Should I Stay or Should I Go

I have officially book my flight home for June 1 with a 5:45pm landing at SeaTac. With the email confirmation of my booking came the reality that my time abroad is half way over. I am pleased with where I have been while here, and I am looking forward to my upcoming trips. I have learned, experienced and lived, but I am not ready to go. I don’t think I will be ready to go even in June. I love it here.

That is not to say I don’t miss Seattle. I have waves of homesickness still. The most recent surge of melancholy was during the last week of February when I felt like I could weep on command. It could be a postcard of Seattle, a dog in the park that I wished was Parker, or a couple holding hands and the tears would flow without my permission.

I feel so emotionally confused by wanting to stay and missing home that the only feeling I am decided is one of conflict. I felt like "Should I Stay or Should I Go" by The Clash has become my personal anthem.

Women, Queen and Spitalfields

I celebrated International Women’s Day on Tuesday with Amy in true feminist fashion. We participated in Women for Women International’s “Join WoMEen on the Bridge” campaign where women (and gents) gathered on bridges all around the world to celebrate females. We started at Borough Market, crossed the Millennium Bridge, walked past Victoria Embankment Gardens, crossed the Thames again on the Hungerford Bridge and ended the walk at the Royal Festival Hall. The march was led by Annie Lennox, which was pretty cool and she spoke for a little at the end. It always feels wonderful to be surrounded by women who want to celebrate our gender, but also acknowledge the needed global improvements for basic gender equality. Check out this video for a summary of the walk in London and around the world: http://womenforwomen.org.uk/, then click the button that says, “Join me on the bridge 2011.” You can actually see Amy in the crowd at the one minute and eleven second mark. Unfortunately, I am blocked by a banner!

Annie Lennox

Wednesday evening I went to the musical, We Will Rock You. It is based on the music of Queen. The show was incredibly energetic with a live band, clapping and audience participation. The play is set in a future world where individuality is banned along with musical instruments. This rebel group must save humanity from mass brainwashing – interesting futuristic plot. The show ended with Bohemian Rhapsody, which is hard not to love.

Today I went to the Spitalfields Market with my friend Brian. We wandered among the street vendors, feasted on crepes and perused the boutiques. I made two happy purchases for the day. The first being an antique looking pocket watch necklace for £4. I love it. The second is an oil black and white painting on canvas of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament with their reflections in the River Thames. I love this perhaps more than the necklace. Between my savory goat cheese crepe, the purchases, occasional rays of sunshine and good company, it was lovely day.  

My painting from Spitalfields Market

Hakuna Matta

Last Monday was a colleague’s going away party after work. The entire office went out together and this type of British office culture is one that is entirely new to me. I have been out with co-workers before but this was something entirely different. Long story short, we partied. The next morning I was one of the few people into the office on time as everyone else straggled looking haggard. Including Monday night, last workweek was fun. For work, I have gone to a couple of Gorkana breakfasts. These are morning breakfast receptions where public relations professionals come and listen to the editorial staff of various British press publications. We learn about the best ways to pitch stories to the editor or a certain section of the paper. A couple of weeks ago I attended the one for the Financial News and this past Wednesday was for The Observer, which is a Sunday only paper on business and economics that is affiliated with The Guardian. On Thursday, I went to lunch with my consultancy’s CEO. I found him to be a highly intimidating northern Irishman until we sat down for lunch. I was appreciative for the chance to break the ice with him as well as get to glean some of his PR knowledge.

My kitchen before the Ministry of Sound

On Saturday night, I went out for Mary’s birthday to one of London famous dance and concert venues called the Ministry of Sound. I kept calling it the Ministry of Music until a co-worker corrected me, while Mary kept calling it the Sound of Music. Luckily, we figured it out and made it there.

On Sunday, we went to the musical, The Lion King, at Lyceum Theatre. IT WAS THE MOST EPIC PLAY I HAVE EVER SEEN. I am in love with it. The costumes and set were incredible. My favorite costumes belonged to the elephant with one person in each leg, and the giraffes (people on stilts moving with the grace of a real giraffe). The space was used wonderfully with the cast in the aisles and the balconies were used to make it look like birds were flying overhead during the circle of life song. It was magical. (Click this link and as the page loads you will get to glimpse what I saw. http://www.disney.co.uk/MusicalTheatre/TheLionKing/)

Hakuna matta

Portraits & Pondering, Rocks with no Roll, Wandering with Water

Tuesday I went to the National Portrait Gallery with Amy. We saw paintings, sketches and marble busts of the great English monarchs and their peers from the Tudor dynasty, to William Shakespeare and many in between all the way to Judi Dench’s fulllength portrait that hangs in the contemporary exhibit. I went back by myself on Wednesday and spent a couple of hours in the two rooms devoted to the Tudors. I should preface this by saying I am obsessed with King Henry VIII, his wives and especially his two daughters, Mary I and Elizabeth I. My favorite portrait of King Henry VIII is more of a sketch of him with his father, Henry VII in the background. The sketch was a preliminary drawing of what would have been a great portrait of himself, his parents, his third wife Jane Seymour who was the mother of his male heir, Edward VI to celebrate the Tudor line. I sat there looking at his body language, facial expressions and strategically chosen clothing, wandering what kind of man were you alone? How did you justify your choice of spouses and the treatment of your daughters?  I find him so intriguing. There were three painting of Elizabeth I that I loved. The first is of her coronation as a young woman where she is holding an orb and scepter as symbols of her authority. The second is from later in her reign where her face still looks ageless as she cast herself as the virgin queen ruling my divine right. The last is Elizabeth in a gigantic, puffy white dress standing on a map of the globe. I feel like they show an evolution of her as a person and a monarch.

MoMo's Lanterns

Outside of MoMo's

Wednesday I went to dinner at a North African restaurant called MoMo. The atmosphere was wonderful with lanterns hanging from the ceiling, candles burning, and Maghrebian music bumping. We sipped on sweet teas and feasted on hummus and lamb. It has reinforced my belief that someday I must go to Morocco. After dinner, we went to the Comedy Store for improv night. The players did hilarious skits partnered with suggestions from the audiences.

Yesterday I went with the University of Westminster social program to Stonehenge and Bath. We first stopped at Stonehenge. The stones are really impressive based on how they were brought from the coastal mountains of Wales to inland England and built in a rock formation that marks the summer solstice and tracks the movement and the moon and sun. In truth, we were only there for about forty minutes. That is how long it takes to walk around the exterior, take pictures and listen to the audio guide.



The afternoon was spent in Bath, where I wish we had more time. We started at the Roman Baths that were built around the city’s natural hot springs during ancient times. You cannot actually touch or drink the springs though because they are contaminated with meningitis. We went to lunch where I tried clotted cream and scones. Yummy! After lunch my girlfriends decided they wanted to do some shopping, but I felt that was not ideally how I wanted to spend my time in Bath since it was so limited. I wandered off by myself and strolled along the River Avon, meandered through the Guildhall Market and moseyed into some thrift shops. I spent the last hour sitting in a pretty park people watching and thinking. I have decided I am happy with me now and the me I am growing into. In this park, I was laughing at my own jokes and observations, consequently it is safe to conclude I enjoy my own company.

The park where I did my pondering

The River Avon

Leprechauns, Vikings and Catholics

We arrived in Dublin in the early afternoon on Friday. We were checked into our hostel and then headed for lunch. We stayed at the Abbey Court, which is a pretty cool hostel right on the north side of the Liffey River that serves a free, honest breakfast. The four of us were in a twelve-bunk ladies dorm so we shared a room with eight other girls. Amy and I flew in a few hours before Bri and Mary, so we crossed the river and walked around the Temple Bar neighborhood. It is a cute, touristy area known for its nightlife and cobblestone streets. Once Bri and Mary arrived, we all went to a three course Irish dinner that included live Irish music and river dancing. I will say river dancing blows my mind the way they bounce around and slam their feet on the floor. My Irish dinner consisted up some kind of beef, Guinness stew and soda bread. My Bailey’s Irish cream cheesecake was almost as awesome as the lady that played the fiddle better than the Charlie Daniels Band in “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.”

Saturday we got a decent start with leaving the hostel by 10am. It was a beautiful blue skies day that added to Dublin’s charm. We went to the Natural History Museum, which is full of skeletons and stuff things. I think taxidermy is more creepy than cool. The National Gallery of Ireland followed. It has some pretty paintings by Irish painters of old. Next, we went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells contains the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke and is from 800 AD. Trinity College turns a page every two weeks. My favorite part was the Long Room. It is this awesome antique library that houses 200,000 books with beautiful shelves, marble busts of important people and a gorgeous spiral staircase. The Long Room is 213 feet in length and in 1860 the roof was raised to make the barrel-vaulted ceiling and gallery bookcases.

In the afternoon, we went to the Guinness Storehouse and took a tour of the brewery. I learned all about the brewing process of with the basic ingredients of hops, water and barley. At the end of the tour you get to go to the very top “of the world’s largest pint glass” to see panoramic views of Dublin and enjoy a pint. Saturday we went to Temple Bar and had some “craic” which is Gaelic for a “good time.”

Sunday morning we on the Viking Splash tour. It was my FAVORITE thing of the entire trip. They use the WWII amphibious vehicles that can go on land and water. We rode around in Viking hats, heard about Dublin’s history and Irish trivia and roared at “unsuspecting Celts.” IT WAS AWESOME!

We ended at the National Archaeology Museum that house a vast collection of Viking artifacts and well as other treasures from around the world. We then headed to the airport and arrived back in London.

Busy Girl




National Gallery

 

This has been a busy few days granted there has been no post for close to two weeks. Last Tuesday I set out for the National Portrait Gallery. I had been there for an hour before I realized I was in the wrong museum… Both the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery are right off of Trafalgar Square. I accidently walked into the National Gallery, although I did find some beautiful art. It was more of a pleasant surprise than anything as I actually saw Van Gogh’s sunflowers and yellow chair paintings. The sunflowers piece has been a favorite of mine ever since I had to replicate it with pastels in fifth grade. I bought a miniature reprint to have framed when I come home.





National Gallery & Trafalgar Square

This past weekend I went home to my dad’s family in Horwich with my friend Amy. It was a pleasant and calm weekend. I got a pedicure that was nice, but I definitely not the pedicure I get from Regina’s Nails in West Seattle with my mom. It was great to see the family and pick my other piece of luggage. I was highly entertained by the attempts to replicate our American accents from Dane, Sammy, Karen and even Emma and Thomas.

Tonight I went to dinner at the Mayflower pub. The pub is built in the location of the original mooring of the Mayflower that left England on September 6, 1620 for the new world. I had a Kobe burger that was the first American sized portion I have seen in two months! I also tried a new ale called Speckled Hen. I do not think I will be sipping upon it again. My favorite English ale is definitely Doombarg (sp?), which is a beer the English classify as a “bitter” ale when I would be more prone to call it an amber ale.

Tomorrow I am heading to Dublin for the weekend, so I will be back with a report on Ireland in a few days.

Football and the Prime Meridian

On Wednesday, I went to the football game of Fulham verses Newcastle. What shenanigans an English football game is! The supporters of each team were chanting back and forth to each other and singing their club songs constantly. One of the chants by Newcastle fans for one of the players called Fabricio Coloccini goes like this:

Oh Coloccini you are the love of my life
oh Coloccini I'd let you shag my wife
oh Coloccini I want curly hair too.

Fulham won the game with one goal against Newcastle’s zero. It took me until the end of the game to figure out which team was in the white jerseys and who were the blues. The game itself was shenanigans, but the pub beforehand was CRAZY. It was pack as tightly as a sardine can. I went to the game with four other girls and in the pub was ten women counting the other ladies that were there compared to the sixty men stuffed inside this pub with us.

 

Yesterday I spent the day at Greenwich. We took a boat cruise down the River Thames to the Greenwich Pier. We went on a walking tour through Greenwich and learned about its history. It originally started as a royal residence, but eventually it was converted into hospital and college for the Royal Navy. One of the truly exceptional buildings houses the Painted Hall (see pictures below). As you may have guess, it is a hall where every piece of the walls and ceiling are painted. It took one painter named John something twenty years to paint the entire hall. My favorite part of the day was at the Greenwich Observatory. This is where the Prime Meridian runs through London marking the dividing line between the eastern and western hemispheres at 0° 0’ 0”. I have been in two places at once.



Greenwich



Painted Hall







Painted Hall




Painted Hall




Prime Meridian

This morning I walked down to my neighborhood Sunday Famers’ Market. It is days like these where the London ordinary feels wonderful to me. It is premature to say that I am a Londoner when I have been here just over a month, but on simple outings to my farmers’ market I feel connected to London and the lifestyle here. Now I must go read Gulliver’s Travels for my Rise of the Novel class. Fortunately, my adventures have not been as twisted or satirical as Gulliver’s.