Crunchy Runs: Overseas style

Just a shortie blog today...

It's fall all over the place and that means a few things: warm sweaters, no more short skirts, drinking coffee at the temperature it was created to be drank at, and crunchy runs (i.e. running outdoors on fall leaves). Last week I joined a running group and so far they do not fail to kick my butt every Tuesday and Thursday from 7pm to 8, 8:30, 9pm. I figure the days in between I am allowed to explore and go on fun runs until I find a job that can pay me for my time and ambition.

So after dropping off NHS applications and applying for as many applicable jobs that I could find, I got out of the flat and went to discover unknown lands (well, unknown to me). Towards the end I started to scare myself a little. It was getting dark and I did not really know where I was while meanering through some farmer's fields. Thoughts of making a desperate phone call started to creap up but it turned out I was just down the road from our flat and all was well. But that would have been quite a story. Lost in the UK less than 4 blocks from home, HA. There you have it: I had a wonderful crunchy run alone in Northern UK this afternoon. If you ever get to Harrogate I reccomend doing it.

(No offense NYC but I'll take this body of water over the East River or the Jackie O. resivoir anyday.)

(This was actually at the beginning of my run and out of chronological order. I put it in because I am trying to figure out what the bird on the left is doing. A back flip? Possibly a mid-air back-stroke?)

Learning English

(Finding my way through Harrogate this week)

After talking to Mom about my family history, I have learned that my ancestors are serial-movers. According to Mom, her side of the family got to America from Germany because they were running away. Now that is what I call running away!

I figure I should follow in the footsteps of my great great grandparents and have moved to a country that is foreign to me. Although my outward appearance blends in seamlessly, the second I open my mouth the librarian, the bank manager, the O2 and McDonanlds’ clerks, and the new running group recognize “this girl is NOT from around here.” That is right, I am the one with an accent now and I have a HUGE American accent.

(The view from my McDonalds "box suite")

Eric (my American bf/roomie) and I had a talk about this. He is not surrounded by the native accent as much but I will probably be and to be honest, I love it. I am really enjoying listening to people talk but then I open my own mouth and sound so different. Weird! I don’t know if I will acquire any sort of accent but I do know that I am already picking up on some great new vocabulary terms.

“Red Boy” “Rent Boy” being the newest one I learned the other day as I was sitting in McDonands taking advantage of FREE internet with the purchase of water and side salad. A group of teenage girls were eating lunch and discussing the term. One of the girls did not know what it meant therefore I was fortunate to not only hear the term but I got a definition as well.

Rent Boy=Male prostitute.
I had originally thought the word was “Red Boy.” It totally made sense to this Wisconsin girl--red light=red boy--makes sense right? I was wrong. Luckily, before I posted this, I had the good fortune to mention it to some Harrogate residents who corrected my error and got a laugh out of my my American translation. Thank you, sooooo much Kariba Creative team!

There are others that I am sure I will be learning. I don’t know exactly what the crag is yet. The women at the running club kept talking about a wedding run where they ran out to the “crag” and had cakes. Sounds amazing and I know for a fact that the cakes were very yummy. I got to have some after my first group run. However, I don’t really know what a crag is. I am imagining it is some sort of land formation. Maybe rocks or a valley? According to my “researcher” roomie: The UK was an area where the glaciers stopped in the last ice age. Being from a region of Wisconsin which benefited from the glacial stopping, I know what glacial rocks look like and it is very pretty.

Here are a couple more terms, which are new and very important for me to know. I will put the English term first then the American Definition and why it is important for me to know.

Boot = Trunk of your car
I suppose if someone tells me to put something in the boot and I didn’t know this I might be very confused. Luckily, Eric pointed out a “boot sale” when arriving in Harrogate. No, no my NY friends. Do not get too excited. There are no Prada, LV, or even Areosoles at this sale. Rather, it is a sale that takes place from the back or “boot” of your automobile.

Coriander Leaves= Cilantro
This is probably not a UK/US thing but it is something I needed to learn. In NYC we called the leaves of the coriander plant cilantro. Just like it says in my Microsoft Word Encarta World English Dictionary. However, I was not informed that they were two in the same before I went to Asda to get fixings for guacamole. Normally, I would just smell the stuff since it looked like what I knew to be cilantro but they had it completely sealed and I could not smell it. I was going to take a leap of faith but then spotted a whole coriander plant for sale on an adjacent rack. When no one was looking, I took a tiny leaf to sample and sure enough… I learned in Harrogate’s Asda that coriander leaves are cilantro.

Plasters= “Bandaid” or plastic bandage.
I found this out while in Boots drugstore (again, this has nothing to do with footwear). I was looking for bandages for my sore knees that I fell on a week ago in NY. Anyone who knows me, knows that this is a very critical piece of information. As an American child, I was known as the “band-aid kid” because of all of my injuries. I suppose if I were a UK kid I would have been known as the “plasters-kid.” Hahahahaha, that cracks me up a bit.

Chips=Fries
Yes, I know this is one of the most popular terms and I know it pretty well, I’m not confused by it. The reason it is important to me here is that I do not have the internet yet. ((Hold on, I’m piecing this one together.)) Since I do not have the internet at my flat, I need to go to McDonalds to get it for free. This means I spend a few hours a day at McDonalds. Eric is teasing that I will soon refuse to get out of bed without the promise of a Big Mac and shake. So, with all the time I spend at Micky D’s, it really tickles me to see a tiny blonde British child say “Chips! Chips! Do I get Chips?!” I have to reform my preconceived notion of the McDonald’s “fry smell” to mean “chips.” It is not solely the idea of fries, it is the fry smell that is McDonalds. I have to learn that that smell is chips not fries. Oh dear, now I am confused.

Anyway, I am also learning a lot about a culture. At first glance, it is seemingly identical to the one I grew up in but at second glance… I am found a bit lost. I am also learning the English way of living. Apparently, you do NOT have tea at teatime. That was a lesson I learned from my designer replacement Victoria before I landed in this sunny isle. Vic is from Oxford and lives in NYC. She filled me in on UK living while I filled her in on marathon running. It was a fair trade off methinks but I wish I had a pocket Vic right about now. I would get so much more use out of her here.

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(The Stray((I think that's what it's called)), and yes, it is sunny!)

Side Note: I bet you caught me say “this sunny isle” and maybe you thought I was being a bit facetious but I am not. It has rained one day since I landed but other than that, it is very very sunny here in Harrogate. I could possibly get a tan if the temperature rose a few degrees. ☺

Island Hopping: No longer Wisco Girl in NY

(A going away gift Cathy got me. It's a Wisconsin Girl in NY key chain. How appropriate)

I really should have thought about naming this blog a little more when I did it. It is the morning of the day I leave NYC and the United States to learn a new accent and explore another island culture. I am pretty excited. I got to wake up super happy--which I have been doing a lot of lately--and now I'm listening to one of my favorite morning bands--Polyphonic Spree.

This week was a lot of goodbyes, parties, and getting my fill of NYC things. It was a great week. Eric said "How you leave a place really affects your overall memory of your time there." I know that I've been very down about NYC for a while now but this past week reminded me of the reasons I stayed here for 5 years. Oh crap now I'm crying a little.

I ♥ NY people
Like I said in a few blogs, NY is people. What makes NY amazing for me is the MILLIONS of people. Luckily out of those millions I was able to find some really great friends. These are the people who have been there for me in many ways. I am alone in NY but I really am not. If I go into it too much I'll have tears all over my keyboard and then be pissed when I can't watch a movie on the flight tonight. So I'm stopping there. I ♥ NY people.

I ♥ NY's Coney Island
In my last post I mentioned wanting to get to Coney Island and I did. It's not fun or exciting but totally solemn. Basically it is a broken down amusement park and there is something I love in that. I broke my attraction to the least attractive amusement park down to three reasons when I was there:

1) Nathan's Hotdogs. It's totally fine to have a completely unhealthy lunch, drink a beer at noon. That was my one meat splurge when I was totally vegetarian. I would sneak out to Coney Island, have a hotdog, then tell all my friends how I cheated on my vegetarianism. I know whatever is in hotdogs should make me run in another direction but you just can't imitate them at all with fake meat.
2) I always witness some bizarre activity going on while I'm there. Last time it was a group of Polar Bear swimmers in March or April and then this time some Jewish guy was reading his giant prayer book while throwing food at seagulls. The gulls went absolutely nuts and it was actually really pretty (I have photos).

3) Lastly, Coney Island is a place where you can be alone but not. It's desolate and everything is run down/broken. It reminds me of the amusement park at the end of Big and for some reason I really love it. Maybe I secretly think the magical fortune telling machine will be out there someday. That would be so cool.

(The guy feeding gulls and reading his prayer book at Coney Island, so pretty!)

I ♥ NY food
Specifically I love being able to eat different types of food at any time. At any hour in NY you can get Tapas, Southern, Peruvian, Mexican, Indian, Ethopian, Thai, Diner food, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Italian, Pizza (it's NY it HAS it's own category here) and more. Food brings people together, nourishes them, and can be an adventure to try new things. Also, on top of missing the food I will miss the dinners with my friends, co-workers, and colleagues. It's not the Pecan Pie Sunday or Fried Goat Cheese with Honey and Carmelized Onions that I miss. It's the sounds that come out of our mouths while eating them. It's the act of never being the one to eat the last bite because you are with your best friends and want them to have it. That is what I will miss.

My new "HOTLIST" of NY eats:
Buttermilk Channel
Shanghai Kitchen (formerly known as Moonhouse)
Seoul Garden
Sala 19
Johns Pizza
Clinton Street Baking Co.

I ♥ NY
So yes, I still ♥ NY. I'm just not suited to live here anymore. I really do miss greenspace. So, I am about to hop a plane to a very green place where there is a yard, a palm tree, washer, dryer, a red fence, a bike/running path, some roudy children that need a talking to, and a lot of adventure to be had.

So.... as My friend Shannon would say "Peace out NY"