Friday, August 22, 2008

where can i buy a raincoat?

hello from rainy england! i've arrived, safe and sound. it has rained everyday, providing a wonderful atmosphere for napping and trying to get over my jetlag. unfortunately, i dont have proper raingear, so as soon as i venture out of the house on a shopping trip, i'll be buying myself a raincoat and maybe some shoes.

today is my new boss's birthday, so i'll make it out tonight to (hopefully) meet him somewhere in town. time to explore the pubs!!

the lovely woman i'm staying with politely corrects my pronunciation... usually i don't emphasize the letter "t" in the right places. and yesterday i innocently tried to get in her car on the drivers side - much to our amusement! i wonder how long it will take me to get used to cars zooming past on the right side?

today begins the adventure of finding my own place to live, figuring out what phone companies are the best, and what banks exist here... and also watching olympic sports that they don't show on the US channels i was watching.


why do they kneel?

also, can anyone tell me how football (soccer) teams qualify for the olympics?

6 comments:

Eva said...

Sorry to hear the UK weather welcomed you in style, but you might as well get used to it from the start.

Soccer teams make it to the olympic games by holding pre-olympic tournaments per region (same regions as for the world cup). In case you wanted to know, Mexico didn't even qualify in our region.

I can't believe they correct a native English speaker!

Steve Jeffery said...

Hey, welcome Amanda. :-D
Yeah, rain. Well, you were saying you wouldn't miss the Texas heat. I spent the weekend in Devon fighting inches of mud to enjoy Beautiful Days festival. You have got lots to look forward to, lol.

For all weather clothing I suggest Castle, Mountain and Moor on Maid Marion Way, or Blacks.

Good timing as well. There's a beer festival on at The Lion. Just the thing for that jet lag.

I'm not sure I even know how one might emphasise the "t" in the wrong place, even having heard you on the (internet) radio and I'm sure I wouldn't correct somebody from the other side of the Atlantic, bearing in mind our respective versions of English have diverged a little. Hey ho.

Anyhoo, give me a shout if you want any (more) hints on what's where in our fair (?) city.

Steve

Unknown said...

They kneel because is the K2 competition; in C2 they are sit. I think it mean "kayak" and "canoe".

About soccer... I guess is what Eva says, that they qualify in region tournaments, but... Spain won the last soccer eurocup (yeah!), but have not participated in olimpic football...

:)

Anonymous said...

Hey Amanda - glad to see you made it to jolly good England in one piece! I asseum all your belongings (at least the stuff you took with you) made it in one piece. Don't worry about the accent - I worked with a brit for many years, and we never corrected his pronunciation of "ur-EYE-nal"!

lalamandala said...

i remember one day in ireland thinking i had mastered the "t" thing when i casually slipped a "li'le" into the conversation only to realize that in this case they say "wee". i learned to be concerned with pronunciation only when wanting a bass (b-ah-ss) rather than a beck's beer! i also enjoyed saying arse whenever possible. :)

Anonymous said...

You went to England without rain gear? Silly Amanda!?!

Try not to get run over while looking the wrong way as you cross the street. In London they tell us which way to look, but in the rest of the country I guess they don't care about losing foreigners to pedestrian traffic accidents.