fifteen hours later. . . .




So here is a fail end to a pretty fail blog. Oh lovely blog readers! The time has come for me to tell you that I have made it back to California, safe and sound. My mother and her friend Dovalyn picked me up in England and dragged me, kicking and screaming, back to the wonderful Bay Area. I actually got home on 2 Aug, but have spent the last week sleeping, pining, and being awake during hours when no human rightfully should. I miss London quite a lot.

In my last two weeks or so, in London, I went to Cardiff, both the Tates in one day, walked along the literal bank of a low-tide Thames with Nancy, spent a lovely afternoon with Nell sitting on Parliament Hill and wondering about the city, saw the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace from inside the gates and fell asleep on the job. Literally, the Pax Staff plus the event we were leading were sitting in St James Park sat down for lunch and all the Pax Staff fell asleep. So in my last two weeks I was also working. . .well, as hard as one can be expected when one knows they're going home in two weeks. I trained some new volunteers and said goodbye to a lot of people, which was difficult especially as there's no guarantee of seeing them again.

But I am glad to be home, no mistake. I missed my sister, my dog, my friends. It's good to be back. In a month I'm off to college, so nothing really slows down for me.

Thank you for reading! Sorry it wasn't very interesting and was hugely sporadic.

This is less a London thing and more a Thing I Did In London, but my friend Nancy and I made paper on Saturday!





Messy but awesome! And yesterday my friend Francesca and I went to the London Transport Museum. I don't have any awesome photos of that museum so you will have to trust me when I say that it is one of the coolest museums I have every been in. They have whole buses in! Whole train cars! They show you what transport was like back in the 1800s in London! Their lift has a ticker that shows you how far back you're going in time! They have a map that shows you the construction that went on for the creation of tube from it's start to 2008! They have a thing that shows you how to drive a tube (I am wretched at it, of course.) It's a great museum and if you are in London, I encourage you to spend the eight whole pounds it costs to get in. I know, I know, who wants to pay for a museum. Oh guys, it's so cool though. So cool. And they have a great gift shop as well, that I need to go back to.

Anyway, after Francesca and I went to the museum, we met up with our friend Emily at Harrods. Harrods is scary and very big and has a big sale on. That was dangerous. Emily bought designer perfume. Francesca bought toys. I bought cds - actually between the two of us, Francesca and I bought Kings of Leon's entire discography. It was that kind of dangerous. We went to the toy floor, obviously (and it's the best floor. No comparison - the best floor) the food court, perfumery, wedding dress section (affluence like you wouldn't believe) and the section with the puppies and kittens! Harrods is nice if you feel like wading through tourists and looking at stuff that is more expensive than your entire life. It makes for a fun afternoon though.

Well, my uncle chastised me via my sister that my blog is uninformative so I guess I better start writing! Ooh. Yesterday I went to Tower of London, but I came back early with a group, so no ghost walk for me. As that was the third time I've been to Tower of London I was content to sit on a park bench and read until my supervisor found me and we gossiped about girl guide politics. You know. . .as you do. . .

The week before I didn't update on as it was the most manic week I've ever had the pleasure of working. Full house plus tours plus day activities plus an evening programme nearly every night. By day activities, there is really only one of note and that is that the Olave Baden-Powell Society met in our conference room. This is mad for a number reasons, the main one being because they are patroned by Princess Benedickte of Denmark. Um, so we had a princess grace Pax Lodge while OBPS met to induct new members. Yes. I think spent the entire day running, until our chef repeatedly threw me out of rooms in an attempt to get me to stop working (as my shift had started at seven.) Well done, sir.

But all the Pax volunteers did get to meet the Princess. She was lovely, very much what you feel a princess should be, I think.

Here is my favorite photo of the day though:



This is a photo of Diamela from Argentina and Prerana from Nepal sitting with Gill Clay, who is the grand daughter of the Baden Powells. She was very cool - she was quite happy to talk about guiding, what our favorite parts were and the problems we thought the movement faced. It was good to talk to her because I think sometimes, us being right next to the World Bureau (the secretariat of WAGGGS) we do tend to get a little corporate in our thinking about guiding. Or at least, I think I do. So it was nice to talk to her because she was coming from a much more organic place. Also, because, hi. Grand daughter of the Baden-Powells.

Here are some other photos:



Canada Day is 1 June. The Canadians took over Trafalagar Square for two days. It was awesome, of course. The US didn't get a celebration in Trafalagar Sq but there were fesitivities at British Museum. And there were fireworks! I saw them out the window on the second floor stairwell! This was after I nearly fell out my window trying to see them, of course, but that's the nice thing about fireworks - very difficult to lose them.



I went out on an open-top bus tour with the event on Monday. It was the most horrifyingly touristy thing I've done since I've been here and I think it might have been much more useful if I hadn't already been living here for four months, but oh well. Anyway, we were trundling along (there was terrible traffic, I got sunburned) and we saw a group of schoolkids that looked like the girls from Madeleine. They were adorable.

I think I've exhausted everything I have to say. It's raining and I'm having a cup of tea and thinking sadly of all the dance performances (there are loads of outdoor dance performances today, for some reason) that will get slippery, and also how everyone going to London's gay pride parade (also, happening today) will be very wet. Hopefully it clears up later.

the lights of the city were too heavy for me.

My sister told me to update so here's a drive-by on my lunch break. . .what have I been up to in the past two weeks? I don't even know! Here are some memorable things:



My friend Nancy and I had a picnic on her roof. It was very nice, because there was sun! Sun! In June! Who could have imagined. Nancy is wonderful, I owe her one hell of a thanks before I go, for making sure I'm well fed/cultured/hugged.

The next day (it was a busy weekend for me) I met my friend Natalie and we bummed around central London. Natalie is from Australia. We misunderstood each other's accents with incredible ease and generally had an awesome time. We ate ice cream! Because it was, again, sunny!



That's from the roof of a church on the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich. On Sunday I went with our event to Greenwich. We split them into patrols and then we ran about with them, making scavenger hunts for the other patrols. It was great! It was very sunny and definitely something I might not have done other wise. The College is beautiful, very magnificent. My patrol was great - I could not have asked for a sweeter, more democratic group. And we saw some weird modern dance on the quad on of the college, which the girls are sure to remember for the rest of their lives. The dancers were dressed as butterflies, for one. When they weren't on leashes. Madness. There is some culture I will never be able to understand.



For our candle walk, after we got back from Greenwich, we made a sort of maze through conference room to the back garden. Like a scout's own, but we call it a candle walk. There were lots of tears, because I do think the girls went through some powerful introspection during the event. We are a girl guiding hostel after all - if you come for London Experience, you're not here as a tourist for a vacation. You're here as a girl scout. And I think many of the girls did come to understand that by the end of the week, and so it did mean something to them.

The event closed last night. By luck of the draw, I worked eight of the nine days of the event, so I got to know some of them well. I am, however, completely knacked. Everything hurts! Oh well. One more day and then I can sleep in properly.

And my goodness! I've nearly forgotten one of the more "London!" things I've done - last Saturday, on my day off, I met up with Nancy again. We went to the Natural History Museum (amazing - stuffed animals are amazing. whales are amazing.) but it turned out that the entire area around the Natural History Museum was putting on a mini-festival called "Sites and Sound" celebrating architecture and music. That's right. A festival entirely devoted to architecture and music. Oh, London. It was so brilliant! We saw a drum corps in the street and they were amazing, made me want to pick up the drums. At the V&A we went to a lecture about buildings and bridges and engineering! It was well cool. Bridges are so great! We went a bit through the V&A and I started to feel very small because everything in that museum is gigantic. At the French Institute we saw an acoustic set by a French lady-singer who was pretty good. Back in the street in front of the V&A we saw an awesome brass jazz band called "Bad-Ass Brass." They were so great, they made me want to dance. And then in the evening, it was back to the Natural History Museum where one of Nancy's favorite bands (and one band that I regard pretty highly) was playing in one of the auditoriums. British Sea Power! It was very appropriate, I thought, having to walk through the hall with the birds into a darkened theatre. It was a good day. But it made me want to create big things. Like whales, or columns, or bridges, or music. Big things!

And that's a short, well long now, update of what I've been up to. The coming weeks include a visit from my friend Nell, a fourth/sixth/ninth of July celebration, and goodness knows what else. I never know what's happening to me until I'm right in the middle of it, and even then, I rarely understand it all. I've been here four months now. One month to go. Ridiculous.

you are my sunshine

D and I made up this wall a couple weeks back when it was absolutely pouring down and we were miserable. This was a couple days after my rain picnic I think, so I was sick as well and not thinking straight. We thought it'd make the dining room cheerful and maybe people would be a little bit happier while they were vacationing in the rain. It did and does still; the dining room/kitchen tends to be the most stressful part of the house for all the volunteers and sometimes just taking a break and reading what people have written makes me feel a lot more. . .sunny.

perks of the job:

Tower of London. . .for free!

Sure I had to herd 42 girl scouts & parents through the underground acting like I knew what I was doing the entire time but. . .Tower of London! For free! plus bonus fish & chips!

hello!

I had quite an action-packed day yesterday. I met up with my friend Nancy and her friend Mel and we went and had a picnic. It was raining though, so it was a rain picnic.



Yes. We had pita bread, strawberries, potato salad, the works. It all got a bit soggy, but we made it through all the courses. It was miserable and cold, but it was the most fun I'd had in a while.



We then had to go have a cup of in a pub to warm up. Drying off never happened (my trousers are still wet) but the tea was nice.

Then, Nancy and I met up with further friends of hers to go to Brighton to see a band called Cobra Starship. That was sort of a shotgun concert - she called me on Sunday and asked if I wanted to go. She'd been following them around the country and I'd seen them last Sunday (and in San Francisco before I left) but they're one of my favorite bands and I'd been needing to get out of London to get some air. So we went on down to Brighton.



Brighton was dry. And warm. Warm and dry Brighton. One of the things that bothers me most about Brighton is if I go up the top of Parliament Hill or Primrose Hill, I don't see ocean or bay, just city. I've been feeling very landlocked, so it was nice to just see ocean.

And then we saw Cobra Starship. Rock bands, when they're doing it right, don't just make music that sounds good - they make music that feels good. And of course there are levels of good, but Cobra are just one of those bands that I always leave the venue feeling confident with a huge smile on my face.

Can hear a choir rehearsing, or performing, through my window. I'm on break, but. It's so lovely to hear. Choirs to me are always connected to churches because that is where I hear them the most often. I haven't been to church in about a month now, I think. I've been working. It's been all right, but I do miss my own church. Sometimes just the building, I mean, it is more home than my house (though certainly not my family.) And of course I miss the people as well.

The funny thing here is that we are so busy and I work on such an irregular schedule that I never have a good sense of days anymore. Forgot yesterday was Saturday and I certainly forgot that today was Sunday.

Hope you are all doing well. :)

I've seen changes

We went on a Jack the Ripper walk. This man taught us all about Jack the Ripper and the ladies he murdered. He had the most lovely speaking voice.



We went to Primrose Hill and it was lovely, as usual. Watching the city light up as the sun went out.



I live in the most ridiculous bit of London, I think, but it sure is pretty. All the houses are white or red brick. They have lovely roses in their yards. You can see rich art hanging in houses through uncovered windows.

Speaking of rich art, I tried to go to the Imperial War Museum today (tanks! horray!) but ended up at the National Gallery. I'd been when I was younger and I mostly just remembered the nudes. I'm glad I went again - it was very nice. Not so many nudes as I remembered. I only made it through the first floor, so I will have to go again.

I also, yesterday, walked from Belsize to the Thames which was about a two and a half hour walk. It was a nice walk, mostly just following the Northern Line down, but I unfortunately forgot my camera. Perhaps that was for the best though - it would have been an even longer walk otherwise!

friday night in the kingdom of doom

About a week ago I went to this thing called the Love Music Hate Racism carnival. It was the thirtieth anniversary of such a carnival. There were no rides and I was disappointed, but not overly so. Now, obviously, I was there for the music, but I thought it was really interesting that Britain could hold anti-racism gigs as well. You don't really do anti-racism gigs in the US. You do anti-racism seminars and conferences. It was so funny because in the US, racism is such a big, internalized issue and at the concert, they kind of made it sound like the BNP simply time-traveled out of Nazi Germany and appeared today, fully formed and ready to take over. I don't know which is better, if there is a better, but I did like how a couple of people were able to motivate like, fifty-thousand wet, muddy people to vote. The United States should definitely get on that aspect - rallying people to vote by corralling them in a field with free music and food.

And yes, it rained. I saw some lovely umbrellas, including this one:



But when the sun came out, everyone applauded and cheered.

I really can't stay

I took pictures of the things I did on 28 April, so you all can see what I do day to day.




My alarm goes off at six-fifteen. The dulcet tones of Greta Salpeter and Thomas Dutton wake me up. I’ve inadvertently conditioned myself to startle every time I hear the first few notes of the song.




I spend about fifteen minutes pretending I don’t have to get up before finally giving in. And I listen to music to wake up. MGMT are good - they’re loud without being noisy.




I got a text message from my good friend Jasmine at about two o’clock in the morning. I couldn’t find the willpower to get out of bed to read what she had written at that time, and I only just remember to check in the morning. Unfortunately, I ran out of money on my phone talking to my father and sister, so I can’t text her back.




Breakfast!




I washed my face, what more do you want.




I get into my uniform, put on my name badge.




Time to face the music, I suppose. I’m on duty from seven o’clock.




It’s early, but I still have time for a little wit for our NAS board. N.A.S is something Holly (who is from Canada) and I came up with - North American Scum. Whenever we realise how ridiculous our continent is versus that of the European continent. For example, our propensity towards Hummers. Or how a large English pizza is a North American medium-on-the-small-side.




The stairwell is lonely at that time of morning.




Continental breakfast for eleven in thirty minutes! Almost. I’m late with the eggs because I made them wrong once and nearly poisoned a troop of brownies so now I’m overly cautious with them.




But the dining hall is empty. Left to my own devices, and because the chef is out for the week, I change the radio station from Heart 105 to XFM. Sorry, but there is only so much music written for middle aged men that this teenage girl can withstand.




No one’s in, still, so I have another breakfast. I dislike early shift only because I end up eating for the two hours that I’m in the dining room.




Nine o’clock means breakfast is over and I have to go for flag.




We read a thought for the day at flag.




This is my favorite thought in our big book of thoughts.




We put up the flag, have morning meeting and are sent on our way.




Juli and I set up the conference room. Sort of.




I go do dishes. Not very many dishes today, thank goodness.




I spend the rest of the morning tidying the kitchen and dining room, mopping the dining room and generally trying to make myself useful in that part of Pax.




Eleven o’clock - break!




I got a postcard from my sister.




I was really sad on Saturday so I went out and bought a copy of To Kill A Mockingbird. I wasn’t going to buy any books while I was here because they are hard to take back, but I needed moral guidance.




Back to work.






Francesca and I make lunch, because the chef is out.




I take photos of friends during lunch. This is Jenny May and Holly. Jenny May was the first person who was nice to me at Pax Lodge (eg the first person I saw, I guess) Holly is like a Canadian version of myself, but if I was a history major and a good dancer.




Lunch is from one to one-fifty. One-fifty to two is our afternoon meeting!






We change the world, day by day. They tell us to do something different while we travel.




I took some visitors on a tour of Pax Lodge between two and three - some Canadians from Ottawa. They gave me a badge.




I’m off!




Days when I’m on earlies there’s always this epic inner battle when I’m off. Do I take a nap or check my email or go for a walk or what? Nine times out of ten, a nap wins out. Today is no exception. I set my alarm.




Nap.




I go down around four-fortyfive and help Francesca with dinner. Rice and stir-fry, yay! I haven’t had proper white rice in what feels like ages and I made it today. Francesca is from New York so she’s one of the few here that understands my American cultural identity; that is, that I feel nothing much towards the United States as a whole, but rather of its individual parts: my Japanese grandfather, my Polish grandmother, my buddhist/Catholic/protestant parents, my unbridled Californian pride.




Moving on. I burned my arm and someone advised me to put mustard on it. Unfortunately, we only had french mustard packets so it looked terrible and I smelled like French mustard for all of dinner. I’m still not convinced they weren’t just making fun of me either.




After dinner all the resident volunteers that were working have dinner duties - dishes, setting up breakfast, sweeping, mopping, etc. I go out to recycle cardboard. It’s pretty outside. The trees are finally blossoming. I get done with after-dinner duties around seven-fortyfive, longer than usual for the amount of guests we had (one.) Got my rota for the month of May - I’m kitchen assistant for the first two weeks.




I go to my room, change out of work clothes. My internet is broken again. There is really nothing to do but wait it out.




I upload photos from throughout the day until people come knocking. We go hang out in the London room. We hang in the London room. I restring a guitar (my mama taught me well) and examine my burn with great interest. It’s turned into a very large, disgusting blister. Juli and Diamela play guitars!




I’m tired. But determined not to go to bed until after ten, at least. So I read some more of To Kill A Mockingbird.




I hear that, Scout.




I saw The Good, The Bad & The Queen over the weekend so their album’s on heavy rotation. It’s an album written about London and I am kicking myself for not bringing it with me. It’s good music to calm down to, as well. Very contemplative.




Good night.