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Published: August 31st 2009
Well, I have now had a chance to fully settle into Boston and thought I should give an account of my (uncharacteristically athletic) weekend.
The weather was forecast to be pretty bad over the weekend so we had to reschedule our original plan of going berry-picking on Saturday. Instead my sister announced that we would start the day by going to her gym to do a class intimidatingly-named "Cardio Combat!"
I kind of make it a point of principle not to do a class with the words "Combat" in its name (similarly "Power", "Blast", "Attack", etc) as they frankly all sound a bit vigorous and aggressive with no room for prancing about. My feelings of anxiety were not alleviated by my sister recommending I wear a sports bra. And thanks to her insistence, at least one part of my body wasn't hurting after the class.....
The class was actually pretty fun (if your idea of "fun" involves aching muscles, feelings of exhuastion and a man with biceps the size of tree-trunks insisting you karate kick his arm - actually the last bit was really fun). And I did really well. In fact, my sister (always one for an effusive compliment) told me that "maybe I wasn't even the worst in the class".
So I was feeling pretty smug when we went for our lunch to a lovely all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant. The food in this place was really phenomenal - plates and plates of different kind of sushi followed by fruit and mini cakes and green-tea ice-cream. The soy sauce makes you unbelievably thirsty so this was accompanied by about 3 pints of water and chinese tea.
We then went to a nearby mall and bought some clothes. I love America - it is great dropping 2 dress sizes instantaneously (and after only 1 exercise class!) One of my sister's friends had joined us for lunch and had gone to choose a suit so we were engaged as fashion consultants to decide whether Smart Navy-Blue Suit A was better than Smart Navy-Blue Suit B. Now, this involved a detailed appreciation of male couture far beyond me, but fortunately my sister was able to step up to the fashion challenge.
On the way back home, we ran over a skunk (it was dead already, ok!) and, for the first time, I smelt the peculiar skunk-smell. My sister informed me that if you are unfortunate enough to get sprayed by a skunk, you have to burn your clothes and you will stink for 2 weeks. She warned me that if I got caught by a skunk, I would have to either sleep outside or go home. I couldn't imagine that the airlines would be queuing up to give me bonus airmiles to smell like a skunk on a return flight, so I have made a mental note to try and avoid that predicament....
In the evening we went out to a bar in town to meet some of my sister's friends - some from Ireland and some from the States. Now, I have noticed that my sister's accent has changed quite a bit since she has been in the States. Her intonation is totally different and she uses lots of local yankee phrases - "I'm all set!", "fill up with gas" and "Jeez, sis - you kick ass!" (OK, she has never really said the last one, but you get the idea). And, after trying to order drinks in my normal (not strong) accent, I can understand why she has done this. In the space of the last few days, I have been asked if I am Irish, Welsh or Cockney(!) and my sister had to get the drinks in the end or we would have gone quite thirsty.
On Sunday the sun was back out so we went out to a farm in the country to go berry-picking. We had just missed out on the best of the blue-berries so we picked some black-berries which are just coming into season. My sister commented that she should really go fruit-picking more often and then maybe bake a pie or something. Not a thought I can confess to having ever shared - she is so domesticated.....
My sister's housewifely skills were further in evidence as she rustled up a home-made pizza. Meanwhile, I had my poor-relative chores to do and I ventured down to the basement to do some laundry.
Basements are a strange feature of American households. A lot of houses don't actually have their own washing machines here, with people going to Laundromats instead. I always think this is a bit strange as America is seen as the home of the labour-saving household gadget and most people in the UK would find it strange not to have a washing machine in their homes (unless you live on the set of Eastenders, of course). My sister's basement is quite cool as it has a big pool table, darts board and a full bar. But it is still redolent of those horror films - you know the ones where the dumb girl goes down into the basement and then promptly gets finished off. It doesn't help that the houses in Boston are all in the style of the archetypal wooden haunted house......
Anyway, I survived the laundry and we went to see a film (or "caught a movie").
This morning, I was on a roll with my keep-fit and got up for a 9am (yes, you read correctly, 9AM!) exercise class. I managed to traverse my way to the gym (avoiding any rogue skunks on the way) and even braved the haunted basement. Now I just have to work on this Cockney-Welsh accent of mine.....
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Clairey
non-member comment
Hilarious
Hey Katherine sounds like you're having a fantastic time! Loved your post. Very funny! But since you're living in a resembalance of a scary movie set never ever go and check out what that noise is, and if you really must never say I'll be right back and don't panic if you do get into trouble with the demon skunks, the gym instructor will rock up and save the day!! Keep the posts coming girl. Love them!! Have fun Clairey xx