We are adjusting to the linguistic challenges of speaking the same language as the Mother Country after more than two centuries apart. Our new favorite exclamation is “brilliant!” and we have learned to ask for the “loo” if we want to find a bathroom in a hurry.
But perhaps our favorite part of the adventure so far is the number of English “firsts” we have experienced in just one week in the country.
- Fish and chips (Brit style). We had this food the first night at famous chef Rick Stein’s new restaurant in Falmouth along with some of the Gap Adventures team from London. They were surprised that we didn’t know who Rick Stein was, and after eating his food, seeing his cookbooks and hearing about his shows, I’m glad we’ve now made his acquaintance. It completely lived up to the hype, and we enjoyed every fattening bite.
- Couchsurfing. After 7 months on the road, we finally tried couchsurfing. Our host was a man named Nick who is a teacher in Falmouth, and he shared his spare bedroom, his local pub, and introduced us to many of his friends around town. He also gave us a mini education on Cornwall, real ale, and UK politics. We had a fantastic time together, and he is a big part of the remaining numbers on this list. We are hoping for more more adventures with him when we return to Cornwall.
- Fry up. This is what the English call a big fried breakfast, and it will keep you properly fed for practically a whole day. The one Nick made us consisted of black pudding, sausage, fried eggs, friend potatoes, bacon, fried tomatoes with asparagus, baked beans, and toast. Through a fun series of events we did not eat again until 10:30 p.m. and we didn’t ever feel a hunger pang. Well done, Nick.
- Royal wedding. Nick had no interest in seeing the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate, but he bought us an assortment of newspapers that morning for breakfast so we could take in all the hype. He then pointed us to a pub to watch the festivities on the big screen. A newspaper photographer came around to take pictures of everyone watching the wedding, and we think it is hilarious that our photos might show up as royalists absorbed in the wedding of their future king. One thing we thought was really interesting about the wedding was the repeated references to Kate Middleton’s family being lucky to be part of the royal family and her coming from such a humble background. In fact, her family is quite well-to-do and earned their money instead of inheriting it. In the US, this is a greatly admired status, but in a royal society it is actually looked down upon as less impressive than family-owned property acquired by a long-dead relative. Amazing differences we have, huh?
- Street party. We noticed the night before on our way to Nick’s that there would be a street party near his house for the royal wedding. He didn’t know anything about it, but he doubted it would come to much. When we left to watch the wedding there was no one about. Nick told us that when he left home a few hours later there were only 5 or six people milling around. We later met up with Nick on accident (see below) and as we came back home together that afternoon around 5 there were probably 2000 people – many in royal costumes - celebrating in front of Nick’s door! We joined in the festivities for a while and met a lot of students – and some police officers – but we soon decided a trip to the local pub would be more our speed and we were off. We came back a couple of hours later and they were still going strong. What is the funniest is that Nick is a longtime schoolteacher in Falmouth, so dozens of the kids knew him and came over to say hello in various states of sobriety. He has such a great manner with them - and such a dry sense of humor - it was fun to watch the exchange.
- Real ale. We noticed this term at a number of pubs and asked Nick about it. Apparently “real ale” gets its flavor and carbonation from active yeast. The beer is still “alive” as compared to beer that has carbonation added. The beer looks like it is flat, but it tastes very good and has a delicious sting of natural carbonation. Real ale is quite the movement in Cornwall and all of the UK, and we were delighted to find a variety to try, including the “Kate loves Willy” on the wedding day, where we ran into our couchsurfing host by happy accident. We’ve made it a sort of quest to try every kind of real ale available while we are in the country.
- Cornish pasty. This sounds like a dessert, doesn’t it? Well, it is actually a giant empanada filled with all kinds of savory goodness like steak or chicken. Pasties are famous in Cornwall and everyone has their favorite vendor or baker. We were told that these were originally developed by wives to send to work with their miner husbands, and the food had to be filling but easy to eat. In the Cornwall area, these are as common as fish and chips for street food, and you can find shops everywhere selling them. We bought some to eat on our last night with Nick and they are delicious. I defy you to walk by a pasty shop without getting hunger pangs, no matter when you ate your last meal.
- Coastal Paths. These trails are all over the country and showcase the beauty of this island nation. You can walk for weeks at a time and see much of the country this way, though we started out slow and just walked from Falmouth to the village of Durgan. During this 10-mile walk we saw the gorgeous cliffs of the coastline, fields of bluebonnets and other colorful flowers, rolling green meadows with lazy cows, and an old church and graveyard. The Brits are avid walkers, and they have excellent paths. The walk was harder for us than we expected, and it will take time to get back to our former level of fitness after 5 weeks of no exercise and eating with abandon. This was a fantastic reminder of why we need to be fit enough to explore, though. We cannot wait to explore the rest of the country through the many national paths.
- May Day Celebration. We went to the May Day celebration in the village of Kintbury with our friend Sam, where we saw our first Morris dancing and crowning of the May Day Queen (an adorable 10-year-old girl). Morris dancing involves a lot of jumping around, jingling of bells, and clacking of wooden batons, and it is quite festive. Sam wanted Warren to join in, but I’m afraid he would have given someone a black eye without any previous practice with the batons!
Celebrating firsts
The “firsts” of a country are always fun to note because it doesn’t take long for them to become the new normal. Documenting and celebrating “firsts” in your life - no matter how big or small - is an enjoyable way to live. It is all about paying attention, showing gratitude, and really experiencing every day, whether you are in a foreign country or running errands on a Saturday morning in your own town.
What kind of first did you experience last week?
Please share with your friends...
About Betsy
It’s funny that as you are discovering typical English things (not that I eat fry-ups or drink ale) we are getting used to life in the Florida suburbs. We are learning that people don’t walk anywhere and that all you can eat breakfast buffets have an extraordinary amount of food! Cornwall is one of the best parts of England - glad you got to see it.
Wow, the Florida suburbs are quite different than England! In many suburbs in the US it is hard to walk because there is no real infrastructure for it. So many people drive that footpaths and continuous sidewalks are not a high priority and don’t get created. We’ve had the best walking in cities and neighborhoods close in to cities, but suburbs almost always require a car. Good luck with the transition (and try to find a restaurant without a buffet for a better dining experience!)
“Brilliant” is practically my favorite word, and I’ve been using it since my first visit to England over 20 years ago. I use it so often that I have had people ask me if I was British, especially in a work situation when we’re communicating by email and they don’t hear my voice.
One of my favorite things is definitely the ease and beauty of walking. And it has the added benefit of working off all the Indian food, fish n’ chips, and beer.
Can’t wait til you taste your first banofee pie!
Angela, we’ve seen banofee candies in the stores, but we are holding out for a “real” banofee pie. We’ll keep you posted on our progress (and how much we have to walk in order to work it off).
remember the old style beer commercials that mentioned the beer was ‘fully krausened’? we toured the brewery several years ago, and a charming young man with a lovely wisconsin accent told us that this means that yeast is added back at the end of the brewing process for carbonation.
Isn’t ‘brilliant’ so much more fun than our go to exclamation ‘awesome’? it sounds more intelligent somehow
Trish, it is hard not to adopt the local lingo. In addition to using “brilliant” I actually told someone in an email today that I was “gutted” at not being able to see them. That doesn’t sound more intelligent than “disappointed”, does it!?
no but what a great description for how you felt. more impact than just disappointed
Hi there! I’ve been following your blog with interest for a while, but never commented before. But, as a Brit, I just felt I had to comment and say it’s great to hear that you’re enjoying yourself in the UK! It’s always interesting to see an outside perspective on the country. And being in Japan right now, I must say this post has made me a little homesick
Melanie, you have such a beautiful country! We’ve visited Cornwall, Berkshire, and now Yorkshire, and in every place it has been beautiful with friendly people and lots of walkers and dogs. I can see why you would miss it.
(I don’t know what part of Japan you are in, but you should connect with Tranque, our other expat commenter living in Japan. You guys can start scouting fun locations for the Japanese Married with Luggage official meetup when we get there
Hi Melanie,
I just rolled back in from Italy today . . . I live in Kochi, where are you at and how long have you lived in Japan?
No firsts for me last week that I can recall, but thoroughly enjoyed reading your list of firsts! It’s just like being there with you. Brilliant! he he!
Hey, Judy. If you had been with me you would have experienced all the other things that I didn’t have space to write about! It has been such a fun part of our trip, and you can stay tuned to hear much more on this subject.
This writing made me smile all the way through it!
Did you know that walking (rambling) is such a well-entrenched tradition in Britain, that the public even has ancient, established walking right-of-ways through private lands?
Julie, we’ve been through a few of those already! I can’t believe how easy it is to go walking in every town and feel a little bit spoiled to have a footpath for most of it, even when traversing private property.
Asparagus in a fry up? That sounds like a posh fry up, you won’t find that in the average greasy spoon! I’m glad you’re enjoying the real ale and good luck sampling the 2500+ different varieties. My old work colleague kept a list of every pint he had ever had since his teens and he’s now in his late 40′s, that was some list!
Our first for the week was Bikram Yoga which is very different to the yoga I’m used to but you feel great afterwards.
Was Warren having a cheeky wee in that photo of him in a field??
Well, Nick is a posh sort of guy, and to his credit, he did tell us asparagus was not traditional. And Warren might have tried to have a cheeky wee in that field, but it would have been disastrous. All those plants had thorns!
Good for you and the Bikram. I love hatha but it is still very challenging for me, and when I get a little more comfortable I want to try the more challenging Bikram. Glad to hear you liked it.
Hi Betsy! I’m a long-time reader but first time commenter - so pleased that you are enjoying the UK (another UK reader here!). Glad you like the food and ale - British food often gets bad press but I don’t know why, I think it’s delicious (although I may be a bit biased…).
The one thing I was wanted to mention was your suggestion that in the UK there is admiration for inherited money (with regards to the royal wedding). I think this is quite incorrect - I think that the repeated references to Kate’s ‘humble’ beginnings were more a feeling of satisfaction that the royal family were finally embracing the modern age and marrying outside of traditional circles. As for the luck bit, again I think that is more to do with it being many girls’ dream of being a ‘princess’ - in a general sense, not necessarily in the UK or attached to our royal family! The view of inherited money (and often associated power) is a recurring issue here and generally held in low regard, and many of the most popular public figures are ‘self-made’ individuals or families who work hard and are successful as a result. The monarchy is not as popular in the UK as it is elsewhere! (Although I would suspect that the extra bank holiday as a result of the wedding boosted support!!)
Sorry if that was a bit long! I hope you have a wonderful stay and enjoy the good weather - you’ve come at a good time!!
Hi, Claire. Thanks for the additional perspective on the royal wedding. It was a media frenzy, and for two colonists it was an odd experience!
As for the food, we have so far been pleased. Additional highlights include saffron rolls, cream teas, clotted cream in general, banoffee candy, and of course Indian food.
Tomorrow we are going out for a locally famous curry in Bradford. We are liking the food and drink here very much!
re Kate and Will — actually — I was also thinking that although Kate had $$, she didn’t have celebrity….. Marrying a prince is way better than whatever it was Paris Hilton and those Kardashians did to be famous !!!! — they previously had $$ (especially Paris) but no fame…….
LOVE your blog !!
Joyce
I was just about to jump on here (a bit late, behind on my reading, sorry!) to try and correct the impression that self-made wealth is looked down on in the UK but I see Claire has beaten me to it and put it very well.
Please don’t leave the UK with the impression that the general population looks up to what remains of the aristocracy with awe and admiration, and to self-made successes with disdain, this is not true at all - UK society as a whole is actually more similar to the US than you suggest here. To be honest, we (Brits) are often amused by news coverage showing Americans going crazy for our royals when we as a whole are quite ambivalent (or were before this wedding).
Unless by ‘a royal society’ you meant the Royal family themselves, looking down on wealthy but non-titled families? Perhaps this is true - I wouldn’t know - but the fact that the Royal family have allowed this marriage to go ahead does indicate that they are modernising, or at least want to give that impression.
Don’t get me wrong, I am actually quite pro-monarchy - I think the key royals, especially the Queen, work extremely hard for their privileged lifestyle - and it is not something they have any choice over, given they were born into it. I think they bring a lot of tourist money to the UK, and they cost the taxpayer virtually nothing. We would be a poorer country without them, culturally and literally.
Hey, Liz. Who would have thought we had started a little controversy on a post about the royal wedding?
Thanks to you and Claire for adding your perspective. We’ve met some people who are quite cynical about the royal family and what they cost the country (I don’t know the exact details on what they cost the taxpayer, just what people here have told us), and we’ve also met people who think the royals can do no wrong. In between is most of the population - very similar to the the government and politics in the US. The extreme ends of both sides get a lot of airplay, but the vast majority of people are squarely in the middle and don’t get the same amount of media coverage because it isn’t controversial to be middle-of-the-road. Though they were happy about the extra day off!
I was very interested in the Morris (also called, Border Morris) dancing. My husband and I have attended John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, and have watched this kind of dancing, little nugget of history that has been preserved in the US. It is amazing to watch especially when sticks are exchanged and then used along with the stomping.
I have followed your blog since you boarded the ship in SA. Enjoy it very much.
Hi, Wilma. Thanks for traveling along with us! We were pretty impressed with the coordination on the stick exchange - one wrong move and someone gets a black eye.
You live in West Virginia? My great-grandmother came from there, and just yesterday we were talking about your beautiful state after visiting the national coal mining museum here in Yorkshire (one of the oolest museums we’ve ever visited).
Are you a folk dancer yourself or just interested in the subject?
Betsy, I don’t do much folk dancing because of physical limitations, but love to watch it. I do play several folk instruments including the Celtic harp, hammered dulcimer and mountain dulcimer.
We live in southern West Virginia on the Virginia border. Our town, Bluefield, originated when coal was discovered in our area and a railroad was needed to take the coal to the eastern coast of Virginia for shipment. There is a descending grade from our town to the coast. We have one exhibition mine nearby and a larger one in Beckley, about 30 miles away.
What part of WV did your great grandmother come from? We do love our state and hope you can come here sometime. We live at the base of the mountain which divides VA and WV. There is even a tunnel through it on I 77.
Be safe in your journeys and I’ll look forward to updates.
Hi, Wilma. You are quite the musician! One of my favorite things about watching the Morris dancers was actually the musicians playing the accordions.
I’ll have to ask my mom the name of my great-grandmother’s city, but I do remember going there with her once when I was 5. We took a bus from New Mexico and it took what seemed like forever to a small child to get there! I remember playing on the green grass in my bare feet, which I was unable to do in New Mexico because of stickers and heat. It is amazing how well I can recall that memory, right down to the sensation of grass between my toes.
Warren and I actually met when I lived in Northern Virginia and he lived in Massachusetts, and we took many drives into the gorgeous West Virginia and Virginia countryside. You really do live in a beautiful part of the world. When we come back to the US we plan on doing a tour, and when we do we’ll look you up!
I’m originally from Northern California and in the Bay Area they also have a big celebration that includes “a lot of men jumping around, ringing bells and rapid exchanging of ‘batons’” that could lead to the blackening of eyes . . . . I believe they “crown a ‘Queen’” as well.
Tranque, we’ve been to those kind of celebrations before (shout out to the Seattle Pride Parade) and they are much more fun than watching Morris dancing. And I would argue that the culture behind the celebration is way older than medieval Morris dancing, even if the costumes have, um, evolved.
I’m glad that you enjoyed our May day celebrations but you really should have joined in. If ever you’re around this way again let me know & I ‘ll give you some tuition, and some more info about the history of the dance, and the variations…it’s complicated but fascinating.
Penny, we’ll have to join in next time, though that dance with the sticks looks like we could hurt each other if we aren’t well trained. This time we were too busy taking great photos of you guys!