settlin in

Ive been in the UK just short of a week and things are starting to settle in.  I have my very own place, complete with internet, a bed, and a dresser, and windows.  It actually is probably the nicest "dorm" I have ever lived in; kitchen, fridge, big back yard, bbq, close to my department.  I spent most of of today on the phone trying to get internet, and calling my bank to replace my checking card.  The amount of bureaucracy was pretty unbelievable, so it was pretty frustrating.  It also feels like a lot of things have gone wrong so far; I lost my wallet in DC because I am a dumbass, I lost a piece of luggage because Frontier Airlines sucks, and I didnt have a bed to sleep in until this weekend.  Despite all this, things are feeling pretty good, and I am excited to be here.

a short list of funny things british:

-In the words of one of my teammates, "I got caught saying 'pants'".  Apparently pants means underwear over here.  This is probably a fact which most people already know, but somehow I missed the memo. sweet.

-excessive use of the word massive. I quote a british teammate; "we were putting our legs down massively hard and we took a massive move.  It was massive.  massive massive massive.  "

-brake handles on bikes are reversed.  Left-brake = back, right-brake = front. weird.

-botching bar-b-ques.  My team had a bar-b-q, and we went through two English grillmasters who completely blew it before we got an American to do the job.  In general, I dont like to be the arrogant american who thinks that we do things better, but in this I am sure; Brits suck at bar-b-queing.  

And now to the material which people other than my parents actually care about;  We've been putting in a lot of miles on the water and on the erg and in the weightroom.  Ive been stroking an 8+, which has actually been pretty fun with  Rob Weitemeyer behind me.  We've been winning in workouts, which definitely makes all things in life look pretty sunny.  I think the other rowers are starting to respect my rowing despite blowing the erg test. Lots of low rate workouts 18-22 spm, usually pretty long, which makes sense, given that the race is 4 1/4 miles.

The water we row at Ely is pretty nice.  Its about 15k through a narrow canal.  There is a 5k straight stretch where we do our pieces.  Not the most scenic, but so far the water has been glass, and I think the canal is narrow enough that it is rowable in most winds.  It kinda reminds me of the water at Petaluma, but green, and not tidal and good.

I still feel like I am getting more criticism from the coaches than any of the other guys, which I see as a good thing.  "Keep your outside grip at the catch! dont collapse at the finish! dont yank the finish!  hold your knees down on the recovery! "  A constant barrage of information comes at me during all practices.  A plus is that I know how to fix everything they are telling me to fix, I just need to do it.  Sometimes the accents and eyepatches get in the way, but its okay.