Friday, January 28, 2011
Field Trip Friday! -- Canterbury Cathedral
And Leeds Castle but I wanted to make sure the Canterbury pics definitely got posted here.
We also went to Leeds Castle, but I am only uploading one pic from that. The rest will be on facebook
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
To be or not to be?
What do you do when the family who has graciously offered you their home and use of their kitchen unknowingly attempts to poison you every night?
In London, I'm staying with a very nice British family who have very kindly taken me and my roommate in, given us our own bedrooms and a bathroom to share, cabinet space and a shelf in their fridge. We're allowed to do our laundry in their washing machine, they have internet that works much better than some of the horror stories of the other students, and the shower is also much better than what we've heard tell. There's good water pressure and so far I have not run out of hot water, nor heard anybody else complain of it. We are provided with breakfast, but have use of the kitchen for lunch and dinner, they only ask that we wash our dishes and wait until they've finished cooking before we start so we don't all try and cram in there at the same time. There is often wonderful smells wafting up the stairs from homemade bread, spaghetti, brownies, and other delicious home cooked meals.
My only complaint is that they live their kitchen messy. Normally this wouldn't be an issue I'd just swipe the crumbs off the table and out of my way, however when bread crumbs give you diarrhea you're a bit more wary of them. There is always a fresh loaf of homemade bread sitting on the kitchen counter and it seems like every other night there is a bowl of covered pasta just hanging out as well. These things aren't necessarily too scary, except for the fact that some of the family cannot seem to grasp the concept of wiping the table, or counter off. And even though they have a dishwasher that they do not use, washing dishes is an issue for them as well. Many times I have pulled a dish out of the cabinet that has leftover grime from last night's dinner. If I can clean my own dishes well enough so that there's no leftover residue and they're actually clean, so can you. I promise it's not rocket science.
How do you tell somebody their house is not clean enough for you when they've invited you in and are allowing you practically free range of their kitchen and the upper two floors of their house? Is there some PC way of telling somebody that they need to learn how to wash dishes?
Do I let it be and clean my dishes before and after I use them, as well as wiping off the table with a possibly dirty sponge before I eat, or do I tell them they suck at cleaning and need to not leave bread crumbs everywhere?
In London, I'm staying with a very nice British family who have very kindly taken me and my roommate in, given us our own bedrooms and a bathroom to share, cabinet space and a shelf in their fridge. We're allowed to do our laundry in their washing machine, they have internet that works much better than some of the horror stories of the other students, and the shower is also much better than what we've heard tell. There's good water pressure and so far I have not run out of hot water, nor heard anybody else complain of it. We are provided with breakfast, but have use of the kitchen for lunch and dinner, they only ask that we wash our dishes and wait until they've finished cooking before we start so we don't all try and cram in there at the same time. There is often wonderful smells wafting up the stairs from homemade bread, spaghetti, brownies, and other delicious home cooked meals.
My only complaint is that they live their kitchen messy. Normally this wouldn't be an issue I'd just swipe the crumbs off the table and out of my way, however when bread crumbs give you diarrhea you're a bit more wary of them. There is always a fresh loaf of homemade bread sitting on the kitchen counter and it seems like every other night there is a bowl of covered pasta just hanging out as well. These things aren't necessarily too scary, except for the fact that some of the family cannot seem to grasp the concept of wiping the table, or counter off. And even though they have a dishwasher that they do not use, washing dishes is an issue for them as well. Many times I have pulled a dish out of the cabinet that has leftover grime from last night's dinner. If I can clean my own dishes well enough so that there's no leftover residue and they're actually clean, so can you. I promise it's not rocket science.
How do you tell somebody their house is not clean enough for you when they've invited you in and are allowing you practically free range of their kitchen and the upper two floors of their house? Is there some PC way of telling somebody that they need to learn how to wash dishes?
Do I let it be and clean my dishes before and after I use them, as well as wiping off the table with a possibly dirty sponge before I eat, or do I tell them they suck at cleaning and need to not leave bread crumbs everywhere?
Thursday, January 20, 2011
One Week
I have been out of the United States for one week now. Let's recap!
My first day and oh let's say a half were scary. I don't mean being in a big city not knowing where I was going, that was part of the adventure. They were scary in a way where I was thinking I didn't know why in the world I was here or why I would ever want to do this, where is the nearest taxi back to the airport so I can book the next flight home. However I met my roommate and got my bearings, talked to some of you wonderful folks back home and started to feel better.
My roommate and I are on the 4th floor. Of course that's British speak, they consider our first floor the ground floor and our second floor the first floor, so we are actually on the 5th floor. Luckily our homestay family has a great house for this and my roommate and I each have our own room and share the bathroom.
So far we've visited Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament, The British Library, The British Museum, and many other big and small name places. I've ridden the tube a few times. And I love public transportation, after a long day of classes or walking around shopping it's really nice to get on the bus and sit down and not have to do anything, even really think, just listen or watch for your stop, but generally you have some idea when it's coming so you can daze for a while.
The tube is a whole other story. There is no cell phone service in the tube, most everybody reads, either a newspaper or a book. It's fascinating. Brits are very different than Americans. They do not start conversations with the person sitting next to them. Most of them don't play cell phone games, or grumble and complain because they have no cell service. They sit down, take out a newspaper and read up on current politics.
So far my adventures have been exciting. I can't wait to see what else is in store!
My first day and oh let's say a half were scary. I don't mean being in a big city not knowing where I was going, that was part of the adventure. They were scary in a way where I was thinking I didn't know why in the world I was here or why I would ever want to do this, where is the nearest taxi back to the airport so I can book the next flight home. However I met my roommate and got my bearings, talked to some of you wonderful folks back home and started to feel better.
My roommate and I are on the 4th floor. Of course that's British speak, they consider our first floor the ground floor and our second floor the first floor, so we are actually on the 5th floor. Luckily our homestay family has a great house for this and my roommate and I each have our own room and share the bathroom.
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| We have a shower and a bath, and there is a washing machine on the right |
The first few days were spent going through orientation and a bit of sight seeing. Then Monday we started classes. The roomie and I are lucky enough to only live a few miles from the college so we only have about a 20-30 bus ride there, and it's only a short walk to and from the bus stops.
So far we've visited Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament, The British Library, The British Museum, and many other big and small name places. I've ridden the tube a few times. And I love public transportation, after a long day of classes or walking around shopping it's really nice to get on the bus and sit down and not have to do anything, even really think, just listen or watch for your stop, but generally you have some idea when it's coming so you can daze for a while.
The tube is a whole other story. There is no cell phone service in the tube, most everybody reads, either a newspaper or a book. It's fascinating. Brits are very different than Americans. They do not start conversations with the person sitting next to them. Most of them don't play cell phone games, or grumble and complain because they have no cell service. They sit down, take out a newspaper and read up on current politics.
So far my adventures have been exciting. I can't wait to see what else is in store!
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Little Bits of the First Few Days
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| View from double decker bus |
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| Outside my bedroom window |
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| Part of Camden Town |
Friday, January 14, 2011
News Alert
We interrupt this broadcast to bring you breaking news. Sarabeth has left the country. (No, this is not Sarabeth.) Yesterday, amid sad faces, her sojourn began.
After saying good-bye to loved ones, she entered the restricted gates, reserved for the few, the strong-those brave enough to pass through the scrutinized security.
She narrowly escaped the dreaded body scan.
After gathering her belongings,
she headed into the unknown world of travel.
We just received word, that Sarabeth is alive and well. She has landed at her destination: London, England
We hope the next transmission will be from the UK. You may now return to your regular programming.
After saying good-bye to loved ones, she entered the restricted gates, reserved for the few, the strong-those brave enough to pass through the scrutinized security.
She narrowly escaped the dreaded body scan.
After gathering her belongings,
she headed into the unknown world of travel.
We just received word, that Sarabeth is alive and well. She has landed at her destination: London, England
We hope the next transmission will be from the UK. You may now return to your regular programming.
Friday, January 7, 2011
The Adventure Pants
Hello all!
I'm assuming you're here because you'd like to know more about my looming travel to the UK. However, I'm going to start off with why I decided to call my blog what it is.
My wonderful mother's version of the tale can be found here.
What I recall is, as a kid sometime in elementary school, I had a pair of amazing overalls. They weren't just your average everyday jean overalls, but they were tan. That's special in and of itself! But every single time I wore those I had an adventure. Okay that's not entirely true, but I made anything that happened that day out to be an adventure. Very quickly they became the "adventure pants." If I was anticipating a good day, or I wanted it to be a good day, I wore those overalls and it was a good day, epic adventure to Ms. Penny's farm or a good grade on a homework assignment, any of it was an adventure with the adventure pants on!
To this day, my siblings still talk about the adventure pants and give me a hard time about them. However I did love having a pair of adventure pants, because even if I was actually having a terrible day, I was in my adventure pants so something had to go right. You don't have a bad day in adventure pants.
So here goes nothing. In less than a week I'm going to put on my adventure pants, get on a plane and fly halfway around the world!
(Okay not halfway around the world, but it sounded better than just flying across the Atlantic Ocean.)
I'm assuming you're here because you'd like to know more about my looming travel to the UK. However, I'm going to start off with why I decided to call my blog what it is.
My wonderful mother's version of the tale can be found here.
What I recall is, as a kid sometime in elementary school, I had a pair of amazing overalls. They weren't just your average everyday jean overalls, but they were tan. That's special in and of itself! But every single time I wore those I had an adventure. Okay that's not entirely true, but I made anything that happened that day out to be an adventure. Very quickly they became the "adventure pants." If I was anticipating a good day, or I wanted it to be a good day, I wore those overalls and it was a good day, epic adventure to Ms. Penny's farm or a good grade on a homework assignment, any of it was an adventure with the adventure pants on!
To this day, my siblings still talk about the adventure pants and give me a hard time about them. However I did love having a pair of adventure pants, because even if I was actually having a terrible day, I was in my adventure pants so something had to go right. You don't have a bad day in adventure pants.
So here goes nothing. In less than a week I'm going to put on my adventure pants, get on a plane and fly halfway around the world!
(Okay not halfway around the world, but it sounded better than just flying across the Atlantic Ocean.)
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