Pastries, Rain, and Tube Stops

English 243 Extra Credit Question: What poet was once the dean of this famous London church pictured above?

Despite the fact that I have the biggest blister on my left foot that I have ever seen in my life, the last few days have been memorable and interesting.



I have decided I should write about all of the things I am noticing that are different than what I experience in the U.S., since I am beginning to grow accustomed to them and may forget to mention them upon my return. First off - no refills in restaurants. Not only is food astronomically priced here, but the portions are tiny and there are no free refills on drinks. No wonder those Europeans are so skinny and fit. The shower in my hotel room has a folding glass panel that covers only half of the tub, and the water here gets quite hotter than it does in the states (which I love) - it is well water, however, and is not treated quite like our water is so it's not a great idea to drink from the tap. When you order water in restaurants, you need to specify sparkling or spring - I get spring; it's the most like home even though most of it is mineral spring water and it has a biting taste that takes a while to grow used to. Speaking of water, it rained here today. London rain is the coldest and dirtiest rain that I have ever experienced - it will cut you like a knife and make you smell really, really bad.


Some other differences I have noticed are in the expressions used here. As a pseudo-linguist, I enjoy hearing the other languages all around me. I have heard Russian, German, French, Yiddish, Polish, Arabic, Spanish, and so many others. London is full of so many people and they are all very diverse. A few nights ago, I stood in Picadilly Square with a group of about 15 people and only two of us spoke English. On the flight over, I remembered hearing everything in German first before the English translation; for the first time in my life, I experienced the feeling of being a minority. I was totally dependent on other people who knew the language and how things worked for help, and that was a little dizzying. As far as English expressions, signs that we would see for "exit" say "way out." Food that we would call "take-out" or "to-go" is called "take-away." With the obvious difference in money, what we would call a "check-out" line is called "cash and wrap." Cookies are called "biscuits" and french fries are called "chips. Here, you don't stand in a "line," you stand in a "queue."



Another cultural thing I find interesting is that just like the English drive on the left side of the road, the flow of people on staircases and in hallways always hangs to the left side, as well. People move quickly and if, like me, are moving against the flow of traffic, you will get sideswiped. I have also noticed that people sit and walk intimately close with each other and that people speak much more softly here than in the U.S. I am always straining to hear and asking people to repeat themselves. Grocery stores here are small- there are very few and they are on the street in random places - the storefronts look like other regular stores. You don't see people with grocery carts or buggies - you see them putting the food in bags, paying for the food, and then carrying the bag home. Everyone buys groceries daily and just takes the food home fresh - many people here do not do a lot of cooking, especially large cooking for meals.

Probably the starkest cultural difference here is the manner of dress. I am shocked at how scantily clad some of the women are - today on the tube (subway), I saw lots of women in sweater dresses that were super short wearing stockings and high boots. It was less than 40 degrees today, especially with the wind chill, and I saw several young teenage girls wearing short denim shorts with pantyhose underneath with tall boots. Boots are all the rage here, especially high-heeled boots. It is extremely rare to see women in flat shoes here, unless they are young (teenagers or young girls). Wool coats are the main type of jackets worn here, and scarves are on everybody - women, men, and children. One trend that bothers me is that the mothers here who have their babies in strollers have the strollers covered in some sort of plastic zip-up bag thing that fits over the strollers to keep out the cold and the wind. I haven't seen so many babies here, though - and come to think of it, I haven't seen any pregnant women either. I can't imagine being pregnant or having my daughter here with me - I think of how difficult it is to carry her around in grocery stores and in and out of the car and it makes me tired to think of schlepping her up and down the stairs in the subway stations.

I have also discerned how European women are so skinny. After schlepping myself around and up and down stairs and carrying things while running from one street to the next, I have dropped some pounds myself - and not the spending kind! More to come on the fashion later!