Eva from New England
Hello, I’m Eva! I’m American, but more specifically I’m from New England, a region with a really strong and distinct character that you may not have heard about. It’s in the northeast corner of the US – the capital of the region is Boston. We have a history of sailing, ship building, and many ocean traditions. Our local cuisine involves catching and eating a lot of seafood. Although it’s not the most famous place in the country, to me it is the most beautiful, and I’m happy to share it with you:)
Photos from New England are often easy to recognize. Houses are made of wood, usually in natural colors or white. Boats are everywhere, especially wooden boats! The photo on the left above is from my home town. I think it’s very cute.
Another way to recognize a photo from New England is to see buoys hanging on the side of buildings, like in the second photo above. They are used to hold boats in place in the water, but sometimes they snap and wash up on the beach, where people collect them. My family has a large collection.
All kinds of sailing
I trained to sail on every kind of boat – from the biggest to the smallest. The ship behind me in the photo above left was my home in the summers of my childhood and teenage years. Living on that ship we practiced all sorts of old nautical traditions. I also taught sailing to children on the boats from the photo on the right. In spring and autumn, I was on a racing team sailing two-person boats (the fast types). We came in third place in a national competition one year! Considering how far away I live from the ocean now, it’s crazy to think about what a big part of my life sailing was. You can see a few more of my sailing photos below.
Fresh and delicious seafood
People often ask me what I miss the most about home. Depending on how hungry I am, my answer is often the food. Sometimes this is surprising if they only know “American food” as hamburgers and hotdogs. But for me, from New England, food from home comes straight from the ocean. On the left above are a species of scallop that only lives in the waters of my home town. The middle is a lobster, which can be caught in special traps, and finally clam chowder – a seafood soup specialty. All of this is common and can be gotten in a shop, from a fisherman, or just by yourself from the water.
Leaf peeping
On a final note about New England, I would like to mention the one hobby that I’ve never heard about anywhere else: leaf peeping. What is it? Mostly just what it sounds like, peeping at leaves as they change during autumn. The whole region is renowned for its amazing foliage, and tourists from the rest of the country come to enjoy the colorful months. During this season, there are even leaf forecasts along with the weather on television, telling you which leaves are the most beautiful at which time.
That’s just a quick look at where I’m from, but there’s much more to explore. I hope that someday you have a chance to visit New England too:)
