Heyup me duck!

Hosting people from other countries gives you the opportunity to learn new things and experience the awkward.


The second week of the summer, our family, along with the Teasley's, hosted two soccer coaches from England who came across the pond with Challenger British Soccer Camps. Liam (short for William) is from Nottingham and has a pretty thick accent. Lisa was always asking him to repeat something he said so she could try to figure it out. Jonathan (Jono) is from Doncaster and was a lot easier to understand.
The guys taught the kids some great stuff, and we had a blast showing them all things Southern/Covington/the Camp.
Sweet tea did not go over very well. They like their tea hot (boiled) with milk. Lisa tried it and said it was actually pretty good. I haven't been brave enough, or cleaned my kitchen enough, to try it yet.
The heat was a big shock! The hottest it gets over there is about 60oF. So the first couple of days outside in the sun was pretty draining on them. And is there any polite way to say, "You know, you might want to buy a stronger deodorant while you're here in the deep South." I couldn't think of one. So we just smiled an stood up-wind!
The Camp really impressed the guys. They said they don't have anything like it in England, that they know of. The unlimited food in the Dining Hall, gianormous slip-n-slide, and high ropes course were the highlights for sure!
We learned that if you are in England and you hear someone say that you are a little "camp," then you might want to double check your sexual orientation, because they think you are gay! This got a big laugh when the staff wore their new very cool pink tie-dyed shirts that say "Life is Camp" on the front. Of course we knew "camp" meant "summer camp," but you can see the confusion......
We were trying to get a grasp on how the size of the UK compared to the size of Georgia. The guys explained to us that you can drive from one side of the island to the other in about 3 hours, and from the top to the bottom in about 9 hours. So, then we explained that to drive from here to Arizona without stopping takes almost two days!
We treated Liam and Jono to El Charros their last night with us, and since the only Mexican food they have had was Fajitas, they decided to try my favorite the chimichangas. Loved them!
The guys were kind enough to give us some parting gifts. They gave Lisa a book on how to decipher the language in Derbyshire (Liam's home-county) titled "Heyup Me Duck!" This is the common "hello" to women in that county. It also helps you figure out what they are saying by teaching you their phonics. Like, th is most often pronounced as an f . . . . so, Jonathan here, is Jonafin there. Things--Fings, and so on. Lisa, being a Spanish teacher, got a big kick out of this. She loves languages and all their little intricacies. For me they had a book about British History with lots of full color illustrations and photographs. I had told them that I was a big British Literature fan and loved all things England. Now I have a quick reference guide, and the pics help me feel like I've been there (almost).
So, we said goodbye to our "foreign exchange soccer coaches" and wished them well in the next town. But of course we were secretly hoping that their stay with us would be the best!