Family barbeques.

It's really nice staying with Seamus' family in Chicago rather than yet another hostel. We have no curfew, our own room, can cook whatever we want, whenever we want, watch tv, no forced conversations with drunk Australians....it's also good seeing people "from home" (even though it's not MY home, and they've all lived here for years), having gone nearly eight months without any familiar people (excluding the two days we spent with Jesse in Milk River). Seamus' dad has eleven brothers and sisters, five of whom live in Chicago, along with thousands of children. Seamus has so many cousins! He doesn't know most of their names, but then, he doesn't know my name half the time. So, yesterday there was a barbeque for everyone, and I was feeling quite crappy (swine flu?), and Uncle Dennis kept apologising for how traumatic the occasion must have been for me (haha, he should meet MY family). All the men in Seamus' family look the same, with identical hairlines and zero baldness. Also, everyone is tall and thin in the Kerlin crew. Maybe if we breed, we will make superhuman babies, what with our very different genetics.

So, last night I listened to an assortment of Kerlins discuss religion and travelling and Ireland and religion and alcohol and Australia and skydiving and religion and family trees and Christmas and poetry and religion and US politics and homosexuality and religion and racial conflict and gangs and religion and education and religion. You get the picture. Fun times, though.

Today was hot and sticky, it was disgusting. We learnt all about ancient Americans in the Field Museum, and I saw the biggest fountain in the world. Tomorrow night, we have another l-o-n-g bus ride to Toronto. Great, an even bigger city. I'd forgotten the delights of hearing sirens all day and night.

Whilst I think of it, here's a quirk of Canadians which I think is adorable: at traffic lights, Canadian pedestrians will ALWAYS wait for the green light before they cross. Even if they can see for miles each way (which you usually can over here, with the roads being so bloody straight) that there's no car coming, they'll patiently wait, like lemmings, rather than daring to cross. It makes sense. Safety first, right? It just surprises me. Americans are not the same. They'll run out in front of cars, buses, fire engines. I don't know why they even bother with the pretence of the traffic light system. Americans are such risk-takers. They all talk on their phones whilst driving! Actually, they all talk on their phones, period. Herds of people walk down the streets, skipping across the roads in front of oncoming traffic, with their phones glued to their ears. I do not have the necessary skills to walk and talk.

...ok, enough unnecessary stereotyping for today. Night xxx