Oct 20, 2010

Lost in Translation

I have all sorts of material for new blog posts, but I couldn't figure out what made most sense as a follow up to the last post :) But let's dive right in, back to reality. I'm still a bit red in the face from this one...

A few weeks ago I was on the bus home from work. It's about a 3.5 mile bus ride down a hill and back into downtown Oxford. You could say I work in the country and live in the city. In fact last year this very road up to work was closed for two weeks because badgers had torn up the concrete from burrowing around. We have an apple tree in the office yard, and it's not rare to have a fox running around outside. It's a little bit country, and it's a nice change from NYC.

Back to the bus ride home...
I happened to be wearing a dress that day and my colleagues riding the bus with me asked if I had any special plans that night, "what's the occasion for the dress, Julie?" "No special plans," I replied. "Sometimes I just don't feel like wearing pants, that's all." To which a great roar of laughter erupted. I was quickly reminded that I live in England and that pants have a completely different meaning here even without the word under preceding. Trousers is the appropriate term!

More to come soon from Neil's first few weeks of classes...

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