Jaguar Shoes

Day 5 – Tuesday, 2/3/2010

One of the things I like about B&B’s are that you get a nice full huge English breakfast, IF (that’s a big ‘if’ for a reason), you wake up in time. So…..you can see what’s coming…. neither of my alarms went off. The watch alarm is crap, but I knew that, so I also set my ipod alarm. Good news – it went off around 5 in the afternoon (no idea). I did have a great long sleep though, so am well rested as I anticipated we would be out late tonight. Instead I got everything together, headed up the hill to Betty’s tea shop. It’s this adorable tea shop where you have high tea, exactly as Americans think happens in England. It actually happens at Betty’s, along with an assortment of amazing sweets, scones, and pastries. I turned my misfortune into an opportunity to have Betty’s tea and scones.

Quick history lesson on Harrogate: it was discovered in the 1500’s that there was a sulfur spring there. This was believed to have healing powers. Initially it had hospitals and clinics, which was the original use of the Old Swan, then it was turned into a spa when they realized the lack of medicinal value. The well to do of London would come (and still do) to Harrogate to vacation and enjoy the Turkish baths which has been there since the 1800’s (using the same sufur spring). Betty’s caters to this type of elite clientele. I heard Harrogate is the wealthiest town outside of London….not sure how true this is though. Oh and also Charles Dickens stayed there and had a peculiar quote, something about the funny people that inhabit Harrogate.

Anyway I then wandered around all over the place, including to H&M and got this amazing dress that I don’t really need, nor have room for, but I have a plan. I also bought a ton of candy for my sister. She loved the British sweets way more than me, so I decided to send her a package of them. She asked for a postcard but I would do one better! (I was also planning on putting the dress and a package of Yorkshire tea leaves in there). Also I wanted to send home packets of ‘watsits’ (pronounced ‘what-zits’), but had to go searching all over to 5 different stores to find them. They’re like cheetos but the second you put them on your tongue they dissolve. Really yummy. Anyway, you will see how this plan dissolves later…

I walked to my old school from town, not far, maybe a mile or two and was struck by how young the kids are. Here’s a bit of the British educational system structure (boy this is a day for lessons huh!): I left England when I was 16, having just completed Year 11 (10^th grade) and my GCSE’s (tests required to finish high school over the last two years of the courses…quite hard involving a lot of studying). According to England, I was done with high school. For the last two years of what Americans consider high school, the students focus on two subjects in depth, and call it ‘6^th form’ or ‘college’. The big difference is they get to wear street clothes, but attend the same school. (To finish the story, students then go onto university, which matches up with America’s view on education). Mostly due to their clothing, the 6^th form students were very respected by the students younger than them, stuck in uniforms, and I remember thinking how old there were and that I could never be that old. Well having gone back and seen these kids, I can’t believe it but they’re babies! For some reason, I still thought they would be old, but I guess the passing of 10 years changes that perspective.

I then headed further up the road for a post office and thought this was kismet when I ran into a postal worker as I was trying to find out where the post office was. Long story short: it costs $80 to send my package of 3 kilos (~6.5 lbs). If I can get it down to 2 kilos it will only be $40. Well Lindsey, I love you very much, but the chocolate cost half that. I will not drag it along with me to Kenya and hope there’s something left after the searing sun melts it or Mom finds my stash. The sad part is, Lindsey only asked for a postcard from Harrogate and I totally forgot to do that in my effort to do much more! (Sorry twice Linds!)

Anyway I went to a pub for lunch and had a lemonade (sprite) and a pint of a good Yorkshire ale, then made my way to train. Miraculously, as I wasn’t monitoring the time very well….you’d have thought I would have learned by now, I made it with about 5 minutes to spare. Lucky lucky lucky. My angels must be working overtime! I head down on the train to London in the quiet car, (meaning the people should be quiet…the train was just as loud as it always was), where I finished book number 2: The lucky one by Nicolas Sparks. I said goodbye to beautiful hills and dales of North Yorkshire, beautiful rolling hills, farms marked by stone fences full of sheep, and went back to Lisa’s flat, repacked my bags and set out walking to her work in London. We met up with her friend and went to a fabulous old pub where we had a pint and some breaded eggs and breaded sausage…very random…then took a bus to the Asian area to get Vietnamese food in this super busy joint that was BYOB (we brought an Australian Cabernet). Our last place for the night was at a cute place you’d expect to see in SOHO called ‘Jaguar Shoes’. The walls were decorated by an artist and it apparently changed pretty regularly. After a few drinks there, we got the last subway back. After some really fun girl talk and an old fashioned sleep over (giggling and talking about boys till the wee hours of the morning), we called it a night.

Lisa – you give a fantastic tour! I’m exhausted and very grateful!

Books finished: 2

Total Time on trains: 9

Summary: A beautiful day of snow, a sudden awareness of my age, and a major disappoint with the Royal Mail.

Am I really old enough for a ten year reunion!?

Day 4 - Feb 2 2010

Today is the day for reunions. Yes, more than one! Early in the morning, I jumped on a train in Kings Cross Station in London from Lisa’s flat. Obviously there were a few more steps involved including a seriously blonde moment trying to find which train. You see, the monitor only says the ending point with the stops in between in little tiny font beneath it. I had about 60 seconds before my train was supposed to leave due to the fact that I’m not very speedy in the morning (coupled with poor planning) and started freaking out because I couldn’t see ‘Derby’ anywhere. Well, I wasn’t paying much attention to the small font. Nowhere on my ticket or anywhere did it say which line, the final destination, rail number, nothing! Luckily a man standing there clued me into the fine print…literally. I saw which train and ran off with my bookbag bouncing around like I was in grade school, got to the correct platform, and lept on the train feeling triumphant as is pulled away. Wow. I nearly missed the train! Also to help you visualize this, the Harry Potter train station scenes were all filmed in King’s Cross and apparently there’s a cart stuck in the wall at Platform 9 ¾ in honor of it. Luckily I didn’t need a flying car to get me to Derby. Once on the train I pulled my laptop out and started typing away and discovered about an hour into the trip there are electrical outlets as well, then got off in Derby and saw a poster advertising free internet aboard my train that I didn’t take advantage of. Doh! Strike two for blonde moments.

No worry. I got off the platform and met my sorority sister Linnea, whom I haven’t seen in 7 years! It’s been so long, she now has curly hair! We went for lunch at a place near the station called ‘Orleans’, and I enjoyed the irony that they meant the one in Louisiana, not the French village so much closer. After some traditional fish and chips and a great 2 ½ hour conversation, Linnea headed back to Rolls Royce for a meeting and I was able to catch an earlier train to Leeds. I was feeling quite proud of myself, as I caught this train with only a minute to spare, though this time it wasn’t because of poor planning, it was luck. Had I been there one minute later I would have had to wait an hour to get my original train. Once in Leeds I procured a roundtrip ticket to Harrogate so I could check into my hotel before meeting my high school friends for dinner in Leeds. I got off the train in Harrogate and was suddenly filled with images that sparked memories from 10 years before. I saw the Victoria mall, Body Shop, Marks and Spencer, and WH Smith I always wandered around and the drab but characteristic yellow and red of the local buses. I was in North Yorkshire! Additionally, it was snowing! I can’t believe it, but there was beautiful flakes dances around and dissolving as they hit the ground. It snowed once in the three years I lived in England, but apparently, they were quite hit this winter with many snow days.

I only had 25 minutes to get to my hotel and back to ensure I had time to get lost in Leeds finding the dinner spot. While I had a map printed out, on old British streets that all curve (instead of the nice gridded straight streets of Phoenix), with not a street sign in sight, and a strong desire not to look too touristy by reading the map for too long (gasp!), you know I got lost. Not severely so, but the streets had changed just enough, and my memory had dimmed, leaving out important details, so I wandered for a while, before finally finding my way to the Old Swan. Sounds majestic and quaint, right? That’s what I thought when I booked it. It turns out (according to Lindsey, as I have not confirmed this with my parents) that we stayed at the Old Swan our last night in Harrogate, splurging on the charming B&B instead of staying on the military base. I have no memory of this whatsoever. It just goes to show how useless it is to do nice things for kids as they’ll only remember a small portion of it.

So my (apparent) second visit to the Swan was lovely. It’s set up on a hill and is the supposed site for where Agatha Christie stayed during the 10 days she disappeared when the whole of England was looking for her. There’s a plaque that says this in the lobby. I ran up to my room, threw my things on the really nice bed and had to stop to admire how nicely everything was decorated. A typical British B&B has the most gaudy fabrics and designs that all somehow conflict with each other. It’s often an assault for the eyes to see the hideous bedspread (that alone is a gross pattern) mixed with the awful wallpaper (again, bad pattern), multicolored carpet (I assume there’s a pattern though it’s never obvious), and really busy drapes. You’d think the decorator was blind except for the fact that both drapes match. Sometimes I want to look at the different rooms in the hotel to see if each room was maybe themed and they just accidentally mixed the themes. Additionally, the rooms are typically quite small, half the size of most American hotel rooms. I’m not trying to sound rude, just illustrate the room I was expecting, especially since I booked a single room. I literally stopped in my tracks to the see enormous disparity between my expectations and the very quaint room I was standing in. The drapes coordinated with the wallpaper, bedspread and floor. The bathroom had a giant bathtub and standalone sink. I wasn’t expecting a shower. This was a very exciting turn of events! (I was relieved to see that the doorknobs on either side of the bathroom door didn’t match. One was silver and the other gold. Phew…there was still some order to the universe).

Once I gathered my composure, I fast walked back to the train station, very aware of how sore my calves were from St Paul’s the previous day. This time I got to the platform with 3 minutes to spare. Nice huh? I went to Leeds and wandered around while waiting for my friends. The third and final blonde moment of the day was when I realized I was an hour early after all that rushing. Oh well, at least I got to finish my first book of the trip.

I had a lovely dinner at Nandos – Portugeuse sit down fast food…. if that makes any sense. It was a nice restaurant, and great to see my friends Kirstie, Claire, and Emily again. It’d been 10 years since I left England and though we’d corresponded a bit over facebook, it was a true reunion. Finding out about jobs, boys, houses, college experiences, and the good ole days of GCSE’s at St John Fisher’s. Oh and their only request from the States was Hot Tamales. Yup that awesome cinnamon candy is Claire’s favorite, that she discovered when I had the great idea to buy candy from the base and sell it to my friends at school. It turns out (as I learned from my very red faced father about a month into this scheme when I was printing out order forms) that this was some kind of illegal trafficking and he could be kicked out of the Air Force and be deported to America. Ha…oops! Anywho I didn’t charge for the candy this time…

We closed the place and while waiting for the last train back to Harrogate, I loitered in the McDonalds using their free internet and enjoying a Tika Masala Chicken Wrap. Yes, in Britain, McDonalds has Indian food for quite a good price and a really pleasant taste. I made the train with plenty of time headed to the Swan, with only one wrong turn, feeling very grateful for the dry run earlier. I took a steamy hot bath to relieve my achy bones (no I’m not seventy, I’m just not used to so much exercise) set two alarms and called it a night in my lovely room.

(Yes I realize these posts are getting longer, but a lot has happened that I don’t want to forget!)

Books: Finished – 1, Currently reading – 3 others on 3 different mediums (laptop ebook, actual book, audiobook)

Summary: Long lovely day of reuinions, trains, 3 blonde moments (as all things come in 3’s) and memories of North Yorkshire

too much walking!

Day 3 – Monday, 2/1/2010

Since I’m now British (again), I was going to flip the date around (1/2/2010), but I still get confused by that so I won’t. This morning Lisa threw together this amazing egg toast combo that caused me to think my occasional banana for breakfast (if I remember) is just a bit lacking. I jumped on a bus with her to her office, which is in the diamond district. Her office….wow. To someone who resides in a grey cubicle, 6 feet high, and can go an entire day without seeing sunlight, or even leaving her desk, this place was amazing! It was a massive room with 10 rows with 6 people, 3 on either side facing each other, and there was no center wall. Only their giant monitors kept them from looking at each other all day. It looked so creative! I can only imagine how stifled someone used to this environment could be in a cubicle. There were massive windows, floor to ceiling overlooking the adorable buildings and shops. As I mentioned earlier, I can go an entire day without going near a window. The walls were white. Not that sad, office white, but somehow an exciting vibrant white (that could be because there was sun shining on it). To help you understand my shock and revere, imagine the movie Office Space before he gets hypnotized. As much as I try to accessorize my cubicle, it is dull like this. Now think of well….I got nothing. There is no office I can think of that seems as cool as this place was. Just realize I was like Dorothy as she entered Oz…everything may as well have been glittering green. Okay moving on. You’ve heard enough about an office I’m sure.

I had the whole day to myself to sightsee! This was fantastic! I headed back to St Paul’s as it has this huge spire and on a clear day, a great view of the city. The inside was beautiful, but no pictures allowed. L This was a Church of England cathedral, which really just means when good ole Henry the eighth was reigning he took all of the abbeys and churches (and there are many) and changed the last word from ‘catholic’ to ‘church of england’. Nothing else seemed to change. All of the artwork, stained glass, pews, alter, crucifix, and well everything looks exactly like a catholic cathedral. (But now Henry could be rid of boring ole Mary and not have to listen to that pesky pope).

Anyway, the church was beautiful! 500 steps later (no exaggeration), I was at the top of St Paul’s looking over all of London. I headed back to the Tate Modern and saw some really neat pieces. There was this one giant structure, probably 300 ft long and 50 ft wide, that was just black and empty. As you walked into it, you got this extremely unsettling feeling as the darkness enveloped you. Once you made it to the end (by running into a velvet wall), as soon as you turn around you can see everything, including the people walking slow and stilted in a really scared jerky way towards you. This just shows you how poor our fov is – less than 180 degrees…. The neatest part was the expression on everyone’s face. Most people had their eyes open, but a few just gave in and closed them. Everyone looked unhappy though. It was really really cool. I’m not big on surrealism or cubism or other modern art, but I kind of got it, just for a second, what modern art tries to do, to evoke an emotion. The rest of the tate was neat. There were some really weird pieces as expected, and a few funny ones – one room had a table and chairs to scale, that were 10 times the normal size. I felt like Alice in Wonderland! Also I got to see a few original Matisse, Picasso, and Degas. I really like the ‘Waterlilies’ painting. Again I could see the feeling. I even started to understand Picasso’s blue period as I felt sad just looking at one of those paintings. If we’re keeping a Britain to America tally, this one goes to Britain. The modern art museum in DC is crap. There wasn’t one piece there that moved me like so many of them did at the Tate.

Following this I wandered across London Bridge back to lisa’s work and met her for a Korean lunch. I’m starting to see why London’s food is so good – it’s primarily composed of a cuisine other than English! A quick walk to the British museum and a very frustrating couple of hours later, I have to add one to America’s column. This museum was shite (pardon my British)! The layout was awful, and there was a very odd organization, plus I didn’t learn anything! There were just a lot of neat pieces with little captions, but no one took the time to put the story together. I am now more confused about how civilization came together than before. Leaving that aside, I jumped on a double decker and saw Westminster, Big Ben, and got off near Victoria. I headed up to Buckingham Palace, took the required pictures, saw good ole Queen Vic staring down at me, and headed back to join Lisa and Sierra for some sushi before going to see ‘Cat on Hot Tin Roof’. My legs are nearly dead as I’ve fast walked at least 10 miles that day, and have yet to be run over by looking the wrong direction in traffic.

We got these fantastic tickets at a really great rate! 4^th row for about $50. It’s more expensive than that in Phoenix let alone a huge hub like London! The best part of this was James Earl Jones and Phylicia Richard were the stars, and boy were they! If you need a reminder on who they are, James Earl Jones was Mufasa’s voice on the Lion King, but most people know him from Star Wars, the Color Purple, Coming to America, the Encyclopedia Britannica guy, and may other amazing things. Phylicia plays Claire Huxtable on the Cosby show, and I have to say I grew up with her as a mother figure. The play was great! It was very tense but heartfelt, and the acting was incredible. I’m not sure I’d see this without a truly great actor, as the delivery of lines was quite crucial. The lines themselves and plot weren’t that great and were even scary, but I was spellbound by the cast. The Earl (James Earl Jones) was nearly 80 but you’d never know it! I guessed high 60’s. Anyway it was a truly great independent kind of day with a really cool ending. I can’t believe I saw the Earl and Claire Huxtable acting together….and I was close enough (nearly) to touch them.

Transportation methods so far: Car, Plane, U, Bus

Cuisine sampled while in England: Pub food, Brazilian, Korean, Japanese

In summary: Saw all the touristy places in London and an American classic by Tennessee Williams with Mufasa and Clair Huxtable as the leads. Wow!

wow! london and it's not raining??

Day 2 - Sunday 1/31/2010

Oh boy was this a day! My second flight was great. It was a redeye from phili to London. Apparently we sat on the tarmac for 1-1/2 hours waiting for the pilot, preflight checks, and de-icing, but no matter….we took off, or so I assume. This is merely an assumption because Aunt Coreen’s tip proved true. The seat next to me was empty, I had a few blankets (yes, more than 1!), and thus I fell asleep within minutes of getting on board. The sleeping pill I took to ensure this may have helped, but nonetheless, I woke up for the movie and dinner, then passed out again, waking as we were landing. I should have skipped the movie altogether, assuming that anything the airplane played would be doomed, but the Informant didn’t look awful. Like I said, I should have skipped the movie altogether.

Enough about travel…I’ll fast forward through the next 2 hours to the good part. Deplane, go to immigration (where I convince the guy who would remind you of Arthur Dent from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy in excitement level, that yes I do want to stay in London for a month), pick up baggage, skip customs (it’s a wonder England even has the sign up), buy my favorite English chocolate bar (a Lion bar, and it was as good as I remember), buy an oyster card for the U, maneuver 2 giant bags and a backpack onto the underground on Picadilly line to Cockfosters (true), minded the gap on my way out, met up with Lisa and her boy Sierra at Pret a Manger, and unloaded all my bags at Lisa’s amazing London flat.

After a fantastic hot shower (see, I’m speaking British already!), I realize I’m officially a London tourist. Crap! I totally forgot about this part. I spent so much time preparing and packing, I had no idea what to do once I got to London. Luckily, Lisa had some ideas. We took the U to London Bridge (not the infamous Tower Bridge that most people think is called London Bridge), stopped at a pub for mulled wine, a pint, and fish and chips (in that order), walked by Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, Tate Modern, wandered across the Millennium Bridge, walked by some filming event involving geese and teenagers eating (random), popped into st paul’s cathedral, and strolled down Fleet street (the old newspaper street).

Then I got to watch Lisa play in an all-girls volleyball league. Very aggressive. It was fun and a nice rest. Sadly they lost, but you’d never know it from the after party. We went to this great Brazillian place (their coach is from Brazil so she knew the hot spots). After a capriahno (sp?) and mojito, I was warm for the first time all day. Also there was a fun film-maker there from Columbia who was related to one of the volleyball players. He was the great artsy type, quite nice to look at, and loved talking about his films. Not one dorky engineer word was said the entire night. It was blissful!

Shockingly, the sky was gorgeous, not a cloud in sight, but that made it bitterly cold. Oh yea, and I didn’t bring a jacket, just a sweater and a plan to layer. Lisa and her Australian flat-mate laughed at me and she graciously offered to loan me a nice warm coat. We boarded a double decker bus back to Lisa’s and the day could finally end. It was awesome, but I was tired! Somehow airplane sleep just doesn’t really feel like sleep. Day 1 in London, and I realized was wrong about the mean thoughts I’ve had towards it since I left. It really is a nice place.

Time on a plane: 13 hours

Summary: Made it to London rested, walked by a lot of fantastic buildings, got a prerequisite pint, was chilled to the bone, and had a great sleep.

How can someone talk that much!?

Saturday 1/30/2010

Day one….I’m sooo excited! Linds gave me a great send off and we had a
ton of bonding time this last week! And somehow, I did the impossible. I parted
with my phone. Yes friends, I left it back in Phoenix. It’s been three hours
without it, and so far so good! Luckily I did not have to part with my ipod or
laptop. On this first flight to Philadelphia I am cursed to sit with two very
sheltered girls who have never left the country and are on their way to Paris.
As excited as I’d like to be for them, one major thing prevents this. They are
very loud and we sat on the tarmac for 30 agonizing additional minutes. For
those of you who have not heard my philosophy on air travel, the only
conversations I should be able to hear on planes are between people and their books….for
as much ambient noise exists due to the airplane, any talking level above that
is much much too loud! I am not trying to complain, and I am happy for them,
but I nearly feel obligated to ask them to use their ‘inside’ voice, but then I
would probably be breaking my own rule. My Aunt Coreen is credited (by my mom)
with a useful tip for this time I should remember, the best trips have the
rockiest starts. Maybe my next flight will be totally silent! Okay, onto
learning Swahili! (No I did not procrastinate….learning on the van would be
procrastinating).

Peace! And I’m out.

Time on a plane: 5 hours

Books read: 0

Summary: (As every good story
needs to be able to be summed in a few sentence) – Cliched travel begins with
very loud girls (yes more than 1) sitting next to me who quite impossibly did not stop to breathe at any point during the flight.

Site converted

Hey guys, I am going to Africa for a month in February and am the appointed recorder. Rather than email you with the updates, I will keep this blog updated as often as we have internet access.  We're going to three sites in Africa for a Medical mission, which will also include Dental, and Vision. I'm on the vision team! See more info at: mikinduri.com.  Also my mom is going. She's a nurse so she will actually be useful (as opposed to me with my extensive knowledge of the vision field...I wear glasses....occasionally). Also, my Uncle Ted is organizing the trip and I'm really looking forward to spending an extended amount of time with him and mom. Here's the plan:

Jan 30 - Go to England to visit friends: Lisa, Kirstie, Claire, and Linnea (all over England)

Feb 4 - Fly to Nairobi, Kenya

Week of Feb 7 - Work in Mikinduri

Week of Feb 14 - Work in Mwengi

Feb 19 - Go on Safari!

Week of Feb 21 - Work in Mombasa

Feb 28 - Head to Phoenix

If you're curious or want to see pics from past years, go to: www.mikinduri.com. FYI all donations received are used on the mission, not sending people there. We have to cover all of our own travel and hotel costs, so all money donated goes into the communities. Cool, huh?

life is really good.

life is good. lindsey moved here, my friend started working at my company, and so i'm constantly hanging out with friends. work isn't too bad, i'm learning a lot and getting a lot of time working with the satellite. how many people can say that?? i'm moving to a 3 bedroom house so there's more room for linds and i, and my friend is going to move in with us for a bit, which is cool. spent the weekend shopping, playing ddr, karaoke, and guitar hero, so I really can't complain. life is good. okay bye. i hope your life is good too!