Ankle Sprain: Hour 37

So, day two with the ankle sprain. It's looking and feeling quite a bit better, but I've definitely got some cabin fever going on. I really don't want to push myself and do some permanent damage and I want it to heal ASAP, so I am just taking it easy and not doing anything. I already bought tickets to the Tower tomorrow, so I'm definitely going on that, and hopefully the ankle will be much better by then. Thanks to Steve, I now have a wrap on it, so that's good.

In the mean time, I have been watching more TV, which is interesting. I don't actually like watching the shows, because I don't really get them (you can't just jump into a soap opera or sitcom generally), but I do like watching the commercials. I have to say a lot of them are just really bizarre. I can't tell if they're the kind of commercials people watch and go "I love this commercial" or "hey, here's this stupid commercial again" I guess they wouldn't say commercial at all, they'd say advert. Anyway, thinking about it, I suppose plenty of people would look at that Orbit commercial (Pickle you, kumquat!!) or the snickers commercial (happy peanuts soar...) and think "Ummm... what?" So to each his own. They also have an equivalent of The View here, only it's called Loose Women. Not sure how I feel about that.

So, a funny story from pre-sprain. The first night I was here, I went out with Steve and his roomates / roomates's friends, and we were in the tube station headed towards Picadilly Circus. The ultimate destination of the train was a place called "Cockfosters" which was posted everywhere and a the automated Tube lady would announce it periodically. As you can imagine, this greatly amused a group of Americans on their first night, and even pictures were taken. Oh the Brits and their funny names. Since that night, I have been on the Cockfosters bound train numerous times, and I have to suppress a smile each time that nice lady emphasizes the word Cock in Cockfosters while noticing that the Brits don't bat an eye. I'd like to think I'm fairly mature for my age so I always wonder "Are we as Americans really just that immature?" Well, the other night, I was solo on the train headed to that Bunker Bar party and there was an out of town Brit on the train (I know this because he and his friend were talking about it) and he found Cockfosters to be equally, if not more amusing. He even coupled the nice lady's voice with his own yelling "Cock!" whenever it was announced. I again was probably the only other person on the train to display my amusement. Everyone else kind of pretended it wasn't happening. It was nice to know, though, that Americans aren't alone in their enjoyment of dirty words where they shouldn't be... Londoners are just too used to it I guess!

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but we have a housekeeping service here. That seems really awesome and posh, but beneath the surface, it's pretty much worthless. There's a list of things in the Kitchen we're responsible for and what it comes down to is that they will maybe consider vacuuming the kitchen if they feel like it. Everything else, including garbage, buying our own cleaning supplies and things like that are up to us. If they see we aren't doing those things regularly (regularly has not been defined to us), they will fine us. Now, I don't mind that I have to do all that stuff, I assumed I would have to anyway. I do, however, mind that everyone's tuition is going towards these people hanging out in our hallways at too early hours talking very loudly about things I can't understand because the accent is just a tad too thick.
Maybe my Kensington surroundings are starting to seep in.

I'd like to take this time to give some kudos to English produce. I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that they don't really grow much of anything here, but the fruit I've had so far has all been really excellent. You can find good fruit all over the US, but generally it's rather expensive for the good organic stuff. Here, the cheap store brand stuff is usually the organic high quality produce. Granted, the definition of organic could be very different (the definition of cheap here certainly is), but it's still a nice difference.

I know I've said it before, but I would just like to point out my happiness with the environmental awareness around here. I can already tell from being here that I'm making a smaller footprint. I even bought the reusable grocery bags, which for some reason I don't think I ever would have done in the States. The best part is, like the organic stuff, the store brand is usually the one that seems to be the most environmentally friendly (or so says the label). I'm all about the two flush buttons (although the no 1 flush really doesn't do the best job) and there are "Turn it off!" signs everywhere. It's amazing how geography can influence people's habits so much.

The other day in class we were talking about crime in the UK and how people's perception of it here is that there's tons of it and it's crazily on the rise. In fact, statistics show clearly that it's gone down significantly in past years (especially in London) and is overall extremely low when compared to other places like the United States. Guns are completely illegal here, and replica guns are soon to be as well. People are still being murdered though, and it's being done with knives. The professor pointed out a gruesome detail that amongst murdering Brits (those convicted, etc), there is a general feeling that killing someone with a gun is a "girly" way to do it... if you stab someone, you have to be up close and personal and see the blood so it's much harder. This is disgusting, but it is interesting. This was brought up in my Public Policy class sophomore year. Guns make it easier and a lot less personal to kill someone. Banning them has clearly contributed to the slowing and low murder rate.
I will definitely admit that the US has a much higher crime rate. It's pretty bad for a first world country, but when compared to all the countries in the world, I don't think it's a dangerous place by any means. Britons apparently think that crime is the number one cause of death in the UK, which is extremely far from the truth (no one is quite sure why they think this). While the professor was explaining this statistic, he offhandedly mentioned that in some countries, it was one of the leading causes of death, including the United States. This made me pause for a second, but I didn't interject because I wasn't entirely sure and figured since he clearly knows a bit about America, he would know better. I have since checked my facts and found it to be entirely untrue. It's within the top 10 or 11 depending on where you look, but it's still negligable compared to say heart disease. I'm not sure if this was just a slip on his part, or I misunderstood him, but it seems odd to me that a member of the intelligentsia here would have that misperception of the US. No wonder they all go to Florida, they're probably afraid to go anywhere else.
His point about stabbing someone being more manly also brought to mind, indirectly in a way, the fact that i think England is a place with a lot of testosterone. As mom points out, it kind of is the reason for wars and conquering and all that other stuff. For hundreds of years, GB had a great way to put that hormone to use, now they don't. The last time they tried (Suez), Ike kind of proverbially cut their balls off. This probably sounds totally bizarre, but the Brits have lost a sort of manliness (along with world glory) that I think contributes to their standoffishness against Americans.
I also think it's interesting that others (Americans) have this sort of perception of British men as smaller, more effeminate, quieter, and things of that nature. It took me about 10 minutes of being here to realize that that is quite far from the truth. They range just as much as Americans (although there is a lot less fat), and most are much more in shape.
There also seems to be a US perception that the Brits don't have a sense of humour. I already knew that this wasn't true before I got here (you can only watch so much of The Office UK, The Young Ones, and other UK comedies without thinking these people are hilarious), but it's definitely been reinforced since I got here. Sure, they don't giggle at the word Cock, but it's a much more refined and witty humour that I think takes a lot more skill and I appreciate much more. I still love the slapstick and will always enjoy Anchorman, but the Brits definitely hold their own in making me laugh.
Well, I think that's enough for today. Nothing's been happening to me, so I shouldn't have nearly as much to say and this entry will probably clue you in to how bored I am and how much my mind is overworking :-P

-Kate