Skating, Sport and Tea

I apologise for how massively neglected this blog has been. I have been pretty busy integrating a little bit more into America. I've been spending more time with American friends that last semester (seeing as I had to spend last semester actually making them.) In the process I've tried a lot of new things that I wouldn't normally, like, for example, folk dancing. I was skeptical about going along to a folk dancing class, and I can't say I'm ever going back, but it was fun.

 On the same night as the folk dancing I then went roller skating for the first time. It was difficult and I spent most of the time holding onto the side, then a couple of weeks later I went ice skating which is somehow easier but more terrifying. I think the ice and the blades make it scarier. Everybody I was with was better at it than me, and I was tempted to lie and say we don't have skating in England to explain why I was so bad. I don't think I'll be joining roller derby or an ice dancing team anytime soon, but I really enjoyed myself.

 Last weekend I went to an Indian dance competition in the IU auditorium, which was between competing American universities, and last night I went to a basketball game. Apparently it wasn't an important game (and IU lost) but the amount of fanfare surrounding games is insane. There was a packed stadium, cheerleaders who did a different dance during each time out, a band, IU flags, screens which showed the players, the game and the music video for the Indiana basketball song. During half time they were handing out prizes to spectators and throwing t-shirts into the crowd. I missed the beginning of the game, but at a women's basketball game I went to a few weeks ago a choir came on stage and sung the Star-Spangled Banner, so I'm sure that happened at the beginning.

One thing I really don't understand is cheerleaders. They can do about five backflips in a row from standing. At least I can officially now say I have been to watch sport and enjoyed it, although everything surrounding the game is a lot more interesting than the actual game.

 I hardly ever drink the English Breakfast tea here any more because it's disappointing, so I've started drinking stuff like Earl Grey and Chai. Today I decided to try a Chai Latte from Starbucks and it's basically spicy, watery coffee-tea milk which I wouldn't recommended to anyone.


Americans have, at last, learnt my name and no longer think I'm called 'Adam' or 'Alan', but this may be because I always get food from the same places.

Snowpocalypse

A week ago I returned from a fortnight in Canada (another place where they don't have the word 'fortnight'). I can finally tell the difference between an American and a Canadian accent, and I now have Canadian Winter Olympic mittens, a Canadian Beaver Canoe t-shirt, a Beaver Canoe hat and a Canada hoodie with another beaver on it.

Aside from getting lots of clothes as presents, I had a really great Christmas. I thought it would be weird to be away from home, but I was with family and recieved a recorded birthday message from my grandmother. The first night I arrived, Toronto was hit by an ice storm which damaged the power lines, cutting off electricity. I spent a few days pretty much in one room because it was the only one with a gas fire. Fortunately my Kindle battery lasted.

Once the power was back, I went to a cottage that my cousins own, which is by a lake. I had been there in the summer before but never the winter, and it was completely different. The snow was so thick that walking to the cottage from the car was difficult, and because the pipes were frozen there was no running water. The highlight was walking to a nearby island across the frozen lake, which was eighteen inches thick. I then played ice hockey (I say 'played ice hockey', I ran around with a stick for a bit) on a pitch that the people at the neighbouring cottage had made by clearing an area of snow. I was playing with an eleven-year-old and a ten-year-old who were both significantly better at hockey than me, and with a mischevious dog who kept stealing the ball. There was also another dog there that my relatives were looking after, who was blind and kept bumping into things and crying. I spent a fair amount of time in a sauna with a seven-year-old pouring orange juice on snow and then eating. I'm not sure if I really like saunas that much, but it's great to be able to walk back through the snow in shorts and a t-shirt afterwards.

My flight back to Indianapolis was delayed by a day because of the polar vortex, which is an amazing name. On the day I left Canada the polar vortex shifted east, so that it was -23 in Canada and -12 in Bloomington. It was nonetheless so cold in Bloomington that I was panting after dragging my bag the two minute journey to my building from the point when the bus stopped. Yesterday it was a freakishly warm 10 degrees. 

It's good to be back in Bloomington. The two new professors I have had so far are extremely eccentric, and I have once again rented textbooks from someone called 'Chandler', and resisted the urge to say 'Could I BE buying any more books ?' or doing an impression of Janice from Friends every time I see him.

Recent Questions From Americans:

1. Do you watch Sherlock? Have you been to the places where it's filmed? Like...London? 

2. Alan? (In response to me saying my name. I personally preferred 'Adam.')