Acclimating.

It has been freakishly rainy over here lately. Instead of the two days a year of rain that usually occurs we've had ten days of rain. Granted, they count anything that drips from the sky as rain but still... a little drizzle out here goes a very long way toward flooding the streets to a remarkably high level.

Because of the rain the weather has been a bit cooler (read: absolutely lovely) and just about everyone is taking the chance to be out during the day for a bit longer than is usual this time of year. I've been told, though, that this won't keep up and within another week or two we'll be back at 98degrees (Fahrenheit) and I'll have to turn our A/C on again.

The title of my blog doesn't entirely apply to the weather though. I'm getting used to running around not understanding half of what anyone (including the English) says, being treated differently because I'm a white woman, and being called 'madame' by everyone who's from any country besides the UK, USA and Qatar.

As far as the language barrier is concerned it is amazing how vastly different the English language is depending on where someone learned it. We have friends from Yorkshire who are harder than Eliza Doolittle's father to understand and then another friend from Nigeria who is the funniest, sweetest man but is nearly impossible to understand. On the other hand, my usage of context clues in order to carry on a conversation has increased exponentially. It's fascinating how varied the vocabularies are as well. You think that everyone knows what s'mores or molasses is, and that everyone knows the "six of one, half dozen of another" figure of speech but... they don't. It's cultural. Every version of the English language is influenced by so much more than your region, what languages your parents speak. It takes a huge hint from the culture you grow up in. We have a Dutch friend who says "shall" and "oughtn't" like they're words that everyone in the world uses everyday. But, often times, the only times you'll hear words like that in a conversation is if you're speaking to a very polite Southern lady in a very proper situation or someone is speaking Legalese.

Granted, I feel like I knew all this before... I just hadn't sat down to examine in. It's like this place puts a magnifying glass on everything that was, prior to coming here, just part of traveling. Or, possibly, this is the first time I've lived overseas since we were in Iceland (and I was 5). Other than that is was a month or so here, and a month or so there. Either way, I'm appreciating the differences, appreciating the culture I've grown up around and (inevitably) expanding my vocabulary.

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In Other News, we got our household goods shipment today so I need to go unpack! I'm so excited to have my guitar back. If you need me, I'll be in the backyard playing. Don't bother calling... I can't hear the phone from there. :)