So I’ll start at the very beginning, which is of course a very good place to start.
Friday
I left the lake and North Carolina in the morning and flew to New York. Faced with the prospect of six hours in the airport I took the somewhat risky decision of leaving the airport and going into the city. I got the train in to Penn Station and then headed up to Central Park.
No need to complain about anyone activating the automatic doors this time - I waited outside in the sun.
Ah spring in the park.
I watched small boys play baseball and big boys play football (proper). But I was slightly nervous at somehow messing up getting back to the airport in rush hour so didn’t stay as long as I would have liked. But everything was fine, ticket purchased, train on time and in full working order and I was back in the airport again.
I went back to my favourite pizzeria in Terminal C (see here) and got vegetarian pizza which still has broccoli and no sweetcorn. Still weirdos. (I promise you this is a new photo, not the old one roatated.
The funniest thing about the gate was hearing all the NI accents. I really considered phoning some of the people who mock me for my 'strong' NI accent and put them on with the woman sitting beside me who had the strongest Belfast accent I’d heard in the best part of a year. I had to get up and leave because I was laughing so much when she said on the phone ‘what tem har yousins all cumming doun at?’. I think it was extra funny because normally you are used to only reintroduced to NI accents in London, you know the gates where Belfast flights leave from, the furthest outpost of the airport. One Belfast flight lands and another leaves and then you suddenly realise why the airport put us all the way out there when you hear all the harsh accents together. It was funny because this time I had the back drop of the Manhattan skyline. I enjoyed the fact that you could tell a NI person from an American. It actually couldn’t have been easier if they had had a big neon sign attached to their forehead. Maybe it was the trouser legs trailing the ground, maybe it was the straightened hair, I’m not sure but there is a quality that made us all stand out.
On the plane I discovered someone was sitting in my seat. After a funny encounter where she told me that the row she was indeed in was row 22 and in seat 22D, she then eventually realised that she was in fact supposed to be 21E. I’d really like to slag but she was from NI so in a fit of national unity I won’t.
I was sitting beside a guy from NI and we had a nice conversation. We laughed at the things you could buy in Sky Mall, talked about the differences between America and NI, and made fun of the air stewards. One of our topics of conversation was about iPods. I said I had one and how I felt like I was now a member of my generation. He replied and said you were only a full member if you had a blog. I am so in!
Saturday
Due to the nature of time zones and air travel when I landed in Belfast it was Saturday. Not long after landing I got a text message from dad to text him when I had my luggage picked up and he would meet me outside. No emotional reunion in the airport then? Much like the way he left me at Christmas though. Not long after arriving home I was off again, this time to Jud’s coffee morning for Korea. Very nice to see her again and catch up on all the news. We went for lunch afterwards and I started to realise how much I missed out in the intervening months since I was in NI. In the evening I got a Yuky with the parents. My, I had missed them too, that is the Chinese food, not the parents so much.
Sunday
Slept in. David and Karen came down in time for lunch and rather than change I stayed in my jammies through lunch. ‘Sure’, I thought to myself, ‘they’ve seen me like this before, it’ll be no surprise to them’. I was still in my jammies when Lynsey and Julie surprised me with a visit around 4.00pm. Not that they haven’t seen me in my jammies before, but it was 4.00pm and they didn’t even match. But what are best friends for if not to accept you the way you are! There was good reason to get changed though, Julie had a new car! Yay! So we went out for a little drive in that, all the way to the Rinkha which has undergone a face lift. I was glad Julie warned me that all my childhood memories were about to be shattered by what they did, but it still hurt and made me want to cry.
Monday
I fully recommend planning a trip home around days you know people will be off. Yay for bank holidays. Julie, Lynsey and I set off on a day trip. The weather was not to be great and we struggled to come up with a destination that would not mean wearing waterproofs all day long. Eventually we decided on the Aquarium in Portaferry. We learned all about sea life off the coast of NI, but the only name I can remember of anything I saw was the Common Starfish. Could this be the reason for my E in Biology A Level, a severe lack of interest in anything to do with the natural world. Oh but I also remember that NI has 650km of coastline. It's like you were there, isn't it?!
This is not a common starfish.
We got the ferry to Strangford.
Also on our visit list was Ardglass, Newcastle (we went to the sweetie shop), Tullymore and Castlewellan. And a good time was had by all.
Tuesday and Wednesday
With Monday’s day trip and the wedding on Thursday and on into Friday, Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty much my only time to meet up with friends. So appointments were scheduled. Pretty much all of them centred around food. While meeting up with Ruth, Kari, Nicky and Heidi, Julie and Lynsey (again) I had a crepe from Flour (highly recommended), went to Springsteens (twice – where else is there to go in Carrick though? Plus it’s tasty), the Globe and had home made lasagne lovingly made by Princess Heidi. I also went shopping a bit in town and Forestside and finally decided on what to wear for the wedding. Oh and I got my hair coloured. I think it’s a bit super blonde but hey ho.
Thursday
Caroline and Ben’s Big Day! I love weddings and I love YF weddings. We’re probably coming to the end of them now as we become a more and more disparate group. It was a shame about the weather on Thursday. This week I realised how acclimatised I have become to North Carolina, as if the trip to Michigan didn’t already show me that. In NC I have learned that blue skies should be the norm, not the exception. Seriously I spent most of the week moaning about how cold I was! But there’s no pleasing me, because it is roasting now in NC and it clear that sweat is going to be my default position this summer.
Anyway, back to the wedding. Great day and lovely couple.
Good job I wasn't the official photographer then.
Friday
We stayed overnight up in Bushmills and farted around the North Coast on Friday. One of the highlights was seeing David’s (and Karen’s and her brothers’) boat. Oh and also playing in the play park in Portstewart.
That's the play park, not the boat.
Saturday
Plans to meet up with my PGCE class fell through when Geraldine came down with tonsillitis but Marie and I went for lunch (The Apartment, chicken tempura, very nice). It was great hearing all her stories from teaching and telling all mine about NC. In the evening laziness took over Lynsey and I and the furtherest we made it was to Maud’s (ice cream – duh, Pooh Bear, Strawberries and chocolate and fudge bit in vanilla ice cream, forget the proper name, sorry). It makes me laugh no end that with the law suit from Disney and even the tubs branded Poor Bear everyone calls it Pooh Bear still. We might love Disney films as much as the rest of the world, but don’t you dare think you can make us change the name of the nicest ice cream in the land!
Sunday
Spent a bit of a lazy day saying goodbye again to people (Julie, Alan, Lynsey, Kari and Karen) and giving out a round of presents (birthdays and parent’s day). I also went back to YF. The more things change, the more they stay the same eh? Like the good B. I am, I left packing to the last possible moment and then watched that programme about England and the World Cup. How much do I love Gary Lineker!
There’s no place like home. It’s a shame both my homes are so far apart.
No comments:
Post a Comment