Notes from the Cape

American food is quite something. Everything comes in huge portions, is fried, and is processed! It is really difficult to eat healthy food here without making it yourself. Even the salads will have an oily dressing, or fatty bacon it them. When we order something simple like a cheese roll, they seem to think that we are crazy, and we battle to prevent them from putting on meat (which of course is a problem for Lois). Even then, they will make the cheese about 1cm thick! A side portion of chips is enough to feed four! I can see why so many American’s are so fat. It is just too easy to eat badly.

The service is also unpredictable. It’s either great, or shocking. We had an argument with a waitress because she brought cold tea and refused to replace it with hot tea (she eventually saw it our way). Speaking of tea, they cannot make decent tea, and the coffee that is served has always been sitting for a while and is very bitter. It is never freshly made. When ordering, you have to ask for milk, otherwise you get cream.

However when we have had good service, it has been outstanding. In general, staff have been efficient, friendly and efficient, and nothing is too much bother (you’re welcome!).

The locals are doing their best to make me feel at home. Since Sunday, I have just missed a shooting in a jewelry shop heist, had to evacuate the hotel in a suspected fire (none found), and the sign outside the hotel was knocked over by a (drunk?) driver.

Washington is the cleanest city I have ever visited. The pavements are clean, and there is almost no litter. The metro is clean, very cheap and airy. London – take note! However one problem is that the metro does not go everywhere. There several monuments that you need to walk to or take the bus.

Craig

ps: I am actually having a great trip, but SA has a lot over USA in many ways – we can also learn a lot.

Today and tomorrow Lois has Toastmasters Training, which gives me two days to myself. So, I have been doing a lot of travelling. The tour buses are hop on – hop off, which is really great!

I am currently sitting in Washington Park, waiting for the next bus. I started the day by visiting the Jefferson Memorial, which is a large rotunda-shaped memorial. It is centred by a statue of Thomas Jefferson, which is about 19′ tall. The memorial is right on the edge of the Tidal Basin by the Potomac River, and is a very cool and reflective place to spend some time.

Just next to the Jefferson Memorial is the Roosevelt Memorial. Of interest here is that it shows Roosevelt in a wheel chair, after he was crippled by Polio – attended to by his dog! The also have in interesting quote by Eleanor Roosevelt: "Franklin’s illness gave him strength and courage he had not had before. He had to think out the fundamentals of living and learn the greatest of all lessons-infinite patience and never-ending persistence.". The entire quite is written in very large braille. You can see on the picture on the left.

Next was the Arlington Cemetery, which was enormous. It was very sobering to see row upon row of white tombstones, containing memorials to people from many wars – amongst them Vietnam, Korea, and World War 2. I saw the grave of John Kennedy. It contains a flame which was lit by his wife Jackie at his funeral in 1963. She is now buried alongside him. They also had a changing of the guard which was not very exciting. The graveyard is a stark reminder of our mortality.

The Vietnam Memorial is very sad. It is a gently sloped pathway, with a wall containing a list of all US servicemen that died in the Vietnam war. At the beginning of the pathway, you see only a few names. By the time you are in the middle, you are dwarfed by the wall. Every few steps, you can see a bunch of flowers, or a photograph of a veteran.

The Lincoln Memorial (there are lots of memorials in DC!) is at the West end of the mall, overlooking the Reflecting Pool, and providing a stunning view of the Washington Monument and the Capital at the east end of the Mall. I believe that the design is based on the temple of Delphi in Greece.

Right, here comes my bus…

…my legs are really sore from all the walking. I have just found my favourite beer (Bass from Burton on Trent in UK) in the hotel bar!

This afternoon was a bit quieter – with a visit to the National Cathedral. It was built in the Gothic style, and is very reminiscent of Notre Damme. However, building started in 1907, and was only completed in 1990! The building does really look very old. It is a quiet spot where you can sit and contemplate the world.

More to follow later…

Craig

So, we have arrived in Washington DC today. We went to the Air and Space museum. It was great. We saw the original Kitty Hawk – the Wright brothers’ aeroplane, the Apollo 11 lunar landing module, and Skylab. This was all original stuff – not replicas. Tomorrow we are going on a ‘Duck’ tour, in a restored 1942 amphibious vehicle.

The weather is great, in general about 32 deg. We just got back from a swim at the hotel at 6:00pm!

We have spent the last few days with at my brother in law Marcus, and his wife Paddy. We have visited the New Jersey, the most decorated battle ship in the US navy ever, and strangely enough we went to a Duck Decoy museum, all about the wooden decorative ducks.

We also when to Philadelphia, where we saw the Liberty Bell – which they allowed Lois to touch. There was a huge photo of Mandela there (yay)! We also went into the room where the US declaration of independence and the constitution were signed. We rounded off the day with a horse and carriage ride. It’s great being on leave.

SA can learn a lot about customer service from USA. Everybody is very willing to help, and nothing is a bother. Service is fast, friendly and efficient (addendum: it’s either really good, or really bad – never in between).

A downside of this is that they tend to live in a consumer-based society. Many people only live on fast food and are immensely overweight. They have to park in disabled bays because they are too fat to walk any distance. We say a man order 6 donughts at Dunkin’ Donut (sic), and eat them all in a few minutes.

I have to respond to the feedback about the flags. Americans are immensely proud of their country. It does not mean that they support George Bush, or the current war. Many don’t. However they do believe that they live in the best country in the world. That is what SA can learn from! It was described to me in a quote ‘it is the world’s largest dysfunctional family – they don’t always get along, but they support each other against other families’.

DC is expensive – it is about $5 for a beer, so taking it slowly.

Craig

ps: I have been delegated to my GRPS cell phone – haven’t found Internet here yet!

pps: 6176 is our room number – some of you might know the significance of it…..

Ok – so everybody wants to know how chaotic the security procedures were at the various airports after the recent Heathrow scare. Well, sorry to disappoint you – the queue’s were short, the staff were efficient, and everything happened on schedule. In fact, at JFK we took about 1/2 hour from landing to exiting the airport. The only problems we had were that my deodorant was confiscated when we boarded the aircraft!

You have to experience America to really understand it. Everything is bigger, better and faster! Everything you buy in the supermarkets is big – from packs of tea, to vegetables, and huge packets of laundry detergent. The variety and range of goods is staggering, from entire rows dedicated to crisps (OK – chips), tons of different teas, and of course Oranges from South Africa. This was in a small supermarket.

So far, I am amazed at the level of customer service. Everybody we encountered at JFK were friendly, they all greeted you and were all helpful. This included the huge security guard standing at the exit to our aircraft when we arrived.

The road we took from the airport to Wilmington (where I am currently typing this blog) is eight lanes (in each direction) – so sixteen lanes in total!

USA is a very patriotic country, many of the houses have USA flags hanging outside.

There is a lot of ‘bad’ things we often say about ‘The American Way’ and how they support each other almost to the exclusion of anybody else, but I think that perhaps us in South Africa can learn a thing of two from USA. Imagine the ‘South African Way’, and support for each other. Imagine a world-class level of customer service in South Africa. Imagine a country where you don’t have to keep everything kept behind barbed wire, electric fences and armed guards.

Anyway – enough thinking, I am off to explore Wilmington…

Craig

ps: I am writing this on a 5 Gig fibre optic Internet connection – at somebody’s home…