National Customs

[Valarya]

It's interesting that Australians say "overseas" as ALL other countries are over the sea for us, however most others in the world tend to say "abroad"!**

We generally say "overseas" here in the states, too. I don't hear "abroad" often!!

Did you ever end up making the travels earlier this year, Farseer?

I grew up in the states but I've been to many countries in Europe (Holland, Luxembourg, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria) and I didn't find myself looking or feeling like a foreigner except when I was in Feldberg, Germany.. but only because it's a very very tiny town in the heart of the black forest and they're still about 60 years in the past, hahah. The only truly weird thing that happened to me was at a street carnival in Brussels. I was in a tent-covered area sitting at a table drinking a beer and an elderly gentleman came over smiling really big... he said he overheard us speaking English and wanted our autographs, haha. I don't think that's normal, though.

I heard something the other day that indicated in America the dates for official starts to the seasons (ie summer, winter etc) are different to ours?

Yep, Nuytsia - in the States our seasonal changes fall on the Solstices (for winter/summer) or the Equinoxes (Spring/Autumn).

For the Solstices, they're the day when the sun is either at it's lowest point in the sky (around Dec. 20 - 22 for Winter Solstice) or at it's highest point in the sky (June 20 - 22 for Summer Solstice).

For Equinoxes, they're the day when the Earth's tilt on its Axis is inclined neither away nor toward the Sun... these are the in-between days from the Solstices because the day and night are generally equal in length. Spring Equinox is around March 20 - 22 and the Autumn Equinox is around September 20 - 22.

In Pagan religions they celebrate these days as sacred Holidays.
Spring Equinox | Ostara - celebration of fertility and mother earth awakening
Summer Solstice | Midsummer | Litha - celebrating the son at it's peak and a bountiful harvest to come
Autumn Equinox | Mabon - harvest time, the reaping time
Winter Solstice | Midwinter | Yule - rejoicing in the returning sun as the days start to become longer than the nights

I think it's neat our seasonal changes follow these ancient celebrations... and to think that even our most primitive cultures on this earth recognized astronomical events even if they didn't understand the science behind it. I didn't mean to give a religious lesson here, hahah.. I find it extremely odd any place would count the seasonal changes as dates OTHER than these (based on the scientific reasons they exist in most places of the world in the first place).

Thanks for sharing that knowledge, Nuytsia!!!!

One hour north of Houston.

Okay... beings.... your clue was SNOW. Texas is the last place most people in the states think of when they hear SNOW, hahahah. Colorado, maybe. But not Texas.