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.