It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Well, one thing that cannot be denied – London does Christmas big. Over the past couple of weeks I have been trying to take advantage of every “holiday-ish” thing that is taking place in London. Each major street has its own ceremonial turning on of the lights celebration. Since lights have been up on the streets since before Halloween many of these celebrations had taken place before I even started to realize the holidays had “begun.” However, on a Thursday night about two weeks ago we were able to catch the last ceremony on Bond Street as our Thursday night girls’ night. The stores stayed open late (stores here usually close between 6 – 7, not like at home where they are open until 9!) and offered hot chocolate, mulled wine, free samples of certain hair supplies, perfumes, and more. The lights were suppose to come on promptly at 6 p.m., however, London seems to work on its own time so around 6:15 there was a round of fireworks and the lights were turned on. The evening was completed with fake snow being blown from the upper story windows, which turned straight to soap suds as soon as it mixed with the steady drizzle of the rain which was falling that night in London (a bit slippery but clean).

London does Christmas lights on steroids, but they are gorgeous! Whole buildings are covered with lights and big bows. On Saturday, Eastern Boy and I attempted some Christmas shopping on Oxford Street. The officials had closed the street to cars because of the enormous number of people shopping; there wasn’t enough room on the sidewalks. There were lines outside stores to get inside and lines inside stores to see an item. It was crazy. Needless to say, we didn’t get a lot of shopping done! However, it was great fun walking down the middle of Oxford Street listening to the groups of carollers, which had gathered to provide entertainment and set the Christmas spirit.

The night before the shopping trip I gathered a couple of friends together for ice skating in Hyde Park. The night was clear and cold, but strolling around on the ice under the stars it didn’t feel so unbearable. Eastern Boy had never ice skated at all and Anne and I had never ice skated outside, while Em was the pro from Canada who showed us all up with fancy footwork and backwards skating. A fun time was had by all. The skating rink was located in the middle of a Christmas Festival called “Winter Wonderland” and was complete with carnival rides, a Christmas market, festive food vendors and of course, ice skating!

Since Thanksgiving is an American tradition naturally it is not celebrated in England. However, I decided the holiday could not be overlooked. On Thursday, several American friends and I made reservations at a restaurant advertising an American Thanksgiving meal. Overall the dinner was quite good (with the exception of the mac and cheese which was a little too hard to eat); we enjoyed each others’ company the most. On Sunday, a friend from Greenville hosted a potluck Thanksgiving meal at her house. We cooked and ate with many of the women with whom I am beginning to become good friends. We ate and ate and ate until the major topic was focused on napping. The event was just the perfect medicine to heal the homesickness I had been feeling.

A Dinner to Remember

When Eastern Boy has a night off work we try to do something special and fun in London. Since school as been dominating so much of my time lately, it had been a while since we had gone on one of our “London Adventures.” On Monday night we had plans to meet for dinner after I finished at school. I was craving Chinese but the only Chinese food that I know about was a take away place and rather expensive. We decided to pop in to a little Korean place not far from where I live. The menu looked like just what I was craving and reasonably priced for London eat-in (sitting down to eat at a restaurant is always about 10% more than take away. The theory is they have to pay someone to take care of you and wash your dishes afterwards!) prices. We were greeted outside by a friendly Korean face who kindly explained the menu and invited us in. Inside we were met by a warm atmosphere, where we picked a nice candle lit table for two by the window.

The descriptions on Korean menus are rather vague so we picked the cheapest thing, a spicy beef pot dish and an extra side of rice, for me. We were deep in conversation about our days and enjoying the complimentary snacks (sweet and sour peanuts, spicy cabbage, zucchini and lightly mashed potatoes with corn) when we noticed the food arrive at the table next to us. It was being cooked by the server on a small skillet in the middle of the table and it smelled fabulous. Eastern Boy commented that he hoped that’s what we ordered! It wasn’t seconds later that our cups of SOUP arrived. I think the server could see the disappointment on our faces because he asked if we were happy with our choice. We graciously said “yes! It looks wonderful!” but he wasn’t satisfied. He asked if we had eaten Korean before and we answered we had not. He picked up our soup and said “You were so confident in your orders I thought you knew, this is not ok for your first time. We will take this off the bill and I will be back to help you order!” We were both a little shocked at what had just happened, but rather excited about the prospect of eating the thing at the table next to us! When he returned he helped us pick out an appetizer (Deep fried chicken with garlic and honey sauce) and a sizzling table B.B.Q (thinly sliced chicken fillet marinated in Cah-chi sauce and thinly sliced pork fillet marinated in chili sauce) and a glass each of white wine! We giggled with excitement over our second choice and waited in anticipation.

To accompany our dishes the server brought spring onions, cabbage, a ginger sauce, rice and lettuce leaves. He proceeded to sauté the chicken and pork strips on the small burner he had set up for us until they were completely cooked. He then showed us the Korean way to eat the food. He put one piece of lettuce on our small saucer plates, a little bit of rice, some spring onion, a piece of chicken or pork, topped off with a bit of ginger sauce. He then instructed us to eat like a lettuce wrap. It was so good! We continued to eat raving about how it was the best meal we had in London until our stomachs were beyond satisfied and there were just a few bites left. The server then proceeded to wrap about the last two bites for us to take home and enjoy later! This concept is unheard of in the UK (and I believe most of Europe). I have many times asked for a to-go box and have been met with a blank “Are you a stupid American?” stare; now I just carry my own plastic container or order very little when eating out!

I have found it is so many of the unexpected experiences that stand out as special to me. While enjoying our delicious meal Eastern Boy changed his mind about the kebab book and now thinks we should write about small “hole in the wall” secrets that turn out to be the best little surprises!

Norway for the Weekend

Last Friday I boarded a plane with a new friend, Em, for Oslo, Norway. She had found a Ryan Air (this is the cheapest European airline, but provides no thrills – no assigned seats, no snacks, no in-air entertainment – unless you consider the continuous push to buy items from all their sponsors – you get the idea) for £20 round trip several weeks earlier. The plane ride only took about two hours and arrived 20 minutes early. Ryan Air prides itself on being the most on time airline in Europe and celebrates each arrival with a trumpet recording and an Irish voice saying “This has been another on time flight on Ryan Air! Thank you for flying with us today.” Every time I hear this I giggle!

Most Ryan Air flights land at the farthest airport from the actual location, but Emily and I had done our research for the most cost effective way into the city and loaded a bus for the hour ride to Oslo. We met some American medical students studying in North England and followed them to our hostel. The hostel was different than most hostels I have stayed in. It was top rated on Hostelworld.com at 68%, but wasn’t nearly has bad as I had expected. At check in the receptionist informed us that they had been having a problem with bedbugs and to be sure to check our mattresses. Bravo! Contrary to what we were expecting the room was surprisingly pleasant and my mattress was free from bed bugs! There were four girls in the room who had arrived before us. They were living in London working as au pairs but originally from Spain and France and my first impression was that they weren't the most friendly of hostel roommates. Emily and I decided to drop our bags and go on a search for food. We had heard of an area that was known for “cheap” food and since Oslo was voted the most expensive city in the world we thought it would be best for us to find somewhere to eat in that section. After spending 100 KR (£10 pounds!) on average Chinese food, we headed back to the hostel.

The internet was only available in the lobby and while checking our e-mail the fire alarm began to ring. We were forced to stand outside jacketless in the freezing cold to wait for the firemen to arrive. We joked that the crazy girls in our room were probably the cause of the alarm. I suppose we should have knocked on wood because once we were allowed back into the building we discovered that the girls had decided to cook bacon on the burners in the room (most hostels do not put a kitchen in the rooms but provide a kitchen for everyone in the common areas) with out using any pots. The firemen told all of us that we would all be charged a 5000 KR (£500 pounds) fine for their stupidity if this happened again. The girls thought it was hilarious and one of the girls videoed the event and kept playing it over and over again. Thankfully there was no major damage to the room or our personal belongings. As if we hadn’t already had enough of these roommates, they all four kept us up most of the night our entire stay with their musical snores and gas-passing.

The next morning we woke up early to see the city, but were surprised to find we were the only people on the streets. We finally found an open 7/11 and asked where were all the people. The city doesn’t wake up until 10 a.m. on a Saturday. Still we were able to see a cathedral, a fortress, the Royal Palace, the Opera House, City Hall, the University of Oslo, the main city and much more. After a long day of walking we decided to go rest at the hostel and wait for our friend, Anne, to land and meet us for the last night in the city. We had plans to meet a Norwegian friend of hers for dinner; he had previously lived in Australia and worked with Anne. Once she arrived the friend took us to a lovely restaurant and treated us to the nicest meal (lamb shanks). This might have been the nicest meal I have ever had in Europe. The next morning he picked us up in his car and drove us around Oslo. We saw the ski jump where the World Ski Jump competition will be held soon and a Norway beach. We then had lunch at a nice little restaurant and headed to the airport.

Overall, Norway is a beautiful country that is incredibly cold this time of year and extremely expensive! It was a lovely weekend minus Beluga Bear and her posse snoring all night long! However, I think that might be my last trip for a while. I much prefer London and my own bed!

A Search for a Book...

School has taken over my life and given me no time to fully adjust to finding what I need in this huge city. The assignments are a lot of work and require a lot of research; however, I am still just learning where to find the answers to the questions I still don’t know to ask. After spending the last three days running around like a chicken with my head cut off looking for the answers to what I had originally thought would be a simple question and a simple assignment I finally made a break through! I discovered a textbook that outlines the acts and policies related to regeneration in the UK. However, I then needed a way to put my hands on it. I had already tried a couple of local libraries and the school library, but these books are high in demand! After a little bit of research I realized that my local library shares with many other libraries in London and the book can actually be reserved and delivered to my local library for my convenience. Only problem, I didn’t have time to wait a week for the book – I needed it today! So, after some pleading with the library to give me a library membership (yes, this is another area where many security measures are put into place!) and then pleading some more for her to tell me in which library I could find the book (she kept saying it was far away and I could just wait until it arrives. She didn’t know who she was talking to!) I headed off to the one library in the whole city that still had one book left! The library is located in Walthamstow and is about an hour and half trip from Earlsfield. I hopped onto a Southwest train to Vauxhall where I changed for the Victoria line underground. The ride actually took so long that on the way back I got most of the first section of my assignment done. Maybe I should study on the Tube more often! However, the experience in Walthamstow was one I think I might never forget. It wasn’t memorable in the sense that something so strange and bizarre happened that I might never be the same again, it was just a realization that I live such a different life than most would find ordinary.

Many of the areas around Walthamstow are areas that I’ve been studying in school in regard to the need for regeneration and have a reputation of not being the safest neighborhoods, so I was a little leery when stepping off of the Tube. The borough isn’t the most advanced or the most popular tourist destination, but there is something different about the people there. Everyone seemed happy and relaxed; each person I asked for help was so eager to give me directions. When I reached the High Street, I was distracted by the local market that ran down the middle of the street for what seemed like miles. Local farmers were selling their fresh produce for unreasonably low prices and were yelling out their inventory and prices to the people passing by. There was a mix of different languages and I realized most of the people around me were of middle Eastern descent. I noticed very few “white” people in the area and the few I saw I thought looked out of place. While the streets were dirty and the buildings run down, there was a strong sense of community in the area and my once leery feeling was starting to turn to warmth. When I reached the library I was very impressed with the selection and the lady at the information desk was much more friendly and helpful than the lady at my local library. She directed me straight to the book where I found another very helpful Urban and Regional Planning text and decided to check out both.

I was a member of the library in Greenville, but I never really took part in any of the programs that were offered. Honestly, I never noticed when I walked in any advertisements for library activities. However, in every library I have entered in the city there is some type of activity related to the people of the area. The Walthamstow library was dedicating the week to Islamic studies, my local library has a children’s hour everyday where mothers bring their kids from newborn to age three to sing songs and read books; it’s quite commercial really and many more things are going on at the libraries. I’ve decided to spend more time studying there. I get a lot done and the distractions are pleasant ones.

When I first moved to Columbia I used to drive around, explore and get lost. I always thought the best way to get to know a place is to get lost in it. Each day I push myself a little bit more out of my comfort zone and get a little more “lost” and learn a little more than I knew before. Maybe next week I can go to a different part of London…for a different book!