I just came home from the best holiday party of all time! It started with a showing of the final assignment of the semester ("the storm"): I was really really happy with how my group's ended up. We started at 11am with only about 30 seconds of material, and after two and a half hours of work we had a pretty coherent piece. It was a wonderful way to end the semester. We then talked about the imminent move of the school to Three Mills Studio, which is a major film studio in Bromley by Bow (major studio like we're going to have to get photo ids to get in every day: so excited to be a VIP!!!!). And then we had an international potluck, with dishes that everyone had baked from their countries, everything from Indian "broken rice" to British mince pies. We then presented songs from the different countries we were from: some highlights were a costumed Santa Lucia song with pastries handed out, a fabulous Greek song where the men sat with coats and cigarettes and the women danced, and of course the crazy Americans (the second years did a dramatic version of "Grandma got run over by a reindeer", and we first years did a medley with "Last Christmas I gave you my heart", "Santa Baby", some freestyling and beat boxing, Dona Nobis Pacem, and of course "Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg..."). And finally we gave and were given Secret Santa presents: I got some bath gel that I intend to use right after posting this (I sure need it, ha ha). And then we cleaned up and left the space for the last time: for the first years it's not so important, but the school has been there since its inception, 6 or 7 years now, so it was a bit of a sad moment for the teachers.
And that was my day! It was a fitting end to an exhausting, fulfilling, stimulating, provoking, and thoroughly fun 8 weeks! I'm headed home to Boston tomorrow evening to stock up on sleep, Tom's of Maine toothpaste, real maple syrup, and of course family and friends. And then the adventures continue in three weeks! Until then, my friends... :)
Friday, December 12, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
My face!
This is the final project we did in Space Lab, which is kind of like kindergarten all over again, except with dynamics and spacial relationships and other big words. This is supposed to be an abstract 3-D representation of my face. Looks just like me, right?
Saturday, December 6, 2008
The dehumidifyer is humming away
It's very wet in London. Example: today was a relatively dry day, the sun was out, not a cloud in the sky. And the current humidity level: 76 percent. Just imagine what a wet day is like! I actually don't mind the rain so much: it's usually just a drizzle, not enough to merit an umbrella but certainly enough to get one nice and damp. Our house, despite being in London, is not really built to withstand the wetness: today I cleaned a good deal of mold off my windowsill, which had accumulated from almost two months of constant wet. Thank goodness for my new friend the dehumidifyer! It has the amazing ability to pull startling quantities of water out of the air in a ridiculously short amount of time. In the past five hours, for instance, it's netted a good half-gallon of water, I'd say.
Other activities of note today: there's a Lithuanian Christmas fair going on at the Stratford station, with lots of useless Lithuanian wares which I didn't buy, but did ogle. What I did buy was a little wreath from Woolworth's, which seems to be having financial difficulties, or else just wants to get rid of all its stuff, because everything is super cheap there now.
And tomorrow, work! I'm actually liking my job quite a bit: talking to people is fun, and my coworkers are really nice. I'm considering staying there, despite the 1 hour and 15 minute commute.
School is awesome, but I'm approaching the burn-out point, so thank goodness for a break in a week! I'll be flying home to Boston, so if any of you wonderful people are around that area during the holidays let me know, I'd love to go for a coffee with you! :D
Other activities of note today: there's a Lithuanian Christmas fair going on at the Stratford station, with lots of useless Lithuanian wares which I didn't buy, but did ogle. What I did buy was a little wreath from Woolworth's, which seems to be having financial difficulties, or else just wants to get rid of all its stuff, because everything is super cheap there now.
And tomorrow, work! I'm actually liking my job quite a bit: talking to people is fun, and my coworkers are really nice. I'm considering staying there, despite the 1 hour and 15 minute commute.
School is awesome, but I'm approaching the burn-out point, so thank goodness for a break in a week! I'll be flying home to Boston, so if any of you wonderful people are around that area during the holidays let me know, I'd love to go for a coffee with you! :D
Monday, December 1, 2008
Another piece of my innocence flushed away...
The other day I went into the bathroom in the local Morrison's (supermarket), and the lights were BLUE!!! Now, I thought this was pretty awesome in a wacky sort of way. But then my friend Lauren, who was with me, explained that it's so that junkies can't shoot up in the bathroom, because they can't see their veins in blue light.
:( You learn something new every day, I guess...
:( You learn something new every day, I guess...
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Take 2!
And cut! :D
Yes, it got even shorter!
The first one was a tad too sophisticated for me, so I got my housemate Jill to mess with it, and voila! I'm loving it: so light, so posh, so easy to wash! (Yay poetry!) Gosh y'all, why didn't you convince me to cut off all my hair years ago? ;)
Friday, November 21, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
Paying the rent
Since I wrote last, I've found a job and started working! All of a sudden things like cooking, hanging out with my housemates, and, well, having free time are completely gone from my schedule. I guess it make sense that if you add 30 hours of class time a week to 20 hours of job a week (plus 10 hours of commuting), there aren't that many hours left for anything else. But it is quite nice to have a source of income, especially in this pricey town. And what is the job, I hear you ask? Well, you know those people who call you in the middle of dinner to ask you annoying questions about the number of TV's in your house and your favorite method of purchasing music and what you had for breakfast every day for the past month? Well, I'm now one of them! The company is called Synovate, and it does market research for companies like Sky (TV etc.), O2 (phones etc.), and Capital One. The job consists of sitting in front of a computer and bothering people at home, and then asking them waaaaaay too many questions if they agree to talk to you. Fun! One funny thing I've learned this week: you know when sometimes the phone rings and no-one is there? Well, I now know why that happens: it's a telemarketer or someone whose headset is off by mistake or who hung up on you because they wanted to take a break or something.
Feel free to go ahead if you like and start making bets about how long I'll last, but surprisingly, it's not that bad. The atmosphere at Synovate is really chill: everyone is really laid back and nice, and just about everyone is a design student or artist or other awesome profession. I think it helps a lot to be able to tell people that you're not trying to sell them anything, makes the job much less stressful. And they give you free coffee! :D
And so my life has settled into place! Home, job, school: that's life right now. And quite a nice life it is! :)
Feel free to go ahead if you like and start making bets about how long I'll last, but surprisingly, it's not that bad. The atmosphere at Synovate is really chill: everyone is really laid back and nice, and just about everyone is a design student or artist or other awesome profession. I think it helps a lot to be able to tell people that you're not trying to sell them anything, makes the job much less stressful. And they give you free coffee! :D
And so my life has settled into place! Home, job, school: that's life right now. And quite a nice life it is! :)
Thursday, November 6, 2008
The inevitable food post
I'm really proud of what I made for dinner tonight, which inspired me to write a bit about food in London. I'm managing to live on one 20-pound shopping trip a week, which is kind of fun, as it allows for all sorts of creative permutations using a limited number of ingredients. I've definitely created some keep-able recipes (like chicken and broccoli in garlic cheese sauce and my currently digesting mixture of awesomeness, which I will tell, I promise, just saving it for the end ;).
Part of the reason for my strict budget is that it's really possible to spend way too much money on food: for instance, in bars (which are inevitable destinations), entrees are anywhere from 6 to 10 pounds on average, which is approximately 10-18 dollars. It's funny, though: bar food here is pretty classy. There are of course the expected bangers and mash (sausages and mashed potatoes), meat pie, and other British delicacies, but there's also stuff like balsamic glazed free range chicken with organic braised parsnips and arugala salad with walnuts and goat cheese. And this is at every pub I've been to so far! Craziness.
I've also had some culinary fun living with people from different backgrounds: I guess this is also the time to talk about my lovely housemates, who seem to have remained undescribed so far (probably through sheer laziness on my part, sorry folks!). Jill is from the Boston area, but she grew up on the north shore, so she's had more exciting typical New England experiences than me (like skinning animals and making cider). She's been the one in charge of popcorn-making, when we've done that. Frank is from California, obsessed with Halloween and the washer/dryer (which is one machine: you put your clothes in dirty and take them out clean and dry... amazing!), and makes amazing things like root vegetable bakes and really delicious raisin soda bread (the recipe is really simple, but I don't remember it now: I can post it later if people are interested). Ana is from Puerto Rico, has the most infectious laugh I've ever heard, and is always making amazing concoctions involving rice, chicken, carrots, plantains, and things like that. And Gaidig, from Bretagne (France), my commuting buddy in the morning and the only smoker in the house (go figure), makes amazing things with sausages and cabbage and other vegetables, which she claims aren't really French but simply "Gaidig-style." We don't share food in my house (except for the odd trade of chocolate for tea bags, and mooching off other people's butter, etc.), so I don't get to taste any of this, but man does it look and smell good!
And now for the long-awaited amazing dinner of tonight:
Ingredients: cooked brown rice, pinto beans, chicken, and sweet potato; onions, garlic, cheese, salt and pepper. Preparation: Saute onions and garlic in oil. Add everything else. Devour (if you like, from the pot, in true grad school fashion). :)
Part of the reason for my strict budget is that it's really possible to spend way too much money on food: for instance, in bars (which are inevitable destinations), entrees are anywhere from 6 to 10 pounds on average, which is approximately 10-18 dollars. It's funny, though: bar food here is pretty classy. There are of course the expected bangers and mash (sausages and mashed potatoes), meat pie, and other British delicacies, but there's also stuff like balsamic glazed free range chicken with organic braised parsnips and arugala salad with walnuts and goat cheese. And this is at every pub I've been to so far! Craziness.
I've also had some culinary fun living with people from different backgrounds: I guess this is also the time to talk about my lovely housemates, who seem to have remained undescribed so far (probably through sheer laziness on my part, sorry folks!). Jill is from the Boston area, but she grew up on the north shore, so she's had more exciting typical New England experiences than me (like skinning animals and making cider). She's been the one in charge of popcorn-making, when we've done that. Frank is from California, obsessed with Halloween and the washer/dryer (which is one machine: you put your clothes in dirty and take them out clean and dry... amazing!), and makes amazing things like root vegetable bakes and really delicious raisin soda bread (the recipe is really simple, but I don't remember it now: I can post it later if people are interested). Ana is from Puerto Rico, has the most infectious laugh I've ever heard, and is always making amazing concoctions involving rice, chicken, carrots, plantains, and things like that. And Gaidig, from Bretagne (France), my commuting buddy in the morning and the only smoker in the house (go figure), makes amazing things with sausages and cabbage and other vegetables, which she claims aren't really French but simply "Gaidig-style." We don't share food in my house (except for the odd trade of chocolate for tea bags, and mooching off other people's butter, etc.), so I don't get to taste any of this, but man does it look and smell good!
And now for the long-awaited amazing dinner of tonight:
Ingredients: cooked brown rice, pinto beans, chicken, and sweet potato; onions, garlic, cheese, salt and pepper. Preparation: Saute onions and garlic in oil. Add everything else. Devour (if you like, from the pot, in true grad school fashion). :)
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Things that blow my mind in London
-Thomas, the head pedagogue of LISPA. Every word from the man's mouth is a pearl of wisdom. Example: "So we see that the larger we make a movement, the smaller is the space it takes up. And the smallest movement of all is respiration, the breath. All theater takes place on the line between these two extremes." Whoa.
-The bureaucracy, which I've already lamented about, but really is kind of astounding. Example: Today I went with Gaidig and Jill (housemates) to register for the National Health Service (hooray for universal healthcare!). We all brought bank statements from our home countries, passports, our housing contract, and the utilities bill. Unfortunately, I was the only one able to register because the utilities bill was in my name only and they don't accept anything except a utilities bill in your name or a bank statement from a UK bank, which can take months to get: they wouldn't even accept the signed housing contract. Oy gevalt!
-Chips and buttey: I haven't had this, but apparently it's a sandwich made of buttered white toast with french fries inside it. *gag*
-Tea and biscuits. It really is all it's cracked up to be.
-The bureaucracy, which I've already lamented about, but really is kind of astounding. Example: Today I went with Gaidig and Jill (housemates) to register for the National Health Service (hooray for universal healthcare!). We all brought bank statements from our home countries, passports, our housing contract, and the utilities bill. Unfortunately, I was the only one able to register because the utilities bill was in my name only and they don't accept anything except a utilities bill in your name or a bank statement from a UK bank, which can take months to get: they wouldn't even accept the signed housing contract. Oy gevalt!
-Chips and buttey: I haven't had this, but apparently it's a sandwich made of buttered white toast with french fries inside it. *gag*
-Tea and biscuits. It really is all it's cracked up to be.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
At the end of the day...
... I'm always tired. Which is good, of course, but makes it hard to write good blog entries. But I'll try anyway...
Today we had acrobatics! Gaidig (one of my housemates, with whom I have class) and I took the bus, which took us from Stratford to Hackney seemingly by was of China, so we were a little late. But not late enough to miss the conditioning, which was awesome/painful! The other classes were good as well: it's really hard to describe what we do, since it's such a "journey" (that's the favorite word of our teachers). I hope you all don't mind that I don't go into detail about what we actually do: it would probably bore most of you to tears. :) But suffice it to say that it's stimulating, exhausting, exhilarating, and wonderful.
After class I got a desk from Argos, which is this awesome store where you look through a catalog and find what you want (anything from engagement rings to dishwashers), write its catalog number on a little slip, pay for it, and then wait for it to appear from the recesses of some vast storage room in the back of the store. So I got my desk, put it down to put the receipt in my bag, then realized I couldn't pick it up again. So I called my lovely housemates Frank and Anna and they helped me carry it home. So now in addition to being sore from acrobatics, my fingers and forearms are sore from carrying a heavy box. Yay!
And that was my day! Tomorrow's another one, and then on Friday I find out whether I have a job! I'll be sure to update when that pans out, can't wait...
Today we had acrobatics! Gaidig (one of my housemates, with whom I have class) and I took the bus, which took us from Stratford to Hackney seemingly by was of China, so we were a little late. But not late enough to miss the conditioning, which was awesome/painful! The other classes were good as well: it's really hard to describe what we do, since it's such a "journey" (that's the favorite word of our teachers). I hope you all don't mind that I don't go into detail about what we actually do: it would probably bore most of you to tears. :) But suffice it to say that it's stimulating, exhausting, exhilarating, and wonderful.
After class I got a desk from Argos, which is this awesome store where you look through a catalog and find what you want (anything from engagement rings to dishwashers), write its catalog number on a little slip, pay for it, and then wait for it to appear from the recesses of some vast storage room in the back of the store. So I got my desk, put it down to put the receipt in my bag, then realized I couldn't pick it up again. So I called my lovely housemates Frank and Anna and they helped me carry it home. So now in addition to being sore from acrobatics, my fingers and forearms are sore from carrying a heavy box. Yay!
And that was my day! Tomorrow's another one, and then on Friday I find out whether I have a job! I'll be sure to update when that pans out, can't wait...
Monday, October 20, 2008
Better and worse
Better: I've officially started LISPA! Today was orientation, so I finally got to meet everyone, and it was so amazing! There were people who'd been working up to attending for 7 years, and one guy who found out about the school yesterday and was somehow here today in our class. And most excitingly, there were people from all over the globe! Countries represented: England, Ireland, United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Spain, France, Portugal, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Bermuda, Australia, Japan, Zambia, Italy, and probably others that I'm forgetting. Such an amazing collection of accents and people, I truly cannot wait to start working with all of these exciting people!
Worse: British bureaucracy is driving me crazy. I've succeeded in getting a house, a phone, possibly a job (interview tomorrow at a movie theater, wish me luck! :), and working on a bank account, which is pretty good. But until that bank account comes through, I can't get a phone contract or internet at home, which kind of sucks. But it's all good, everything will work out in the end. :)
Worse: British bureaucracy is driving me crazy. I've succeeded in getting a house, a phone, possibly a job (interview tomorrow at a movie theater, wish me luck! :), and working on a bank account, which is pretty good. But until that bank account comes through, I can't get a phone contract or internet at home, which kind of sucks. But it's all good, everything will work out in the end. :)
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
What a day!
I am exhausted! Today was move-in day to my house, yay! This involved me lugging all of my stuff (which I'm estimating weighs over 200 pounds) up and down multiple flights of stairs and on two trains. Some kind souls helped me get my stuff down the two flights of stairs I was faced with, but of course I faced the one flight up with no help... go figure. It did make me resolve to never get morbidly obese, because lugging 200 extra pounds up a flight of stairs is something I'd like to have to do as infrequently as possible.
Thankfully, me, my stuff, and my housemates were met at the train station by the guy who's renting us the house and his car, so that was lovely. We then proceeded to the house, which is a lovely 5-bedroom place with a patio and only one bathroom. There will be six of us living there, so the bathroom thing could be an issue. But it's uber cheap: the rent comes out to the equivalent of not much more than 400 dollars a month, which is pretty darn good for Philly, let alone London! So I'm psyched. As cool as the house is, though, there was no heat and I don't as of yet have my own bedding or pillow, so I'm back at Janice's for the night.
Oh, and another momentous thing happened as well! Well, two I guess... first, I went to see Two Gentlemen of Verona with Janice. It was quite lovely, but performed by a Brazilian company, so it was in Portuguese. There were subtitles, but they were in Shakespearean English, as compared to the company's vibrant, obviously colloquial take on the play, which involved song and dance, acrobatics, and varying degrees of lewdness (though let's face it, Shakespeare is kind of necessarily lewd, eh?). So it was kind of confusing to watch, but entertaining all the same, and definitely worthwhile, since I'd never seen or read Two Gentlemen before.
Second (which happened first, but is more important, I think), I found the perfect winter hat!!! It was at a random little market at the Stratford railway station, which is near where I'm staying. The hat is rainbow colored (no surprise there), funky patterns, ear-flaps, little tassel-y things, generally adorable and very warm. It was cold enough tonight that I got to wear it, joy of joys! Plus it was hand-knit in Nepal, so I hope I'm supporting small business or something. And only 7 pounds! Delicious.
And that was my day! Hopefully tomorrow's adventures will include the buying of bedding and the turning on of heat (and fixing of the refrigerator, come to think of it... rather troubling, that). I hope you're all doing splendidly, and that your day is brilliant! (I like the British equivalents of "awesome" and "sweet" and such, so I think I'll start using them).
By the way, if anyone cares, my new address is 2 Henniker Road, London, E15 1JZ, UK ;)
Thankfully, me, my stuff, and my housemates were met at the train station by the guy who's renting us the house and his car, so that was lovely. We then proceeded to the house, which is a lovely 5-bedroom place with a patio and only one bathroom. There will be six of us living there, so the bathroom thing could be an issue. But it's uber cheap: the rent comes out to the equivalent of not much more than 400 dollars a month, which is pretty darn good for Philly, let alone London! So I'm psyched. As cool as the house is, though, there was no heat and I don't as of yet have my own bedding or pillow, so I'm back at Janice's for the night.
Oh, and another momentous thing happened as well! Well, two I guess... first, I went to see Two Gentlemen of Verona with Janice. It was quite lovely, but performed by a Brazilian company, so it was in Portuguese. There were subtitles, but they were in Shakespearean English, as compared to the company's vibrant, obviously colloquial take on the play, which involved song and dance, acrobatics, and varying degrees of lewdness (though let's face it, Shakespeare is kind of necessarily lewd, eh?). So it was kind of confusing to watch, but entertaining all the same, and definitely worthwhile, since I'd never seen or read Two Gentlemen before.
Second (which happened first, but is more important, I think), I found the perfect winter hat!!! It was at a random little market at the Stratford railway station, which is near where I'm staying. The hat is rainbow colored (no surprise there), funky patterns, ear-flaps, little tassel-y things, generally adorable and very warm. It was cold enough tonight that I got to wear it, joy of joys! Plus it was hand-knit in Nepal, so I hope I'm supporting small business or something. And only 7 pounds! Delicious.
And that was my day! Hopefully tomorrow's adventures will include the buying of bedding and the turning on of heat (and fixing of the refrigerator, come to think of it... rather troubling, that). I hope you're all doing splendidly, and that your day is brilliant! (I like the British equivalents of "awesome" and "sweet" and such, so I think I'll start using them).
By the way, if anyone cares, my new address is 2 Henniker Road, London, E15 1JZ, UK ;)
Monday, October 13, 2008
Things are shaping up
Phone: check (07599 821 461, if you care to give me a ring)
Place to live: check (living with four other LISPA people! and I didn't have to plan it! woo hoo!)
Baggage arrived: check (hooray for a different outfit! I was starting to feel like those unfortunate actors on 24...)
Job: working on it... may be awhile. But what else is new?
Not bad for my fourth day in the UK!
Place to live: check (living with four other LISPA people! and I didn't have to plan it! woo hoo!)
Baggage arrived: check (hooray for a different outfit! I was starting to feel like those unfortunate actors on 24...)
Job: working on it... may be awhile. But what else is new?
Not bad for my fourth day in the UK!
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
The London Adventures Begin!
And I'm here! An inaugural Tube ride from Heathrow on the Cockfoster line (tee hee :) has kicked off my stay very nicely, as has the wonderful hospitality of Janice, a fellow Swat alum and LISPA student. I'm settling in to ride out the jetlag, armed with tea and the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice.
The flight was interesting: Philly to Boston, where I was met by Dad and a jar of Herring Bits (actually containing delicious butternut squash) which represented Mom... then to Rekyavik, where I learned that "Smabarnahlynning" is Icelandic for "Baby Care," and that modern Icelandic is so close to what the Vikings spoke that most Icelandic people can read ancient Viking literature with no training other than their mother tongue... then to London, where I made the wonderful discovery that the airline had lost the duffel bag that contains all of my clothing. Yay!
So that's how it begins, with a bunch of craziness and exactly one outfit. Sounds about right. :)
The flight was interesting: Philly to Boston, where I was met by Dad and a jar of Herring Bits (actually containing delicious butternut squash) which represented Mom... then to Rekyavik, where I learned that "Smabarnahlynning" is Icelandic for "Baby Care," and that modern Icelandic is so close to what the Vikings spoke that most Icelandic people can read ancient Viking literature with no training other than their mother tongue... then to London, where I made the wonderful discovery that the airline had lost the duffel bag that contains all of my clothing. Yay!
So that's how it begins, with a bunch of craziness and exactly one outfit. Sounds about right. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)