2003-05-30 - 3:46 p.m.
Life feels so ordinary and time has been seemed to slow down now that I am out of my routines and experiences. Right before I got here the weather went from drizzly rain to 70 degree sunny weather and I've even managed to get a suntan, in England, who would have guessed.
The history here seems apparent in some ways- small winding roads, stone churches, old brick houses. A trip to the seaside yesterday that was nothing like the seaside I am used to- concrete terraced steps leading down to a murky sea and mud flats at low tide. We cuaght purple jellyfish and looked at them in a bucket before letting them go. Then we sat in an unused bus shelter eating fish and chips (just chips for most of us) before taking the bus to another small town for a drink by a tidal river. Ariel and I dangle our feet over the edge of a concrete peir before wandering back along a bike and footpath through woods and marshes.
Today a picnic with other students in my friend Ariel's program- we sit by the lake on the campus and two of the students make us tea on a camping stove after we've stuffed ourselves with crisps and crackers and soda pop and cookies.
I keep using phrases like "how nice" "how pleasant". Adopting to the phrases and feeling a little silly, but it rolls off my tougue quicker than I expected- chips are "french fries", crisps are what I call chips. But it is lovely, so lovely.
