Raindrops Keep Falling on Our Heads

A recent episode of BBC 1's Stephen Fry in America reminded me of another great topic to tackle: the weather.  While driving through pouring rain in Kentucky, Fry mentioned that Americans joke with British visitors that rainstorms must make them feel at home.  I would have thought that too, but the rain here is nothing like what we're used to.

Rain in Edinburgh, and reportedly across much of Great Britain, is light, misty, and terribly cold.  The dampness chills so deeply, I would never have guessed how cold it would feel.  I'm glad I brought my waterproof winter jacket!  It's very difficult to dress properly for outside activities, hence me staying inside today fighting a cold I picked up while experiencing damp Glasgow weather on Sunday.

Rain here has the annoying habit of sneaking up on us when we least expect it.  In the morning if it's sunny and clear we'll decide to go for a walk, and five minutes later we'll turn a corner and there's a thick blanket of dark clouds rapidly approaching.  Even if we have our umbrellas (which we normally do), they're usually useless because either the wind is too strong or it's so misty that the water droplets get all over you anyway.

Before I came to Edinburgh, I was sent several pamphlets on the school and the city, including an arrival guide for new international students.  One sentence that stuck in my mind has turned out to be true: you can never be sure that on any given day it won't rain.  However, the word 'rain' seems to have a number of meanings, so we still weren't prepared.

TV Shows We're Hooked On

One of the first things I was concerned about getting when we moved here was a tv, because I love watching "telly."  In fact, I've grown up watching Britcoms like Keeping Up Appearances, Are You Being Served, and As Time Goes By, not to mention that long-running British soap opera Coronation Street.  We just didn't know much about current British tv.  Here's a couple to watch out for on cable or YouTube:

Gavin and Stacey

This very sweet, very funny show consists of a series of half hour episodes documenting the growing romantic relationship of Gavin from London and Stacey from Wales, beginning with their first meeting after months of speaking on the phone for work.  We're quickly introduced to their scene-stealing overweight best friends and ridiculous, high-strung parental figures who are brought together by the title characters' roller-coaster relationship.  Excellent viewing that makes you laugh really hard and feel very happy.  We don't know how it ends yet, so no spoilers!

Peep Show

The title of this sitcom is rather misleading; it refers to the visual style of the show, not something risque.  Then again, the first season is rated 18+...  Our neighbour recommended it after finding out that we're fans of Ricky Gervais (he has said this is his favourite show on tv right now).  We were hooked after the first episode, and when we found out that the first 5 seasons were on sale at HMV, we bought them having only watched 5 episodes.  A great investment!

The show centres on two roommates and polar opposites, Jeremy and Mark.  Very smart dialogue and fast moving, surprising plots keep you hooked.  Very, very funny stuff, including some great WWII references.  Plus, as I alluded to before, the entire show is filmed through the eyes of the characters.  And it works!

QI

Hosted by the excellent Stephen Fry with a panel of comedian contestants and a live audience, QI (Quite Interesting) is by far the funniest quiz show I've ever seen.  Fry asks a series of questions, each is discussed comically and seriously, and some dare the contestants to say the obvious (and therefore glaringly incorrect) choice.  Points are awarded and a winner is crowned at the end of each episode.  Plus you learn something!  So far I've learned that banana trees walk and the world's smallest dog was 2.5 inches tall.  This BBC show is in its 6th season and no wonder its a hit.

Thanksgiving Dinner

On Monday we had our Thanksgiving dinner, we invited everyone in our building to join us for a potluck. We were very excited when everyone wanted to come. We had to rearrange our living room and borrow chairs and a table from our neighbours so that we could fit 13 people.

I cooked three turkey breast roasts, made some gravy and stuffing. Thanks to everyone bringing something we had a proper Thanksgiving meal with mashed potatoes, veggies, buns, salad, and fruit salad, a vegetable dish, beer and wine. For dessert we had ice cream and a pie, I don't remember the proper name but it was Dutch and very good.

Everyone showed up between 6:00 and 7:00 to chat and at just after 7:00 we ate. After the meal we sat and talked together until midnight. Overall it was a great evening, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the meal.

Fashion Trends for the Under 30s

We've been in Edinburgh for 4 weeks now, and one thing that you can't help but notice are some of the striking fashion trends showing up on campus and in the city's main shopping area, Princes Street.  

Practical jeans, sweaters and wool jackets are prominent around campus and town for both men and women.  Layers, including sweaters and mid-weight wool jackets, are a necessity with the brisk winds and variable weather.  It can be sunny and cold (8 degrees C) in the morning, warm up by lunch (13 C), and within the next hour the winds have picked up and dark clouds are covering the sky.  Then it rains.  This is where your colourful umbrella comes in handy (mine's leopard print!).  Two hours later its clear skies again as the sun goes down.

Far more women here, students or not, wear skirts than what we're used to back home.  Another common and striking look is opaque or patterned tights with short shorts and Ugg-style boots.  Tights come in wild colours (eg. teal, purple, lime green, silver) and are paired with plaid or dark shorts, and brown, grey or black boots.  Occasionally ballet flats and a mini skirt are substituted.  

The club wear here has certainly surprised me, particularly the see-through mesh tops on young women.  Micro-mini skirts and dresses combine with black stilettos to make the wearer rather unsteady on the cobble-stone streets, but this is the fashion that all women are wearing to go out at night.  This look also reaches far beyond my earlier-imposed age cut-off of 30.  I've been told that guys will actually go up to international female students dancing at a club and say "You're not from around here, are you" because its obvious, what with our tendency to wear jeans and nice tops when going out.

Translations

As the weeks go by and we speak with more and more people, it becomes obvious that the meaning of some words varies greatly depending on where you learned English.  Some of them are obvious, or the ones that you know about from tv shows like lift (elevator) or telly (television).  Here's a couple other examples:

Crisps = Potato Chips

Chips = French Fries

Post = Mail

Bin Liner = Garbage Bag (and the bags come in a convenient roll, which is neat)

Pants = Underwear

Trousers = Pants (although my neighbour told me that pants is catching on, in large part due to american tv shows like Scrubs and Friends that are on every day).

And I haven't gotten used to the 24 hour clock, either.  

Pronunciation can also cause trouble, but this is difficult to express through text.  It's most noticeable on tv commercials e.g. Pantene is pronounced Pantin.  And we do get a kick out of the pronunciation of zebra (rather than sounding like zee, the first syllable sounds like zed).  And pita bread is pitta bread in both spelling and pronunciation.  The first time I saw that I honestly thought it was a typo.  

I'm sure there's many more examples that I'm forgetting, but hopefully this gives you a quick taste of British English.  And a quick thanks goes out to Aunt Donna and family who first made us aware of the many differences in language by giving us a British Language guide before we moved -- it has been useful.