Tomato, "Tomato"

Alright, let's get retrospective.

It was a party weekend in the flat starting with a pub crawl on Friday and then birthday parties on Saturday and Sunday. The pub crawl was loads of fun, I met lots of people, and managed to get a good game of 7's going at one of the stops. The flat parties were good times as well, with Saturday being Twilight-themed and Sunday featuring cupcakes with a delicious sugar-butter topping, which is exactly what it sounds like. I'd never had it before, but man, it's tasty.

Tuesday was my flatmate Nasko's Name Day, a Bulgarian tradition where certain days are associated with Eastern Orthodox saints. According to Nasko (and put quite succinctly by Wikipedia), "guests are supposed to come uninvited and the person who has the celebrated name is supposed to be prepared to treat everyone." Not included in that description is that guests are also expected to throw water at the person, something I didn't manage to do but that many people in the building whole-heartedly embraced. And he gave us chocolates. What a guy.


In other news, I started watching Skins, which is basically a UK version of Degrassi, albeit one with far more nudity, swearing, and drugs. How these fictional high schools manage to find kids with EVERY single problem in the book (and who all hang out together) is beyond me. Then again, I did go to art school—not exactly your typical high school experience. That being said, solid acting and interesting if unrealistic plot lines (that Russia episode? Come on). One thing that's nice about UK shows is that they don't feel the need to drag out a season to 20+ episodes like they do in North America. Instead, you get 8-10 episodes of quality stuff and then can go on living your life. Cheers to that.

In other, other news, I'm taking my first weekend day trip this Saturday here:

I figure if it's good enough for Prince Willy it should be good enough for me. Also, this:

So, tomato, "tomato" is a reference to the numerous discussions I've had with Brits about the little cultural differences between us, mostly around language. Some examples:

• saran wrap = cling film
• haircut = trim
• aLUminum = aluMINium
• CONtroversy = conTROversy
• herb = herb (but with an "h" sound)
• basil = basil (but with an "ah" sound)

Maybe not all that interesting, but fun nonetheless. I've also been asked to explain the difference between the Canadian and American accents, and though I've tried to come up with a definitive answer, I've realized it's impossible, because, just like the many different accents from different parts of Scotland and England, there are numerous accents across Canada and the States. Newfoundlanders don't sound like Torontonians who don't sound like Albertans who definitely don't sound like the Quebecois. There  isn't really a difference, but differences, though I guess we do all say "eh". For fun, I showed some people a Bob and Doug Mackenzie clip, but I think it was more confusing than humourous or educational.

I took a bunch of pictures, but I'll post those a little bit later.