Week 3.4 - 10 Good things about Texas

Alright, it would seem that I haven' been very positive about Dallas so far and all I have done is share my mis-adventures.

So here we are: 10 good things about Texas/USA

1. Ladies are treated like ladies - Everyone addresses you as "M'am" and the guys will hold lifts, open doors and pull chairs for you. Maybe it is common American chivalry, but hey, kind of nice especially when you have a few laptops and bags to juggle.

2. Free refill for soda at most food places - The Hungry Jacks in North Sydney does that, but here we are talking about a large varieties of drinks you can have, including ice-tea and slurppies. It is great because you can fill up a cup of ice before you leave a place, and 5 minutes outside, you have yourself a nice ice-water.

3. Sauce and condiments are free - We are not talking the 2 sachets of tomato sauce that you might get at Mccas if you asked. Tomato sauce, soy sauce, mustard, sweet and sour sauce, chili sauce; You name it, they've probably got it. Drown your food in them, all free. (The package is so cute too!!)

4. People are generally very friendly and chatty - you will get good mornings and good afternoons from strangers passing you by in the corridor at work, in a queue in an eatery, etc. There also seems to be quite a few people wanting you to take pictures of them on the street if they see you with a camera... (maybe that's not necessarily a good thing, but these are friendly folks).

5. Rates for Pre-paid mobile are great here - Local calls are very cheap. I have a prepaid phone, where I can call anyone nationwide on the same carrier for free anytime I want. All it does is deduct 99c a day and I think calling other carrier's phone cost me like 10c a minute. You can't beat that!

6. The main post office here operates 24hrs - If you ever felt the urge to go and send a letter in the middle of the night, you could!

7. Summer nights are great for hanging out - It is always balmy at night around the 26-28C mark - you can keep your summer flowy dress on all day and all night. No jackets required.

8. Everyone seems to love the Aussie accent - Maybe there are not that many Australian tourists here, but I have been told repeatedly, by lots of different people, that they can just listen to me talking all day with my Aussie accent (do I really have that strong an Aussie accent??? Maybe they are having me on... Oh and they always want to know if I am from Sydney and when I tell them I am not, they ask me how far Melbourne is from Sydney…)

9. It is ALMOST always sunny (well, most of the time) - It is great if you wanted to get a tan. Just go right outside and tan yourself to the shade you want, all in under an hour.

10. Shopping malls are open till late every day - They are open until 10pm weekdays, and 9pm on Saturdays at most places. Gals, it is like late night shopping EVERYNIGHT!! *spend spend spend*