Wednesday, October 25, 2006

The Welsh

As I have learned, the Welsh are to the British as the Southerner is to Americans. The English regard these slightly exotic people as the type that go off into the dark valleys of Wales with people they are probably somehow related to (and apparently they are all named Jones, so it's a little tough to tell). When speaking in England with a Welsh accent, you will not be taken that seriously and you will probably be mocked. It seems like it would be tough to be Welsh.

And because they are omnipresent in my current life, I am going to talk more about sandwiches. My default campus lunch these days is indeed a baguette sandwich. The default is white bread, but one campus option also has 'brown' bread, which is just your standard wheat. When I asked about this there was some speal about all these other kinds of bread, but I don't recall what exactly they are at this moment. I was pleased the other day to get a turkey cranberry one, but I had to wade through cheese & pickle, tuna (too-ner) & coleslaw, and roast pork & applesauce to get to it. Today I had a turkey & cheese one, which would be easier to tackle if the cheese wasn't grated, so it basically just goes everywhere. One of my classmates brought a pate sandwich on Tuesday. I saw a hummus & salad (aka, lettuce, tomato, cucumber) one last week as well. And the concept of peanut butter & jelly is a bit lost on them all, I'm afraid. It's a bit of an adventure walking into the cafeteria everyday; not knowing what kind of crafty sandwhich contraption I'll be able to get ahold of. One day I had a 'jacket potato', which is a baked potato, and I got it with mozarella and sun-dried tomato, and it somehow ended up looking like tuna (another topping option that day: pepperoni in salsa sauce). I haven't had any more jacket potatoes since then.

One more confession to make. For my group presentation next Tuesday, which was being compiled on my nice American computer today, I am being forced to use British English. So I'm talking about city centres, neighbourhoods, travel behvaiour, and public transport (aka, transit). It's not ideal.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think I tend to be a purist when it comes to sandwiches. I can't imagine applesauce on one, for example.

Salad goes on the side of the plate, not on your sandwich. I would also hate to see "soup and salad" misinterpreted...that could get ugly.

Anonymous said...

Hm. I'm kind of stuck on that grated cheese on a sandwich thing. Who would think that's a good idea??

Anglo Mango said...

I kind of think they were making other things and just had some cheese leftover that was a little sketchy, and so they stuck it on a sandwhich.

The applesauce has a strange green tint to it. Like really, really, bad guacamole. And the 'salad' option is the only way to get veggies in this country. Unless you count peas...

Anonymous said...

How sad about the vegies. I heard on the radio this morning that the Old Spaghetti Factory has the best steamed broccoli in town. So, a dumpy restaurant in the U.S. has good vegies, and all you get in England is big, army-green, mushy peas. Do the Brits at least sell nice bagged greens in the grocery store? I can't imagine not having good vegies...

Anglo Mango said...

There is a fair amount of fruit about, mainly apples and bananas, so they do have that going for them. But no sign of brocoli.

Anonymous said...

You know what's funny? We have both Welsh ancestors and family from the South. Does that explain a few things?

Anglo Mango said...

I think it's not something you should speak openly of.