Waffles, guns & burgers

This morning started out with a stroll to the local Waffle House for breakfast. We met up with the cool kids, Andrew & Esther and Andrew & Shannon ( yes, two Andrews, I'm not going mental!). The first thing that took my attention was the range of food on offer for breakfast - not just waffles, but eggs, oatmeal, toast, bacon, biscuits (scones) and grits. While discussing what the hell are grits, our server said 'y'all never had grits before?' And proceeded to bring us a bowl to sample. Grits in a word is Semolina. Corn maize. I decided on trying a waffle, not healthy but hey, you only live once right? And a hash brown. Not a deep fried Maccas hash brown, but an honest to goodness proper one.

It was all delicious. 

Now there's a running bone of contention about the different pronunciations of certain words. One such one is 'buoy', as in the things that float on the sea to mark things. We pronounce it as 'boy', Andrew & co say 'boo-ee'. We were about to bring up the Michael Jackson joke (why did MJ want to be buried at sea? So he could be buried between two buoys), until I pointed out to Bernie that our server was a 6ft something huge black man and may not appreciate the joke. Biting our tongues seemed to be the wise choice!!

After breakfast we headed to a huge flea market called US 1. Housing both outdoor & indoor stalls, it was a mix of stuff other people had scrounged from garbage, through to clothes, sneakers, shoes, jewellery, handbags etc, pretty much everything & anything! The clothes I gave a wide berth - just because I'm living among black people, doesn't mean I want to dress like a hoochie moma!!! We only bought little bits and pieces, and score of the day was an old school Etch A Sketch for $1. Back home, I can't find one for under $20! 

While we were making our way through the market, the storms came rolling in. Thunder & lightning (very very frightening....not) and enough rain to make you damp. But because it was hot, we dried pretty quickly. It didn't dampen us, but put paid to the rest of the days planned swimming.

We went back to Docs place. Andrew let us play with some of his Airsoft guns - an AK47, a Baretta 9mm and a Colt 45. Lots of fun - weighted like real guns but they shoot BB pellets. It was fun, we let Amy have a go and she seemed to like it, at least the maniacal look of glee told us so!! Tara refused to try....

We had to go out to do some shopping so decided to go to dinner afterwards. We ended up at the one and only magical kingdom of.....Walmart!!!! It was cooling down and we didn't have a jacket for Tara, so we got one there....for $1.07. I bought a packet of Twislers...at $1.24, more expensive than a jacket!!!  Didn't see any weird people, even though I was on the look out for them!!!

We went to dinner at a burger joint called Five Guys. Amazing food and fed the family for less than $30. I know I've mentioned before how cheap the food is, but seriously, the serving sizes are excellent, so it's good value!!! 

We went back to Docs place afterwards and just chatted. Amy wants to be in the next Airsoft game, so Bernie wanted her to be shot with a pellet so she would know what to expect. After many cries of 'man (or woman in this case) up', I agreed to be shot to show her it was no big deal. I copped one in the meaty part of the thigh and it stung, but no more than for 5 or 6 seconds. The bruise should go down in a few days.....

Tomorrow is gym in the morning with Andrew, who I am going to break (he's unfit!!) while trying to cram in some conditioning for me. It's been over a week since I've exercised, aside from walking, so hopefully I won't suffer too much!!! Then some more shopping and what ever the day brings. It's nice to just fritter away the hours, knowing we still have 3 more weeks before we have to come home, and leave this beautiful country behind! Come what may, I will be back in these here parts, I just love it!!!