On Saturday we went to the market in Birmingham...awesome!!! Just walking up and down the aisles was pure entertainment! The vendors had one volume: full blast. They basically yelled at the general public the entire time we were there.For the first time I felt like I was acting like a ‘real’ European...except for the fact that I was wearing my camera around my neck, walking around with a perma-smile and apologizing when other people walked in me (so every 3-8 seconds). Tattooing ‘tourist’ on my face would be a less obvious way to show that I am foreign to the ways of the fruit and veg market.
On top of the vast array of fruit and veggies available there were bolts of material, yards of ribbon and so many yummy sweets! We loaded up on everything needed for our world-renowned (I feel that term is appropriate because we have made them in both North Bay and now the UK haha) nachos and fresh bacon from the meat vendors. I loved the meat vendors especially, so fresh! That and the fact that Cailey looked like she just ate a sour lemon the entire time we were in that area because of the smell....hilarious.
One thing learned about going to the Saturday market..force yourself out of bed and out the door at a decent hour as the entire population of Birmingham has decided to join you there. It was so busy that walking in a straight line was next to impossible, the bus was completely packed and traffic was deadly. But totally worth it! :)
In general I am becoming very comfortable when I am out and about the city. I have learned that most people will help you when you are lost...or when you don’t know which side of the street you need to stand on to take the bus in a specific direction. I am better at finding my way when I have either got off the bus at the wrong spot (more frequent than you may expect) or when I am on a strange bus (which is on a daily basis). I seemed to have cured myself from wanting to puke the entire time I am on any form of transit, SO happy about that! As long as I am looking forward the entire time I seem to be fine...just makes it hard to use the essential map-book when finding a school. I may have gone past the odd school...and not realized it until much later haha.
Our cute little house is starting to feel like home, I have now acquired just enough stuff so that my bedroom can feel homey...aka a giant disaster. We make supper together every night and quite often we have guests which is awesome! Also helping our house to feel like our home is the fact that I get regular mail from home, all of which is taped to my bedroom wall :) When I am not getting cards, stickers and calenders from home I am having phone/facebook/skype conversations with my UK family. I have the BEST family ever!!!
Last week was pretty relaxed...our main ‘excitement’ came from events occurring while taking public transportation, aka the dreaded bus. A quick summary:
- Dogs are apparently allowed on the bus...ridiculous! One morning one the way to work a crazy man sat two seats in front of Lizz and I, had a dog (which we learned was named Archibald) on his lap and was drinking beer. Great. He also talked the entire time to a poor girl who was clearly a stranger. At one point he asked if it was 7am or 7pm...if you don’t know if it is night or day I think that is a sign that you should probably just go home.
- After a very long day of work I transferred buses in the city center for the last lag of my journey home. I had already been on another bus for 45 minutes and had the start of a wicked migraine. After I had found an empty seat I discovered that the man in front of me was actually smoking and listening to music on his phone for everyone to ‘enjoy’. Ridiculous! How I survived that bus ride I don’t know! I thought that public transportation in Canada could be bad at times, but after 5 straight years of riding the bus back home I can safely say that it was never even CLOSE to being that bad!
- A rather senile man boarded the bus and tried to ‘tell’ (aka scream) to the driver that he shouldn’t have to pay the fee because he had lived in Birmingham since 1962. When told that the bus driver didn’t particularly care how long he had been in the city for the man then proceeded to pretend to leave a nasty present on the bus floor. Wonderful.
- Today I took a bus, a train and a taxi to school. The trip home took an hour and a half and I only had to ask for help 4 times (to find the train station, to get to the right platform, to find the right train, to make sure I got off at the right stop) so not to bad at all!! But it was a fabulous school with awesome students so it was totally worth it! Just a rather pricey and time consuming commute to work.
In conclusion: I miss Sydney, aka my beautiful red truck, SO MUCH!!!!!
