Odds and Ends

After my last post I didn't do much outside of teaching, visit London again, and a few interesting odds and ends involving school. We went to another seaside village called Selsey on a field trip to learn about the lifeboat (coast-guarding) program they have there, which is one of many throughout the country. I was surprised to find that the national program is run entirely by donations, with no help from the government. The day was very blustery, indeed, but sunny and a nice break from the classroom. The kids mostly behaved themselves and were of course excited by the harrowing tales of rescue from the volunteers, but even more so by the treats and assorted "crap" (because that's what it all really is, let's be honest) that they could buy from the gift shop. It was much more enjoyable than the net-ball tournament that I helped out at, where I mostly stood freezing my butt off and attempting to take good action shots with my frozen, numb hands. It was fun to see the kids play this game though - it is like basketball without dribbling and backboards. They did get 2nd place, too!

Selsey Beach & Pier

During my second weekend in London, the weather was atrocious, but I managed to find some interesting things to do nonetheless. On Saturday, I was able to join a tour with Jon that was specifically for the UW students there, but the tour guide was a gem and let me come along! She was lovely, and really knew her stuff. We started in one neighborhood I can't remember the name of (fail) and saw some buildings with famous associations, as it is an affluent area. We then ended up in "Little Venice," which is more or less a canal. It was a pretty area though, and we got to take a 40 minute journey on one of the canal boats over to Camden town, which has a huge open-air market. It's also interesting to note that there were many houseboats on the sides of the canal in which people actually lived, and the boats are allowed to be no larger than something like 6ft across. Talk about cramped quarters. But back to Camden Town; it was freezing and drizzly, but we tried to make the best of it. Jon was able to use his high-tech iPhone to find us this nice little Japanese restaurant where we had hotpot, which is more or less the Asian (and much better) equivalent to fondue. It was so tasty. I even found that I loved the flavor of this weird black stuff which I later determined to be a type of seaweed that OF COURSE doesn't have any solid health benefits, it just tastes delicious, and is somewhat of a known carcinogen. Damn sea plants. After warming up with some food and tea we went to check out the market place which had a huge variety of goods, including many vintage stores. I went in search of some Shelley Pottery (my family is directly descended from the owners of this famous English pottery company) but I had no luck. It was still interesting to putz around and see everything that was up for offer. Lots of delicious smelling, greasy street food was available as well.

Canal at "Little Venice"

 On Sunday, I attempted to go to a contemporary art gallery but once I finally trekked all the way there I found it to be closed for a private event. How rude. That night before I left to come back to Falpham, we went down to see the festivities for the Chinese New Year. It was cool to witness, but the freezing cold and drizzling rain drowned out most of the enjoyment. One of the big draws to it was the fireworks at the end, which ended up being about 2 disappointing minutes long. Oh well. In terms of the weather, I have found that although it may be a solid 30 degrees warmer here than back home, the more constant sunlight at home makes up for the lack of temperature.

That day I also figured out that my boots are indeed not waterproof. And I still have yet to invest in those Wellies...

Crowd at Chinese New Year celebration in Trafalgar Square

Next time, my adventures in France! Complete with much better weather and scenic beaches.

Cheers to changing positions of latitude in the world.

AKA almost every day on the Big Island

A Brief Visit to London

I am officially very envious of the rail systems in Europe, and so far I’ve only seen two of them. I took a Southern Railways train into London for the very lovely price of 11.50 pounds, or a little under $20. And then I took the Underground to the neighborhood that my friend I was staying with lives in. Having taken the subways in Montreal and Toronto, which are very straightforward granted much smaller, I was not expecting to get lost the five or six times I did on the 15 minute way there. The maps are really misleading… WHY IN GOD’S NAME is there a green line going to my destination when the stupid train doesn’t actually go anywhere near there?!?!? Relatively. Needless to say I finally arrived at my destination. Friday night was much like the rest of the weekend, unplanned, relaxing, and fun. Usually I’m quite particular when it comes to planning out my travels, but I knew that I would be going back a few times more anyways and did not have much energy from the first two weeks of teaching anyways. We went to a few pubs and then I was able to meet up with some friends from Lawrence who live only a few blocks from my friend Jon that I was staying with! Brilliant. I went to my first pub and had a blackberry cider that was quite tasty indeed, although no one else agreed with me. Womp wooomp. Saturday, Jon took me across the road to Kensington Gardens and we visited the palace. Had tea and chocolate cake. Lovely.

A cool fabric installation inside the Palace

The “gardens” were quite dead, as I had expected but nonetheless I still have hope that by the time Elizabeth and I are in London together things will be more colorful.

Part of Kensington Gardens, or what I would seasonally call a "reflection pool"

 We also went grocery shopping, which is always fun in other countries, and then I cooked a lovely eggplant pasta dish for our dinner using the food we bought! Big ups to Jamie Oliver! And smoked salmon. And fresh mozzarella. We then headed to the City of London, which is apparently a specific area inside of the modern city of London, who knew? Maybe everyone but me. We went to see a play by Anton Chekov called Uncle Vanya. I had my doubts about Russian humor but there were a lot jokes involving vodka and such so it proved to be quite entertaining! Haha. Afterwards we went to a nice pub near Piccadilly Circus, and then trekked what felt like all the way across the city to find a nightclub tucked away very stealthily. It was actually massive inside, and the cover charge unfortunately reflected that. But I am a firm believer in trying everything once! For the experience. Otherwise how will you really know what you enjoy and what you don’t? It was mostly just the music that I wasn’t a huge fan of, what they call “house” music and is basically just a bunch of beats that all sounds eerily alike. I really regret saying this, but it for sure made me miss even the DJ’s at Madison’s who play much of the Top 40. First world problems, I suppose. 

A muddled panoramic shot of Piccadilly Circus

 On Sunday, we went out for a nice lunch and then fit in a bit of shopping before I had to head back to Sussex on the train.  One other nice thing about riding around on (above ground) public transportation in London, i.e. the buses, is that you get a nice tour of the sights while doing so. Of course I didn't always know what I was looking at but eventually someone would explain it to me. 

Queen Elizabeth Gate, Hyde Park

Marble Arch

Prince Albert Memorial, Kensington Gardens

 We went to a nicer area to shop, and we ended up at this large store called Selfridge's. Which was funny to happen upon because one of the first tv programs I saw when I got here is called Mr. Selfirdge's, in which Jeremy Piven plays the American man who started the upscale department store in London back in the day. Nowadays it is more of a co-mingling of expensive boutique stores, and I especially appreciated the extensive chocolate selection :)

My new life motto (that I have spent the past few years developing), in case anyone was wondering: