@Florence

I hope you get to stay home but if not, take care out there!

@see_the_sus Thank you. I shall wrap up warm either way. You too!

@Florence

🤣 aahh, so you do know about the American Midwestern winters! 🤣

it took me about 2 winters in IN to get to where I could be outside for longer than 5 minutes and not feel like an icicle. By my last winter there, Jan 2022, I could be outside in 30F (-1C) with just a long sleeve sweater or thick top, gloves, and a scarf.

I gotta head to bed now, it's after 1 a.m. here. Take care and stay warm!!

@see_the_sus Oh, I honestly do. Born in NYC and other half comes from Chicago (he's already moaning that I've gone soft!) But it's just very unusual here!

One does adapt though somehow. When I'm in the States, perhaps I just dress up warmer. Outside in a tee-shirt? I'm going to have to come over there and wra;p you up!

@Florence oh, ya fooled me! 😂 Here I was making the silly assumption that you were Welsh or at least a native UKer. 😂

I’m jealous that you got out of the US. How long have you been over yonder?

@see_the_sus I'm a dual- national. I usually describe myself as an international hybrid or mongrel! I've spent my life pretty much half here and half there, and the third half (!) Traveling about the world!

@Florence

Niiice!
For years my family thought I had dual citizenship since I was born in Italy but thanks 😠 to being born on the base, I’m 100% American citizen. Bah humbug!

But my mom is American-Spanish, dad is American-German, and my last name is Danish thanks to a step-grandad. 😆

@see_the_sus My Mom was American but had British citizenship and my Dad was fully British. My mom however, lived almost exclusively in CA and so rarely visited the UK after her childhood (her parents were American Diplomats who lived in the UK).

@see_the_sus But, to be honest, both my parents were in the entertainment industry and so both were fairly peripatetic and traveled about a lot. I do truly think I've got a move-about gene!

@Florence
I love moving and experiencing all the differences. It’s eye-opening.

@Florence @see_the_sus Ha. I went to HS in Minneapolis before climate change. Snow would forgo MN and drop in IL where it was warmer. Every year Chicago had to borrow snow removal equipment from Mpls, like it was some big surprise. (But I admit that UK cold is very damp, so it has a different feel.)

@Notokay @see_the_sus It really IS a different 'cold', you're absolutely right.

@Florence @Notokay

I went from NM to IN and yeah, the humidity was a bear!

@see_the_sus @Notokay I can imagine. I feel ya though as I've spent most of my life switching between one country or continent after another! My childhood was very peripatetic and so I think it's in my genes now!

@Florence @Notokay

I’m an Army brat and though I came along at the end of my dad’s career, I moved only once while he was active, I caught the bug BIG TIME. 😄
As an adult, I’ve lived in 5 states and still hoping to get back to Europe. I was born in Naples but we were only there for three years. 😭

@see_the_sus @Florence Faculty brat here, then a dual-career academic. 10 states, three other countries.

@Notokay @see_the_sus I had a guardian who was a musician, with whom I went to live when I was six. Spent the nexgt 10/15 years going around the world on tour etc. Then went to Uni, then worked with a job I could move countries a lot (requirement) and so I think I was lucky really, it gave me flexibility and also a famiiarity with 'the different'.

@Florence @see_the_sus Not just familiarity with 'the different', but flexibility of thinking and understanding. And something monocultural (and sometimes provincial) people call "bravery." I moved from one side of the state to another to take a new job and one of my colleagues called me very brave?

@Notokay @see_the_sus I think people fear what they're unfamiliar with. I was home-schooled because of the traveling. By someone who left school at 15 but had intelligence, an inquiring mind and a freedom of spirit and soul. I always think my education, such as it was, was broader than conventional schooling. It gave me an openness to other cultures and ways of life I doubt I'd otherwise have. For which I'm truly grateful.

@Florence @see_the_sus Oh, indubitably. I homeschooled my kids at various points and it was a fabulous adventure.

@Notokay @see_the_sus That's EXACTLY the way I'd describe it. I totally agree.

@Florence @see_the_sus Of course, one of them is now in London doing research for her PhD dissertation, so I don't know if that's exactly a win (given the state of academia right now)!

@Notokay @see_the_sus I'd call it a win!

@Florence @see_the_sus Heh--thanks. I'll keep it in the category of 'education is never wasted' (except in cases like Josh Hawley).

@Notokay @see_the_sus Hah! I think Hawley knows exactly what he's doing which makes it much worse. To me anyway.

@Florence @see_the_sus Oh I agree 100%.

@Notokay @Florence

Exactly! When I moved from CO to NY, I drove and it was fascinating to see how the American freeway system developed as it went further west. And then, once I got ensconced in NY, well, my mind really got dizzy from the differences. 😄

@Notokay @Florence

I too have been called brave. I used to be befuddled and shrug it off but I’ve learned to just say, “Thanks” because 90% of the time the person just doesn’t understand my interest in exploring and that I don’t let the unknown get in my way.

@see_the_sus @Florence Well, I understand being called brave for traveling around the world by oneself (which I also have done), but for moving across the state to take a job? That's just a head-scratcher.

@Notokay @Florence

When I lived in lower-upstate NY & then north Jersey, I met a lot of people who had zero interest in ever leaving the island. Even to just go to Jersey.

@see_the_sus @Florence Ha. It seems endemic in this country, TBH. I've seen the same in people from CA to IA to MA.

@Notokay @Florence

True. I think what it startled me so much about NYC was that A) it's an island and yeah sure it's got a shit ton of things to do but it's the East Coast and you can visit several states in one day! And B) I naively assumed (I was a mere 27) that people there were more cultured and adventurous. Silly me.

@Florence @see_the_sus Another peripatetic childhood and young adulthood here, both international and stateside! My favorite question (not): "Where are you from?"

@Notokay @see_the_sus Mine too! I usually just say, hopefully enigmatically, 'I'm International'. I dislike that question because where we are 'from' varies in meaning from person to person in as much as I still think of NYC as 'home' as I was born there but have spent more time in CA and WY and Chicago. Sometimes I feel more British. With me it varies from day to day!