Crisps, Chips and Caramel

Caramel.

I love it. Mostly, I love caramel flavored coffee. However, there's a problem. See, I've always pronounced caramel like this- car-mull. This is how I've always said it. The Michigan pronunciation. Or at least, according to this neat survey, half of the US pronounce it the two syllable way, rather than the way British people do, 'care-uh-mell." So this is typically my experience at coffee shops lately.

Me: hi, can I get a small 'car-mull' latte?
Barista: a...what latte?
Me: *(oh right, I have to pronounce it differently)* 'care-a-mell'

Now, I've gotten a second opinion on this from Ollie. Apparently the different pronunciation of caramel is pretty much one of the only things that Brits aren't aware of. Almost every other phrase or pronunciation is known due to the mass media that comes from the US over to the UK-TV shows, films, Youtube videos, you name it.  Then there's the whole chips vs crisps debate. Us Americans call chips fries, and we call crisps, chips. I must say, the 'crisps' in this country are much better than those found on the shelves in the United States. Here there's prawn flavor, bacon, roast chicken, even ketchup flavor! I realize you can also get ketchup chips in Canada, but I don't go often. I don't think I've been in 10 years. For those of you who aren't familiar, Canada's border is 30 minutes from Detroit, Michigan, so a lot of people visit or have family in Canada. Recently, Michigan citizens could get into Canada without a passport, but a few years ago the rules were changed and now you need either a passport or an enhanced driver's license. The more you know!

When the sun was setting tonight, Ollie and I walked to the castle ruins by the beach. It was a lovely sight. I took a photo for you, readers- here it is:

After we got back from watching the sunset and taking a quick detour to the arcade for a quick round of Guitar Hero, we got home, took the trash out and I went upstairs to take a shower. It took me an hour and a half due to the new shower head. By the way, I took a photo of the layout of my bathroom so you can now see what I mean by it being absolutely..stupid. Here, let's look at this visual.

See that shower head? Yeah, it's attached at the side of the tub like my previous blog post stated, and now you can see what I mean by the ceilings are cottage style at some parts, slanted and if you're taller than 5'7" you can't stand up in the bath without hitting your head. So basically you can have the water out of the shower head spray at you, but it only hits your midsection and for whatever reason no matter what shower head we put on that hose, the water pressure is nothing, the water just drips. Can you tell I'm frustrated? Oh, and I forgot to mention. The water comes out either ice cold or scorching hot, so it took me about 45 minutes until it cooled down enough so it wasn't scorching, but it was luke warm at best. Enough of this bathroom, it's bumming me out.

For those readers who are in Europe or Asia, there's a meteor shower this weekend, and the peak is tonight. Don't want to go outside and get cold? No problem, there's a live broadcast at 11 pm. Find the link here.  Well, I think I'm off. Ollie and I are off to make some strawberry jell-o. Or as they call it in this country, jelly.

Talk to you tomorrow,
Leah