Living in Newcastle

Newcastle is not what I think most people imagine a British city looks like. It’s an industrial city that’s rebuilding itself after significant decline, so while there’s a lot going on, there aren’t quaint little lanes and half-timbered buildings. Most of the homes were built for coal miners so they all look pretty similar, and the downtown was built for purpose not aesthetics. That being said, it’s still an enjoyable city, from what I’ve seen of it so far. The quayside (pronounced key-side) along the river Tyne is supposed to be a lot of fun but I have been thwarted in all my attempts to get down there so far.

Not this Geordie.

And Geordies, which is the term for a person from Newcastle, seem to take their gardens seriously so I’m always stopping and admiring and wondering what the flowers are called so I can get some of my own.

Our house is in a neighborhood called Jesmond, which is apparently the “posh” part of Newcastle. And I mean, it’s fine, but I wouldn’t call where we live posh by any means. (There are some huge beautiful houses in other sections of the neighborhood though.)  Lots of “to let” signs to try and attract students – we are not far from Osborne Road, which is a big drinking hangout on the weekends. Newcastle has become a big attraction for hen and stag parties (also known as bachelorette and bachelor parties) because it’s known for its drinking culture. When we went out to find something to eat last weekend, we saw it in action – so many drunk people. Luckily we don’t go out at night anymore or it would be pretty annoying. I think there are some proper pubs around that don’t cater to the student crowd, we just haven’t found them yet.

Even though there’s no language barrier and the culture is similar, there are still things to get used to. For one, none of the brands are the same. I went to buy laundry detergent and had no idea what was the good stuff and what wasn’t. Eliot’s brand of formula isn’t sold over here so we had to guess what brands were decent. Same goes with stores – there’s no Target over here so we’ve been parading around a slew of different stores to see which have the best prices. Luckily there’s both an Ikea and a TJ Maxx (inexplicably called TK Maxx over here), and once we have internet there’s always Amazon.

The weather so far has been really good – two days it’s been really rainy but overall sunny and warm, which is upper 60s/low 70s. I had to take Eliot to the doctor for this rash he’s got under his chin from drooling so much, and she said “These things get worse in the summer because it’s hot and he’ll be sweating,” and I think I actually laughed out loud. Even if I go out in a t-shirt I bring a jacket because the temperature is liable to drop and rain can blow in at any moment. The cliché of “If you don’t like the weather in Kentucky, wait an hour,” is actually pretty true here. It never really gets fully dark, but the sky starts to lighten around 4ish and doesn’t set till after 10. It’s a little unnerving and has indicated to Eliot that 5:30am is a perfectly appropriate time to wake up. (We are getting blackout curtains.) I want to enjoy it while we can since there’s so little sunshine in the winter.

Geordies seem to be really into sandwiches and Italian food, judging by the number of these types of restaurants everywhere. Luckily I like both of these things. The joke is that the national dish of England is chicken tikka masala, so I imagine there’s some amazing Indian food around here somewhere, but I haven’t had any yet. Sadly a lot of the more traditional pubs have been bought by a corporation so all the pub food is pretty similar.

The accents are fantastic here. I haven’t met any proper Geordies to hang out with yet (the acquaintances I’ve made are Scottish, Spanish and Greek) but I enjoy chatting with all the people in the shops. Sometimes I have to ask folks to repeat themselves but it’s not as hard as I thought it would be. The slang isn’t so bad either, though if I make friends with Geordies I might have to reevaluate that statement. I’m collecting a list of British words and phrases that I’ll post another time.