hello!! so it's thanksgiving morning, and i'm lying in bed, watching a movie. it's a little sad that i'm not home for thanksgiving--besides obviously seeing the family, i'm missing so much goooooood foooooood!!! however, we are cooking "thanksgiving dinner" here on saturday, so we'll have it, even if it is a little displaced.
so, i have a new job. it's not with office team. it's not even close to office work. claire pulled some strings at the place she's working (through office team) and they needed "domestic staff" (translation: housekeepers). the idea i got was that under the old management, people just got really lazy and things that needed to get done weren't getting done. so a lot of people have been fired, and the new management is looking for new people to replace the old workers. the pay isn't quite what i would be making doing office work, but i figured that it will probably even out since it will be steady work and not the two-weeks-on three-weeks-off kind of deal. AND they talked about "bumping" me up to a supervisor's position (did i forget to mention that i have ZERO housekeeping experience??) so that i'll make more and have more flexibility in my schedule, as far as when i want to work, when i can take holiday, etc. oooh, also. this is in a nursing home. i met a few of the residents yesterday and have a feeling that things could get pretty interesting...
anywho. back to sisterhood of the traveling pants 2!!
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
RUGBY!!
so the most recent job I had via office team was with the Scottish rugby union. basically, i replaced this guy, liam, who was kind of lazy and not very organized and altogether a little useless. he actually told me that i shouldn’t be so American in my work and i should “chill out” a little. ummm, right. so, sru didn’t really appreciate that kind of attitude and so they asked for someone else: ME!! what i did was make the accreditation p asses for the visiting team that would give them the access they needed to the locker room and so they could actually get to the pitch to play; i made passes for journalists and photographers so they could have access to the “media” areas; VIPs like the CEOs of companies, the finance commissioner, match officials, match medics, etc. it was much more involved that i thought it would be—i was busy all the time (i worked form 8-6. that’s a lot of time to fill) and it went rather quickly to be honest. but i really enjoyed the organizing aspect of it. i actually felt like what i was doing was helpful to someone. and this is a task/position that an actual person usually has, so i basically just took over part of her job. i had full access to the accreditation email account and was able to correspond with people from the media about their film crew, to companies about who they were sending to advertise during the match, etc. i mean, i was the go-to girl for the BBC! that’s pretty darn cool.
probably the most exciting part of my job was that on Saturday i actually got to watch the rugby match that i had made all the passes for. the first part of the day was quite boring, as i spent it in a brick building handing out the passes to the media before the game, but after that was all finished, i got to go up to the media area and watch! it was really exciting. i didn’t really understand what was going on, but i asked a ton of questions to Pamela, who worked with me, and so i think i have a good understanding of how rugby is played. i’m officially a fan! i worked there until Wednesday of this week, and there’s a match today against Canada (which i also made all the passes for, thank you. :) ) if we’re actually in the flat, i think i might watch it.
not much else going on right now that’s exciting. there’s a vegetable market that’s pretty close to us that we’re going to check out today, and then we’ll probably hit up a museum or something. a nice relaxing day in Edinburgh.
probably the most exciting part of my job was that on Saturday i actually got to watch the rugby match that i had made all the passes for. the first part of the day was quite boring, as i spent it in a brick building handing out the passes to the media before the game, but after that was all finished, i got to go up to the media area and watch! it was really exciting. i didn’t really understand what was going on, but i asked a ton of questions to Pamela, who worked with me, and so i think i have a good understanding of how rugby is played. i’m officially a fan! i worked there until Wednesday of this week, and there’s a match today against Canada (which i also made all the passes for, thank you. :) ) if we’re actually in the flat, i think i might watch it.
not much else going on right now that’s exciting. there’s a vegetable market that’s pretty close to us that we’re going to check out today, and then we’ll probably hit up a museum or something. a nice relaxing day in Edinburgh.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
and yet, more art...
as promised. note the tear marks, as well as the cock-eyed eyes, and my huge, saggy cheeks. gah.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
remember, remember, the fifth of november...
wow, so many things to post about today!! well, really, just three. slash that, four. work, the election, and guy fawkes day (okay, not so much posting and just mentioning it) and tonight at the tron.
work. eh, not as cool as i thought it would be. i went yesterday, just to make sure i could find it (super easy.) and got there today with no problem, with time enough to pick up a latte before i got there. i get there and they tell me what i already know (aka what i'll be doing) and then another girl walks it (katherine. kathryn. catherine. catheryn. i don't know the spelling, but she has the same name as me. you choose.) and apparently she's helping me. we start stuffing the dvd cases with the dvds and the paper thingy in the front until we run out of them. "oh, well they should be coming in soon today. why don't you two take a wee lunch? take an hour or so, if you like," we're told by the receptionist. okay, sure! however, i've taken my lunch and so i hike my way up to the fourth floor to use the microwave (mmmm, our untasty minestrone soup! okay, not untasty, just not tasty.) and then...well, eat it. until the rest of the dvd cases come in. which there are like twelve boxes of them (108 dvds in each box...you can do the math.). so i start putting the paper covers in the cases until this guy walks in and says, "well, f*&% [this is completely normal, btw], black cases. great." apparently, they wanted clear cases. sooo, i'm told to go home and that they'd be in touch with me...or rather office team would. but either way, i didn't meet many cool people. i met katherine/kathryn/catheryn/catherine. who is nice, but not necessarily the cool scottish person i was hoping to meet. oh, well. however, i'm going back tomorrow at 1, and then all day friday. so woot. more work!!
election. i can't express to you how excited i am that our country finally has someone in office that isn't white. i mean, for a country that boasts that we're all democratic, and equal opportunity, and not racist, it's been a while since segregation, people. why hasn't this happened before? the outcome was truly amazing. i can't wait to see the change that is going to happen within our country. so many backwards things have happened in the last eight years that just aren't necessary. we have screwed up foreign policy. we're in a war that completely isn't necessary. we're not at all a country that is equal opportunity or understanding of people who are different (come on, people...this is 2008 we're living in. where is tolerance? an open mind? we're way past civil rights, here...are we grown ups or what?)
guy fawkes day. basically, today is novemeber fifth, the day that guy fawkes tried to blow up parliament in 1605. fireworks are included...it's cold in november in scotland, so we didn't stay out to watch them. that's all about that.
the tron. finally, tonight is wednesday and on wednesdays, we go to the tron for pound pints night. we eat dinner and then have pound pints. it just so happens that tonight, as well as two weeks ago when we went, there was a football (soccer) match on, and so the place was absolutely packed. firstly, yaaay! soccer. it's so nice to watch a game where its really appreciated. and to make it even better, it was manchester u vs. celtic...who are kind of rivals. really, the scottish just hate the english and so anytime an english team is playing, it's going to be grand. as can be expected, there are some pretty trashed guys there. one guy in particular, came up to me with a sketchpad and said, "can i draw you?" completely taken aback, i stuttered, "uhhh, suuure?" well, it turned out to be a complete mistake because the guy wouldn't leave me alone after that, insisting that i buy him a drink for his drawing (which i didn't ask for in the first place). he also kept telling me that i would be a great nude model (ummm, EXCUSE ME?!? i told him he was unnecessarily cheeky...) which he apparently draws a lot. sick. luckily, he momentarily left to go smoke outside, and we took the opportunity to get the guys beside us to hide the stool the guy was sitting on (someone took it, so the evidence was gone, luckly.) and then finally when he came back and i refused to buy him a drink/ignored him, he tore the picture up into four pieces ("ha, lady! this is what i think of you! take that....) to offend me, maybe? and stomped off, finding other suckers to draw. he was a weirdo....claire thought it was hilarious and reveled in the moment since i "get all the attention from guys." (okay, whatever. i don't ask for it by flaunting anything...) it was quite the interesting night. if i find a chance, i'll tape my portrait back together and post a picture of it on here. it's quite ugly, actually...
oh, also made two new friends today. they're cousins from canada--the guy's name is ross and the girls name is brandy. both very cool...look like prospective real friends!!
work. eh, not as cool as i thought it would be. i went yesterday, just to make sure i could find it (super easy.) and got there today with no problem, with time enough to pick up a latte before i got there. i get there and they tell me what i already know (aka what i'll be doing) and then another girl walks it (katherine. kathryn. catherine. catheryn. i don't know the spelling, but she has the same name as me. you choose.) and apparently she's helping me. we start stuffing the dvd cases with the dvds and the paper thingy in the front until we run out of them. "oh, well they should be coming in soon today. why don't you two take a wee lunch? take an hour or so, if you like," we're told by the receptionist. okay, sure! however, i've taken my lunch and so i hike my way up to the fourth floor to use the microwave (mmmm, our untasty minestrone soup! okay, not untasty, just not tasty.) and then...well, eat it. until the rest of the dvd cases come in. which there are like twelve boxes of them (108 dvds in each box...you can do the math.). so i start putting the paper covers in the cases until this guy walks in and says, "well, f*&% [this is completely normal, btw], black cases. great." apparently, they wanted clear cases. sooo, i'm told to go home and that they'd be in touch with me...or rather office team would. but either way, i didn't meet many cool people. i met katherine/kathryn/catheryn/catherine. who is nice, but not necessarily the cool scottish person i was hoping to meet. oh, well. however, i'm going back tomorrow at 1, and then all day friday. so woot. more work!!
election. i can't express to you how excited i am that our country finally has someone in office that isn't white. i mean, for a country that boasts that we're all democratic, and equal opportunity, and not racist, it's been a while since segregation, people. why hasn't this happened before? the outcome was truly amazing. i can't wait to see the change that is going to happen within our country. so many backwards things have happened in the last eight years that just aren't necessary. we have screwed up foreign policy. we're in a war that completely isn't necessary. we're not at all a country that is equal opportunity or understanding of people who are different (come on, people...this is 2008 we're living in. where is tolerance? an open mind? we're way past civil rights, here...are we grown ups or what?)
guy fawkes day. basically, today is novemeber fifth, the day that guy fawkes tried to blow up parliament in 1605. fireworks are included...it's cold in november in scotland, so we didn't stay out to watch them. that's all about that.
the tron. finally, tonight is wednesday and on wednesdays, we go to the tron for pound pints night. we eat dinner and then have pound pints. it just so happens that tonight, as well as two weeks ago when we went, there was a football (soccer) match on, and so the place was absolutely packed. firstly, yaaay! soccer. it's so nice to watch a game where its really appreciated. and to make it even better, it was manchester u vs. celtic...who are kind of rivals. really, the scottish just hate the english and so anytime an english team is playing, it's going to be grand. as can be expected, there are some pretty trashed guys there. one guy in particular, came up to me with a sketchpad and said, "can i draw you?" completely taken aback, i stuttered, "uhhh, suuure?" well, it turned out to be a complete mistake because the guy wouldn't leave me alone after that, insisting that i buy him a drink for his drawing (which i didn't ask for in the first place). he also kept telling me that i would be a great nude model (ummm, EXCUSE ME?!? i told him he was unnecessarily cheeky...) which he apparently draws a lot. sick. luckily, he momentarily left to go smoke outside, and we took the opportunity to get the guys beside us to hide the stool the guy was sitting on (someone took it, so the evidence was gone, luckly.) and then finally when he came back and i refused to buy him a drink/ignored him, he tore the picture up into four pieces ("ha, lady! this is what i think of you! take that....) to offend me, maybe? and stomped off, finding other suckers to draw. he was a weirdo....claire thought it was hilarious and reveled in the moment since i "get all the attention from guys." (okay, whatever. i don't ask for it by flaunting anything...) it was quite the interesting night. if i find a chance, i'll tape my portrait back together and post a picture of it on here. it's quite ugly, actually...
oh, also made two new friends today. they're cousins from canada--the guy's name is ross and the girls name is brandy. both very cool...look like prospective real friends!!
more art!
November 4, 2008
DEAN GALLERY AND THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY OF MODERN ART
Yesterday, I decided to visit the Dean Gallery and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. I figured it would be a good day to go—Claire was at work and Anna woke up with a virus, so I figured it would be worth my time to walk there and check it out. It was only about a 15 or 20 minute walk, so it wasn’t far at all. My guidebook told me that the Dean Gallery holds the Gallery of Modern Art’s collection of Dada and surrealist art with artists like Picasso, Dalí, Ernst, Magritte, etc. I went having heard of Dada, but not really knowing what kind of art it was, exactly. Since I didn’t really know much about it, I made sure to read all the plaques on the wall and found out that the gallery obtained most of its art from two people: Sir Roland Penrose (a surrealist artist, collector and exhibition organizer) and Ms. Gabrielle Keiller, who were friends of artists like Picasso, Miró and Max Ernst. “Dada” was a word that had no particular meaning for the artists who made it their genre, but instead chose it out of the dictionary because it sounded like a childish and nonsense word. It emerged during WW1 and attacked the culture values of the world that the artists felt were responsible for the war. Dada was concerned with painting, collage and drawing but also literature, especially poetry.
The Dada movement turned into surrealism, meaning “beyond realism,” and dealt with dreams and the unconscious. Surrealism was officially began with André Breton’s “Manifesto of Surrealism” but led to other artists like Ernst, Yues Tanguy, Magritte, Dalí, Picasso and Miró. Surrealists made their art with the idea of creating a poetic suggestion rather than something with a literal interpretation.
At The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, I saw an exhibit by English/Turkish artist Tracey Emin. Her art was very emotional and quite graphic as well. The boards she painted on consisted of graphic nudes, which I’m sure some people could find quite offensive. She also created quite a few patchwork/appliqué quilts, consisting of words describing her life, people in her life, tough times, etc. She had created a whole lot of art before she had an abortion gone wrong and she threw it all away, later having to force herself to create art. She did this by agreeing to have an exhibit at a museum, but having no art, she locked herself into the museum, living there for two weeks, creating the art going into the exhibit. It was quite the interesting exhibit.
I also saw exhibits by four Scottish painters: Anne Redpath, who worked with a palette knife and her later works have a “jewel-like coloration reminiscent of stained glass windows,” and was influenced by French painters like Paul Gauguin and Herni Matisse. Alan Davie, who was the son of an artist and whose second painting is amazing to be a second painting. He used bold colors and figures worked themselves into his paintings unconsciously. Wilhelmina Bains-Graham, who studies abstract art at the Edinburgh College of Art. Her art is based on abstract forms that can be traced back to nature. Finally, John Bellany, who visited concentration camps in Germany which inspired art dealing with original sin, guilt and death (lots of sinew, bird/fish/other carcasses). To me, his art was quite disturbing and it made me really uncomfortable.
All in all, a good day at the art museum. It made me want to find some art supplies and paint…alas, I’m broke. So no art supplies for me.
I start a two-day job (!!!) tomorrow at this placed called 20/20 Productions. I’ll be watching DVDs to make sure they work and then putting them in cases and boxes. Woot. I’m sure it’ll be ridiculously boring, but hopefully I’ll meet some cool people? And, I mean, it’s money. So I can’t complain to much.
DEAN GALLERY AND THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY OF MODERN ART
Yesterday, I decided to visit the Dean Gallery and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. I figured it would be a good day to go—Claire was at work and Anna woke up with a virus, so I figured it would be worth my time to walk there and check it out. It was only about a 15 or 20 minute walk, so it wasn’t far at all. My guidebook told me that the Dean Gallery holds the Gallery of Modern Art’s collection of Dada and surrealist art with artists like Picasso, Dalí, Ernst, Magritte, etc. I went having heard of Dada, but not really knowing what kind of art it was, exactly. Since I didn’t really know much about it, I made sure to read all the plaques on the wall and found out that the gallery obtained most of its art from two people: Sir Roland Penrose (a surrealist artist, collector and exhibition organizer) and Ms. Gabrielle Keiller, who were friends of artists like Picasso, Miró and Max Ernst. “Dada” was a word that had no particular meaning for the artists who made it their genre, but instead chose it out of the dictionary because it sounded like a childish and nonsense word. It emerged during WW1 and attacked the culture values of the world that the artists felt were responsible for the war. Dada was concerned with painting, collage and drawing but also literature, especially poetry.
The Dada movement turned into surrealism, meaning “beyond realism,” and dealt with dreams and the unconscious. Surrealism was officially began with André Breton’s “Manifesto of Surrealism” but led to other artists like Ernst, Yues Tanguy, Magritte, Dalí, Picasso and Miró. Surrealists made their art with the idea of creating a poetic suggestion rather than something with a literal interpretation.
At The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, I saw an exhibit by English/Turkish artist Tracey Emin. Her art was very emotional and quite graphic as well. The boards she painted on consisted of graphic nudes, which I’m sure some people could find quite offensive. She also created quite a few patchwork/appliqué quilts, consisting of words describing her life, people in her life, tough times, etc. She had created a whole lot of art before she had an abortion gone wrong and she threw it all away, later having to force herself to create art. She did this by agreeing to have an exhibit at a museum, but having no art, she locked herself into the museum, living there for two weeks, creating the art going into the exhibit. It was quite the interesting exhibit.
I also saw exhibits by four Scottish painters: Anne Redpath, who worked with a palette knife and her later works have a “jewel-like coloration reminiscent of stained glass windows,” and was influenced by French painters like Paul Gauguin and Herni Matisse. Alan Davie, who was the son of an artist and whose second painting is amazing to be a second painting. He used bold colors and figures worked themselves into his paintings unconsciously. Wilhelmina Bains-Graham, who studies abstract art at the Edinburgh College of Art. Her art is based on abstract forms that can be traced back to nature. Finally, John Bellany, who visited concentration camps in Germany which inspired art dealing with original sin, guilt and death (lots of sinew, bird/fish/other carcasses). To me, his art was quite disturbing and it made me really uncomfortable.
All in all, a good day at the art museum. It made me want to find some art supplies and paint…alas, I’m broke. So no art supplies for me.
I start a two-day job (!!!) tomorrow at this placed called 20/20 Productions. I’ll be watching DVDs to make sure they work and then putting them in cases and boxes. Woot. I’m sure it’ll be ridiculously boring, but hopefully I’ll meet some cool people? And, I mean, it’s money. So I can’t complain to much.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
the big smoke
October 28, 2008
LONDON.
Disclaimer: THIS IS GOING TO BE LONG. GO AHEAD, SIT DOWN AND RELAX.
So this weekend we took a pretty successful trip to London. Thursday we took the 5:15ish bus and thought we were going to be late…so that’s lesson number one. Never leave during rush hour. However, once we got there, we found that our flight had been delayed anyway, so everything ended up being fine. We flew EasyJet, which was actually nice for what it is. Our tickets were £65ish pounds round trip, which is pretty freakin sweet. After we finally arrived at London Luton, we had to find the EasyBus, which would drop us off within about ½ mile or so of our hostel. However, we had to find it in the dark, which was, to be honest, sketchy. We walked through tunnels, hedges (“I bet many a girl has gotten knocked up here…”, under bridges, along the highway, etc. We had absolutely no clue where we were going. Claire and her “grandfather” had looked up where our hostel was in reference to where we got dropped off, but we had no real map on us, so we just walked up the road until we saw the landmarks the hostel had pointed out in their email. The Brent Cross tube station. Once we found it, it was simple. The tube was literally across the street. We think we arrived sometime around 10:30pm-ish…none of us really paid attention to what time it was. We found the desk, gave them our passports, got our sheets and room number, and went to bed. However, once we actually were awake and had time to explore, we found that our hostel was absolutely massive. It was situated on four floors and included a basement with pool table, main level with (free!!) internet, a first floor with bedrooms and a common area/kitchen. The second floor had more bedrooms and the bathrooms. We spent many a hour in the common area, drinking beer, eating “dinner” usually consisting of chips and candybars and playing/reading out loud Trivial Pursuit (the old old old UK version—like before Russia was Russia and there was a West Germany) cards. Good times.
Friday began with going to the tube station and buying day passes for £5.90. We then took the Northern Line to the Tower of London where we spent £16.50 to get into the castle. Although that’s quite a bit to spend, since I pay UK taxes, I had the option of giving the “tax” money back to the castle instead of the government. For that good deed, I get free, unlimited admission to the Tower of London for a year! Once inside the tower, we jumped into a tour group and our guide (aka our “beefeater”) was adorable. We saw amazing buildings—it’s crazy to think that at some point, those were royal grounds! I walked the same path that kings and queens walked! I may have also walked on some pretty nasty ground—executions, betrayal….I guess it comes with the territory…We also saw the Crown Jewels. Uh, I can have some crazy jewlrey?!? The jewels belong to the country and the role, not necessarily the Queen herself, so I guess I’ll just have to become Queen someday. We also took a walk on Tower Bridge, what most people think of as the “London Bridge.” Thank you, Fergie, for making the rest of the world think you (and therefore all Americans ) are stupid since you danced on the Tower Bridge while singing, “London, London, London…” Thanks a lot. Aaaanyway. However, from the bridge we did see an Obama—Biden sign in a flat window above the street. I don’t know if it was an American person’s flat/office or what, but it’s interesting how the rest of the world relies on how the US is run.
After the Tower we had some quasi-amazing KFC. It was amazing mostly because we were starving. Quasi-amazing because it was really greasy and not quite as good as authentic KFC.
There’s a company in Edinburgh called NewEdinburgh which gives free walking tours during the day (it’s absolutely amazing. If you ever have the chance to take it, go for it! The guides work strictly on tips and so they literally HAVE TO give a good tour because they make what they get in tips.), and they also have a tour in London (called NewLondon…obviously). So we went on that tour. Saw an amazing dressed Asian couple. The girl had on every color imaginable and then to top it off, heeled camo boots. The guy had the best rat tail ever. Refer to my pictures. But on the tour we saw a whole lot of the city, including: the old city wall, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Millennium Bridge (aka the “wobbly bridge”), the Tate Modern Collection (aaaamazing.), the London Eye and the Priory of Scion. There was a whole lot of history lessons in there…but we were tired and I can’t remember them. After the tour, we were starving and so Claire had the genius idea of finding Chinatown and eating there. So we found this place and had an amazing traditional Chinese meal (I felt like I was in China again!! So much food, such a little bowl!) After dinner, our nightlife consisted of Trivial Pursuit, snacks and beer. It was pretty much amazing.
Saturday, we got up early and made our way to Leister Square to try to get our hands on some tickets for a play later in the day. We ended up getting tickets to Avenue Q for Saturday night, which I had never seen, but had heard from many sources that it’s ridiculously funny. So with tickets in hand, we started our sightseeing for the day.
We started off going to Piccadilly Circus. Maybe I’m just missing something, but I didn’t really see what was so great about it…but took the picture to say I was there. Claire and Anna really wanted to go to the Portrait Gallery to see the Annie Leibovitz exhibit, so we went there next. She’s famous for her photography, particularly her portraits of famous people. It was fabulous. Her portraits are really inspiring and made me really want to buy a nice camera. Some of the portraits she takes (okay, most of them) are breath-taking. Amazing. Spectacular. So it was really nice to see. Claire wasn’t so keen on the rest of the artwork there, but I decided that since we were in the National Portrait Gallery, I was going to actually look through the rest of the exhibits. I mean, lets be honest: I love art. Love making it, love looking at it, love everything about it. Of course, there are periods and genres I like more than others, but I enjoy looking at it all and appreciate its worth. The collection at the Portrait Gallery was quite spectacular. So much art! However, my favorite part of the day was definitely the Tate Modern Collection. The Tate was amazing—they have thousands of pieces of crazy good art. Famous art. Beautiful art. Ugly art. Strange art. Paintings. Portraits. Sculpture. Video. Photography. Everything! My favorites were the Cubists, Impressionists and Expressionists. Monet, Manet, Picasso, Kandinsky…it was amazing. Fabulous. My Mecca. Art to me is so fascinating—and the imagination and vision of the artists never ceases to amazing me…I can’t wait for the Louvre. I’m definitely spending the money to revisit it. And not just for the Mona Lisa. She’s kind of over-rated. I’ve seen her before. She’s mysterious. I got it. There are definitely other pieces of art I would enjoy browsing more. After the museums, we had good burgers at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen, which was really good. I had a burger topped with a portobello mushroom and it was quite tasty. They had some gooood chunky fries as well.
Next was Avenue Q at 5pm. Umm, it’s hilarious. It’s basically like a version of Sesame Street…but for adults. Some stellar song titles include “Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist,” “It Sucks to Be Me,” “I’m Not Wearing Underwear Today,” and “If You Were Gay”…just to name a few…It’s quite racy, and very profane. The cd cover has a Parental Advisory sticker on it. But still, it’s HILARIOUS. After the show, we made our way back to the hostel and did what else? but play Trivial Pursuit and eat candy.
Sunday was a pretty low-key day. We started by going to a service at St. Paul’s Cathedral. We though we were going to be late; however, American slavery worked in our favor and it just happened that the night before, Daylight Savings time had ended so we were actually an hour early. The service was gorgeous. And the music was amazing. I really wanted to just sit in my seat and close my eyes so that I could focus solely on the music while the choir was singing, but I was pretty sure that people would think I was asleep. So I didn’t try that.
After the service we started touristy things and went to see Parliament/Big Ben, Westminster and Buckingham Palace. I’ve seen them all, so nothing new for me. Wasn’t really surprised at anything, no new thoughts. However, a reoccurring though is that Buckingham Palace is incredibly ugly. I recognize that it’s the house of the Queen, but I mean, gah. Get a landscaper in there. Your house is ugly, yo.
After being tourists, we went to visit my step-sister, Lynn, and her husband and two kids (Tim is the husband; Leland is their son and Frankie is their daughter). They took us to lunch at this place that had the most amazing burgers and chunky fries (yes, even better than the day before), and then took us to the Camden Market, which is this trendy, bohemian, weird…place. There were lots of different people selling a whole lot of stuff. We actually went back through the market after we parted ways with them. But after the market, Frankie decided that she would like to try to convince Tim to go for ice cream, and luckily for us, it worked. So we went to this Italian ice cream place and had the most wonderful ice cream I’ve ever had.
After parting ways with Lynn, Tim and the kids, we went back through the Camden Market, and then went back to downtown London for an organ concert at Westminster. It was given by an amazing organist. I’ll just copy parts of his bio from the program:
“Léon Charles is the Organ Scholar of Westminster Abbey. Born in 1986 into a musical family, he received his early musical training at the Purcell School of Music on a government-aided scholarship….He proceeded to hold Organ Scholarships at Canterbury Cathedral and St. John’s College, Cambridge….Whilst at St. John’s, he accompanied the choir on seven BBC Radio Broadcasts, toured Estonia, the Eastern United States, Holland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria and Hungary, and appeared on two commercial recordings….As a recitalist, Léon has performed in many venues in the UK and the USA. He is also in demand as a choral & instrumental accompanist. Recent solo engagement has included the cathedrals of Canterbury, Ely, Hereford, Lichfield, Lincoln, Westminster Abbey, The Temple Church, the Cambridge Colleges of St. John’s, Emmanuel, Magdalene & Pembroke, and appearances as part of the Wymondham & Buxton festivals. He continues to study…and is an active composer, arranger & conductor.”
He sounds like a freaking genius. Aaanways. It was amazing. The music was beautiful. Unsurprisingly, we went back and played Trivial Pursuit. Then we took showers, packed and got into bed.
Monday, we got up before the crack of dawn (aka 3am) and had left the hostel by 3:30 walking to our bus stop. It was even more sketchy in the dark at 3am than at 10pm. Who knew? Although, there were other people at the bus stop when we got there, so at least we weren’t the only crazies.
All in all, good weekend. Successful trip. I can’t wait to travel even more….
LONDON.
Disclaimer: THIS IS GOING TO BE LONG. GO AHEAD, SIT DOWN AND RELAX.
So this weekend we took a pretty successful trip to London. Thursday we took the 5:15ish bus and thought we were going to be late…so that’s lesson number one. Never leave during rush hour. However, once we got there, we found that our flight had been delayed anyway, so everything ended up being fine. We flew EasyJet, which was actually nice for what it is. Our tickets were £65ish pounds round trip, which is pretty freakin sweet. After we finally arrived at London Luton, we had to find the EasyBus, which would drop us off within about ½ mile or so of our hostel. However, we had to find it in the dark, which was, to be honest, sketchy. We walked through tunnels, hedges (“I bet many a girl has gotten knocked up here…”, under bridges, along the highway, etc. We had absolutely no clue where we were going. Claire and her “grandfather” had looked up where our hostel was in reference to where we got dropped off, but we had no real map on us, so we just walked up the road until we saw the landmarks the hostel had pointed out in their email. The Brent Cross tube station. Once we found it, it was simple. The tube was literally across the street. We think we arrived sometime around 10:30pm-ish…none of us really paid attention to what time it was. We found the desk, gave them our passports, got our sheets and room number, and went to bed. However, once we actually were awake and had time to explore, we found that our hostel was absolutely massive. It was situated on four floors and included a basement with pool table, main level with (free!!) internet, a first floor with bedrooms and a common area/kitchen. The second floor had more bedrooms and the bathrooms. We spent many a hour in the common area, drinking beer, eating “dinner” usually consisting of chips and candybars and playing/reading out loud Trivial Pursuit (the old old old UK version—like before Russia was Russia and there was a West Germany) cards. Good times.
Friday began with going to the tube station and buying day passes for £5.90. We then took the Northern Line to the Tower of London where we spent £16.50 to get into the castle. Although that’s quite a bit to spend, since I pay UK taxes, I had the option of giving the “tax” money back to the castle instead of the government. For that good deed, I get free, unlimited admission to the Tower of London for a year! Once inside the tower, we jumped into a tour group and our guide (aka our “beefeater”) was adorable. We saw amazing buildings—it’s crazy to think that at some point, those were royal grounds! I walked the same path that kings and queens walked! I may have also walked on some pretty nasty ground—executions, betrayal….I guess it comes with the territory…We also saw the Crown Jewels. Uh, I can have some crazy jewlrey?!? The jewels belong to the country and the role, not necessarily the Queen herself, so I guess I’ll just have to become Queen someday. We also took a walk on Tower Bridge, what most people think of as the “London Bridge.” Thank you, Fergie, for making the rest of the world think you (and therefore all Americans ) are stupid since you danced on the Tower Bridge while singing, “London, London, London…” Thanks a lot. Aaaanyway. However, from the bridge we did see an Obama—Biden sign in a flat window above the street. I don’t know if it was an American person’s flat/office or what, but it’s interesting how the rest of the world relies on how the US is run.
After the Tower we had some quasi-amazing KFC. It was amazing mostly because we were starving. Quasi-amazing because it was really greasy and not quite as good as authentic KFC.
There’s a company in Edinburgh called NewEdinburgh which gives free walking tours during the day (it’s absolutely amazing. If you ever have the chance to take it, go for it! The guides work strictly on tips and so they literally HAVE TO give a good tour because they make what they get in tips.), and they also have a tour in London (called NewLondon…obviously). So we went on that tour. Saw an amazing dressed Asian couple. The girl had on every color imaginable and then to top it off, heeled camo boots. The guy had the best rat tail ever. Refer to my pictures. But on the tour we saw a whole lot of the city, including: the old city wall, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Millennium Bridge (aka the “wobbly bridge”), the Tate Modern Collection (aaaamazing.), the London Eye and the Priory of Scion. There was a whole lot of history lessons in there…but we were tired and I can’t remember them. After the tour, we were starving and so Claire had the genius idea of finding Chinatown and eating there. So we found this place and had an amazing traditional Chinese meal (I felt like I was in China again!! So much food, such a little bowl!) After dinner, our nightlife consisted of Trivial Pursuit, snacks and beer. It was pretty much amazing.
Saturday, we got up early and made our way to Leister Square to try to get our hands on some tickets for a play later in the day. We ended up getting tickets to Avenue Q for Saturday night, which I had never seen, but had heard from many sources that it’s ridiculously funny. So with tickets in hand, we started our sightseeing for the day.
We started off going to Piccadilly Circus. Maybe I’m just missing something, but I didn’t really see what was so great about it…but took the picture to say I was there. Claire and Anna really wanted to go to the Portrait Gallery to see the Annie Leibovitz exhibit, so we went there next. She’s famous for her photography, particularly her portraits of famous people. It was fabulous. Her portraits are really inspiring and made me really want to buy a nice camera. Some of the portraits she takes (okay, most of them) are breath-taking. Amazing. Spectacular. So it was really nice to see. Claire wasn’t so keen on the rest of the artwork there, but I decided that since we were in the National Portrait Gallery, I was going to actually look through the rest of the exhibits. I mean, lets be honest: I love art. Love making it, love looking at it, love everything about it. Of course, there are periods and genres I like more than others, but I enjoy looking at it all and appreciate its worth. The collection at the Portrait Gallery was quite spectacular. So much art! However, my favorite part of the day was definitely the Tate Modern Collection. The Tate was amazing—they have thousands of pieces of crazy good art. Famous art. Beautiful art. Ugly art. Strange art. Paintings. Portraits. Sculpture. Video. Photography. Everything! My favorites were the Cubists, Impressionists and Expressionists. Monet, Manet, Picasso, Kandinsky…it was amazing. Fabulous. My Mecca. Art to me is so fascinating—and the imagination and vision of the artists never ceases to amazing me…I can’t wait for the Louvre. I’m definitely spending the money to revisit it. And not just for the Mona Lisa. She’s kind of over-rated. I’ve seen her before. She’s mysterious. I got it. There are definitely other pieces of art I would enjoy browsing more. After the museums, we had good burgers at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen, which was really good. I had a burger topped with a portobello mushroom and it was quite tasty. They had some gooood chunky fries as well.
Next was Avenue Q at 5pm. Umm, it’s hilarious. It’s basically like a version of Sesame Street…but for adults. Some stellar song titles include “Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist,” “It Sucks to Be Me,” “I’m Not Wearing Underwear Today,” and “If You Were Gay”…just to name a few…It’s quite racy, and very profane. The cd cover has a Parental Advisory sticker on it. But still, it’s HILARIOUS. After the show, we made our way back to the hostel and did what else? but play Trivial Pursuit and eat candy.
Sunday was a pretty low-key day. We started by going to a service at St. Paul’s Cathedral. We though we were going to be late; however, American slavery worked in our favor and it just happened that the night before, Daylight Savings time had ended so we were actually an hour early. The service was gorgeous. And the music was amazing. I really wanted to just sit in my seat and close my eyes so that I could focus solely on the music while the choir was singing, but I was pretty sure that people would think I was asleep. So I didn’t try that.
After the service we started touristy things and went to see Parliament/Big Ben, Westminster and Buckingham Palace. I’ve seen them all, so nothing new for me. Wasn’t really surprised at anything, no new thoughts. However, a reoccurring though is that Buckingham Palace is incredibly ugly. I recognize that it’s the house of the Queen, but I mean, gah. Get a landscaper in there. Your house is ugly, yo.
After being tourists, we went to visit my step-sister, Lynn, and her husband and two kids (Tim is the husband; Leland is their son and Frankie is their daughter). They took us to lunch at this place that had the most amazing burgers and chunky fries (yes, even better than the day before), and then took us to the Camden Market, which is this trendy, bohemian, weird…place. There were lots of different people selling a whole lot of stuff. We actually went back through the market after we parted ways with them. But after the market, Frankie decided that she would like to try to convince Tim to go for ice cream, and luckily for us, it worked. So we went to this Italian ice cream place and had the most wonderful ice cream I’ve ever had.
After parting ways with Lynn, Tim and the kids, we went back through the Camden Market, and then went back to downtown London for an organ concert at Westminster. It was given by an amazing organist. I’ll just copy parts of his bio from the program:
“Léon Charles is the Organ Scholar of Westminster Abbey. Born in 1986 into a musical family, he received his early musical training at the Purcell School of Music on a government-aided scholarship….He proceeded to hold Organ Scholarships at Canterbury Cathedral and St. John’s College, Cambridge….Whilst at St. John’s, he accompanied the choir on seven BBC Radio Broadcasts, toured Estonia, the Eastern United States, Holland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria and Hungary, and appeared on two commercial recordings….As a recitalist, Léon has performed in many venues in the UK and the USA. He is also in demand as a choral & instrumental accompanist. Recent solo engagement has included the cathedrals of Canterbury, Ely, Hereford, Lichfield, Lincoln, Westminster Abbey, The Temple Church, the Cambridge Colleges of St. John’s, Emmanuel, Magdalene & Pembroke, and appearances as part of the Wymondham & Buxton festivals. He continues to study…and is an active composer, arranger & conductor.”
He sounds like a freaking genius. Aaanways. It was amazing. The music was beautiful. Unsurprisingly, we went back and played Trivial Pursuit. Then we took showers, packed and got into bed.
Monday, we got up before the crack of dawn (aka 3am) and had left the hostel by 3:30 walking to our bus stop. It was even more sketchy in the dark at 3am than at 10pm. Who knew? Although, there were other people at the bus stop when we got there, so at least we weren’t the only crazies.
All in all, good weekend. Successful trip. I can’t wait to travel even more….
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
seasons change...
so it's getting cold in edinburgh. every day, anna and i, for some reason, are more and more surprised at how much colder it is than yesterday. i think i figured out why, though. because the city of edinburgh is so compact, there are no trees except for in prices street gardens, and i don't normally see those on an everyday basis. and at home, the way we can tell the seasons is by the way the flora changes. the green of the trees begins to change to oranges, yellows and browns, the grass begins to die, and the flowers of the summer begin to disappear.
edinburgh doesn't have trees, flowers, or grass.
edinburgh has buildings. stone, grey building. i don't mean to give the impression that the city isn't beautiful, because it is. there is so much history here! (speaking of the history here, we took an amazing tour the other week. stay tuned.) but there are no trees to let you know that the summer is gone, fall is definitely in full swing, and it's getting close to winter. all you have is the weather itself--and it has gotten noticeably colder over the past few weeks. a few weeks ago, you took a scarf with you just in case it got gusty. today, anna and i both wore scarves, pea jackets, i wore leggings....and we were both freezing. my nose, hands and feet were so cold. i told anna that it was straight-up december weather. but it's only mid-october. ::sigh::
so this tour i was speaking of earlier. it's called "the real mary kings close." in scotland, a close is basically an alleyway that connects a main road with another road parallel to it. this particular close, mary king's close, has been excavated in the last few decades after it was covered and a new government building was erected. also keep in mind that back in the day (i'm talking like, hundreds of years ago), people tried to stay inside the city instead of moving outside of the city, where they would have no protection and might have to pay a fee to exit and re-enter the city wall. so instead of building outward, like we do in america (there was no such thing as "living in the suburbs"), they built upward. so building could be twenty stories high, and have several of them actually underground. so, all the homes/stores/whatever underground was paved over, and forgotten about until people wanted to rediscover the old edinburgh.
a favorite saying of our “tour guide” (dressed to the nines in his 18th century garb) was "drink the beer, not the water." i've often heard of people drinking alcoholic beverages in the more rural areas of the world since water supplies are often full of little bacteria that foreigners aren't used to. in argentina, i drank coke, bottled water, and anything boiled. in china, well, i drank the beer in china. here, the water is fine now, but it didn't used to be. Nor Loch (now Princes Street Gardens) was the water supply of Edinburgh up until the point it was drained in the 1820s. at which point they found female bodies (=witches), animal carcasses (= “carriers of the plague”), and if it didn’t decompose by itself, they would have found lots and lots of poop and urine. so not exactly the cleanest water supply. hence, drink the beer, not the water. but it was an amazing tour—things you’d never know about are buried below stories of government building. and the closes are tiny—these would have been full-sized streets—and weren’t even an arms-span wide. TINY! I’m definitely going to have to take the parentals and family there when they come.
exciting plans for the weekend—we’re going to london! I’ve been before, but not since ninth grade when we went to visit my step-sister in geneva, switzerland. we were only there for about four days, which is the same amount we’ll be there. but I’m excited to start the real traveling—I say real, and mean that we’re going outside of scotland. I think I might facebook my “friend” (i've never actually met her...we are friends strictly on facebook so far) kelly who is doing bunac in london. hopefully, she'll be in town and maybe we can hit her up for some night-scene knowledge and maybe even go out with her and her friends? aaanyway. also, we hope to see a show at some point and also to visit my step-sister, lynn, who is currently living in london. maybe we'll get a free meal? we shall see.
edinburgh doesn't have trees, flowers, or grass.
edinburgh has buildings. stone, grey building. i don't mean to give the impression that the city isn't beautiful, because it is. there is so much history here! (speaking of the history here, we took an amazing tour the other week. stay tuned.) but there are no trees to let you know that the summer is gone, fall is definitely in full swing, and it's getting close to winter. all you have is the weather itself--and it has gotten noticeably colder over the past few weeks. a few weeks ago, you took a scarf with you just in case it got gusty. today, anna and i both wore scarves, pea jackets, i wore leggings....and we were both freezing. my nose, hands and feet were so cold. i told anna that it was straight-up december weather. but it's only mid-october. ::sigh::
so this tour i was speaking of earlier. it's called "the real mary kings close." in scotland, a close is basically an alleyway that connects a main road with another road parallel to it. this particular close, mary king's close, has been excavated in the last few decades after it was covered and a new government building was erected. also keep in mind that back in the day (i'm talking like, hundreds of years ago), people tried to stay inside the city instead of moving outside of the city, where they would have no protection and might have to pay a fee to exit and re-enter the city wall. so instead of building outward, like we do in america (there was no such thing as "living in the suburbs"), they built upward. so building could be twenty stories high, and have several of them actually underground. so, all the homes/stores/whatever underground was paved over, and forgotten about until people wanted to rediscover the old edinburgh.
a favorite saying of our “tour guide” (dressed to the nines in his 18th century garb) was "drink the beer, not the water." i've often heard of people drinking alcoholic beverages in the more rural areas of the world since water supplies are often full of little bacteria that foreigners aren't used to. in argentina, i drank coke, bottled water, and anything boiled. in china, well, i drank the beer in china. here, the water is fine now, but it didn't used to be. Nor Loch (now Princes Street Gardens) was the water supply of Edinburgh up until the point it was drained in the 1820s. at which point they found female bodies (=witches), animal carcasses (= “carriers of the plague”), and if it didn’t decompose by itself, they would have found lots and lots of poop and urine. so not exactly the cleanest water supply. hence, drink the beer, not the water. but it was an amazing tour—things you’d never know about are buried below stories of government building. and the closes are tiny—these would have been full-sized streets—and weren’t even an arms-span wide. TINY! I’m definitely going to have to take the parentals and family there when they come.
exciting plans for the weekend—we’re going to london! I’ve been before, but not since ninth grade when we went to visit my step-sister in geneva, switzerland. we were only there for about four days, which is the same amount we’ll be there. but I’m excited to start the real traveling—I say real, and mean that we’re going outside of scotland. I think I might facebook my “friend” (i've never actually met her...we are friends strictly on facebook so far) kelly who is doing bunac in london. hopefully, she'll be in town and maybe we can hit her up for some night-scene knowledge and maybe even go out with her and her friends? aaanyway. also, we hope to see a show at some point and also to visit my step-sister, lynn, who is currently living in london. maybe we'll get a free meal? we shall see.
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