I have realized once again how much money I don't have so am spending my weekend at home this weekend contemplating some cleaning and study but mostly catching up on Japanese Dramas online (to keep myself in the loop with my students, hello Tokyo Dogs and Samurai High School this afternoon) and on some British television which I have acquired thanks to an amazing friend. I was staring at my computer and TV screens most of yesterday doing very little so today I thought I would catch up another few days at a time of my UK and Paris trip which I returned from more than 4 months ago!
17 July
On the 17th of July I was still on my Paris high. It was time to get a haircut, purchase the world's best hair straighteners and see an awesome show.
The hair cut went really well I must say. She gave me a style that has worked for the whole of the last four months and still looked fabulous even when I can't be bothered styling it and as it has gotten longer. I only recently discovered some split ends but that can be blamed on more than 4 months of not having cut it. Hello hairdresser in NZ when I'm there.
I also had my first real coffee in a year. Yes, yes, I did. What a mistake! I had it after I'd had another coffee so it wound up being the second coffee in the space of 2 hours. Now everyone knows what effects coffee can have on people. In my case that day it had that effect and well let's just say I was in a crowded place and got just a little freaked out by the crowd, as can happen and had myself a minor melt down that my amazing sister helped me through. I got just a little bit over anxious I think. Too much coffee does that to me which is why I try to limit myself to one NZ strength coffee in a 4 hour space. The result was that my sister and I had the heart to heart that we'd been needing and worked out a thing or two about where I want to go and what I want to do with my future which was really really cool.
The place I got the coffee from Sacred Cafe in Covent Garden was amazing though. It was like stepping into a cafe from home. Seeing the salads that look (and taste) just like the ones in NZ supermarkets was awesome. The coffee, soy mochaccino (I can never work out how to spell that!) was perfect and I was in heaven! There was just something about that taste of home. Needless to say I went back that place just about every one of the remaining days I spent in London.
We had Italian for dinner just before the show we had tickets for. We went to see Priscilla: Queen of the Desert. It was amazing. Much better than the movie and I do have to say that the leads did the drag queen thing pretty well. It helped me get over my anxiety attack, by getting me singing along with the music and redirecting my panicky-ness to the very real fear of falling from the Gods where we were sitting, oh my goodness those seats were on one heck of a slope.
I definitely recommend going to see Priscilla, though, if you're in London, it's running and you can appreciate that kind of thing. We're talking Abba, Aretha Franklin and other showy music from that era.
The next day was up early to go to Oxford for the day.
July 18
We got up early to catch the train to Oxford from Paddington Station to catch up with my sister's friend from when she lived in China, someone whom I got to know when I was living in Wellington. She lives near Oxford and her father and sister both went there for university. It kind of made the University of Otago seem a little, well, not Oxford maybe.
The four of us had loads of fun attempting to punt before lunch. It's really hard. I eventually got the hang of it but was not so good at turning and kept almost falling into the water. Winner on that day was my sister's lovely boyfriend who managed to push us back to safety without landing in the drink. :D
I learned the rule in the UK about not being cheap when it comes to food. We ate at some random cafe and the steak, oh my goodness I have never had such a dry steak in my life. Eeew!
So we walked around Oxford a bit. It was around graduation time so there were a few people here and there taking photos for their graduations but not much else really. The buildings are amazing and I could really sense the history of the place. I really liked it. It especially liked stumbling upon an anti-research on animals protest. I'll admit to having considered arguing with them but then realised where I was and how many times my high school debating team used to win and how many times I'd given up on arguments of that nature since, so didn't. Would have been interesting though.
The protest was right outside a free science museum so we went in. My sister got horribly bored after 5 minutes but her boyfriend, our friend and I were really enjoying ourselves. I found a replica set of Leuwenhoek's (again not quite sure how to spell that off the top of my head) microscopes and got a little bit microbiology/microscope geekish on it. We then tested our abilities to draw a circle. Microbiologist/Political Scientist me scored 80%; Historian/Primary School teacher my sister's boyfriend also scored 80% and the winner on the day was our Zoologist friend who managed a stunning 85%. Well done to her!
We went for a drink at a tiny pub with another friend of my sister's briefly and then headed back to London for Thai Fusion for dinner.
Oxford is a really beautiful place. I really liked it and would love to visit again so long as it isn't the height of tourist season. The streets aren't really designed for loads of people and if you've been getting annoyed by tourists for the last week anyway it can be a bit much. I felt a little sorry for the people who live and study there to be honest. I remembered what it was like when people came to see Otago's clocktower and felt a little sorry for them because this was thousands of times worse and constant. But it is well worth a visit and a really nice place. And only an hour on the train from London.
19 July
Rest day.
Went to see Bruno at the movies with my sister. Biggest mistake ever! Do not watch it! It is not particularly funny. 'Nuff said.
And on that happy note I shall end this entry here and watch a movie about Salavador Dali, which I hear is actually good, to help me get rid of the bad memory that was Bruno, shudder! then do some Japanese study... maybe
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