the world cup from england

as you've been able to tell, i've been anticipating the world cup for a long while, and have been especially excited to experience all the matches in a country whose population, in general, takes the tournament much more seriously than people from my home nation, the US.


when i moved to england i joined an informal five-a-side match organized by fellow astronomers and their friends. i felt silly telling people i played "soccer" but when i told british friends i played "football" once a week, some people looked confused and actually asked if i wore shoulder pads!?

here are a few other phrases i've picked up over the last two years that have been especially useful for avoiding getting laughed at by the brits during the world cup (which happens anyway, i should add):

it's called a "draw" here, not a "tie."

the score is "nil-nil" not "zero-zero."

it's a "match," not a "game."

they usually call a "coach" and "manager."

your uniform, shin guards, shoes and all are called your "kit." in fact "shoes" are really "boots" and "shin guards" are called something else that i cant remember right now because i'm the only one who ever wears them when we play!

the sport is played on a "pitch," not a "field."

the "skipper" is the captain.

when time is up and there is a draw, the teams have to play "extra time" not "over time."

if you have the lower score at the end of the match you have been "defeated." you didnt "lose."

the sweet yummy things cutely decorated below are called "fairy cakes," not "cup cakes."


the media build up to the world cup here was intense. they constantly gave us messages of impending glory for the english boys. they told us that the national team had a solid chance to bring home the world cup trophy. now, i'm all for team spirit and a country supporting their players, but i was a bit surprised to hear such lofty build up, when my own predictions didnt have england going past the quarter finals (not that i'm any authority, mind). yes, the england squad was made up of quality players, but wasnt this a bit too much pressure to put on them before they even stepped onto the south african pitch?

but from what i have witnessed over the last several weeks, i think it was fitting for the english to build up their team with such ridiculously high expectations because it allowed them to enjoy their national past time: moaning.

i dont say this to be mean, i genuinely think people (must) enjoy it. it all started with moaning about how badly the national team played when they "couldnt even beat the US." i heard echoes of the ever-popular refrain: "typical." now i admit that the US got away with a trick by pulling out a point from the match, but neither team looked impressive enough to come away with 3 points (in my opinion).

i watched england's second match at a pub and was completely shocked by the abusive phrases the (admittedly drunken) lads yelled at the TV as it became less and less likely that england would score a winning goal against algeria. and then the fans that made the trip all the way to south africa to support their national team stood up and booed the players off the field. really? give them no credit what-so-ever for actually getting a point from the match - they didnt lose!!? nope. abusive insults and boo-ing.

after the USA's final match, a friend commented that he was very surprised by my calmness after our loss. well, we didnt play well or score goals. you cant win a match if you dont score goals. but i guess no matter what reaction i had it would have seem subdued compared to the disgust shown by typical english football fan after a loss. thats not entirely true though, because after their loss to germany, the city of nottingham was amazingly quiet.

any way you look at it, the premier league players make such stupid amounts of money each year to play the sport that maybe they should be able to handle a little pressure from their country folk.

regardless, i'm excited to see the rest of the world cup matches after a brief couple days of football withdrawal! the south american teams are looking strong, but i'm still hoping that the trophy will be won by a national that has never won before.

and dont forget, thre is a total solar eclipse on the same day as the world cup final, july 11, which will happen shortly before kickoff! you'll be able to watch the eclipse live on line this year! stay tuned....

things i'll miss about england

tomorrow i move away from england, my home of the last 2 years and 3 months. i have to admit i'm emotionally exhausted from saying so many big goodbyes, but i'm completely over dealing with all the preparations for moving across the world.


things i will miss about england

the sound of the accent, in general, but also how geographically quickly the accents vary!

being called "love" or "duck"

the subtle and hilarious humo(u)r

riding on the upper floor of a double decker bus, in the front seat!

the variety of locally brewed, tasty, real ales. and ciders. and whisky...

satisfying late night cravings for chips!

premier league football

afternoon tea, and the arguments about the "proper" way to add milk to tea

pub quizzes (i only ever won one during my time in england, but not for lack of trying!)

running along the canals

my city center flat and walking to shops

come dine with me

rambling thru the unbelievably bright green countryside

sandwiches from homemade.

participating in sixty symbols

postdoc lunches (PDL), specifically at the vic!

unforgettable friendships.



things i will not miss about blighty

the weather

general moaning and the expectation things will inevitably go wrong: "typical!"

friday and saturday night debauchery by the locals (lack of clothes year round, incredible drunkenness, etc...)

invisible queues ("An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one." - George Mikes)

the irrational excesses of english politeness

lack of eye contact

not speaking to strangers, or in most cases, not even acknowledging the existence of other people, unless, of course, one is trying to sell the big issue, or sharing the silent acknowledgment of the impudence of a queue jumper.

confusing one-way streets that are practically impossible to navigate, mostly because the street signs are purposely hidden!

riding my bike in the rain

the full english breakfast

brits asking me to imitate the british accent and then laughing at me when i cant

"i cant be bothered" to come up with anymore right now, but if youre curious about any of these aspects of the english culture, i can highly recommend the book watching the english: the hidden rules of english behaviour by kate fox. in her socialogical study, she hilariously captures the peculiarities of living with the english. reading this book completely changed my perspective and experience here.

cheers, england!

the ashes

the ashes is a long series of cricket matches played between england and australia every 18 to 30 months (?). i dont understand cricket. i dont understand it so much that i have no idea why the ashes is actually a series of test cricket matches instead of just regular cricket.

i know the matches can last for days and i know that my friends in england, who care about cricket, are very excited that im in australia right now. apparently they feel i am somehow obliged to be happy (and brag?) about england's recent performance.

anyway, while i lived in england i was too excited by all the soccer games i could watch to bother paying any attention to learning the rules of cricket or rugby. notice how i called it soccer instead of football? thats because here in australia the word football could potentially mean like 3 different sports, so i've cut out all ambiguity and gone back to calling my favorite sport simply soccer!

i'm at a loss when it comes to popular sports in australia because there is rugby league, rugby union, cricket (and apparently test cricket), aussie rules football, and good old soccer. this SMBC cartoon summarizes my knowledge... just substitute any of the above for football except, of course, soccer.

from different countries

i have returned to australia after a recent round of travel to europe.  this venture was scientifically productive, but another interesting sequence of events happened that i didnt realize until they were almost finished.  of course, these events revolved around the world cup!

throughout the course of this tournament, i watched an australia game while in australia, an england game while in england, a croatia game from croatia, and the swiss play their quarterfinal match from switzerland!   if we ignore the fact that the home teams of each of those matches lost, it was a pretty great series of experiences!

the croatians were the most outwardly enthusiastic, while the english were (predictably) the most negative.

this part of england always feels like i'm in a jane austen novel.

croatia's beauty is underrated.

geneva's cheese still makes me drool, and the sound of the french spoken there makes me swoon.

my first "raclette"

if the embedding doesnt work below, watch the raclette video here!



when they offered me an XMM pin at the astronomy conference, i thought it would be more "dirty space news!"

watching the swiss play in switzerland!

and then the big finale of the conference - an excursion to the the CMS detector of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC)!!  geek heaven.

the day was so clear and dry that you could see mont blanc, the highest peak in the alps, behind the CMS building!

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 bye bye switzerland!

ps.  in the two world cup sweepstakes i entered, i ended up 13th of 247 in one and 6th of 156 in the other.  not bad!! but still no money won :(

england's lake district

a couple weeks ago i drove to england's lake district with some friends. the drive was gorgeous, if a bit strenuous for the vehicle!


obviously, lakes are plentiful.




another strikingly abundant feature of much of the british countryside is stone walls. they seem to meander randomly around many areas i've explored and are even identified on ordinance survey maps indicating places where crossings have been constructed!


the presence of the walls has something to do with the enclosure acts that started in the mid 1700s requiring farmers to enclose their fields. over 5000 acts of parliament were passed which covered almost 7 million acres of land, enclosing about 21% of england!


the greenest grass ever?



amazingly, the weather was pleasant throughout the entire weekend, but i must admit that plentiful showers bring lovely flowers!


we ended the weekend with a bit of fun at the beach!


"nottn'm woz 'ere"

great britain? united kingdom? england?

c. g. p. grey attempts to control the world's confusion over the difference between the united kingdom, great britain, and england in this fairly successful video. he speaks quite quickly, but you can get the transcript here.



this video certainly clears up many mysteries, but opens up many more. why do so many countries on the opposite side of the world from "the empire" still recognize the monarchy as their head of state? this video also doesnt show you the different flags of england, scotland, ireland, etc... so you might still be confused during world cups or olympic games.

this is how you lock a gate

all across england and wales, there are public footpaths that are available for walking. i felt strange at first walking across someone's meadow where sheep are eating grass just meters away, but people have even built steps to help you over fences and walls that you might come across during your walk. these footpaths only apply to walkers (and "bridleways" that also allow cyclists and people on horseback), but i was still surprised to see this heavily-locked gate as we walked through the lake district in northwest england!

from italy to england

sometimes "home" is a relative term: home is where my family lives, home is where i keep my stuff, home is where my computer sits (sad, but true, modern statement). i'm at my current home again, nottingham, england, where it's not nearly as cold as i feared it would be!

it was nice to visit a country where english is not the first language. i learned some necessary words and phrases in italian, but found myself always defaulting to spanish. now i have to rush off to work to take care of some immediate business, and then prepare for my first spanish class! i miss speaking another language so i'm excited for these classes that are offered by the university.

overall, italy was beautiful. the ancient city of rome brought a disorienting sense of history to my mind, while naples tempted my palette in pastariffic ways! pompeii, ercolano, amalfi.... many, many pictures to come... as soon as i sit down to sort thru them!

house of snow

this photo is dedicated to my family, who have received several massive snow storms in the last couple weeks, while all the precipitation i get in england is rain, rain, rain, and snow that doesnt stick.


via neat-o-rama

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?

world cup 2010: finally!

the world cup 2010 is finally upon us!!

i've been looking forward to today's match between the USA and England for a loooong time! my flag is flying high and my red cowboy boots are all shined up and ready for victory - YEEHAW! i think which ever of these two teams manages to win the group will have a relatively easy time making it thru to the late stages! you never know though, we'll see...

so who do you have placed to win the whole shuh-bang?? i'm going for spain this time because i like a lot of individual players (torres, of course) and i'm hoping for a big win by a team that has never won la copa mundial before. i know the USA surprised us all last summer by defeating spain and making it to their first ever FIFA international tournament final, but my statement still stands.

in other world cup new, i think the official world cup anthem by shakira is so bad that i wont even post a link to it, but i will share this video by the great angelique kidjo and famous musical crew:



during the build up to this world cup, i learned about the phenomenon of the world cup sticker book, which many people fill up during their childhood world cups, but i never knew about it growing up in the US... so i've decided to collect now! i've filled up about half the book so far, but i have a lot of repeat player stickers. as i do not know very many young people here to trade with, please let me know if you have extras that you might like to swap!!!

a peek at the peak district

i spent last weekend celebrating my birthday in the peak district of central england. we hiked though the hills and dales on a pleasantly crisp and warm day with blue skies!


a big dam built in the late 19th century.


a slowly uncurling fern.

that's PANTS!

several months after moving to england, i learned an alternative use for the word "pants." something that "is pants" is not good.

a couple weeks after i learned this new phrase, a funny thing happened in the astronomy department where i work. i was walking down the hall, and as i passed by a particular professor's office door, i happened to glance in just at the moment that he sat back, threw his hands up in the air, and started waving them angrily at his computer yelling "that's PANTS!!!!!"

it was hilarious!

who knows what i would have thought if i hadnt just recently learned the meaning!

women's world cup 2011

congratulations to the US national team who has made it to the finals of the women's world cup 2011 currently taking place in germany!! the finals will take place this sunday, july 17th, and see the US take on Japan for the world title! the quarter-final matches of the US vs brasil and france over england were some fantastic highlights so far!

in honor of the excitement of the tournament, i thought i'd share a couple old photos from my serious soccer-playing days, before i busted my knee and had to have ACL reconstruction surgery.

one year my team was lucky enough to go to a week-long training camp at the university of north carolina. throughout the week, various members of the tar heels and the US women's national team spent several training sessions with our team. we spent a whole day playing with, and hanging out with soccer icon mia hamm!! she has scored more international goals in her career than any other US soccer player, male or female.

Mia Hamm, me, i cant remember who he was - the assistant coach?

one of my distinct memories of that day was her excitement at seeing her brother, who visited us on the field. he died a few years later from complications related to aplastic anemia, which is the inspiration behind the mia hamm foundation.


another of the US national team's top all-time scorers is michelle akers. i have no idea really how my coach knew her, but she accepted his invitation to come visit us in ohio and play with us for several training sessions! during one of our scrimmages, i was her mark and i remember thinking she was very tall and incredibly muscular! haha.

Michelle Akers and me

oh man, how much i loved those hot pink shorts and the super cool we are the world t-shirt that i stole from my older sister!

so many of my memories from those times come from playing soccer with these girls and traveling around to tournaments. amazing(ly bad hair cuts!).

not a handball...

posh fish.

now serving free coke with any kebab!


seen in oxford, england.

a world cup of crisps

in honor of the world cup next month, a pub near my house is offering sausages from a dozen different countries playing in the tournament. it really made me laugh when i saw the sign, but now i'm curious about what sausages will be featured from various countries like the US, france, and even england. so of course i will be watching at least a few matches there!

i think the sausage variety is a much better idea than the one developed by Walkers crisps (potato chips). they have created 15 new flavours of crisps from different countries in the world cup, including: South African sweet chutney, Spanish chicken paella, Irish stew, American cheeseburger, Japanese chicken teriyaki, etc...



you should read the hilarious results of charlie brooker's taste test.

i mean, the british love their crisps and they certainly have an arsenal of unique and interesting flavours already on the shelves (eg. "prawn cocktail" or "smoky bacon"), but i think maybe this has gone too far....?

the devil and daniel johnston

a couple weekends ago i went to a music festival called all tomorrow's parties which was curated by simpsons creator matt groening (pronounced GRAY-ning, apparently).


interestingly, in order to get to the festival, we had to drive by a local power plant which i like to call england's "springfield."


as the curator, matt groening chose and invited all the bands that came and designed the programs. he made four different program covers... the one on the right features the strange-looking and energetic iggy pop and the left shows daniel johnston with his famous hi, how are you character, jeremiah the frog.


one of the most memorable acts for me was definitely daniel johnston.


i highly recommend the documentary film the devil and daniel johnston.



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