I am still confused as to what the "Welsh stereotype" is. My professor's indirect answer of my asking is not helpful when I'm trying to write a paper trying to figure out how Notting Hill is representing a bit of British society.
Well.
Afterwards, I chilled out at the flat until a group decided that they were going to go eat Indian food. Everyone else at the flat already ate... except me. So, I grabbed some cash, and went out.
Here's the thing.
All of a sudden, it's gotten really cold. Like, really windy and cold. It's a bit of a jolt when you're used to 50-degree weather, and it's perfectly fine to go outside in your flip flops. Or... well. It's fine for me. I like flip flops and cold weather. Anyway - we walked a long time in the cold windy night until we got to this place that's off of some side streets.
Three words, though: so worth it.
The food was good. The food was cheap. I got some Saag Gosht (I think that's what it's called?) with some Naan for £5. And the service was great - pitchers of water kept coming to our poor American mouths. Indian food: great, but spicy as all get-out. Personally, I don't really like spicy food lingering in my mouth - so I followed my lovely food with some coconut ice cream. And the stuff got served in half a coconut shell. Awesome.
Needless to say, I'm going back. If anything, I'm going back for the ice cream. And then I'm going to find the castle where they filmed Monty Python and The Holy Grail with my coconut shells. Maybe I'll bring other people, too.
Afterwards, we wandered off to a pub humorously called "The Hope." It was warm, it was close, and the drinks were cheap. The bartender was cute. Yeah, I'm sure y'all wanted to know that. If anything, I'm going back there, because the bartender was really nice, too.
And no, I didn't get his number.
And no, he didn't ask for my number.
So, after a couple of drinks, I decided I was at my limit (I wanted to get home safely, without stumbling, swerving, whatever.) and I went back to my flat.
I've discovered, from that trip, that 1. alcohol does wonders in warming you up, and 2. Indian food and alcohol should be mixed together only under rare circumstances. What they do to your system separately is awful - but when they team up? Dang.
I survived, though, and that's what matters.
I came back to my flat, and L.M. and K.D. were watching television. They had it turned to the music video channel - which is amusing, I guess. Most of these music videos aren't entertaining anymore. I mean, what happened to Peter Gabriel's masterpieces? (I know, it's cheesy claymation - but it was incredibly innovative for its time!) What happened to having a little story line in the video?
I guess those videos exist somewhere still. But they're kind of boring these days.
However, I'm still watching them. I'm not really watching them for the video, though. You see, one of the innovations that the British might have succeeded with in regular programming is the idea of what to do with the music video channel when you've got deaf people watching television, too. They don't do closed captioning here, as far as I know. Or, at least, they don't do closed captioning for this channel. No, what they do instead is something that seems really awkward at first, but it's really fascinating to watch. You see, they've got this team of interpreters - a dude and a woman, in this case - that are green-screened against the video. And what they do is a fancified ESL with the video going on in the background.
Now, this kind of blows my not-entirely-sober mind. I mean, at first, I'm sort of looking at the television, feeling really warm and fuzzy (by the way, young folk, you haven't felt "warm and fuzzy" until you've had a comfortable amount of drinks - it's a "warm and fuzzy" that you can actually enjoy. Overdo it, and you're in for a load of trouble, underdo it, and you get your "warm". Back to the sentence.), and then I notice: "Wait. There's someone on the screen that shouldn't be there." And then I notice that said person is moving around. And then I notice that how they're moving around goes with the video going.
AND THEN I COULD UNDERSTAND THEM.
Well, not entirely. You see, ESL is a different beast from ASL. I learned this by watching New Order's "True Faith" video. (By the way, that video's also one of those things that's worth watching - better than the tripe that's on T.V. these days. It's one of those weird, artsy, and completely abstract videos that's just funny to watch.) So, basically, I can understand how these signs fit the words - but I don't really fully understand what's being said.
So, anyway. There's an interpreter on the telly. And I'm being sort of educated by the music video channel in a really fun, strange way.
It's not every day that you can say that you're sobering up watching someone sign on the telly.
I wonder if that's an every day thing here?
(Not the "getting drunk" part - the interpreting thing.)
Anyway, the interpreter that's on the telly now (they've got a team! You can't sign for a ton of videos straight - that's wearisome!) is a lot more straightforward than the other two that I've seen - so I'm sort of understanding her a bit better. I'm seeing the differences a bit better, too. It's so cool.
By the way, British television, for the most part, sucks.
Reasons will probably be brought up in another rant later.
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