Your face is in London

Eye Spied

2006-12-10T20:48:00.000-08:00

Went up on the London Eye last night! It’s quite an impressive view of London. It felt good to look over the buildings and be able to recognize major landmarks after three months here.

Afterward, we went to Wagamama, since a few of our good family friends had recommended it so much. I had the ginger chicken udon. Pretty good stuff!

And here’s the promised picture from The Snowman!

More pictures here.

OK, back to work. Getting a little stressed about my papers.

Advice, please

2006-12-10T09:41:00.000-08:00

Do you think I should apply to be a weekly Daily Northwestern columnist? Hmm.

The Snowman

2006-12-08T20:07:00.000-08:00

I probably won’t have time to update as much anymore. It’s my last week, and I have a lot of papers to write. I’d also like to suck all I can out of London. I’m not sure how much time there will be between work and play.

Last night, Shann and I saw The Snowman, the panto I was really looking forward to. It was good, even if a little weird. Some of the costumes were very unusual—the snowman, for instance is HUGE, in both height and circumference. Now that I’m older, too, I was also perturbed by the “Chinese” snowman with slanty eyes and an inclination to bow excessively. In addition to this, there were only two women in the show. One was the mother. The other was a ballerina who was the snowman’s and scary ice man’s object of desire. There is not too much substance to her character besides dancing prettily. The snowman abandons the ballerina at the end of the play without even a goodbye. Out of pity, Santa Claus gives her a small stuffed version of the snowman and then motions to indicate that the snowman will never come back again.

The end was also very sad when the boy wakes up to find the melted remains of his magical friend. It made me want to cry.

The snowman is a great production for children and their parents. This makes it interesting for everyone else. We were lucky to get running commentary from dozens of children. Popular among them were those translucent spaghetti lights—perfect toys to swing around in the darkness (either to the beat of the music or not to the beat of the music—your choice).

Actually, the kids were really cute and added a lot to the show. When the really loved a scene, they would jump faster and faster and at the end yell, “AGAIN!!!”

Surprisingly, the other present demographic was young couples. They had a somewhat different reaction from the kids—not quite as vocal and sans fun light toys. They looked straight ahead politely.

Right on, Snowman!

(no picture today because I forgot my camera. Took some with Shann’s though, so those are coming your way.)

From John Mayer's Blog - 12.3.06

2006-12-07T16:23:00.000-08:00

Copied and pasted all the way down, since the entries don't link:

I can't really explain what happens when, as an artist, you get that message from the inside that says "time to make another one." One day you're sitting around, living off the fat of the land, and then as if from out of nowhere, it taps you on the shoulder. The slate goes shiny and clean. Those colors come back - it all starts as colors - then moods, then settings, then sounds, then words. And churning beneath that the entire time is the doubt; doubt that you'll find the rhyme, doubt that you'll ever connect that verse with that chorus, doubt that you have anything left to say that matters.

I live for that streetfight, though. The knock-down drag-out anything-goes battle between what you have in your hands and what you *think* you might possibly have in your mind but have no proof of. But when you win, man... look out. There's nothing better. Why go back at it so soon? Because I suck at everything else and I hate being reminded of it.

If you think we writers do what we do for anything else than patching up voids, you're mistaken. It's all void putty. Take away the guitars and the songs, and my life story becomes completely unremarkable. I'm not getting down on myself, I'm getting up on the gift... I'm not much without it, and I'm blessed to have it.

So I'm getting back in line for another round of musical code cracking, a cell phone voice mailbox full of my own scattered melodic ideas, and sheets of paper in every pants pocket scribbled with words I swore were cool at the time.

Tuesday afternoon I lay down the first idea... because a man can't get a solid groove on putting out records every two years.

(Birth)Day in Review

2006-12-06T16:27:00.000-08:00

Today was a productive day, and that makes it a good day by my standards!

Woke up early this morning to go to the US Embassy. I had to pick up tickets to see Tony Blair next week. When I got there, there was a long queue snaking along the side of the building (which is HUGE, by the way). I guess everyone is applying for a visa. The security guard put me in my own queue under a tree. I guess the security guard didn’t realize I was a queue, though, and I just stood there for a long time. Finally I went up and learned they didn’t have our tickets yet, and I’d have to come back sometime closer to the date. The guard wasn’t sure when, but gave me a rough estimate of Friday. So I guess I’m going back!

Caught the tube back to the library and picked up a peppermint mocha on the way. Got a lot of work done in the reading room. The only bad thing is that after drinking so much coffee I really had to use the bathroom, but 1) I couldn’t leave my stuff on its own and 2) the bathroom is all the way in the basement—this meant, I’d have to return the Ethernet cord I borrowed to retrieve my library card to exit the library to go down the elevator to use the bathroom. Whew! What an operation!

I went to Chinatown for lunch and had chowfun and this mango tapioca drink. Yum!

Went back to the library. Filled my backpack with books. Then walked to Chinatown for my birthday dinner. This year my parents gave me money to take my friends to dinner for my birthday. Xin was really awesome and helped me find a Korean-run Japanese restaurant. They gave us a long table upstairs. Huge portions and good Japanese/Korean food. What a lot of fun!

On my way back to the tube station, I stopped by at the Mary Poppins theatre to buy myself a program. Sort of a mini present to myself, I guess. Playbills in the UK aren’t free, and I just started collecting them halfway through the term. I saw Mary Poppins before I started buying them, so it was nice to add it to my collection.

And now I am sitting at my computer, having just finished a load of laundry. Now all I have to do is shower, read a little, and then off to sleep! Woo hoo!

All in all, a very happy (birth)day. Hurrah!!

Here are some pictures from the night:

Of course, as always, more pictures here.

Bloom and Grow Forever

2006-12-05T16:50:00.000-08:00

Shann and I got into The Sound of Music!!!! HURRAH!

I called the box office a few times last week and was disappointed to discover that there were no tickets available through January. The Sound of Music is one of my favorite movies, and the musical opened to shining reviews. The musical isn't on Broadway, so this was my chance.

Shann and I decided to show up an hour before the show to see if we could buy any return tickets. And thank God, they had two seats for us! Not only that, but they were some of the best seats in the house. The Palladium theatre--supposedly the most famous theater in the world and presently home to The Sound of Music--had two tiers. Shann and I got seats in the first row of the first tier, dead center. We could see the whole stage beautifully, without any obstructions. The distances wasn't too far to prevent us from seeing the actors' expressions either. The only downside was that the tickets weren't cheap...but we understood that tickets were rare and that this was an opportunity worth the money.

I believe it was worth every pence. Maria and Capt Von Trapp were especially marvelous. They had great singing voices. Maria sounded a lot like Julie Andrews! The kids were also impressive (and very cute) performers. I think the youngest member of the cast is six. So young, and yet she didn't show a stitch of nervousness.

I forgot how moving the story is. I especially liked the parts when Capt Von Trapp decides to spend more time with his children, when the whole family sings Eidelweiss, and when they all go over the mountain together. I've always enjoyed books that have connections to the world wars, for some reason. I don't like the wars themselves, but I suppose I am fascinated by the dire circumstances that test people's characters.

Anyway, all for now! Have to get up early to head out to pick up my parliamentary passes from the embassy and to go to the library.

The Beat Goes On

2006-12-04T17:33:00.000-08:00

Quick entry because I'm about to go to sleep.

We got back from Barcelona late last night! Barcelona is a fabulous city. Everywhere you turn, there's amazing architecture--the shapes and colors are quite unlike anything I've ever seen. The climate was also a welcome change from the chilly London temperatures. On the last day, it was warm enough to go to the beach and sit on the sand in my tank top. The atmosphere is a bit like Hawaii's in that it's really laid back--probably even more than Honolulu (especially with the siesta they take during the middle of the day). Someone told me Barcelona is the densest city in the world, which was hard to believe, based on the wide open streets. What a nice city.

Tonight I retuned to the National Theatre, this time with Shann, to see Caroline Or Change. The score is awesome! Plus, every single actor had outstanding acting and singing abilities. The story is about a black woman in the year 1963 in the American south. The music is loaded with all those excellent gospel/soul riffs. Although I enjoyed the show thoroughly, I can't help but wonder what the American production is like. I bet American actors have more experience with gospel and soul music.

Tomorrow we're going to try to get into Sound of Music. It all depends on if there are any returned tickets....

Here's a picture from last Thursday when Xin and I went to Coram Boy--also at the National Theatre.

Ah, and a last pictorial taste of Barcelona. I haven't had time to go through my pictures and put up an album yet, but I'll work on that sometime. I have quite a lot of school work to do before I leave London!

Off to Barcelona!

2006-11-30T17:35:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, I went to Evita...

Wednesday, I saw Les Miserables...

Tonight, I saw Coram Boy at the National Theatre...

Tomorrow I'm going to Barcelona!!! See you Sunday!

Foiled!

2006-11-28T04:11:00.000-08:00

Sad news. Sound of Music is sold out until April 2007! I had really wanted to see that musical because it’s one of my favorite movies and the show is not on Broadway. Apparently, though, the show had a huge opening with rave reviews. And ever since, every show has been booked. Sad!

Part of the craze grows out of the fact that the lead was cast through a reality TV show called, “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?” The show started when plans to cast Scarlett Johansson fell through and producer Andrew Lloyd Weber was stuck for a new star. Now the whole country is up in arms about this girl.

I might try standing outside the theater an hour before show time on a matinee to see if anyone gets turned away. It reminds me of the good times standing for Wicked tickets outside the Pantages theater in LA with Dad. We didn’t get the tickets, but good memories still.

Well, tonight, Jodie Chang (from Punahou!) and I try to see Evita! And tomorrow I try to see Les Mis. The guy I called on the phone said there’s a good chance we’ll get into Les Mis on 25 pound last minute tickets, since it’s a Wednesday night.

Plays and Plans

2006-11-26T19:17:00.000-08:00

The thin feeling of panic is creeping up on me. There are only three weeks left in lovely London, and I’m realizing there is so much I have left to do. I had smugly tucked away my touristy London guidebook, thinking that I had made the city my own. But these past few days I’ve been thumbing through it again. There is just so much to do here!

During my time here, I’ve discovered a real love for theater. When I see a good show, I can’t stop thinking about it for days, sometimes weeks. I get completely involved (for better or for worse). So, I’ve decided that it’s worthwhile to spend my summer saved money on theater for the rest of my stay here. I would like to see these productions before I leave: Les Miserable, The Snowman, Evita, and the Sound of Music. I would also love to see the Lion King and Billy Elliot, but I think we’ll have to see what my pocketbook can take (most likely not much more ha!).

Speaking of great theater, I was so lucky to see the musical Blood Brothers on Saturday! I am lucky for two reasons: 1) I got to see it with the Baker family! 2) I don't think they have it on Broadway, so it was a real treat to see it here. Blood Brothers is a moving play about twins separated at birth. I don’t want to ruin too much of the play, so I’ll leave it at that. The singers were really good, especially the narrator’s.

Afterward, I led the Bakers to Inn Noodle, that favorite place of Shann and mine. Mmmm. It was so good that I went back today, crying, as usual, over the spiciness of the hot and sour noodles.

Yay for seeing the Bakers!

Moving backwards, on Friday, Shann and I found this famous bangers and mash restaurant in Portebello Road. There is an assortment of sausages, mash, and gravy. All you have to do is choose how many sausages you would like (two or three?) and what kind of each. Shann and I both had two traditional sausages, with traditional mash and traditional gravy. To top it off, we had the restaurants “Eton pudding,” which was the house specialty. We weren’t sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a scrumptious mix of whipped cream with strawberries. Yum!

Adding to the list of things I would like to see before I leave:
• London Eye (there’s no way I’m going to miss it, Derek, I promise)
• Imperial War Museum
• Covent Garden Theater Museum
• Museum of London

"Why were the pilgrims celebrating?"

2006-11-24T18:42:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving dinner was a success! Hurrah! We had a nice group of people come out. For many, it was their first Thanksgiving ever. We were lucky to celebrate in a homey environment, since Kelly and Chrissy asked their football captains if we could have dinner in their flat.

For dinner, we made turkey, stuffing, gravy, yams (with butter, marshmallows, and sweetened condensed milk), rolls, corn, peas, and pumpkin mochi. Chrissy also made three delicious pumpkin pies.

I wish I could say I was the main factor in our scrumptious turkey. But the credit must go to Chrissy and Shann. Even though for half an hour they had the turkey in the oven on “oven light,” instead of “bake,” it still came out well. Good job, guys!

Chrissy cuts the garlic

And here is Kelly's contribution:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!

The Search for Midnight Inspiration

2006-11-21T17:18:00.000-08:00

It’s a quarter to 1 a.m., and I’m scanning through all of my favorite travel articles in a desperate hunt for inspiration. I have to write a “walking journal,” based on the day my Representing 18th Century London class took a trot around the city. There are no real regulations for the format—assignments can be handed in typed, handwritten, or on CD-rom.

The only bar for evaluation? That it’s well-written.

It doesn’t leave too much guidance on how to do this assignment, other than the vague notion of doing it well.

Since I’ve spent much of the last three months with my nose pushed into the crevices of travel guides, I initially thought I’d give a go at the genre myself. Nix on using Frommers as my muse, though. Modeled instead on the book Paris Out of Hand, I wanted to use the guide to represent a sort of exaggerated psychological response to the sites—perhaps brushing the point of satire.

The assignment is only 1500 words, though, not long enough to develop enough of a connection between the sites in that format.

Mmm, well, I have a few days for this at least.

Other than that, today we went shopping at Tesco in preparation for our Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. As many as 15 people are coming, so we bought enough food to make turkey, marshmallow sweet potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin mochi, green bean casserole, garlic mashed potatoes, peas, and corn. And of course, rice. Chrissy was a real champ and carried the frozen turkey on the tube all the way home. My backpack, meanwhile, was loaded up with a 5 kg sack of potatoes. Shann had a masher and meat thermometer in her satchel. We’re all hoping it’s going to be worth it.

I realized today that I forgot to post the picture of the hot and sour soup noodles. Sorry about that! Here it is, even if belatedly.

In the meanwhile, you can pray for this silly walking journal…

Oh, the Day Tumbles Like Rain

2006-11-20T18:18:00.000-08:00

Oh dear. There have been finer days.

What happened?

• I woke up this morning and learned that I had a typo in my resume. In the journalism world, a typo in your resume can immediately eliminate you from the applicant pool. Unfortunately, I had already applied to a few programs. More unfortunately, I had incorrectly spelled the word “proofread.” Ooh, irony burns.

At least I discovered it now.

• I gave a presentation in class on the romantic reaction to the Industrial Revolution. For some reason, I was more nervous than usual. And sadly, I don’t think my professor agreed with my thesis.

• Every other week, my architecture class goes into the city, and my professor shows us the buildings. I learn so much from this and look forward to it every time. This week, we were visiting the Horseguard Parade. It was rainy and cold, but I made it there alright. And then waited. And waited. And waited. And no one showed up. I tried to call other people from my class, but unfortunately I don’t know many people in it. The few people I did know didn't have their numbers stored in my phone,. I had no idea of where the rest of the class was. I got there at 2 and thought maybe I had the time wrong. So I waited until 2:30. No one. I ran an errand and came back at 3. Still no one. I think as it turns out, they were meeting just across the street from the Horseguard, not at the Horseguard itself—something I had missed because my professor announced it last week while I had to run out to another commitment.

• On one of the trips back to the Horseguard to check for my class, a red doubledecker bus went full speed into a London street puddle. The grey water arched over my head and then fell all over me. A woman walking in the opposite direction looked at me sympathetically, and I tried really hard to smile.

• Apparently, there is some kind of Tube strike going on right now, causing major delays in the trains and completely congesting the stations. It took several minutes of shuffling in the crowds to even get near the turnstiles, but before I could get there a fight broke out over so-and-so shoving so-and-so. I knew that it was only going to be more chaotic inside, so I decided to walk.

• By the end of the day, I had to take the tube home, since it is too far to walk from Central London to where I live in East London, especially at night. I stepped onto the train and immediately smelled something like rotting bananas and urine. I looked down and there was a man sitting on the floor with his bags; I guess he hadn’t showered for a while. The car was packed full, except for a small bubble of space around the man. I thought about rushing to the next car over, but I could see from the windows that those cars were filled to the brim. I was having trouble breathing, so I tried to move to the other side of the train. Seated directly to my left, though, were two men making out passionately. In the end, I needed air, so in desperationI ended up awkwardly stretching my neck out over the couple, as they did their business.

The day wasn’t all bad, though! Here are some highlights:

• Since the day had trudged along so sadly, I decided to indulge in my favorite bowl of soup noodles at Noodle Inn at Tottenham Court Road. Hurrah for hot and sour noodles with pork!

• Frost/Nixon! Frost/Nixon is a play that chronicles the famous four-day interview between talk show host David Frost and Richard Nixon. The play frames the interview as a kind of competition, in which the two men fight for the world's esteem. The acting was top-notch, even if the work as a whole is less empathetic than say, oh, Wicked. I took a class on Nixon last winter, so I walked in more sympathetic to his personal demons than most people.

Since it was student night, we got to stay afterward for a discussion with the actors and the associate director! I got to ask them a question about mediating the tension between the playwright’s Nixon and their own view of Nixon.

The other plus of student night? Student discounts on the tickets--orchestra row seats for 15 pounds! Yay! They also gave us coupons for cheap drinks at the bar next door--but decided we preferred dinner in Chinatown. Mmm boba.

Want to see more of the day? Hit up the pictures. :)

For now, though, I’m ready for a new day.

Notes on a Sunny Fall Day

2006-11-19T16:06:00.000-08:00

• This morning I met my dad’s friends the Kaju’s at All Saints Church for the 9:30 service. We met them some eight years ago in England, when Mr. Kaju approached my dad at church because he was looking for a blind acquaintance from Hawaii, and my dad looked like he was from Hawaii—and as it happened, my dad knew the person for whom he was looking! My dad ended up going over to their house to watch the world cup.

It was a good service, except that today’s topic was “intimacy”—in other words, sex. At least for this pastor. It didn’t have too much to do with me, except for the part where he said, “Often times, when we see people who aren’t married, we think to ourselves, I guess they’re not the marrying type. But to an extent, I guess that’s true.” Sad!

• Afterward, we went to Mr. Kaju’s favorite restaurant (the name escapes me right now). It is also the frequent haunt of many celebrities, apparently. Last week, for instance, they saw Hugh Grant. And while we were eating, in walks the famous journalist David Frost. As it happens, tomorrow evening I’m seeing a show called Frost/Nixon, of which David Frost is one of the principal characters! (Guess who the other one is.)

• It was a gorgeous autumn day. The sun fell uninhibited. On Veterans Day, the Queen dedicated a new war memorial for the New Zealand soldiers who fought for England. It was quite beautiful. There were a number of crosses arranged in the shape of the southern cross, the consellation you can see from the southern hemisphere.

• Now Shann and I are sitting in a Starbucks on Oxford Street. We’ve abandoned our old Tottenham Court Road Starbucks. Although we originally thought the chairs were infinite, that turned out not to be the case. What’s more is that the noise level rises to a roar, such that you have to yell for the person across the table to hear from you. So, today, we got off at Oxford Circus and went down Oxford Street, moving from Starbucks to Starbucks, as if on some connect-the-dots mission, in order to find a Starbucks that had both Sunday evening hours and open seats. We went by four before we found this one. I’m now sunk into one of those trademark green plush couches. Our choice of study may invite criticism—after all, shouldn’t we be finding a British coffee shop to soak in British culture? Well, it’s one of those moments where you soak in what’s not there. London doesn’t have a prominent coffee shop scene to begin with, and you’d be hard pressed to find anywhere else open on a Sunday evening.

So to Starbucks it is. At least they have their holiday drinks out in their red holiday cups! Still can’t taste the coffee, but peppermint mocha’s a good combination on it’s own!

• I made this for dinner last night:

Chicken breast rolled in pepper and rosemary, cooked in onions, garlic, vermouth, and carrots. It wasn’t bad, but I think I made it too complex. Perhaps it could have done with a little pepper alone.

• Biggest regret of today: Forgetting to bring my camera on my outing with the Kaju’s! Thus, a more picture barren entry than usual.

I MET IDINA MENZEL!!

2006-11-17T16:01:00.000-08:00

Yes, it’s true! I met Idina Menzel, following last night’s evening performance of Wicked! We had to wait a few minutes outside of the stage door, but sure enough, she and the other cast members came out to meet us. Boy am I a lucky girl!

I’m not one who is easily star struck, to be honest. I could sit next to Julia Roberts on the tube and not think about it too much. But Idina Menzel. She’s just amazing! I was already a big fan of the musical Wicked, but to see her play her Tony award winning part! She brought so much life to the character Elphaba. Sigh.

It took me a long time afterward to calm my nerves. Shann and Kelly can attest to that. I was all jittery in my stomach from the thrill of actually meeting her in person, getting her signature and taking a photograph with her! I also feel guilty that I wasn’t able to get out any words of appreciation for her. I almost couldn’t even ask her for a picture. I sounded something like this: “Um, do you think I could trouble you if it’s at all possible for maybe you to…take a picture with me?” Thankfully she agreed. What a thrill.

I also got to meet a lot of the other cast members. They were really gracious. Idina, who is clearly the star of the show, was a bit rushed and not super warm (understandably), but a lot of the other cast members even signed their names “love.” Naturally implying that they love me. Yay!

^ the whole crew that went to the show

Before going to see Wicked last night, we went to the Christmas lighting show at Covent Garden. The casts of The Lion King and Chicago each performed two songs! Baby Spice also performed. The best was “Downtown,” in which a bunch of male dancers pranced around.

All and all a fantastic night.

I still can’t believe I met Idina Menzel…. I think it was one of the most exciting moments of my young life. I haven’t been this excited since two summers ago when I met my childhood hero, Lisa Sekiya.

Two extra treats:

1) Here is the first picture of Idina and me. She said we could take a picture only if the flash and camera were ready. "It's ready!!!" I said, pointing to Shann, who was standing by. We took a picture and Shann cried out, "It's dark! I can't see anything!" So we had to take a second one, which came out well in the end (I feel guilty about taking two, though). Here is the photoshopped version of the dark one. The resolution is terrible as a result of my tinkering with the levels, but you can still see who we are!

2) A video of Baby Spice singing "Downtown." Well, sort of. You'll see what I mean.

You can find more pictures of these adventures and others here and here.

So much to say!

2006-11-15T18:57:00.000-08:00

London followed the rules of November. October had been relatively warm for the season, usually hovering in the 60s and 50s. But on the first of November, I awoke to a 38 degree morning. Just as Brits queue for no reason and mind the gap, London obediently stepped into fall and hasn’t wavered yet. Shann and I are amazed at how fast the transformation took place. Shann said she also awoke that morning and looked out the window to find yellow and orange brittle leaves on the tree outside; she swore they weren’t there the morning before.

Well, since fall has arrived, I’ve done the following:

• The Sleeping Beauty at the Royal Opera House. Every time I go to these artistic events, I realize how much I don’t know. The first time I went to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, for instance, I was puzzled at why the conductor kept leaving and entering the room and why the musicians felt compelled to tune up after every song (didn’t they just tune up 20 minutes ago?). Performances are soaked in such a long cultural tradition, and I’ve enjoyed trying to acquaint myself with them. It’s a similar sensation to walking along the street in a new city—everything is wonderful and interesting, even if you don’t understand it.

Anyway, I’ve always enjoyed the score of Tchraichosky’s The Sleeping Beauty (thanks, Disney), so I enjoyed the opportunity to hear it played by a top-notch orchestra. As for the story line, I have to admit that I had more trouble following. For one, the plot wasn’t the same as the Disney version, so I wasn’t always sure who was what character or what the dance was supposed to present.

Second, theaters in London don’t give out the free programs we’re accustomed to in the US. Bye-bye classic playbill programs. Hello, Confusion. I could have bought a program, which had a plot synopsis and artistic/cultural commentary, but it was 7 pounds ($14), so I didn’t buy it. Looking back on it, I regret not buying it, though, because I think I would have gotten more out of the experience if I did.

Third, with 2200 seats over 5 tiers, the Royal Opera House is the hugest performance venue I’ve been to in my life. And we were in the dead last row pushed to the far right of the elliptical theater. If you leaned forward far enough without blocking the view of the person next to you, you could see a good 2/3 of the stage. Yeah student nosebleed seats! Still, I can’t complain—eight pound tickets! Hard to beat that.

The costumes were so elaborate that even from our seats they shimmered.

I kept thinking about Tolstoy’s thoughts about the opera in Anna Karenina. Tolstoy had a distaste for the melodrama of the opera, finding its sense of love idealized. I wasn’t repulsed by the opera—I actually enjoyed it a lot. But I can see what he meant. At the end, for instance, the dancers had to go through the long tradition of bowing and then bowing again and then letting the principle dancers bow together and then bow and their own and then bow for the orchestra. And then the conductor comes out and bows for the audience and bows for the principle dancers, and the principle dancers bow for the conductor again. They give the principle dancer flowers. Then the curtain is drawn and propped open. Once again, the dancers pop out and bow together and then go back in. Then they come out individually and bow some more. The whole time the theater is going wild (they even booed the Wicked Witch, which I thought was mean. I mean, the dancer isn’t Actually the witch…).

My main problem with ballets and operas is that the music is so soothing that I often have difficulty staying awake. It’s particularly uncomfortable in the student seats I often buy. It’s a good problem to have, though, I think. What a pity it would be to have music so bad that you couldn’t even fall asleep.

Anyway, what a grand time. I think I will be going back at least once more before I leave. We’re trying to make it to the Snowman Ballet at Christmastime. I know that plot!

• Study with Shann at the huge Starbucks and go to church at Holy Trinity Brompton. Many of you know that while at home, I avoid patronizing Starbucks, if I can. Mostly, I want to support the local coffee shops. While in London, though, I seem to have abandoned that. I figure, the money I spend at Starbucks funnels back into the American economy—take that, The Pound! London doesn’t have a prominent coffee shop culture, anyway.

The Tottenham Court Road Starbucks is the largest Starbucks I’ve ever been to. It’s three stories and never seems to run out of seats! It’s also in a good location, within walking distance to Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus, Chinatown, and Leicester Square. All this combined has made it Shann and my study place of choice. For the two times we’ve studied so far, anyway.

After getting work done, we took the tube to Kensington to go to the 7 pm service of Holy Trinity Brompton. The tricky part about this church is that there is actually a different church right in front of it. And it also has a 7 pm service! Shann and I almost went to that one by accident, but the profusion of incense and the priest collars tipped us off and we found HTB in back.

I liked HTB a lot—it reminds me quite a bit of Menlo Park Pres, just as people told me it would. The teaching was refreshing, too. I love the church I’ve been attending—the worship and community are among the most earnest I’ve seen. I love worshiping there. But HTB is clearly better resourced, and the teaching is well-informed.

• St. Paul’s Cathedral. Since I’m taking a London Architecture class at school, I bypassed the usual entrance fee and got to go for free! I got to walk around for as long as I wanted and climb up to the top of the dome. It’s amazing how similar it actually is to St. Peter’s Basillica in Rome, the building St. Paul’s is modeled after. Not as much sunlight comes through the sides and ceilings, but besides that it feels very much the same.

Personally, I think I’ve become more jaded by Cathedrals and Basillicas, though. I do appreciate their beauty. The tall vaulted ceilings will always inspire a sense of awe and smallness in me, just as they were meant to. But I remembering visiting Italy and Rome with my family and feeling sad about all the corruption in the church. Such buildings stand more as a symbol of mankind’s power, not so much of God’s. There is so much excessive ornamentation given by the rich on behalf of the poor, as if someone took the poor widow’s penny and melted it right into the wall.

• More cooking adventures, episode Bi Bim Bap- Shann and I made our own version of bi bim bap. I had spent most of the day stressing to get my internship applications to California on time. The cooking was fun, and the dish came out very tasty!

• Greenwich. I didn’t realize Greenwich was so closed to my flat, so I was happily surprised to see it as an option for my architecture assignment. I went to Greenwich with my family eight years ago and remembering liking it quite a lot. I had only recently learned about longitude and latitude and thought it was so awesome to stand on the Prime Meridian.

Greenwich is only 17 minutes away on the Docklands Light Rail, an above ground public transportation rail that takes you to the outskirts of the city. Half of the city is a lovely park, which the Tudor rulers had used for a getaway house. Lovely place. Lots of small shops. Lots of restaurants. Three cheers for Greenwich!

Anyway. This is massive. I think I’ve got to stop here.

New resolution: Update every day, even if it’s one sentence. Let’s see how it goes.

You’re a true friend if you’ve gotten this far.

it's not halloween yet...

2006-10-28T14:13:00.001-07:00

but it almost is, and since it happens on tuesday it's a weird situation.

so! long time no update, but this weekend was a lot of fun. on friday night i went over to a halloween party noelle invited me to at queen mary's. i helped noelle make a crown out of a cornflakes box which was a big hit throughout the night. we also watched a bit of sleeping beauty, then headed over to noelle's friends' flat. kelly & chrissy then joined up with us and we ended up going to a nice place called hayfields where their soccer i mean FOOTBALL team goes every friday, we had a lot of good moments and laughs and general hang out fun there. then we went to noelle's kitchen to eat a lot of fries (chips) and hot wings, which were ALL delicious.

today i hung out with kelly, chrissy & cho at THE MONUMENT. which is a tall pillar with something to do with the great fire. it's 311 steps up but it really wasn't too bad. it was sort of a grey day, but it was a nice view anyway. we ended up eating dinner in chinatown and buying mochi from a japanese/korean store for dessert. then kelly lost her phone or rather, it was taken from her bag we think. in any case, we couldn't find it and now it's gone. i suppose it was bound to happen to one of us at some point. kelly was very accepting of it, mostly because it was a crap phone and it was insured.

anyway, on to the pics from today:

it was all 'wicked'

har har har.

Chim-che-che-WEE!

2006-10-12T07:25:00.000-07:00

Only the best give Wednesdays off. And I shall take nothing else. – Mary Poppins

Shann and I saw Mary Poppins on Tuesday and had a load of fun. General impressions:

• The musical deviated quite a bit from the movie plotline of the story. The songs—all well sung—were strung together in a bit of a random fashion. They threw in Supercalifragilis(etc.), for instance, in a search for the “last word.” There was also a rather frightening scene where the toys in the nursery come alive. They pronounce the children guilty of a temper and punish them by throwing them around and generally terrorizing them.

• The set was quite elaborate, with whole floors of the house moving up and down the stage. The lighting, however, was a bit morbid, I thought. It’s not too much of a sunny set design. They used a lot of dark blues and dark greens.

• The family next to us was completely enraptured and oooh-ed and aah-ed all the way through. Especially at the end when Mary Poppin puts up her umbrella and flies over the crowd.

• This play made me think about a lot of things that I hadn’t when I first watched the Julie Andrews version as a child. Who is Bert, for instance? What is his relationship to Mary Poppins anyway? Why do they always have to say her first and last name? Could Poppins be her middle name? Is it sad to be Mary Poppins and have to fly around whenever the wind changes? Does she feel she has a life? Is Bert part of her real life? Is that something I really want to think about?

The best part of the musical definitely nurtured some of these new thoughts. And actually, I think the best part was an accident. It happened during the Supercalifragilis(etc.) number. The song is, in general, a very wholesome tune and has wholesome choreography to fit it. In an educational fashion, the cast spells out the word with their bodies in rapid fire. It’s fit for Mary Poppin’s character—a woman almost painfully prim and proper--there’s one woman who definitely does not have any form of scoliosis.

At the peak of the song, Bert makes a ring around Mary Poppins with his arms like a hula hoop, and she’s supposed to do a little sway. As the chorus swelled up, though, and the cast members surged on the vigor of their spelling, Mary Poppins got really into it, and instead of a neat little sway, she totally broke it down. Mary Poppins REMIX!!!! In a single move, Mary Poppins transformed herself from a proper nanny into a repressed Cabaret girl. Shann and I simultaneously burst out, “WHAT?!” and started laughing hysterically in our seats (good thing we were in the back of the orchestra floor).

I think we got a little window into Mary Poppins’s Wednesday nights off.

Oh horror!

Here are a few pictures outside of the theatre (note English spelling). In the first one, you’ll see some random girl’s arm, which swung into the photo at the last minute. In the second, you are supposed to see the Mary Poppins poster in the upper right hand corner, but somehow the guy totally missed it. Oh well.

Oh, and here’s what happens when you accidentally cook beef in your Muslim flatmate’s pan…

Here is Shann, trying very hard to prevent the fire alarm from going off, since even shower steam is known to send the alarm blaring on a regular basis. In addition to boiling water in the pan under high heat, Shann and I felt so awful about it that we washed the pan twice, scrubbed it with baking soda, and then washed it again. To this day, every time my flatemate passes I think to myself, I defiled his pan!!!

“Tomorrow we are going to Dublin!” announced Liz to our British friend last night. “Or, for those of you who have an accent, tomorrow we are going to D-oo-blin.”

“Is that how Americans say Dublin?” responded the British friend. “D-oo-blin? Doooblin? Luke, listen to how the Americans say Dublin! Dooblin!”

Yes, today, I am going to Dooblin.

Two last minute orders of business:

1. Johnny is watching Basil, my basil plant, for me!

2. I just brushed my teeth with shaving cream. To be explained when I return.

K. - S. - i - n - g

2006-10-05T18:16:00.000-07:00

You’ll never guess whom I saw tonight.

I saw KEVIN SPACEY. *go wild*

This afternoon, my friends and I nabbed student tickets to see Spacey staring in Eugene O’Neil’s Moon for the Misbegotten! We saw it at the Old Vic Theatre, where Spacey is the artistic director. Apparently he’s received criticism in the past for not appearing in enough roles, so this performance has been especially anticipated by London.

We got second row seats for only 12 pounds, the student rate! Unfortunately, they weren’t quite the second row seats we imagined. Rather, they were second row seats on the first tier, pushed allll the way to the right side of the semi-circular theater. In order to see the stage, I had to lean all the way forward with my chin on the banister. Still, I felt really close to the actors, especially since the size of British theaters is much more intimate. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time! Whether I liked it or not.

And luckily, I did like it! Spacey was AMAZING. O’Neil’s work is typically marked by a sobering emotional sensitivity, and Spacey really did justice to the play. The first act was much slower than the second. I spent a good part of it in awe of the fact that I was just meters away from the guy in Superman and The Usual Suspects (kind of distracting). But the second half was so moving, I cried through a good portion of it. At one point, Spacey as Tyrone just sobs and sobs into someone’s lap, and I just started crying out of the pure empathy of the moment.

Like any classic, the play reaches down into some of the most haunting and delicate struggles of being human. Even though the characters are older, I think young people would do especially well to see it because of the way it addresses certain insecurities and threats to innocence.

Anyway, since most people haven’t seen or read the play before, this is all a bunch of gibberish, and I don’t want to get too English-y (whoops, too late). So I’ll just say anyone who is a person should see it. There.

After the play, we went over to the stage door to see Mr. Spacey! After several minutes of lunging at people who turned out to be no one we recognized, a little window opened up, and Mr. Spacey received autographs through the little hole. At first I didn’t want to go up because I thought I would be annoying. I felt bad that he must get this all the time.

But my friend Liz gave me good advice. “You’re being lame,” she said and pushed me into line. He was clearly a really nice guy, but I still felt nervous. I stepped up to the window and slid my little brochure toward him and stammered, “Thank you so much for your performance tonight. You were really amazing.” There was a pause, and he looked up, just realizing I had said something.

“Thank you,” he said. I nodded.

But boy was I happy that Liz made me go!

This is how I felt when I got the autograph:

Even though this is how I looked when I asked for it:

And here's a picture of all us who went. Note that we took two pictures and somehow I was talking in both. Whoops.

Last night, I had the best meal I’ve had in England so far! I spent the afternoon with Shann at the Picadilly Circus Waterstones, where I had tried in vain to find some books for class. So, we went upstairs and plopped ourselves down on a red, cushiony couch. I read my class packet and then 60 pages of Jane Eyre (a book I Love so far).

Afterward, I met my two Chinese flatmates to go eat at a Korean restaurant! Technically, only one is my real flatmate and the other is my flatmate’s friend who is living out of the same room because he has no home yet. But, puh, what are technicalities?

I met Vincent (the one without a home) in Oxford Circus where we met Johnny, the other guy. The Korean restaurant was really nice, with frosted glass separators between restaurant sections. They ordered a TON of food: two orders of glass noodles, kim chee, kim chee with tofu, two orders of stone rice, a huge pot of soup noodles, ribs, bugolgi, and pork. Vincent also ordered a bottle of wine for us all to share, since he had acquired a taste for wine while traveling in Paris. Vincent and Johnny frequently say the phrase, “It’s really very nice,” which they applied to every single dish that came out.

At the end I was STUFFED SILLY but very happy. Vincent was really nice, too, and picked up the bill for all of us!

Pictures from the night:

I am thinking about purchasing a space blanket for when I travel, since I get really cold and have no portable blanket with me. Is this a good idea or bad idea?

Anyway, it’s really, really late now. This post took Forever because my iPhoto's export function is broken, so everything takes a long time. Tomorrow Martha and I are going to the Senate House Library to read for class.

Nobody Knows Dee Trouble...

2006-10-04T04:37:00.000-07:00

UGH. I can't begin to explain the terrible terrible organization skills of my school. They are just not on top of the ball. The ball has since rolled over and lapped them and is laughing in their faces. I'm not going to type all my troubles in here because I've said it/complained about it so much i'm just weary of it all. In a nutshell, there are things that could have been done a long time ago but weren't and we (the study abroaders) have no access to information or anything important, are not in any groups to go to classes, are missing assignments and will only find things out on Thursday, which is really really really really....a TAD LATE. THANKS. Oh right, and also it's the worst designed building ever that has bridges and stairs and two sides and half floors everywhere in a big mess, I always feel like a mouse in a maze looking for cheese but winding up finding something that's not cheese....like a sock.

Anyway, Noelle and I have made dinner twice and both times I think it turned out well. I'm sure she'll post pictures soon. I haven't got any new pictures to post since "school" aka "chaos" was starting, but she did suggest I post this video of Covent Garden. It's basically a little outdoor mall like scene with shops and cafes and musicians. Anyway, I was taking this video of the musicians and it's just kinda funny how it ends...

I should have left the camera on because it was completely awkward after that. You can hear me start to say "no thanks" at the end, but really what happened was I guess she didn't hear me so she kept standing there and then i decided to pretend she wasn't there, but she kept standing so noelle and i looked at each other for a long time wondering what to do and pretending we didn't understand. Finally in the end it was an awkward moment of of "oh uh, i guess maybe i have some....let me see.....if i've got change...i dont' know...mmm uh .... oh here"

oh awkward times.

Odds 'n Ends

2006-10-03T19:11:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lapse in updating! Shann and I have been busy with experiments in the kitchen.

A few notes on today
• I got passes to Parliament to see the Prime Minister's Questions!!!! I'm so excited! I get to see Tony Blair defend himself against the lords and ladies! Hear hear! The earliest available pass was for the last week I'm in London. So I'm even more thankful that I got it. (thanks, Justin, for tips on nabbing it!)
• Shann and I were going to see Mary Poppins tomorrow, but I found out a few hours ago that I have an academic meeting right when the show starts. :-( I think I'll try to go next week, though.
• We're trying to plan a trip to Krakow and Warsaw. I want to see Auschwitz.
• We are also trying to go to the Scottish Highlands, specifically Glasgow.
• My Chinese flatmates are taking me to a Korean restaurant tomorrow! ^_^

Here's a video of my Welsh friend Reese. He's saying the name of the longest town in Wales.

Dewey Dewey Dewey. You know the world'll be rockin to-ey to-ey to-ey

2006-10-01T06:24:00.000-07:00

I love Dewey!

I love Dewey for two reasons.

1) He established a curriculum at McKinley High School that eventually helped truly democratize Hawaii. It put power in the hands of the people and broke the old missionary oligarchy.

2) THE DEWEY LIBRARY SYSTEM! The thing is Brilliant. They may look like little random numbers. But oh hoo they are so much more. With the Dewey number system, I can quickly locate any book in every library with efficiency and swiftness. Praise the Lord! I am competent!

And then England took Dewey away. Or, rather, I guess they never had him.

Apparently, the Brits use some other system based on the book’s title. It confuses me. I spend dizzying minutes looking for the books I need. In the US, this would be like looking for organic broccoli in the supermarket—it takes a little looking and a little time, but if they don’t have it oh well—pesticides for you. In Britain, it’s more like Photohunt or Hidden Pictures LIVE. You can win! You can lose. British students don’t buy books because the assigned readings often go across a huge range of sources. If you do not find your books at the library, you won’t get your classwork done. And there’s a bit of a math problem: there are fifty students in the class; there are two copies of the book.

Not to be outdone, last Monday, I burst out of class and ran to the library. I would beat this borrowing scheme! I would have my books! I tore to the appropriate aisles and then stood and looked. As I stood blinking at the shelves of books, other members of from the class sauntered up. Nobody acknowledged that we were from the same class or that we were all holding the same syllabus in our hands or that we were looking for the same exact books. It was an awkward few minutes as everyone hovered above the shelf. Every now and then a student would lunge forward and take a book. Eventually, one by one, the British students left in victory. I, on the other hand, was left with only two of the 10 books I needed.

I miss Dewey.

Cutest moment from yesterday:

All the bathrooms in McDonalds looked full so I was waiting on the side. The door on the end started to swing open, so I walked over, cursing my stupidity in not noticing the open stall. From the doorway, out poked a small head. The head belonged to a little Chinese girl. She was about 5 and had round chubby cheeks and chin length hair, all shiny and jet black.

“Excuse me,” she said in a small British accent. “Do you know how to lock this?”

I went in and showed her how to put the little bolt in the hole. It made me so happy.

It's nice to know how to do things and be grown up, I thought to myself as I walked to wash my hands. Then I realized I didn't know how the sinks worked, and a girl, of about 10, had to come over to show me.

*Please note that you can now subscribe to this blog by email! WOO HOO. Just look in the right column and click on the link.

Lazy Sunday Laundry

2006-10-01T02:29:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm here in the Laundry Room which consists of two washers, two dryers, a trash can, some empty boxes, two other people's loads of clothing, me, my laptop and trisha's laundry bag (which i love dearly even if there's a little hole in it). I guess I'm going to try to come in early Sunday morning to do laundry since when I got here the light wasn't even on and there's only 2 washing machines....for 24 flats each of which i would assume have 4 people living in each. yeah....

Yesterday was the last day for my parents in London (they left this morning) so we did a lot of London-ey stuff. We visited both the National Gallery and the Tate Modern, walked down Portabello Road as it was closing up and in a last minute decision watched a performance of The Lion King. It was a really amazing show and I can see why it's Kathy's favorite, the puppets and costume design was amazing, just the way the whole show was engineered was fantastic! The only damper was a tall man sitting in front of me and two old British ladies singing along in back, but other than that it was pretty darn awesome.

Unfortunately, I haven't got any pictures of anything new because my camera battery had died and I left it in my dorm. This post is more or less to give me something to do while I wait for my laundry, yes, I'm one of those people who wait for their laundry in the room because they're paranoid.

oh, on one last note, i've enabled anonymous commenting so you all don't have to get an account to put your two cents in, but you'll have to say who you are....otherwise....it'll be uh, anonymous.

Good morning to you!

2006-09-29T16:53:00.000-07:00

The fire alarm went off at 7:30 this morning, and we were evacuated from the building! Most classes here don’t start until 10, so everyone came out in their pajamas looking tired and annoyed.

After several minutes of high-pitched blaring, the fire captain rounded us all up and said, “This was a fire drill. In a real fire, you have 60 seconds to evacuate the building before the roof goes up in flames. If you do not evacuate in that time, you Will die. I know. I've been working as fire captain for 30 years."

And then we were allowed to go back inside.

Let's Get High

2006-09-29T13:47:00.000-07:00

hello again!

Unlike Noelle, I have no culinary qualms yet. I have no culinary ambitions whilst here. We did in fact reach c-town, which means chinatown, not camdentown as Erica thought. I was able to get a bunch of things, rice, curry, oyster sauce etc etc. My parents are still here, (i had thought that they were leaving today, but they're leaving sunday) and they enjoyed their short trip to Amsterdam.

Yesterday, I skipped orientation which was really a waste of time. It was a terribly dull orientation, but I have yet to hear of a fun one. Instead I went to Tescos and some other stores to get more living necessities (hangers, laundry soap, nutella...). After that, I met up with Kelly and Chrissy to see OKgo do a free signing and acoustic sampling of some tracks at the Oxford Circus HMV (A Million Ways, Lately It's so Quiet and Here It Goes Again).

Here they are doing their acoustic thing sans drummer (I guess you don't need a drummer for acoustic store signings) I would upload the videos I got to the red department, but the ftp transfer really isn't working-this is the slowest internet in the world. Personally, I loved Lately It's So Quiet done as an acoustic.

Afterwards, we headed over to Chrissy & Kelly's college to cook up some curry which we had no idea how to cook. I found then how long it takes Kelly and Chrissy to make a meal. It takes a long time. They like to make several dishes as they go (frozen pizza was the "appetizer) so we ended up starting at around 7:30 ish and ending at 11:30 ish. They were kind enough to see me back to the bus stop because I'm not advised to return to my dorm alone after 9. The tube closes at 12 so it was a bit of a time crunch and now that I htink about it, we would have been much less worried if we hadn't taken time to style kelly's hair and photograph it.

Oh well.

Today I checked out the London Eye with my parents. It's the giant ferris wheel that British Airways built and supposedly gives the best panoramic view of london. I mean, I guess it's true.....anyway, here's a little composite panoramic and some other photos of the view from the top:

the composite turns out really tiny if i try to post it, so just click:
panoramiclondoneye.jpg

cheers then,
shann

Rubbish

2006-09-29T08:46:00.000-07:00

I cannot find any chicken broth in England!! I have checked Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury, and Budgens and the stock is nowhere to be found.

This is a disappointment as I had carefully gathered all the ingredients for oyako donburi.

I wonder if this is why British cuisine is so challenged.

<-- what I wanted to make

Well, I made it....

2006-09-26T11:56:00.000-07:00

SO!

I made it all the way to cheery London! The plane rides weren't too horrible, we flew Virgin Atlantic most of the way, which was pretty awesome because you had a personal movie/music/tvscreen/games player thing right in front of you. I watched Inside Man, Little Manhattan and The Shoe Fairy (a chinese film based on the little mermaid that was a lot like amelie but stranger) and they were all very good.

Moving on to other things! What have I done in London so far? My parents were here so I've hung out with them, we went to see the Tower of London, part of which is shown here.

I also went on a boat tour with Kelly and Chrissy but we didn't get off on the right part of the tour and uh ended up circling when we bought/wanted a one way trip. I've also met up with Noelle and some of her friends to check out the National Gallery which was nice. I keep wanting to speak with an English accent, I feel really tacky speaking with my American accent here, perhaps I'll aquire one this term. There's been tons and tons of walking and today I had orientation (bleh) in which I made two whole orientation-friends. Here are a couple of gangstas in front of the London Eye.

In case you've been wondering "Donde estas?", I haven't got internet in my flat. Terrible isn't it? It's a painful death. Anyway, I write to you now from my common room which I actually have to go out of the building to get to. It's not so bad, everyone else here is for internet too basically.

Yesterday I went to Windsor Castle with the mum and pop. We actually got sold the wrong tickets and it was a big debacle so we only reached there about midday. They had a lot of cool castley/palace stuff there and an audio tour. I particularly like this photo of the castle with the man mowing the grass. It was also great because right across the road from the castle there was a McDonalds and a Burger King....just in case the queen mum gets late night cravings.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll have more photos later on in the week, I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to write again, but I thought I should update everyone (if that's anyone) who reads this. Tomorrow I believe I'm hitting up c-town with Noelle. I did purchase an expensive 10lb bag of japanese rice so I feel pretty set. Well, if you do in fact read this, then email or comment back and let me know what's going on in YOUR life cause I probably won't be on IM a lot anymore, sigh...

Until then, adieu & cheers!

The First Two Weeks

2006-09-24T17:40:00.000-07:00

So I’ve been in London for 14 days now! Here’s what I’ve been up to:

• Acadia Orientation at High Street Kensington: Basically a bunch of boring introductions in a very posh sector of West London. They lost my luggage flying from LAX to Heathrow, so I had nothing for the first three days. The other kids on the trip were awesome, though, and helped me find a “cheap” shirt at Urban Outfitters. This was my first real encounter with The Pound. Welcome to 50-dollar t-shirts. My luggage was eventually delivered, and I was a very happy girl.

• Host Family Stay in Southport: Southport is a seaside town about 7 hours north of London. Yes, that’s seven hours of riding in a coach bus, furiously sucking on ginger drops that are supposed to make you less carsick. It worked fine until ginger overload ending up making me sick instead.

My friend Martha and I were assigned to a family of five. The dad was a postman, and the mom was a childminder, which meant that when we first got there we were greeted by throngs of children who weren’t theirs. They had two daughters, ages 15 and 11, and a son, age 5. The oldest girl aspired to be an air hostess. She had apparently called another host family’s daughter a slut, and since then the families became mortal enemies. They duke it out in competition dance, in which all the girls of the family (mom included) participate. The 11-year-old, on the other hand, wanted to be an actress. “Oh, that’s really cool,” I said. “Who’s your favorite actress?” “Paris Hilton,” she responded. I considered doing a proper cultural exchange and describing what Americans think of Paris. But realized they weren’t appropriate thoughts for children. (Although maybe the 15 year old was on to something.)

The youngest was a 5 year old. His favorite things to do were: 1) do a card trick, and 2) play hide-and-go-seek. The card trick consisted of choosing a card and placing it on the top of the deck. Then, in a loud voice he would say, “shuffle, shuffle, shuffle….” But not actually shuffle. He’d pull up the first card and ask slyly, “Is this your card??” “OH MY GOODNESS,” we’d respond. “THAT IS MY CARD. HOW IN THE WORLD DID YOU FIND MY CARD???” “Magic,” he’d say. Repeat 20 times.

Hide-and-go-seek is a good game, except that the only place to hide in the small dining room was behind the door. So we stood in the same spot every time. Repeat 20 times.

Actually, one new game he thought of was Put My Unwashed Feet in Your Face. This meant sitting on the couch in front of the TV frantically beating feet off of my head, while the host dad looked on. Martha was so smart, though, and discovered a system of defensive tickling.

On the first day of home stay, the other study abroad students and I boarded a train and went to Liverpool—home of the Beatles! It’s a cool town with tons of good shopping (they say the further north of London you go, the cheaper it get. I wish I knew this before going back south to London.) The second day, we were supposed to have a family day, but the dad had work. The mom and the other girls had come home at 4:30 in the morning from someone’s 21st birthday party. They suffered from headaches and tiredness. One of the girls said she dropped her phone in the pool by accident because she was drunk! So Martha and I went into the town of Southport and walked around. It was a pleasant town. We went to a long pier and walked to the end and curiously couldn’t find the ocean. I guess it had a super strong tide that pulls the ocean back hundreds of yards.

• Mile End, East London! We finally drove back to campus to settle into our own sweet flats. Let’s say that again, just for the ring: our own sweet flats! The residences here are all new. The room is huge. The kitchen is fully equipped and really large. I get my own bathroom. Plus, I have the corner room! This means I get an extra window right next to my bed. Someone also left this cool mirror arrangement on my wall, which I like a lot.

This week has been orientation, in which different members of the community take turns saying welcome to you. It is also “freshers” week, basically the equivalent of New Student Week at Northwestern. I feel like I’m a freshman all over again, asking people interesting questions (ex. What’s your name? Where are you from? What do you study?) and signing up for way too many student groups (or “societies,” as they call them here). Overall, though, I’m quite impressed by how nice the campus is.

There are times I miss Northwestern. I miss some of the people and afternoons in Peet’s Coffeeshop. But being in London is also a much needed break. On the verge of some serious life choices, I can put things on pause for a while. Even when I buy 99 pence chopsticks, I stop and weigh the value of three months. I think it’s just enough. Worth the chopsticks, anyway. (10 for 99 pence!)

Note on tomorrow: Classes start! Like the nerd I am, I’m excited. I’m also nervous about entering the British system, and even more anxious about nailing down the classes I want. I swear, the system is ARCHAIC. But more on that later. Sleep now.

And some pictures to keep you going...

Some awesome new friends

Homestay "brother"

Homestay room

Hey, where'd Southport's ocean go?

Last Hurrahs

2006-09-19T13:18:00.000-07:00

Well, my face has yet to be in London, but it very soon shall be there.

I am writing my first post from home the night before I leave to go to the UK. Although I am sad to be leaving, (as usual, leaving here is always hard) I am very much looking forward to finally starting the whole study abroad....thing.

Anyway, there's not much to say in this pre-London post, it's more of a "here we go!" type of thing, you know. So, I guess I'm off to finish the packing and all the final details.

A hui hou, Hawaii!

Welcome!

2006-07-14T16:29:00.000-07:00

“How about ‘We’re in London’?” I suggested during a brainstorming session for our new travel blog’s name.

“Your face is in London,” responded my 11-year-old brother.

“OK,” said Shann and I.

And that’s basically how we decided where your faces would be—in London, with Shann and me, as we embark on this three-month European adventure. Personally, I’m not quite sure how Shann and I moved from second graders playing Mousey Detectives on Barwick Playground to college study abroad students romping the streets of London. None of this was quite engineered. Shann goes to Parsons School of Design in NYC; I’m at Northwestern, just outside of Chicago. We decided separately to go, but somehow we ended up in the same city, some 7200 miles from home. Shann’s doing her design stuff at Central St. Martin's College of Art & Design. Meanwhile I’m tucking away Medill journalism stuff to lavish my attention on literature and history at Queen Mary College.

So you’re not small enough to curl into a suitcase—that’s OK. Shann and I will take you along anyway! Just follow our blog. Between the two of us, we'll update as often as we can. If the blog goes according to plan (and these are wild things, blogs), you’ll find funny stories, pictures, experiences, observations, conversations, records of what we’ve eaten--maybe even a haiku or two, if you're lucky. And it’s all to strike your fancies.

So, see the world through our eyes, walk a bit in our shoes, switch hats for a while—put your face in London. Welcome!

2006-07-11T12:03:00.000-07:00

Our faces are not in London...yet.