Forthnights

30 & Counting

By the end of this month, it will have been exactly 30 days since I left home.

It has been one of the most exciting and refreshing times I have ever spent as a person, being in a foreign country, receiving top quality education, hanging out with old friends, making new ones and getting to see so much of this beautiful place.

Even being here for the entire 4months would not be enough for me to truly experience and understand English culture. But being here for 30 days has given me a very small taste of what the English are like (and why they cant stop talking about the weather!)

The first day I arrived, the sky was clear blue, the weather was cool, and England looked like the most beautiful foreign land I had ever been in. But then again, England was the only foreign land I have ever been to! “And they say the English weather is bad?” I asked. But 1 month later, all my lecturers can talk about is how we (from Malaysia) have brought the rain with us, because it rained for days on end, there was floods in Sheffield, their football stadium was flooded and same people lost their lives, swept away by the currents overflowing from the nearby river. It was featured all over the news, on BBC and all major newspapers. Luckily, my residence was not affected, and neither was our university.

Other than that, I visited Manchester city not once, but twice; once with a tour to Old Trafford stadium, and the other to meet my girlfriends aunt. I could hardly believe my eyes the moment I stepped into the stadium, and saw beyond me, that famous green pitch surrounded by red seats, and the words “Theatre Of Dreams” written boldly on the stands. I was actually at Old Trafford stadium! I have spent years watching Manchester United play game after game on this 73,000 capacity pitch, and now here I was! We got to visit the VIP lounge, the players dressing room, and they even played a recording of fans cheering as we entered into the pitch area from the tunnel where the players enter the field! I even got to sit where the Manager sits! My only regret was that we were not allowed to touch or step onto the grass. We got to see the treble won in 1999 that earned Alex Ferguson his knighthood, and the chronology of events leading up to that historical triple win in that year. It was truly a memorable and exciting experience for me.

Just as quick as the rain came, the locals were up to their shoulders in water. And just as quick as we came to Sheffield, we too were up to our shoulders, with assignments! Due to the limited time we have here, we are required to do in 3 months what others do in the entire years! So its really just a mad rush of assignments again, but the difference this time is, its in a more beautiful setting!

I can say that after 30 days, we have pretty much settled down to life here. I am now used to shopping at the local supermarket, and fixing my own meals, 3 times a days. Morning would usually just be toast or corn flakes. For lunch, if time permits, it would be spaghetti or burgers depending on what kind of food I have stocked. When we have no time to fix our own lunch, I just munch on a MARS bar, which surprisingly, lasts all the way to dinner. Speaking of which, dinner is always a more formal affair. We share and cook sometimes, and if not, believe it or not, its spaghetti again (or rice). I can safely say that I have never eaten this much spaghetti in such a short period of time before. I ask myself the question “What do this people eat? Is it really just spaghetti, roast meat, bacon, ham, cabbage, broccoli, chili and pork chops all the time?” To be franks, the variety and type of food here just pales in comparison with the kind of food we have back home; something we Malaysians always take for granted. We are so used to having such a wide variety of food, all totally different from each other. Over here, you get to choose what kind of sauce you want to make your meat with, and what kind of cheese you want. I never knew there were so many times of cheese! How do you differentiate them? What difference does it make anyway?

The people here like to walk a lot. Maybe because transportation is expensive, or they like walking under the summer sun. Over in Malaysia, you drive no matter how near. Any attempt to walk to the nearby store would be greeted with “Gila ar? So hot leh…” But over here, a walk seems can seem so inviting at times, especially when the weather is sunny, and the air is cool. The only problem is that even on a sunny day, its cold, and it rains! I brought an umbrella from home, and the first day I used it, it was ruined by the strong winds. You are better of using a rain coat here. It saves you the cost of an umbrella, and for the Asian ladies, you wont get blown away with your umbrella.

The English just love their drink, and specifically their beer. I never knew there was a difference between lager, beer and ale. There is even smoky, bitter or sweet varieties of it. They drink it in the morning, in the afternoon and at night. Every morning, I see this huge poster of an old man, holding a pint of beer saying “Get sat dawn, n’ tek weight off!” which makes absolutely no sense to me, and I am filled with curios amusement. I just got to know what it means before I leave.

The newspapers are another interesting thing. They have the serious paper like The Times, The Independent and other quality papers that are filled with pages and pages of intellectual, political, economical and social stuff that just bores you to death sometimes with its sheer dryness and seriousness. Then there are the trash papers, which show sexy women on the front page, and without fail, a half nude pic of the latest babe on the second page. It’s a cultural thing, having the page 2 nude shot. While in Malaysia, no guy would want to be caught dead buying one of this papers, they sell it openly here. Its filled with racy headlines like “I slept with my best friend husband!” to silly ones like “Man arrested for molesting pigeons.”… ok I made that one up, but you get the picture. The entire paper is filled with hot gossip on who’s sleeping with who, who broke up with who, who’s secretly dating, in love etc etc etc. Again, I found myself curiously amused. Do the British actually read this? On one hand, you have dead serious news talking about the war in Iraq, world trade, FTA’s and the socio-economic repercussions of a rising China. On the other, you have news of last years celebrity wanna be finally going topless for Playboy magazine, or the latest news on how another member of the royal family screwed up big time. Are there 2 distinct class of readers, or does one buy both and read them in order? What’s the page 2 topless shot for? Could it possibly have anything to do with the fact that some people like reading in the toilet? And since you are at it, might as well have a nice nude shot to relieve yourself?

I think that just about enough reflection and pondering for the moment!

For now, I’m just celebrating being here for 30 days!

posted by Compulsive Blogger @ 10:59 pm Comments: 1