Goodbye and Good Riddance

Today the American group, to whom all my kitchemates belong, leaves. WHOOT!

Now that may sound callous. But wait until you here what happened this morning. I go into the kitchen for cereal. My soy milk has my name on every side of the carton, a name I do not share with anyone in the kitchen. A soy milk container I bought last night and had not opened yet.

This morning finds it opened and half gone. Plus all the dirty dishes are stacked on the counters presumably because leaving gives you an exemption from cleaning up your own mess.

I will get no revenge or retribution. No apology, certainly no confession. Why do we treat other people like that?

All I can think of at all this is "you b*tch, you b*tch."

So long Americans. May we never meet again.

And They Say the Portions Are Smaller Here

I just had a fry-up, otherwise known as an English Breakfast. Since I'm at a pub, the full English has a special name: Matt's Breakfast, named after Ellie's husband. Served on a ceramic piece that should be used as a platter, not a single serving plate, it has:
2 sausages
2 rations of bacon
2 pieces of Lancaister Black pudding
2 eggs (once over easy...always)
baked beans
mushrooms
2 grilled tomatoes
2 pieces of toast
orange juice and tea

Bank Holidays are for everyone...

As I found out, just because this is not a very religious country, does not mean that people do not do loads of traveling around Easter. This weekend is a four day weekend for the whole country: bank holiday. Everyone gets Good Friday and Easter Monday off. Pretty sweet deal, right?

Except for travel however. Everyone was at Euston station this past friday morning I was trying to get to Wigan. What should have been a 2 hour direct train ending up being a 5 hour journey on 3 different trains. Unfortunetly there had been a worker who died on the track near enough to Euston station so no trains were allowed to leave from Euston. So I went across London to Marylbone to start my crazy journey, no doubt zig-zaging accross England. But eventually I made it and have had a relaxing time ever since.

Right now I am not to be found in London: I am visiting another former au pair of mine, Ellie, at her home/pub a 15 minute drive from Wigan.


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She lives above the White Lion Pub which she (basically...it's complicated) owns with her husband. The White Lion is on the side of the road with a tiny smattering of houses around it. Other than that there are farms and rolling hills with the occasional patch of houses and a local pub or two. Yet even without much of a town center many people come to the White Lion. Spending all your time in a country pub does lead to some interesting experiences. Like being praised for your accent. Or meeting all the locals and then preceeding to get many bad jokes and history lessons of the local town. And then getting included in the locals' rounds because you decided to listen. Keeping up with the rounds can be quite a challenge. I don't know how people do that more than 1 night a week. Being able to order anything you want off a menu and not worry about the price. I got a pudding sunday (warmed up cake covered in syrup, ice cream and whipped cream). There was so much whipped cream that most of it fell off the sunday before I could eat it. It was tasty though.

Today Ellie and I went to Southport and tried to see the sea. The tide goes so far out that even with a pier that is so long there is a tram ride from one end to the other you must squint to see it. But it was a nice walk.

Germany... AGAIN

Hello all!

I have just gotten back from Harsewinkle. It is going along as good as ever. Lots of eating and playing with deb's 2 yr old kid and her dog. It was really adorable: both the kid and the dog remembered me from staying a year ago. We went out of sausage, ice cream and then the next day had a roast (which basically is the best meal ever). A sunday roast consists of a huge plate topped with more food than should be possible that is then covered in gravy. Yorkshire pudding, sausage wrapped in bacon, mashed potatoes, vegetables, chicken....the list goes on. And to think that some people have these every sunday.


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Germany itself was great. It was much warmer than London. Everyone was biking around. Their bikes are a tad different: everyone has baskets on the front and back of their bikes and hold groceries or wicker baskets with flowers. Also unicycles are really popular to ride. We went to a toy shop for the kiddy and I was pleased to see that it has a whole section on circus toys! The only problem was getting home. I didnt realize how important it is to take a break between traveling and daily life.

Getting to class the next day was horrible (my travel card had expired, I hadnt brought any money with me and class was at a museum in the middle of nowhere london). But I am glad I went. I just wish I could stop being so tired.

Next weekend: WIGAN!