Home
The question of home is an interesting one at the moment for me. I know I have one, maybe even two. It was an odd sensation driving the 5 minutes from my grandparents' house to mine the other night. These were familiar roads, but they seemed so different. I had to take a minute before I actually opened the door. Again, familiar but some how unknown. Things haven't really changed or been moved around, but it is all a bit alien to me. The fridge seems so different. But why? Maybe it's just that it's been cleaned recently.
Glasgow as Home. I knew I never intended to really stay there, at least at this point, beyond these last nine months. Like I posted before, I wasn't immediately taken with Glasgow. I said to my mom the other morning though, as she was telling me about my new mobile contract, that I wondered if could text internationally, because then I could text my friends at home (that would be you guys.) I would never have noticed that is what I had said if she hadn't brought it up. Despite the fact that I have spent two years in Denver, I never would have said something like that about there.
Here's a few things that I've experienced since I've been back.
The Good Ones: The 4 hour drive from Denver to Grand Junction takes you across the Rocky Mountains. Throughout my life I've made this trip hundreds if not thousands of times. I never really do tire of it because it's so beautiful, but over time I had taken the beauty and majesty of the mountains a little for granted. When I drove over them on Monday I saw them with a new set of eyes. Absolutely breath-taking. I must have seen them a little bit like people who are seeing them for the first time. I wish I had pictures, not that that would really do them any justice, but maybe I'll take some this summer and post them for you all to see. Oh the blue skies too. I forgot how blue they could actually be. They have this indescribable quality to them. The stars were out bright and beautiful the other night too. I thought of you Michelle. You should come and visit sometime. My sister has a pretty decent telescope. She's into astrology too. :) My mom's new Mustang convertable is pretty cool. I haven't quite yet mastered the graceful-jump-into-the-back-seat-thing yet, but I'll let you know if I make any progress.
The Slightly Awkward Ones: The sensation that I was actually back on American soil when I got to Chicago was a little uncomfortable. I wasn't sure if I was glad to be American or not, at least an American on American soil. I proceeded out of habit to hand over my passport to every check-point until I reached my gate for my connecting flight to Denver. It took me a while to figure out that the weird looks I was getting were silly-girl-it's-a-domestic-flight-so-you-don't-need-a-passport looks.
Apparently over the last nine months I've forgotten how to put gas (petrol, excuse me) into a car. When I went to put some gas into my mom's car, I required help from the guy working at the station. I've been driving for six years, so you can imagine this was a little embarrassing. He was nice though, so I didn't feel too dumb.
I'm losing the British vocabulary I've learned pretty quickly. You just can't really go around saying 'loo' without people making fun of you. 'Flat' is such a good word too, but again people laugh. I'm a little sad about this. I might hold on to 'rubbish' though. I'll post later about my craic experiment.
Not necessarily awkward, but rather uncomfortable is how hot it is here. It's been around 100F (35ishC). This is not uncommon for Western Colorado in the summer, but not usually until July at least. Plus, I was still carrying a jacket around with me in Glasgow everyday, so the adjustment has been hard. I'm going to go out and buy some cool, summer clothes today so that I don't die.
That's the craic here. What's the craic there?
Glasgow as Home. I knew I never intended to really stay there, at least at this point, beyond these last nine months. Like I posted before, I wasn't immediately taken with Glasgow. I said to my mom the other morning though, as she was telling me about my new mobile contract, that I wondered if could text internationally, because then I could text my friends at home (that would be you guys.) I would never have noticed that is what I had said if she hadn't brought it up. Despite the fact that I have spent two years in Denver, I never would have said something like that about there.
Here's a few things that I've experienced since I've been back.
The Good Ones: The 4 hour drive from Denver to Grand Junction takes you across the Rocky Mountains. Throughout my life I've made this trip hundreds if not thousands of times. I never really do tire of it because it's so beautiful, but over time I had taken the beauty and majesty of the mountains a little for granted. When I drove over them on Monday I saw them with a new set of eyes. Absolutely breath-taking. I must have seen them a little bit like people who are seeing them for the first time. I wish I had pictures, not that that would really do them any justice, but maybe I'll take some this summer and post them for you all to see. Oh the blue skies too. I forgot how blue they could actually be. They have this indescribable quality to them. The stars were out bright and beautiful the other night too. I thought of you Michelle. You should come and visit sometime. My sister has a pretty decent telescope. She's into astrology too. :) My mom's new Mustang convertable is pretty cool. I haven't quite yet mastered the graceful-jump-into-the-back-seat-thing yet, but I'll let you know if I make any progress.
The Slightly Awkward Ones: The sensation that I was actually back on American soil when I got to Chicago was a little uncomfortable. I wasn't sure if I was glad to be American or not, at least an American on American soil. I proceeded out of habit to hand over my passport to every check-point until I reached my gate for my connecting flight to Denver. It took me a while to figure out that the weird looks I was getting were silly-girl-it's-a-domestic-flight-so-you-don't-need-a-passport looks.
Apparently over the last nine months I've forgotten how to put gas (petrol, excuse me) into a car. When I went to put some gas into my mom's car, I required help from the guy working at the station. I've been driving for six years, so you can imagine this was a little embarrassing. He was nice though, so I didn't feel too dumb.
I'm losing the British vocabulary I've learned pretty quickly. You just can't really go around saying 'loo' without people making fun of you. 'Flat' is such a good word too, but again people laugh. I'm a little sad about this. I might hold on to 'rubbish' though. I'll post later about my craic experiment.
Not necessarily awkward, but rather uncomfortable is how hot it is here. It's been around 100F (35ishC). This is not uncommon for Western Colorado in the summer, but not usually until July at least. Plus, I was still carrying a jacket around with me in Glasgow everyday, so the adjustment has been hard. I'm going to go out and buy some cool, summer clothes today so that I don't die.
That's the craic here. What's the craic there?
posted by Diana at 8:56 AM
5 Comments:
'lavatorium'??i reckon that should be the next word introduced..i really hope you havent lost your amazing pronunciation of 'banter'..lolge :) good thing you're so far away so michelle cant kick your arse about the astrology comment..miss you trillions!
bayenter...
(so you can practise..)
Lavatorium is a good one. I think banter can be used as well. Maybe without my special Nothern Irish pronunciation though--it might be too much at the moment. Hopefully in the future it can be used however. I'll be sure to practice though, so that it's ready at any moment. I did use mingin' yesterday quite naturally. Let's just say our fridge needs to be cleaned out...
mingalingding?
I'll try it out and let you know the response.
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