Remainder of the Xmas entry
I'm home, oh joy, I missed my apartment. Didn't really miss Prague, just the apartment. I start teaching in earnest next week, though I still don't have a full load of classes because the organizers are sick, grr. I start Czech lessons next week too, funfun. Not really, and dear lord could there be a more useless language to put on my resume, but I'm sick of staring blankly at people and not knowing what I'm eating.
I finally got a cheap yoga mat in England (it's the same kind of crappy mat they had in Prague, but far cheaper. If I'm going to get a crap mat I don't want to pay $30 for it.) and a pilates/yoga book that was on sale at Borders (yes, England has Borders. They also have T. K. Maxx. Ha! If they're going to bootleg our store names, they should at least choose a good store. Although in T.K.'s defense, they had more sports equipment than the sports shops, which actually sell clothes. Shopping is confusing.) so I can start working out in earnest, huzzah. The pilates book is cool, lots of stuff I can do without equipment, and the yoga bits amuse me because the text will be all "This is really advanced!" and it's almost all stuff that I was doing in my first week in Laura's class. Ashtanga is hardcore. ::horns::
We didn’t have a white xmas here (there was sort-of one in Prague, frost heavy enough to look like snow), but we did have fog so thick that we couldn’t see the soap factory at the end of Helen’s street (about a block away). Apparently they bet on the snow here, whether there’ll be snow at one specific place in London on xmas day. I asked if the bet would still stand if the snow was put there by someone like the Weather Wizard, and she said it probably would since there was snow there, and it didn’t really matter how it got there. I dunno though, I mean it wouldn’t count if someone just dumped a shovelful of snow there right? I want to make a comic about gamblers hiring different weather/snow villains to rig the contest for them, it could escalate into a big fight with Mr. Freeze and Captain Cold trying to make there be snow, and Firefly trying to melt the snow! Awesome! Helen's like "I think you need more of a plot than that Rachel", and I told her she was silly. Big supervillain fight! It's like martial arts movies, the plot is just an excuse for the fight.
I went to Helen’s parents’ for Xmas, in Wales. We pretty much just watched TV all day, and ate yummy turkey+stuffing buttys (butty=sandwich, I think because they put butter on like every sandwich). Their stuffing’s a little different from ours, they always just make it out of a box. And they don’t have the classic crap canned cranberry sauce. We had crackers, I got a mini card set. Helen got a shoe horn, ha! Seriously, whose idea was it to put a shoe horn in a cracker? I drank a LOT of juice while I was in England, and Helen thought I was kinda crazy cause it's pricey but oh god juice there is no good juice in Prague. I had to get my fix while I could. Plus I was allergic to, ya know, everything, so I needed the boost. Such good food too. Blackcurrent pudding (cake) with custard, potato mash with swede and carrots, fried parsnips, all the yummy takeaway meals from Marks and Spencer...damn. The food in Prague is pretty good, but it's no England.
I saw the xmas Dr. Who ep, and I think I need to watch that show. It was pretty awesome. The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, which I highly recommend spending a day at if you're in the area, had a Dr. Who exhibit. But it was $13, so I just peered in from outside and got a pressed penny with a Tardis. Tiny Tardis! Helen and I would really love to buy the series, but DVDs are insanely expensive here. $160 for one season of Dr. Who, no joke. $60 per season of Supernatural. It's tragic.
-We watched the first season of Gray's Anatomy, which was decent, mostly because of George.
-I watched Lost on the days when everything was shut for the holidays (what is the point of Boxing Day, seriously?), it was pretty good. Katie is ridiculously hot. The fact that Matthew Fox has reemerged amuses me, he was really popular what, a decade ago? Helen only has the first season so don't spoil me for anything past that please! And don't spoil me for Dr. Who either, I know some stuff that happens already but I want to have some surprises.
-I really wish I could be the Doctor's sidekick. I mean, even if Batman existed I could never really be Robin, I'm not smart or athletic or tough enough. But the Doctor's requirements for sidekick seem to be A) being female and B) being alive. Seriously, last year's Xmas special, he invited that dumb bitch along! I'm totally cooler than her! So I enjoy the fact that, should the Tardis ever drop by, I can climb aboard.
-England has a truly astonishing amount of celebrity TV. It's awe-inspiring, in a retarded kind of way. The closest thing I can think of in the US is Hollywood Squares, except imagine about 20 shows like that. They have shows where contestants try to guess the history of minor celebrities, shows about identifying celebrities from traits or crappy drawings, every kind of competition possible between celebrities, every kind of performance possible (your favorite soap stars do kareoke!), interview shows...I swear, half the shows on TV had to do with celebrities. And these aren't cool celebrities, they would even be celebrities in the US. People like WAGs (wives and girlfriends of football players), one guy was the husband of a mediocre celebrity, people that were in one episode of a soap...it's ridiculous. Some failed singer won on Strictly Come Dancing, and Helen said she'd get another couple books and TV shows out of that. So...lame low level celebs write books based on their crap celebrity, and then get TV shows, because they were celebs...it hurts my brain.
Remember Helen got me comics? She took me to the comic shop, and the tshirt shop right across from the comic shop has a tshirt with BtaS Batman and Robin kissing! It’s a poorly made overpriced tee so I didn't get it, but it amused me, especially since it was Helen’s mum who pointed it out to me. In Manchester I found 2 comic shops and a gaming shop. One of the comic shops was the most comprehensive one I'd seen, it had Everything geeky. Star Trek books, games, magazines, comics, all kinds of toys, tshirts, DVDs, random junk...but DC was sadly underrepresented in the toy section. Lots of GNs though.
I also went to Alfacks (sp) Palace in Manchester, which is kinda like the market in Seattle, or 4 floors of Ricky's Place in Rochester. Loads of vintage/catgirl/goth/punk stuff. Michelle and LACindy would have been in heaven, I missed them lots. They might be getting kicked out soon, which is sad, but Helen said they're always getting kicked out and are still around so I guess it's ok?
Random things that amuse me about Britain - they still have egg cups and bread bins. They all have kettles (that have their own little heaters) and think we’re weird for not having them, but they don’t have blenders. Personally I think our appliance makes more sense, since you can heat water in a myriad of ways but only a blender can blend things. :P Helen’s mum asked if a lot of people in the US watched Friends.
Well that was a lot of rambling (or, in Helen's words, waffling) and we're supposed to go meet Jim and Jenny (or, in my words, the Js), so I'm off.
PS - For all those people who think Laura is the coolest chick ever from my stories about her, she has an LJ now. laurasheaa I don't know if she's going to write in it, but you can poke her.
Edit: PPS: I just remembered that someone asked me about xmas customs in Prague, so I'll note a few here (I may have already, but I can't remember).
Fish - The traditional xmas dinner in Czech is carp. So during the week before xmas, vendors will have tubs, about the size of kiddie pools but deeper, full of carp. They're usually outside supermarkets. you pick a carp, and then you can either whack it with a stick yourself or have the vendor whack it. The really traditional way to do it is to bring the carp home live and let it swim around in your bathtub until it's cookin time, but that's not so common these days.
Devils and angels - In elementary schools, there will be a day when a devil and angel walk around the school telling the children if they were good or bad, and the good ones get presents from Santa and the bad ones get nuthin. Imagine being 7 and having the devil tell you you were bad. I think that's the greatest incentive for good behavior a school has ever had.
The 24th - In Czech they celebrate Xmas on the 24th. This really bothered Helen.
Markets - There are xmas markets in all the major squares of Prague. They sell food, alcohol, tourist crap, and some handicrafts. One stall has leather hair ties, and one looked like Kyle's crab mask! Prague also has loads of lights. I'll post some pics eventually.
I finally got a cheap yoga mat in England (it's the same kind of crappy mat they had in Prague, but far cheaper. If I'm going to get a crap mat I don't want to pay $30 for it.) and a pilates/yoga book that was on sale at Borders (yes, England has Borders. They also have T. K. Maxx. Ha! If they're going to bootleg our store names, they should at least choose a good store. Although in T.K.'s defense, they had more sports equipment than the sports shops, which actually sell clothes. Shopping is confusing.) so I can start working out in earnest, huzzah. The pilates book is cool, lots of stuff I can do without equipment, and the yoga bits amuse me because the text will be all "This is really advanced!" and it's almost all stuff that I was doing in my first week in Laura's class. Ashtanga is hardcore. ::horns::
We didn’t have a white xmas here (there was sort-of one in Prague, frost heavy enough to look like snow), but we did have fog so thick that we couldn’t see the soap factory at the end of Helen’s street (about a block away). Apparently they bet on the snow here, whether there’ll be snow at one specific place in London on xmas day. I asked if the bet would still stand if the snow was put there by someone like the Weather Wizard, and she said it probably would since there was snow there, and it didn’t really matter how it got there. I dunno though, I mean it wouldn’t count if someone just dumped a shovelful of snow there right? I want to make a comic about gamblers hiring different weather/snow villains to rig the contest for them, it could escalate into a big fight with Mr. Freeze and Captain Cold trying to make there be snow, and Firefly trying to melt the snow! Awesome! Helen's like "I think you need more of a plot than that Rachel", and I told her she was silly. Big supervillain fight! It's like martial arts movies, the plot is just an excuse for the fight.
I went to Helen’s parents’ for Xmas, in Wales. We pretty much just watched TV all day, and ate yummy turkey+stuffing buttys (butty=sandwich, I think because they put butter on like every sandwich). Their stuffing’s a little different from ours, they always just make it out of a box. And they don’t have the classic crap canned cranberry sauce. We had crackers, I got a mini card set. Helen got a shoe horn, ha! Seriously, whose idea was it to put a shoe horn in a cracker? I drank a LOT of juice while I was in England, and Helen thought I was kinda crazy cause it's pricey but oh god juice there is no good juice in Prague. I had to get my fix while I could. Plus I was allergic to, ya know, everything, so I needed the boost. Such good food too. Blackcurrent pudding (cake) with custard, potato mash with swede and carrots, fried parsnips, all the yummy takeaway meals from Marks and Spencer...damn. The food in Prague is pretty good, but it's no England.
I saw the xmas Dr. Who ep, and I think I need to watch that show. It was pretty awesome. The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, which I highly recommend spending a day at if you're in the area, had a Dr. Who exhibit. But it was $13, so I just peered in from outside and got a pressed penny with a Tardis. Tiny Tardis! Helen and I would really love to buy the series, but DVDs are insanely expensive here. $160 for one season of Dr. Who, no joke. $60 per season of Supernatural. It's tragic.
-We watched the first season of Gray's Anatomy, which was decent, mostly because of George.
-I watched Lost on the days when everything was shut for the holidays (what is the point of Boxing Day, seriously?), it was pretty good. Katie is ridiculously hot. The fact that Matthew Fox has reemerged amuses me, he was really popular what, a decade ago? Helen only has the first season so don't spoil me for anything past that please! And don't spoil me for Dr. Who either, I know some stuff that happens already but I want to have some surprises.
-I really wish I could be the Doctor's sidekick. I mean, even if Batman existed I could never really be Robin, I'm not smart or athletic or tough enough. But the Doctor's requirements for sidekick seem to be A) being female and B) being alive. Seriously, last year's Xmas special, he invited that dumb bitch along! I'm totally cooler than her! So I enjoy the fact that, should the Tardis ever drop by, I can climb aboard.
-England has a truly astonishing amount of celebrity TV. It's awe-inspiring, in a retarded kind of way. The closest thing I can think of in the US is Hollywood Squares, except imagine about 20 shows like that. They have shows where contestants try to guess the history of minor celebrities, shows about identifying celebrities from traits or crappy drawings, every kind of competition possible between celebrities, every kind of performance possible (your favorite soap stars do kareoke!), interview shows...I swear, half the shows on TV had to do with celebrities. And these aren't cool celebrities, they would even be celebrities in the US. People like WAGs (wives and girlfriends of football players), one guy was the husband of a mediocre celebrity, people that were in one episode of a soap...it's ridiculous. Some failed singer won on Strictly Come Dancing, and Helen said she'd get another couple books and TV shows out of that. So...lame low level celebs write books based on their crap celebrity, and then get TV shows, because they were celebs...it hurts my brain.
Remember Helen got me comics? She took me to the comic shop, and the tshirt shop right across from the comic shop has a tshirt with BtaS Batman and Robin kissing! It’s a poorly made overpriced tee so I didn't get it, but it amused me, especially since it was Helen’s mum who pointed it out to me. In Manchester I found 2 comic shops and a gaming shop. One of the comic shops was the most comprehensive one I'd seen, it had Everything geeky. Star Trek books, games, magazines, comics, all kinds of toys, tshirts, DVDs, random junk...but DC was sadly underrepresented in the toy section. Lots of GNs though.
I also went to Alfacks (sp) Palace in Manchester, which is kinda like the market in Seattle, or 4 floors of Ricky's Place in Rochester. Loads of vintage/catgirl/goth/punk stuff. Michelle and LACindy would have been in heaven, I missed them lots. They might be getting kicked out soon, which is sad, but Helen said they're always getting kicked out and are still around so I guess it's ok?
Random things that amuse me about Britain - they still have egg cups and bread bins. They all have kettles (that have their own little heaters) and think we’re weird for not having them, but they don’t have blenders. Personally I think our appliance makes more sense, since you can heat water in a myriad of ways but only a blender can blend things. :P Helen’s mum asked if a lot of people in the US watched Friends.
Well that was a lot of rambling (or, in Helen's words, waffling) and we're supposed to go meet Jim and Jenny (or, in my words, the Js), so I'm off.
PS - For all those people who think Laura is the coolest chick ever from my stories about her, she has an LJ now. laurasheaa I don't know if she's going to write in it, but you can poke her.
Edit: PPS: I just remembered that someone asked me about xmas customs in Prague, so I'll note a few here (I may have already, but I can't remember).
Fish - The traditional xmas dinner in Czech is carp. So during the week before xmas, vendors will have tubs, about the size of kiddie pools but deeper, full of carp. They're usually outside supermarkets. you pick a carp, and then you can either whack it with a stick yourself or have the vendor whack it. The really traditional way to do it is to bring the carp home live and let it swim around in your bathtub until it's cookin time, but that's not so common these days.
Devils and angels - In elementary schools, there will be a day when a devil and angel walk around the school telling the children if they were good or bad, and the good ones get presents from Santa and the bad ones get nuthin. Imagine being 7 and having the devil tell you you were bad. I think that's the greatest incentive for good behavior a school has ever had.
The 24th - In Czech they celebrate Xmas on the 24th. This really bothered Helen.
Markets - There are xmas markets in all the major squares of Prague. They sell food, alcohol, tourist crap, and some handicrafts. One stall has leather hair ties, and one looked like Kyle's crab mask! Prague also has loads of lights. I'll post some pics eventually.