Yesterday was my first day in England.<\/p>\n
I’ve been dying to visit this place since I was somewhere between the ages of 5 and 7, and was introduced to my aunt and her nifty English accent. <\/span>There were already Briticisms that I would have grown up with since my mom’s from the English-speaking Caribbean, but that love of England fostered by my aunt only served to intensify my obsession with British culture. <\/span>(Okay, honestly, it wasn’t that bad, but imitating the accent was definitely a point of pride for me.) So, after years of tentative talks and failed attempts (when I was hoping to get to England before or after Montenegro in 2016 but my aunt was busy), I made it.<\/p>\n No, I did not find my left eye tearing up when we landed, or my blood pumping in anticipation. <\/span>I also did not squeeze Zulay multiple times to express the aforementioned excitement. <\/span>And I certainly did not mentally fawn over each delightfully crisp accent as I heard them, while mentally filtering out anything “other”: Indian accents? I get those at home. <\/span>(Though, with that said, if it was an English\/Indian blend, that’s slightly more interesting to puzzle over.) American\/Canadian? Not even registering. <\/span>UK of any flavor? Here’s <\/a>a link to the Hallelujah chorus from Handel’s Messiah in case you’re unfamiliar with it. <\/span>(I would have accepted other European flavored English too, but they didn’t really come up.)<\/p>\n Okay, so, now that all that’s done with, lets get into the things. <\/span>This place is weird:<\/p>\n The toilet (I’m referring specifically to the bowl, not the room in which its located) has two buttons on top of the tank that serves as the flusher (is that what its called?). <\/span>That part wasn’t unusual because I’ve encountered flushers like that back home (though according to some articles\/blogs this completely trips some people up). <\/span>It’s really quite easy to use though: just press the buttons, hold for a second or two, then let go. <\/span>In the articles I found, they made a point of telling you not to use excess toilet paper. <\/span>In case you are one who just takes the whole roll and wipes, or uses unnecessarily large reams of paper, this may be an important tip to note: while the UK’s pipes can handle toilet paper, it sounds like they can easily be overwhelmed. <\/span>So take care. And don’t flush things like tampons, that will definitely clog the drains (but do people actually do this intentionally?).<\/p>\n Okay, now, for the real culture shock… <\/span>the shower. <\/span>(Not only does it deserve a new line, but a whole new bullet point).<\/p>\n \u2022British showers. <\/span>Completely blew my mind.<\/p>\n After giving Zu and I the grand tour, my aunt started taking out towels and washcloths for us. <\/span>That’s normal, right? Even her later saying: “Oh, let me show you how to work the shower” wasn’t too unusual. <\/span>Sometimes faucets, whether they be the one-knob turners or two-handled, have their quirks. <\/span>This, was beyond a quirk. <\/span>This, was a process. <\/span>This was, as I later learned, an electric shower.<\/p>\n First, you pull a string outside of the tub that activates it or something. <\/span>Outlets here have on\/off switches, and since this is electrical, perhaps its how you “turn it on”, for lack of a better word.<\/p>\n Then you step into the tub (which was like knee height, so pretty high) and go to the box thingy beside the adjustable showerhead. <\/span>On the box are two dials and a button. <\/span>The topmost dial adjusts heat, the second water pressure and the button turns it all on.<\/p>\n\n