What is your favourite purchase from the US?
Either my Adidas shoes, or my domo-kun.
I found a Domo-kun that you can make yourself by printing this picture out and following the folding lines (it also makes his TV set):
Some basic info about Domo-kun (credit to Wikipedia):
Domo-kun is described as “a strange creature that hatched from an egg.” Domo’s favorite food is Japanese-style meat and potato stew, and he has a strong dislike for apples, due to an unexplained mystery in his DNA. Domo-kun is known to pass gas repeatedly when nervous or upset.
What’s your favourite souvenir from the holiday?
Either my Alcatraz/San Fran tee, or the grizzly bear I got from the San Fran zoo. (He is called Monarch, because the very first bear at the San Francisco zoo was called Monarch, and that’s who he’s supposed to be.)
What’s the thing you missed most while you were away?
Firstly, Po. I also missed peeps, my bed, the rest of my clothes, creature comforts…
What’s the thing that you missed the most about Australia?
A fundamental feeling of belonging, of knowing where I stand. Also, clothing variety. Australia seems to have a lot more range when it comes to clothes.
What did you like most about the US?
The automation of the toilets in rest-stops. Where we would probably have a pit toilet (even one of those modern ones that don’t smell all that much), they have self-flushing toilets and taps that automatically turn on when you put your hands under them. Keep in mind that these are random rest-stops along the highway – not in towns, or shopping centres, or anything.
What did you like least about the US?
Well, the bad thing about the automation of the rest-stop facilities is the self-flushing toilet. It would be good if it only worked when it needed to, but 99% of the time the flushing mechanism was over zealous, and not only did it waste a lot of water, it wasn’t an enjoyable experience.
I also found some Americans ambivalent and/or brusque, especially sales staff.
I feel I should counter this, though, by saying that there were also a lot of friendly, helpful, lovely people in America. One example was a lady working at a gas station near the Canadian border. She told us a lot about what to expect on the border crossing, and also about weird things to do with gas stations and the hoses and stuff.
What was the best food you tasted in America?
The organic strawberries that we got at either Safeway or Bristol Farms. They were delicious. Oooh and also this banana pudding thing that was made from tapioca and other stuff. It was so awesome. And Americans really know how to make burgers. I only had chicken burgers, but they were all good.
What was the worst food you tasted in America?
Maybe some chicken thing from McDonalds. Or the frozen yoghurt, but only because my mouth was expecting frozen yoghurt and it got vanilla soft-serve, and it’s like when you take a big gulp of what you think is apple juice and it’s actually vegetable oil.
What are you going to miss about the US?
Seeing things different to here, just ordinary things like walking down the street and seeing different stores, or being in a grocery store and seeing different products, or seeing different advertisements on TV (I got sick of the adverts quickly though, except one).
What was the funniest thing that happened on the holiday?
One thing that was funny was when we stopped at a KFC for lunch on one of the legs of our drive, and a kid tried to explain to me how biscuits were “sooooo good!”. Or maybe the multiple times Tim and I were asked if we were Canadian. Do Americans really think Canadians sound so different?