I am fortunate enough to be taking a literature class on Lewis and Tolkien, and yesterday we discussed the second of C. S. Lewis' "space trilogy" (which, fun fact that you never needed to know, Lewis referred to this trilogy as his Ransom trilogy-if you read the books you'll discover why). I highly recommend the series!
At around 12:30 I showed up at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church to help out with a program the church has for retirees. There were several kind people working in the kitchen, preparing lunch. I washed my hands, put on an apron, and started out by helping fill the plates and taking them out to the bar, where the retirees would come pick them up. It was a thoroughly British meal, with brisket, yorkshire pudding, peas and carrots, potatoes, and gravy. I'd never had or seen (to my knowledge) yorkshire pudding before, and Martha explained to me the very simple recipe along with the history behind it. Apparently families would make yorkshire pudding as a kind of filler for their stomachs because the average family (back in the day) couldn't afford much, if any, meat with their meal. Very cool. After everyone had been served their lunch and dessert (either lemon or chocolate cake bathing in custard), we cleaned up as much as we could and all the volunteers ate together as the retirees listened to a speaker's presentation on worldwide modern day slavery. It was a very enlightening presentation and the audience was a hoot, freely voicing their opinions and telling one another (and when I say telling I mean shouting) to be quiet when someone talked on their phone during the presentation. The food was very British, and I enjoyed the warm welcome from everyone there. At the conclusion of the presentation, we cleared the tables, cleaned up in the kitchen, and began serving tea and biscuits (cookies-apparently people here eat constantly, but still manage to stay in great physical shape?? It's a gift I intend to master during my time here) before heading home.
I've known Bailey for many years, from way back in my private school days and from my home church, but unfortunately we haven't kept up very well. However, the other day our moms apparently talked and discovered that both of their daughters are living in the same city abroad, so Bailey and I connected and planned to get dinner together.
We arranged to meet up outside Liverpool Street Station. Rookie mistake. Both of us had forgotten that Liverpool is an airport of a railway station, with multiple entrances, many shops in the station, many different lines of trains (both the tube and actual trains), and all varieties of people milling about. Walking through the main central area of the station reminded me of flash mob videos I'd seen on youtube, with a couple hundred people standing, most everyone facing the same direction (towards the signs telling departure/arrival times for trains), spaced a couple feet away from each other, and each individual seemingly engrossed in their own thing, whether it be their newspaper, iPod, book, or travel partner. I found the nearest exit and waited, because I don't have a phone here, until I realized that the Starbucks I was standing next to provided free wifi. Bailey and I messaged back and forth (she was at a Cafe Nero using their wifi as well!) until we figured out how to find each other. After catching up for a few minutes, we decided to go find an Indian restaurant Bailey had heard recommendations for and set out into the dark, with sprinkles of rain and gusts of wind reminding us that we were, in fact, in London! It took us quite a while to find it, as it was on a side street and we got a bit turned around at one point, but when we walked in we were shocked at how fancy the place was!
White tablecloths, candlelight, and clinking glasses greeted us, along with some very friendly staff who became slightly disappointed when they realized that these "rich Americans" would, in fact, be the cheapest customers to frequent their restaurant that night. We ordered an appetizer to share and (apparently) another appetizer each as our meal (it wasn't even listed under appetizers!! After we ordered those things, the waiter asked us "and what would you like for your main course?", and we apologetically told him that that was all for us. But that does explain why it was so affordable) along with some sparkling water.
[Here's where it gets exciting.] When the appetizer (the first one, anyway) arrived, we also got two bite sized appetizer thingamabobs, I honestly couldn't understand the guy, compliments of the chef. How exciting!
At around 12:30 I showed up at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church to help out with a program the church has for retirees. There were several kind people working in the kitchen, preparing lunch. I washed my hands, put on an apron, and started out by helping fill the plates and taking them out to the bar, where the retirees would come pick them up. It was a thoroughly British meal, with brisket, yorkshire pudding, peas and carrots, potatoes, and gravy. I'd never had or seen (to my knowledge) yorkshire pudding before, and Martha explained to me the very simple recipe along with the history behind it. Apparently families would make yorkshire pudding as a kind of filler for their stomachs because the average family (back in the day) couldn't afford much, if any, meat with their meal. Very cool. After everyone had been served their lunch and dessert (either lemon or chocolate cake bathing in custard), we cleaned up as much as we could and all the volunteers ate together as the retirees listened to a speaker's presentation on worldwide modern day slavery. It was a very enlightening presentation and the audience was a hoot, freely voicing their opinions and telling one another (and when I say telling I mean shouting) to be quiet when someone talked on their phone during the presentation. The food was very British, and I enjoyed the warm welcome from everyone there. At the conclusion of the presentation, we cleared the tables, cleaned up in the kitchen, and began serving tea and biscuits (cookies-apparently people here eat constantly, but still manage to stay in great physical shape?? It's a gift I intend to master during my time here) before heading home.
I've known Bailey for many years, from way back in my private school days and from my home church, but unfortunately we haven't kept up very well. However, the other day our moms apparently talked and discovered that both of their daughters are living in the same city abroad, so Bailey and I connected and planned to get dinner together.
We arranged to meet up outside Liverpool Street Station. Rookie mistake. Both of us had forgotten that Liverpool is an airport of a railway station, with multiple entrances, many shops in the station, many different lines of trains (both the tube and actual trains), and all varieties of people milling about. Walking through the main central area of the station reminded me of flash mob videos I'd seen on youtube, with a couple hundred people standing, most everyone facing the same direction (towards the signs telling departure/arrival times for trains), spaced a couple feet away from each other, and each individual seemingly engrossed in their own thing, whether it be their newspaper, iPod, book, or travel partner. I found the nearest exit and waited, because I don't have a phone here, until I realized that the Starbucks I was standing next to provided free wifi. Bailey and I messaged back and forth (she was at a Cafe Nero using their wifi as well!) until we figured out how to find each other. After catching up for a few minutes, we decided to go find an Indian restaurant Bailey had heard recommendations for and set out into the dark, with sprinkles of rain and gusts of wind reminding us that we were, in fact, in London! It took us quite a while to find it, as it was on a side street and we got a bit turned around at one point, but when we walked in we were shocked at how fancy the place was!
White tablecloths, candlelight, and clinking glasses greeted us, along with some very friendly staff who became slightly disappointed when they realized that these "rich Americans" would, in fact, be the cheapest customers to frequent their restaurant that night. We ordered an appetizer to share and (apparently) another appetizer each as our meal (it wasn't even listed under appetizers!! After we ordered those things, the waiter asked us "and what would you like for your main course?", and we apologetically told him that that was all for us. But that does explain why it was so affordable) along with some sparkling water.
[Here's where it gets exciting.] When the appetizer (the first one, anyway) arrived, we also got two bite sized appetizer thingamabobs, I honestly couldn't understand the guy, compliments of the chef. How exciting!
the extra "compliments of the chef" thingies are on the left
the appetizer: flat breads with delicious sauces
there's Bailey
she's great
she was mid-changing-expression
sorry, girl!
there were three different types of bread
so delicious
here's my appetizer of a meal
(there was totally enough food though-
don't worry mom-
between the two appetizers and the extra thingamabobs)
some kind of chicken
it was absolutely divine
After our fabulous meal, we headed over to Covent Garden in search of some reasonably priced dessert. Although most places in the area were closed (shops close surprisingly early here), we stumbled upon a cute gelato shop. As we stood outside the shop deliberating as whether we should go in, a girl in the shop waved and motioned that we enter in a thoroughly dramatized fashion so we decided to go ahead and check it out. The girl who waved us in turned out to be a friend of the lady working in the shop and we all had a good laugh about the situation. There were so many different flavors, and the girl working there was very sweet and friendly and let us try a bunch before ordering. We got our gelato to go (in case you were wondering, it was very yummy) and walked over to China Town since neither of us had ever been.
fun fact: Chinese New Year is this Sunday!
and yes, I will be partaking in the festivities here
then we went to Trafalgar Square
the National Gallery!!
it was so pretty!
St. Martin in the Fields Church!
Overall, a great night! I had a fabulous time and I'm so thankful for Bailey AND we'll probably be having more grand adventures this semester! Tonight we're going to see Richard III, with the traditional men acting as women. And it's even more awesome because you can read here all of the drama involved with Richard III. (Long story short: they found his body in a parking lot excavation and it was just confirmed over the past couple days, so they're deliberating on where his body should be buried this time and-I think-he's going to have a royal burial, even though he was a pretty awful person.)
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