Wunderkammer or Replica of Poppi’s Basement?

After walking past a sign for the Museum of Brands, Packaging & Advertising twice a day, everyday on my walk to work, I decided I needed to give in and see what this was all about. In a very uncharacteristic Bailey-move, I decided to wander on in without doing any preliminary research on what I was getting myself into. This worked well for our expedition to the Barbie museum in Prague (see pictures below) - the boys in my study abroad crew have yet to forgive us for that one - but since I was calling the shots today I figured, why not! 

Laid out in such a way that it takes you on a journey through time with all the BRITISH brands you know and love, I was off through the twisting tunnels of this dungeon-like cabinet of curiosities. What popular British brands did I see, you ask? Well, see that’s just the thing. As an ex-pat who still has trouble buying groceries, always unsure of what the packages are trying to sell me, I should have known I was getting in over my head, submerging myself in more and more of these “popular labels” that have yet to mean anything to my American-trained mind. They say though, the only way to learn is through complete immersion, right? Well, then, let’s file this in the education bucket, as I certainly dove head first into the world of British advertising.

I started in the Victorian era, learning a lot about Marmite, a sticky, dark brown paste with a distinctive, powerful flavour, which is extremely salty and savoury – whose slogan for years has been, very appropriately I must say, “Love it or hate it.” Based on the description, my allegiance falls with the latter. Moving on from the Victorian to the Edwardian era I found products like Keen’s Mustard, a byproduct of the first mustard factory in London, and Hornby Trains, the early, unsuccessful version of the do-it-yourself train models and tracks, which failed because young boys were lazier than Hornby anticipated and wanted the pre-assembled versions popular at the time. It wasn’t until the later decades when I was actually able to recognize some of the products and games being marketed, i.e. Rubik’s Cube (with a special Charles and Diana commemorative wedding-day design), Fanta, Monopoly (British version which replaces Boardwalk with Mayfair, Park Ave with Regent’s Street, Reading Railroad with King’s Cross Station), Cadbury, and others.  

My personal favorite, and just to bring the post full circle, was the British Barbie doll Sindy, whose “girl next door” look made her much more popular in Britain than Barbie (apparently Brits think Barbie’s a slut). Surprisingly, Sindy’s “wholesome look” was never able to cross the pond and make a dent in American consumerism, so after a few futile attempts in advertising her in the states, they gave up and returned her to the homeland.

I guess I should have read the description before entering, could have given me more of the British clue…

“The Museum of Brands, Packaging & Advertising spans a 120-year period in the history of consumerism, culture, design, domestic life, fashion, folly and fate. It is presented as a magnificently cluttered time tunnel of cartons and bottles, toys and advertising displays, and is a small part of the collection amassed by Robert Opie - son of the celebrated collectors of children's lore and literature Iona and Peter Opie - since the day in 1963 when the 16-year-old arrived home with a Munchies wrapper and declared his intention never to throw away anything ever again. The emphasis is on British consumerism through the last century, though there are items as old as an ancient Egyptian doll. One for Brit-brand nostalgists.”

Takeaway lesson – I will look into creating the American Museum of Brands, Packaging & Advertising right next door to this one for us ethnocentric ex-pats who assumed all British museums would feature pertinent American memorabilia. I’ll start by going through Poppi’s 98-year old basement collection.

English word of the day: Today I highlight the LONG E, prevalent in words pronounced lee-verage, a-meen-able, har-eem. This were all words I heard recently in conversation around the office which gave me pause to think, ok what words are they trying to use here – and yea, don’t ask why these were the three words I picked out, I assure you they weren’t used in one sentence :) The use of the long E vs. our staccato “eh” sound often causes confusion for the American tongue in England, and definitely was something I felt worth noting.

I'mmmm Baaaccckkk!

Welp, I can officially say my acculturation processing genes have officially gone off-kilter. After two months in London followed by two weeks back in the states my brain doesn’t know which way to look when crossing the street. My instincts are telling me left, right, left BUT my British correction agent is saying, WATCH OUT a double-decker bus, coming at you, from the right!!

It is nice to be back though. While catching up on my BBC news I was intrigued to see how the Brits rang in the New Year. I must say, I have found that the Brits like to shoot off fireworks for everything.

A new mayor was elected…FIREWORKS!

Halloween…FIREWORKS!

Sale at Harrod’s…FIREWORKS!

Bonfire Day…FIREWORKS!

Christmas Eve…FIREWORKS!

Christmas…FIREWORKS!

Tuesday…FIREWORKS!

You get the point.

So while I was in NYC, 5 hours away from celebrating the beginning of 2012, you won’t be surprised to know that this was happening in London…

These Londoners, I tell you, they know how to party.

English word of the day: Car Park = Parking Lot, as in Times Square was like a Car Park on New Year's Eve.

Happy Thanksgiving America!!

I am thankful for...

Bodean’s!

Where us ex-pats will be spending the holiday AFTER working a full day in the office! Nothing like a good smoked turkey at a BBQ joint with all the traditional trimmings from back home. Well, almost all, sadly I will be missing my Sweet Potato Soufflé, Manatee Rolls, Cheesy Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole and last but never, never least, my personal favorite, the Cucumber Mousse – how well do you think that travels? Can that get shipped here you think? 

I guess there’s always Christmas.

Wishing you a very Happy Turkey Day!

Hidden door, Hidden door on the wall...how do I get in?

So it only took me 1 month, but I have now finally mastered the office bathroom stalls. I know you have come to expect my obliviousness, but this took it to a whole other level. Let’s begin with directions I received day one to meet my colleague “on the men’s bathroom side of the floor.” Easy enough you would think. And yes I would agree, if all the bathroom doors weren’t made out of the same material/finishing to blend in with the walls! The only thing that gave it away, after I saw a few men come and go, was a tiny, little, 2inch plaque at the top right corner of the “door” with the symbol for men etched out. How was I supposed to see that!!

AND the inconspicuousness gets worse! Once I found the women’s hidden bathroom equivalent, I opened the door to…more hidden doors! I mean really, what are these people trying to hide in the loo! Walking down the long line of doors, all trying their best to blend in with each other, I would pull one handle after another, not knowing how you could possibly know which one’s are vacant or and which are occupied. I remember thinking, what do these Brits have x-ray vision or some sort of sixth sense that tells them their mates are previously engaged?? Until one day it hit me…

Notice the lacking indication of occupation on the doors here:

Just looks like a handle.

Now, look a little closer…

Still nothing?

Try a little bit closer….

Now you see it?! That tiny pin-sized red indicator means occupied! Now I can successfully go to the bathroom without pissing off  (pun intended) all my colleagues by startling their quiet time in the stalls, pulling on every door as I pass it until I find one that is open!

English word of the day: Bap = a sandwich roll! More specifically, in my example, a breakfast sandwich made on these delicious half ciabatta/half English muffin type rolls. I’m bringing sausage, egg, and cheese baps to America. You can thank me later.

Queuing is serious business

Contrary to the streets and subways of America, queuing here is taken very seriously. From the time the Brits are little they have been ingrained with the notion that cutting a queue is forbidden. This is my daily exposure to the queue phenomenon encountered on my journey home from work. Every day from the hours of 5pm - 7pm these serpentine creatures self-create, streaming from all entries. 

Although I was born with hips made for the American way of loading and unloading, it is kind of nice really, not to have to worry about boxing people out in order to push your way on the train. Very orderly indeed. 

 

As an aside, weather here the past two weekends has been gorgeous! 60s and sunny! How does that feel, snow-covered Northeastern America?

English word of the day: curtain twitching = spying, eavesdropping, peeping tom. Apparently along with queuing, curtain-twitching is a big part of the British culture!!

Corn cup anyone?

Magic Corn cup! On the streets of London. How much more American can you get than corn off the cob in a cup! PLUS they have toppings!

I opted for the Sour Cream and Onion flavor (no one is surprised) this time. I might just go for some thai curry sauce next time! Options are endless…and yet so strange.

Good for you too apparently:

Natural Goodness 

Magic Corn retains a level of crunchiness and juiciness that’s unsurpassed. That’s because we’ve developed a unique method for extracting the whole kernel of corn from the cob, as opposed to the faster method of simply cutting the kernels from the cob. Once the kernels have separated from the cob, they’re immediately frozen within the hour to seal in all the natural nutritional goodness. No preservatives are added, of course. 

And that’s because we want you to taste only the corn and nothing else but the corn.

....seems strange then to encourage you to add a variety of flavors to the corn, in the end masking the flavor of corn entirely. 

 

Acculturation

There are some things I don’t think I’ll ever get used to over here. For starters, I almost tackled a guy as he got out of his silly English car this morning in the middle of traffic. Like, whooooaaaa buddy, you can’t just get out of your car and leave it in the middle of the road, I don’t care where you have to be and when! Then I slowly realized... left = passenger. Right, play it cool, you knew that. I don’t know though, I’m not sure I’ll ever stop thinking the cars are driving themselves with the occupant just along for the ride.

Another thing that’s wacky, their stupid keyboards! Please see the miniature sized what I think is supposed to symbolize a SHIFT key, smaller than my pinky. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I plug that weird key next to the up arrow instead of the "shift". Don’t even get me started on all the other misplaced keys. And I’m not even a good typer to begin with so imagine what this is doing to my typing self esteem.

;my apologies in advance if my emails to you end up looking like this with an abundance of ;;;;; in place of capital letters. 

Things I will get used to…and perhaps the best revelation of my first day at work…

This doesn't even give it justice...

I'm talking floor to ceiling on this sucker!

A FREE COFFEE machine in the office. Coming from an office that doesn’t even provide water cups for our water cooler which is more often out of service than in, let alone a coffee machine with pretty white mugs and a multitude of options. Customs is going to love me when I try and shove that sucker into my suitcase to ship home. Not just a normal coffee machine but you plug in the numbers for what type of hot beverage you would like AND how you would like it – I’m talking how many milks and sugars, steam, froth, temperature, additives, etc!  PLUS you have the options of Tea, Cappuccino, Espresso, Latte, Mocha, Hot Cocoa, or hot water (sort of feel bad for hot water right here. who wants to be hot water in this choosing frenzy?). See visual to understand the Porsche of Coffee Mates. This makes my Keurig look like a Skoda. (that’s British humour right there, you wouldn’t understand. Look it up.)

One more thing I will get used to…cheese rooms at grocery stores! I’m talking a whole room dedicated to the beautiful makings of the creamy pasteurized goodness that I so much adore. Without fail, every time I walk into a grocery store I gravitate toward the amazingness of these rooms. Sort of like Disney World, great place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there. This is a mini one, but spectacular nonetheless.

 Jealous yet?

English word of the day: Dropping hose = Fire Hose? I think? Saw one on my tube ride home.