scouse, salford quays

these are from last saturday. we wandered manchester, saw some suspicious scouse and took the tram to the plastic salford quays where we bought a bag of mis-shaped cadbury chocolates [also home of the trafford center and stickers about man-u that i do not understand]. then peter did homework. all. week. long. hooray for no more group projects ever!

things to envy about england

there are things about being here that i dislike. the most notable are: scary youths, garbage storms, terrible man haircuts, track suits and not saying "blessing you" after a sneeze.. and miniature washing machines. other things are extremely impressive. here are my favorites.

ploughman's sandwiches
free daily paper
fresh cut chips/french fries
man size tissues
'hiya'
red-yellow-green traffic lights
tame squirrels
freaky eaters, peep show, the inbetweeners
tea and biscuits
public transport
marks & spencer commercials
cadbury outlet store

also, i've been compiling a list of english [or maybe just northern english] terms. may favorite is knackered.

cheerio
jolly good
chat to
easy peasy
loads
brilliant
mate
nutter
ring [instead of call]
yeah or innit at the end of a sentence
bits and bobs
done and dusted
dead easy/simple/excited
kick off
hiya
the lot
diary [instead of calendar]
lads
fit [as in: he's a fit lad]
proper
knackered
range
scheme
reckon
bloke/bird
thick
sussed out
cracking job
snog
get your kit off
jumper
vest
scouse
scally
yobs
fancy dress
smart wear
do the washing up [instead of do the dishes]
arse

and.. if your phone number is 299 - 3909 it will sound like two double-nine, three, nine, o nine. they like the double. and o instead of zero. that combined with a garbled accent can really throw you off..

pictures + presents

last saturday peter bought me a lensebaby. i had seen something similar but had no idea what it did. we spent the afternoon making pizza dough and trying our hardest to focus the lens which was dizzing. here is me making dough. i think the electric kettle might be in focus. maybe.
sunday we took the camera with us on a walk through cheetham hill to go to the jewish grocery. i kindof focused on a bumle bee and peter's head. hopefully more practice will lead to pretty pictures.

santogold + spilling beers

we are just home from seeing the fantastical santogold, spilling beverages and eating french fries. she was excellent. i apologize to the girl infront of me that i sloshed beer on for the last couple hours. it was very difficult to contain myself. and, yes, i do know her. being american and all. we all know one another. especially the the black people. we're all related.

southport and scotties

today is the uefa final game. scottland rangers vs. st. petersburg [russia] held at manchester city stadium. this brought 150k blue t-shirt wearing, horn tooting drunkies to city center. they were accommodated by relaxed public intox laws and tankers full of carlsberg beer. i spent the day listening to a roaring crowd in piccadelli repeatedly singing along to simply the best. why scottish football fans know all the lyrics to a tina turner song i have no idea. but i heard it a good 7 or 8 times today so i know the lyrics now too. here is the view from my office, overlooking piccadilly gardens during lunch time.


after work we walked around town to observe what the football fans were up to. their activities included eating takeaways, asking for directions to the stadium, singing unrecognizable songs in sloppy scottish accents and public urination. there were lots of empty booze bottles, horse poo from the coppers and shirtless, sunburnt passed out men and women. it was reminiscent of an msu tailgate + a music festival, but with moms and dads. that is why the uk is so great.. older people understand the enjoyment of getting "pissed," anytime. during the day and/or outside is especially fun. eating greasy food afterwards is also excellent.

last saturday we took the train to southport. it is a beach resort-ish type town. we ate very delicious fish and chips on the "boardwalk" overlooking the "beach." we never actually saw the irish sea, but we did see lots and lots of sand. you could tell the waterline had made it a "beach" at one point, but we were there at extremely low tide and missed it completely. most of the attractions were still in use but old and in need of some tlc, graffiti removal and a coat of paint. it was dilapidated, but in a really good, beautiful way. we walked through town and ate candy floss/cotton candy. then we walked to the botanical gardens. it was a long walk. i had been wearing new flats all week because all of my old shoes decided to fall apart at the same time. it had been so long since i'de worn new shoes that i forgot how painful they are. they are real painful. my feet were wrecked and i decided to wear new sandals which was the last straw. it took like what seemed like forever to find the park, but we were distracted by adorable houses and thatched roofs so i survived. when we got to the gardens we found caged birds and rabbits, a happy funtime kids train and lots of kids in strollers. i tried to convince peter we should get a stroller so i could take a load off and save my feets. we didn't see many botanicals, but it was pretty. then we walked slowly back to town, ate ice cream and headed home. we had pasta with lots of garlic, capers, white wine, spinach and squid for diner. we also had that for dinner sunday and monday as it is the yummiest.

there are photos but it took too long to write this and now i'm pooped.

**
hot, gray, overcast southport-ness

this morning on the way to work it looked almost like there was an explosion.. a beer can, vomit and burger king explosion. the whole of market street was paved with garbage and broken glass and the smell of hot beer and wee was in the air. there was apparently a riot after the scotties lost. a police officer lost some teeth, a police dog was injured and a russian was stabbed, but no tear gas or mace to speak of. they could learn something from the msu riot squad.. it's hard to stab someone when you're involuntarily vomiting or clawing your eyes out.

sunny days, cycles + sickies

last week went by very quickly and the weekend very slowly. my department at work had to move offices so i spent days building boxes, hauling dusty files and getting giant paper cuts. on friday petey had homework due by midnight so we had biscuits, tea and ice cream for dinner and stayed in with our wines.

saturday we ate the bestest foods at this and that and headed down oxford street around uni manchester. it was nice and quiet.. even peaceful in contrast to city centre. we spent about 2 minutes in the manchester museum seeing the lindow man bog body, tried to see the victoria baths through lots of scaffolding then found a seemingly deserted graveyard around a burnt down church. on the way to seoul kim chi shop we found another good asian grocer and bought a giant bag of frozen squids. finally [after too much walking in new shoes] we bought a kilo [2.3 lbs] of mussels for £3 [6$] at the fish monger and made a gigantic dinner with a baguette and hoegaarten.

after food we drank cider in the park and spied a baby henry dog, then had some more drinks at the marble arch pub, some more at the flat.. then one for the road on the way back down oxford road. due to our drunkenness we were an hour late meeting piotr and two friends at big hands. the rest of the night is a blur. i rode a bike without injuring myself, went to a dance club, tore the bows off my dilapidated gray flats and made it home to eat kabobs safely. sunday we recovered from a terrible hangovers and then from mysterious food poisoning. i blame the kim chi, but only because that was what my puke smelled like. monday i slept like a narcoleptic and while peter brought me glasses of cold water with straws and failed at getting icy hot for my aching back.

the weather will be in the 70s until at least the weekend. people are celebrating by making out in public places and exposing themselves unnecessarily.. its just like home. i am ready for summertime.. lots more drinking outdoors, a visit from alicia and cayle, the end of temping, a suntan, and fun concerts.

bar burrito, buxton + balls

it has become clear that our lack of social stimulation has led to an increased interest in food. it is difficult to think of anything to write about except food. not that i am neglecting of our hiatus here, but my time is spent temping at the highways agency, downloading american tv shows and cooking. the first two are just as exciting as they sound.

friday peter met me after work to drink two-for-one margaritas and chips and salsa [that tasted like ragu pasta sauce] at bar burritto. we then picked up wine and headed home to eat pasta, roast a chicken and have more drinks. being the old woman that i am i took a bath then promptly fell asleep on the couch around 10. peter finally put me to bed at 3 a.m.

saturday morning we went to buxton. it was the most scenic train ride yet.. lots of baby lambs trotting along their moms and dads. white lambs and black lambs.. white lambs with black legs and some old gnarly looking grandma and grandpa sheeps too. some of our fellow train passengers with what seemed like severe mental disabilities added to the ambiance by making very loud farm animal noises, so the petting zoo vibe really came to life. anyhow, it was incredibly adorable. it only got better when we arrived. there were so many cute dogs i thought i was going to lose it. the kids were well behaved, not scary mini versions of their track suit wearing parents. even the ducks were too friendly. we bought sandwiches and ate in the park then wandered. the weather and abundance of cuteness put us in a really good mood but by mid afternoon we were back on the train struggling to stay awake. back in manchester we waded through the usual weekend crowds to buy groceries then went home to make some soups.

the matzo ball soup experience ended up going fairly well. they tastes a bit like pretzels, but besides that it was a-ok. eating them caused sever drowsinesses, so we lounged like hobos for the rest of the night. tonight we made mac & cheese with broccoli and cauliflower. we also made a disgustingly buttery pineapple upside down cake. disgusting in the best kind of way. surprisingly we have not yet exploded into fatties.

springtime

it is spring time finally. it will be springtime until wintertime here, because summer does not exist. this morning it was sunny until i left for work. on the walk in it poured and my pants were wet to the knee due to lots of splashing. the sky was dark all afternoon until i got off work.. then it was sunny. we walked to the only store near city center that supplied matza crackers. we [i] am going to attempt matzo ball soup and peter is going to attempt to eat chicken. hopefully we survive. even though peter is a jewish he doesn't observe. we pretended to celebrate passover, whenever it is/was by making latkes and apple sauce last week. actually peter sat on the couch and i made them, but saying "we" sounds better. we both ate them with yogurt as sour cream doesn't seem to exist here.. they were good and the apt. smelled of grease for the next few day, which was strange but good.

i started working in a new office last monday and instantly got sick. by saturday i was feeling better-ish so we went to heaton park thinking it was spring. we saw hairy cows and baby ducklings. it was windy and cold but the park was giant and pretty so we walked around lots until i felt like poo then ate sandwiches and apple/rhubarb crisp in prestwich and went home to lay down.

i miss my family.. i'm glad we were able to see them lots before we left.. i've never been one to be too homesick, but i had a feeling it would be different than being away at school or in lansing, and was taking advantage of being home. i did not know how strange it would be being here and realizing things are going on back home even though i'm not there. it feel like when we go back things will pick up where they left off, but that is far from the truth. i miss my cat, my little sister is turning 21 and my oldest sister is getting married. other people are buying old smelly stuff from my thrift stores and my friends are getting drunk and hanging out without me. pshhhhh