Castles and Fantasy Worlds

Right, so I’m going to make an attempt to post more often. Really, I am! Yesterday, Jon had the day off, so we decided we ought to do something interesting. We spent the morning lazing about, as usual, but then in the afternoon we went to the castle. Yes, Colchester has a castle. It’s actually the oldest recorded town in England, dating back to Roman times. The castle nowadays is a museum with a really pretty garden outside it. There are tons of roses outside the entrance. Various colors all labeled with their name. Kind of like flower farms, only these weren’t for sale. On to the museumy bits!

When I was in London last fall, I learned about Boudica. She was the queen of the Iceni, a tribe of Britons in East Anglia (where I live). The Romans had an arrangement with the Iceni’s king that allowed the large tribe to remain mostly independent. When the king died, however, the Romans went back on virtually all of the deals they had made with the Iceni. To make things worse, they flogged Boudica and raped her daughters. The Iceni revolted, led by Boudica, and another, much less powerful tribe of Britons joined them. The Romans didn’t make any preparations for an attack, because they were sure that the legions would come to their rescue. Apparently the Iceni utterly destroyed the Romans in Colchester, and demolished the large temple that the people were barricaded in. Like I said, I learned about Boudica when I was in London. There is a large statue of her in the city, standing on a large chariot-type thing drawn by either 2 or 4 horses (I don’t remember which) with one hand on the reigns, and one hand in the air. She truly looks like a war queen. What I hadn’t realized when I first heard the story, was that Colchester was where Boudica’s revenge took place. Interesting stuff.

Anyway, after the castle, we went to see the new Chronicles of Narnia movie, which just came out yesterday here (I have no clue when it came out/will come out in the States). It was pretty much the same quality as the first one was. Entertaining for sure, but it was clearly no Momento (although it’s probably unfair of me to constantly compare movies to one that amazing). Today I’ll take an application to a restaurant near where I live, call Adecco and see if they have any work for me this weekend, and do my reading for my class this summer. I truly live an exciting life. : P

Tchau!

Long-overdue Update!

Wow, it has been far, FAR too long since I posted! On Friday the 13^th I went to the London Zoo with my friend Tom. It was really good to see him! We had fun geeking out over strange animals (i.e. marveling over naked mole rats and Bactrian camels). When we were looking at the Black Mamba in the reptile place, Jesse called and said that he and his girlfriend Jo were in London and invited Tom and I to come to dinner with them. So, we stayed at the zoo until it was closing, then went and met up with Jesse and Jo and walked to the Drunken Monkey. Lots of yummy Chinese food and a whiskey sour later, I walked back to the train station and said goodbye. They went out to a club or a pub that night, I believe. Anyway, it was a really fun day! That weekend, I worked at Care UK again. The people there are cool, so working is okay, but there definitely comes a point during the day when I just want to do something else. Answering phones for 8 hours is a tad boring. After working I had a week full of more sleep, TV, WoW, and job searching, as well as movies and walks when Jon’s home.

This last Friday I called up Adecco (the temp agency I’m signed with) to see if they had any work for me this weekend, and unfortunately they didn’t. There was an up side, though! Jon didn’t have to work this weekend either, so we got to hang out for the weekend. We spent the weekend as we spend most of our time, generally lazing about! On Sunday we heard what sounded like clapping or cheering outside, so we took a walk to the park, where there was some kind of marching competition going on. We only stayed for one group (it was the last group), and they were a drum and bugle corp. They had a large percussion section, around 30-ish people playing trumpet-like instruments in various sizes, and about 15 or so flag people (you know, the ones that dance around and spin huge flags on poles). The weird thing about the group we watched (as well as the group before them, we saw them leaving the field) was that the drum section wasn’t using marching equipment. They had to push timpani, mallet instruments (like bells and vibes), bass drums and other wheeled percussion designed for indoor use, onto a grass field. So basically, in the drum and bugle corp., the bugles and flag people were out on the field marching and flagging, while the drums chilled on the sidelines. Weirdness, that’s all I can say.

Yesterday Tom came down to Colchester to hang out for a bit. We listened to music and went on a walk, discussing the largest and smallest animals in the world, placing extra emphasis on contemplating the immensity of a blue whale. When Jon got home, we went out to Blockbuster to rent a DVD, since lovefilm (like netflix) hadn’t sent a new one yet. We rented Cloverfield, because Jon wanted to and I agreed to it. If you haven’t seen the movie, THANK GOD. I spent most of the movie expecting to be scared, and never actually getting there. I have no qualms with not being scared, but expecting to be the whole movie was a tad exhausting. I think Jon’s comment was something along the lines of, “I can’t believe how bad that film was.” To which I replied, “I can.” T’was a good laugh. Anyway, that’s about it for now!

Tchau!

Found a Bit of Work!

It seems like time is going by so quickly. Before I know it, it has been a week since I posted! When I stopped by Adecco to give them my bank account number and sign the temp contract, they had a bit of work for me! I worked in a call centre for Care UK, a company that provides in-home care for the elderly across southeast England. I spent 2 and a half hours training on Thursday night, and then worked from 6:30 AM to 2:30 PM on both Saturday and Sunday. It’s interesting work, to say the least. Mostly it involves speaking with carers and clients. An elderly client might be confused about what time (or day even) that their carer is supposed to be there, or a carer might not be able to get into a client’s house, and call us so that we can call the client and ask them to let the carer in. When I turned in my timesheet today, I was asked if I would be interested in doing it again this next weekend, and of course I said I would be. She said she would call me, which is good, because I need the money! At this point, it looks like I’m not going to be able to find a regular job, but hopefully Adecco will be able to keep finding me temp work.

On a side note, I have been absolutely miserable with allergies on and off. The flat gets a bit hot unless the windows are open a little, so I have no relief from this evil hay fever. At Jon’s suggestion, today I finally went down to the pharmacy and bought some allergy medicine. Hopefully it helps, because I might just kill myself if it doesn’t!

One thing I re-noticed when I went into town today: the British will put sunglasses on at the slightest hint of sun. I swear, during my walk into town, it was sunny for about 5 minutes, and during that time, I passed by several people wearing shades. They must just keep them in their pockets/purses so that they can slap them on when the sun starts to peek out from behind the clouds. Poor, hopeful fools.

Livin it Up in Colchester

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted, but things have been fairly uneventful lately. I've settled in well to the flat. 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 1 shower room, a decent sized living room and a small but (mostly) functional kitchen. The place is a mess, and I'm still living out of a suitcase in the living room (because there's really nowhere else to put it), but I do feel quite at home here now.

I've spent the time since I've been here job hunting, hanging out with Jon and playing WoW. The last two things often occur at the same time. For those that care/understand, my hunter hordie will ding 70 today, yay! Hanging out with Jon usually entails watching movies or going for walks, both of which are lovely. The job situation is somewhat less of something to cheer for. I have yet to find a job, unfortunately, so the search continues. Today I'm heading back into London to get a UK bank account. This will hopefully allow the temp agency I signed up with yesterday to find me some jobs, whoo hoo! I'm not thrilled about the idea of just temping while I'm here, but I need to work, so I'll do what I have to do to make ends meet. Honestly, I need the bank account anyway, so it's a good thing to get out of the way.

That's honestly all that's going on in my life at the moment, but certain nagging fathers have persuaded me to post. Hopefully I'll have a job soon, and then I'll have more interesting stories for you all.

Tchau!

Reunited with London

I made it, I’m here! My flight got into Heathrow right on time. Unfortunately, I did not sleep at all on the flight. I decided that it would be better to stay awake so that I’ll adjust to the time difference easier. I did sit next to a very sweet old British man on the plane, though. Well, he wasn't really old, per se. He was probably not much past middle aged, but he was still cute and British! Very stereotypical, reserved kind of guy, but in more of a humble way than a pompous one. It was pretty hard to have a conversation with him, really, because he was so soft-spoken. Actually the man I sat next to on my other flight was talkative as well. Normally, people don’t seem to strike up conversations with me on airplanes. The first guy was a mechanical Engineer from Seattle, probably early 30’s. We just chatted a bit about psychology and video games. Neither of these conversations lasted long, of course, but to someone like me who never talks to strangers, it was quite an epic journey!

Getting back to the original topic, the lack of sleep means that I’m crazy tired right now, though! I took the Heathrow Express train into Paddington station instead of taking the tube from the airport to save time. I then had to get the tube from there to the Farringdon tube stop, from which I walked to the work abroad program’s (BUNAC) office. I learned something rather valuable this morning: lugging a giant suitcase up and down stairs in the Underground and down the sidewalk for a good 10 minutes is definitely something to be avoided if one can help it! Of course, I can’t afford to take a cab, so lugging a giant suitcase it is!

Right, so I arrived at BUNAC around 8:30 AM to find that they don’t open until 9:30. Apparently, I didn’t need to take the Heathrow Express to save time. -_- So I went down to a little café on the corner, had a pastry and a latte, and read through my Work Abroad Handbook for the thousandth time (hey, it was either that or stare into space for an hour). I then headed back to BUNAC and waited around there. I got a chance to check my email, which was nice.

The orientation was interesting. Well, actually it was pretty boring, but it was a room full of highly jet-lagged Americans and Canadians attempting to pay attention to information about taxes and the like for nearly 2 hours. Needless to say there was a lot of yawning going around, which, combined with the fact that almost everyone in the room had a sort of glazed look in their eyes, makes for mild entertainment says I. I’m no exception, though! My eyes are pretty dang blood-shot, I haven’t brushed my teeth in well over 24 hours, and I am not only am drinking my second latte of the day, but also took my pill this morning, and still I feel like if I close my eyes I will pass out.

So what now, you ask? Now I wait around for a few hours. I have to wait for Jon to get off work before going to Colchester, so I snuck out of BUNAC (not that they care where I go, but I left my big suitcase under a table there, and I’m sure they don’t want me leaving it there while I go out) and walked about 5-10 minutes to find a Starbucks, which unfortunately doesn’t have free internet like I thought it did. I already bought my coffee, though, and I’m definitely bored enough, so I’m paying for the internet.

There’s something about a vanilla hazelnut latte from Starbucks, man. Every sip is like a bit of liquid joy entering my system. All I want to do is SLEEP! As I become more and more delirious from sleep deprivation and exhaustion, my writing becomes less and less coherent, so I’ll stop here. Sorry if this post has been a bit whiny, but I r a sleepy Rachel. I’ll post this tonight and promise to write more soon!

Tchau!

Random little addition: There’s some old British man pacing around the sitting area in the basement of this Starbucks. He’s just walking back and forth, occasionally sitting down, then getting up and resuming his wandering. It’s kind of creepy! If I was a braver person, I would strike up a conversation with him in an attempt to understand why he’s pacing like this. Perhaps a disorder of some sort? Or maybe just too much coffee? My shyness forces the phenomenon to remain mysterious. XD

Getting Ready to Leave

Right, so I’m taking a little hiatus from writing out a packing list to blog. I spent about 5 hours working today, yay! I was working with Technology Services, filming Whitman graduation. This involved standing behind a camera for a few hours directly in the sun in some seriously hot weather. I like filming, but yuck! My boss, Richard, is leaving Whitman this summer, so I said goodbye to him after we were done taking down all the equipment. It’s funny how much I think I’ll miss him. It will be so weird working for someone else!

Anyway, I have to pack and clean my room today, because I leave Walla Walla tomorrow afternoon! My dad and I will drive to Seattle and stay the night at Chris and Margo’s house. My flight leaves the next morning at 8:00 AM, I get into Toronto at 3:32 PM, have a couple hours of layover, leave Toronto at 6:25 PM, and get into London Heathrow at 6:25 AM the next day (Wednesday). Phew! I have to make sure to get to my orientation at 10:30 that morning as well. There should be plenty of time for that, though. After orientation, I have to occupy myself for a few hours then hop on a train. An hour or so later I’ll arrive in Colchester, walk about half a mile (I think) and then I’ll finally be at my home for the summer! That’s about 48 hours of travel. Good lord. But then it’s all in the name of adventure!

Luckily, Jon has Thursday off, so he’ll be able to help me acclimate that day (i.e. take me to the grocery store, etc.). Hopefully we’ll acclimate to living together as well. Hooray to a summer of arguments about the proper resting position of the toilet seat! Of course I’m nervous about heading off to another country for the summer, but I have a feeling it will be one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I suppose I ought to get back to my packing list. More to come soon!

Tchau!

Wedding-ness! (written yesterday)

At the time I’m writing this, I’m sitting in a cabin on the beach in Carmel. My family went off to sightsee and generally enjoy themselves, while I am supposedly here doing homework. It’s not that I haven’t tried! But seriously, you try sitting on a couch in living room with French doors overlooking the beach and getting anything done! Then perhaps you won’t think I’m quite as lazy. Then again, I AM lazy…

The point is, even when I do manage to get my eyes to focus onto the screen of my computer, I can still HEAR the sounds of the waves crashing against the beach. If it was sunny today, this place would be paradise. Note to self: in the future, finish papers and studying before going to paradise.

Besides trying not to look and listen to the ocean, I also must contend with my wandering mind. I can’t stop thinking about how beautiful the wedding was yesterday. Patrice and John got married, woot! Patrice’s mom Beth and my mom have been great friends since they were 13 years old, so they feel like family to us. They’re more than just family friends. When Beth met Chris’s fiancé Margo yesterday, she hugged her and said, “Welcome to the family. When you join, you get all of us.” Anyway, I’ve known Patrice my whole life, and it’s really great to see her with someone who fits her so perfectly. I also can’t stop thinking about how drunk I was. D’oh! I really need to learn to drink slower…or just less. Didn’t do anything regrettable though, so all is well! I’m definitely grateful to mi hermano Eric for dumping water down my throat, though.

Oh man, last night Eric and I were chatting with one of the photographers while waiting in line to get pasta (which was freakin delish) and after she and I briefly discussed our relative vegetarianisms, the subject of the swordfish they were serving inside came up. Eric joked, “You don’t even have to feel guilty about eating swordfish, Rachel, because if you didn’t eat it, it would just go attack another fish!” I played along saying, “Yeah, it would just stab you with its sword!” and made some awkward poking gestures, because…you know…I roll like that. “It’s a very aggressive fish!” adds my brother. At this point, the woman photographer points back and forth between Eric and I and asks, “Are you two brother and sister?” We thought this was hilarious, and started reliving jokes from earlier about being each other’s date. “I knew I should have bought you that corsage!” lolz, mi hermano, lolz.

So all in all it was a fun night, but I’m ready to go home. I’m ready to turn in this paper, take this final, and be DONE. ‘Twill be amazing. I’ll have like 3 days to get things figured out, a day of work, and then will be leaving Walla Walla on the 19^th! Eee!

Things I’m looking forward to in England:

-Hearing more people cuss on the streets: there’s nowhere near enough swearing in this country.

-The tube: I know, call me crazy, but I actually miss my 40 min morning commute. I won’t be staying in London, but taking the tube a couple times on that first day will be nice.

-Meeting Jon in person

-Pubs: I like them. The end.

-Happy Whiners: British people crack me up. They love to complain. I’m serious, they actually enjoy complaining. Professor Julian would constantly complain about British everything, but he’d do it with the biggest grin on his face. Yay Brits!

-Making it on my own: living entirely off of what I make myself for the first time. Yes, I’ll be broke, but it’ll be my broke-ness, and no one elses!

Things I’m not looking forward to:

-Looking for a job: And the uncertainty that comes with moving to a foreign country without one.

-Living with someone messier than I am: He’s lucky he’s so cute and sweet, let me tell ya.

-Having almost no close friends around: no explanation needed methinks.

-Being broke: Why is everything so expensive in England dag nabbit?!

I’m sure these lists will grow over time, but this will have to do for now. Side note: Why is it that I can write so much about randomness, but when it comes to writing a paper I just sit and stare at my computer screen? Oh right, ADD. Damn. Well I suppose I should get back to attempting to do real work. Hopefully I can upload this tonight, but if not, tomorrow should do. Tchau!