So an English Christmas has caused me to be sicky sicky. :(
Christmas is Christmas, and is generally the same in all countries, except for what you have for dinner and the times you open presents. English Christmas dinner usually has turkey, while we Americans prefer our Christmas ham (I had a craving for some Honey Baked Ham). My family usually opens Christmas presents after midnight mass; Dan's family usually opens presents after dinner on Christmas Eve, which is a German thing. Blah blah blah, all very boring.
Christmas Day was very strange for me because I'm used to sleeping in and staying in my pajamas all day. Dan and his family all go to this local pub around the corner from their house. The entire town walks to this pub on Christmas Day to have many beers and chat away--a reunion of sorts. I suspect this is when the germs infultrated my body since I walked outside in the cold with wet hair to the pub. But it was interesting to see all these people drinking at noon (the pub was packed cause the entire town was there).
One tradition we don't have, which I think we should, is Boxing Day. It's a bank holiday, so everyone has the day off. Its orgins are related to giving servants gifts, but there was a huge party last night at Dan's house. A bunch of family friends convened at the Jarvis's abode. There was a fair amount of food, lots of booze, Rock Band, gift exchange, and a quiz game. It was quite the party and a fair number of people showed up. I will say that I am impressed that many of Dan's parents' friends tried Rock Band and really enjoyed it. Dan's mother is in love with the game and cannot wait until he returns to America because we are leaving the Xbox and Rock Band behind.
Boxing Day is definitely a nice tradition, especially what Dan's family has going on (they usually rotate the location in their group of friends in terms of host). I think there should be an American push for Boxing Day. But I guess if it doesn't help the commercial industry, there's no real reason right? Bush gave us Christmas Eve off, but don't you think that's really so you can go shopping to buy last minute presents? To me Boxing Day seems more family and friends oriented--that doesn't drive business. I do enjoy the Boxing Day though.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
NFL In London
So if you know just a little about me, you all should know my (sometimes unhealthy) obsession with football. And you should know that over on this side of the pond they refer to it as American football. Ha, not in my world and in my blog! Anyways, I have said on many occasions that the year is broken down to football season and then planning/waiting for football season. I love football!
So yesterday Dan found a pub close to Baker Street and Oxford Circus that showed NFL games. Our house only has freeview, so we had to go to a pub to catch a game. We had to watch Liverpool draw Arsenal first, then they showed the NFL games. Unfortunately they showed a pretty awful game (Cardinals v. Pats), though it was cool for the English to see the snowballs and snow covering the field. I was hoping to see the Skins v. Eagles, but that meant I would have had to stay at the pub late.
So in England, if you have Sky cable, you get a choice a choice of 3 NFL games (during the 1 or 4pm EST slots), and then you get Sunday and Monday night games. And now that the NFL is having strange Thursday and Saturday night games, Sky cable will also bring those to you as well. If you have freeview, like I do, you get the Sunday and Monday night games on TV 5! Woot! Sunday games aren't so bad, as they are on at 6pm or 9pm GMT. I attempted to stay up to watch the Giants v. Panthers at 1am GMT, only stayed till half-time, and read in the paper today that it went into OT. :( So sad!
Overall, it's not a complete loss with football. I'm glad they show the NFL versus nothing at all. I'm devastated that I cannot watch college football. I don't think there are pubs in Cornwall (where I'm going to be spending New Year's) that carry NASN (North American Sports Network) that show college football games. So I'm going to be sad that I won't be able to see my Hokies on TV. And because my IP address says that I'm in England, I probably won't be able to get a live stream of it. Sadness.
Other funny UK football related news...
There is a UK governing body for football. It's called the British American Football Association (BAFA). There are also a bunch of club teams throughout the country, including 3 or 4 London teams. During half-time last night, they interviewed some players on the club teams about why they wanted to play American football. I need to give you some history to rugby. According to Dan, rugby is played by posh (upper class) people--it's surprisingly a gentleman's sport. With that said, the guys they interviewed were all overweight and unathletic men who are not classy enough to have learned how to play rugby as youths. It was quite pathetic really.
In the UK, TV lacks the amount of commercials we are used to. Sky sports definitely doesn't have commercials, as does the BBC. So what does Sky show during the commercial breaks? At first, it was just a screen saying, "The programme will return momentarily." But then they would just show the NFL cheerleaders doing their routines during commercial breaks (much to Dan's enjoyment too). However, TV 5 has a British guy and a strange American guy analyze the teams during breaks. It's not so bad as the American guy explains the very basics so that Brits can get into the sport, but it's a far cry from the cheerleaders. And it was pretty good too, since last nights game was very much an offensive game, which makes analysis more interesting.
We are hopefully going to have a new kitchen built in this house by Super Bowl. Which means, I could theoretically have a Super Bowl party here!!! And I'll have Rock Band and Guitar Hero World Tour for half-time entertainment. Meaning you all really should come here for the party! Any takers? There are two extra bedrooms for people to crash in!!! Do it!
So yesterday Dan found a pub close to Baker Street and Oxford Circus that showed NFL games. Our house only has freeview, so we had to go to a pub to catch a game. We had to watch Liverpool draw Arsenal first, then they showed the NFL games. Unfortunately they showed a pretty awful game (Cardinals v. Pats), though it was cool for the English to see the snowballs and snow covering the field. I was hoping to see the Skins v. Eagles, but that meant I would have had to stay at the pub late.
So in England, if you have Sky cable, you get a choice a choice of 3 NFL games (during the 1 or 4pm EST slots), and then you get Sunday and Monday night games. And now that the NFL is having strange Thursday and Saturday night games, Sky cable will also bring those to you as well. If you have freeview, like I do, you get the Sunday and Monday night games on TV 5! Woot! Sunday games aren't so bad, as they are on at 6pm or 9pm GMT. I attempted to stay up to watch the Giants v. Panthers at 1am GMT, only stayed till half-time, and read in the paper today that it went into OT. :( So sad!
Overall, it's not a complete loss with football. I'm glad they show the NFL versus nothing at all. I'm devastated that I cannot watch college football. I don't think there are pubs in Cornwall (where I'm going to be spending New Year's) that carry NASN (North American Sports Network) that show college football games. So I'm going to be sad that I won't be able to see my Hokies on TV. And because my IP address says that I'm in England, I probably won't be able to get a live stream of it. Sadness.
Other funny UK football related news...
There is a UK governing body for football. It's called the British American Football Association (BAFA). There are also a bunch of club teams throughout the country, including 3 or 4 London teams. During half-time last night, they interviewed some players on the club teams about why they wanted to play American football. I need to give you some history to rugby. According to Dan, rugby is played by posh (upper class) people--it's surprisingly a gentleman's sport. With that said, the guys they interviewed were all overweight and unathletic men who are not classy enough to have learned how to play rugby as youths. It was quite pathetic really.
In the UK, TV lacks the amount of commercials we are used to. Sky sports definitely doesn't have commercials, as does the BBC. So what does Sky show during the commercial breaks? At first, it was just a screen saying, "The programme will return momentarily." But then they would just show the NFL cheerleaders doing their routines during commercial breaks (much to Dan's enjoyment too). However, TV 5 has a British guy and a strange American guy analyze the teams during breaks. It's not so bad as the American guy explains the very basics so that Brits can get into the sport, but it's a far cry from the cheerleaders. And it was pretty good too, since last nights game was very much an offensive game, which makes analysis more interesting.
We are hopefully going to have a new kitchen built in this house by Super Bowl. Which means, I could theoretically have a Super Bowl party here!!! And I'll have Rock Band and Guitar Hero World Tour for half-time entertainment. Meaning you all really should come here for the party! Any takers? There are two extra bedrooms for people to crash in!!! Do it!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Where's Eileen?
Wow, two posts in one day! It must be your lucky day!
So the internet stalks you via your IP address (for those who are not savvy and with it). My default Google page reads google.co.uk, and well I can't get any streaming videos that the networks back home put up. Yes, an American in England cannot watch Desperate Housewives or SNL videos because they know that I live in England and not in the USA. WTF?! They should at least give a 3 question quiz about truly American things just in case you are an American abroad. The first question should be "What is America's oldest brewery?" Any European would gladly say Anheiser Busch cause of Budweiser (America's most popular international beer) or perhaps Miller. Little do these unsuspecting foreigners know, Yuengling is the oldest American brewery, producing fine beer not available to them. It's little questions like these that would truly test your American heritage. You may be saying, "But Eileen, they can just google search it to find the answer." And to that I respond--time limit! If you don't the answer in 5 seconds, you must not be a good American and don't deserve to watch TV online. Ha!
So the internet stalks you via your IP address (for those who are not savvy and with it). My default Google page reads google.co.uk, and well I can't get any streaming videos that the networks back home put up. Yes, an American in England cannot watch Desperate Housewives or SNL videos because they know that I live in England and not in the USA. WTF?! They should at least give a 3 question quiz about truly American things just in case you are an American abroad. The first question should be "What is America's oldest brewery?" Any European would gladly say Anheiser Busch cause of Budweiser (America's most popular international beer) or perhaps Miller. Little do these unsuspecting foreigners know, Yuengling is the oldest American brewery, producing fine beer not available to them. It's little questions like these that would truly test your American heritage. You may be saying, "But Eileen, they can just google search it to find the answer." And to that I respond--time limit! If you don't the answer in 5 seconds, you must not be a good American and don't deserve to watch TV online. Ha!
Welcome!
So I am exhausted, but just had a lovely dinner from Nando's, so I am feeling a fit of energy! Mmm... Peri peri chicken...
So my flight was God awful. Well, the 5 hour flight was spent sleeping. Anyways, I got to the airport 2 hours before my departure time. I waited in line for an hour and half, only moved 3 feet, when a man finally came around to make sure people were in the correct lines. Turns out I wasn't in the correct line. So then I waited in the correct line for another hour. There were still people behind me too! No one on BA came around to tell people that the flight was delayed and to not panic. Anyways, because it took so freaking long to check-in, all the food places were closed! So I couldn't grab dinner and all that jazz. Our flight didn't take off till nearly midnight, and at that point I was absolutely exhausted since the last couple of nights I was getting around 5 hours of sleep! God awful check-in experience, but the flight wasn't bad.
Surprisingly the weather today was pleasant! Yes, pleasant! It was partly cloudy, and at one point I needed my sunglasses to block the sun's rays on the drive home. It was also around 40 degrees Fahrenheit (I'm never going to report in Celsius since that requires to rehash the calculation you've forgotten from high school chemistry). At one point I told Dan that we should probably go golfing, the weather was that great. But then I promptly changed into sweats and slept for 5 hours!
Right now I'm watching Hollyoaks, a British soap Clarke got me watching in the States a while ago. It's no AMC, but it'll have to do. Maybe if I have enough energy, I'll put pictures of the house we are staying in and stuff like that. I'm pretty damn tired though.
Miss you guys!
So my flight was God awful. Well, the 5 hour flight was spent sleeping. Anyways, I got to the airport 2 hours before my departure time. I waited in line for an hour and half, only moved 3 feet, when a man finally came around to make sure people were in the correct lines. Turns out I wasn't in the correct line. So then I waited in the correct line for another hour. There were still people behind me too! No one on BA came around to tell people that the flight was delayed and to not panic. Anyways, because it took so freaking long to check-in, all the food places were closed! So I couldn't grab dinner and all that jazz. Our flight didn't take off till nearly midnight, and at that point I was absolutely exhausted since the last couple of nights I was getting around 5 hours of sleep! God awful check-in experience, but the flight wasn't bad.
Surprisingly the weather today was pleasant! Yes, pleasant! It was partly cloudy, and at one point I needed my sunglasses to block the sun's rays on the drive home. It was also around 40 degrees Fahrenheit (I'm never going to report in Celsius since that requires to rehash the calculation you've forgotten from high school chemistry). At one point I told Dan that we should probably go golfing, the weather was that great. But then I promptly changed into sweats and slept for 5 hours!
Right now I'm watching Hollyoaks, a British soap Clarke got me watching in the States a while ago. It's no AMC, but it'll have to do. Maybe if I have enough energy, I'll put pictures of the house we are staying in and stuff like that. I'm pretty damn tired though.
Miss you guys!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Preview to London
So my flight to London is at 10pm on Wednesday. I have yet begun to pack for the brutal winter ahead of me. As I told Ted earlier this evening, it probably is for the best that I haven't started the packing process. I'm pretty sure if I started packing over the weekend (like I initially planned) I would pack everything that I owned! My aunt and her fiance are also visiting from Italy, so I will spend time with them tomorrow. As per usual I am leaving the arduous task of packing to the very last minute. I could have started packing after I went out with friends earlier this evening. But no, I decided to set up this blog so that when you are at work you can further procrastinate! So now the next post will be from the UK! Eep!!!
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