Welcome party

Strangely and conversely from my 3 person leaving 'party' from work in Norway, i took some of my houston team out for dinner on my first day in the office (others were away), and the contrast was wholly evident. we had such a lovely evening...i added to my collection of weird food consumption by adding Aligator to my repetoir...i kid you not..it tastes like chicken...which begs the question...

anyway, they bought my loads and loads of welcome to texas presents...highlights being:
cowboy hat (bit small), texas towel, chewing tobacco, spittoon...my very own spittoon!, a texas porcelain bell?? a road map of houston, stationary (???) and a hurricane survival kit...a bit of a joke, but included a couple of torches/flashlights, and a map of how you can track hurricanes...you get the co ordinates off the tv and can colour your own map in...and as jovial as it all was, i was incredibly incredibly touched...the presents were all jokey ones...but i guess they didnt realise how, after norway, how much that all meant to me...and...well, lets just leave it at the fact that i was very very touched and not go any further than that (especially after a glass of red wine)...lovely lovely people the texans, and am incredibly lucky to have a great team out here...