My last full weekend in London behind me, I set off for my remaining four days of work. For some reason, my program had us not working on Friday-- we didn't actually have exit interviews. Regardless, I was super excited as a walked/rode to work on Monday. Seriously, this was it! Last Monday I was incredibly antsy the entire day knowing that I was close but not nearly close enough. Now I was close.
The work week passed very quickly, for which I'm thankful. Tuesday night I went to see Pygmalion after work. The musical My Fair Lady was based on Pygmalion, so I've always wanted to see it since I really like the musical (and even have the soundtrack! But not with me, currently, more on that later....). Strangely, the play was much better than the musical at least plot-wise. The characters are more robust and there's a much clearer view of how the plot develops. Comparing the two, the musical seems quite shallow.
For example, in both the play and musical Eliza Doolittle makes clear to Professor Higgins that she intends to have only proper English lessons for she is "good girl she is" and will have nothing damaging her reputation. Although she is obviously lower class and clearly "dirty", she has managed to maintain a rare purity.
However, once she has mastered the art of being a lady, she wonders, while quite, understandably, exasperated, to Professor Higgins what she is good for now. The mannerisms he has taught her make her unfit to work in a flower shop yet because she is a "good girl" she can't sell her body in marriage or otherwise, though that seems all she has left to contribute as a pseudo-member of the upper class. Her realisation can be taken both as a remark on her as an individual and on the role of women in the upper class.
Oh my goodness, even as I write this I'm running through various other occurrences from the play. It was a fantastic commentary on class structure of the early 1900s in London. Its angles just keep going, and going, and going. But anyway, now that I've turned this blog into a discourse on comparative literature and theater, let me steer away a bit. (Though, if expanded, I imagine I could write a decent paper on Eliza's final realisation. C'mon guys, I'm trying to get into school mode again!)
On Wednesday night, I went to church for my final Wednesday night service. We'd been working on Psalm 18 since probably the third week of June and finally tied it all together this past Wednesday. The previous Wednesday, Pastor Jared had given us the divisions for the verses, and we were to find the connections and study the chapter as a whole. It was neat to see the chapter put together when we had just been studying it in chunks for the past 1.5 months. I've got a few pages scribbled with barely intelligible notes that I'll hopefully be able to decipher later on.
And then it came, that glorious final day of work! August 7th, the last day I would work at Pro Capital, Ltd. Finally. I sent a few emails in the morning and piddled around in the afternoon a little, but that was seriously about it. During the last two hours I just wanted to get out of there! I went out to my lunch park for the last time, taking with me my standard lunch of baguette sandwich, carrots, and a banana. But, I did buy a tippin bar (chocolate cookie bar type thing) to celebrate. After work, Oliver took us out for drinks which I thought would be insanely awkward but ended up being not too bad. He got us a plate of nachos to work on, which was nice. I've never had lime in my Coke before, but I couldn't really taste it. I think I might like to have lemon in Coke regularly. Hm, maybe I'll do some experimenting when we get back to the States.
We said our good-byes and Una (Oliver's assistant) and I walked to the Tube station together. I had to top up, so we exchanged our final well-wishes to each other. Suddenly, she was pulling me close to her side. "Uh, what are we doing?" I mentally asked. She pulled me to her other side. "Oh! That's what we're doing. European-style good-bye with a fake kiss to each side. Gotcha." Hm, I'll probably need to practice that a few more times before being comfortable to do it naturally. But, no chance now what with our flight taking off tomorrow afternoon (!!!).
As I rode down the escalator, I was a little sad. Strange, huh? The job I had waited to end was finally over yet there was a very weird part of me wanting it to remain. I think that's mostly because ending the internship meant the end of a certain amount of structure and security. You see, the internship had become normal. As much as it felt incredibly off during my first few weeks, I grew to be comfortable with it. Getting up at 6 AM every morning, eating my breakfast of tea, milk, two pieces of toast (one with cream cheese and raspberry jam, the other with peanut butter), and a clementine, riding the Tube while listening to my Mp3 player, going to the lunch park, coming back to the flat and having a glass of sparkling apple juice every evening. It was normal, it was structured.
But now that's all ending. My bags are packed, my carry on is ready, I'm all set to head out the door tomorrow morning never to return to this flat. Leaving will, however, be the end of a structure I have gotten used to. Some moments I'm sad to leave, some I'm ecstatic. On the culture adjustment cycle I think I'm bobbling between two states.
We all went out for Chinese at the place Katie Beth and I went to weeks ago. It's probably the only place where I've consistently gotten the same thing. Usually I like to try lots of different things, but at this particular place I found an item I liked and stuck with it. That item happened to be roast belly pork with egg fried rice. I've even eaten the entire meal with chopsticks all three times and have upped my skill level from laughably horrible to decently adequate. I found myself rather naturally picking up rice, pork, and cooked cabbage. The next time I have Chinese I want to eat it all with chopsticks.
Tonight, I went and bought a pasty from Baker's Oven and in just a few hours I'll head out and get chocolate ice cream. You see, Melissa, Katie Beth, and I got ice cream at that same place after returning from The Merry Wives of Windsor the night before KB was to leave. I promised myself that the night before I left I would get some more of that very same ice cream.
When Melissa left she had compiled a list of things she liked and disliked about London. A week or so before that, I had the idea to do something similar right before I left too. And my, was it going to be a list. I'd include good things and bad to have some balance, and it would stretch out for a long while. But see, a funny thing happened. I can't tell anymore what I like and dislike. London is...London. I haven't needed to 'escape the city' like I did when Katie Beth was here. I'm used to the whizzing cars, the lights, and the throngs of people. Every day I hear at least four languages and that would be a culturally relatively boring day.
Here's the kicker: I think in pounds, not dollars. It's been quite a while since I converted to dollars all the time. The conversion is ridiculous, always, so I just stopped and tried to spend money relatively well as best I could. I wonder if when going back to the States I'll be amazed at the 'cheap' prices.
It's weird. I don't know what I like and dislike anymore. It's all just there. I live in it. While this has been fantastic to adjusting to living here, I imagine returning might be slightly more difficult that I expect. Ever since early summer I've been watching my progress through the "cultural adjustment cycle." Boy, that thing is surprisingly accurate. We've all gone through the cycle at various times, but it has certainly happened to all of us. Perhaps during my five hours at the airport tomorrow or eight hours on the plane I'll draw up a graph to post on here. Or maybe Excel once I get back, we'll see.
And that's it folks, we leave the flats at 11 AM tomorrow for our flight at 4:10 PM. We land in Chicago at 6:45 PM, and from there my mom and sisters will pick me up. We'll spend the night at my grandparents house and then drive back to Burlington on Monday. I've got more to write, but I'm getting a bit tired (even though it's not even 9...) and a little antsy to be in the plane finally headed home. It's coming, tomorrow, it's coming. Wow, thank You Lord.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
The End of Touring
Hello, folks! Long time, no see! Well, that's really my fault more than anything, but, as I mentioned previously (a week ago...), I'm tired of just being on the computer! Goodness, this little Londoner needs some good 'ol big screen TV in her life.
Let's start with a quick recap on the past weekend:
I took off last Friday, August 1, because my program lets me have five days off total. That, and I really didn't want to work any more full weeks at Pro Capital. Anyways, that morning I went off to Alfie's Antiques Market just to look around. I kinda like looking at old stuff-- but I realized that each decade accumulates a lot of 'junk' that dealers try to pass off as collectible. Really, it's just out-of-date junk. Some of the stuff was neat but very much out of my price range. While walking back to the Tube station, I passed through a small street market and went in a fabric store to look around. My, it was a designer fabric store what with prices easily around £100 for a meter of fabric (3.28ish feet). In another small shop, I found a very classy set of slingback teal pumps for £15 but decided against them because I didn't really need them.
After the antiques market, I rode the Tube to Trafalgar Square and went up inside St. Martin-in-the-Fields (crazy long names...) to attend one of their free lunchtime concerts, which was a piano and violin duet. I really enjoy these types of sitdown performances and plan on going to lots of senior recitals at Truman this coming year.
From the church, I took the Tube up to Charles Dickens's house. Goodness, I've been trying to go there since early June and finally made it! My favourite part of the house was the curved wall and door in the dining room. It was neat to see some of the furniture saved from when Dickens lived there.
To round out the day, I headed over to Harrods for a final look around and a few pictures. Funny thing about that place, you've got the tourists and the shoppers. The tourists just gawk at everything while the shoppers plan to spend money. I saw a lot of Middle Eastern women decked out in bling-tastic burkahs ready to spend from their rich husbands' wallet.
On Saturday, August 2, Emily and I went off to Madame Tussaud's which is the original wax museum founded by, guess who, Madam Tussaud. It was neat to talk around the A-list celebrity hall not really knowing where the wax models were because they were usually not up on platforms. That way, you could stand next to them and feel like they were actually right there. I remember walking by a bald guy, doing a double take, and realizing it was Patrick Stewart. George Clooney, Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt, Daniel Radcliffe, Miley Cyrus, Orlando Bloom, Johnny Depp, the Beckams, Will Smith, John Wayne, Alfred Hitchcock.......The next room had sports, literature, and royalty folks such as Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, the child Mozart, the Queen, Prince Charles, Princess Diana, King Henry VIII, Queen Victoria.........later on was the world leaders room with Nelson Mandela, Saddam Hussein, Yasar Arafat, Adolf Hitler, Tony Blair, George W. Bush, the Pope, the Reagans, Nixon, Kennedy.........(this list is mostly so I can remember years from now)
Some models seemed more accurate and life-like than others. For example, the President Bush one did not at all look like him, well, except for the cowboy boots. Visitors could go up to most of the models to pose with them- even so far as to touch them, it was expected.
Because I'm a wimp, I could muster the courage to go through the SCREAM! part of the gallery. It was basically meant to scare you, a lot, with screaming, a lot of screaming. Eheh. So, we moved on and went on a small ride they've made near the end of the tour. It's something like the Epcot ride in the middle of the Epcot ball. You ride in a mini London cab fashioned with two seats and go through the history of England...except that the history starts in the Middle Ages. The history book I bought early this summer says otherwise.
After finishing up at Madame Tussaud's, we walked through Regent's Park. London does have very good parks; it's been nice to explore a few. Finished with that, we went over to the Covent Garden market for a look around. But first, food! I requested a pub so we could get pub food, which is one of my new favourite types of food. And, very typically, I got fish and chips, mostly because I didn't know if I would have them again before leaving (which I haven't, and probably won't).
We then explored the craft section of the market. I had a headache (from caffeine withdrawl, though I don't know why. I hadn't consumed any more than normal), so I bought a Coke for £1 (good price). We wandered a bit and had some fun seeing the neat things the vendors had. I like markets; they're much more personal than a store.
On Sunday, August 3, I made my traditional (at least for the summer, anyway) pancakes. Before they left, Katie Beth and her flatmates gave me a lot of their extra food. One of the items was a bottle of syrup though it's not really maple-flavoured syrup. I'd say it's a little more like Golden Eagle. Anyways, I always put a bit of that and some raspberry jam on my pancakes. At home, I eat them plain with butter. After breakfast, I went off to church and spent my last Sunday at Bethesday. :(
Pastor Jared didn't finish until 12:45 PM (service starts at 11) and afterwards the church had prepared a lunch to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. Interesting note: My first and last Sundays at Bethesda were on the first Sundays of the month, and, thus, each had meals. I left around 2 but because I was meeting Jenni and Emily to go to Buckingham Palace at 2:45 PM I couldn't go get my hair cut as I was planning.
From the flat we went over to the Palace, got our advanced tickets for 3:45 PM, and got in line to enter. All of the tickets are by timed entry, so there were basically giant groups of people being herded about. We even had to go through security! In any case, the Palace was gorgeous. I think I liked it better than Windsor because Buckingham is where the Queen holds state dinners. Since her reign began ('52 or 53'?), the only US presidents to have one for them were Presidents Reagan and Bush (current). During our visit, they had the grand dining hall set up for a state dinner exactly as it would appear. All the plates and cutlery are measured so they are absolutely in line when looking down the table.
The drawing rooms are so incredibly ornate. I still wonder why one would need so many, in essence, humongous living rooms, but hey, it's a palace. Also, the Palace has 72 bathrooms and over 200 bedrooms! Even with all those bathrooms, we had to use the temporary ones outside the Palace. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures, so I caved and bought a £4 booklet of postcards.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the end of Laura Beth's touring in London. I made a list early this summer of all the places I wanted to visit. Then, I filled out my weekends with what I would see when, highlighting each item in my list with yellow once I had set a time for it. When I went to the place I wanted to see, I highlighted it in green. My list is now completely green. Wow.
Let's start with a quick recap on the past weekend:
I took off last Friday, August 1, because my program lets me have five days off total. That, and I really didn't want to work any more full weeks at Pro Capital. Anyways, that morning I went off to Alfie's Antiques Market just to look around. I kinda like looking at old stuff-- but I realized that each decade accumulates a lot of 'junk' that dealers try to pass off as collectible. Really, it's just out-of-date junk. Some of the stuff was neat but very much out of my price range. While walking back to the Tube station, I passed through a small street market and went in a fabric store to look around. My, it was a designer fabric store what with prices easily around £100 for a meter of fabric (3.28ish feet). In another small shop, I found a very classy set of slingback teal pumps for £15 but decided against them because I didn't really need them.
After the antiques market, I rode the Tube to Trafalgar Square and went up inside St. Martin-in-the-Fields (crazy long names...) to attend one of their free lunchtime concerts, which was a piano and violin duet. I really enjoy these types of sitdown performances and plan on going to lots of senior recitals at Truman this coming year.
From the church, I took the Tube up to Charles Dickens's house. Goodness, I've been trying to go there since early June and finally made it! My favourite part of the house was the curved wall and door in the dining room. It was neat to see some of the furniture saved from when Dickens lived there.
To round out the day, I headed over to Harrods for a final look around and a few pictures. Funny thing about that place, you've got the tourists and the shoppers. The tourists just gawk at everything while the shoppers plan to spend money. I saw a lot of Middle Eastern women decked out in bling-tastic burkahs ready to spend from their rich husbands' wallet.
On Saturday, August 2, Emily and I went off to Madame Tussaud's which is the original wax museum founded by, guess who, Madam Tussaud. It was neat to talk around the A-list celebrity hall not really knowing where the wax models were because they were usually not up on platforms. That way, you could stand next to them and feel like they were actually right there. I remember walking by a bald guy, doing a double take, and realizing it was Patrick Stewart. George Clooney, Angelina Jolie/Brad Pitt, Daniel Radcliffe, Miley Cyrus, Orlando Bloom, Johnny Depp, the Beckams, Will Smith, John Wayne, Alfred Hitchcock.......The next room had sports, literature, and royalty folks such as Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, the child Mozart, the Queen, Prince Charles, Princess Diana, King Henry VIII, Queen Victoria.........later on was the world leaders room with Nelson Mandela, Saddam Hussein, Yasar Arafat, Adolf Hitler, Tony Blair, George W. Bush, the Pope, the Reagans, Nixon, Kennedy.........(this list is mostly so I can remember years from now)
Some models seemed more accurate and life-like than others. For example, the President Bush one did not at all look like him, well, except for the cowboy boots. Visitors could go up to most of the models to pose with them- even so far as to touch them, it was expected.
Because I'm a wimp, I could muster the courage to go through the SCREAM! part of the gallery. It was basically meant to scare you, a lot, with screaming, a lot of screaming. Eheh. So, we moved on and went on a small ride they've made near the end of the tour. It's something like the Epcot ride in the middle of the Epcot ball. You ride in a mini London cab fashioned with two seats and go through the history of England...except that the history starts in the Middle Ages. The history book I bought early this summer says otherwise.
After finishing up at Madame Tussaud's, we walked through Regent's Park. London does have very good parks; it's been nice to explore a few. Finished with that, we went over to the Covent Garden market for a look around. But first, food! I requested a pub so we could get pub food, which is one of my new favourite types of food. And, very typically, I got fish and chips, mostly because I didn't know if I would have them again before leaving (which I haven't, and probably won't).
We then explored the craft section of the market. I had a headache (from caffeine withdrawl, though I don't know why. I hadn't consumed any more than normal), so I bought a Coke for £1 (good price). We wandered a bit and had some fun seeing the neat things the vendors had. I like markets; they're much more personal than a store.
On Sunday, August 3, I made my traditional (at least for the summer, anyway) pancakes. Before they left, Katie Beth and her flatmates gave me a lot of their extra food. One of the items was a bottle of syrup though it's not really maple-flavoured syrup. I'd say it's a little more like Golden Eagle. Anyways, I always put a bit of that and some raspberry jam on my pancakes. At home, I eat them plain with butter. After breakfast, I went off to church and spent my last Sunday at Bethesday. :(
Pastor Jared didn't finish until 12:45 PM (service starts at 11) and afterwards the church had prepared a lunch to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. Interesting note: My first and last Sundays at Bethesda were on the first Sundays of the month, and, thus, each had meals. I left around 2 but because I was meeting Jenni and Emily to go to Buckingham Palace at 2:45 PM I couldn't go get my hair cut as I was planning.
From the flat we went over to the Palace, got our advanced tickets for 3:45 PM, and got in line to enter. All of the tickets are by timed entry, so there were basically giant groups of people being herded about. We even had to go through security! In any case, the Palace was gorgeous. I think I liked it better than Windsor because Buckingham is where the Queen holds state dinners. Since her reign began ('52 or 53'?), the only US presidents to have one for them were Presidents Reagan and Bush (current). During our visit, they had the grand dining hall set up for a state dinner exactly as it would appear. All the plates and cutlery are measured so they are absolutely in line when looking down the table.
The drawing rooms are so incredibly ornate. I still wonder why one would need so many, in essence, humongous living rooms, but hey, it's a palace. Also, the Palace has 72 bathrooms and over 200 bedrooms! Even with all those bathrooms, we had to use the temporary ones outside the Palace. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures, so I caved and bought a £4 booklet of postcards.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the end of Laura Beth's touring in London. I made a list early this summer of all the places I wanted to visit. Then, I filled out my weekends with what I would see when, highlighting each item in my list with yellow once I had set a time for it. When I went to the place I wanted to see, I highlighted it in green. My list is now completely green. Wow.
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