Flipping off Baby Jesus and other interesting stories from England!

So apparently, throwing up the American peace sign (the pointer and middle finger) is the same thing as sticking up your Middle Finger in England. No one warned me.

I'm at this Cathedral checking out this statue of baby Jesus. The priest woman inside is looking at me. I smile back at her like the nice American tourist. I go back to observing the statue and mention to my mom that Baby Jesus is trying to give the peace sign. In this statue he has his pointer and middle finger up, but they are together and not parted. So I make the peace sign gesture (fingers apart) while commenting about baby Jesus to my mother. The priest woman is still eyeing me, now with a different expression. I didn't find out that I was flipping Baby Jesus off until later that day. I felt like the dumb American tourist for sure!

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Hotel rooms are small in Europe. Unlike America where we have so much room, England is a small island and so they do their best to consolidate. No space is wasted. So we locate our hotel in London and head up the tiny lift (elevator) to get to the room. We're walking down the hall looking for room 210. We see room 208, then room 212. Where's our room?? I look across the hallway and there is a tiny corridor with about 15 steps leading to room 210. Unlike the other rooms located right there on the main hallway, we have to fall down a flight of stairs to get to our room. My cousin heads to his room on the 5th floor. Conveniently the lift only goes to the 4th floor. He has to climb a set of stairs just to get to his floor. His room has 4 sets of bunkbeds. Did I mention that my cousin is well over six foot tall??

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Football (Soccer for us Americans) is HUGE!! No sport here in America compares, not even our football. Of course, as many of you know, the world cup was taking place while I was in England. Being a sports fan, I was quickly converted to a true football fan. St. George flags were everywhere as England was supporting their country. I watched all the matches and almost teared up when England lost their quarter-final match during penalty kicks. Dang that Rooney for getting a red card!

While in London, a group of Brazil fans hit the street after one of their wins. They grabbed a drum and paraded down the streets singing and shouting to the top of their lungs. We were spared the brawls thankfully!

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Faggots are not just gay people! In England they are a delicacy! When I opened up my menu in one restaurant, I quickly asked my cousin...Faggots?? You eat those?? After getting through the language barrier, I finally learned that faggots in England are a type of meatball. From what they say, they are best served with mushy peas! Needless to say, I opted from something else!