Wow—here I am, another week past since my last post. I think I had this assumption that I would blog really, really regularly (like nearly every day) but I guess I was wrong on that one. Thanks to my chronic tiredness (see previous posts) I think when I find some downtime I just want to sleep…or watch BBC. So, sorry. I’ll try to be a bit better on posting more frequently. And yeah, I’m still struggling with the photo issues. I think I figured out how to upload them, but my internet connection is so unreliable and slow, it seems to hate the pics. So, on to Facebook they go. I think most of you have access to my FB and can oogle and comment about them at will. For those of you who do not ‘do’ Facebook (hi Mom and Dad) and want pics, just let me know, I’ll figure out another way.
Anyway, onto more fun and important things, like my next installment of Random Observations! I know you’ve all been waiting.
1. Observation One was worthy of a full blog post in and of itself. Somehow, I guess I thought I mentioned my Super Bowl experience here, but apparently I did not (I must have gotten that mixed up with a Facebook status update or something). Anyway, of course I HAD to watch the Super Bowl here when in London. As an avid football fan and media scholar, I was really excited to see the great American TV spectacle from the British perspective (I also am a huge fan of the city of New Orleans, so that was a bonus as well). The students strategized about this for about a week. They were so excited but of course, not only was the Super Bowl on a Sunday night, but also didn’t start until 11:30pm here, making for one late night football game. Well, they eventually found a bar that was going to stay open for the event (I will say I saw/heard of very few places that were hosting any sort of Super Bowl affair…I kept my eyes peeled for signs when I walked across the city and only saw ones for the OTHER type of football that is, oh you know, just a little bit popular around here).
Anyway, the Super Bowl here was kind of a hoot, and generally, just very weird. First off, you realize how much time is devoted to the commercials when you are watching BBC and there are NO COMMERCIALS. So, basically, about every 2 minutes they would cut to the commentators, who were two American guys that were probably some sort of washed up NFL players, and then some British rugby commentators that just looked COMPLETELY uncomfortable. Poor guys. I mean, they had all this time to fill and just seemed really perplexed, kind of annoyed, and really, really wishing they were with their mates at a pub watching any other sporting event but this one. The Washed Up NFL Dudes did their best too, but I swear they kept showing things like Peyton Manning’s high school football videos and such. As you can imagine, then, for multiple reasons, I really missed those commercials. Though I have heard since that all really missed commercial-wise were ones of men dropping their pants…???
2. My second noteworthy observation is the fact that I keep running into people here. No, not like running into people like “Hey, long lost neighbor Kristen!” but, literally, running into people. This undoubtedly has to do with the question of whether you go towards the right or left when confronting an oncoming person (which happens all the time here, as you can imagine, in this busy walking city). Ok, so fine. What’s the big deal, Karen? Just go towards the left, right? (er…correct?). Yeah, I do that. And inevitably, I still manage to bump into people. So I thought, “Hmm, maybe like pounds (lbs) or the concept of miles, maybe some things in Britain are like the States” and started shifting to the right whenever someone was coming up in oncoming traffic. Nope. Same deal. So I don’t know what to do! In the Tube stations and whatnot, when faced with a big staircase, you do go to left. But you can’t go TOO far to the left in case there’s that busy person trying to pass you (on the left). So it’s this little game of how far to the left do you go. Maybe this little dance plays out in real life too, I don’t get it. I DO know that, for crying out loud, it really does feel like I’m dancing with other Londoners half the time…as I try to waltz my way around them as I walk down the street. I know that may sound like a poetic image, but trust me, it’s not nearly as graceful as it sounds. Maybe 'human bumper cars' is more like it.
3. Along those same lines, I am starting to learn that people who run in as the elevator doors are closing or hold up the Tube because they try to squeeze on at the last minute are GOING TO A SPECIAL RESERVED PLACE IN HELL. Yeah. They really piss me off.
4. The British do measure certain things in pounds (like lbs. pounds, not The Pound Sterling, which kicks the American Dollar’s ass every single day) and what not, but weight is often referred to as ‘stones’. I finally found out from Sylvia that 1 stone=14lbs. Now, considering the Brits penchant for all things in 12s (you know, 12 inches in a foot, 12 oz in a pound…oh wait, that’s 16 I think…well, whatever, 14 can’t be divided by 4 so it’s just weird, ok?) I find the 14lb thing to be really, really random (hmmm…maybe I will have some sort of ‘Random Awards’ by the end of this semester. If so, this little nugget is up for nomination), but I also like it. I mean, doesn’t everyone sound lighter if you say “Yes, I only weigh 10 stones” (haha, if only)? Who wouldn’t want to say that? But then, 14 lbs is a big range for your weight . I’m still deciphering how people describe this. I mean, say you’re 147lbs…14 and a half stones, right? No problem. But what about someone who weighs…143lbs=14 and .21 stones? I mean, what the hell right? One of my students suggested that maybe ‘stones’ are like weight classes in boxing/wrestling, and I like that idea too. I mean, it gives you a 14 lb leeway before you have to move up or down a stone, right? (thinking of my wrestler friends from high school—hopefully going up or down a stone does not require one to binge eat or wear about a million layers of clothing in hopes of sweating it all off…ew). Anyway, my new weight goal is to lose 14lbs here (exactly) so I can say I “lost a stone.” Of course, then again, I could just go to the park and find some rock and ‘lose’ it, allowing me to utter the same phrase with no dieting. Yeah. Better idea.
5. So diet concept moves me in to my favorite subject, food. Cripes, this could be a whole post category in and of itself. My new food-related observations are as follows:
--Only twice now have I had a meal here where I was like “Wow, that was soooo good.” The first was Punjab, the kick-ass Indian place that I would go to every day if they didn’t charge 3# just for the rice alone (that’s about 5 bucks. For rice. Yeah.) The second meal that was really pretty darn good was…
--Stars and Stripes Pizza. Yeah, we ordered pizza last week for the house from one of the handy pizza places nearby, and low and behold, it came from Stars and Stripes. I haven’t felt this patriotic when ordering pizza in a long time. I swear, they practically had a photo of Sarah Palin on the pizza box. Anyway, it was actually really quite good. NYC style thin crust, good amount of cheese, tasty overall. They will be hearing from me again soon with another order. Like, perhaps, the minute I am done with this post.
--I know fish ‘n chips is supposed to be eaten with malt vinegar. And I actually LIKE malt vinegar, but being that I like All Things That Are Fattening, apparently, I like tartar sauce even more. Not to be found at the grocery around here at all. If it didn't come from here, the worldwide headquarters of Fish 'N Chips, then where DID it come from? Annoyed.
--The goat cheese thing continues to kill me (in a good way). I’ll give it to the British—they really know how to do dairy. And custards. There are custards and mousse galore, it is AMAZING.
--When you eat a lot of goat cheese, like I do, you need a vehicle for them, which sends me to the 'biscuits' aisle. Now, for the uninformed, biscuits=crackers here. But biscuits are more than what we think of as crackers--in fact, I had no idea that the range of what counts as a 'cracker' could be so large, but it is here. Move over Ritz, Triscuits, and Saltines...the Brits have you beat. So there are a gazillion different types of sweat crackers, some with fruits and special creams and etc. (closer to what we think of as cookies, for sure), then of course the lovely water crackers (thin with little favor, but perfect for holding my cheese) and what are called 'cream crackers', which are thicker and richer but not necessarily good in my option. My favorite is the whole category (that takes up, like, shelves and shelves) of what are called 'digestives'. Now, if they have these in the States I sure haven't seen them before. I finally got some today of the fruity and oat variety (vs. the plain kind and/or the chocolate kind) and they are goooooodddd. Really thick, really mealy, and really satisfying. I suppose they also are probably like 100 calories a cracker or something, they are so dense, but whatever, I'm sold. Sign me up.
--I LOVE CRUMPETS. Crumpets and chicken curry are the gold stars of the British food world, I’m convinced. I finally tried one the other day and now I’m obsessed. You know, I always say that if you don’t like the texture of a food, you’ll just never like it (for me, this is water chestnuts. I HATE the texture of water chestnuts, and no, I don’t care that they come in tasty Chinese food, they totally freaks me out). Well, in this case, the texture of crumpets are SO INCREDIBLY AWESOME they are perfect. Basically a crumpet is kind of like an English muffin. Think of an English muffin cut in half, then plumped up to be thicker and full of holes, not unlike a sponge. Then imagine a ton of butter seeping into those holes, some extra jam on top…voila. Breakfast heaven. I mean, they are just so cute and spongy…if I could, I would make a gigantic round bed made out of a crumpet. I can guarantee I’d sleep like a log (and have built-in breakfast to boot!).
[this is as far as I got before 'the incident' happened...see post above]
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