A quick catch-up. Ketchup?

Sorry I haven't updated much this week, I've been feeling a little under the weather. It started on Tuesday which was my first day of work at Graham& green. So I'll write more about that later.

Then Wednesday was class, with more embarrassing airhead remarks from half of the American girls and a couple of redeeming ones from the other half. I contributed a little (pointed out that Scar& the hyenas in the Disney Lion King are a representation of Hitler and the Nazis in Triumph of the Will, duh) but the sore throat was a tad constricting.

I'm really enjoying my classes. Monday we talked about "Gatekeeping" and the "News Factor Theory" - ooh la la, new vocab words - the latter of which will be the topic of our main paper. There are 12 factors that affect whether or not an event will be considered "news" and published in the paper or covered by the news... kind of interesting to think that out of alllllll the things that happen in the world, someone has to shuffle through stacks and stacks of reports and decide what the public needs to read/ hear about THE MOST.

Wednesday was all about documentary film... so we discussed the German lass who directed Triumph of the Will (can't spell her crazy name) and Michael Moore and some others. It made me want to watch a lot more documentaries, that's for sure. Next week in Media& Culture is violence in the media... should be interesting! I'm still working on a topic for the main paper for that class, it's a lot more open to our interests.

Yesterday was a free day - woo! So I chilled and tried to make my throat feel better but to no avail. It's like all this tea is having the opposite effect than it's supposed to.

I have a couple new pals... Jen used to live in this flat and just moved back from Australia. She stayed very close with Dom during the months she was gone so she's been coming over to see us some. Also, she was working at G&g my first day there. But now she's quit for a nanny job :(. She's 24 which is kind of nice because sometimes I feel so young in my little group of pals... they are all 25, 26, 27... usually I feel like we're all the same age though, but there are times when I realize they've had like FIVE more years of experience in the world than I have.

So I like Jen and we're going to start hanging out. Also worked with 2 new girls today, Tasha and Laura. I think Tasha is possible pal... she cracked me up because she wanted to hear all about the differences between the US and the Uk and especially about Thanksgiving -

"So is it strange to have one gigantic meal in November, and then another in December at Christmas?"

"Well, I guess so, yes, but the meal's not really as big at Christmas..."

"So in the US Thanksgiving is, like, bigger than Christmas?!" (she seemed to get particular joy out of this)

"No no, not really at all... it's more like once Halloween passes and November starts, you can call the next 3 months "the holidays" - because it's Tgiving then Christmas then New Years all at once!"

So that's how I tried to explain it. I think I'll invite her to our makeshift Thanksgiving take-out and wine dinner next week :)

More about the job... well, my manager is this lovely lady named Barbara. She's a short, shaved-headed black woman and she's really business-minded but also very nice. The 2nd-in-command also used to live in my flat and that's Pieta - Dom got me, Pieta, and Jen all jobs there. Shank you, Dom.

So far both mornings that I've worked have been delivery times. There's been a lot of unboxing, pricing, storing in the basement, setting out displays... if you haven't been to the website yet then go, here is the link. [Shout out to Joey Q for the linkage idea. Shout again to Joey Q for specifically asking for a shout out.]

Almost half of the store is showroom though so there is a lot of taking people's "details" (aka information) and making orders for furniture and mirrors and the like.

Speaking of "details" - here are some other funny language barriers:

Bauble = Christmas ornament

Rubbish = trash

Hoover = vacuum cleaner

Cash machine = ATM

Till = cashier stand

Nib = I think this is any kind of tip to something? still working on that one...

Alright I'm tired, I just can't be asked to write anymore. Everyone cross your fingers/ pray (depending on your religious beliefs) for my sore throat to go awaaaayyyy! I want to buy a camera tomorrow.

If I feel better tomorrow night then after work I'm going to see a band called Gov't Mule, a side project of the Allman Bros. I'm kind of stoked. Anywho I wanted a camera to take with me.

Peace out, much love from the motherland,

Steph