Vandy10

I agree with your first paragraph. As soon as the judges said it was really tasty at judging, I knew she was safe. And judging by her face, Sara knew too. This is one of the advantages that Sara, as an American, has based on her experiences with Tom C, Padma, and Gail as judges. She knew tasty food would keep her safe. Just like she knew last week that undercooked protein will almost always get you sent home. I suppose any of the non-Americans could also know this if they’re fans of Top Chef US. But surprisingly few contestants study the show that way, Buddha not withstanding. As for your last paragraph, I felt the same way, and it’s the judges’ own damn fault. Tom C even said to the guests as they sat down to the meal that this was a hard one. That these kinds of dishes really require trying and testing and refining multiple times to do them well. So I don’t know why they were shocked that many were just ho-hum. This should’ve been a much earlier challenge in the season.

75,000 can be a big difference if you’re talking about buying a house that’s $200,000 vs. $275,000. For people buying in those price ranges, it’s a huge difference! But for homes that are close to $3 million, that $75,000 is basically nothing.

Nashville will surprise you with its diversity. It’s actually a busy place for refugee resettlement. Well, it was pre-Trump, but I’ve moved away since and don’t know how many refugees are coming there these days. But the point remains that there are a lot more people from Asia, Central America, Sudan, and the Middle East than you would ever think in Nashville. If Tiffany and Lawson can’t find a church (of which there’s approximately 50 bajillion in Nashville), I’m betting it has to do with the church’s beliefs or lack thereof. It makes me wonder if Lawson and Tiffany aren’t quite as equally yoked as they thought, and neither is willing to compromise. Just speculation, of course.

Well, in fairness, they said it was their favorite subject, not their best subject! But honestly, I can see this being one thing Michelle actually taught. It’s one of the more “rote” skills (it’s not really, but that’s the way a lot of people think of spelling because it’s the way they were taught). I could see Michelle spending time with the kids drilling spelling lists to memorize. Maybe that’s why they liked it? Certainly would be more fun than the stupid Wisdom booklets or the nonexistent science curriculum.

I can’t say for sure. I think it’s a good sign for my mental health that I literally can’t comprehend what goes on in these people’s minds. But, if I have to guess, I’d say it’s a regional thing. Like the Ohio people above, it just becomes a normal thing for some schools/areas. Like all my TX friends who constantly pose while doing the hook-‘em-longhorns thing.

I mean, it’s a courthouse in Oklahoma. They take their football ridiculously seriously there. I doubt anyone in the courthouse was offended.

Yes, I made such a face at that bombshell of Ayan’s! And then they sped right past it! They didn’t actually explore that at all; I’m guessing because Andy has no clue how bad that is. Like you said, an Emirati threatening the police on a non-Emirati is a huge problem. Lowered my opinion of Sara a helluva lot. She can pretend to be all love and light, but that was a textbook example of stereotypically entitled Gulf behavior.

Taylor definitely mentioned her faith earlier in the season. In episode 1 or 2, she cited her faith as one reason why she hadn’t moved in with Shep. She talked about her family being religious. In this episode, I really felt like Taylor was using her faith as an excuse for why she was staying with Shep. Just admit you’re a co-dependent fixer, hon! That’s a you-problem, not a Jesus-problem. When Naomie said in her talking head that God was looking out for Shep, I mentally finished with…but not looking out for Taylor, apparently.

That “aunt’s” house looked bare AF. Either it’s his aunt’s vacation home that doesn’t get lived in 24/7, or it’s an AirBNB that production rented.

So I was reading on Instagram that Amber has missed 59 of her last 104 scheduled visitations with James. I don’t know the source for this info, but if it’s true then it makes complete sense to me why a judge let Andrew move away. He wanted to move back to California a long time ago, but the judge said he couldn’t move away with James at that point, and had to share custody with Amber. Looks like Andrew was smart and has spent the past few years documenting all of Amber’s missed time. No wonder a judge looked at those numbers and let Andrew move with James. Amber spent the past few years proving she doesn’t want to spend time with her kid, so why not let the father move out of state to a place where he has extended family and much better career prospects? I mean, Amber has done the exact same shit with Leah, but Gary didn’t want to move out of state so he didn’t have to push it with a judge. Amber said in her Insta post something to the effect that she has passed all psych evals and many drug tests required by the court. Now, either 1) she’s lying about passing these, which added more fuel to Andrew’s petition to move, or 2) she’s telling the truth that she’s clean and healthy, which means that she’s an absolute shit person and shit mom at her core and not because of drugs or MI, like she’s tried to claim in the past. I’m not sure which one’s true—it’s a toss up for me when it comes to Amber.

Yep. But GEMS or ASD would cost as much for 1 year of elementary as one year of a public university in the States. I’m super curious what school each of the kids on the show goes to. I know Caroline’s kids go to one of the British schools, because Yasmine came home talking about how she had a revision class for IGCSE exams earlier in the season. To be clear, I don’t think any of these shows should actually focus on these kids and their schools, for their own emotional health and physical safety. But I am curious.

Ok, I’m slowly catching up on this series. Still a few episodes behind. I mostly gave up on HWs shows after Teresa went to jail, so it’s been a while. I decided to watch this show because of the years I lived in Dubai. But anyway, you know how there’s always someone/many someones each series who have no where near the wealth they say they do (*cough, Teresa, cough*)? Well, I’m pretty sure that’s Caroline B on this HWs series. I first twigged to it in the first episode when she said she has 2 homes in Dubai. I suspect she actually has her real home/apt, which is quite modest, and then this other house used for filming. Probably paid for by production, like Kathryn on Southern Charm. And then this episode she mentioned her son goes to a local public school. If you haven’t lived in Dubai, it’s hard to convey just how odd of a choice this is. No one sends their kids to public, government-run schools. Not even Emiratis. The UAE has THE MOST privatized education system in the world. Everyone (local and expat) sends their kids to private American/British/IB schools. And they all cost a pretty penny. But the public schools are bad, especially the boys’ sections, which have notoriously bad behavior. I’m guessing Caroline B’s son was experiencing a lot more bullying than he let on. Poor kid. No matter what Caroline B said, public schools in the UAE are NOT like American private schools. Now, I don’t follow any of these people on social media, so I could be wrong. But again, it’s such an odd choice to send your kid to public school in Dubai that I can only assume it’s due to a lack of money.

I don’t mind Venita calling Kathryn out. She deserves it for her inexcusable use of the monkey emoji in reference to a black person. And I don’t see any evidence that Kathryn has done real work to learn and grow, so it’s fair to ask her if she has actually learned any lessons. But, 2 things scream about how inauthentic Venita’s concerns are to me (ie, I believe the confrontations are just for show): 1. Kathryn has barely any visitation with her kids. She ain’t teaching them shit. She’d have to be an involved parent with custody to actually teach them any values and morals. Venita should be asking these questions to Thomas—we’ve seen his racist daddy in action on TV before. 2. Venita sat at Patricia’s house and had a lovely afternoon drinking and invited her to her birthday, even though we’ve all seen Ms. Pat’s poor choice of decorations. As WOC, I respect that Venita and Leva can be friends with whomever they want, and they can take any approach they want to dealing with the racists in their life. They don’t have to follow a script I approve of. But, when you look hypocritical on an already overly contrived and fake show, I’m going to assume you’re doing it all for the show and to increase your influencer brand, nothing more.

They said they weren’t living together. In either the first or second episode of the season, Taylor made it very clear that she still had her own place…something about old-fashioned values, religion, blah, blah, blah. Shep said the same thing in one of his talking heads, but also mentioned that she still slept over almost every night. Which kinda ruined Taylor’s point about being too religious and old-fashioned for that.

So last week I was complaining about how fake and contrived this season is. But I already bought the season pass on iTunes, so I’m just gonna keep hate watching the rest of the season. This boring episode, what caught my eye was the obvious editing things. Like when Craig and his brunette girl (I can’t even be bothered to figure out her name) were at the bar in the beginning talking about Austen, you could tell how spliced together that scene was. When she first asked Craig about Austen, the bar is crowded and there are people on either side of them. But when Craig answers her, the seats on both sides are empty. Next sentence, the people are back. There’s people just randomly appearing and disappearing through that whole conversation! I also noticed Madison’s veneers and how different (ah, worse) they are from her old look at the end of the episode. When she’s out with Kathryn and the other two blondes, Madison has a normal mouth that she can close. But during that bar scene, it would cut to her talking head in the pink dress, and you could see the drastic change. She couldn’t even close her mouth in the talking head! Horrible dental work. The only note I have about the actual content of the episode is that I both felt very sorry for Taylor and simultaneously found her incredibly pathetic. Read the media thread if you want to know how that ends.

I agree, this season is not great. For me, it’s because I can see the producer’s manipulations and plot lines in every scene. Like, when Venita was asking Madison why she would invite Kathryn, I was rolling my eyes at the TV and muttering, “Because this isn’t a real birthday party, and y’all are contractually obligated to film with each other so many times per season.” Does anyone believe these people actually hang out with each other when not filming? I don’t. I know that all reality shows are heavily produced and even scripted, but SC is just super-extra fake now. There’s no REAL drama anymore (at least, not on camera). Such is the natural life cycle of reality TV, I suppose. And SC is clearly at its end.

There are a couple of B&Bs in the area, but they’re mostly still private homes. Lots of them open up for tours during the year. I think specifically at Christmas time? It’s to see the historic homes and such. Don’t remember the details as it’s been so many years now since I lived downtown.

Awesome, thanks! I’m only on episode 2, but I’ll get to this latest one eventually.

It’s a street and an area. East Battery runs on the eastern edge of the downtown peninsula. The Battery is an area at the tip of the peninsula where East Battery meets Murray street. The area has some of the oldest and most expensive homes in the area.

Ok, I’m in. I’ve only watched the first episode so far, and I can tell this is all manufactured BS for Bravo like all the other Housewives shows, but I lived in Dubai for several years so I’m an easy mark. The one I’m most interested in, after just the first episode, is Sara. I met a lot of Emirati women while in the UAE (something most expats there don’t get a chance to do), and a lot of them were just like Sara…in private and when traveling in the West. But not while home in Dubai. I hope we get to meet her family this season. I’d love to see her parents and what they think about her and her choices in life.

God, no. None of these people are fit to adopt a pet rock, let alone a human child. Adoption requires so much more empathy, introspection, maturity, and self-sacrifice than any Duggar or Gothardite is capable of.

I don’t think the clothes are supposed to signify anything other than Jeanine is different from the other teachers—she’s a different generation, new to teaching, got more of that newbie enthusiasm, etc. I don’t think it’s any deeper than that.

Yeah, you don’t forget the kids whose parent(s) died while they were your student because 1) it’s uncommon, and 2) it’s traumatic for all involved, including the teacher and other students. I’ve experienced it twice as a teacher, and I won’t forget those 2 kids.

I, too, have lots of thoughts about gifted programs. In addition to the testing biases you mentioned, I also get annoyed with the deep misunderstanding most people have of giftedness. True giftedness is different from just being smart or a good student. Gifted students often struggle in school, don’t finish work early, don’t necessarily test highly, and many have other special needs on top of being gifted (twice exceptional children).

Former DCC Robin did a Q&A on her YouTube channel a few weeks ago, and this question came up. She was kind of vague about who gives to who and other logistical details about how it works. But she did say it can be at any price point, including things like homemade cookies or something like that.