The British are OBSESSED with the possibility of fire in a building. Obsessed! There are fire drills, fire warnings, and fire doors (oh so many fire doors). I went to a training session in Sheffield yesterday, and prior to the start of the meeting, we had to do a little fire safety review. You would think they had some kind of big fire here sometime in the past or something.

I went for the training with my colleague, Mark Russell, not to be confused with my other colleague, also named Mark Russell. We really get along well, and I also get along well with Hannah, my other closest colleague. We three get our work done, but we just laugh and laugh all day long. They tease me mercilessly about being American… they try to do my accent and pretend like they are George Bush, or George Bush fans. Meanwhile, I complain about how stodgy and typically British they are. For some reason, they find this endlessly amusing.

So far, literally every person I have met, with whom I have had any depth of conversation, has been just fascinated with America. To them, it seems like some magical land where everyone is rich, confident, and self absorbed. But they admire it. They also think Americans are kind of generally shallow. Not just in terms of appearance and culture, but general intelligence as well. Yet, they try really hard to impress you with their knowledge of the US, and they trip over themselves to take care of you, making sure you have tea, and an umbrella, etc . It is really strange! Its like they think of us as big, dumb, friendly, adorable dogs.