Gender, sexuality and believe

I found a job. A real job for grown-ups. In England. And that means lots of documents to fill in. When I started applying for work I already noticed that the Brits want to know a lot of personal information. Besides standard questions about education and work, they also want to know about my disabilities and ethnicity - all in the name of equal opportunities. Fair enough, but now that I've actually found a job, they want to know a tiny bit more...

My gender, sexuality and believe? Well, I think I might be a transgender heterosexual Quaker?

An example of all the ethnic origins. I've never seen anything like this in the Netherlands. When will they start asking me questions about my favourite animal, TV shows and music?

Get behind the Hump!

Currently everything in England revolves around... England. At this moment, every self-respecting shop has a corner that's dedicated to British merchandise. Even the package of a dishwasher tablet company is decorated with the Union Jack... This is all due to several big events. The most special one is perhaps the Diamond Jubilee, which marks the 60 years of Queen Elizabeth's reign. It will be celebrated all over the country with street parties and the queen visiting some pretty shows (from the 2nd till the 5th of June). This event will be followed up by London 2012 - aka the Olympics - which is actually not really popular among residents. They are more interested in the well-being of England's football team at EURO 2012. Are they finally going to win this year? 

But first the nation has to support it's national pride at the Eurovision Song Contest: Engelbert Humperdinck. I'm a massive fan of the show and to be fair, the UK's entry is not bad this year. Even though the dear man is 76, he might score douze points! I'll be supporting Turkey, but I'm certainly going to wear the Engelburns and bowtie (download them here). What is your favourite Eurovision entry?

I had to add this image from the BBC. This should be enough reason to let England win! 

Conversation with a Brit #2

Guy: So do you understand Norwegian, since you are from the Netherlands?
Me: Not really. I suppose some words are more or less similar, but it's not like Dutch - German.
Guy: Fair enough, I thought that you'd be able to understand each other. Since you're both Nordic countries.
Me: Ehh....?

Just to be clear, these posts are not meant make fun of people. I've met many internationals over the past years and I'm sure I've asked very silly questions as well. It's amusing to talk about my fatherland with foreigners, but I'm stunned by the amount of people who have no idea where or what the Netherlands is!

Sun? Trousers off!

The United Kingdom is already known as the place where some inhabitants believe coats do not exist. Visiting any city on a chilly British winters night, you could be mistaken for living in a tropical country. Most partygoers tend to wear.... well, not an awful lot! 

At this moment, the sun is shining but the thermometer barely reaches 15°C. Many Britons have however decided that it's time to replace their daily winter outfits for something more summery. Coats are replaced by t-shirts and (white) legs are showed off in shorts or skirts. Do those people really think it is adequate to wear shorts come rain, sun, snow and frost? Some garments simply do not belong outside the wardrobe in this time of year.

I can understand that the Brits try to make the most of their summers, but it it's only March! Even the boyfriend has already been outside in shorts and a t-shirt, while I was still wrapped in my winter coat. His argument: “the sun is out.”

I’m not yet ready for all this nakedness on the streets!

Happy Pancake Day!

Today it's Pancake Day (also known as Shrove Tuesday) in England and most other English speaking countries. Because I'm crazy about pancakes, I could not miss out on this festivity. Last night I made them for dinner and this afternoon I made them for me and the boyfriend. Pancake overdose?

A little bit of background information: Pancake Day is the last day before the period which Christians call Lent, the time fasting begins. Pancakes are eaten on this day because they contain milk, butter and eggs, which were forbidden during Lent. The day always falls 47 days before Easter Sunday, so the date varies from year to year.

For me (and most other people) it is just a day to eat pancakes. I make them regularly throughout the year, but many Brits only eat them today - with lemon juice and sugar!

Happy Pancake Day!

Conversation with a Brit #1

Click on the image for a larger version.

Student: Where are you from?
Me: The Netherlands.
Student: Ooh is that next to Sweden?
Me: Nearly…

Sneak Peek January

It's already mid-January, time for an update! It was great spending Christmas and New Year at home in the Netherlands. To be fair, I didn't really want to go back to the UK because I knew there were 2 essays and a presentation waiting to be made. Therefore, not much has happened the past 1,5 week. York is quiet because most students are in the library or still at home.

I realized I haven't shown my new house in York yet! This is the view I have from my room. The house I live in looks exactly the same as the houses across the street.

Thank you supermarket, one day you'll make me rich!

A typical British meal at the boyfriend's parents (the brown stuff on top of the plate is Steak and Ale Pie, delicious!). Voor de Nederlandse lezers, Steak Pie is draadjesvlees in bladerdeeg. In deze Ale variate is er dus bier bijgedaan.

A wacky ride over the Pennines

Boyfriend James always knows how to tell dull stories in an exciting way. Are you ready for a gripping story of adventure and adrenaline? You better be!

I had just arrived in Schiphol Airport, had a look at the departure board and it said our flight to Manchester was 30 minutes delayed. Got checked in, went through passport control and me and Ilse took a stroll in the terminal. Got a sandwich and coffee and watched as our plane was pushed back another 30mins to 11 o'clock.

I whipped out the laptop, did a bit of light browsing and even appeared on Facebook. After that, I went to the toy shop and bought Lego to keep me occupied on the flight. Anyway, our time had come – we were allowed to board. We began to go through Dutch baggage check, the man even tried to speak to me in their native tongue, so I smiled to let Ilse explain to him, I was English.

 

 
So, we were about to take off and I whipped open the Lego to make. However, on approach to the Isles of the United Kingdom, we began to feel more and more turbulence. This grew into some wacky ride over the Pennines and on approach Manchester, people had begun to take out sick bags from the seats. "Weaklings!" I thought to myself, "I'm from Yorkshire, I will not join in this awful event of nausea!".
So on carried the plane, and actually, as we went down, the plane was rolling pretty badly. However, I had been to a theme park the day before and was immune to the stomach churning feelings the other passages were having – even Ilse was gripping on to my hand rather tight. THEN THE LANDING STRIP WAS IN SIGHT. "YAAAAAY" we all must of thought. Ilse and a random Asian guy beside me looked relieved too.

However, more is to come, as I looked out of the window to see the Manchester terminals, it suddenly started to disappear. We had in fact come in to land in such a fashion that if we did, we would of all died. So the pilot shot us straight back into the air and explained what had gone wrong. A woman behind Ilse was definitely filling up the sick bags. He explained that if we were to abort the landing again, we'd have to go to Liverpool. Ilse was now complaining to me about how shit this had all become. However, sadistically I was loving the thrill.

Anyhow, round 2 commenced. We plummeted to the tarmac, and as the passengers filled up more sick bags, I turned around to random Asian guy and told him "don't stare into the bag, it'll make it worse!". I thought he needed good fearless Yorkshire advice. And then we hit the tarmac, stopped, gave the pilot a round of applause (it felt wicked to be alive). Left the plane, nearly got blown away by the wind.

Enjoyed it? You may need a cuppa after all that.