The first few Daze in America

You may recall this is where we left Lisa, dozing peacefully after her long long plane adventure... 

CUE 4 HOURS LATER! Suddenly we're awake and confused! O.o

The sun is gone, toilets are flushing anticlockwise, it's actually cold and accents are flying around everywhere! 

Where are we, you ask? That's right, we're in America, land of the free, home of the baked... or something like that (we are in Washington after all, the now legally weed-embracing state).

So after getting my groggy little head up and into a shower (seriously, look at it going the wrong way down that drain!), which, hold on I'd like to stop and point out, was (like many of the things in Nic's apartment) a complete puzzle to try and make function. Stupid America, everything is different here. I put on a fresh set of clothes and felt slightly less zombie-esk just in time for Nic to come home from work so we could head out for dinner!

Hey I know this kid!

My first meal in America was at a Red Robin;

A diner so American it's as though it's parodying itself!

America; founded on freedom, liberty...

...And diabetes!

After I was tickled enough by the concept of waitresses who automatically refill your raspberry iced tea, baseball on the tv and the idea of calculating tips wherever you go (this part is awful), we braved the cold Bellevue night to seek out the Microsoft building!

Lisa Allen; Queen of soft and small things!
Geddit? Ha, man I'm hilarious.

Even just this little walk was so enchanting purely because of the nostalgic wintery cold and soft glow of fairy lights on the street posts that sparkle and play on the black pools of water on the sidewalk, forever wet from all of the Washington rain. I can bury my head in the depths of a warm scarf with the bitter cold pinching my cheeks and be cast back to Denmark or our cold walks in France... and feel right at home. I like it a lot.

But let's bandy right on past my introverted musings and get to the fun of the Microsoft building, which was AMAZING! Apparently clever creative geeks need a plethora of floors filled with entertainment; including pool tables, giant couches, indoor putt putt, giant fridges filled with free drinks and massage chairs.

Hello and welcome to Microsoft what can I interest you in?
Coffee? Tea? Excessive amounts of quirky furniture?

Or perhaps a genuine American Root Beer!
It tastes awful! :D

"What does this button do?" ~The story of how Lisa was attacked and broken by a giant massage chair!

Such a beautiful view of the lights of the city, and such intriguing messages written on the window...
"Look how beautiful the world is, but what are you doing here?"

We had fun playing and wandering the halls but eventually were both ready to concede how tired we were, went home and crashed after a long first day. My second (and even third) day proved what potent effects jetlag and plane rides have on your brain and muscles. After Nic had scooted off to work, I tried to do some yoga to warm up my stupidly sore muscles. Never before have I been so stiff and in poor form when attempting to resemble a dog that is facing downward or a semi-paralytic pigeon. You know what's good for sore muscles? ROCK CLIMBING!

False! :D

But this is what we did anyhow! I went with Nic and one of his German friends, Daniel, from work. The facilities here are huge compared to the ones on the gold coast, stacks of walls and bouldering areas (bouldering walls are the ones that only go about 5-6m in the air and just have tricky paths to try and climb to get there). It was insane!

Plenty of options of where and in which method I would like to embarrass myself!

(I kid, I'm actually an okay climber, but this blog would be less fun if I was competent at things... like travelling.)

I should explain now that, when I travel, I completely discard any hesitations of being social with strangers and throw shyness to the wind. This makes for many of my stories being far more fun, filled with adventures and other peoples stories and featuring many guest stars! (Don't worry, many of these stories coming of the various characters I have met thus far on my escapades) This is how I came to meet Michael at rock climbing :) There is a certain natural bond you develop with those other exhausted corpses that fall off a bouldering wall next to you and collapse on the giant foam floor; perhaps this is the bond of the defeated and should be shamed, I do not pretend to know, but I stand by its honorable ways none the less. Either way, after a brief obligatory mocking of each others climbing skills, I happily enquired into his line of work then paused and turned my gaze suspiciously...

"Wait... don't tell me you're also a computery guy..."

*Michael grins sheepishly*

*Lisa groans and flops back onto floor*
"And you all as well?" *Nods to surrounding men*
*Everyone smiles and nods*

-.- I'm so out numbered.

And that is how Lisa came to learn that there is a 97% chance that every single person you meet in this city either works for Microsoft or Amazon!

But several bumps and bruises, victories and interesting rock climbing characters later, it was 9:30pm (Yeah everyone here works till around 7 or 8pm and so they do weird activities stupidly late) and time to head home before the evil jetlag monster reared its head once more MWAHAHAHAHA!

I am Jetlag! I am here to eat your soul, blender your brain and replace it with pollution!

So my first few days were really just a bit of a mess of body clock adjustment, unpacking, getting my bearings, catching up with my pretty epic brother and odd activities! The next few stories (I've been pretty slack with my scooping up the cupfulls of blankiness for the bloggy goodness, sorry bout that) are when the adventuring really begins. But who DOESN'T want to hear about my messy jetlag filled first days!? :D Clearly not you, random character reading this rambling load of nonsense, since you're here still reading away at the end of the post! 

So grab a bottle of wine and a woman (or a man) (or a dog) and get ready to have your cups poured full of adventures! Stay tuned blankers!

Coming up;
"It's the little things; the handful of things I've learnt about being an Aussie girl in America so far"

"'I wonder where that path leads' and other bad stories of Lisa Allen (ace adventurer and lieutenant of getting lost)"

"Pumpkin spiced beer, lies and other night time adventures in Capitol Hill bars"

"The infallible magic of the market places overseas" ~A guide to regaining fragments of your soul

"Adventures with Taylor" ~The story of why I want my entire house to be made of blown glass
And more... possibly with clever titles, probably delayed and almost certainly full of absolute rubbish :D

Get excited.

An extra love note to you all:
It's actually kind of fun and eerie when I get my creep on and see the data of you readers. It blows my mind that around 100-200 people read the nonsense of my galloping adventures. What is that!? That's ridiculous! You guys are amazing!