Final thoughts on London and The Great Wolf Lodge

I have some final thoughts to share with you on London and it's mostly terminology that was different than ours and caused me to chuckle. (I'm not sure I like the word chuckle... I kinda want to delete that.)

Here we go...

Do not ever say pants unless you mean to talk about your underwear. Randy and fanny... can't even write about it. You're going to have to use your imagination.

Here is the clean list:

petrol station= gas station

abnormal load... ex. a swimming pool=wide load

to let=for rent

clotted cream= a type of whip cream with really bad stuff in it

choco dust= hot chocolate

lift= escalator or elevator

take away=carryout

footpath=sidewalk

child minder= babysitter

give way=yield

dual carriage way=highway

Other interesting things: eggs on hamburgers, mayo with chips (fries). They end lots of sentences with "Right?"- somehow their statements become questions. People are called "mates" a lot. Guys here call girls chicks, they call them birds. (I'm not kidding!) They didn't have any cream for coffee, only milk. I hate milk in my coffee.

I loved England, but there's not place like the good ol' USA!!!

SOO.......

While words in England cracked me up, I am also amused by how we treat foreigners.

Just so we're clear, when I say we, I mean my family.

We were picked up at the airport by Paul's parents and all our children. Since it was dinner time, the kids voted to go to Cracker Barrel. (I was not about to get off a plane and go home and cook.) My mom also met us for dinner. Since we are a family of 7 right now (with our exchange student, Sue), we needed a rather large table to seat all ten of us. Paul and I were at one end and Paul's dad was at the other end seated next to Sue.

Sue does pretty well on her own, but she needs some translation every once in awhile. We found out she most definitely needed some help ordering off a southern menu. I didn't realize this since I was at one end of the table and she was at the other. Plus, since my kids hadn't seen me in a week and their dad in 2 weeks, their little mouths were going 100 miles an hour... and Paul's mom was intent to keep up with them. Needless to say, my nerves were shot!

When the server got to Sue to take her order, she had no idea what she wanted to order. All of a sudden, I heard Shelby, who is seated across from me, yell out, "She's from South Korea. She probably needs some help!"

Geesh! Let's just draw some attention to the poor girl who's been in the country for about 3 weeks. Meanwhile, Paul's dad joins in and tries to help her. He asked the server at least 4 times if they had anything with rice. Are you kidding me? It was all I could do not to take a biscuit and wing it at him square between the eyes.

Just because she's from Korea doesn't mean she wants rice for every meal!!!

That poor girl! If she doesn't leave here and need some counseling, it will be a miracle. She ended up ordering popcorn shrimp and who knows what else. I do know it wasn't rice though.

Who let us have a foreign exchange student?

And, since we are on restaurants and servers, let me tell you about the one we had at the Great Wolf Lodge recently. We took the kids there a week after we returned home. It's a little tradition we have with them. We take them in the winter in the middle of the week when no one else is there. We have the place almost completely to ourselves. It is so fun.

For the last 2 years, we have gone with our friends the Nangles. They have 3 children.

There is a restaurant in the Great Wolf Lodge and we have always chosen to have a meal there. The food is excellent. Last year, the 4 adults all ordered a sandwich that came on a soft pretzel. Apparently, the menu changed a bit and none of us could find that sandwich on the menu. When we asked our server about it, she said, "We've never had a sandwich come on a pretzel?"

Now, I might be crazy, but the other 3 adults I was with... well, there not as crazy as your truly. So, we were all very confused seeing how we could not forget this sandwich that we all loved last year. The best we could get out of her was that the sliders now came on pretzel buns.

Each couple decided to order 2 different entrees to share. Paul got the sliders. They most definitely did not come on pretzel buns. When our friends, Greg and Jennifer got their sandwich, they were trying to figure out what was it. Well, since I have this really strange memory for useless information, I told them that their mystery ingredient was a fried cheddar cheese plank. Now, I have no idea what that is... I just remember reading it. Apparently, they didn't believe me, so when our server came back around, they asked her. She told them it was a green pepper. I about spit my food across the room! It was clearly not a green pepper. It wasn't even green. That right there confirmed my suspicion that this lady was whacked.

A bit later, she came back to the table. Now, keep in mind, we all look terrible. Our hair has that matted, wet look. We're not dressed appropriately for eating a meal, in a restaurant, in the winter. BUT we totally look like we are dressed and look exactly the way people at an indoor water park should look. It didn't stop this lady from going down to the kids at the other end of the table, bending over and putting her hands on her knees and she saying, "Have you kids been to the water park?", like they were a bunch of preschoolers.

I looked at Paul and our friends and I said, "There's a water park here?"

I mean that was about the stupidest question I have ever heard!!!

For the next 10 minutes, I proceeded to laugh really hard... at my own joke. (They laughed too!) I still think it's funny. What does that say about me?

Why do you people come back here?