United States of America

I'm in the states for work for two weeks and was encouraged strongly by our financial director to take a trip over the weekend. I decided to head to San Francisco, despite people thinking I'm mad (the office is in Greenville, South Carolina).

Maybe it is a bit mad to travel ≅4000km for a weekend city trip, but it's nothing compared to travelling between Brussels and Melbourne! I flew to San Francisco immediately after work on Friday, via the hilariously named George Bush Intercontinental Airport (presumably because “International” just isn't enough). Well, maybe a bit before “after work” since I… err… snuck out to catch my flight…

After what feels like a sempiternal reign of incoherent belligerency, we can finally say goodbye to that imbecilic Texan simian and his band of merry idiots, and welcome something fresh — hopefully something successful.

Now Barack, I might be just one voice in an enormous sea, speaking from outside your country's borders irreverently, but let me say this as clearly as I can so that it might be picked up by a whitehouse.gov flunky: Don't screw up.

I don't particularly care about politics within the United States especially, but considering how inextricably tied the world is to your country — financially or otherwise — and the current state of society at large, it seems you have a hell of a mess to clean up; In particular after your predecessor. I don't envy your task ahead, but please: Don't screw up.

Ghost towns have always piqued my interest. There's something interesting about how a large number of people can gather together to build a town, or even a city, only to have some unforeseeable event render the area deserted.

Because of the Victorian Gold Rush, I'm familiar with quite a few ghost towns from an Australian perspective, however sadly there's not much left due to the Australian Government's policy of destroying them.

Yesterday I completed my quick tour of duty in the USA. I must say, it's good to be back in the city of Belgium, here in Eastern Europe. Well, close enough anyway, right?

Seriously though, I honestly have the feeling that I've been isolated from the world. Despite what they think over there, the concept of World News doesn't really exist in the USA, so I didn't know about the murders in the Marolles, nor the bikie violence in Melbourne. I've been under a rock, and yet the rest of the world heard about the firefighters who died in Charleston.

What does a European do when they find themself in Greenville surrounded by bars with televisions blaring sports news and serving weak North American domestic beer? They go to Addy's, a nice Dutch place run by a guy with enough self respect not to serve imported gnat's piss like Stella Artois.

Unfortunately, even as Addy himself admits, the locals aren't quite ready for a real bar with some real beer. It's only been a few months since Greenville changed the alcohol limits on beer, and if the new strength of the beers isn't enough then the atmosphere will certainly be a culture shock.

After a reasonable drive, through peach and firework country, up to the border between North Carolina and South Carolina, I arrived early this morning at Carowinds (RCDB) accompanied by colleagues and their family. Fortunately despite the humidity, the weather wasn’t too hot and warnings of rain kept the crowds low.

The park is quite green however it is very dry, with very few fountains and no large body of water to take the edge off the heat. I imagine in summer the park would be stifling hot. This season marks the first year under the new management of Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, and surprisingly the park is very clean and in excellent condition.

With much acrimony, my office finally accepted to move me from my hotel in the middle of no-where to a hotel right in the heart of Greenville. Stuck without a car, as Mr. Brewer was, the Greenville Marriott becomes really isolated as it's almost entirely surrounded by freeways. The two locations are really a fair distance apart without a car.

Freedom has come at a slightly additional expense (to the company), as I leave the company suite and move into the Hyatt Regency Greenville on Main Street. The Hyatt is a fairly old hotel and looks like it was renovated in the 1990s, compared to the Marriott which was built only a few years ago.

A trip to the United States of America wouldn’t be complete without visiting a real American home. Fortunately this evening I can now cross a few more things off my list: I’ve visited a truly American home just near Paris Mountain (and had myself a fantastic cook-out as a result), met a dog that can read, and finally seen fireflies outside of Disney cartoons.

An American colleague of mine, who is actually our project manager for our ERP system migration, kindly invited me out to his house for a real cook-out. This suited me perfectly. A large chunk of carefully seasoned and cooked steak and some giant spuds is always a great meal.

Stopping over for six hours in Atlanta waiting for my connecting flight now grants Atlanta a spot along side Brussels, İstanbul and Dubai on my list of airports I know intimately. Not really a thrilling accomplishment for a city that was once home to the Olympics, I suppose.

After a long flight, with so many security checks, it was a little daunting to arrive from the soberness that is Brussels airport early in the morning to the business airport in the world. Surprisingly, people were quite rude through-out the airport in general, but in small groups they were excessively friendly. Within 15 minutes of arriving, I was already thrown into a conversation about American politics, the Iraq war, and US immigration policy.

Today I'm flying off to Greenville, South Carolina, one of 31 Greenvilles in the USA (or 32, if you count Greeneville). I've been told by Mr. Brewer, who went not too long ago, that the southern hospitality is something to behold. Even after my last business trip to Miami, where I was told repeatedly that “this is not what America is like”, I think I need to brace myself for yet another culture shock.

I'll be privileged enough to be stuck for several hours in cattle class on Delta to Atlanta, only to wait there for six hours waiting for my connecting flight. Maybe it's not so bad, since it doesn't beat my 8-½ hour stint in Dubai. Fortunately SITA have Wi-Fi hotspots all over the place there, and it'll take me at least an hour to get through customs.

Whilst you all bestow me with sympathy comments (or not), I thought I'd share my thoughts (read: ramble) on some things that evoke a sense of culture shock for me.