Turkey Day: London-style
Day 1: Thanksgiving, American Expat meets London
Well, I'm still on the plane... fairly well organized for this trip. Mind you, this organization came at the cost of my health/sleep, as I only went to sleep around 2am and then had Mom call me to wake me up at 5am. It was *so* hard to get out of bed this morning, but as you can see (well, hear/read, rather) I've managed to do so. I did a silly thing and waited until last minute to wash my clothes and pack everything. Well, perhaps waiting to pack isn't really all that silly. However, I am thankful that Beijng is the skin-destroying desert that we all know and love, as even my jeans (when placed artfully upon my water heater coils) managed to be moisture-free by the morning. I would almost say thats one of the benefits of living in Beijing, easily-dried clothing, except that if I lived elsewhere, I'd probably have a dryer at my disposal ;p
Anyhoo, got to the airport early, very proud of myself. However I must remember to never do that again, what a boring waste of time, haha. I ran into Luo Laoshi and his motley crew of anthropology grad students on their way to that symposium on rural development in Japan. After helping me to buy some Er Guo Tou for my friend, they promptly disappeared. It was quite freaky, as I didn't even realize that they had gone until I turned around and *poof*. Nada.
One of my goals on this trip is to write more. This is also to somehow make up for the fact that I have to lug this damnably heavy laptop around with me, and all the requisite cables. The least I should do is put it to some good use. Mind you, there's still work stuff to do, plenty of work stuff. And the 5:19 website to work on, of course.
By the way: Happy Turkey Day! I called Laura to quasi-celebrate it this morning. I will definitely have to send her several postcards. In fact, lets write up a list of things that I should do on a frequent basis en Londres.
-- postcards, written and send (must find local post office, though I could use the hotel I suppose, but thats just so incredibly bourgeoisie...)
-- see at least one tourist site (just to get the requisite picture) Of course, picking out the tourist site could be hard... I'll probably just do it by location (whichever is closest)
-- writing more thorough journal entries. This is something that I wish I could have done more of when I was in Paris/Nice last year, as I had so many great thoughts but writing them with pen and paper was oh so very time consuming.
Hmm.. I've just begun to notice that my keys squeak. I wonder: can one put oil on a laptop keyboard? I'm just worried because if I can hear it over the rush of wind outside, then it must be rather loud.
Oh yes, and I am also worried that my version of English (middle American, that is) will disappear over the next few days. I've just asked someone if they were waiting for the LOO (gasp! the horrors!). Perhaps this is the reason why my language skills are so good (modesty aside, of course) because I really do get into the whole "chameleon effect" whenever I'm in a new place...
Damn I am hungry. I ate half a cliff bar earlier in the hopes that I wouldn't have to eat the whole one because they would serve food again. Wow. Shuo cao cao, cao cao jiu dao! ;) Just as I wrote that first sentence, they come strolling by with the veggie trays. I managed to get lucky last time and have an extra veggie tray, and it was freakishly good. I always had the impression that British food was rather bland, but hey, they sure know how to do new age vegetarian dishes well! Ok, to eat avec moi!
Day 2: jet lagging
I'm sitting in the downstairs lobby... bored. There was supposed to be wireless, but evidently they are out of wireless cards (I'm guessing that I will have to purchase one like a phone card). I've only asked for them to get me a half hour card, as I'm a little wary of the price. Fortunately I've also got the San Mao book to read. If nothing else, there's always those lovely widget games I'd downloaded before I left yesterday morning.
In fact... since my brain is awake but not necessarily in a 'thinking' mood at the moment, maybe I'll just play a game right now. If nothing else it might deaden the sense of boredom and the anger I feel at myself for being unable to sleep, especially since I'm not likely to have another chance to sleep later in the day. ;p
Well, it is almost 5am (finally!). I have another half hour or so to go... its so bloody cold in this lobby, and the retarded clerks are listening to the worst possible kind of club beat music. It all makes me want to hit someone. What I would give to be back in the Kerry Centre, or hell, even anywhere that would serve a cup of tea, ugh. Not a very good start to my vacation, I am thoroughly pissed off. When I next see someone walking through the library I am going to ask when they start to serve food/tea, etc. Until then I think I will read some San Mao. Bye.
...
still cold, but at least I have the warmth of my laptop to keep my legs from freezing.
I'm trying not to let this stupid jet lag and my retarded boyfriend from ruining my vacation, but I *certainly* not in a good mood right now. I don't like feeling like I am a guest and that the space does not belong to me. How many times had Paul woken up at 4am to work and kept me awake? He would of course be able to nap the next day while I was at work, since his schedule is variable like that. He would also be incredibly non-understanding when I was tired the next night. At least he has an 8:30 meeting, so after he leaves I will try to get some more sleep and then go out exploring. I am guessing/hoping that sleep would improve my mood a lot.
We went to a rather cool pub last night, the Nag's Head which was nice except for the fact that there was nowhere to sit down, it seems that all the regulars had their tables pegged ahead of time. Standing next to the fire with a half pint of bitter in my hand, soaking in the atmosphere was rather nice. Ok, my expensive internet card is about to run about (cheap bastards at the hotel don't even bother to provide free wifi). Toodles!
Well, I'm still on the plane... fairly well organized for this trip. Mind you, this organization came at the cost of my health/sleep, as I only went to sleep around 2am and then had Mom call me to wake me up at 5am. It was *so* hard to get out of bed this morning, but as you can see (well, hear/read, rather) I've managed to do so. I did a silly thing and waited until last minute to wash my clothes and pack everything. Well, perhaps waiting to pack isn't really all that silly. However, I am thankful that Beijng is the skin-destroying desert that we all know and love, as even my jeans (when placed artfully upon my water heater coils) managed to be moisture-free by the morning. I would almost say thats one of the benefits of living in Beijing, easily-dried clothing, except that if I lived elsewhere, I'd probably have a dryer at my disposal ;p
Anyhoo, got to the airport early, very proud of myself. However I must remember to never do that again, what a boring waste of time, haha. I ran into Luo Laoshi and his motley crew of anthropology grad students on their way to that symposium on rural development in Japan. After helping me to buy some Er Guo Tou for my friend, they promptly disappeared. It was quite freaky, as I didn't even realize that they had gone until I turned around and *poof*. Nada.
One of my goals on this trip is to write more. This is also to somehow make up for the fact that I have to lug this damnably heavy laptop around with me, and all the requisite cables. The least I should do is put it to some good use. Mind you, there's still work stuff to do, plenty of work stuff. And the 5:19 website to work on, of course.
By the way: Happy Turkey Day! I called Laura to quasi-celebrate it this morning. I will definitely have to send her several postcards. In fact, lets write up a list of things that I should do on a frequent basis en Londres.
-- postcards, written and send (must find local post office, though I could use the hotel I suppose, but thats just so incredibly bourgeoisie...)
-- see at least one tourist site (just to get the requisite picture) Of course, picking out the tourist site could be hard... I'll probably just do it by location (whichever is closest)
-- writing more thorough journal entries. This is something that I wish I could have done more of when I was in Paris/Nice last year, as I had so many great thoughts but writing them with pen and paper was oh so very time consuming.
Hmm.. I've just begun to notice that my keys squeak. I wonder: can one put oil on a laptop keyboard? I'm just worried because if I can hear it over the rush of wind outside, then it must be rather loud.
Oh yes, and I am also worried that my version of English (middle American, that is) will disappear over the next few days. I've just asked someone if they were waiting for the LOO (gasp! the horrors!). Perhaps this is the reason why my language skills are so good (modesty aside, of course) because I really do get into the whole "chameleon effect" whenever I'm in a new place...
Damn I am hungry. I ate half a cliff bar earlier in the hopes that I wouldn't have to eat the whole one because they would serve food again. Wow. Shuo cao cao, cao cao jiu dao! ;) Just as I wrote that first sentence, they come strolling by with the veggie trays. I managed to get lucky last time and have an extra veggie tray, and it was freakishly good. I always had the impression that British food was rather bland, but hey, they sure know how to do new age vegetarian dishes well! Ok, to eat avec moi!
Day 2: jet lagging
I'm sitting in the downstairs lobby... bored. There was supposed to be wireless, but evidently they are out of wireless cards (I'm guessing that I will have to purchase one like a phone card). I've only asked for them to get me a half hour card, as I'm a little wary of the price. Fortunately I've also got the San Mao book to read. If nothing else, there's always those lovely widget games I'd downloaded before I left yesterday morning.
In fact... since my brain is awake but not necessarily in a 'thinking' mood at the moment, maybe I'll just play a game right now. If nothing else it might deaden the sense of boredom and the anger I feel at myself for being unable to sleep, especially since I'm not likely to have another chance to sleep later in the day. ;p
Well, it is almost 5am (finally!). I have another half hour or so to go... its so bloody cold in this lobby, and the retarded clerks are listening to the worst possible kind of club beat music. It all makes me want to hit someone. What I would give to be back in the Kerry Centre, or hell, even anywhere that would serve a cup of tea, ugh. Not a very good start to my vacation, I am thoroughly pissed off. When I next see someone walking through the library I am going to ask when they start to serve food/tea, etc. Until then I think I will read some San Mao. Bye.
...
still cold, but at least I have the warmth of my laptop to keep my legs from freezing.
I'm trying not to let this stupid jet lag and my retarded boyfriend from ruining my vacation, but I *certainly* not in a good mood right now. I don't like feeling like I am a guest and that the space does not belong to me. How many times had Paul woken up at 4am to work and kept me awake? He would of course be able to nap the next day while I was at work, since his schedule is variable like that. He would also be incredibly non-understanding when I was tired the next night. At least he has an 8:30 meeting, so after he leaves I will try to get some more sleep and then go out exploring. I am guessing/hoping that sleep would improve my mood a lot.
We went to a rather cool pub last night, the Nag's Head which was nice except for the fact that there was nowhere to sit down, it seems that all the regulars had their tables pegged ahead of time. Standing next to the fire with a half pint of bitter in my hand, soaking in the atmosphere was rather nice. Ok, my expensive internet card is about to run about (cheap bastards at the hotel don't even bother to provide free wifi). Toodles!