It was a pleasant surprise to discover just how many of my English friends remembered that July 4th was the American Independence Day. I received several congratulatory texts on my mobile phone and lots of messages from friends. It's all just more proof that American culture has permeated English culture. I did dress in the colors of the American flag that day (also the colors of the British flag) and, just for fun, wore as a headband a Stars and Stripes themed bandana I'd received as a farewell gift from my former editor.
One friend, Steve, even insisted on throwing an American Independence Day party which, due to his schedule, was held on Saturday. I wasn't sure what to expect when he picked me up to go shopping for food that evening. I'd invited a few people and thought we'd have a casual evening watching the film "Independence Day," as he'd first suggested. When I asked him, therefore, what he'd done that day, I was shocked when he replied, "I've spent the whole day getting ready for this party."
Indeed, Steve and his flatmate Phil spent Saturday driving around the city searching for American-themed items. They borrowed an American-flag inspired blanket from a friend, somewhere found one of those silly Uncle Sam hats, they'd bought a bag of balloons and blown up all of the red, white and blue ones, and they'd created an iPod playlist of American songs.
The evening's activities included a recitation of "The Pledge of Allegiance" and the singing of the National Anthem. I was impressed that Carmen knew most of the words and that everyone knew the last two lines, although the others just sang nonsense words loudly during the rest of the song as I shouted the lyrics above the din. It wasn't disrespectful, just very lively. When we finished the song the group erupted in cheers and loud chants of "U.S.A! U.S.A.!" It was all quite heartwarming, really, though one or two of them were heard to quip, "We're celebrating the 4th of July because it's the day we got rid of the Americans."
"But Steph," Steve said as we drove to buy food just an hour before the party began, "there's one place where we failed. Nowhere in the entire city of Nottingham can you find an American flag."
However, the ever-resourceful friends decided to craft one out of construction paper, and when my friend Carmen arrived early they set her to work cutting out 50 tiny white stars. The result was stupendous, and about 15 people partied the night away in a truly American-themed flat.
On Sunday I hosted Barbecue #2. I'd invited the eight other women who are doing the Discipleship Year service program with me at Trent Vineyard church to come over for a girly afternoon, but a few days beforehand I suddenly realized that I'd been to a lot of barbecues lately (not to mention hosting one just a few days earlier) and decided I could do with a change of menu. So I asked my friends for permission to make it a Mexican-themed event instead.
On Sunday, therefore, instead of grilling the ubiquitous burgers and sausages, I served slow-cooked machaca, or Mexican shredded beef, along with homemade guacamole, salsa, sauteed onions and peppers and all of the other trimmings. I adore Mexican food and sometimes have to remind myself that it's not at all normal for Brits, who are much more used to curries than tacos. Finding the ingredients can be tricky, as I learned when hosting a similar gathering at Christmas. Back then I had to use kidney beans instead of black beans, as they weren't available at local grocery stores (though Sainsbury's has now started carrying black beans, hooray!) but I did serve delicious homemade margaritas. The funniest thing about serving margaritas, though, was that 18 of the 20 guests had never before tried one. Most people liked them all right, although every single person except me thought it was "minging" (gross) to serve them with salt on the rim of the glass. Once I dipped the glasses in sugar instead of salt, they were happy. But the incident made me realize just how different the food culture of the Americas is from the food culture of Europe.
On Sunday when I arranged all of the burrito fillings on the table and told my friends to dig in, they just stared at me uncertainly. Pippa turned to me and said, "You need to show us the procedure," and so, laughing, I demonstrated how to fill a burrito. "Does the rice go inside the burrito?" Kristen asked. "Well, it can," I said. "That's what they do at Chipotle, and I made the rice with lime and cilantro, just like at Chipotle," but of course they had no idea what I was talking about (especially as cilantro is called coriander here). But we all managed to get our burritos made and everyone went back for seconds and it was all a great success.
The weather wasn't quite so compliant. What had been a sunny morning turned into an afternoon of rainforest-worthy showers, so instead of sitting outside we headed to the lounge where we started the gas fire as the rain slammed against the windows. After we giggled at one another's attempts to keep all of the burrito stuffing inside the burrito (and more than a few black beans had gone rolling across the carpet), I showed my friends a few photos from the Arizona desert and mountains where I grew up. They oohed and aahed at them, then did the same when I showed some Chicago photos.
"Oh, Steph, why on earth did you come here?" Rachel asked. "Here, to boring old Nottingham?"
Thanks to Mom back in Arizona, who gave me a tip for today's post. She steered me to this amusing clip of British actor Hugh Laurie appearing on Ellen DeGeneres' talk show earlier this year. In the first half Ellen and Hugh chat about his part-time life in America and in the second they quiz each other on British and American slang terms. I find it surprising that I knew all of the British slang terms but, of the American terms, I knew only the second!
Hugh Laurie is now, of course, famous in America for his portrayal of Greg House on the FOX medical drama "House," but he's had a long career in film and television, including starring in the Blackadder TV series and a scene-stealing part in 1995's "Sense and Sensibility." I'm sure someone is bound to disagree with me on this, but when I was watching the Ellen clip I thought, "Hugh doesn't sound very British anymore." That is, he sounds like a Brit who's spent a lot of time in America, not to mention perfecting his American accent. I'd say that Hugh Laurie has one of the best American accents I've ever heard a British actor do.
In the interview, Hugh points out that the rest of the world knows far more about Americans than they do about the rest of the world, thanks to the American film and TV industry, and he's absolutely right!
This does remind me of when I used to go for daily walks around a park near my former Glenview newsroom. I always loved passing by the tall grass area in summer and watching all of the red-winged blackbirds swooping about.
These days I need to watch out for the magpies and wood pigeons that like to sit in the middle of the cycle path next to the canal.
Today I had the fun of appearing on Radio Nottingham, the local BBC station. Morning Show presenter Frances Finn asked me on to her show so I could "hold up a mirror" to those in Nottinghamshire by sharing some of my experiences here in England.
I was definitely nervous when we first started speaking (it was my first time on the radio) but soon forgot that people were listening to the live broadcast all over Nottinghamshire as I chatted away with Fran. We had about an hour-long discourse (with a few breaks for news and music) about everything from American politics to British politeness to Nottingham pronunciations. I had a blast.
You can listen here, although the link will start at the beginning of Fran's three-hour show. I came on at 11 a.m., two hours into it.
You can't go far in Britain without seeing author Bill Bryson's name on the bestseller bookshelves, or hearing someone enthusiastically quote "Notes from a Small Island," or seeing him in the newspaper.
That suits me just fine, as I've been a Bryson fan for a decade. We pass audio versions of his books around my family, as they make great listening on driving trips, and I've read all of his early books, too. I greatly enjoyed seeing him speak at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. back in spring 2003, and am impressed by how he's made such a successful career for himself by writing about travel, words and science while calling two nations home. I have to admit it's a little strange to find him so celebrated over here, seeing as how he's American, but I guess he's lived in England for more than 20 years and it's actually heartwarming to see how eagerly he's been adopted by the reticent Brits.
Today's article in the Daily Telegraph makes me admire Bryson even more, because he's putting his time and energy where his mouth is. Even a casual reading of his travel books reveals Bryson's dismay at the homogenization of first America and now Britain. Small towns in America have been swallowed up and the same is happening in England, as globalization and convenience (usually in the form of souless chain stores and subdivisions) reach into rural villages.
The wonderful thing about this new public awareness campaign of Bryson's, though, is that he's starting small by encouraging Brits to stop littering. I think he's onto something here--if the new generation of Englishmen and Englishwomen learn to be respectful of the land that's seen so much history for millennia, then that may translate into a more holistic care for Great Britain.
I hope this is a lesson we can learn on both sides of the pond.
I served American pancakes and bacon to my housemate Julia the other day, and she was so impressed that went out and bought ingredients for another breakfast, even inviting her boyfriend over to share in the delights.
“It’s an amazing taste experience,” she assured him. “I’m not usually keen on maple syrup, but it goes so well with the fluffy pancakes and salty bacon.”
I smiled broadly at these words in great relief, because the first time I tried to make American pancakes and bacon here in Nottingham, it was a culinary disaster on every scale.
