I Took a Camera On My Walk Today

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English

I'm becoming more familiar with British expressions and getting much better at muddling my way through the accents. What's really bad is when I like a certain expression but can't pull it off without the accent! An example of that is "Hiyya!" That's the equivalent of our "hi" and doesn't sound right at all with an American accent.

Here are some random observations on British English:

• It's common to be greeted with "Hiyya! Y'alright?" "Are you alright" is like our "How are you doing?" It unnerved me at first because until you're used to it, it seems to imply that something is actually wrong.
• Americans say "Good job", the Brits say "Well done".
• My friend V laughed so hard when I mentioned that we would be eating pasta. I couldn't guess what was funny about it that. She had to explain that with a British accent "pastor" sounds like "pasta" so when I said we were eating pasta her mind heard "We will be eating Pastor."
  
• Americans say "alot" or "lots", Brits say "loads".
• Today when I was trying on clothes at the store, I asked Ian what he thought. He responded, "It's brilliant!" He's only 3 and picking up on the local language very quickly.
• V also laughed when I described something as "thick", as in the opposite of thin. They use the word in that way too, but also to mean "stupid".
• Zach doesn't ask for cups or dishes of stuff like applesauce and yogurt, he asks for "pots" and "jars".
• Buns: rolls or donuts
• biscuits: cookies
• chips: fries
• crisps: chips
• boot, or car boot: trunk. Car boot sales are popular over here.
  
• Some people say "yeh?" at the end of sentences in the way we would say "right?" As in: "Reese is always trying to change her hair color, yeh?"
• Hands down, Scottish accents are the best. Our worship leader at church is Scottish and I could listen to him talk all day... well, him and that Scottish DJ on BBC Radio One. They roll their "R's" so my first name becomes "Cauddie". If only all the world spoke with a Scottish accent, I'd be Carrie again!
• Hot dogs are "sausages" and corn dogs aren't appreciated over here. I babysat for V one day and all 3 of them turned up their noses. They call breakfast sausages the same as we do, even though the sausages themselves are really different. I'm not a fan of British sausages; they are mushy on the inside. On the other hand, their bacon kicks our bacon's butt! It's thicker with much less fat. When we took N on base and he ordered a sandwich with American bacon, he actually pulled the bacon off and asked us what it was!
  
• "Nice" is often used to describe pleasant food. "Have you tried the crumpets? They're really nice."
• When R told me she was feeling "a bit rough" she meant she was sick. I asked!
  

I'm sure that once I post this I'll think of loads more examples, but that's all I've got for now! Cheers, mate!

Is This Weird?

One disadvantage to living in Europe for more than five years is that sometimes I'm not sure what's "normal" and what's oddly European. For example, I couldn't remember if people in my hometown parked in the road and if cars traveling on the road sometimes had to take turns in order to drive around the cars parked in the road. I'm told they don't generally do that, while I experience it every day. Food products, health and beauty products, gadgets and technology, tv shows, day-to-day behavior... I've lost touch with mainstream America.

So I wondered if this product I found at the English grocery store is unique to Europe or is also in America. Onken BIOPOTS Wholegrain yogurt has little kernels of cooked barley, wheat, oats, rye and rice so it's chewy. It boasts 3 different bio cultures, which is why I bought it. As my mom would say, "It's good for the gut." It's tasty, and great for the body, except that it's whole fat yogurt. A low fat version would be nice.

I really like yogurt with granola, so I guess this is about the same, only the grains are soft and chewy rather than crispy.

Anything else like this in America that you've seen?

My Mini-Getaway To London

"When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford."

~Samuel Johnson

London. Every time I go there, I love it a little bit more. Yesterday and this morning were no exception. The first thing I did, as I made my way through to the crowds to the tube station, was to stop and buy a scarf from a street vendor. I have a small collection of them at home but I thought that in July I wouldn't need one. Wrong. The people of London love their scarves. And being there doesn't feel right until I've got one knotted around my neck or slung over my shoulders.

I didn't get to Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey, to the British Museum or the Nation Gallery like I had hoped, but London did reveal a facet of itself in the form of West End Theatre. We tried to get tickets for Les Miserables but it was sold out. We considered Phantom of the Opera and Lord of the Rings, among others, but finally decided on Monty Python's Spamalot at the Palace Theatre. I'm not a Monty Python fan, but Tim is, and I gave in with very little persuading on his part. Afterall, it's England; why not see one his favorites in its own country?

Well, I'm still not a Monty Python fan, but I am now a bona fide theater fan. It was the most amazing experience: the lights, sound, live music, the talent of actors who must create and recreate their characters with no room for error night after night. The musical numbers were astounding; I've always been a little leery of movie musicals and now I know why- they don't compare in the least to the real, live thing. It's no wonder the theater was full of American tourists. It was a thrilling experience.

So, I'm hooked! I've instructed Tim that all my gifts from now on are to be in the form of theater tickets. I hope to have quite a collection of theater programs by the time we leave here.

Any other theater fans out there?

Celebrating Independence From England, in England, with the English!

I just want to say that I find it beautifully ironic that I'm in England celebrating Independence Day. Not only that, but many of the Brits are joining us on base for the celebrations! If only the Founding Fathers could see it. I doubt they ever fathomed such a thing.

Trip To The Seaside

Here are some photos from our family trip to the English seaside yesterday. One of the things I enjoyed most about it was that we were on a peninsula, so despite the fact that we were in east England, we got to watch the sunset!

I loved the cliffs overlooking this part of the beach; like the White Cliffs of Dover with a beautiful red twist:

One of the two crabs Tim caught. This was the bigger of the two.

Before, during and after the sunset:

A Day at the Beach

I've just returned from an afternoon & evening at the beach. I love living so close to the coast- no more than an hour from our house and we're sinking our toes into wet sand. Today I held a live crab for the first time. I'm usually a little leery of allowing sea creatures to touch my skin, but as I watched two small crabs walking sideways across Tim's hands I realized I'd never held one. Though it wasn't on my list, holding a crab became one of the things I did before I die.

As we left the beach we met a nice couple who retired to the sea town we were at. The kids played with their dog while Tim and I chatted with them. He's Scottish, she's English and originally from London. They were very friendly, but not terribly remarkable. That is, except for the size of the man! He had red hair (or ginger hair, as they say here in the UK), including a full red beard, and was extremely tall and broad-shouldered. I stood next to him, looking up at his friendly face and silently thanked God that he wasn't hostile. We wouldn't have stood a chance with such a man!

Tomorrow I'll upload the pictures I took onto the computer and post a couple here. Also, we have our first ever Kicking It In Crazyville Friendship Hall of Fame post coming up tomorrow. Come back to see you the first ever recipient is, and find out how to nominate your friends!

Education & Humility

If traveling around the world does nothing else, it will shed a light on a few societal ignorances one may harbor and burst any ideas of commercial superiority. For example, our family had lunch with a delightful English farming family yesterday. Their beautiful property was full of animals- peacocks, horses, cats, dogs, chickens, geese- and they grow barley and sugar beets.

Though the USA is the third largest producer of sugar beets, I had never heard of this crop. Our kindly host S stopped in mock shock when Tim asked if the sugar beet was a substitute for sugar cane. I saved the family name by quickly informing him that sugar cane is a substitute for the sugar beet. We were allowed to stay for the remainder of the meal!

We were educated that Silver Spoon sugar is the gold standard of sugar, unlike C & H- which we always thought was "The One". See how educational exposure to different cultures is?

And the beauty and difficulty of the English language continues to surprise and intrigue me. When N and R were over for dinner I offered R some Carmex. As she spread it on her lips she remarked that she thought it smelled like a new "dau."

"Dau?" I asked.

She laughed at me. "No. Dau."

"Doe?" I asked again.

She just looked at me blankly as Tim leaned over and whispered, "Doll."

Golly. I'm not sure I would have ever got that one, not until she had taken to cradling an imaginary baby in her arms and explained that little girls play with them.

Such a simple exchange of words turn into a big deal and make this American feel like an oaf. Like when P suggested I take the "ke'le" out to the others for tea. There was a 15 second delay before I realized she wanted me to take the kettle out. Had she not motioned in the general direction of the kettle it may have taken longer.

On the phone, I was applying for a membership card at a local store and the agent was asking me a series of questions so he could bombard my mail box with useless mail. He asked if I was a vegetarian, if I smoked, and if I was a ________ (something mumbled very quickly, starting with a T and possibly ending in a soft British R.). "I'm sorry. Could you repeat that?" He obliged, but I still hadn't a clue what he was saying. I asked him to repeat it again. He did, with no better results. I paused a moment and weighed the possibility of answering a random "yes" or "no" since I still didn't understand him. Instead I moaned a little embarrassed moan and humbly asked him to say it once more. Which he did. And I still didn't get it. Then I explained that I was fairly new still and had trouble understanding British accents, especially when the speaker was talking very quickly. He laughed, and said the word again and added, "You know, someone who doesn't drink alcohol." Good grief. A teetotaler. Say that four times fast with a heavy British accent.

Yes, world travel is both educational and humbling- two things we could always do with! How wise St Augustine was when he said

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page."

Cheers!

~Reese

Things I Don't Understand

• The Stock Market
• Why I think I need another purse
  
• Racism
• The mechanics of a car engine
• How to keep my houseplants alive
• Why I repeatedly forget to wear sunscreen and get severe burns
• Why I need so many tv channels
• Cheese rolling

~Reese

Another Day, Another Ramble

Some days I wake up and find that three posts have already lodged themselves in my brain and are banging around in there, anxious to get typed out. Other days, it's nearing bedtime and I'm still trying to think of something interesting to say.

I've been known to skip around the internet looking for nifty tidbits to pass on; I'd let you know my usual cyber route but then you'd have no need to come back to Crazyville. Today I only came across a few items of interest, and they weren't brilliant: the lost parrot who told the vet his address, the bull that ran through the back door of a German family's home and reeked havoc before running out the front door. Odd, maybe, but nothing to write home about.

So, I thought I'd ramble about absolutely nothing for a bit.

I'm all into Zip It purses at the moment. My daughter came home from school, all excited about this odd purse, so I bought her a smallish sized one and one she uses as a school book bag. (eBay is my favorite place to find them.) Then, I grabbed hers one day as I was heading out the door to the park... and didn't give it back until my own came in the mail last night.


Cute, eh?! It unzips into a long zipper. I'm thinking it's the perfect purse to travel with, as I always struggle to keep my purse flat enough in my suitcase until I get to my destination and take it out again. Unfortunately, it doesn't double as a bra.

I recently finished The Last Chinese Chef and was pleasantly surprised by the read. I learned more about gourmet Chinese cuisine than I had ever known before, and the story line was interesting. The picture on the front cover is what initially caught my attention at the library; sometimes the cover art isn't much of an indication of the substance inside (I think I just rewrote a famous saying), so I'm happy to report that it was a good book.

One thing I took away from the book is how eating in China is always done in a group, in a communal way and that both casual and formal relationships are forged and solidified with the tradition of eating together. I felt challenged to recommit to family dining, especially weekend breakfasts- which our family finds immense pleasure in. So, off I went to find a griddle to replace the one I left in Germany. I found an Emerilware Cast Iron Double Griddle and love it! I made a big weekend breakfast for the first time last Saturday since moving to England. Here is the aftermath of that project:

We were all full and happy, enjoying each other's company. We even left the tablecloth on and used the nice British placemats (which are just like seriously oversized coasters with cork on the underside). On Sunday, I flipped the griddle over to the grill side and grilled up delectable pork chops for lunch. Another satisfying family meal.

I've enjoyed listening to Ravi Zacharias' messages today on my iPod from Focus on the Family. They were entitled Why We Must Remember Parts 1, 2, 3 from April 29, 30 & May 1st. You can hear them by going to Focus on the Family, clicking on Broadcasts and browsing through the recent broadcasts. Mr. Zacharias is an inspiration every time I hear him; he is being used by God all over the world. I highly encourage you to seek out these podcasts and take a listen.

I leave you with this last thing, a verse Mr. Zacharias referenced in his message. It is Jesus speaking in John 19:14b:

"Because I live, you also will live."

That is a scripture I will be praying for several individuals in my life who need to see the life of Christ manifest in their situations. God said it. I believe it.

Bless you! Cheers.

~Reese

My Mother's Day

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a glorious Mother's Day weekend.

I, for one, did. After church Tim and the kids took me to the beach, which is only about an hour from our house but we had never been. It was a balmy-for-England 75 degrees, and the British take full advantage of whatever sun the Good Lord allows to shine on them. There were many swimsuit-clad people on that beautiful beach, even though it was rather chilly. S from church told me that the Brits pull out all the stops when it gets warm because they never know when it will be warm again.

We let the kids play in the water, and Zach did what he does best: got naked ASAP! If ever one of my kids becomes a nudist, it will be him. He topped off the whole au naturale experience with a pee in the North Sea. Ah, the joys of childhood.

At The Smuggler's Cave I came across some wood carvings from Indonesia. I've seen work like this before but this time it caught my fancy and I was hooked. I bought The Lovers. Here it is from all sides:

But my favorite was the one that seemed appropriate for Mother's Day. Here she is in all her glory:

According to the salesclerk, this is an East Asian interpretation of Western women. I'm not sure if they think we're all naturally endowed like this, or if they think we all get augmentation surgery! I am going to find a small piece of cloth and tie it over her bosom so as not to offend my children's moral sensibilities. I think she's really has my teenage son uncomfortable.

One thing I loved about this sculpture is that the mother is either dark or fair depending on which side you look at. She's a representation of not only motherhood, but all mothers the world over. I'm tired of hearing race brought up, especially in the current election campaign. This sculpture is refreshing to me; it acknowledges color differences without making them an issue. I frankly don't care what color a person's skin is; we are all made in God's image. It's one of the most ridiculous things imaginable, if you really think about it, that the color of anyone's skin should be a factor in anything.

While at The Smuggler's Cave Tim bought another didgeridoo. He's fascinated with them, as well as African bongo drums, rain sticks and other odd little instruments made with things like goat toenails and tree nuts! They really are interesting and the kids have a blast with them. Here is a very talented man playing a didgeridoo:



I'm going to find a bra for my Mama sculpture! Cheers!

~Reese

SPIDER!

In Germany, we had these huge spiders that came into the house and gave us all the creeps. I wrote about them on our first blog, here and here. Heather got to see them firsthand, on her last night in Germany. Amidst all the shrieking and screaming, she managed to snap a couple of pictures. While waiting in line at the airport on her way home she showed the pictures to a Brit standing near-by who assured her they it was a harmless spider and that they lived in the UK also.

I sure was hoping he was wrong.

He wasn't. Look what we found climbing around and laying eggs on our garage:


It's worst thing I've discovered about England so far.


~Reese

Bank Holiday Weekend

Monday is a Bank Holiday here in the UK. When I asked my landlord exactly what a bank holiday is, he looked at me funny and answered, "It's a holiday when the banks are closed."

Oh.

So, this is the Early May Bank Holiday Weekend. The only differences I saw when I was out and about today were that there was more traffic and the Tesco parking lot wasn't as full as usual. I guess everyone's headed somewhere else other than where they would normally be for this weekend. I've still got to figure out where that place is so I can check it out too, but I suspect at least a few of them were on the way to the beaches. We live only about an hour from the beach, though I still haven't had a chance to go there yet.

On the way to base today (I had a little quiet time to myself!), the DJ on Radio 1 shed some UK light on this particular Bank Holiday. She reminded listeners that this is the "traditional bonk holiday weekend". For those of you unfamiliar with UK terminology, "bonk" means to know in the Biblical sense of the word. Apparently the Brits get rather amorous around this time of the year, so they've made a holiday of it! Click here for a link to a recent article, but I must warn you that the ads on British news sites are racy, to say the least. If you choose to click, do so with caution.

~Reese, who's off to find her Tim and celebrate this Holiday the traditional way! ;)

My Backyard

As you can see from the picture above, my yard is still unfinished. My landlord has begun working on it, starting first on a patio, then he will move on to putting in grass, a deck, and a play area with gravel or bark dust for the kids. I'm really excited to get a patio; I'm looking forward to breakfasts outside in the summer. I'm sure the boys will appreciate the first fenced yard we've ever had, since they will have the chance to play without me insisting on them standing directly next to an adult or an older kid.

This morning I took a few pictures of some of the plant life springing up in the yard ("garden" as it's called here in England). Among Stinging Nettle (which stung me as I took a picture) and a sprouting blackberry vine, I found these:



Does anyone recognize this next plant? I don't know much about plants, and this one looks really familiar. It's enchanting, whatever it is. I love the way the purple/red leaves fade into green as you follow the stem downward.



~Reese

English Lesson

• Many Brits finish their sentences with "yeh?" "You'll want to try the spotted dick from the sweets menu when you're done with the fish and chips, yeh?"
• Spotted dick: click here for a description. Rather a disturbing thing to see on a dessert menu for us Americans.
• Chips: fries
• Crisps: chips
• Biscuits: cookies
• Pudding: cake
• Mushy Peas are on many, many menus and I mustered the courage to try them just last night with my fish and chips. My verdict? YUMMY!
• Holding up two fingers in a V (with the back of the hand facing outwards) is the same obscene gesture as using only the middle finger in America. According to our driving teacher it came from when the French would cut off those two fingers of the British to keep them from using a bow and arrow during times of war. Those who still had their fingers would show them (from a distance, I'm assuming!) to the French and mean more than simply "I still have my fingers."
• Fag: cigarette
  
• Faggot: meatballs
• Hob: stove top
• Tumble dryer: clothes dryer
  
• Torch: flashlight
  
• Sticky Toffee Pudding: my new favorite dessert, especially served with hot custard, a welcome change to cold ice cream. I was thrilled to discover this from my beloved Haagen-Dazs:

I can't wait to try it. I also plan to find and master a really good sticky toffee pudding recipe so that when we leave here I can still have this wonderful dessert.

• Ginger Beer: Of the two I've tried (both non-alcoholic), my favorite is Desnoes & Geddes Old Jamaica Ginger Beer.

Cheers!