Lessons In English & Things I'm Loving

• misty=foggy
• demonstrations=protests
• slip road= on/off ramp
• motorway=highway
• coach=bus
• woolly jumper= sheep
• If you go to a pub to have some dinner, the way to get your food is different than in the states. Each table has a number on one end and menus in the middle. To put in your order, you have to go up to the bar, give them your table number and your order. You then return to your seat and a waitress will bring your order to you when it is ready. You can sit at your table all night and never get service.
  
• Tips aren't expected here like they are in the states. If you give a tip to your bartender for taking your order, he'll take it. If you give a tip to your waitress for delivering your meal and cleaning up the table, she'll leave it on the table.
  

Things I'm loving: We've been here for almost two weeks and I'm already falling in love with certain things here. England has a different feel about it...it's hard to describe.

• I love walking through the park on a daily basis and seeing mothers pushing their strollers everywhere. Baby strollers can almost always be seen parked by the pond, as the mothers throw bread to the ducks, or along the grass just watching enjoying the weather.
  
• Not only are mothers always in the parks with their little ones but they are very rarely seen on their cellphones. If you go to a park in the states, you'll see most of the kids playing and the parents sitting on the benches texting or talking on their cellphones. I love how parents interact with their kids....
  
• Walking home after school has been released and seeing all the young kids in their uniforms.
  
• The accents of the people. I could sit and listen to them talk for hours. The other night on the train, a young man was fighting with his girlfriend. They were calling each other every name in the book. Regardless of what was said, it still sounded so awesome.
• No one is really 'casual' here. Back home I would run to the store in some sweat pants, flip flops and my hair pulled back. Here, people wouldn't be caught dead like that. Tights, skirts, dress slacks, leggings, cute boots, scarves and messenger style bags. Very few people wear tennis shoes, carry backpacks and wear lime green coats. It's just not fashionable...sigh
• Old fashioned taxis driving up and down the streets looking for their next client.
  
• People from 1-90 walking through the center square market on Sunday afternoons.