Blog at Work

At the moment, I am actually working.

Sally and I are on a conference-call webinar about the conference we are going to end of May. It is mostly very simplistic and boring, but at least it did give me the idea to post two jobs that are being advertised from our office… Plus, presenters are talking at the thoughtfully slower pace that one uses with non-native English speakers, so my eyelids are droopy.

Generally, I find that a glass or five of wine (small glasses, of course, mama) helps one be able to tolerate this speed of speech. This comment comes from personal experience over the past two days with a group of, mostly Asian, educational agents who have been visiting UEA. Sunday evening was a boat trip on the Broads; it was lovely and must be experienced again as it is bafflingly considered rude to interrupt chit-chatty pseudo-intellectual conversation in order to fiddle with camera light settings and such.

Last night was a gala dinner, where I was sat next to a poor girl with painfully low level English. It is rather difficult to explain what a bunny rabbit is; I tried to describe using words like ‘small’, ‘brown fur’, ‘big ears’ to no avail. My imitation of ears (both with first two fingers in Little Bunny Foo-Foo manner and by demonstrating ears behind my head) failed. She still has no idea what a rabbit is and probably thinks me and Mark slightly insane. Another language barrier was reached at dessert time – words such as ‘sugar’, ‘sweet’, ‘candy’, ‘after dinner’ meant nothing. My brain hurt.

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Sally looks about as thrilled at the moment (we are sitting, headphoned, at our desks facing each other as we normally do across a carpeted barrier) as if she were watching a documentary on what happens to toenail clippings. Tee hee hee.

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Suppose could take this opportunity to describe E’s weekend in Norwich (as he appears to have forgotten the beneficial nature of his own blog for nosy persons and only blogs when he is irate. On a positive note, his personal ability to control his emotions is commendable, but it does tend to non-existent reading of his thoughts).

Friday night was Sasha’s going-away party at The Belgian Monk. Everyone was shocked that a) I had been before, b) I had visited more than once, and c) I knew they served mussels -- this being since my residence in region has been so short. Since, we were large party, got to enter through the rope into the upstairs part (oooo!). Although a rope seems slightly doubtful in its ability to keep people out of places they are not supposed to go, it does work. The British follow rules so well.

Saturday, did not force attendance at Yarn Day as soon as it opened, choosing instead to get a little local colour and exposure to Normal For Norfolk. The Puppet Man was out dancing with himself and E was appalled that he wasn’t even trying to sell anything for money, but just acting a loon. Ate bunch at Baguette Express and then got some cockles from The Drunken Crayfish (or maybe it is The Drunken Clam) stall in the Market – yummy! It is like getting an ice cream cup, except it is fishy. Walked over to new flat and timed walk to be less than 10 minutes from central square.

Toodled in roundabout way to castle… not to be tricksy or anything. Yarn Day was not so much in-your-face, and so we were able to wander and I could be slow and go to different demonstrations. Think E had perfectly okay time, developed no nervous rashes, and he now understands the physics of a spinning wheel, whereas my expression remained about identical to the Chinese girl relative to bunny rabbits. However, am QUITE excited about learning to spin wool with a drop spindle and also to have contact info from lady who will teach me to spin on a wheel! She explained how evolution of spinning wheels in America differed from Europe and why my great-grandmother’s wheel was bigger than her demos. V. interesting! Also, the term ‘dyed-in-the-wool’ refers to if one dyes wool before it is carded and spun. Dying wool in the fleece before it is spun is fine, it just makes it more difficult to separate the fibres…

Visited Natural History galleries, history, Norwich School of painting gallery and then went through to the Royal Norfolk Regimental Museum in an underground tunnel, that was used to transfer prisoners when the castle was a prison. Walked, and walked, and walked. Found several v. interesting pubs and just enjoyed being outside as it was absol. gorgeous day! For dinner, had Japanese hibachi food at Ah-So! Tee hee hee. It was pretty good, but their sushi was a bit lacking in character.

Sunday, we had lovely brunch at 33 Café. Definitely a place to go back – excellent food, clean facilities and v. reasonable prices. V. happy as this is close to my new flat. On way to E’s bus, had ample opportunity to see some more sights: The Sally Army (Salvation Army) marching band going through main square, jazz band playing ‘The Star Spangled Banner).

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A claim just made on this Webinar was: ‘Americans love to join groups and that is how they make friends...’ This makes me laugh.
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To console self for having to wander and laugh at people by myself, found 2 movies for £8 at Sainsbury’s: Girl With the Pearl Earring and The King and I. Then had time to toodle home on cram-packed bus after buying week’s worth of vegetables and milk and nearly tilted at high rate of speed on top of seated person when bus driver slammed on brake because some bright spark had parked car in the middle of the bloody residential road. Learned lesson to not take safety for granted and maintain death-grip on railing if standing on bus. And why do stupid people drop their groceries in the main aisle on the bus if the storage section is full? Your bananas are just going to get smooshed, you big idiot… and this makes me happy.