Wednesday the Dutchies and I woke up early and headed to the Natural History Museum to go ice skating. We got to the museum around 11 and bought tickets for the 12 o'clock slot. We watched the people in the rink while the boys gave me pointers about skating. The dos and donts were a bit overwhelming and I felt more and more nervous about it the closer it got to actually going. At around 20 to 12 we went into the skate rental room and strapped on our skates. The herded us towards to entrance to the ice, and one by one we stepped tentatively out onto the ice.
Patrick held my hand as we skated about half way around the rink. They kept telling me, "keep your knees bent" and "relax." It's easier said than done for me. Then Patrick let go of my hand and skated ahead. I was staring at the ice under my feet when I heard the loud thud and the gasps of the crowed. I was shocked to look up and see Patrick on the ice and Pepijn skating around him smiling. I think the video explains it pretty well. Sorry in advance for Patrick's potty mouth.
Once he'd shaken off the shame of falling first on the ice, Patrick, Pepijn and I started skating again. Pepijn took my hand and talked me through the logistics of skating. I learned it's all about balance. As Pepijn so eloquently put it, "you've gotta lean a bit forward and stick your ass out, like you're taking a dump". It's true, keeping your bum a bit out is key. We skated around a few times, and I felt more and more comfortable and confident on the ice. I only fell once (resulting in an egg-sized bump on my elbow) but I laughed it off and kept going. After about 45 minutes of skating, I took a break and made a my first movie with my new LomoKino analogue video camera (coming soon)! That was fun. Took the film to get processed on the way home and picked it up Thursday.
After we our 50 minute skate slot was up, we turned in our skates and walked less than a block away to the Science Museum. It was new to all three of us, and we weren't really sure what to expect. It turns out that it's not really what I thought of as a science museum, and it didn't seem to be what the boys were expecting either. Still, we saw some cool stuff, played with some cool things, and learned at least a little bit (I think).
After the museum we headed back to Putney for some Wagamama dinner and some laughs. It was a really fun day. Thanks, boys, for teaching me to skate and for a day of good memories!
After weeks of studying hard and thinking of nothing but school, Christmas finally came and cleared my mind of all things academic. Christmas Eve was spent hurrying around Putney grocery stores to get all of the food needed for Christmas Day and Boxing Day. It wasn't as expensive as I anticipated. Perhaps I should cook big meals like this more often, and feed myself for a week on only a few £s! Christmas Eve night was spent baking cookies. Somehow, I only managed to muster the energy for one type of cookie. I guess I have more baking to do soon.
Woke up early on Christmas morning and, like a little kid, rushed to open my presents from friends new and old, and family far away. This year things came in USPS FlatRate boxes instead of pretty packages, and I liked it even more than usual. I am always surprised at how blessed I am with such amazing friends and family at this holiday time of year. Thanks to everyone on this side of the pond and the other who sent me love and happy wishes this year, and to those who continue to be amazing friends even though I'm so far away.
After opening presents and having peanut butter toast breakfast (typical), I headed to Pepijn's kitchen to begin the fun day. We cooked up some delicious afternoon snacks, listened to Disney music, and enjoyed each other's company. When our bellies were full of appetisers, we settled down to watch Christmas Vacation (my absolute favourite Christmas movie since I was a kid). Thanks to LoveFilm, it was free on instant streaming!
After the movie, we started working on the main course dinner. We had decided that pot roast would be an easy and yummy Christmas dinner. I prepared the roast and popped it into the oven for 3 hours. Patrick whipped up a salad to go with the roast. We skyped with Pepijn's dad, watched NBA live streaming online, and continued to just enjoy being together. A few hours later, we sat down to a delicious meal.
We stuffed ourselves with roast, potatoes, carrots, salad, and rolls. Delicious! We drank, cracked some Christmas Crackers, and then sat down to a good ol' fashioned game of LIFE! This was the new Adventurers version of life, involving new jobs, and a completely new board. Some of the rules were different so we didn't fully understand how to play the game until we finished the game through once. After we read through the rules one more time, we played again. Patrick won, and Pepijn's life sucked, but we still had lots of fun!
Christmas Cracker Jokes :)
I spent "Second Christmas Day" (something new to me) watching the Lion King, Home Alone 1, and several basketball games. We reheated the roast for dinner, finished it, and played more games. This time we played a game called Labyrinth, which I had never played before. Pepijn made up for his crappy Life-skills from the previous day by completely annihilating Patrick and me in Labyrinth. Still, FUN! After dinner we played yet another game of LIFE with the modified rules we had come up with the night before. The new rules made the game much more interesting and exciting.
Today is a day of rest, as if the past two lazy days weren't enough. Today I clean my room and get my life back into oder. Thank you, Patrick and Pepijn, my two favourite Dutch boys, for making this Christmas one worth remembering and cherishing. Love you both!
The past few days of my life have been extremely dull. Why? Probably because the term is ending and that means I actually have to start cracking down on my work. 3 essays, each 3,500 words, didn't seem like such a daunting task three months ago when they were assigned. That's why I procrastinated. In my own defence, I wasn't even sure how to structure the assignments until about a two weeks ago. So it's not like I really got a late start. Anyway, my entire grade in each of my 3 classes is riding those 3,500 words. Needless to say, I put some effort into them.
After 4 days of being buried under research books, articles, notes, and index cards, I emerge the victor! I spent a minimum of 5 hours a day on these papers, and after 4 days of what I can equate to banging one's head against a concrete wall, the deed is done. 10,500 words have been pulled from my mind to compose what I hope are 3 relatively coherent, thorough research papers. In the beginning of the semester I thought I was so clever. I thought that choosing to write all 3 of my papers on the same topic would save me time and effort. While I may have saved time, I'm not sure about the effort part. It's incredibly difficult to write 3 different papers on the same topic, using almost the exact same sources, and not plagiarise yourself. By the way, I think that being accused of plagiarising yourself is kind of ridiculous.
Due to all of this work, my room has fallen into relative decay. So now, after I finish writing this blog, I will busy myself with cleaning. The floor needs vacuuming(it's covered in scraps of paper and my pulled-out hair), the bathroom could use a thorough scrubbing, and my bed should probably be made for the first time in 4 days. Then again, I might just climb right back into that oh-so-inviting bed and take a nap instead. Better yet, I think I deserve a cookie for all of my hard work. Perhaps I'll put on my baker's hat and hit the kitchen.
P.S.
This post is proof-positive that I actually AM here in London for school, not just for fun. It's been 98% fun, but a valuable 2% of my time has been spent doing actual work. $40,000 well spent? So far, absolutely!
The holiday season has arrived in London, and with it, bright lights are lining the high streets, Christmas markets are popping up all around, and Winter Wonderland is open! On Thursday, Patrick, Jess, Philipp, and I headed out to the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland to see what all the hype was about.
Taking up about a quarter of massive Hyde Park, Winter Wonderland comes once a year and stays for about a month. It offers loads of Christmasy things to its visitors, including a Christmas market, food, mulled wine, rides, fun houses, carnival games, ice skating, and more! It's a huge deal so we left early on Thursday to try to beat the crowds.
We donned Santa hats, took some pictures in front of the huge entrance, and then dove in. First up, german potato pancakes. YUM! Then Philipp and I got swindled into trying to climb one of those rope ladders that are impossible to climb. Alright, so it's not impossible. The carny did it right in front of us. But £5 and 2 tries each later, Philipp and I had to walk away with our heads down in shame. We got some funny videos of it, though.
After the ladder failure, the boys played another carnival game. This time Philipp was victorious! Landing a softball in a slanted bucket won him a tiny santa. Well done! Then we went on to the Christmas fun house! Fun mirrors, rolling barrels, and all of the usual fun-house suff lead up to the maze of mirrors and glass leading to the exit. It took our 4 intelligent, adult brains, about 5 minutes to get through the maze. The little kids who entered behind us finished it faster than we did. Pathetic. After the fun house, we raced in sacks down a huge wavy slide. Philipp got off the starting line last and still beat us all. I didn't even make it down the whole slide. Again, pathetic. What's better after a really long wavy slide race? Tea cup spinning, that's what! The boys declined this invitation, so Jess and I took our own tea cups and went for a spin. It was not nearly as much fun as I remembered it. It was fun for about 30 seconds, then I just felt ill.
Having had about as much fun as anyone could want, we decided to wander around the market and get some food. I had a chocolate covered apple before having a delicious German sausage with Jessica for lunch. We watched the ice skaters skate, and there was live music! Bonus!! Patrick had poffertjes, but I was too full of sausage to join him. Sadness, because those things are seriously the epitome of delicious.
Ah, food. Perhaps my biggest motivation and inspiration in life. When I was a child I was afraid to try new foods, but I'm happy to say that in the past few years I've really expanded my culinary horizons and it's lead me to discovering some pretty awesome stuff. Last night was yet another exciting experience, this time in all things Ethiopian.
Last night we traveled to the far off land of Central London to a place called Mosob. Not knowing what to expect, we asked Terry all kinds of questions along the way, trying to paint a better picture in our minds. Terry was patient and gave simple, foreigner-friendly explanations of things like "breadypancakes" used to "grab and scoop" your food with your hands. Interests peeked and hunger heightened, we couldn't wait to get to the restaurant.
After standing in the windy cold for what seemed like hours (and was actually probably at least half an hour) waiting for the G-D 72, we made it! We gathered around 3 small square tables that were low to the ground. The booth, for some reason, was not low to the ground, thus making you bend over at the waist to reach the table. Terry tried to describe the menu, then decided to just order for us 2 large platters of food to share. After 2 rounds of appetisers, the main show came along. What a treat! Spicey meats and vegetable dishes all on one large, round plate; rolled portions of "breadypancakes" (which we learn to actually be "Injera"), and a few napkins. Nothing else is needed. After waiting while a few of us snapped pictures of the food, we dug in, quite literally...with our hands eagerly clawing and scooping up food.
We ate, we laughed, we talked and reminisced, and of course, we sang Disney songs. It was kind of a perfect evening. We even had dessert! (However, it' wasn't Ethiopian by any means.)
Happy Belated Birthday, Ulfie! Sorry it took us several weeks to actually gather together around a table and celebrate you; but better late than never, right?
It's that warm and fuzzy time of year - holiday time! I'm usually not fond of this time of year, but for some reason this year is different. Maybe it's the bitter cold outside that I know is only the beginning. Maybe it's the Christmas tree and tinsel in our kitchen. Who knows.
The past few weeks have shown me just how much like my mother I actually am. I've been procrastinating school work to bake. What? I know. This is nothing like me. I'm supposed to be that overly prepared, overachieving nerd who finishes her assignments weeks in advance. Well, it's not too late for that to still be true and perhaps it's because I know there's plenty of time to work that I'm spending so much time in the kitchen.
In the past 2 weeks I've made 2 apple pies, 2 batches of delicious, chewy oatmeal raisin cookies, and 1 cream cheese pie with lemon curd. Feast your eyes on this spread of delicious.
The cake on the right is Jessica's Victoria Sponge Cake. 4 people are responsible for all of the cake/pie missing from these photos. I am one of those 4.
I will shamefully admit that I have also consumed a large portion of all of these sweets. For some reason I can't seem to keep my mind off of sweet holiday-time treats. I wish I could say I'm done, that the monster is going into hibernation while the study nerd comes out of hiding and works hard. I know that that is just not true at all. For some reason I'm inspired to show love and affection through food this year, so I just know that the baking isn't going to end any time soon. Let us pray, for my waistline's sake, that I give the sweets away to others rather than hoarding them in my room...
The past 4 days have been a whirlwind of experiences. As with my trip to Amsterdam, the days and details are starting to blur together. I'm still exhausted from the traveling, but I'll do my best to accurately record the Rome adventures that I just had.
Thursday was an early start. Up and out the door at 12:25 am, at the airport by 2. Didn't know that Heathrow (one of the world's largest airports) would ever actually close, but it does. Thank God the front doors were still open so we could come in from the cold. One coffee bar was open, so we ordered some food and then passed out in a relatively comfy coffee-shop chair.
We arrived in Rome at about 9:30, went quickly through customs and found the coach to central Rome. We walked from the main train station to our hotel, and after about 30 extra minutes of wandering through the tiny, nameless streets of Rome, we finally found it! We dropped our bags, freshened up, then met Jessica's friend, Chris, for lunch. We walked across the Tiber to a little neighbourhood full of adorable little shops and restaurants where we stumbled upon a chocolate festival. We had authentic Roman pizza (so delicious). After filling up on pizza and chocolate, we headed back towards our hotel to relax a bit and get ready to meet Chris's friend for dinner. We took the metro to the train station, then switched to an overground tram to a neighbourhood full of trendy little bars and tiny, authentic Italian restaurants. After hanging out in a bar for a little while, we finally went to dinner. A 3 course meal of "firsts" "seconds" and dessert filled my belly to the point of explosion. I'm pretty sure I wobbled home where we fell asleep straight away.
Friday morning came too soon. Cramming 2 nights worth of sleep into one 7 hour night just doesn't cut it. Spurred by the need to get the most out of Rome, we headed out into the city to find some "old stuff". We started by trying to find an old Maltese sanctuary, where you can see the dome of St. Peter's through the key hole of the massive sanctuary door. It took forever to find it, but we triumphed, and in the process we stumbled upon a quaint little piazza that afforded great views of the city. We had booked a tour of the Vatican earlier that day, so we headed back to the hotel and jumped on a bus. When we arrived at the Vatican we were lead inside of the Vatican walls and given a tour of the galleries and courtyards. After exploring the long halls full of masterpieces, tapestries, maps, statues, etc., we were set free in the Sistine Chapel for 30 minutes. It was musty and dim inside, but that didn't detract from the beauty. There is no talking and no photo taking inside the chapel, but as all rules in Rome, this one isn't very strictly enforced. I managed to sneakily snap a photo of the famous ceiling with the good ol' iPhone. The tour ended after this, but Jess and I decided to stay and explore St. Peter's basilica and square. It was dark already, but I think that it was even more beautiful all lit up at night. There was practically no one there, which made it even better. We went through a brief security scan and then into the basilica. St. Peter's was almost as impressive as the Sistine Chapel. Here there are several sculptures from greats like Michelangelo, paintings from floor to ceiling, giant alters, and intricate marble inlays in the floor. It was absolutely breath taking.
From St. Peter's, we went back to central Rome to try to find Trevi Fountain, which was rumoured to be better by night than in the day. Along the way to Trevi, we met a Canadian named Doug who was also looking for the fountain. We showed him the way (having a map has it's advantages), tossed some coins in for good luck, then invited Doug to dinner with Chris and his pals. We took the metro back to the neighbourhood we had been in the night before to a tiny pizza place called Formula 1. We stuffed our faces with fried Roman appetisers (delicious) and individual thin-crust pizzas. Yum. Back to the room to sleep it off.
Saturday started early again. After breakfast at the hotel, we headed out to see the Colosseum and other touristy sights. The Colosseum was amazing, inside and out. It's everything I had hoped it would have been. After lunch and shopping, we went to the Piazza Navona. It was all decked out in Christmasy shops, but the beauty of the Piazza still shined through. We had some gelato, walked to the Pantheon, and took a cab home to stay out of the rain. Dinner again with Chris and his pals at an over priced, but quite authentically delicious Italian place. More gelato, then off to bed again.
Sunday we slept in a bit before we gathered our things and checked out of the hotel. We briefly explored the Forum, but because of the rain we didn't stay long. We then headed north to the Spanish Steps, but these were covered in spectators gathered for a free concert in the piazza. Discouraged and wet, we wandered back to familiar territory, met Chris and Philip for a lunch of friend Roman rice balls, visited the chocolate festival one last time, then headed to the airport. The security process at the airport was long and stressful. Even though we arrived 2 hours early, we barely made it to our flight in time. We missed the last tube into London by about 2 minutes, so we were forced to find alternate routes. Two extra busses, but we made it. I then proceeded to drop dead in my bed, comatose but happy.
