Over-taxed and under-paid

Okay, so we all know that when you leave the international scene you take a pay cut. When you teach in Korea at least, they pay for your housing (utilities are cheap and you pay those yourself), cell phones are inexpensive and you can nab a used car for about $400 (and the insurance is about $500 all year), the school also pays for you to come and go at least once a year, they pay some shipping costs and have all kinds of amenities you can use at the school (like the gym, the field, the swimming pool and so on). So I knew things would be different when I came to the US, I knew I'd be paying rent and I knew my utilities would more expensive. I knew my brand new car would cost me a little more and that the health care would suck in comparison (I don't mean the doctors, I mean the costs)... but I thought I was prepared. But I wasn't prepared to be taxed to death!! There are state taxes on everything (they make Canada look like a tax haven) and there is even a personal property tax on my vehicle. I just found out that I am going to have to pay $300+ by December in personal property taxes because I own a new car... never mind that I already paid sales tax on it... never mind that I have NEVER heard of being taxed on a car (okay, not true, in Korea they tax you on owning a car, but it amounts to about $120 a year total).... The actual yearly total for my car is over $500 but since I came halfway through the year I have to pay just $300... *sigh* and people wonder why people in the US aren't surviving this recession... all the money they earn goes to gas, taxes and the government... sad, so sad...

American-sized....

So, in the normal world chairs are meant for one person to sit in, but not so in the US. Everything here is bigger... this is the chair my boyfriend bought for his living room. I love it and helped to pick it out, but we can both sit in it without even touching. So, this is an American-sized chair... bigger (and I have to say it's better in some ways, we actually fell asleep in it and didn't even notice until WAY later!!). Another picture of me being swallowed up by it is soon to follow. :)

American Football

This weekend I went to my first ever NFL game in Baltimore, MD. It's not quite the same as Canadian football, but it's close. But I think that the fan attitude is more like Canadians are with hockey (the best dang game ever!!).... anyway, here are the pics... enjoy!!


The Raiders playing the Ravens.

This crazy fan painted his head silver...

The Raiders right before the game....

The Ravens band... the biggest band in the NFL.

Kelvin and I at the game.

The stadium before the game starts...

The stadium on the outside...

The tailgate party outside the stadium.

Coffee Shops

Another comparison for you... in Korea when we had our base passes, we (we=Raymond, J-9, April and other cool teachers) could go on base to the little coffee shop to do our grading or some random school work in a somewhat quiet environment.... however, those passes didn't last and we had to beg our way on most of the time through sports or some other random organization or event. So we had to resort to Starbucks or some other Korean coffee shop, which can be the LOUDEST places on earth. They are consistently packed and never, EVER quiet. However, in the US, you can go into the coffee shop, set up your computer and be relatively undisturbed and in a somewhat quiet environment. I am at one now and loving it... relishing in it really... *sigh* This is a good comparison, one where I side with the US...

Holy Halloween Batman!!

Sorry... the title just seemed more fun. In this blog, it has been my endeavour to make observations on the cultural differences I have seen in my travels etc. Here are my Halloween observations:

Oman - No Halloween

Korea - Growing Halloween. This holiday (is it a holiday?) has become more and more popular, but mostly as an adult festivity. Adults in Korea (mostly foreign and some nationals) hold huge parties and dress up. Most kids do not Trick-Or-Treat, although lots of the foreign kids find a way to do that in their smaller communities or schools.

Canada - Kids Trick-Or-Treat and adults have parties. There are pumpkins carved and outside the houses and some decorations. It's fairly innocent with some pranks and fireworks.

USA - Um... wow... the decorations are insane. They are taking over the stores, the yards, the houses (but not the schools... no Halloween there). There are pumpkins carved everywhere, kids talk non-stop about their costumes, and packets of candy have been in the stores since the end of August. It is almost as huge (commercially) as Christmas is at home in Canada.

Korean kids vs American kids

Okay, people are always asking me what the difference is between Korean and American kids and I am here to tell you: NOTHING!! Korean kids whine, talk a lot, chatter endlessly, tattle on their friends, work hard, are excited to learn to read and write and all that fun stuff. But here is the secret, US kids are the same!! They whine (yes, even in that same tone as the Korean kids... and I am talking NON-Asian kids), they chatter endlessly, talk constantly to anyone in ear-shot, tattle on their friends for the silliest things, they work HARD on their assignments, and they are EXCITED to learn.
I guess the biggest difference is the parents. Korean parents go too far in pushing their kids to study hard and advance their education and American parents are much more relaxed. When I would send home homework in Korea, it was done and the kids KNEW the information when it came back... whereas in the US, most of it comes back, some never does and lots of parents rush their kids through it on the first day so that they don't have to do it daily (I send home weekly packets with prescribed pages per day).
So, it's not the kids that are so different, it's the cultures and the parent's approach to education that is so different.

Police and hoops.

SO... after all the trouble and paperwork of getting my car imported and asking 8 million questions to be sure I had it all under control, I got pulled over by the police the other day (just down from my school - awesome). Apparently, asking all the right questions to the right people doesn't mean you get the right answer. The question was: Do I need to get a state inspection for my brand new car? The answer: No, not for the first two years. The truth from the lovely police officer: Get the inspection or I'll ticket you!! Okay... so I got the inspection. Thankfully there is an inspection spot right across the street from my school so I got it done a day later. But geez...

The apartment is done...

The kitchen, I am cooking a small Canadian Thanksgiving...

Bet you can guess what room this is...

The lovely TV that my lovely boyfriend gave me!!

The living room.

More living room...

the hallway...
The dining room
The all important wine rack in the dining room.

So there you have it folks, my first US apartment. There are still things to be done and a couple of boxes of antiques to sell off... but it feels more like home now.