Coming home!

Bobby and I leave Friday for two wonderful weeks in Virginia! Originally, we thought we had to go home to get our new visas, but it turns out that we can get them here so this trip is kind of unnecessary. However, we will be doing important things like seeing friends/family, gorging ourselves on Mexican food, going to the DMV, and going to the dentist.

Our tentative schedule is:
April 11-17: Yorktown
April 18-26: DC

Let us know if you would like to get together!

Things I Love About London, Part IV: Crazy Flavoured Crisps

If you’re not up to speed on the immense language differences between the UK and USA, then let me begin this post by explaining that by “Crisp,” I mean “Potato Chip.” If you order “Chips” here, you get “French Fries.” If you order “Fries” you get, um, ok, they don’t have anything called “Fries” here. Unless you’re in McDonalds where “Fries” still mean “French Fries.” Yes, it’s all very confusing.

If you’re an American, and I asked you what the craziest potato chip flavour you’ve ever eaten was, what would you say? “I think I had Thai Chilli Once.” “Salt and Vinegar is pretty out there.”

As a British resident, I can answer this question with the following answers:
*Cajun Squirrel
*Fish n Chips
*Onion Bahji

*Crispy Duck
*Builder’s Breakfast
*Chilli and Chocolate
*Prawn Cocktail
*Chicken

Granted, the first 5 I listed were part of a contest to choose a new Walkers crisp flavour (The Cajun Squirrel and Onion Bahji were surprisingly tasty, the Fish n Chips flavour was horrid), but even putting those aside, you can find flavours like Prawn Cocktail, Chicken, and Beef on a regular basis. Flavours I’m used to like Salt and Vinegar, BBQ, and Sour Cream and Onion (or Soured Cream and Chives as they would call it here) are harder to find- although they are becoming more prominent.

At first, I hated the British crisps flavours, but now I find the majority of them delicious and entertaining. I am finally starting to fit in with the people of this country who love their crisps and put a huge amount of pride in their crazy flavours.

Brighton

One of my favourite things about living in London is the great day trip we can take to other parts of England. For Christmas last year, my mom bought me this great Frommer’s book on the “25 Best Day Trips from London” that we’re slowly but surely making our way through.

Last week, we enjoyed an unprecedented 7 straight sunny days in London. For a people who hadn’t seen sunlight for nearly 5 months, this was AMAZING. Wanting to fully take advantage of this weather, bobby and I decided to take a day trip down to the seaside town of Brighton.

Today, Brighton is famous not only for its beach, but for its young, fun, Bohemian scene. It originally became popular in the early 1800s when the King Regent George the IV made it his vacation home. There he built the Royal Pavilion.

Royal Pavilion, Brighton

Modern day Brightoners hate this former royal palace. Inspired by Indian architectural style, it is like no other palace I have seen in Europe. Unlike the townsfolk, I actually thought it was quite pretty from the outside. Once you enter the Palace, however, it’s like you’ve enter Chinatown. It turns out that this decorative style is called Chinoiserie (French for “Chinese-esque”). At the time of George the IV, this style was very popular in England. Very few people had ever been to China, so they decorated based on the few touristy souvenirs travellers brought back. The inside of the place was horribly ugly, but in an amazingly ornate and fascinating way. It was so ugly, that it was almost pretty.

(They don't let you take pictures inside the Royal Pavilion, so I stole these off of the Internet. They don't really do it justice, but I think you get the idea.)

After the Royal Pavilion, bobby and I headed down to the beach. Unfortunately, it was not quite warm enough to sit by the water for an extended period of time (although may Brits were doing it- they have thicker skin than I). However, we did enjoy some fabulous fish n chips and a nice walk along the pebbly shore to the Brighton Pier. The Pier has a very “Jersey shore” feel to it, and I used all of my 10p coins on the cheap little games (never take me to Vegas!!).





Feeling extremely exhausted, we walked through the collection of bohemian shoppes that make up “the Lanes” and caught a train for the hour-long ride back to London.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable day. We’ll have to head back to Brighton when it’s warm enough to sit on the beach and go swimming (my British friends say that this does happen, but I find that they have a different definition of what “warm” is than I).

Happy Anniversary!

Bobby and I actually celebrate two anniversaries:  Our wedding anniversary and the anniversary of when we began dating.  I think most people stop celebrating their dating anniversary once they get married, but Bobby and I have been together for what I consider to be an impressively long amount of time, so I think it's important to recognize it.  Also, who's going to argue with having another reason to go out to a fancy dinner?

Yesterday was mine and bobby's SEVEN YEAR anniversary.  That is an amazingly long amount of time when you're 25.  We went to a fancy french restaurant down the street i've always wanted to go to because it's decorated with things like full-sized taxodermied giraffes, purses hanging from the ceiling, and fake alligators wearing crowns.  The atmosphere was AMAZING and the food was really good as well.  

Here's to year eight!!  

Avenue Q

First there was Shakespeare, and then there was, um, someone after Shakespeare, and now, there is Avenue Q!

Bobby and I went to see this musical last night. It is widely described as “Sesame Street for adults,” and I think that description is pretty accurate. It’s a mixture of actors and puppets entertaining you for a HILARIOUS two hours.

Click here to listen to bobby’s favourite song from the show: Schadenfreude (I couldn’t find any decent video, so this is just the song).

If you find that Avenue Q is playing somewhere near you, I can really not recommend it enough. I live in the theatre capital of the world, and work only moments from West End, and I think that this is the greatest theatrical achievement of all time (this, along with me thinking that Mac n Cheese is the greatest culinary invention of all time, could say something about my level of taste, but we won’t go there now). Sure, Romeo and Juliet is great and very romantic, but give me something I can RELATE to- like Avenue Q’s theme of a 20-something lost in the world now that he’s graduated from college and realized that he has no purpose in his life and that most people never find that purpose.

Really, drop everything you’re doing and go now. You won’t regret it.

On a side note- I am having so much fun enjoying all of the aspects of London I have had to avoid for the last year and a half (like going to shows) because my health would not allow me to take pleasure in them!! So thankful to be feeling better!!

Things I Love About London, Part III: "Civilised" Office Parties

A welcome-back party at my old office in DC would probably have consisted of:
- a cake (probably ice cream)
- paper cups and plates
- awkward conversations with my manager(s)
- everyone leaving after getting a piece of cake and spending the obligatory 10 minutes standing around and saying “welcome back”

A welcome-back party at my office in London consisted of:
- a welcome-back hamper filled with wine, cheese, and crackers
- “proper” wine glasses and plates
- my co-workers and I having a 2 hour debate about the morality of law
- everyone talking about what a “civilised” party it is

I really appreciate the classiness of the “civilised” London office party, but I have to say, I miss the ice cream cakes.

Things I Miss About America, Part VII: Drinking Soda Directly From A Can

Ok, so this may seem like an odd thing to miss about the states, and to tell you the truth it's taken me nearly a year and a half to realize it, but no one drinks soda directly from the can here!!

At my office, we have an unlimited free supply of coke and diet coke (very dangerous), so if one person is going to the kitchen, they will often bring back sodas for everyone.  However, upon their return, they have brought not only a can of coke but also an accompanying glass.  I always thought this was very nice but extremely unnecessary of them.  I would open the coke, drinking directly from the can, and then put the glass to the side to be used for water later.  

When I, however, was the one traveling to the kitchen to get cokes, I never brought anyone a glass.  I just never saw it as a necessity.  I've now realized that this was extremely rude of me, because British people seem to HATE drinking soda directly from the can.  

If Bobby were here, he could tell you a nice little anecdote about the time he was traveling up the elevator to his office drinking a Coke directly from the can and a British woman scolded him, telling him that no one should drink from cans because of the amount of rat feces that accumulates on them over time.  Now, i'm not sure if this is the belief of all British people (for example, my British friend has informed me that all British people know that a swan can break your arm and are therefore terrified of them) or just that of this one seemingly crazy lady, but regardless the aversion to drinking from a can seems to be country-wide. 

I do not plan on beginning to use a glass any time soon (to tell you the truth, i've eaten things worse than rat feces in my life), but I will now be more thoughtful when getting sodas for others.