Word of the Week

Ladybugladybird

Fly away home

Definition: A tiny bug that is red with black spots.

Used in a sentence:  Why is it that people consider a ladybugladybird to be cuter than any other insect?

Funny things Ross Says

Yesterday morning I woke up with the squeakiest remnant of a voice ever.
I'd had a slightly sore throat the day before, but despite the fact that I felt fine all day yesterday I sounded pitiful.
Today it's a bit better, but still a little high pitched.

Ross suggested that there might be a cause.  What was it, you ask?
"Maybe your accent is breaking."
Yep.  Perhaps that's how it works.  You move to a new country and then suddenly after you hit a certain stage, funny things start happening to your body.  Your voice gets squeaky for a while until one day it settles into a new and lovely accent.  I'm hoping it's not a Salford (basically a suburb of Manchester) accent.

I have a more likely theory:

Cottonwood

I thought I'd left my arch nemesis and biggest allergy behind when I left Texas.  Nope.  The sky outside our window yesterday was thick with this white fluff of doom.  It looked like it was snowing!  Ross had never heard of something called cottonwood, but didn't know what it was called here.  A little google search tells me that it is probably called Black Poplar here.

Other expats out there- is there anything you thought you were leaving behind only to find it unexpectedly in your new country?