I arrived back in Newfoundland Saturday night at 11:00pm. We were delayed leaving New Jersey again, but the tailwind helped us make up for lost time. My last day full day in Texas was Friday (May 4th). Sharon, Stephanie and I checked out the Congress Building after work that day. It's a pretty impressive structure. Stephanie and I were joking about walking in somewhere we probably shouldn't, and then we wandered in on a meeting of the House of Representatives . . . oops! No, just kidding, we were actually allowed to be in there! Stephanie and I decided to check out a few museums and art galleries that were opened later that evening, as Sharon went on her own shopping. Around 8:30 pm we headed down to Congress Bridge to take in the bats one last time and then headed back to our hotel to pack. It was a nice, leisurely way to spend our last night in Austin.

All I have to say about being back in Newfoundland is "BOOOOOO!" The weather is crappy! It's a shock to the system to be in summer temperatures for three weeks and then all of a sudden be thrown back into nasty Newfoundland. Grrrrr!

Thursday was Mike's last day with us, so we decided to have our graduation celebration then, even though Sharon and I technically didn't finish until Friday. Our Master Trainer, Jeremy, took us to a real Texas barbeque for lunch at a place called the Salt Lick. This restaurant was in a small town outside Austin, called Driftwood. It was basically in the middle of nowhere; very rustic, but honestly the best barbeque I've ever had.

After work on Thursday, the guys wanted to take me and Sharon's daughter, Stephanie, to a pub downtown called the Gingerman. They have beer from all over the world on tap, and Mike, being from Portland, wanted us to try Oregon beer. My new favorite is Pyramid Hefe-Weizen, which is actually made in Washington State, but close enough to Oregon! Around 8:30pm we all walked down to the Congress Bridge to see the bats that come out at sunset. Austin has the largest urban bat colony in North America, and those buggers are noisey! When all the bats had flown away, we walked down to 6th Street for some yummy Thai food, said our goodbyes to Mike, and turned in around 11:00pm. It was a great day and a great way to end our time in Texas.

Wednesday after work, my colleague Mike offered to take us down to San Antonio. San Antonio is not far from Austin, and we couldn't very well go to Texas and not see the Alamo. The drive down was good, and me, being a history buff, really enjoyed walking through the Alamo and seeing all the artifact they had recovered. After our little stint back in time, we headed to the Riverwalk. This is a really trendy area with tons of shops and restaurants along side the San Antonio River. We didn't stop here for supper though, as there was a small town not too far off called New Braunfels where we knew we could get a good steak.

In New Braunfels we went to Gruene Market, which was exactly how I pictured small town Texas to be. They had a general store, a few antique shops, a country dance hall, and a gorgeous restaurant called The Gristmill. The restaurant overlooked the Guadalupe River and the food was nothing short of delicious (but I could feel my arteries clogging with each bite). Sharon had asked the waiter which steak was the leanest, and he was dumbfounded, replying that he had never been asked that question before. Mike and I tested out some Texas beer, which didn't really do a whole lot for me, but a cold beer in that hot, sticky weather was just what I needed. As we were leaving New Braunfels the stormy weather started up once again. The night sky lit up with sheet lightening and as the rain poured down we figured a little theme music was in order: November Rain. (SIDE NOTE: I thought I had a very eclectic taste in music, but Mike is worse. He had every GnR album on his iPod!) This little excursion has been the highlight of my trip and I really can't thank Mike enough for showing us such a great time.

Sunday was another beautiful day, but I opted to do my massive pile of laundry and catch up on my e-mail rather than spend my time poolside. It was a pretty laid back day. We went downtown later in the afternoon to get our fix of Thai food (we were actually able to find the restaurant this time), but didn't really do much of anything.

Monday was the start of our stint of nasty weather. We were once again bombarded with rain, thunder and lightening. Tuesday evening the rain stopped, but the sheet lightening started. I had honestly never seen such a light show!

Sharon's daughter, Stephanie, decided to take a few days off work to come visit and explore Texas with us. She arrived Friday night and is going to be flying back with us when we leave. Friday evening we took her for a tour of Austin, sticking to the side roads. She couldn't wait for daylight so she could take pictures of the crazy overpasses. Everything is bigger in Texas and the roads are no exception.

I'll let you guess what we did on Saturday . . . that's right, THE MALL!! We spent a nice while there, and after exhausting the funds, we headed back to the hotel and got dressed up for a night on the town. We decided on the Olive Garden for supper after we had spent an hour trying to find the Thai restaurant we had lunch at earlier in the week. We finished eating at around 11:00pm and then drove back downtown to hit up 6th Street (Austin's version of George Street). We wandered the area, stopping outside the open club windows to peer in at the live bands. We were fortunate that we could still see and hear the shows from outside as it would have been expensive to pay cover in several different places. 6th Street is an awesome area, overflowing with university students. George Street has nothing on it.

On our way home that night we got stuck in traffic on the I35 access road. As we moved slowly up the highway, we heard sirens coming towards us from all directions. I glanced to my left and saw a car that had tumbled over the concrete embankment of the interstate, landing crushed and upside down on the access road. That image will forever be burned into my mind. There was no way the people in the car survived, and it was disturbing to know they were still trapped in the vehicle as we drove past. Some poor mother got the worst phone call of her life that night.

During our first week of training we visited a few dealerships to check out the vehicles and visit the service departments. It was nice, but our excursion this week was definitely one of the major highlights of this trip. On Thursday we ventured up north to Corvette Country. They're not actually a licenced GM dealership, but they have some pretty awesome cars. Not only did I get to check out some classic Corvettes, I also got to sit in and see under the hood of a fully restored '68 Camero. Let's just say that I had to wipe the drool off my chin on more than one occassion.

Also this week, once the tornadoes passed we had some gorgeous weather. I've been working on a tan poolside, but it takes me forever to get a base. Oh well, I figure by the time it actually gets warm enough to tan at home I'll be white again anyway. I've also been wanting to go swimming but they don't heat our pool. Even though it's in the mid 80s right now, the water is still freezing! Brrrr!

The kids kept the noise level at a whisper Tuesday night and I was able to drift off to sleep by 9:30pm. At 1:00am, however, I was awoken by a large bang and my room lit up like a Christmas tree. I had heard earlier in the day that a tornado warning was in effect, but I didn't think anything of it. Turns out, a twister swept though a border town overnight killing 10 people, while we were bombarded with heavy rain and insane thunder and lightening. The storm was nothing new for me as I had experienced severe thunder and lightening storms in Korea. I just lay in bed trying to fall back asleep, not even bothered by the fact that a tornado could potentially hit. I guess I didn't really believe that it could happen. Sharon, in the room next to mine, got out of bed, put on her clothes in case we had to evacuate, and got back in bed. My colleague Mike in the hotel next to us was standing in front of his window filming the storm. Here is the link where you can view one of his clips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWf0vLdm2lY. It was pretty much like that the entire night.

Monday night I was coming back to the hotel from supper and saw the lobby full of teenagers. I was hoping they wouldn't be a rowdy bunch, but they spent the night running between each other's rooms, slamming doors in the process. Sleep was minimal for everyone in the hotel that night. Tuesday morning, Sharon and I went down for breakfast, only to be greeted by 30 noisy youngsters who had eaten almost every scrap of food in the buffet. I managed to grab a banana and a yogurt before the late comers piling out of the elevators could get their grubby paws on what was left (I know! I know! I was a teenager once.) Sharon decided to make peace with the enemy and found out that they were in a school band from Toronto and there were down here on tour and recording a CD. They were really surprised to find out we were from Newfoundland, and for some reason, they didn't give us much trouble after that. I suppose their teachers gave them a good yellin'!

Sharon and I decided to be adventurous Friday night by going beyond our comfort zone, venturing past the intersection of Lamar Blvd and Ben White Highway. Lamar Blvd is a pretty tame road for Texas with only 6 lanes of traffic (cue jaw dropping for all Newfoundlanders reading this), but Ben White is an insane highway of massive overpasses beyond the imagination of people who have never seen these chaotic tangled structures. We got so far out Ben White and started to panic when we realized that there were no buildings of houses around us, just a scary highway surrounded by forest with cars zooming past us. We took the first exit we saw, hoping to come out on a calmer road, but much to our surprise, we were actually pulling into the mall parking lot! We couldn't believe that we had accidentally found the mall! Of course, this wasn't just any mall; this was a luxurious shopping haven for the well-to-do . . . my kinda place! (SIDE NOTE: What we've discovered in Austin is that you are either rich or poor; there is no inbetween. You can be in an upscale restaurant on one side of the road, but across the street, the ghetto is staring you in the face.)

Back to the mall . . .
One major detail about this place was that it was completely carpeted; clean, well kept carpet. Sharon and I decided to only tackle Nordstroms and JC Penny that evening as those stores in themselves were massive. We knew we would be back again.

Saturday I had planned to head up to northern Austin to find a specialty store I had read about on the internet. I had called the store the day before to get directions. The clerk first told me I should take the I35 (the Interstate), but I had heard horror stories about it and asked for a more laid back route. Her suggestion: the 183. Sharon and I set out on the 183 and quickly realized that this road should have been called Suicide Highway! We had no choice but to go with the flow of traffic, which was 75 mph, with 18 wheelers flying past us. We managed to miss our exit and had to take the next one. We pulled into a parking lot so we could get our bearings. Sharon was shaking and my heart was pounding. After sitting there for a few moments, I pulled out the map and figured out a way to get us out of that mess. I navigated Sharon through the side roads and we eventually found the store that nearly got us killed. We made sure to ask about a safer route to go back on.

Sunday we went back to the mall and I spent five glorious hours trying on clothes, playing with electronics at the Apple Store, and chatting with the ladies in the Coach store (hehehe! I heart Coach!). It was a relaxing day, and well deserved considering the Saturday we had.

Sunday, April 15th, my coworker Sharon and I departed the cold, neverending Newfoundland winter for the bright sunny skies of Austin, Texas. We had a brief stopover in Newark, NJ along the way. This allowed us to grab a bite to eat at the Garden State Diner; a groovy 60s style eatery. Newark airport was less than impressive, however. It was grey and unwelcoming, and I was shocked to discover that when going through security you do not get sandals to wear when you remove your shoes. We also ended up being delayed for about an hour due to heavy rainfall. I suppose we were lucky to get out at all as some flights departing later in the day ended up being delayed for up to eight hours.

When we arrived in Austin we picked up our luggage and got our rental: a brand new, shiny white Chevy Uplander with only three miles on it. We checked out map for directions to our hotel and headed out. It wasn't too far away and we found it fairly easily. It was a pleasant surprise to see that we each had our own suites with king sized beds! We dropped off our bags and headed out onto a mess of overpasses in the attempt to find a restaurant. We stumbled upon a fantastic area with some common chains, and seem to gravitate back there pretty much everyday since. Despite the initial excitement of finding this food heaven, I will probably never want to eat out again once this business trip is over. I've been very careful what I put in my mouth, but it's been difficult. I have to say, however, that I am totally disgusted with Texan eating habits. They order deep fried slop in morbid amounts! One meal is enough to feed three people! I've been sticking to mostly grilled fish, chicken, and salads, and have been taking full advantage of our hotel gym.

Work has been going well. I'm enjoying the training and have met some great people down here. I can say with certainty though, that I will never want to live in the US and will be glad when my three weeks down here are up.