ralphing and fire drills

today a kiddo on our program threw up all morning.  i had to check on her occasionally, but was spared any direct contact with the vomit (small victory!).  appropriately, her name is annie ralphs.  i'm not kidding you.  [note: apparently "a girl ralphed" does not mean "a girl threw up" to a british person.  what kind of country is this if you don't have multiple phrases to describe vomit?]

in addition to the ralphing, we had a fire drill this morning at 6:30am.  and boy was it awesome.  if you haven't been a part of a fire drill in a college dorm in the recent past, you are missing out.  the administration knew the drill was happening today, but the kids obviously didn't.  yesterday i said to mike, one of the PAs (who also went to pembroke college, where we're housed, and has worked on the program for several years), "should i knock on doors to make sure everyone's awake?"  he gave me an odd look and said, "if you want, i guess."  well, folks, the fire alarms in pembroke don't lack for volume and at about 6:30 and 2 seconds i realized that there was NO WAY a child could sleep through this.  and the best part?  the fire procedure for our college is to (a) exit the building, (b) check role, and (c) move everyone into the medieval college dining hall.  oh, awesome.  let's move them all into a building that was clearly not built with modern fire safety codes if one of the dorms is on fire.  we'll all be safe there!  the head porter for the college is a pretty intense 70 year old ex-military man named brian, and as soon as he pulls the alarm he starts a stop watch.  if we aren't out of the buildings, checking role, and into the dining hall in less than 10 minutes, we have to repeat the drill on another day until we get it right.  (have i mentioned that brian scares me?)  luckily, i think we "passed" the brian test.  i was nervous, though.

more funny british things:

1. a small crispy cookie is called a biscuit.  a big soft cookie is called a cookie.  this is my favorite kind of biscuit - it is chocolatey and caramelly and delicious.  it is called a digestive biscuit.  is this the excuse we are using - that this biscuit aids in my digestion and is thus necessary and not a dessert?  because i can go along with that, even though it's not the most appealing description.

2. they don't have biscuits (you know, southern, flakey, baked in the oven) in this country.  the british people i know can't conceive of this item.  "we have breakfast muffins," they say.  yeah, well that appears to be an english muffin.  "we have rolls."  i don't think you were listening - a biscuit is not a roll.  "is it like a scone?"  no, it's savory.  "this biscuit thing sounds gross."  sheesh.

3. you don't say "a girl named claire" here... you say " a girl called claire."  alrighty then.

4. my british friends here know more about american politics than many americans.  example: the day after sarah palin's news conference about resigning the governorship, i was reading an article about it online in the office.  i said to our british friends "you will not believe this!  you know sarah palin?  she was john mccain's running mate in the 2008 election..."  and mike and aisha immediately said "oh yeah, she resigned yesterday, huh?"  this was so striking to me...that i can't name a single member of parliament and they know the name of the republican party's vice presidential candidate from last year (and the republicans LOST, if you didn't hear) and heard the most recent news about her.

i get to sleep in tomorrow for the first time in a long time!  i don't think i'll even set an alarm - so luxurious.  we're finally on a set schedule, and i'm on afternoon duty tomorrow, from 1-6pm.  goodnight, all!