Wednesday, December 3rd
I woke up at 1:30pm. I got dressed around 3:30pm. I practiced from 4:30-7pm. I went to dinner at the Market Thai Restaurant in Ladbroke Grove afterwards (awesome sizzling steak strips with thai sauce and coconut rice) to celebrate Andrew’s birthday. It was funny when they turned off the lights, walked out with a cake and lit candles, and walked right by Andrew to another table in the corner. You could see his hopes crushed as they walked away. Hilarious. I came back to the flat, had a glass of wine and listened to the Ranger’s game.
Note the lack of homework.
Tuesday, December 2nd
British Art & Architecture was awesome today. Why? Maybe because it was our last class meeting… or maybe it was because I got my first A on a paper. I’m not sure exactly how, but I’ll take it. Thank you, Susan Bracken. I even answered a question correctly today, just after waking up from a nap. I am so done with college.
After that, I practiced for a few hours then went grocery shopping at the new Waitrose that opened up right next to our flat. It’s beautiful inside, and the prices are comparable to Somerfield. I spent the rest of the night chilling out, watching the office and not doing work.
Monday, December 1st
Shakespeare was a trip this morning as we went over three comedies in 1 class (different than the usual 1 play over 3 classes). I have officially checked out of college. It’s so hard to stay motivated, especially when I’m a few assignments away from graduating. After class, I had a lesson with David Powell which went really well, considering I hadn’t practiced that much this past weekend. The lessons have changed from me playing for a teacher to me playing for someone who seems like more of a peer that can give me a few pointers. It’s not that I think I’ve mastered the euphonium or anything close to that, but I feel that he’s helped me to the point where I can fix the problems that he’ll critique me on before the lesson. I still really enjoy the lessons, as I get to play music for a great musician and we can bounce ideas back and forth about what is best musically.
That night, Omar, Andy, a girl named Ashley and myself went to see Spamalot. We got tickets, and ate in Chinatown at a very new, ritzy restaurant where everything was pretty expensive. I only had soup. Then we went to the show, and it was absolutely freaking hilarious. Everything I ever thought it could be. And I’m glad I got to see it when I did, since it’s closing in a month.
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
Thanksgiving in London
Sunday, November 30th
After another great breakfast, we set out to find the Harry Potter books down on Oxford Street and hit up the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. That was the only place where I have ever seen a hockey rink, a roller coaster and a giant slide all outdoors at one festival. Kind of odd.
Laura and Kim went to Big Ben again while I practiced, then Kim and I picked up her luggage and headed out to Heathrow to catch her flight. We forgot her passport, but luckily she remembered when we were only 2 tube stops from our flat. She made it on the plane fine, and I spent the rest of the night chilling out at the flat.
Saturday, November 29th
I made some bad-ass omlets, then went to the Wicked theatre to pick up tickets for the matinee performance. Kim, Laura and I went over to see Buckingham Palace and hung out in St. James’ Park for a bit before Laura left and Kim and I went to the show. Wicked is an awesome show, with the intricate stage set-up and scene changes, and the music was really interesting.
After that, we took a walk down the southbank, from the Millennium Bridge down to Tower Bridge. It was a chilly night, but the walk was fun. We got dinner at a pub behind my flat (The Larrick) and had real Aberdeen Angus burgers which were amazing. Then we met up with Omar, Andrew and Laura and we went down to Oxford Circus to check out the Christmas lights. We made our way over to Soho for a bit before heading back.
Friday, November 28th
After breakfast, Kim and I took a tour of Westminster Abbey then made our way down to ICLC. She went with Laura, Seth and Meagan to check out Harrod’s while Omar and I went to try to get tickets for Wicked that night. We couldn’t get the tickets, so I met up with the rest of them down on the southbank to check out the German Christmas village. We took a ride on the merry-go-round and walked all the way down to London Bridge where we went to a pub for dinner. We went back to the flat briefly and headed out to Wetherspoons Pub on Baker Street for some drinks. Not exactly what I had planned for today, but hey, we still saw some cool stuff.
Thursday, November 27th
I got about 3 hours of sleep when I woke up at 5am to catch a Picadilly train out to Heathrow Terminal 4 to pick up Kim. It was really easy to get out there, only took about an hour, and I was there just in time to catch her coming out of the arrivals door. We came back to the flat to drop off her luggage and went straight to ICLC for my Brit Pop class (we covered how crappy the Spice Girls were as well as awesome Irish bands).
After that, we went to some museums (Natural History and V&A) then went over to Big Ben, Parliament and Westminster Abbey before heading back to the flat to get ready for the feast. We had 11 people total for dinner (Me, Kim, Andrew, Omar, Eric, Ilyse, Laura, Ilyse’s friend Jen, Omar’s friend Richie, Meagan and Seth) and it went very smoothly, with tons of food and good wine. I gnawed on a turkey leg and ate a few of my baked potatoes. Awesome night.
Wednesday, November 26th
Today I went down to a primary school in Brixton to teach a euphonium lesson to two students in Omar’s class. The school was mainly Afro-Caribbean students, including the two euph students. They were beginners and only knew one note, D natural (or ‘mi’ as they refer to it as). I had to teach them in this large room that was very loud with classes walking through the middle randomly. Eventually we moved into a classroom when the rest of the class was warming up, and then I got to teach them two more notes, C and B-flat (or ‘re’ and ‘do’). They were very interested in learning new things on the euphonium, even though they were actually playing baritones.
After the lesson, they joined the rest of the class for their rehearsal, which was one of the most unorganized things I’ve seen. Students were raising all sorts of hell with each of their instruments, yelling, playing, fighting, not listening to anything the teacher, Alistar (or ‘Titch’), was saying. It was nuts. I decided then that this would be a poor choice to stay here to teach after I’m done. They were rehearsing for their concert next week (which is strange since they only know one note) and it wasn’t going very well. Afterwards, a clarinet player comes up to me and says “hi, can you help me put this away?” and hands me her clarinet. I turned around to officially meet Titch, and when I turned back around, she was gone. I found her wrestling with a trombonist, a tug-of-war match with the trombone slide, and got her to come over to a table to show her how to disassemble the instrument. We went piece by piece, and after it was finished, she closed the case, realized that it was her friend’s case and ran off. Awesome.
After that, I went back to ICLC to practice, then ran some errands and made my baked potatoes for the fest on the morrow.
Tuesday, November 25th
We forgot to pay rent yesterday, I hope that’s not a problem. My highlight for today was in British Art & Architecture when our professor, the lovely Susan Bracken, accidentally knocked the telephone off the receiver while leaning on it and had a heluva time putting it back up. It’s just hilarious to watch a very proper British lady curse at an inanimate object that doesn’t want to cooperate. She also expressed her severe displeasure with the current Mona Lisa exhibit at The Louvre, with its “hideous cream-colored walls and the millions of Japanese taking photographs next to the sign clearly marked ‘no photography.’ A terrible exhibit, indeed.” I love her.
I tried practicing again today, but my face was still not feeling quite ready to play well again after that marathon of playing on Saturday. It reminds me of last year when our ‘Heavy Metal’ tuba quartet would play at Moonshadows Tavern on the commons on Monday nights and I wouldn’t be able to feel anything in my face for a few days afterwards. Good times.
Tonight I made the perfect tikka masala chicken with orange (probably my 10th time making it) and it was great. I spent the rest of the night cleaning the apartment and getting ready for Kim’s arrival on Thanksgiving Thursday. We also started thawing our 17.5lb turkey. Boo-yah.
After another great breakfast, we set out to find the Harry Potter books down on Oxford Street and hit up the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. That was the only place where I have ever seen a hockey rink, a roller coaster and a giant slide all outdoors at one festival. Kind of odd.
Laura and Kim went to Big Ben again while I practiced, then Kim and I picked up her luggage and headed out to Heathrow to catch her flight. We forgot her passport, but luckily she remembered when we were only 2 tube stops from our flat. She made it on the plane fine, and I spent the rest of the night chilling out at the flat.
Saturday, November 29th
I made some bad-ass omlets, then went to the Wicked theatre to pick up tickets for the matinee performance. Kim, Laura and I went over to see Buckingham Palace and hung out in St. James’ Park for a bit before Laura left and Kim and I went to the show. Wicked is an awesome show, with the intricate stage set-up and scene changes, and the music was really interesting.
After that, we took a walk down the southbank, from the Millennium Bridge down to Tower Bridge. It was a chilly night, but the walk was fun. We got dinner at a pub behind my flat (The Larrick) and had real Aberdeen Angus burgers which were amazing. Then we met up with Omar, Andrew and Laura and we went down to Oxford Circus to check out the Christmas lights. We made our way over to Soho for a bit before heading back.
Friday, November 28th
After breakfast, Kim and I took a tour of Westminster Abbey then made our way down to ICLC. She went with Laura, Seth and Meagan to check out Harrod’s while Omar and I went to try to get tickets for Wicked that night. We couldn’t get the tickets, so I met up with the rest of them down on the southbank to check out the German Christmas village. We took a ride on the merry-go-round and walked all the way down to London Bridge where we went to a pub for dinner. We went back to the flat briefly and headed out to Wetherspoons Pub on Baker Street for some drinks. Not exactly what I had planned for today, but hey, we still saw some cool stuff.
Thursday, November 27th
I got about 3 hours of sleep when I woke up at 5am to catch a Picadilly train out to Heathrow Terminal 4 to pick up Kim. It was really easy to get out there, only took about an hour, and I was there just in time to catch her coming out of the arrivals door. We came back to the flat to drop off her luggage and went straight to ICLC for my Brit Pop class (we covered how crappy the Spice Girls were as well as awesome Irish bands).
After that, we went to some museums (Natural History and V&A) then went over to Big Ben, Parliament and Westminster Abbey before heading back to the flat to get ready for the feast. We had 11 people total for dinner (Me, Kim, Andrew, Omar, Eric, Ilyse, Laura, Ilyse’s friend Jen, Omar’s friend Richie, Meagan and Seth) and it went very smoothly, with tons of food and good wine. I gnawed on a turkey leg and ate a few of my baked potatoes. Awesome night.
Wednesday, November 26th
Today I went down to a primary school in Brixton to teach a euphonium lesson to two students in Omar’s class. The school was mainly Afro-Caribbean students, including the two euph students. They were beginners and only knew one note, D natural (or ‘mi’ as they refer to it as). I had to teach them in this large room that was very loud with classes walking through the middle randomly. Eventually we moved into a classroom when the rest of the class was warming up, and then I got to teach them two more notes, C and B-flat (or ‘re’ and ‘do’). They were very interested in learning new things on the euphonium, even though they were actually playing baritones.
After the lesson, they joined the rest of the class for their rehearsal, which was one of the most unorganized things I’ve seen. Students were raising all sorts of hell with each of their instruments, yelling, playing, fighting, not listening to anything the teacher, Alistar (or ‘Titch’), was saying. It was nuts. I decided then that this would be a poor choice to stay here to teach after I’m done. They were rehearsing for their concert next week (which is strange since they only know one note) and it wasn’t going very well. Afterwards, a clarinet player comes up to me and says “hi, can you help me put this away?” and hands me her clarinet. I turned around to officially meet Titch, and when I turned back around, she was gone. I found her wrestling with a trombonist, a tug-of-war match with the trombone slide, and got her to come over to a table to show her how to disassemble the instrument. We went piece by piece, and after it was finished, she closed the case, realized that it was her friend’s case and ran off. Awesome.
After that, I went back to ICLC to practice, then ran some errands and made my baked potatoes for the fest on the morrow.
Tuesday, November 25th
We forgot to pay rent yesterday, I hope that’s not a problem. My highlight for today was in British Art & Architecture when our professor, the lovely Susan Bracken, accidentally knocked the telephone off the receiver while leaning on it and had a heluva time putting it back up. It’s just hilarious to watch a very proper British lady curse at an inanimate object that doesn’t want to cooperate. She also expressed her severe displeasure with the current Mona Lisa exhibit at The Louvre, with its “hideous cream-colored walls and the millions of Japanese taking photographs next to the sign clearly marked ‘no photography.’ A terrible exhibit, indeed.” I love her.
I tried practicing again today, but my face was still not feeling quite ready to play well again after that marathon of playing on Saturday. It reminds me of last year when our ‘Heavy Metal’ tuba quartet would play at Moonshadows Tavern on the commons on Monday nights and I wouldn’t be able to feel anything in my face for a few days afterwards. Good times.
Tonight I made the perfect tikka masala chicken with orange (probably my 10th time making it) and it was great. I spent the rest of the night cleaning the apartment and getting ready for Kim’s arrival on Thanksgiving Thursday. We also started thawing our 17.5lb turkey. Boo-yah.
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