Santa Claus is Coming to Town

December 25, 2010

This past weekend was CHRISTMAS!!!! To celebrate on Wednesday I went with Sarah, Kristi, Rachel and Richard to see the movie Little Fockers which was hilarious. I also got to eat at Burger King which is not as good as the American one but was good enough. Rachel and I also got asked about the differences between America and here by a gentleman and his two sons.

On Thursday Sarah, Kristi and I took Rachel to Heathrow Airport to see her off and pick up Kristi’s boyfriend Joe. It is a loooonnngg ride to get to Heathrow. About two hours on bus/train/tube. It is a little ridiculous but we said goodbye to Rachel (a sad goodbye) and said hi to Joe (a happy hi). After picking up Joe we made our way back home to relax a little before heading back into London to see Big Ben, Parliament, the London Eye, the London Bridge, eat dinner at a pub (fish and chips) and The Tower Bridge (which you could see from our restaurant and we walked across it!). We went home and drank a little bit and chatted before bed.

Friday was Christmas Eve! However, everyone had left either to go home or into London. Therefore I was all alone at the Palace. So I cleaned my room, watched movies, packed my bags and made myself a delicious dinner. I made stuffed peppers with a salad and French fries. It was wonderful and I didn’t mess anything up! Or set anything on fire! I enjoyed my dinner then Chris and Tim picked me up and we went to Richard’s house for a bit. We ended up watching part of the Christmas movie with Chevy Chase. After that we went to Anna’s parents house where we stayed the night (I was given my own room) and waited for Santa to come!!

Saturday- Merry Christmas!! This morning Anna woke me up and I went downstairs to eat breakfast. Then we went into the living room to do stockings. Ken and Sue had made a stocking with my name on it just for me. They had put little presents inside. So we all took turns opening our gifts. It was so sweet of them. I took a nice long, hot, shower (finally a nice shower compared to the ones in our building), then Richard came over and we headed to the pub. After a Christmas drink (I had already had one at home and here another I was already a little tipsy) we picked up my Christmas presents sent to me from home and went back so I could skype my family! It was so exciting being able to see them for Christmas. They opened their gifts I sent them and then I got to open my gifts. Santa (a.k.a. my mom) packed a lot into a little box. I got some scarves, a hat, lotion, gloves, nice warm socks (for Scotland), a bracelet and ankle bracelet, a movie, and some things to hang around my room. But the best part of it all was seeing everyone on Christmas! After skyping we hung out for a while before enjoying Christmas dinner. Before we could eat we had to open our crackers (a traditional beginning). Basically its a tube that you pull both ends of and it cracks open revealing a clever joke, a paper crown hat (that you must wear all throughout dinner) and a little prize (mine being a little deck of playing cards). Dinner began with a salad and prawns (a traditional starter) then the main course was Goose, roast potatoes, regular potatoes, purple cabbage, mashed carrots, asparagus, green cabbage, and much more. It was all wonderful! We had two helpings of it. Then we needed a little break. We went and opened up more presents! I even had some. I got a bath set from Chris and Anna, and tissues, chocolate, and cookies from the Jarvis’.  After presents I skyped home again because my Uncle Tony was over and I wanted to see him. It was really nice talking to him, even though he cried J. Then we decided to do dessert. The tradition is to have Christmas Pudding (which really isn’t pudding at all its more like a cake) and pour brandy on it and set it on fire. Our fire lasted forever until we had to put it out lol. I tried some of the pudding although I was informed you had to have a special taste for it which is completely true because I did not like it even with the cream on it. So instead I had the Chocolate Mousse pie, which was really, really rich. I also put cream on that. After dessert we lounged around in our jim jams (p.j’s) watching television until bed.

Sunday- Boxing Day (don’t ask my why I can’t remember why it is called that but a lot of people go shopping). Phil (Anna’s brother) took me home. I was going to go visit my friends in Central London but there was a tube strike so I couldn’t get into Central London. Instead I lounged around at home all day. Then Richard called saying they were going to a friends house to hang out. So I went with him and we played Scene It (on the wii- which was really fun) and I had a good partner Tim who knew the answer to the billboard about Mean Girls by the first drawing on it, and he also knew the sequel to Dirty Dancing was Havana Nights! Then we played wii tennis. I was partnered with Jon (the guy whose house it was) and we beat everyone about 20-30 times in a row until finally Tim and Richard beat us (even after we had switched wii remotes/players/sides of the court to make sure it wasn’t any of those things being the reason we were winning). I even continued playing and won while talking on my phone on skype with my cousins! After tennis we decided to try bowling. Again I kicked butt with a 181 and beat everyone else playing. Then Richard brought my home where I video-skyped with my cousin Toni Rae and her babies Madison and Mason (who do in fact remember who I am…despite what my mom says ;) .)

Monday- Today again I lounged around not doing much, until Tim text me saying to come over and hang out. I did and his friends came over and we watched all three pirates movies in a row. All seven hours worth! It sounded like a good idea and it wasn’t too bad, but by the end I was definitely ready to not sit on the couch!

Tuesday- And finally here we are today. I am getting ready to go to Scotland. Packing everything! My next blog will not be for a while, since I am going on a 7 day tour, I will not be back until the 5^th of January. However, I will have lots of stories to tell!  So HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!!!

Until next time,

~D~

‘Tis the Season

December 11, 2010

This past weekend, on Friday Rachel and I went into Romford after work to do a little shopping. Then we met Jen at the pub for dinner and a drink, before heading off to see the new Narnia movie!! It was really good! Then we went home and hung out with Sarah and Kristina in their room drinking, chatting, and playing cards.

Saturday morning we got up and made our way into Central London to Hyde Park. Of course it took us forever because there are always lines closed down. We finally got there and made our way to the ice skating rink in the middle of the park. The skates are all blue! We didn’t fall down either! We skated about an hour then decided to walk around to wait for Sarah and Kristina. We made our way to the pond and saw all the ducks/swans being fed. Swans fed by HAND! They are mean too and greedy. So we took some pictures/videos of the birds. Then Kristina and Sarah met us and we walked around Hyde Park looking at all the shops and then ate a lovely waffle with chocolate sauce…yum, yum. After we walked around we headed to Piccadilly Circus to walk around. We passed a war memorial, then two outdoor markets (one we stopped at and shopped) and finally arrived at Piccadilly Circus where it was all lit up. We then walked to Chipotle to eat dinner then went to Covent Garden to walk around that market. Then we headed home and stopped at McDonalds for ice cream. I got a text to meet at the pub so I headed over there and hung out with the gang for the night.

Sunday morning Rachel and I went with Brandy to church. It was very interesting, kind of long and weird at times, but alright. Then we went to a café for lunch/breakfast and had an English breakfast! Afterward we headed home and watched a movie with Jen. She got a call from her friend inviting her to the pub later. We quickly grabbed dinner and headed to Ilford for some drinks at the pub. Her friends were Irish so they were so funny to listen to J On our way home we trusted Rachel to get us on the right bus. So we just got on a bus. We were on there forever and finally realize it is not going home. We get to the last stop in the middle of NOWHERE!!!! The driver tells us we have to get off and we were like oh my god what are we going to do!!??? So Jen went to talk to the driver and somehow convinced him to take us to another bus stop so we could get home. He had to turn out the lights and we had to scrunch down so no body could see us. He took us to the other bus stop and hurried us off the bus to catch the last bus going to home. We got on and finally after about 2 hours we made it home. Always an adventure when you travel with us!

These past two days I have been sick, but finally got medicine so I am starting to get better, which is good because I have an eventful weekend planned starting Thursday! Can’t wait.

Until next time,

~D~

A Cheap Weekend Out

December 4, 2010

This past weekend was really fun and I didn’t spend a lot of money which was great, since I booked my trip to Scotland for New Years and I don’t have a lot of money to spend now. So until I get paid at the end of December, I am trying to have fun weekends without spending a lot of money.

Friday- After work, I came home and ate dinner and got ready to go out. Brandy, Jen, Rachel, Brandy’s two friends, and I went to Mad Dog’s house for a party. There we listened to music and waited for the rest of the crew to arrive. We drank and talked. Then it began to get interesting. Mad Dog said there should be dancing so I mentioned that I took Ballroom Dancing. Well the music kind of lended itself to ballroom dancing so I grabbed Mad Dog and tried ballroom dancing with him. It was really funny and didn’t work out so well. Afterwards, everyone wanted to see just me dance. I told them the only way I would do that was if they played cotton eye joe because that is my favorite song to dance to. So after looking forever, they finally found it. I told them my version of cotton eye joe was different then the British version. But no one knew the British version so I was golden J They played it and I got Mad Dog to join in and then Anna finished up the song with me. It was really fun. Then some people started to leave, but the rest of us there were just getting started. A friend of theirs brought a smoke machine and strobe lights. He put those on and we rocked out forever to the songs, dancing in the strobe lights and smoke. It was really fun.

Saturday- We were debating what to do for the day Saturday but we didn’t want to spend a lot of money. So we looked up free stuff to do in London and decided to go to the National Gallery in

Trafalgar Square

. It took us forever to get there because all of the tube lines were down but we finally made it and guess what???? We DIDN’T get lost!!!! For once, lol. We even took a picture at the station to prove we made it! We began walking towards

Trafalgar Square

and became mesmerized by how pretty it is. We began taking pictures of the Christmas Tree, the giant statues including ones of Lions (I was just saying I wanted a pet lion). We also took pictures of the fountains and the pretty buildings and the ship in the bottle and the giant menorah. Then I told Rachel we needed to find some street and she asked me what the name of the museum was and I said the National Gallery. She pointed to the giant building I had just taken a picture of….and there it was! We went inside, it was huge! There were over 60 rooms for all the paintings. It was so cool. I took a few pictures….well I snuck a few pictures since we weren’t supposed to be taking them, so they aren’t that great, but it was really cool seeing all of the famous paintings. After walking around for a while looking at all the artwork, we decided to head back outside and took some more pictures of the beautiful scenery in the dark/lit up. We even got someone to take a picture of the both of us by the big tree. Then we decided to walk towards Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament since we could see them from where we were. We headed that way and took some pictures of Big Ben and Houses of Parliament all lit up. It was really pretty. Then we walked by the London Eye which was also lit up. We were trying to figure out if it was still open but we could see people taking pictures using their flash out of the bubbles. Then we walked down the Thames River towards the Tower Bridge. We found the Millennium Bridge and crossed over that. It is the only bride in London that is only a footbridge. It is also the bridge in the movie Harry Potter 6 that gets destroyed by the Death Eaters. I told Rachel while we were on the bridge that if we saw any Death Eaters we had to run! It actually wasn’t that bad to walk across although I only stopped once to take a picture then kept walking. We walked under the other side of the London Bridge which was cool because there were restaurants and stores and attractions underneath the bridge itself. Therefore, if London Bridge really did fall down it would be really bad. We continued walking towards the Tower Bridge….of course I took pictures the whole time. Although I limited myself this time, even though last time I wasn’t taking pictures at night with the bridge lit up and this time I was. When we got to the bridge we crossed back over the River to get to the tube station. Therefore I have officially crossed the Tower Bridge! I even took a picture at the part in the bridge where it is raised or lowered, since that is the scary part lol. We found the tube station and began our journey home, taking multiple trains because most were closed down. Then we arrived in Romford and ate dinner at a pub before heading home. We got home and watched a movie and ate ice cream.

Sunday- Today was a relaxing day, like all our Sunday’s are. We did stuff around our rooms and then watched a movie, ate dinner, and hung out.

Overall it was a really great weekend and for not a lot of money.

Until next time,

¬D¬

 

Snow??? WHAT??

 November 30, 2010

The first snowfall occurred in London this week. Unlike back in the states, here the country falls apart when there is snow. They do not have snow plows or salt to put down. Everything gets shut down for two inches of snow. Schools were closed. It was so chaotic. Granted it did snow all day/night and the snow did then turn to ice (since it started off more like slush than show). So for the most part of the week, people were wondering whether their school would be open or not. I have found that wearing snow boots in the snow is not such a great idea. It is better to wear willies (or rain boots) since the snow is more slush than snow. People were making snowmen (including mini snowmen on their windowsills like Rachel!- His name was Mark after the wonderful customer service we received from Mark at the internet store). Despite all of this, only 5 days later and most of the snow is melted and gone away. It is really different from being at home. Apparently it is not normal to get snow this time of year, although it is still cold.

Now to explain the wonderful customer service we received. I guess I should first tell you about the terrible customer service we received just moments before. Rachel and I ventured into Romford to try and find internet (actual internet) to put in our rooms. We had done our research online and also talked to other people who had already ordered internet through a company called Sky. Sky also does t.v. We were walking through the mall and found a little kiosk with Sky. We decided to stop and talk to them about internet. I told the guy working there that I just wanted internet and a phone line and I heard you could get it for 21 pounds a month with a 49 pound installation fee. He looked at me like I was nuts. First he told me I could only get a package that included t.v, even though I don’t even have a t.v. in my room. I explained I didn’t want the t.v. He said that was all Sky did. He also said that the cheapest we would find would be 30 pounds a month. I told him we looked online and found it cheaper and we knew people who had ordered it already. He said that we wouldn’t be able to find it cheaper anywhere else. If we went to a different company then it would be more expensive and there was no way to get Sky without t.v. and that he wished our friends good luck because that wasn’t possible. I explained that they had already ordered it so it obviously was. He assured me that it wasn’t and that if I could find it cheaper anywhere else he would pay me. He said that we could even go to the Phones 4 U Store and they would tell us the same thing. So I said ok, fine that is where we will go. We headed there and as soon as we got in I asked if there was any way to get just internet and a phone line without t.v. Mark said, yes. I said is it going to cost me 30 pounds a month. He said nope only 21 pounds a month with a d 49 pound installation fee. We both were so relieved. We told him that is exactly what we were trying to find and that the Sky people told us we couldn’t do it. He said that was ridiculous and helped us set up the whole account. He was wonderful and even gave us a copy of the contract to take back to the Sky people and show them they were wrong. We were so frustrated with the guy we walked back showed him the paperwork and said that he shouldn’t work for them if he didn’t even know what his company sold and that this was exactly what we were looking for no thanks to him. I really don’t understand how people here can have such bad customer service and still work. At home, people would get fired for the things they do here. One person text on his phone for a good 5 minutes before serving me and then messed up my order because I told him what I wanted while he was texting. It is just ridiculous.

However, there are a few who know what they are talking about and truly want to help you. For example, Mark. And that is why Rachel’s snowman made that day was named Mark.

Until next time,

 ¬D¬