Settling in

As anyone who has ever travelled will realise there are some cultural adjustments that we've had to make. Here is one humorous incident as an example:

Coffee creamer
What is coffee creamer?? I'm at a disadvantage here as I've never really developed a coffee habit, so I'm unaware generally of the world of coffee - we may well have this product in Australia. However, even if we do its prevalence and placement in the refrigerator section at the supermarket is definitely different over here. Oh, is coffee creamer any good I hear you ask. Well I don't know - I've never experienced it in coffee. But drinking it straight...well it sure ain't big M. Now the story.
Probably our third day here, and we were severely under resourced. We had no car, no mobile phones, no duna or blankets on the bed, no pillows, no rubbish bin, no food...for those who've seen Dumb and Dumber, it was one of those 'our pets HEADS keep falling off!' experiences. Apologies to those who haven't - um please don't rent it out and see it, it was squalid and mainly unfunny, though it had a few good lines! Anyway, it was a bit of a vicious circle. OK, lets go get some provisions. How shall we go? Ah no car. Go where? Um, lets call up and check? Ah, no phone (yes we had a landline, but we didn't realise until fully two weeks into our stay that you had to dial '1' in front of every number so we thought it didn't work - highly frustrating). Well lets get a mobile phone. But where? Lets call around...ah no phone...lets use the internet (one of our neighbours generously neglected to password protect their wireless network. Its OK. we have our own connection now. Hold the judgement...gosh). Ah nothing within walking distance. Well lets buy a car then...ah no car yards within walking distance...well lets call around...anyway, you get the picture. This particular day I had decided that I was GOING to get a mobile phone each for me and Ange in the morning and if I still had the energy, I'd jolly well buy a car in the afternoon.
Hmmm. the morning was a testing time. I walked probably 10 minutes to the local 'Target' store. They had prepaids, but in Australia, prepaids are a bad deal right - gotta get a contract. I asked somebody at Target where another mobile phone (Cell phone idiot) shop was. 'Oh you just continue down Lake' I was told. When I overcame my lack of a sense of direction (which is only further confounded by the fact the cars go the wrong way) I proceeded down Lake. I had walked another perhaps 10 or 15 minutes when I saw a bank. 'Focus on the task at hand' said the little white angel on my right shoulder'. 'But you'll need a bank account at some stage' argued the little black angel with horns on my left shoulder'. Guess who won? Well a full hour and a quarter later ("What's your social security number sir?" "Um what's that? I brought my passport...) I emerged from Wells Fargo bank and continued 'down Lake'. I walked for what felt like another half an hour and after asking several times to make sure I hadn't missed it, finally found the mobile phone shop. I waited for ages, and was finally served. I equivocated, educated myself about US cell phone connections, bantered backwards and forwards with the salesman (playing the naive Aussie card does make friends quickly but it didn't get me a discount this time). Finally (I seem to be using that word a lot) I made my decision and went to sign the contract...'what's your social security number sir?' 'What's that...I brought my passport...?'. The long and the short of it was with no 'social' and no credit history I would have to pay $400 per connection - 1000 bucks Aussie - to be held for a year, just in case I proved to be bad news at paying bills. Naive Aussie. Nope - no way around it. Sorry. YOU'RE SORRY?!?!
By this stage I was ready to get anything. I found a mobile phone shop I'd missed on my way back would you believe, heard the same story and just got two prepaid connections.

Where does coffee creamer fit into this story? Patience.

Anyway, on my way back, I stopped in at Target for some provisions. I might as well get some groceries while I'm here I thought (Target here sells groceries too). So I loaded up with a few essentials that I thought I could fit in my backpack, and before I checked out I thought - boy I need a big M. Of course I realised that they wouldn't have big M here, but, well any flavoured milk would do. Just beside the milk, where I expected flavoured milk to be I saw it. 'Macadamia and white chocolate' it said and 'coffee creamer' in fine print. What an interesting and irresistable comination I thought...coffee, macadamia, and white chocolate...must be tried. The sad thing is that even though it was not what I expected I toughed it out and drank most of the bottle. These americans sure do like rich things I thought. Rightly curious and feeling a little green I read the nutrition information table. Even then I didn't get it. 2 grams of fat it said (Big M has 4), and 9 grams of sugar (Big M has between 9 and 9.6 depending on the flavour...per 100 mL serving size). Convinced it was better for me than big M but just inexplicably sickly rich, I kept drinking...until I noticed the 'serving size'. Wait for it.

ONE TABLESPOON!

I guess you're supposed to just put it in your coffee...