Further Examples of My Cultural Immersion
Some things to recap about England:
*It's not math it's maths (e.g. 'Yes, I am a Maths major at uni,' or 'I was always crap at Maths back in six form.')
So they like plurals, eh? Not so:
*It's not sports it's sport (e.g. 'Who took the Sport section out of the Guardian?' or 'I love Sport: football, cricket, rugby--all of them.')
*It's not sweepstakes it's sweepstake [e.g. 'ICM Eurovision Sweepstake' or 'We will be holding a winner takes all sweepstake consisting of the final sixteen teams left in world cup.' (Sorry, I didn't make these last two samples up myself.)]
What a crazy land I live in. I bring this up because I'm now involved in a fabulous sport sweepstake: World Cup 2006! I'm kind of enjoying this part of my education. Or maybe not that exactly, but I'm enjoying educating myself in this way. Lawrence kindly ran through s'more of the rudimentary rules with me yesterday, and I'm going to make a true effort to watch my teams' matches and follow through to the final game. I was one of the lucky few that got to have two teams, so I'm cheering for Argentina and Portugal :) Even though I'm typing this from the office, I'm going to be sure to be home by eight when the Argentina/ Mexico match starts. I'm also going to actually start supporting Newcastle as opposed to walking around saying, 'I support Newcastle. They are my favourite club,' and hoping it comes across convincingly. I've been studying my Tops Trumps, and I know that their next game is 19 August against Wigan Athletic at home. I also read the news on their website, and it's a pity that my Newcastle boy Michael Owen is out of the World Cup for the duration.
In other English news (good gravy, is EVERY entry going to have some Goo Goo Dolls reference?! Sorry.), 'The British Broadcasting Corp. announced Tuesday that it is cancelling "Top of the Pops," its flagship music chart show, after more than four decades on the air.' One of Elizabeth's and my favourite parts of the Goo Goo Dolls concert was when John was like, 'So we recorded Top of the Pops today. That's like your biggest show, right?' And E and I CRACKED UP, because it, like, is isn't it? He then went on to describe waiting around for hours to pretend playing to a recording of their own track and demonstrated how he messed about on his guitar since it didn't really matter. Hilarious!
So I don't know what their new biggest show will be, as a nation. When I offered Big Brother Lawrence and Natalie seemed a little indignant. I dunno. They friggin' have an hour of recaps every night and then multiple channels show live feeds for hours. I can't tell you the number of times I've awoken on my couch to see some housemate sleeping on camera (and I've fallen asleep to various channels). At night they just show full-face sleeping on screen. And that's it. That seems like it's a big deal for them, right?
In happy London news, Elizabeth has gotten into the London Business School! This is excellent as her European future is secured. I sometimes worry about her getting into her French business school, but as I said before, that wouldn't be that bad. I'd go visit her in Paris once a month, and she'd visit me once a month, and we'd still see each other a fair bit, and I'd learn a new city. Paris (Fontainebleau, actually) isn't that bad. But I would feel sad if she broke off her road to citizenship. When she tells me that INSEAD's a better school, I remind her that LBS is also very good, and wouldn't it be nice to have the option to be able to work anywhere in the EU? I don't know which is a better long-term goal, but it's not my decision to make anyway.
I wish I could say as much about my British future. From the fellow ex-pat point of view, I might be ditching anyway, and it wouldn't really matter to me if she were in London or Fontainebleau since I'd be in New York. How grumpy will I be if I get booted off my road to citizenship? Pretty grumpy. But on the other hand it would not be terrible to be back in America with my family, so I feel okay knowing that whatever happens will be fine. It will make me sad though, as I finally feel cool here. Like I know where I am (literally: I don't get lost anymore), and I have peeps that I will miss, but more importantly, peeps that will miss me. Like I'm not some pseudo-fixture anymore. Next Friday, we're having a picnic in Soho Square, and it's such an honour that the Books peeps always include me in their plans both in and out of the office.
Speaking of the Square, it's that hottie Sir Paul McCartney's 64th (as in 'Will you still need me/ will you still feed me') birthday this weekend! Since Paul has been known to follow me down Soho Street (WHY didn't anyone tell me that he was behind me?!?!), I'm pretty sure that these divorce proceedings are the result of his falling in love with me. How sad will he be when I leave Soho Square? Poor Paul. I will comfort you.
*It's not math it's maths (e.g. 'Yes, I am a Maths major at uni,' or 'I was always crap at Maths back in six form.')
So they like plurals, eh? Not so:
*It's not sports it's sport (e.g. 'Who took the Sport section out of the Guardian?' or 'I love Sport: football, cricket, rugby--all of them.')
*It's not sweepstakes it's sweepstake [e.g. 'ICM Eurovision Sweepstake' or 'We will be holding a winner takes all sweepstake consisting of the final sixteen teams left in world cup.' (Sorry, I didn't make these last two samples up myself.)]
What a crazy land I live in. I bring this up because I'm now involved in a fabulous sport sweepstake: World Cup 2006! I'm kind of enjoying this part of my education. Or maybe not that exactly, but I'm enjoying educating myself in this way. Lawrence kindly ran through s'more of the rudimentary rules with me yesterday, and I'm going to make a true effort to watch my teams' matches and follow through to the final game. I was one of the lucky few that got to have two teams, so I'm cheering for Argentina and Portugal :) Even though I'm typing this from the office, I'm going to be sure to be home by eight when the Argentina/ Mexico match starts. I'm also going to actually start supporting Newcastle as opposed to walking around saying, 'I support Newcastle. They are my favourite club,' and hoping it comes across convincingly. I've been studying my Tops Trumps, and I know that their next game is 19 August against Wigan Athletic at home. I also read the news on their website, and it's a pity that my Newcastle boy Michael Owen is out of the World Cup for the duration.
In other English news (good gravy, is EVERY entry going to have some Goo Goo Dolls reference?! Sorry.), 'The British Broadcasting Corp. announced Tuesday that it is cancelling "Top of the Pops," its flagship music chart show, after more than four decades on the air.' One of Elizabeth's and my favourite parts of the Goo Goo Dolls concert was when John was like, 'So we recorded Top of the Pops today. That's like your biggest show, right?' And E and I CRACKED UP, because it, like, is isn't it? He then went on to describe waiting around for hours to pretend playing to a recording of their own track and demonstrated how he messed about on his guitar since it didn't really matter. Hilarious!
So I don't know what their new biggest show will be, as a nation. When I offered Big Brother Lawrence and Natalie seemed a little indignant. I dunno. They friggin' have an hour of recaps every night and then multiple channels show live feeds for hours. I can't tell you the number of times I've awoken on my couch to see some housemate sleeping on camera (and I've fallen asleep to various channels). At night they just show full-face sleeping on screen. And that's it. That seems like it's a big deal for them, right?
In happy London news, Elizabeth has gotten into the London Business School! This is excellent as her European future is secured. I sometimes worry about her getting into her French business school, but as I said before, that wouldn't be that bad. I'd go visit her in Paris once a month, and she'd visit me once a month, and we'd still see each other a fair bit, and I'd learn a new city. Paris (Fontainebleau, actually) isn't that bad. But I would feel sad if she broke off her road to citizenship. When she tells me that INSEAD's a better school, I remind her that LBS is also very good, and wouldn't it be nice to have the option to be able to work anywhere in the EU? I don't know which is a better long-term goal, but it's not my decision to make anyway.
I wish I could say as much about my British future. From the fellow ex-pat point of view, I might be ditching anyway, and it wouldn't really matter to me if she were in London or Fontainebleau since I'd be in New York. How grumpy will I be if I get booted off my road to citizenship? Pretty grumpy. But on the other hand it would not be terrible to be back in America with my family, so I feel okay knowing that whatever happens will be fine. It will make me sad though, as I finally feel cool here. Like I know where I am (literally: I don't get lost anymore), and I have peeps that I will miss, but more importantly, peeps that will miss me. Like I'm not some pseudo-fixture anymore. Next Friday, we're having a picnic in Soho Square, and it's such an honour that the Books peeps always include me in their plans both in and out of the office.
Speaking of the Square, it's that hottie Sir Paul McCartney's 64th (as in 'Will you still need me/ will you still feed me') birthday this weekend! Since Paul has been known to follow me down Soho Street (WHY didn't anyone tell me that he was behind me?!?!), I'm pretty sure that these divorce proceedings are the result of his falling in love with me. How sad will he be when I leave Soho Square? Poor Paul. I will comfort you.