The Eagle and Child

So after living in Oxford for two and a half months, we finally made it to the Eagle and Child pub...the famous pub where C.S. Lewis and Tolkien used to hang out and talk over a pint. It's a cool place...very cozy and dark inside, typical small-pub-in-england feel. That's about all I have to say about it. :)


This is what I read online about the two thinkers:

"Lewis taught as a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, from 1925 to 1954, and then became the Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at the University of Cambridge.

Tolkien was the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College, Oxford, from 1925 to 1945. He was then the Merton Professor of English Language and Literature at Merton College, Oxford, from 1945 until his retirement in 1959.

They met regularly on Tuesdays at the Eagle and Child pub... It's on St Giles Street, just across the street and north of St John's College."

The picture below is where we sat...looking out onto St. Giles street.

Fried Goodness...

I tried a deep fried Mars bar today for the first time...it was so stinkin' good! Seriously, it was so good, I am having one tomorrow. I may have a slightly clogged artery or two, but it was worth it.

Mmmm....sugar rushing to my head...can't think straight...must have another...

German Mulled Beer

In Edinburgh they have an amazing German market (only for about a month at Christmas time). Tom's mom and sis took us there yesterday to look at all the cool stalls, and also/especially to try the mulled beer (also known as 'winter beer'). Verdict: so delicious!! Seriously, why don't we have this tradition in Canada?? We are totally missing out. It's like a beer with spices and almost a red wine like taste to it...I can't really describe it...you'll have to try it for yourself!

I would also recommend Mulled Wine...or "Glühwein" in German, a spicy, tasty way to enjoy the holidays. It's quite common in the UK as well as Germany.

On a Train...

As I write this, I am on a train, on my way up to Edinburgh, Scotland. My first rail ride in the UK, and I must say, this is the way to travel! It may be a bit more expensive, especially if you don't book early, but it is a sweet way to travel. I am sitting on a luxurious coach, with a table, wifi, food, and a big window that looks over the countryside. Seriously, this is the way to travel.

Today the English countryside is exceptionally beautiful because it actually snowed the last few days. It makes everything look magical. I have been passing lovely small village after lovely small village, thatched roofs dusted with pure white snow...and fields of sheep, who despite the chilly air and snow covered ground, seem to be warm. They kind of make me hungry. Or want a sweater. I can't decide.

I am looking forward to Edinburgh, we are going to see Tom's family (and have a little Christmas with them) and we are also going to do some training and hangout time with the STINT team up in Edinburgh...looking forward to seeing other Canadians (not that I am complaining, I LOVE all my English mates!)

Tom just nudged me and I looked out to see an amazing town, with a beautiful church steeple and other striking architecture dusted in white. We try to be subtle as we see amazing things, but really I want to yell, "wow!" but then I would be a weird foreigner...and it would totally mess up my plan to look and act like I belong, like a Brit! (well, I guess right now, I am surrounded by UKers in general, maybe I should try out my Scottish accent). I better stop writing before I miss out on the view!

A Full Belly.

Today we went to my friend/coworker Nemo's house for an American Thanksgiving feast. We all arrived at around 1pm, ate at 2pm, then played games and hung out till late tonight. I couldn't believe we stayed there all afternoon and night, but that's what they do in the states on thanksgiving, it's an all day event.

There was about 18 of us for lunch, and then another 20-30 people came just for pudding ('dessert' to CDN's) later around 6pm ish...we had fireworks in the backyard (with the neighbor watching us cautiously out his window with his flashlight) and sparklers! It was so much fun, and the food was delicious. I was in charge of bringing pie and cranberry sauce...first time I have ever made cranberry sauce from scratch and I must say...it was great!

I ate so much today, seriously, I was feeling the turkey hangover.

I am thankful to have a chance to celebrate Thanksgiving, even if it was a month late :)

Random Thought

Random Thought: Some stereotypes are true...

While on our staff team we laugh and mock about all the silly British stereotypes that people actually believe which aren't true, there is one that is very true: British people love their tea. We drink tons of tea! I drink at least two cups a day if I have meetings or am over at friend's house.

Good thing I like tea, and good thing my mom got me into the habit of having tea in Canada...I have even stopped putting sugar in my tea, which means I am a real tea drinker (although some may argue with that!)

There are a few other stereotypes that are true and a few that are not true as in any culture, I guess.

Signage

I was pretty surprised at how many road signs I couldn't figure out or recognize especially when Tom and I went to Wales. We realized that we should have looked up some of these signs BEFORE we chose to drive across the country! But alas, it all ended well, and we managed despite not understanding several signs.

There is no shortage of signs here...there was even an article recently noting that in London there is 335 road signs in an eight mile stretch. That's pretty impressive!

But before you judge me for my lack of British road smarts...see for yourself, how many of these signs do you know?



This one stumped us most of all...cause we kept seeing it (and at the same time wondering, "what is the speed limit here?")



But before all my British friends laugh at me, I bet they don't know some Canadian road signs either! My question is, how many of my British mates, know what these mean?




Alright, I will save you time and give you the Answers:
British Signs:
1) Wait for counter traffic 2)No stopping 3)Stop 4)No parking 5)No overtaking (passing for us)
6)National Speed Limit applys (now wondering we couldn't figure out the speed limit!!)
Canadian signs:
1) Railroad ahead 2) lane ends 3)Hazard close to the edge of the road. The downward lines show the side on which you may safely pass. 4)Carpool lane - High Occupancy Vehicles only 5) No left turn on the red light

Our Trip to Wales...

Last weekend we took a trip to Wales for my birthday. Yes, we 'hired' a car and Tom drove on the other side of the road (and did really well, after the first day when, at times, I was a little afraid for my life). We travelled all over Northern Wales and spent most of our time in Snowdonia National Park. I can see why North Wales is a major tourist spot for the UK population (and the world for that matter!) It's a majestic place...full of mountainous fields of grazing sheep...and ocean, oh the ocean...I miss it! We stayed in a little sweet village called Conwy right on the ocean, with an amazing castle situated in the front of the village as a bold statement of beauty.

Welsh is a totally complicated language though...check out "rooms" for example in the hostel we stayed in.


They love there double consonants...

Check out this video of Wales it give you an idea of all that we saw...it was an amazing weekend, and we found great spots of visit again (without the crowds that are in the summer) and two amazing restaurants. One, called the Osbourne house was right in Llandudno on the coast. The other was an old Abbey in Snowdonia National Park.

http://www.canada.visitwales.com/server.php?show=nav.5210

Cheers!

Oh and here's a picture of Conwy, the village we stayed in.

Buskers in Oxford

While there are the average guitar playing buskers here, they also have some rather interesting buskers...my favorite is this guy who plays the bagpipes. It's so loud you can hear it all the way down the main street, but I like it cause I never get to hear the bagpipes, and somehow it makes me feel like I am in Scotland, or somewhere cool like that. The funny thing is, while I was enjoying his loud song walking down main street, and older woman (who totally reminded me of my grandma!) stop me and said, "Do you want to know the definition of a gentleman?". "Sure" I replied. Then she continued, "The definition of a gentleman is a man who knows how to play the bagpipes and doesn't."

I had to laugh.

Another thing that is kind of cool, is there is this girl who 'buskes' by drawing on the sidewalk creative and cool art with sidewalk chalk. I will have to try to get a picture of her in the future.

Best Phrase of the Day

"You just have to know it, deep down in your knower" (pointing to your gutt).

I never knew I had a knower. :)

When Old and New Collide...

This is one of my favorite pictures from London simply because the contrast between old and new architecture is so apparent. It's so cool to have a castle from the 1500's in the same space as a modern-day structural beauty (just wish I could photo shop the crane out of it...I guess I could...maybe one day when I am bored).

London in a Day

We took a whirlwind trip to London last weekend...and I say whirlwind, because we saw a ridiculous amount of things in one day! We could barely walk by the end of the day we were so tired. I don't know why we decided to see so many sites in one day...we are just ambitious people I guess or psychos. But here are a few cool things we saw:


We saw parliament and the Westminster Abbey of course. I like this picture because of the pigeons on that poor man's head. You would think a King (King George V) should have more honour!


We found Chinatown and had Vietnamese food...we were craving Pho!


We saw the British Museum...but only a bit of it...you could spend the whole day there, easily! This sign outside the museum made us laugh. If you can't read it, it says, "Please do not eat inside China Landscape."





We went on the London Eye...totally worth it! It was so much fun. We have tons of good pictures, these are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of photos...


Of course, we stumbled upon the Canadian Embassy...and had to take a picture.


We visited the Tower of London (the Castle) and the Tower Bridge.


We also saw St. Paul's Cathedral...a must see if you go to London. We didn't go inside cause it was late by this time, but the outside is enough to shock anyone...even Tom.


And these are only a few sites we saw...we also went to Trafalgar's Square, Piccadilly Circus, Covent Garden, and rode the Tube all day. Oh and took a trip to the local IKEA. :)

London is so diverting...but we were glad to be home in our own beds, in our little town of Oxford, by the end of the day.

Dim Sum in Oxford?

Oh what a wonderful discovery. Great Dim Sum in Oxford. And it's not too expensive...if you don't convert to Canadian. We found it in sort of a little wannabe Chinatown. But we are not complaining! There are a few others around to try out but not many.

The other thing we came across while walking by the Oxford castle (yep, just another day here) was a free exhibit of the artist that does all the shots of the Earth from Above. If you want to see what I am talking about you can check the website: http://www.yannarthusbertrand2.org/

Gown & Town

There is an old tradition here that dates back to a time when there was a lot of animosity between the 'city folk' and the 'scholars/students' of Oxford. They were rivals at one time and there are crazy stories about the townsfolk became a mob and chased students and even killed some! Thankfully those days are long gone, and we all live in peace now...but the other night really made me smile as Tom and I have very different experiences...

He went to him formal welcome banquet at Exeter College (apparently it was just like Hogwarts, beautiful, posh, and formal. Including a speech from the Rector about how they have now joined an 'elite club' that few have the privilege of joining). While I, met up with some friends and went to the local tavern. Filled with townsfolk and students alike (kind of ironic), we enjoyed a pint at a small crowded local pub. So when we got home we had a laugh about how he was hanging with the 'gown' society, and I was hanging with the 'town' society. Gotta keep it real, I think!

Oh IKEA, you are worth it.

Last week we decided we needed to make a trip to IKEA to get the rest of our house supplies. I mean, FLAT supplies. This was no small journey, as we had to take a bus an hour away to find the nearest IKEA.

That morning we still felt pretty ill from jet lag, but we decided to go to IKEA anyways, because we knew we needed stuff for the flat, and we knew we only had so many days to go shopping before life and work hit hard. So we boarded the nice big bus in the pouring rain. Once in Milton Keynes, where the IKEA was, we met a guy at the bus stop who asked us where we were going. When we replied, he said he worked right by IKEA. Great! We said, "we'll follow you then." And boy was it God's grace that we did...IKEA is VERY hard to find by bus, and did I mention it was pouring rain? We took an indirect bus route, so when we got off with the guy (we felt like we were on the Amazing Race, especially when they try to use the locals to get ahead), we had to walk quite a ways to get to the IKEA. We were soaking wet by the time we got there (don't forget we felt crappy to begin with that day) so we decided to dry off and have lunch first. The day only went 'up' from there, as we got tons of stuff we needed for cheap (only IKEA, you are worth it!) and we got a much closer bus stop on the way home, not to mention, it stopped raining completely by the time we left the store.

So, it was quite the adventure, but even with the hour bus ride and the confusing local bus to get to the store, it was well worth it.

Best Phrase of the Day

My wonderful staff member said in her richly British accent,

"Well, we got ourselves into a wee bit o' a pickle really."

It made me giggle inside, but it's normal here, so I tried not to react like a dumb foreigner.

Easy Travels, Brutal Jet Lag...

While the trip to England was relatively painless, the jet lag we incurred since arriving has been brutal! Serves us right for snoozing our way through our 10 hour flight. It was wonderful-we boarded the plane, ate dinner, and went to sleep. Yes, we did take a few Gravol to aid the process...but the flight was also not full so we got to lay across free seats! We woke up, and when I looked at where we were on the little map on the chair in front of me, we were 30 minutes from London! That's the way uh-huh-uh-huh I like it!!

BUT then the first night in the UK our bodies were totally confused, and I was up from 3-6pm and Tom was up most of the night, then the next day we thought, we'll just sleep in and let our bodies sort themselves out...BAD IDEA! We slept till 2:30pm, after finally falling asleep at like 4am. So you can imagine the next day was the same...bed at 3am, BUT we made ourselves get up at 9am. And yes, we did feel like crap. Then that night we decided to take NyQuil (Okay, I am not advocating drugging yourself to sleep but sometimes you gotta!) And we were out by 11am, and up by 7:30am for our first staff meeting with work. Voila! But it took us 4 nights of bad sleeps to finally get a decent one. There was one more crappy sleep in there somewhere...it's a bit of a blur really.

Would I still sleep on the plane even if it means I have jet lag longer? YES! I love feeling like the flight is an hour and a half, it's worth it to me. Tom says 'never again'. Guess we'll have to go our own separate ways on this one.