Time to update you guys of what I've been up to

In short there's a lot of strange things, a lot of familiar things, and I'm really enjoying being here.

My Burger King/McDonalds experience was really interesting. I'd heard rumors about this, but I didn't actually believe it really was so. The drink of the size "Small" here in the US is actually what we call "Large" at home. We've got two smaller sizes, and no bigger ones. Honestly. The size of fries and burgers seem to be the same, but the amount of soda you get here is awesome. I always increase the size of my menu at home because I need more to drink.

We've been to Walmart almost twice daily since I got here. There are so many foods and stuff I "have to try" and we've had to buy tools for the fun stuff we're up to too. He's taught me some chainmailling and I've made him play with colored papers and markers and glue.

Met most of the family yesterday. Still surprised at how I might not be as shy as I think I am. We went for a walk on a nature trail with sister and brother-in-law, and I'm disappointed that all the spring flowers I saw were exactly like the ones at home. Coltsfoot, Anemone nemorosa, and Johnny Jump Up are the ones I know the name of, and there was something I've always thought was Forget-me-not but apparently isn't. There were a few new flowers and plants, but most everything was familiar. Wild vines is probably the only thing that made the Arkansas forest seem foreign to me, we don't really have a lot of vines in our forests. At least not the ones I've been in.

I'm ill. Must have caught a cold from one of the thousands of people I passed by on my way here, in a plane or at an airport. My throat is swollen, nose won't stop running, and occasionally my head hurts. Started feeling it on Friday, so it stayed longer than I'd hoped it would. I zoned out a couple of times while visiting family yesterday, so maybe I did come across as very shy anyway due to my silence. With my luck I will probably be alright tomorrow, only to go greet `brokenboulevard at the airport the day after tomorrow and catch something else. It's kinda alright anyway though, means I'm getting pampered

We went to a Barnes & Noble some days ago, huge bookstore. Never seen a bookstore of that size before. I told `Zikes it was almost the size of our city library, but then I gave it some more thoughts and it's not quite that bad. The city library has four floors probably each of the size of that bookstore, maybe more. I was disappointed by their Fantasy section - while they did have a heck lot more Fantasy than any regular bookstore we've got at home, they didn't have the gemstones I could've made `Zikes buy. And the Disney section of their DVDs didn't have any Lion King

When my head starts working again I'll fill in the gaps of things I missed. We've been quite busy. It'll be awesome when `brokenboulevard gets here. Speaking of her, everyone but Sazza can note me to get a link to some photos if you want to see what we've been up to. Silly dude uploaded photos she's not meant to see until she gets here, so I can't put the link in the journal yet I'll be uploading photos of my own when the US Nokia charger gets here, stupid thing died on me.