Kettles and the United States…

So apparently in the USA people do not own kettles. When I arrived at my host family’s house I asked them where they keep the kettle, they looked at me like I was crazy and told me to boil a mug of water for two minutes if I wanted hot water (this was after I had to buy some tea since they aren’t big tea drinkers.)

I was a little shocked since I feel like kettles are standard in all SA homes. All the other au pairs I spoke to commented on this too, stating that they too lived in a kettle-less American home.

After hearing my story about having a kettle in SA, my host family made the sweet gesture to by me a kettle…one that goes on the stove, and whistles. Which brings me to another problem, now I have to listen for the whistling of the kettle, and if I don’t position it correctly on the stove the plastic piece that makes the whistling noise gets melted.

After hearing my sad story about how much I loved using an electric kettle when I was back in SA, Tyler’s dad and step-mom brought me my very own electric kettle!!! Yah, now my friends love coming for tea at my house.

Oh the electric kettle… I will have it known that my apartment is now also furnished with an electric kettle… while I will admit they work, I would argue that boiling water in the microwave or putting it in a kettle on the stove equally as fast and easy. However I am told they are much better, I think nostalgia plays a large roll in this… but I am American, what the hell do I know…