City Mouse, Country Mouse

This weekend I got to go up to London to catch up and see some familiar faces. The train ride was really easy and only about an hour on the fast train, which is like commuting from NJ to NY, so really convenient and easy. I love riding trains, and the countryside we ride through is really lovely (minus the occasional nuclear cooling tower here and there; I tried to snap a picture, but we were moving too fast and I am not sure the guy sitting across the aisle from me would like me hovering and falling over him).

I wanted to sit under this tree...look at all that land!

I had a really nice Thai lunch at Busaba Eathai with a friend, which has now got to be the best meal I have had so far in the UK. Civilized food at civilized proportions...imagine~ It was so nice to eat things that had actual flavors and spice in them! I have found the food I have been eating in Oxford to be either cooked by me (=no good), or under-salted and bland. I need to start cooking better so my palette doesn't go to shit. My friend invited me to a home-cooked Sunday roast, so I hope to take up the offer. The one I had at the pub was good, but apparently I haven't had it real yet. Perhaps I thought the pub roast was good because I hadn't eaten meat in 2 weeks (probably the cause of my massive migraine this past Wednesday), and have been living on soup and sandwiches.

After lunch, I met up with Michelle and went to this work event called Le Book, walked around for an hour, and then ventured to go meet up with Yuan and Andrew at their apartment (flat). I have decided that the Tube is torture during rush hour (more than the subways). Unfortunately my trip from Victoria up to St. John's Wood was during rush-hour, and there were massive delays on the Jubilee line, so I had to wait for 3 train before I could squeeze myself on. The Tube itself was like a sauna and so claustrophobic. Because of my stature, people couldn't see I was in the space that seemed unoccupied and at one point I had to raise my hand to let them know there was a person here so NO they could not move in any further. 

I was a sweaty troll by the time I got to their place, which is right across the street from some cricket grounds. Their place is so central, spacious and nice, and I was quite jealous of it. I live in a house and still don't have that much space, but having a yard is a plus here for me (even though it is a hot jungly mess). After I dropped off my things and freshened up, Yuan showed me to her business school and we met up with some of her friends. Andrew was working late, the poor soul, so he joined us a little bit later at the pub. He looked like he was having it ROUGH. He has only been here a week, but his office seems to be putting his nose to the stone right away. 

After the pub, we just walked around a bit, grabbed dinner, and then went to a wine bar to catch up. By the way Kevin, these pics are for you. The shwarma wasn't as good as last time, I didn't think, but perhaps it was because I wasn't drunk and Somalian this time:

Our conversation veered towards our initial experiences in the U.K. so far. I think the biggest difference that colors our mind-sets is that I live in Oxford (a city, but not really), and they live in London (a proper city). I had no expectations that Oxford would be or have anything that NYC had for me. It has been a pleasant surprise when there are things that are similar in that way. They came to London, which is a large sprawling city, so it is easier for them to compare city to city. I understand their qualms with certain things for sure (pull switches in the bathrooms? no Duane Reade?), and I am sure given time, it will just become part of their routine, quirky, and perhaps even fun in it's own way. There is definitely a difference in the culture shocks we are experiencing. I tend to think nothing is a city compared to New York in it's efficiency and manic-pace, but then again, that is part of the reason I decided to take a break from it and chill out. However, we did have a drunk session of lamenting the things we did miss, seen in this picture below:

It was great to see someone who has known me, for what is it now, 10 years? It's a lot of work getting to know people, and add in a dash of cultural differences, it makes it a bit more complicated as I don't want to offend or become a typical American (what did my English friend tell me: fat and stupid? hahaha, I am American, and I agree that is true to a certain point). It's strange, but because both America and England are English speaking, developed countries, I didn't expect there to be such differences in social mores, but maybe I am just being too cautious to not come across as my sardonic self. Also, I am not around that many Americans, where Andrew and Yuan seem to only know ex-pats. The only American I did meet was at this party, and she had no interest in talking to me. How rude. She was from Philly so whatever with her.

Anyways, I digress, back to the weekend. The following day, Andrew and I went around together because Yuan had to study, so we had brunch and just strolled the streets. I saw these things on the way:

Cabbages AND frocks?! I saw many frocks (dresses), but not a cabbage in sight. 

I want the little one of these vacuums. It makes me happy.

I just liked this remote, because its size is ridiculous. At least you won't lose it?

After that, I knew of the Frieze Art festival happening at Regent's Park which is right by their apartment. This is about as close as we got to the festival:

The admission cost was 25pounds, so we thought it best to avoid at this point as Andrew and I have not received our first UK pay checks yet (still living on the sad dollar). We ended up just walking around the park, which was gorgeous. Unlike Central Park, none of the grass areas are cordoned off, so you are free to chill anywhere, and the landscaping was beautiful. There was a free sculpture garden, so we trotted around there a little bit taking silly, unrefined pictures with the sculptures:

This little house is now my dream home. I was telling Andrew that this shed was nicer and cleaner than where I was living at the moment, and this old couple turned around and started laughing with me. Sadly, my laughs were laughs of sorrow. On an off note, I think I look 12 years old in this pic. 

Here are more pics of the park:

These flowers are for those of you who took Euro-History with me. Danton-4-life! Viva la France!

I got back to Oxford on Saturday evening, because I didn't want to over burden Andrew as I am sure he still has some things to sort out. That evening, I went to go watch this movie with Michelle at the local cinema, which was way local around the block. Unfortunately, I did not know this and walked up and down the Cowley Road for 20 minutes and made it just on time. The theater was really old-school, bare bones. One theater, no concessions, from the ticket booth outside, you walk right in, no previews. I liked it a lot!

The movie is called Man on Wire, and I suggest you see it. It is about this French guy who tightrope walked across the top of the World Trade Center, and this movie solidified to me why people love and hate the French. This dude was nuts~ I love documentary films because it shows the randomest people with the randomest passions, and it makes me thankful that there are people to amuse me with their craziness. You all know how I relish in the random. I don't know, part of me was thinking "If some dude came up to me and was crazy about walking tightropes, riding unicycles, and wearing top hats and black jumpsuits, would I fall in love with him or would I run away? It's a tough call. 

The movie still photography was amazing, and there was something magical about what this guy had done. I think me having acrophobia made the movie somewhat thrilling. I could never imagine being able to stand on the edge of the Towers like it aint no thang. But I guess I was tricked into skydiving, so anything is possible. 

Also, seeing the Towers is always a combination of sad and moving. How amazing those structures were in our skyline... I always feel funny seeing them.

Enough nostaligia. My Sunday has been laundry day, and since our washers are big enough to wash one pair of jeans at a time, it looks like an all-nighter. I will also probably hear about destroying the environment from my roommate since I will be using the dryer. The guilt I feel for the earth! Check you next week!