Forgetful

[monster]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Even if some of the lecturers are geordies they won;t be lecturing in full on geordie dialect :P

All the geordie lecturers bugger off down south where the support staff fawn all over them.

(The support staff will have Geordie accents, but they might slow them down in return for hearing your American one)

[DanaC]

I love the geordie accent and dialect. It's one of my favourites. It's held out much longer than most of the other Northern accents against the homogenisation of language.

If you move from Lancashire to Yorkshire the two accents find a place to meet and merge into one another. Same if you take most northern accents down south. My geordie mate has been living in Yorkshire for over 20 years and spent time living in the Midlands and the South before that. He still sounds distincly geordie, despite attempting to tone it down to be understood. When he gets drunk he slips into full on Tyneside, some of which I understand...

[Perry Winkle]

Okay. I've been here for just shy of three weeks. I'm fairly well settled in.

Is it possible to have culture shock in my case? It doesn't seem likely, but I can't figure out what's wrong with me. I feel way off.

[DanaC]

Lot of stuff to get used to in three weeks, up to and including a change of water supply. It may just be you're adjusting to lots of different, small, environmental changes.

Or, it's a little bit of culture shock:P

What do you mean by way off?

[Cloud]

you think they don't have toothpaste in England?

[Perry Winkle]

There are a few little things that bug me here. For instance, everything comes with chips or mash. And then on chain restaurant menus they tend to use chips and fries interchangeably (Nando's for instance. The place sucks, I'll never go back.).

I've finally adjusted to crossing the road. It's been a few days since I've nearly been killed by speeding vehicles.

There's a postal strike on this week, which is annoying. I can't remember a postal strike in the US.

I want peanut butter that doesn't look (and taste) like mustard. I want maple syrup. Period. I want a can of Barbasol, and I only want to pay $0.99 for it.

I want to be able to say cheers without sounding like an asshole.

I could go on for a long time like this. . .

The funny thing is that I really, really like it here. There's just a bunch of niggling little things that are hard to let go of.

[limey]

Of COURSE you can be suffering from culture shock! George Bernard Shaw (renowned British playwright) said that the UK and the USA were two nations divided by the notion that they shared a language. What is the difference between "chips" and "fries" - I thought they were the same thing? Get stuff you want posted to you (it'll turn up when the postal strike ends ...) however humble it seems.
The advice I'd give you is to make sure you travel widely from your new, but temporary, base. I'm still kicking myself for the trips I never found time for when I live in Moscow for two-and-a-half years. Let me know when Scotland figures in your plans ...

[monster]

Originally Posted by monster

If you have enough room, take comfort foods -notably condiments.(favourite peanut butter, maple syrup etc). Take extra underwear and toiletries -it can be more frustrating than you expect not to be able to find a brand of deodorant you like (in a last straw sort of a way).

Originally Posted by Perry Winkle

I want peanut butter that doesn't look (and taste) like mustard. I want maple syrup. Period. I want a can of Barbasol, and I only want to pay $0.99 for it.

*ahem*

yup, you are in the first phase of culture shock. Don't worry, this too, shall pass. Have you been to the American Expats site I recommended and asked them where to buy the stuff you crave?

[DanaC]

I want peanut butter that doesn't look (and taste) like mustard. I want maple syrup. Period. I want a can of Barbasol, and I only want to pay $0.99 for it.

Peanut butter tastes like mustard? It always tasted very sweet to me. You can buy maple syrup, just go to a reasonably large supermarket and ask someone. If the supermarkets aren't stocking it you should be able to find it at a delicatessen. I have no idea what Barbasol is :P

[kerosene]

Perry, try their pop. It tastes much better than pop here, because it is made with sugar instead of HFCS. (If you are a pop drinker.)

[Perry Winkle]

Originally Posted by case

Perry, try their pop. It tastes much better than pop here, because it is made with sugar instead of HFCS. (If you are a pop drinker.)

Yup. Even their diet soda tastes better. Diet Coke in the UK is better than Diet Coke in the US, but Coke Light from continental Europe blows both out of the water.

The funny thing is that there's this little Cantonese restaurant in Friars that has French, Czech, and German bottled soda.

[Perry Winkle]

Originally Posted by DanaC

You can buy maple syrup, just go to a reasonably large supermarket and ask someone. If the supermarkets aren't stocking it you should be able to find it at a delicatessen.

Do you think they'll have real maple syrup, not the stuff that's primarily corn syrup?

I took a cursory look for it in the Co-operative, Tesco, and ASDA, and they didn't have any. . . I'm curious about marmite and treacle though. Morbidly curious.

[monster]

Originally Posted by Perry Winkle

treacle though. Morbidly curious.

treacle is pretty much molasses. I use it to make parkin around this time of year. yum. there are a few nice cookie recipes that require treacle too. and I would have treacle on toast if I ever thought about it. A very thin smear of it.

Marmite is the work of teh debbil.

[Perry Winkle]

Originally Posted by Cloud

you can always make your own peanut butter in a food processor. Peanuts, add salt, a little oil if you need it, and voila! It doesn't taste like Skippy, but it does taste like peanuts, and much better for you.

Yeah. I've tried making peanut butter that way, and it's never been appetizing. I don't like my peanut butter to taste TOO much like peanuts. . . At least I've migrated away from the PB that contains HFCS.

Plus, that would require buying yet another appliance. We've bought a toaster, a jug kettle, a knife set, pots, pans, flatware, mugs, cups. Up next: a mixing bowl, cookie sheets, hand mixer, and maybe one or two other things. A food processor is somewhere further down on the list.

I didn't really account for these expenses in my planning... yuck.

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

I second Sainsbury's & Waitrose for real maple syrup.

At some point I might just have to try the varieties they have here. I actually am kind of curious.

The nearest Waitrose's is in Durham. Sainsbury's will take a bus excursion, but that's reasonable compared to going all the way down to Durham!

Originally Posted by dar512

William Gibson calls it "the mirror world" where everything is the same, except where it's different. If you like spy and/or action novels, you might like Pattern Recognition much of which is set in London.

That book is amazing. I loved it.

I about lost my mind last week. My girlfriend and I went to eat at this "New York Style Italian Restaurant" (gag!), the place could have been anywhere in the world. I think that's one of the reasons that I can't stand eating at chain restaurants like Ruby Tuesdays or Olive Garden. They don't feel like real places.

Originally Posted by monster

*ahem*

yup, you are in the first phase of culture shock. Don't worry, this too, shall pass. Have you been to the American Expats site I recommended and asked them where to buy the stuff you crave?

Nope... I forgot about that site. Thanks for the reminder.

I tried to save space to bring my comfort stuff, but I was at the limit on both my bags with just neccesities. 22 kg is not all that much when you're packing for a year.

Originally Posted by monster

treacle is pretty much molasses. I use it to make parkin around this time of year. yum. there are a few nice cookie recipes that require treacle too.

What's parkin? Any suggestions for cookie recipes?

I've been spending too much on store bought baked goods. I need to start making my own. Lemon muffins at Gregg's, cookies and turnovers at Marks & Spencer *drools*

Sorry for the mass reply. I'm a little cramped for time at the moment, but wanted to get back to ya'll.

[Cloud]

chips are different from fries in the States. Maybe you call them crisps?