language barrier

On Friday I was ordering corrugated steel that will be used for wall cladding in a plant room. I did my research, called the appropriate manufacturers, and then reconvened with Rob and Liz (the director and project manager) to give them the results. "This company has corrugated aluminum," I told them, thinking nothing about my pronunciation. "Excuse me, aluminum?" Rob said, grinning. "Don't you mean aluminium?" (spoken al-you-min-ee-um). A long debate followed about which pronunciation was correct. He argued that theirs was clearly correct since there is an i between the n and u, causing the extra syllable. I was sure that our spelling did not include the extra i, making my pronunciation correct, which I was able to prove thanks to dictionary.com. I knew that third grade spelling bee championship would pay off at some time. There are several differences between our englishes...such as when I mention anything about a bathroom and they tell me that there isn't one in the office, there is however a toilet. Or the constant jokes that are made about my first week when I was sent to the store to buy biscuits and I returned with crackers, sure that I had side-stepped having to ask exactly what biscuits are....of course they meant cookies. Or my favorite, Sara, the American who's job I took over told me of her first day when one of the guys leaned over to her and asked for a rubber. Her face turned red, and she thought over the possible answers that she could give to this question, until finally, noticing the confusion on her face, he said, "you know, an eraser?" Whoever said that we speak the same language, obviously had no idea what they were talking about.

This weekend was one of the truly great weekends in London. The sun was actually shining for three days straight, and you would have thought that the entire city was on holiday. Everyone was outside enjoying the weather. Ross and I chose to celebrate by walking down to Portobello Road and buying some fresh veggies and bread at the market. Saturday night we cooked dinner for my flat-mate Morgan. It was a truly exceptional meal, even Sean and Julie would have been impressed. Well, maybe not Sean and Julie, but defenitely my mom; at least for cooking a meal without calling to ask her a question about it, if not for the food itself. Sunday we went to the Design Museum, an entire museum dedicated to the things we love. It was pretty great.