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#5: Bad things about living in a big city

27/10/2017

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1. City noise. Traffic and construction, though the latter comes with a booming economy.

2. City pollution. Bring on the electric-car revolution!

3. People in the service industry have more energy than I am comfortable with. A friend visiting from Scotland recently said the same. Perhaps my years living there affected me.

4. I find non-tax-inclusive pricing to be a very deceptive practice, and a failing of government. They can layer on federal tax, by state tax, county tax and city tax, so driving 20 mins away, outside of the city limits, items are taxed differently. Price tags and listed prices are always exclusive of tax which is calculated at the register.

5. I encounter a lot of homeless people and people with mental issues and substance addictions. Also, living close to downtown and catching busses often, I encounter them even a lot more. Seattle has one of the highest number of homeless people in the US. Having said that, to quote one homeless man on a bus, if you're homeless in Seattle, you'll never go hungry, and never need for the bare basics (he specifically mentioned clothing), as they will be given to you. 

6. America-level violent crime. I still can't get my head around shootings actually happening, let alone being [frighteningly] common. Just last night a poor girl walking her dog in the nearby University District was shot 5 times in a drive-by shooting.
My entire adult life I have lived near cheap, high crime areas. Oats St, Perth; Kabukicho, Tokyo; Hanoi; and Leith, Edinburgh. I've never been involved in an altercation because I follow strict, common-sense rules and have been very lucky, but this place, with so many mentally ill people on the streets, and guns so readily available, it is just so much worse. I neither work nor live downtown, but I never feel safe when I am there.
​
Overall, I'm loving Seattle, but if I've learned one thing, it's that every place has its pros and cons.  I maintain I made the right decision.
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#4 Good Things About Living in a Big City

20/10/2017

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I moved here from Edinburgh, population 500,000, without so much of a downtown/central business district as much as a historic center. Glasgow, an hour away felt like a modern city, whereas Edinburgh, though a great place to live, did not.

Seattle feels alive with people and is buzzing. Something as simple as the sheer size of buildings, whether skyscrapers or large in other means add to the buzz and atmosphere. The local Boeing factory and airfield means all manner of interesting planes fly very close overhead but make little noise. There's excellent public transport, excellent food (groceries and restaurants, both common and with plenty of new things,) lots of diversity among the people, wide car lanes and excellent roads, diverse choices for where to live and what type of home, good shopping, lots of economic opportunity, and lots to do and explore in and around the city.
That's what I wrote when I first landed here, and I wouldn't retract anything, but six months in and I would add that there is so much going on in the way of events and entertainment that you choose what nights to take off, knowing you're missing out on some event, or don't want to know what you're missing out on. 

I'm definitely a city mouse, and this was definitely one of the many reasons why I quickly declared this permanent move to have been an excellent decision. 

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#3 Americans are loud.

13/10/2017

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I know this is a stereotype we've all heard and perhaps observed at times, possibly much to our amusement at the reception desk of a museum in Milan, *ahem,* but today I was in Pike Place Market, and two middle-aged grocers, standing perhaps 2 meters (yards) away from each other were yelling their conversation at each other. Do they always use their outside voice, or was their conversation about why that specific breed of asparagus is tastier because of a certain chemical perhaps a work of performance art designed to increase sales? I don't know.

Seriously though, us Australians are just as loud as Americans, myself doubly so, so I think I may have found my people. I'm especially loving how friendly people in the Pacific North West (PNW) are - as friendly as West Australians, which I have found nowhere else. It didn't take long to be glad this is my new home.
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#2 Portion Sizes and Doggy Bags

6/10/2017

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This one's a favorite to discuss on the Aussies in America Facebook group.

It's one thing to be told all your life how big the restaurant servings are in the US and how it's normal to take home leftovers, but it's another to be faced with it. 

But on week one I shocked myself by finding I'd already finished my delicious ravioli, the free garlic bread AND the free chicken and leek soup that came with it. 
The person next to me expressed their amazement that I finished all that.

So yes, I need to learn to take leftovers, which six months in, I still forget to do.
My great-aunt lived in the US for 30 years. All my life, whenever she wanted a doggy bag, she'd ask the server for the container so she could pack it herself. It stemmed back to a (now hilarious) experience in New York where the waitress came back with massive a massive bag for her. My Aunt asked "what's all this?" and the waitress said in hushed tones "I gave you everyone else's too" with a wink. 

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    About this blog

    Musings, frustrations and wonderment from an Australian who moved to the US having never visited the country before. 

    ​This is the fifth country I have lived in in five years, and if I've learned one thing, it's that every place has its pros and cons.

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