least wilderness is with in reach (I'm a wilderness girl), and it is a great way to get away from the summer heat. Yeah, where I live, the road names are all Spanish too but it is expected as this used to be part of Mexico. Something else I hate is probably the traffic. Last time driving home from Stanford it took me 2 hours to drive like 10 miles. Oh gosh! They really need to build more roads! Earthquakes don't hit me where I live in the east bay too much, I feel a shake now and then, but back when I used to live in Fremont, a shake once monthly, I got used to fast. As for food, you just can't beat the awesome Mexican food here. Ha! I love Mexican food. It is so good. 

Hello fellow california native! My family also finds the state ridiculous LOL and kind of want to move somewhere else like Texas ! My father actually has a permit to carry and had to take that safety course. Although we have never hunted before. I think that would be fun though!  I love the bay area! Its so nice because it is so unique.  My sister actually lives above the bay in Petaluma   if you know where that is? I love that place! Wish I lived over there.  I love driving up there to visit because we go right through SF  . The only scary part about leaving cali i think would be giving up REALLY GOOD mexican food!!! HAHAHA. we got it the best!!!

 

 

[ladyblack]

On 5/24/2018 at 4:14 PM, Kute said:

I do understand perfectly! Thank you for your reply. I find that so interesting what you said about the light skin. I do really want to come. What do you think is a must see in all of Brazil? That place is HUGE.

As you pointed out, Brazil is HUGE, so each region has its own 'must sees'. 

The Southeast (where I live) is the economic center, so I believe it's the best place in Brazil for those who love the chaos of the big cities. There are nice museums like the MASP in São Paulo and the Museu do Amanhã in Rio. Also historical cities like Ouro Preto, in Minas Gerais. Rio is famous because of it's beaches. They're great, of course, but I prefer the ones at the Northeast (Salvador, Natal, etc.), 'cause they're really beautiful and the food is cheaper than Rio's (lol). There's also, of course, the Amazon rainforest, at the North, and the Pantanal, at the Central-West. The South is very famous because of it's barbecue, and I've been told it's culture is similar to Argentina's and Uruguay's.

As for food, I recommend feijoada (beans with beef and pork, usually served with rice and loooots of other things, like oranges and vegetables; there's also a vegetarian version, where meat is replaced by brazilian nuts), acarajé (if you're in Bahia), coconut water, our barbecue (it's always delicious, but each region has it's own way to prepare it) and caipirinha (a cocktail).

[Kute]

Very interesting @ladyblack  I bet its so expensive at those beaches cause its a main tourist area?  Oh thats right theres the Amazon rainforest. How cool is that? I'd like to see how it is for myself. You know its one thing to see it on the television, but I really think its worth it to feel that humidity!  Is it very humid where you live?  BBQ sounds so good right now!!!! I might just have to look up Brazilian food and see if there is any around me because it seems so health and fresh! I love that style of cooking. 

[ladyblack]

@Kute I've never been to the Amazon rainforest, but my aunt did and she said it's awesome. São Paulo it's called "terra da garoa" (something like "the land of drizzle"), because they say it rains a lot here. In reality, the amount of rain depends on the season (for example, it's fall here now, and it's been a while since it rained; in the winter, we usually spend several weeks without a single drop of rain; summer and spring, on the other side, are usually very humid, but not as much as the Amazon). I went to a Brazilian restaurant in San Diego a few years ago, by the way. 

[jellysundae]

This talk of humidity makes me remember my trip to Florida . . . D:< This was over Memorial weekend in 2008, so THIS weekend, so not quite cranked up to full broil yet, but getting there? Anyway the difference in temperature to what I'm used to in the UK was pretty extreme! The Florida climate had been described to me by someone from Alabama as "being wrapped in a hot wet blanket," and wow, so very accurate! Stepping out of the air-conditioned airport into that damp heat was like walking into a wall almost. (Also, what is it with Floridian AC, it's positively COLD inside in most places!).

My workmate that I shared a hotel room with, she lives in Arizona, another place with extreme temps, but oh so different! She was quite literally melting in Florida, despite the actual temperature being a good 20 degrees lower than what she'd left behind in Arizona, because she couldn't handle the humidity AT ALL after being so acclimatised to the dry desert heat. While I coped surprisingly well despite the temp being a good 20 degrees higher than what I'd left behind! Seems the UK's high humidity stood me in good stead there!

I was sick as a dog for a week after that trip though, lol. The combo of hardly any sleep combined with being alternately baked alive outside then frozen to death inside several times a day, plus a complete drenching in one of the daily tropical downpours that we got stuck in, lol. Bit more than my immune system could cope with.

@Kute's talk of her parents wanting to move to Texas made me pull immediate D:< faces because of the humidity there which I hear is just as bad as it is in Florida. My Florida trip really drove home for me that people in the UK just don't know how lucky they are with our climate. How the combo of us being an island, and the prevailing south-westerly Atlantic air current, and Gulf Stream mostly keep our climate from reaching extremes.

Also, I have to admit that in my ignorance I basically assumed that everyone in the whole of South America was . . . South American. Latino as @ladyblack said. Also, now I need to ask, is the term "Latino" basically just what people from other countries call native South Americans? Is it a bad thing to call people? Like, um . . . red indians?

I hate how people are so defined by their perceived colour : / But . . . *sigh* . . . see just me being able to say that is my white privilege showing, isn't it.

[ladyblack]

@jellysundae at least in Brazil , we usually don't call ourselves "latinos", but I don't think of this word as an insult. But well, when some people (specially the racist ones, obviously) are told that they would be perceived as "latinos" in other countries, they get mad. In parts, I understand them — in a lot of places, "latinos" are stigmatized.

Oh, according to Wikipedia, the world "latino" is mainly used in the US, by the way. 

I don't like how people are defined by their perceived color, but, unfortunately, we are centuries away from getting over the concept of "race"

[jellysundae]

1 hour ago, ladyblack said:

Oh, according to Wikipedia, the world "latino" is mainly used in the US, by the way. 

I certainly notice that on TV, I'm honestly not at all sure what terms are used in the UK. I think we go by country more than race if we're talking about someone from somewhere else. Race getting a mention if some secondary identification is needed. Some people might say Latino, but maybe only because they've picked it up from watching US TV.

THAT is a bad thing about TV being fairly global now, we pick up other country's bad habits!

[Nielo]

2 hours ago, jellysundae said:

I certainly notice that on TV, I'm honestly not at all sure what terms are used in the UK. I think we go by country more than race if we're talking about someone from somewhere else. Race getting a mention if some secondary identification is needed. Some people might say Latino, but maybe only because they've picked it up from watching US TV.

THAT is a bad thing about TV being fairly global now, we pick up other country's bad habits!

I think it also has to do with the fact that we have a different relationship with ancestry/ethnicity than the US does. The US is a fairly young country (compared to most European countries, for instance), whose population - aside from the Native Americans, obviously - came from all over the world. I've noticed Americans tend to be very aware of where their ancestors came from; knowing they've got German, Norwegian, Italian, whatever blood. The only reason I know not all of my ancestors are Dutch, is because my dad is really into genealogy, and he stumbled upon a few who lived in Germany or Belgium, but knowing this is nothing more than a fun little fact for me.
When I was in the US, I also noticed that nearly every place I went to had a national history museum, detailing the history of not just the US, but that particular city. (I loved that.) But I'm pretty sure the only time I ever had to fill in a form that asked what my ethnicity was, was when I went to the US. I think that when so many groups of people "start" a country together, ethnicity/ancestry is tied to your identity quite strongly. (You can see the same when large groups of people have to flee their own country for whatever reason, and start anew somewhere else. Where they come from will be part of the next generations' identities as well.)

[Kute]

@ladyblackomg this is so embarrassing. I'm literally embarrassed for my country right now because using latino is like the respectful term. I didnt realize no one else said it.  I can understand your point of view though. personally I hate being called white. I would prefer caucasian or IDK something else... i just wish the color thing would go away. Even though thats like the most normal term.

@jellysundae I've actually never been to texas, so I dont know how it is. BUT i have been to florida multiple times. Usually I go in January, however one year i went in July. OMGHDJKHSKFDF. It was SO humid. Our plane had to be delayed as it circled around the airport waiting for weather to be better. Looking out the window I could see lightning in the clouds. I had to wear sandals and shorts and a rain pancho because the rain was hot and the air was hot and it would randomly start raining without warning. The first time my friends and I felt this we loved it and we got soaked, but you can only be wet running around outside for so long before it starts to hurt because you never dry! If Texas is like that then NOPE NOPE NOPE. 

I do like the heat of Arizona though. If I could I would 100% live in Arizona. Sedona or Prescott . I think its funny how the locals call Prescott PRESKIT. I'm like O_o how... it clearly has a O and two Ts. 

 

here are some photos of this lovely place. 

I believe this is called slide rock- although I may be mistaken - its .a natural pool/ water slide that stretches for miles. Many people play here on hot days.   The town photos. One is of Sedona one is of Prescott. I just love how they have the old western vibes going on. 

 

@Nielo  You are very right about the history museums. We have so many. I mean its just so common that I dont even think about it.  I didnt realize this was a unique thing about america. Thank you for that point of view.  Also my heritage is SO mixed up that its hard to remember and it makes me slightly uncomfortable knowing that people around me are so deep into their roots and tradition and I literally have no roots because I am so mixed. I wouldnt even know where to start. I know for sure my mom said that her grandmother spoke swedish?  I know that I have native american which I think is SO cool. but its mostly european ancestry and I couldnt even say what exactly. 

[phill]

I have some native american family. I've never met them though, my mother and a couple of my sisters go over to the US now and again to visit various family but I haven't been. Actually we've got rellys all over America, mainly North America though. Mostly the united states and a couple in Canada but yeah, all over. 

Re: what people refer to other people as...my step brother isn't white, he refers to himself as black. YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE how many people try to be PC and call him an African american.  No offense meant to my American friends here, but THAT he does find offensive. People try to be PC yet completely disregard the fact that he is not american. He's never even been to America. He's not African American.  He doesn't like being referred to as such. The internet seems to have made this the catch all PC term though...

 

Nielo, I've had to fill out a few of those ethnicity/race forms a few times. I always decline to answer on the grounds of it being none of their darn business and irrelevant. Along with my sexual orientation, shoe size and how I like my coffee.  Irrelevant. (Unless I'm buying shoes or coffee hahaha  )

[jellysundae]

18 hours ago, phill said:

Re: what people refer to other people as...my step brother isn't white, he refers to himself as black. YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE how many people try to be PC and call him an African american.  No offense meant to my American friends here, but THAT he does find offensive. People try to be PC yet completely disregard the fact that he is not american. He's never even been to America. He's not African American.  He doesn't like being referred to as such. The internet seems to have made this the catch all PC term though...

That is truly bizarre! Why on EARTH would someone . . . *head explodes* I can't even >_< These people don't take a cue from his ACCENT?!

19 hours ago, Kute said:

I think its funny how the locals call Prescott PRESKIT. I'm like O_o how... it clearly has a O and two Ts. 

Oh ho ho, local pronunciations . . . you should try it 'round here!

Let's see now . . .

• Great Hale - the village my mum lives in. We both say it as it looks, locals say it as one word - Gretale - gret like the end of regret
• Heckington - the village it's joined on to - Again we say it as it looks but locals - Eck-e-ton
• Anwick - that's a silent W there!
• Osbournby becomes Ozunby

But this general contraction of names is nothing compared to the confusion some village names create!

• Billinghay - I . . . don't know how to write how locals say this. xD Um . . . Billingurh. That's the closest I can get to it. >_<
• Aslackby - how do you think people say that? Local pronunciation is Azelby
• Belvoir - gonna take a guess at this one? Think large rodent. Yup, it's pronounced Beaver . . .

There's some wonderful village names around here though. Through the whole of England to be honest but I'm just looking at a map of here, lol. But you could name all the characters in an Agatha Christy novel with the village names in this area.

• Norton Disney
• Mavis Enderby
• Claxby Pluckacre
• Halton Holegate
• Boothby Graffoe
• Cherry Willingham

I've decided it was Sir. Claxby Pluckacre - in the library, with the lead pipe.

[ladyblack]

You guys remember when I said I liked living in São Paulo? Well, right now I don't lol

I don't know if anyone saw the news, but Brazil is a little bit chaotic right now. The truckers are on a strike right now, so we are not receiving gasoline. Or food. Or... well, pretty much, anything. (Relax, we do have food. It's just mor expensive and not so abundant). My university cancelled this week's classes because of the gasoline situation (the good part is that my immunology test was postponed). 

Also, I just found out that there is a wikipedia article for this chaos lol (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Brazil_truck_drivers'_strike). 

[jellysundae]

31 minutes ago, ladyblack said:

You guys remember when I said I liked living in São Paulo? Well, right now I don't lol

I don't know if anyone saw the news, but Brazil is a little bit chaotic right now. The truckers are on a strike right now, so we are not receiving gasoline. Or food. Or... well, pretty much, anything. (Relax, we do have food. It's just mor expensive and not so abundant). My university cancelled this week's classes because of the gasoline situation (the good part is that my immunology test was postponed). 

Also, I just found out that there is a wikipedia article for this chaos lol (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Brazil_truck_drivers'_strike). 

@deboratibi told me about the strike, she was afraid it was going to get a lot worse before it got better, do you feel the same? Are strikes a regular thing in Brazil? Some European countries do seem to treat them as a national past time, or at least they've had a stereotype for that in the past. French air traffic controllers I believe! And a quick check on Google shows they're still living up to that stereotype . . .

 

[ladyblack]

5 hours ago, jellysundae said:

@deboratibi told me about the strike, she was afraid it was going to get a lot worse before it got better, do you feel the same? Are strikes a regular thing in Brazil? Some European countries do seem to treat them as a national past time, or at least they've had a stereotype for that in the past. French air traffic controllers I believe! And a quick check on Google shows they're still living up to that stereotype . . .

 

Strikes are not uncommon in Brazil, but I've never seen one this large. I don't know if we have this stereotype in other countries.

Also, I think it might get worse. The government already promised them everything they asked, but now people are saying there are people that aren't truckers in the middle of the strike (?). I don't know, things are weird. I don't even know which news are fake and which are real anymore.

[jellysundae]

4 hours ago, ladyblack said:

Strikes are not uncommon in Brazil, but I've never seen one this large. I don't know if we have this stereotype in other countries.

Also, I think it might get worse. The government already promised them everything they asked, but now people are saying there are people that aren't truckers in the middle of the strike (?). I don't know, things are weird. I don't even know which news are fake and which are real anymore.

Hmm, so other people are stirring things up for their own agendas maybe? In the UK we haven't had any really bad striking for decades, but it's been terrible here in the past. The miners' strikes of the mid-80s were awful, a lot of rioting, it got really ugly. : /

 

 

[phill]

I think people here remember that before they decide to strike. After all the miners striked so long they had nothing to go back to because, whether you agreed with the government or the miners, it wasn't viable to open some mines up again and their jobs weren't there anymore.

[Kute]

oh wow. I just looked at that article and i had to see what the currency conversion was from R$ to US$ . It astounds me how differently currency can be across the world. 

[ladyblack]

10 hours ago, jellysundae said:

Hmm, so other people are stirring things up for their own agendas maybe? In the UK we haven't had any really bad striking for decades, but it's been terrible here in the past. The miners' strikes of the mid-80s were awful, a lot of rioting, it got really ugly. : /

 

 

Probably they are. But no one actually know who they are, I mean, people don't even know if they are left-wing, right-wing, centrists, whatever. Some of them claim for military intervention (that'd be right-wing, and the bad kind -- Brazil had a military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985, and, yeah, people disappeared), but they probably don't represent everyone involved, and both left-wing and right-wing are supporting the strike. 

As I said, it's confusing.

 

49 minutes ago, Kute said:

oh wow. I just looked at that article and i had to see what the currency conversion was from R$ to US$ . It astounds me how differently currency can be across the world. 

Currency from R$ to US$ is kinda unstable. A few years ago, it was R$2 to US$1, and several years ago it was 1:1. Today 1 USD is worth 3,70 BRL, but, sometimes, it's like R$4,50. I guess since Brazil is so politically unstable right now, investors don't see the country as a good place to put their money on.

 

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[xoxlexox01]

I am from Canada :).

I love Canada's Wonderland the best and 

Niagra falls.

Toronto is lovely to.

[sunny098]

On 5/26/2018 at 12:02 PM, Kute said:

Hello fellow california native! My family also finds the state ridiculous LOL and kind of want to move somewhere else like Texas ! My father actually has a permit to carry and had to take that safety course. Although we have never hunted before. I think that would be fun though!  I love the bay area! Its so nice because it is so unique.  My sister actually lives above the bay in Petaluma   if you know where that is? I love that place! Wish I lived over there.  I love driving up there to visit because we go right through SF  . The only scary part about leaving cali i think would be giving up REALLY GOOD mexican food!!! HAHAHA. we got it the best!!!

 

 

I'm technically not native, I came here from China when I was 6. Although, growing up here, I find myself sometimes making mildly racist remarks now and then about Asians to my friends (who are Asians as well surprisingly but they are like me, either born here or grew up here) because I just don't think about myself as Chinese anymore.  Your father must live in one of the more rural towns in California then! I hear they don't hand out carry permits here in the SF Bay unless you have a legit reason (and no for self defense is not a valid excuse unless you can prove someone is stalking you or something or you got a restraining order I guess). Yes, I know where Petaluma is, but never been before. I rarely head up north. Normally when I travel, I travel east into the Sierras or south.  

[Kute]

Oh cool  @sunny098. I appreciate that.  One question, did you already speak english when you came or only chinese? Also - i know there are a lot of chinese in that area so im sure it was easy for you to fit in???? I used to play maplestory with someone from the bay area so I sorta knew that. He told me everyone is chinese there. 

 

@xoxlexox01 That is a lovely area! Very nice. You know once at work I was so bored that I google mapped all of niagra falls. You know how you can click the little pins where people took 360 photos? Anyhow I was surprised to see its a wonderful little downtown tourist area on the canada side. Looks a bit like Las Vegas. 

[sunny098]

@Kute Yeah, I used to live in Fremont. Our schools were like 95% Asian. haha But not when I first came here though. The Asians slowly moved in. I came here only knowing the word "chair" literally. We were taught some English in China but it was British English, and I didn't learn very well. I picked up the language fast when I got here. I do miss the childhood ability to learn a language fast. A few years ago I tried to learn Japanese and it was hard! 

Maple Story, oh that brings back memories. That was me in like close to the end of elementary school and then Jr. High! It was a fun game, but I don't think it is like what it used to be.