I'll try to make this post a little less random than the last one--though I can't promise that is how it will turn out after the insane amount of coffee I have in me this morning! Look out. I am fully caffeinated and ready to type like the wind.
Week Two has begun, I can't believe how fast the days go by. This is in part due to the fact that at least for these opening weeks (while I get everyone 'trained'), my days are structured by meals here. I generally assist the students in the set-up and clean up of breakfast and dinner (lunch is on our own here, which typically consists of me running to the Le Pain du Jour to pick up a yummy baguette sandwich for 1.70). So here's a sense of my daily routine, at least during the week:
7:15am Get up (this is very, very hard for me as a night owl...still trying to get used to it!)
7:45am Bleary-eyed students pad downstairs and we start getting out the breakfast food. Breakfast is continental, and is basically cereal, various breads, yogurt, hard boiled eggs, and my downfall, croissants.
9am--help clean up breakfast with the students who are a little less bleary-eyed at this point, thanks to heavy amounts of instant coffee.
Rest of the Morning--I'm either teaching if it's Weds/Thur or doing work at the computer. It's nice, quiet time as students are either in class or still sleeping.
Noonish--Sylvia arrives, students each lunch, sometimes I am around...or not.
Afternoon--more class for students, often a nap for me (thanks to the early morning/later night thing) or more buzzing about town.
4:30pm--prep for dinner with students who are excited about eating this early.
5pm--Dinner is served, we eat, then dinner clean up.
The rest of the night is pretty much mine. The students study, watch movies, or go out. Sometimes I'll chat with them in the Common Room, help them with various things, or sometimes I hardly see anyone at all. When on my own, I tend to do work or various things, which apparently will soon include going to a ton of shows. I'm going to join the Theatre class for several plays on Tues/Weds nights (including Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Phylicia Rashad and, ahem, JAMES EARL JONES; The Misanthrope with Keira Knightley; Waiting for Godot with Ian McKellan, just to name a few). I also am getting tickets to see Peter Gabriel in concert (a dream of mine, I know he does amazing shows and I love his music). What this means, of course, is that I'm bleeding money on these shows, but whatever, I don't care. It's just amazing to be so close to so much great theatre and great shows, and there's tons of free stuff too, which is great. Many of the museums are open til late on various days (I went to the Victoria and Albert Museum, a museum full of pretty stuff--think dishes, clothing, figures, from all over the world) last Friday night and while it wasn't my favorite of the museums I've been to here so far, it was still pretty awesome and a nice way to spend a Friday night, even if it was by myself.
[Sidenote about the 'by myself' issue: I will say as much as I love this city already, I am missing people very much. I really just wish I could magically transport everyone over here, and we could go to plays/concerts together, and takeover a pub and drink good beer all night. If I figure out a way to make that work, or one of you back home wins the lottery and can be my personal companion for the semester, let me know].
So that is the basic structure of my days/life so far here. As you can imagine, I also spend a fair amount of time on the computer talking to people back home and emailing for work back home, blah blah blah. I am hoping that once the routines get established for everyone here I will likely get to do more during the week on my days off from teaching, and get to do some day trips too on the weekends. Four of the students went to the cliffs of Dover this weekend for the day and had a great time, I can't wait to start bopping around nearby places and do the same.
As far as updates from my last entry--I learned that dim sum are those delightful dumplings of various varieties that are staples for Chinese lunches (thanks Wikipedia!). I was able to meet up with Anil, a friend of my friend Evelyn that lives in London, has a PhD in some computer-related field and works for Cambridge University (so clearly, he's a dumb guy) and his friend Eva for lunch on Saturday. It was great to meet them and chat about our respective schools/jobs as well as learn about dim sum. Of course, this is also where I recalled how badly I use chopsticks. I have been taught a million times but I blame the fact that I am left-handed on the fact that I am a terrible user of chopsticks. So you can imagine my embarrassment as I look around at this extraordinarily crowded restaurant and NO ONE is using a fork. Well, I'll be damned if I'm the only one using a fork, so I plowed through the meal with my chopsticks probably looking like a 4 year old learning how to eat. Fortunately, Anil and Eva were kind and didn't make me feel stupid (though in their heads they were probably laughing at me) and the meal was delicious. The restaurant was over in West London so I decided to walk home, taking me all through Hyde Park, near Kensington Palace, and all through central London (the walk ultimately took 5 hours, but that was part due to the shopping I was doing on Oxford Street along the way). On Sunday, while I VOWED I would get some rest, I ended up going to Camden Market with two of my students, and we had a great time looking around at the endless, endless stalls and booths selling everything and anything (ranging from punk to vintage to street clothes to foods of all kinds). It was great, if a bit cold--the weather here is extra cold this week, which of course gives me license to buy new scarves and hats. :) I also bought a new pair of tall boots (gray suede, thanks for asking) and its only a matter of time before I pick up those leggings.
So here goes with the pics. I'm not sure if I can do captions or not, and I'll start with pics of the House and my room (there's a class going on in the Common room right now, so I'll get some other ones up later) and then throw in a couple of shots from the random places I've seen/been so far, so enjoy. I'll try to do better with taking and adding pics as we go along!
[OK, sooooo....I don't know if it's my slower internet, or me just being slow, but I'm not getting my pics to upload. Tips from anyone who uses blogger...what am I missing? I'll work on that so there can be a few on the blog too, but for now, will start an album on Facebook! Enjoy!]
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
Random Observations of London (Part 1 of likely many)
[Warning--long post ahead. If you want the Cliffs Notes version of my Random Observations, here they are:
--London fashion for women is solely centered on leggings and tall boots.
--Tesco is a delightful grocery that has food and tights (i.e. lightweight leggings).
--I am obsessed with chicken curry.
--You too can be a volunteer constable.
--I don't know what dim sum is.
Ok, so here's the real post now]:
I'll admit from the outset I am almost delirious so if this seems like an incoherent ramble, well, it probably is. Feel free to skip this post if you like, I won't be offended, I promise.
We are almost done with the official Week One of classes and house life, etc. Overall, I would say all is going well. Other than a few lockouts and a student who had a hometown friend tragically die in a car accident on Tuesday (poor John!), it has been a pretty good first week. We are slowly getting to know each other better and get into the 'rhythm' of the house. There are lots of rules and various procedures here that at times can be viewed as kind of random (until you hear the story about why the rule became a rule in the first place. Case in point: no food or drink is allowed in the Common Room (i.e. living room) because someone spilled some stuff one time and totally ruined the TV). That kind of thing. We have also learned that Sylvia, our house manager/cook, likes us to officially set the table at dinner (many of us, including me, were scratching our heads for a bit on remembering how to do this, if we were even taught at all. Unrefined Americans). Students have been pretty good about understanding why we can't use the huge oven/stove here--it has to be lit a few times with a few different sizes of matches, etc. and if anyone knows my history of kitchen incidents, you know that I am not going anywhere near that thing. Besides, yesterday at the Museum of London we learned that The Great Fire of 1666 (the fire that basically took out most of London) was started by a baker (though of course, other people/things were blamed for the fire in the end, including Catholics and the many sinners of the city). But the baker story works well as a cautionary tale. Now when I leave the students here on their own I simply say--"Don't be like the Baker and cause The Great Fire of 2010, please"). So far, so good on that front.
I'll go into some more about what we have done as classes and whatnot another day. I have random thoughts on the brain so what better time for me to spew them out, right? I really find one of the most enjoyable aspects of travel (and, in this case, living) in a foreign place are all the random observations made along the way, about anything and everything. I love pondering the issue of "Why do they do things this way?" along with its counterpart, "Why don't WE do things this way?" Good times. I am sure there are many more riffs to come, in lots of categories, but here's the inaugural installment of Random Observations:
1. Fashion: I can't get enough of people watching on the streets and on the Tube, constantly observing how women here dress (I watch men too, and how the men dress here...well that's a longer post for another day). I was in Paris this summer and was in awe, once again, at how amazingly chic Parisians (of all genders) seem to look, and how they walk everywhere with the craziest, most uncomfortable looking shoes ever. Now, while I have seen this at times in London, I would say it is not to the extreme in the same way. Surprisingly, female Londoners seem to have embraced the idea of relatively comfortable footwear. I mean, sure, there are some heels here and there for the obviously going-out crowd, but there is seriously a uniform for London women these days, and fortunately, it mostly consists of flat or wedge boots. Ok, so the uniform is:
A coat (therefore almost always blocking my observations about shirts/tops).
A long tunic or short dress/skirt
Leggings. Always. Always always black. I don't think I've seen a pair of jeans since Christmas in Iowa at this point.
Tall boots, sometimes with heels, often not. Sometimes Ugg boots. (I thought those were out of style though...or maybe I have lived in a warm climate too long to know one way or another).
I am not kidding when I say that approximately 2/3rds of the women (at least women in the younger half of their lives) are wearing some version of the above outfit. The good news is that it is not impossible for me to semi-fit in, at least in terms of my clothes (because, there's no way in hell I'm wearing heels to walk around London), and as long as you are in black, you're good to go. I mean, today I had a breakthrough, as a British woman approached ME asked where the grocery store was. Like I was a local. (Unfortunately, I actually didn't know what the heck store she was looking for, so it didn't take long to sound like a tourist again).
Anywho, at the end of the day, I must say I thought I would find some more intriguing fashion variety here. Maybe I need to get to different parts of town. I mean, where's the punk and all that subculture stuff they are always talking about around here, huh? I am also sort of underwhelmed by the style I have seen on most people (and no, I am NOT holding myself up as the gold standard here...my clothes are simply, well, super stale overall, but that's cuz I am a relatively boring dresser from the Midwest) but as Carrie and I talked about, either London is adopting a more relaxed style or Americans are getting more stylish, since the whole look here is apparently going on in America too--(well, according to Carrie in Minneapolis. Leggings and boots do not apply in Florida, ever. So, well, hmmm.
(Ok, to the men and/or uninterested who have happened to read this far, I'm moving on to a new topic now that that riff/report is complete. You can wake up now).
2. Tesco: Tesco is a main grocery etc. chain here. And it serves as a lovely segue from fashion into food. See tonight I was wearing a skirt, some tights and my tall boots (see above), and already ripped my tights. Whatever. But I stopped by Tesco to get a few things and I kid you not, the place is basically a grocery store only, but low and behold, there is this total section devoted to tights. In several colors and thicknesses (is that a word?). Like, just stuck in an aisle next to the cereal or something. How random is that? I mean, at the big grocery stores in the USA (and of course, in a place like Target/Super Walmart, etc.) of course there are non-food items, but tights are not the centerpieces there, they are thrown in with all kinds of other clothes and accessories, right? Yeah, not at Tesco. It's tights galore, then food. It's like the Tesco gods were reading my mind and voila! I was able to pick up sour cream, cheese, and tights in the same trip. Someone's looking out for me.
3. Food-related: This will clearly be a theme of these posts I think, because my project of exploring London's restaurants/foods is an ongoing, open ended one. I mean, London is not France, but man, I'm finding some pretty good eats here, and random things about the food. First off, I am basically eating some variety of chicken curry almost everyday--in stands, sandwiches, in the ready meals, etc. I love it and cannot stop eating it, at least for the moment. I have had amazing Indian lunch already and the rest of the restaurant food I've had is OK, but not necessarily great. I'm saving hitting the super-good fish 'n chips place for when my visitors come to town. Anyway, one thing I LOVE about London grocery stores is that they are chock full of ready meals (as they call them). Basically, think like a Lean Cuisine that is not frozen, or something from a grocery deli type deal. It's amazing, because not only are they pretty cheap, but also pretty good considering you just warm them up. And PERFECT for our situation at the house (which is microwave only for food we cook ourselves) but especially for me, the non-cook. I love this stuff and it makes me so appreciative of the London grocery stores. I don't feel so alone now, because at least it seems as if everyone in London is eating like this--I'm convinced no one really cooks here. It's just a warm-it-up culture. Nice.
4a. Annoying things on the Tube: I think I finally understand the idea of 'hooligans'. There were some drunk ones on the Tube tonight that were about 30 seconds away from me freaking out on them, they were so annoying, loud, and just acting like they were five, hitting each other and generally acting stupid. One almost pushed the other onto the train track. Way to go. I guess it would have made my Friday night a little more exciting.
4b. Weird things on the Tube: So I keep seeing this poster all over the Tube that says something like "Sign up today to volunteer for the police force." Like, apparently you can be a 'volunteer constable' around here if you commit to 25 hours a month. Seriously? First off, 25 hours a month, in any volunteer position, is admirable but hardcore (and not realistic for most people, unless you're unemployed I suppose). Second, the more important issue, is why would anyone 'volunteer' (I assume they don't get paid) to be a police officer? It's like, "Hey, would you mind signing up to help us, to deal with crazy people and people with weapons that may hurt or kill you--for 25 hrs a month? That would be great. Thanks!" And come on, if I'm in a position where I need to call on a policeman, I'd a prefer a professional, instead of Joe-Schmoe-I-am-volunteering-to-be-a-constable-so-I-can-be-on-a-powertrip. Wouldn't you?
Ok, my apologies for those that have hung in with me this long, I realize I'm halfway to writing War and Peace here, and I've only done like 4 observations (oh, wait, make that 5 since #4 was the two-parter). I guess I am known to be a bit windy. Anyway, I have loads of these things on the brain so I'm sure Random Observations will appear again shortly. And hopefully in a shorter form.
I am super slow on pics and I SWEAR my goal this weekend is to get some pics up of the house so you can see were I/we are living and the cuteness of it all (my other goal this weekend: stay awake for at least the first half of the Superbowl). But I need to clean up my bedroom first, as well as look up exactly what dim sum is all about, since I'm going for dim sum tomorrow in Chinatown (hey, I grew up in Iowa people, we are a little slow on these things...like dim sum). Hopefully I can deal with a meal that does not revolve around chicken curry....
--London fashion for women is solely centered on leggings and tall boots.
--Tesco is a delightful grocery that has food and tights (i.e. lightweight leggings).
--I am obsessed with chicken curry.
--You too can be a volunteer constable.
--I don't know what dim sum is.
Ok, so here's the real post now]:
I'll admit from the outset I am almost delirious so if this seems like an incoherent ramble, well, it probably is. Feel free to skip this post if you like, I won't be offended, I promise.
We are almost done with the official Week One of classes and house life, etc. Overall, I would say all is going well. Other than a few lockouts and a student who had a hometown friend tragically die in a car accident on Tuesday (poor John!), it has been a pretty good first week. We are slowly getting to know each other better and get into the 'rhythm' of the house. There are lots of rules and various procedures here that at times can be viewed as kind of random (until you hear the story about why the rule became a rule in the first place. Case in point: no food or drink is allowed in the Common Room (i.e. living room) because someone spilled some stuff one time and totally ruined the TV). That kind of thing. We have also learned that Sylvia, our house manager/cook, likes us to officially set the table at dinner (many of us, including me, were scratching our heads for a bit on remembering how to do this, if we were even taught at all. Unrefined Americans). Students have been pretty good about understanding why we can't use the huge oven/stove here--it has to be lit a few times with a few different sizes of matches, etc. and if anyone knows my history of kitchen incidents, you know that I am not going anywhere near that thing. Besides, yesterday at the Museum of London we learned that The Great Fire of 1666 (the fire that basically took out most of London) was started by a baker (though of course, other people/things were blamed for the fire in the end, including Catholics and the many sinners of the city). But the baker story works well as a cautionary tale. Now when I leave the students here on their own I simply say--"Don't be like the Baker and cause The Great Fire of 2010, please"). So far, so good on that front.
I'll go into some more about what we have done as classes and whatnot another day. I have random thoughts on the brain so what better time for me to spew them out, right? I really find one of the most enjoyable aspects of travel (and, in this case, living) in a foreign place are all the random observations made along the way, about anything and everything. I love pondering the issue of "Why do they do things this way?" along with its counterpart, "Why don't WE do things this way?" Good times. I am sure there are many more riffs to come, in lots of categories, but here's the inaugural installment of Random Observations:
1. Fashion: I can't get enough of people watching on the streets and on the Tube, constantly observing how women here dress (I watch men too, and how the men dress here...well that's a longer post for another day). I was in Paris this summer and was in awe, once again, at how amazingly chic Parisians (of all genders) seem to look, and how they walk everywhere with the craziest, most uncomfortable looking shoes ever. Now, while I have seen this at times in London, I would say it is not to the extreme in the same way. Surprisingly, female Londoners seem to have embraced the idea of relatively comfortable footwear. I mean, sure, there are some heels here and there for the obviously going-out crowd, but there is seriously a uniform for London women these days, and fortunately, it mostly consists of flat or wedge boots. Ok, so the uniform is:
A coat (therefore almost always blocking my observations about shirts/tops).
A long tunic or short dress/skirt
Leggings. Always. Always always black. I don't think I've seen a pair of jeans since Christmas in Iowa at this point.
Tall boots, sometimes with heels, often not. Sometimes Ugg boots. (I thought those were out of style though...or maybe I have lived in a warm climate too long to know one way or another).
I am not kidding when I say that approximately 2/3rds of the women (at least women in the younger half of their lives) are wearing some version of the above outfit. The good news is that it is not impossible for me to semi-fit in, at least in terms of my clothes (because, there's no way in hell I'm wearing heels to walk around London), and as long as you are in black, you're good to go. I mean, today I had a breakthrough, as a British woman approached ME asked where the grocery store was. Like I was a local. (Unfortunately, I actually didn't know what the heck store she was looking for, so it didn't take long to sound like a tourist again).
Anywho, at the end of the day, I must say I thought I would find some more intriguing fashion variety here. Maybe I need to get to different parts of town. I mean, where's the punk and all that subculture stuff they are always talking about around here, huh? I am also sort of underwhelmed by the style I have seen on most people (and no, I am NOT holding myself up as the gold standard here...my clothes are simply, well, super stale overall, but that's cuz I am a relatively boring dresser from the Midwest) but as Carrie and I talked about, either London is adopting a more relaxed style or Americans are getting more stylish, since the whole look here is apparently going on in America too--(well, according to Carrie in Minneapolis. Leggings and boots do not apply in Florida, ever. So, well, hmmm.
(Ok, to the men and/or uninterested who have happened to read this far, I'm moving on to a new topic now that that riff/report is complete. You can wake up now).
2. Tesco: Tesco is a main grocery etc. chain here. And it serves as a lovely segue from fashion into food. See tonight I was wearing a skirt, some tights and my tall boots (see above), and already ripped my tights. Whatever. But I stopped by Tesco to get a few things and I kid you not, the place is basically a grocery store only, but low and behold, there is this total section devoted to tights. In several colors and thicknesses (is that a word?). Like, just stuck in an aisle next to the cereal or something. How random is that? I mean, at the big grocery stores in the USA (and of course, in a place like Target/Super Walmart, etc.) of course there are non-food items, but tights are not the centerpieces there, they are thrown in with all kinds of other clothes and accessories, right? Yeah, not at Tesco. It's tights galore, then food. It's like the Tesco gods were reading my mind and voila! I was able to pick up sour cream, cheese, and tights in the same trip. Someone's looking out for me.
3. Food-related: This will clearly be a theme of these posts I think, because my project of exploring London's restaurants/foods is an ongoing, open ended one. I mean, London is not France, but man, I'm finding some pretty good eats here, and random things about the food. First off, I am basically eating some variety of chicken curry almost everyday--in stands, sandwiches, in the ready meals, etc. I love it and cannot stop eating it, at least for the moment. I have had amazing Indian lunch already and the rest of the restaurant food I've had is OK, but not necessarily great. I'm saving hitting the super-good fish 'n chips place for when my visitors come to town. Anyway, one thing I LOVE about London grocery stores is that they are chock full of ready meals (as they call them). Basically, think like a Lean Cuisine that is not frozen, or something from a grocery deli type deal. It's amazing, because not only are they pretty cheap, but also pretty good considering you just warm them up. And PERFECT for our situation at the house (which is microwave only for food we cook ourselves) but especially for me, the non-cook. I love this stuff and it makes me so appreciative of the London grocery stores. I don't feel so alone now, because at least it seems as if everyone in London is eating like this--I'm convinced no one really cooks here. It's just a warm-it-up culture. Nice.
4a. Annoying things on the Tube: I think I finally understand the idea of 'hooligans'. There were some drunk ones on the Tube tonight that were about 30 seconds away from me freaking out on them, they were so annoying, loud, and just acting like they were five, hitting each other and generally acting stupid. One almost pushed the other onto the train track. Way to go. I guess it would have made my Friday night a little more exciting.
4b. Weird things on the Tube: So I keep seeing this poster all over the Tube that says something like "Sign up today to volunteer for the police force." Like, apparently you can be a 'volunteer constable' around here if you commit to 25 hours a month. Seriously? First off, 25 hours a month, in any volunteer position, is admirable but hardcore (and not realistic for most people, unless you're unemployed I suppose). Second, the more important issue, is why would anyone 'volunteer' (I assume they don't get paid) to be a police officer? It's like, "Hey, would you mind signing up to help us, to deal with crazy people and people with weapons that may hurt or kill you--for 25 hrs a month? That would be great. Thanks!" And come on, if I'm in a position where I need to call on a policeman, I'd a prefer a professional, instead of Joe-Schmoe-I-am-volunteering-to-be-a-constable-so-I-can-be-on-a-powertrip. Wouldn't you?
Ok, my apologies for those that have hung in with me this long, I realize I'm halfway to writing War and Peace here, and I've only done like 4 observations (oh, wait, make that 5 since #4 was the two-parter). I guess I am known to be a bit windy. Anyway, I have loads of these things on the brain so I'm sure Random Observations will appear again shortly. And hopefully in a shorter form.
I am super slow on pics and I SWEAR my goal this weekend is to get some pics up of the house so you can see were I/we are living and the cuteness of it all (my other goal this weekend: stay awake for at least the first half of the Superbowl). But I need to clean up my bedroom first, as well as look up exactly what dim sum is all about, since I'm going for dim sum tomorrow in Chinatown (hey, I grew up in Iowa people, we are a little slow on these things...like dim sum). Hopefully I can deal with a meal that does not revolve around chicken curry....
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
And now for the students...
This post will have to be quick as I am A) constantly interrupted, B) in need of course prep time that is not at 2am and C) totally exhausted! So much for my delightful days of wandering around London on my own. I'm in House mode right now, and while so far has been good, it's been very draining. Such is to be expected with 18 new roommates getting used to an old home, new foods, new rules, and no sense of direction.
So before the students got in, I managed to get to see the West End production of 'Chicago' with Amy, a friend-of-a-friend-of a-friend who was in town for an interview at an International School. She was delightful and full of energy, and was excited to see Chicago too even though she had seen it before. We got half price tickets from the TKTS booth (like the one they have in NYC) and we were in the 4th row. On the very side, granted, but generally it worked out great. Holy crap, watching the dancers up close were amazing. Both the men and the women have INCREDIBLE bodies and are totally insanely sexy and intense. I mean, seriously, if you are woman and want to be in 'Chicago' you better be prepared to wear a full-body fishnet suit (with small bra and basically a thong underneath). Hard core. Needless to say, these folks inspired me to get to the gym ASAP (well, once I *find* the gym, that is!). Anyway, Amy and I had a delightful time out but then I had to get back at a semi reasonable hour...
...because my other 18 roommates began to arrive on Sunday morning. My first one arrived at 8:20am, the last was around 2pm. Sounds like few of them had any sort of major drama--a couple of flight delays, some lost folks on the trains, and the pair whose taxi driver got in a minor accident up the street from us, you know, the usual. The last few days have been a complete and total blur of learning how to do things, where things are, what NOT to do (ahem, the student who plugged in a power strip and blew the outlet out completely), where to go, how to get there, etc. While I am trying to answer everyone's questions as best I can, I have to remind them often that I'm learning/figuring out London myself now too, so just be patient! And for the most part, I will say, they have been great. Probably the hardest part of dealing with the house is that students have to do set up and clean-up of our two meals, breakfast and dinner. In this way, I feel like a manager of a restaurant or a MOM...it's a lot of "this is how you load a dishwasher" to "remember to wipe down the tables!" to "do you really HAVE to take a new glass out for everytime you need a drink of water"???? If this is how being a mom is...I may have to rethink that. Then again, if I have kids I can tell you, vow on a Bible in fact, that I will never, never, have 18 children. I'll leave that to Michelle Duggar, for crying out loud.
So classes got started today, beginning with Muir Morton, the fabulous Politics professor who has done just about everything, it seems...served 30 years in some police force here, served several years as a British consultant for the FBI in Quantico, and had some job in Parliament (I think it was a job, not an elected official, but he showed me some cool pics of him wearing a cool outfit!). He is great, and plans to take the students to Parliament and out to his 'country house with the thatched roof' and I guess I get to tag along too. Sweet!
Other classes continue on later today, then mine are tomorrow and Thursday. Too much to do, let alone head out and about in London. That will have to wait for the weekend, as will (finally) uploading some pics, I swear. Once my head stops spinning, I will, which hopefully will be soon.
So before the students got in, I managed to get to see the West End production of 'Chicago' with Amy, a friend-of-a-friend-of a-friend who was in town for an interview at an International School. She was delightful and full of energy, and was excited to see Chicago too even though she had seen it before. We got half price tickets from the TKTS booth (like the one they have in NYC) and we were in the 4th row. On the very side, granted, but generally it worked out great. Holy crap, watching the dancers up close were amazing. Both the men and the women have INCREDIBLE bodies and are totally insanely sexy and intense. I mean, seriously, if you are woman and want to be in 'Chicago' you better be prepared to wear a full-body fishnet suit (with small bra and basically a thong underneath). Hard core. Needless to say, these folks inspired me to get to the gym ASAP (well, once I *find* the gym, that is!). Anyway, Amy and I had a delightful time out but then I had to get back at a semi reasonable hour...
...because my other 18 roommates began to arrive on Sunday morning. My first one arrived at 8:20am, the last was around 2pm. Sounds like few of them had any sort of major drama--a couple of flight delays, some lost folks on the trains, and the pair whose taxi driver got in a minor accident up the street from us, you know, the usual. The last few days have been a complete and total blur of learning how to do things, where things are, what NOT to do (ahem, the student who plugged in a power strip and blew the outlet out completely), where to go, how to get there, etc. While I am trying to answer everyone's questions as best I can, I have to remind them often that I'm learning/figuring out London myself now too, so just be patient! And for the most part, I will say, they have been great. Probably the hardest part of dealing with the house is that students have to do set up and clean-up of our two meals, breakfast and dinner. In this way, I feel like a manager of a restaurant or a MOM...it's a lot of "this is how you load a dishwasher" to "remember to wipe down the tables!" to "do you really HAVE to take a new glass out for everytime you need a drink of water"???? If this is how being a mom is...I may have to rethink that. Then again, if I have kids I can tell you, vow on a Bible in fact, that I will never, never, have 18 children. I'll leave that to Michelle Duggar, for crying out loud.
So classes got started today, beginning with Muir Morton, the fabulous Politics professor who has done just about everything, it seems...served 30 years in some police force here, served several years as a British consultant for the FBI in Quantico, and had some job in Parliament (I think it was a job, not an elected official, but he showed me some cool pics of him wearing a cool outfit!). He is great, and plans to take the students to Parliament and out to his 'country house with the thatched roof' and I guess I get to tag along too. Sweet!
Other classes continue on later today, then mine are tomorrow and Thursday. Too much to do, let alone head out and about in London. That will have to wait for the weekend, as will (finally) uploading some pics, I swear. Once my head stops spinning, I will, which hopefully will be soon.
Friday, January 29, 2010
First Days
Hello everyone...er, Cheerio? ( for the record, I haven't heard anyone say that yet--and I am still not sure if it's 'hello' or 'goodbye' like 'aloha' is, but whatever),
I am finally here and finally taking a few minutes to update the blog. I have had a busy 48 hours or so in London and so far it is fantastic. Granted, there are no students here yet, I have a fabulous house in a terrific neighborhood all to myself, and most of my class prep is done. Talk to me in a couple more weeks and I probably won't be so glowing, but for now, it's ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!
So, I was hoping for some interesting stories from my trip over here (you know, like crazy drunk people on planes and such. One time I was on a flight from FL to Chicago with this old, very tan, and very drunk couple named Bill and Trish. They were completely hammered from the get-go and I watched as Bill had about four more vodka cranberries on the plane. I tried not to laugh as I watched as they--in all seriousness--tried to use their credit cards to order sex toys from the back of a Cosmo magazine (they didn't succeed). Hilarity also ensued when Bill went off on some woman in our row because she was a born-again Christian. Trust me, you can't pay for this type of entertainment) but alas, no interesting people on any of my flights (unless you count me, of course ;). I even had the double seat to myself on the long flight from ATL to London, and I almost slept the entire way. That was incredible, I almost never do that. I was actually kind of annoyed because only in the last hour of the flight did I see that the in-flight entertainment contained episodes of Nurse Jackie, that Showtime or HBO show I've never seen. It is awesome, but I missed out on the end of the third episode, dammit. Anyway, I flew through customs, my bags were on the conveyor belt when I walked up to it, and I took the train to London. The hardest part BY FAR was me schlepping my huge bags across Paddington Station to the taxi queue. But then when I got there the black taxis were so cute (just like the one Jo rides in, if you ever watch the show Supernanny) I didn't care anymore.
So I got to the house and Sylvia, the real house manager/cook was there to greet me. She was so cute and there was lots of 'oh you poor little thing, you carried all those big bags, you must get some rest' yadda yadda. I got the tour of the house, the lowdown from Sylvia, and a quick tour of the neighborhood. The house and area are amazing. The house is technically 6 stories if you count the quasi-basement (where my room is) and is quite nice, very charming. With just me, it's fantastic. We'll see how it is with 18 others arriving shortly. It is a row house in a lovely street that is just up the road from the British Museum, and one block off of Tottenham Court Road (I just love saying the word Tottenham) which has lots of stuff. There are two Tube stations nearby, but really, I can walk to the theater and shopping districts within 15-20 minutes so I wonder how often I'll really even use the subway. It's awesome. So I managed to unpack and get my computer set up, etc., do lots of walking around, lots of good eats (though it's so expensive to eat out here, but whatever, for now, it's good times) and some pub drinking too. My sleeping schedule is still pretty whack (I'm staying up to late and sleeping in WAY too late, but I suppose it's only a matter of time. This is the first time I've ever been in Europe where there hasn't been a rush to fit in a million activities ('We're in London for 3 days! We have to see everything!') so it's nice not to worry to much about sleeping a lot and taking naps. :) The bonus is that I was able to see one of my favorite students who is studying here on a different program, and today met up with Cristiane, one of my friends from grad school who lives here now. Cristiane--herself from Brazil--will be a GREAT contact to have here, as she's about two stops away on the tube and has a kid in school, so she has her days free. BONUS.
So anywho, my observations about London life thus far are pretty good. I have been here before but have been in so many better/more interesting areas now, it's great. I had forgotten about how international of a city it is, how big it is, how efficient the Tube is, and how polite people are, and how charming the British accent is. I find myself walking around a lot in places that sometimes remind me of NYC or Chicago (the commercial areas, for instance) but then I hear all the British accents and am like 'Oh, I'm in London!' Kind of like how now when I go home to Iowa and drive around, I'm constantly saying 'Oh look, an Iowa license plate' because I get so excited when I see one ! Both situations make me smile. :)
So obviously I knew that the TV situation here would be quite different than my digital cable/DVR back home, and we all know I'm in love with television, so I have gotten quite the kick out of British TV. There are two BBC stations that I swear mostly play the same thing, then a few others that seem to have lots of bad movies (think of Lifetime movies or after-school specials). The jarring thing is the almost complete lack of commercials (the BBC and ITV are both heavily subsidized by the gov't...I'll learn more about this through the BBC TOUR my students and I have for FEb 12th!) and just quick notes about particular sponsors. Things are on at weird times too. Like today I saw a show that ended at 11:26 am and one started right after it. Huh? But my fave is that today I ran into several shows that have been copied in the US on either TLC or HGTV, and one that was like Antique Roadshow on PBS. My favorite was the British edition of what we know as 'House Hunters' on HGTV. The premise is the same--a potential buyer looks at 3 houses, weighs the pros and cons, then picks one at the end. In the USA version, there is a lot of suspense...'which house will they choose?, then a review of the houses, then the final call. Then they will show an update of the buyer/family a few months later so you can see what they've done to the place. Here, the show progresses somewhat the same (look at three houses, talk about them) but the end is hilarious. No suspense whatsoever. Instead, the host and the buyer are sitting there, having tea, and simply discuss which house the buyer bought. No images of the 'winning' home, nothing. The woman just sits there drinking her tea and is like 'Yeah, I bought the 3 bedroom with the small kitchen' and the host sits and drinks his tea and is like 'So tell us about your grandchildren' and they talk for a few minutes til the show ends (randomly at 11:26am). It was cute I wanted to hug the TV. I mean, no drama, no suspense, no flash, no follow up. It's like they were too lazy to really finish the show, so they just went for tea instead. Or else, as we all know, it really just comes down to Americans being more competitive and flashy.
Anyway, I promise not to give you such a rundown of every TV show I encounter (though I was watching this really weird game show at about 2am that involved pulling letters out of a hat, and making as many words as possible out of the chosen letters--similar to Boggle. Then the contestants were like 'I made 7 words' and the next one would say something like 'I made 8 words'. Then the host would say, 'Ok, the guy with 8 words wins the round' but you NEVER SAW THE WORDS THEY MADE. Apparently, you don't need proof you can be a wordsmith on this show, they just took it for granted. I mean, what kind of game is that? Then again, maybe I was half asleep and missed a critical component of the game, I don't know) but as a media scholar, I get a total kick out of this stuff and it just cracks me up. We'll see, though..in a few weeks I'll probably be in the fetal position and throwing shoes at my TV begging for all my shows I'm missing.
And so, yeah, that's the rundown for now. I will say the weather is colder here than I expected, and it can change on a dime. Today Cristiane and I went to Indian for lunch and it was humid and almost warm, and by the time we left it was raining and really, really cold. Within an hour and a half, a big change. I love it, reminds me of Iowa. I did go to the British Museum yesterday and was basically overwhelmed with the artifacts and the HUGENESS of it all (galleries upon galleries of stuff from Ancient Egypt and Greece, mummies, Iron Age stuff...colonization and empire sure to get you a lot of cool souvenirs) and tonight my plan is to go the Tate Modern because it is open til 10pm and will serve as my Friday evening activity. More on those later, I need a nap first.
I have been taking some pics and will post them soon so you can see the Mary Poppins house I live in and what my tiny little flat looks like. Oh and my bathroom, too, is probably the best--I could literally sit on the toilet and take a shower at the same time, they are all in the same little room about the size of a phone booth. I say, seems like bathroom efficiency to me!
Hopefully the British 'charm' of all of the above won't wear off too soon.... :)
Sunday, January 24, 2010
The Clock is Ticking
So...yeah, I finally made my blog known to the general public, so ya'll should probably start with my first entry below to get the real scoop on what I'm doing here! (hey--when did I start saying "ya'll" anyway? Scary). While this blog is mostly for myself and family and close friends (or any stalkers out there), I welcome any and all who want to join me on my journey for the semester. I also welcome any publishing houses who want to option this blog for a book deal or movie script. I mean, isn't it basically the same thing as Eat, Pray, Love? Aren't I like a real-life version of Bridget Jones? (if so, that's fine, I just don't want Renee Zellweger playing me in the movie version. I'd say Demi Moore might be a nice choice--you know, we're practically twins with blue eyes and dark hair--but she can't act for the life of her. I'll cross fingers for Maggie Gyllenhaal for the movie version. There would be real Oscar or Golden Globe potential there. Excellent.
ANYWHO, I digress (and yet used to that--if you know me at all you know I'm a huge fan of the random tangent as well as parentheses). It is about T-minus 48 hours now until I'm on the plane to London (via Atlanta). I am mostly done with most things--packing, school prep, cleaning out my office (probably the hardest thing of all!) and getting my house in order for the extended absence. I am also full of nerves and anxiousness thinking about dealing with/mentoring/caring for and about 18 college students. And living with them. In a smallish old house that could probably go up in flames with a left-on curling iron. But I try not to think about that fact too much.
Anyone who has ever traveled with me knows I am a terrible packer. You would think by now with all the travel I have done I would be good and efficient at this, but I'm not. I mean, every time I travel abroad I remember that you really only need like one pair of jeans, a skirt, some sort of top, and a scarf. Yet, every time I get ready to go somewhere again I'm convinced that there's lots of stuff I might need JUST IN CASE (just in case what? The Queen wants me for tea? Posh and Becks call me to go out and party? Sheesh). Therefore, packing for being away for so long has given me a lot of anxiety. I mean, I make no claims to be a fashionista of some sort, but I just really like having my entire wardrobe available at all times. My shoe wardrobe too--I think I'm bringing a total of 7 pairs, plus slippers, plus flip flops. And trust me, I did some serious editing to get the numbers that low. I don't know what I'm worried about--for crying out loud, I'm heading to an international mecca of fashion and sophistication, it's not like there's NO SHOES in London. Cripes--I will probably need a bag just to bring all my European shoe purchases home with me.
So anyway, along with the clothes (ok, I managed to get my stuff in just two bags, which I feel is an accomplishment!) I have several other 'extras' as well. Because I'm cheap and I know the UK is super expensive, I went all Sam's Club and got huge bottles of shampoo and various toiletry items--which, of course, will probably have to be purged at the airport to some innocent (lucky?) bystander if my bags are too heavy. I also brought a few staples--granola bars, power bars, and yeah, Easy Mac. Because, you know, just in case I can't find a thing to eat while I'm there.
I have done all the other stuff, like officially forwarded my mail and given away all my full bottles of beer to friends. I'm trying to soak up as much of my TiVo and terrible reality TV shows as possible before I go, because I have no real idea of what the TV situation will be over there (this also gives me a great deal of anxiety, particularly because LOST starts up again for the final season in about 2 weeks. That AND the fact that I *must* be able to see who wins in The Bachelor. Priorities, people). I am feeling better about the fact that I finally learned how to use a webcam and have video chat set up--technology in this way rocks and makes me feel more comfortable with being away for so long. Because, anyone who knows me (to those of you who don't know me well--don't worry, you will soon) knows I like to be in the center of things. The life of the party, if you will (maybe some people don't think of me as the life of the party, and that's fine. I just like to be invited, really). And I hate to be away from the 'scene' I have established here in FL and one easy breezy phone call away from my family and out of state friends. But whatever. Who am I kidding. I'll be hitting West End theater and drinking my tea with milk and drinking room temperature beer in no time. Like in about 72 hours, to be exact.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Welcome to my blog!
For years I have considered doing a blog, but never really knew what I would write about. My ever-exciting life as a college teacher? My TV obsessions? My complaints about Iowa's cold and Florida's insane humidity? Well, now I have my chance: as of January 27th, 2010, I will be living in London as the Faculty Director of the Eckerd College London Study Centre (that's right folks, we're moving on to the sophisticated version of 'center' here) for the entire Spring Semester. As you can see from my blog description, my job this term is some sort of conglomeration between a tour guide, house manager, accountant, historian, doctor, mother-figure (I prefer to think of myself as more the 'older sister' type), psychiatrist, RA, travel agent, disciplinarian, and, oh yeah, a teacher. Here's a bit of an overview 'by the numbers', as they say:
Zero: Number of other adults or faculty that live with me and the students. Oy.
1: The number of housekeepers/cooks that come to the house everyday and will save my sanity (and provide a wealth of knowledge as to how I do all this stuff).
2: Number of courses I will teach while I'm there (namely, 'The British Experience'--which I consider to be better referenced as "Exploring London", and 'British Media and Pop Culture', which clearly will be delightful and full of investigations into the Royals, Monty Python, and Posh & Becks, ).
2: Number of week-long breaks where the students and I can travel (note: students can travel on weekends, but I cannot...save for the two special breaks!)
3: Number of rooms I have to myself (my own bedroom, bathroom, and mini office)
4: Number of other professors from London that will come to the house and offer my students other types of courses (Art History, Politics, Theatre--see, the 're' again--and Literature)
4: Number of men living in the house for the semester.
14: Number of female students living in the house for the semester (I can't decide who to feel more sorry for--the girls or the guys?).
15: Approximate number of weeks I will living in this pumped-up version of The Real World: London.
So, as you can see, I am insane for taking this on...
...or extraordinarily lucky, I'm not sure which. :) Actually, I am pretty excited about it all and try not to worry about some of the random horror stories told to me by other faculty who have done this before (I'll never forget my Division Chair who told me he recruited one of his best/sweetest/smartest students to spend the semester in London and told me, (and I quote), "She made my life a living hell") and hope for the best. I thought it would be fun (or perhaps I'm just narcissistic) for anyone interested to follow along with me in my experience abroad. While I've done a fair share of European and domestic travel, I have never actually lived abroad for any period of time (and certainly not with a house chock full of 18 to 22 year-olds that are kind of my responsibility), I'm excited to see what happens.
And I hope you are too!
P.S. Soooo....I struggled with a title for this blog ("Professor Pitcher in London" was just so lame-o) and recalled the delightful little automated announcement (delivered in a lovely British accent, of course) that runs every time you exit the London Underground train: "Mind the Gap". Which is saying, in a charming British way, that you better not be stupid and fall in that space between the train and the platform, you dumb non-urbanite or American tourist. :)
Zero: Number of other adults or faculty that live with me and the students. Oy.
1: The number of housekeepers/cooks that come to the house everyday and will save my sanity (and provide a wealth of knowledge as to how I do all this stuff).
2: Number of courses I will teach while I'm there (namely, 'The British Experience'--which I consider to be better referenced as "Exploring London", and 'British Media and Pop Culture', which clearly will be delightful and full of investigations into the Royals, Monty Python, and Posh & Becks, ).
2: Number of week-long breaks where the students and I can travel (note: students can travel on weekends, but I cannot...save for the two special breaks!)
3: Number of rooms I have to myself (my own bedroom, bathroom, and mini office)
4: Number of other professors from London that will come to the house and offer my students other types of courses (Art History, Politics, Theatre--see, the 're' again--and Literature)
4: Number of men living in the house for the semester.
14: Number of female students living in the house for the semester (I can't decide who to feel more sorry for--the girls or the guys?).
15: Approximate number of weeks I will living in this pumped-up version of The Real World: London.
So, as you can see, I am insane for taking this on...
...or extraordinarily lucky, I'm not sure which. :) Actually, I am pretty excited about it all and try not to worry about some of the random horror stories told to me by other faculty who have done this before (I'll never forget my Division Chair who told me he recruited one of his best/sweetest/smartest students to spend the semester in London and told me, (and I quote), "She made my life a living hell") and hope for the best. I thought it would be fun (or perhaps I'm just narcissistic) for anyone interested to follow along with me in my experience abroad. While I've done a fair share of European and domestic travel, I have never actually lived abroad for any period of time (and certainly not with a house chock full of 18 to 22 year-olds that are kind of my responsibility), I'm excited to see what happens.
And I hope you are too!
P.S. Soooo....I struggled with a title for this blog ("Professor Pitcher in London" was just so lame-o) and recalled the delightful little automated announcement (delivered in a lovely British accent, of course) that runs every time you exit the London Underground train: "Mind the Gap". Which is saying, in a charming British way, that you better not be stupid and fall in that space between the train and the platform, you dumb non-urbanite or American tourist. :)
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