Rambling over Kentucky (was Re: Buttermilk and absurd questions)

[pengolodh_sc at yahoo.no]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., Meredith Wilson 
<aviationoutreachcoord at m...> wrote:
[snip]
> We always said 'GEH-rud' but I'm from Fayette county, so I guess 
> they're more correct...  And I have to add 'I'm sorry.'  That's 
> near Lancaster, right?  Quite rural. I lived in Boyle county a 
> while (Danville) and I have to say I like it better here.  Heck, I 
> even like it better in Lexington!

I lived *in* Lancaster, in fact - and yes, it was rural, more so even 
than Lofoten, Norway (whence I hail).  My hostmother's parents lived 
in danville, so I was there quite often.  Many Sundays I listened to 
the Rev. Otis Clark in the local congregation of Disciples of 
Christ.  ::sigh::  I prefer Church of Norway, truth be told.The 
ceremonial of the Church of Norway seemed less theatrical to me thaan 
the lack of same in Disciples of Christ.  I'll add that i am not a 
particularly religious person.

In London, they aparently say Gærrard (they have a jeweller's firm 
that's called Garrard's - thieves stole an emerald-diadem belonging 
to Queen Sonja, inherited from Queen Maud (daughter of Edward VII) 
when it was at Garrard's for maintenance and repairs).

> Yeah, I finally got a diagnosis of something they'd been working on 
> in KY to figure out for close to 10 years.  I'm sorry about that...

Well, I never did have to take that cure - taking the TB-cure when it 
is not needed is not a smart thing to do, and can in fact work to 
promote resistant TB.  Dr Click wrote the healthdepartment a letter 
that in all likelihood was just as stern as the letter I got 
threatening to throw me out of USA if I did not get that TB-test ASAP.

I'll add that all the sinus-infections got me acquainted with a 
significant number of antibiotics, one of which was to be flushed 
down with cranberry-juice.  I trust you will forgive that I look upon 
cranberry-juice with less than benevolent eyes.

[snip]
> Ah, Kentucky high school girls... well, it was an experience I 
> guess.

Both he and her were in the band, her being 14 and pregnant, me being 
18 and him being 20.  I think they had a row beforehand, and he did 
not seem to care at all (which, truth be told, was lucky for me and 
my good health)

I noticed that most teachers did not react to girls putting on make-
up in class...  Not all girls did it of course, but those who did 
made up for those who didn't.

Comparing US highschool and Norwegian upper secondary school, the 
teacher-student realtionship is very different - in Norway we are on 
first-name basis with all teachers - it even extends to university in 
some cases.  It is not unheard of that if an upper-sec teacher and a 
student are both out on the town a Friday or Saturday night, they 
might have a drink together (you can buy alcohol from age 18 in 
Norway).  In general, the teacher's authority is relying less on 
rules and more on what respect s/he actually has earned in the class-
room.

[snip] 
> Although Kentucky Kingdom was pretty lame, then especially, they've 
> been purchased by Six Flags, so I have hope for it.  King's Island 
> on the other hand, I adore.  I tried to plan my last trip home so I 
> could go, but it ended up being 29 degrees the day I wanted to go, 
> which isn't great roller coaster weather.  Sad.  That's one thing 
> Seattle is missing!  We have earthquakes instead!

Well, Kentucky Kingdom nearly destroyed my back - I had to crawl out 
of bed of my stomach for several months afterwards.  Come to think 
about it, I should have sued them - could have landed myself some 
millions there.  There was this lawyer with real tacky commercials on 
the Kentucky networks...  What happened was that I was assigned a 
rollercoaster called the star-chaser, which is in a building without 
lighting.  It only had oldfashioned aircraft-style seatbelts, and I 
was supposed to measure acceleration there (it was a physics-project, 
after all...)  When I got out, my back really was hurting.

I agree on King's Island - it was great.  I chose to stay away from 
the rollercoasters, though...

The physics-teacher who took us to Kentucky Kingdom was really 
great.  In her classes, we built kites of balsa and garbage-bags, we 
built model rockets, we built rubberband-powered cars, racing them in 
the school corridors - I liked her.  Like all good teachers I've had, 
her authority was based on her being fair and knowing her subject 
well, while also being able to transfer that knowledge to us.

[snip]

Have you, btw, any recollection of Ale-8-One?  Just had to ask!

One thing I noted in USA was the size of supermarkets - they were 
large.  Wal-Mart and K-Mart particularly are a phenomenon not seen in 
Norway.  The biggest store I saw, however, was a Meyer-store.  It 
dwarfed even the largest K-/Walmart-stores - 36 cashregisters, I 
believe, all of them busy.  The food-section dwarfed the large 
grocery-stores in Danville, for certain.

Regards
Christian Stubø, who shakes his head sadly over his homeland on a 
daily basis.