I Am Not A Reliable Narrator

14 December 2006

on a more personal note

i am feeling grumpy and beligerantly american this morning.

  • i know, i know, i chose to move to london and it was a big dream of mine for a long time, but i want american things today.
  • i want cheap restaurants with huge portions and doggy bags.
  • i want people to complain to the right people (meaning: not me! i can't make the bus driver go faster, i also can't help you get better service at the bank, i can only help you with your filing needs and maybe if i think you are neat i will write you a poem. maybe).
  • i want a bigger apartment. not a flat, an apartment.
  • i don't want to say zed, i want to say zee.
  • i want you to say merry christmas not happy christmas.
  • i want a chicago style hot dog.
  • i want a decent cup of coffee.
  • i want to buy shoes without being stressed out about the size conversion.
  • i want to be a size 12 again instead of a 14 or 16, i know the clothes are the same size but it makes me feel better about myself!
  • i want more shared cultural references, i don't know who half the people you talk about are!
  • i want everyone to quit asking me where michigan is. it's at the top, it looks like a hand, it's easy to remember.
  • i want you all to pronounce my lousy name correctly.
  • i want to be able to meet my 6 month old niece in person.
  • i want to stop feeling like a hick when i pronounce certain words (eg: wolf, museum, barry, carribean, even iraq i keep saying it with a long I which is not as bad as my mom always saying eye-talian, but still).
  • i want everyone to swear more.
  • i want a taco that doesn't cost £5.
  • i want a bottle of bell's oberon beer.
i just want more comfortable things. even though i am mostly looking forward to christmas i am not entirely (not that i've ever been particularly well known for my christmas spirit) because it's going to be sort of lonely without either of our families around (even if his family doesn't celebrate christmas, obviously. i still get to be a spy in the house of david at the chinese restaurants on christmas eve) and i know, i know i always bitch about them when they are around. i'm a bad person, okay?

i'm just feeling grumpy and selfish and out of sorts today. not exactly homesick more annoyed at the distance and the lack of affordable mexican food. that is probably the same as being homesick, but i don't like to admit to being homesick since i never used to feel that way, not at band camp or confirmation camp, or college or after. well maybe a lottle in vegas and the first year in chicago, but across the ocean is different, and there were burritos and tacos a plenty in vegas and chicago.

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posted by carolyn says @ 9:33 am  

5 Comments:

  • At 14 December 2006 at 12:49, Blogger Alannah said…

    I had some of the worst Mexican food ever in Oxford....and it's hard to screw up Mexican food! I wish I could mail you a taco, your niece and a big flashing t-shirt that says, "Don't spell it 'Cara Lynn', say it that way."

    But of course then your name would be pronounced "CAHRAHlynn"

    What do the Jews in England do on Christmas? Chinese food and a movie too?

     

  • At 14 December 2006 at 13:41, Blogger carolyn says said…

    it can't be that hard to mess up mexican food or they wouldn't keep doing it!

    i'm not sure what the heebs do here since we were in barcelona last xmas but it seems like the whole city (even the chinese restaurants!) shuts down from the 24th of december to the 30th

     

  • At 14 December 2006 at 17:25, Blogger Alannah said…

    By far the worst service I had in England was in that same Mexican restaurant. The idea of yummy things wrapped in a tortilla....who doesn't like that? Who doesn't want to do that RIGHT?

     

  • At 14 December 2006 at 19:28, Blogger The [Cherry] Ride said…

    Carolyn:
    I can sympathise (to a degree). I love london and was lucky enough to work there for part of last summer. But for as much as I loved it, one day I'd had enough - enough of the crowds and nobody being able to walk on the sidewalk in a straight line, enough of blowing my nose and black stuff coming out, enough of not being able to find cambell's chicken soup when i got sick.

    But having said that, I think it is great that you have the opportunity to be there - I'd go back in a heartbeat if I could!

     

  • At 15 December 2006 at 09:44, Blogger carolyn says said…

    yeah, i do love it here, just some days i want everyone to give me an american sized amoutn of personal space (there is no respect for the bubble here!)

    luckily i manage to avoid the black snot since i take the bus instead of the tube, unfortunately that mean my ass is constantly rubbed up against the asses of others. this is a major point of contention for me, i feel it is an infringement on my human rights to have to be that close to the asses of others on a regular basis, and to be without a burrito as big as my head for $1.50 whenever i want one!

     

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