Learning to Banter

Mixed Nuts Episode 9.

Dan stands at hob (stove), Liam enters from back room, right.

Dan: How's it going?

Liam: Alright. (Looking into frying pan) ...You broke two egg yolks.

Dan: Yeah... and? I did it on purpose. (grabs another egg from carton)

Liam: Ah. Dan. The yolk will harden!

Dan: Yeah... and? We Americans like hard egg yolks. (cracks a third egg into frying pan, subsequently using shell to break the yolk)

Liam: Ah! What are you doing?! Ruining a perfectly good yolk! (storms out of kitchen, left)

Dan shrugs and continues frying the eggs. After a moment, Liam reenters, left, with Ellie.

Liam: Ellie, look what Dan did.

Ellie (looking slightly confused): What?

Liam: He cracked two eggs into the pan perfectly, and then he broke the yolks. On purpose!

Ellie: Ahh! What would you do that for? Ruining a perfectly good yolk!

Liam: That's what I said.

Dan: I dunno. Seems normal to me.

Ellie: Ugh! I can't watch this.

Cut. Cue Theme Music.

And such is the life in our house sitcom. The British are known for this sort of banter, a complex mix of witty humour, multi-layered biting sarcasm, and twisted inside jokes. It has taken me over a year to begin to get it because working with international students and living in the non-intimate Acland atmosphere has prevented me from getting a concentrated dose of banter. But now living with this lot, you had better watch out, for my banter will be free flowing and epic.

Learning to banter has been tricky on both sides. My housemates have admitted to being cautious with me, fearing that I won't recognize that their biting humour is, in fact, all in good fun. In the first two months living together, they have dealt it freely to each other but kept it lighter with me. Indeed, a non-housemate even (seriously?) accused me of something, saying, "But you're American. You don't understand British banter." But now... now I get it. And watch out, housemates; it's on!

So while the token American has been learning to banter, it has been an incredibly busy time. Somehow four weeks of term have already eluded me, and Halloween is suddenly upon us. The leaves have turned and fallen and, unlike last autumn, the dreary British mist-drizzle is constant. The weather has truly turned colder and the first signs of Christmas are upon us: decorations starting to go up in Cornmarket street, restaurants beginning to advertise Christmas menus, saving a date for a house Christmas party. I imagine mulled wine and cider will be making their comforting appearance in just a week or two. I even saw the first poppies yesterday, meaning that Remembrance Day is just around the corner. Strangely, I think I could be getting into the Christmas spirit really early again this year. I'm so excited.

Ah, but what else has been going on? Well, I have a new dance partner, Emma, a DPhil student from New Zealand. She was on the beginners team last year, so I am excited to be dancing with her this year. Our first competition, Nottingham, is on 24 November, so the rush is on to not only become familiar with each other (because everyone's hold and form is different, there's an acclimation period..) but to learn at least 3 intermediate level Latin dances (Cha cha, Jive, and Rumba) and 2 novice level Ballroom dances (Waltz, Quickstep). Depending how it goes, maybe we'll throw caution to the wind and try to pick up 3 intermediate Ballroom dances (Waltz, Quick, Tango) instead of the 2 easier ones... but we need to have a private lesson in Ballroom first! So much to do!

In addition to dance, the term has been busy busy busy with MCR events. I've been taking the time to join a new Shakespeare group with some other MCR members, so we have orally read through Othello and half of the Tempest together. I hosted an Acland Food Night early last week, cooking a delicious menu (balsamic, fig, and goats cheese toasts; chicken pot pie with waldorf salad; to-die-for chocolate cake balls) for freshers and 2nd years alike. I also joined with our Irish guitarist and an American Ukelele-ist during the MCR's first open mic night of the year and entertained the masses by hosting the traditional President's Port & Cheese night during freshers week (mmmm Cheshire Stilton). As you might be able to imagine, I've had something going almost every day (sometimes two activities!) so it's been exceedingly busy. Nonetheless, I still found time to introduce a card game to my housemates called Munchkin. Look it up online. It's hilarious and admittedly it took on better than I ever anticipated!

Well, I think that's a reasonable synopsis of the last couple weeks. Tomorrow I am meeting with a college fellow and two other musicians to try out a Mozart quartet. More on that later...

Mmmm homemade chocolate covered cake balls!

And now for something completely different...

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Swiss anecdotes for this important update:

Michaelmas Term 2012 has begun in earnest.

Yes, I wrote half of a blog about the amazing character of the Alps, but its conclusion was swiftly swept aside in favor of taking care of business. Shockingly, preparing and initiating the new school year has taken all of my time in the last... 2.. 3 weeks? I have even lost count.

Of course the important bit in all this is the fact that I had my long awaited Transfer of Status presentation and viva on Monday. I summarized my work to an audience of maybe 30 lab partners, professors, and miscellaneous individuals before being grilled by a pair of wary academics for an hour. Thankfully, it all went according to plan; the presentation was a snap (I even finished exactly at the 15 minute mark!) and my viva voce constituted of approximately 80% answerable questions and 20% questions that I needed help/prompting from my supervisor on. Believe it or not, I considered it quite a success. So the next step? Moving on to experimentation! Oh wait... first I have to submit my paper for the conference in February. So much to do!

On top of the Transfer, my Presidential duties have been unceasing! After seven straight nights of meet-a-greeters ("Hi, I'm Dan... where are you from?...what do you do?... Brilliant."), we opened the year with an exciting welcome dinner (oy, remarks to 170 in the massive yet oppressively lit Keble Hall. Intimidated much?) before a full week of activities. It has been a lot of fun to meet the new freshers while re-living some of the memories from my own freshers week last year. The "Legendary Keble MCR Pub Quiz" was, in a word, legendary, and the myriad social events have literally kept me on my feet all week long. Personally, I have been a bit taken aback in a good way by the logistical cost of putting on such a packed week, helping a fellow Caldwell Fellow move in to her new Oxford college, attending Keble's Governing Body meeting, working with the committee, helping freshers get settled, remaining organized (hellooooo email!), and....


"Oh, main team dance trials are 13 Oct? I have to be able to dance the big four (waltz, quickstep, cha, and jive) socially so that I can try out with different partners? Well then."

... and getting some practice and lessons in before next Saturday's trials. Yesterday morning I went to my first practice hall of term. It was fantastic to see (and dance with) most of the old crew again, though naturally it really felt like people were missing. I was impressed with how well everyone seemed to be dancing after a long break, and how - challenging though it was - I was able to pull back my Blackpool (Nationals) routines, the last set of moves Jenna and I more-or-less shared with the full beginners team.

So here we go with lap two. How will the perspective of a whole year change the second time around? How will my cultural, linguistic, social, and academic perceptions be altered through the lens of leadership and the self-induced intensity of the coming year's commitments? I have to admit, I loved making my second trip out to stunning Blenheim Palace yesterday; I seemed to see a lot more (and the weather was incredible... and the scone unparalleled), but it was also interesting to be there as a guide to others. Will my experiences this year thus all be in the context of leadership, or will I find the opportunity to separate myself from my responsibilities in order to examine my contextual relationship to this ever-unique Oxford environment? We'll see :-)

Time to gear up for a fun year, and (sorry guys) leave the summer behind. Here comes a roller coaster!

PS... I'll do my best to finish the blog about the Alps, in due time!