Cookham and The Spider in My Room

For many days now I have been meaning to go somewhere with a friend. You see, since the beginning of school his car has been parked right outside my window every night, and through that deep connection we've become friends. Emanuel is a 30-some year old fashion designer and natural medicines student from Paris here for the school of English.

This Saturday evening we finally got coordinated enough to go somewhere. So we gathered some friends, hopped in his car (with the steering wheel on the correct side) and headed for Cookham. Cookham is a cute, one-street town on the Thames river about a 30 minute drive from the college. We arrived just after sunset - just late enough that the bugs were beginning to go back to hibernation for the evening. Our first sight that greeted us was The Crown, then we passed through an old graveyard/church on our way to a path that follows the river.

By this time the last trace of dusk peeking through the leafy trees was nearly gone. We stopped at several benches right along the water at took some serious, and not so serious pictures.

Esther holding Emanuel while he tries to get up on the bench to take a picture

The picture worth all the trouble

The final bench we came to and stayed a while at

[Emanuel (France), Esther (Sweden), Clément (France) and Susanne (Norway)]

Cookham is a nice town because it is close enough that it doesn't take much trouble to get to, but little-known enough that you aren't dodging fellow pedestrians on the sidewalk constantly and you can really get close to the water without stone barriers.

This last picture is of a spider that had been hanging in the exact same spot, a corner by the door, for literally three days. I thought of killing it, except that I have been killing a spider everyday here and this one didn't look as vicious. The interesting thing about this spider is that it hadn't moved a single inch in the three days that it was just hanging out there on it's string. I call it my lazy spider friend. Today, however, I woke up and it was gone - it's a sad day.

London Thames Festival

While The Mayor's Thames Festival occured last weekend, it still stands out vividly in my mind, as well as on film (digital film that is), so I will still be writing about it.

(Karlee, Julia, Me, Kasyn, Synne, Lars, and Mark who's taking the picture)

Last Sunday, a group of seven of us went in to London for the Thames Festival. It is much like Art On the Green in CDA, substituting a river for a lake of course, or any county fair really, without the greasy food, warm weather, and rides. So I suppose some would argue it's nothing like a county fair, but for the sake of comparison, we will use a county fair.

Stepping out of the Waterloo station near central London, we walked towards the sidewalk following the Thames River through the city. And though I had been in that exact same spot along the river the previous weekend, and the weekend before that, this time was very different. Booths lined the walkway on both sides full of fresh food, street performers, and all kinds of artistic creations: clothing, jewelry, photography and paintings. This time it was difficult to keep track of the group. We were in a less crowded space than we experienced at the Notting Hill Carnival but with a more rapid traffic flow.

I made the terrible mistake of wearing flats on this outing, which is curious considering I swore off wearing them while walking around town anywhere for good just the day before. In all, we walked an estimated four miles throughout the day and I came back to my room with blisters on my feet - a much more tangible reminder to never wear flats into London again.

The first sight we happened upon was a section of the beach along the river where a group of adults and kids were making portraits in the sand. This sand portrait is of Boris Johnson, the current Mayor of London and former representative Member of Parliament for Henley.

The beach was about 15 feet down behind a railing from the sidewalk and these sheets with a bucket were laid out every few feet along the railing for people to try to drop their coins into (an easy way to make money for sure!).

Next we came to the Tate Modern, the museum of modern art in London, where we went inside to sit down for a bit. When entering the building, you are almost immediately dumped into this huge commons area.

We went down at sat on those steps you see on the bottom left where these two boy (below) were running around left and right. They had no fear, running down the cement grade and in between our group on the floor. Something must have been extremely interesting in that corner that you see them in below because they kept coming back to it every minute or so a dozen times.

Just outside the Tate Modern was the Fire Garden, part of the night-time festival. I have only a few pictures of it during the day and couldn't get any good ones in at night, but the display of fire in these huge orbiting globes with hundreds of people huddling close in such a small space for warmth was spectacular. Here I am sitting in an iron chair that in the evening channeled fuel and fire to come out of those glass bulbs you see on the right side.

There was also live Big Band/Swing music with a dance floor that we spent about an hour at dancing and having an all-over good time.

The weekend before, when we were in Windsor, there was talk of going to Wagamama which is an Asian restaurant chain in England. However, at the time we decided to save it for later and went to the pub instead. Now that we were in London though, and Kasyn had been talking about it all week, it was to go. At this point we had all gotten quite hungry, all except for Mark who had had a very large, very authentic burrito, and Wagamama was on everyone's minds.

I'm sure you've all had those experiences where someone talked up a movie, a restaurant, a show, or some kind of event so much that you idealized the situation far past any real expectations and whatever it was just didn't live up to its glowing reviews. Well, this was definitely not one of those situations. Walking in, the restaurant looked much like a cafeteria with rows of long benches. I ordered the Yasai Katsu Curry which was breaded and fried slices of eggplant and sweet potato, a delicious curry over steamed rice, a salad, and desert: three scoops of the most pure coconut ice cream with a mango sauce on top. I'm not sure if it was my aching feet or my growling stomach, but it was definitely one of the best meals I've had - ever. Unfortunately I devoured the main dish before I remembered to take a picture of it so you will all have to come and try it yourself.

Bellies satisfied, we slowly made our way back to the train station, stopping by a small trailer where a band of four guys were acting as a sort of live jukebox playing everything from Elvis to Alanis Morissette. Somehow they had rigged external speakers to their equipment inside and a song selection system with letters and numbers (a donation of one pound) for quite an interesting and unique result - certainly nothing I've ever seen before.

(a short video)

... and ended the night with fireworks...

Trip to Windsor

With the close of the church service on Sabbath afternoon comes many decisions that must be made. Primarily, deciding what you're going to do for the rest of the afternoon: eating the cafeteria, imposing on another friend's outing, inviting yourself over to someone's house, venturing off campus to find some excitement. This Sabbath a group of 15 of us took three cars out to Windsor - not just the castle, but the town.

[From Left: Sarah (Germany), Clément (France), Simon, Mark, Jonathan, Michelle, Eric (England), Lars & Synne (Norway), Kasyn (Canada), Karlee (US)]

It was about a 30 minute drive out to the town with a short stop in between. When we arrived it was quite difficult to find parking (most people go into Windsor by bus). One car spent probably 30 minutes to find a spot after the rest of us had parked.

Before really seeing Windsor though, we crossed over a bridge into Eton, home of Eton College where Prince William and Prince Harry attended for secondary school. Eton College is a very prestigious secondary school in England for parents with millions of pounds to spend on their children's education (and you thought Adventist education was expensive!).

The grounds at the school are impeccably kept. We spent a short while in one of the gardens at the school where a statue of Perseus holding the head of Medusa stands.

A gate to one of the gardens at Eton

The statue of Perseus holding the head of Medusa

We went back over the bridge to Windsor at this point to catch Evensong at St. George's Chapel. The chapel is part of Windsor Castle and is the resting place of King Henry VIII (along with many other royals) and where Prince Charles and Camilla received their marital blessing from the church.

Because it was late in the afternoon at this point, we decided not to take a tour of the castle (and because I know some of you will be wanting to go there when you come visit). Instead, we opted to see the park in front of Windsor Castle. Straight out from the front gate stretches a long path imaginatively called "The Long Walk". The path is three miles long, though it doesn't look it. From one end, I looked out and figured I could walk to a certain point, about a third of the entire stretch, in five minutes. This ended up taking half an hour to walk there and back.

The Long Walk

(From Left: Karlee, Kasyn, Eric and Mark)

Windsor Castle

On our way back to the main street in town for dinner, we passed by Windsor's Crooked House and the shortest street in England.

(Building is more crooked than it appears)

We ended the evening at a pub on Thames Street right next to the castle called The King and Castle. It was relatively inexpensive and their vegetarian Five Bean Chili was exceptional. Sitting around and just talking, it was clear I wasn't in America anymore. It seems that whenever alcohol is present in the states it is a given that the persons drinking are either drunk, or about to be drunk. However, in this cozy pub there was none of that to be seen (except perhaps out back). Conversations and small get-togethers, rather than unabated laughter and slurring language, were the overall mood.

Walking back to the cars, we passed by a McDonald's where two plastic guards like those seen at Buckingham Palace were standing inside. I have never seen a McDonald's so clean and aesthetically pleasing in my life.

This concludes the trip to Windsor.

For those that haven't gotten a chance to talk with recently and have been wondering what I will be studying this semester at Newbold College, wonder no more:

Introduction to International Development

Jesus in His Time and Ours

Civilizations and Ideas

Introduction to Words and Music in Worship

Cultural Anthropology

(I will have a posting up about the Thames Festival that I went to in London yesterday soon)

Henley-on-Thames

Part of the Academic Philosophy at Newbold (and I suspect other Colleges/Universities in the UK) involves leaving large amounts of free time for the student that is to be used primarily for studying and reading. This means that two days of the week I have only one class and on Fridays, no class.

This was my first Friday to take advantage of this luxury so I gladly used the opportunity. Mark, the fellow that took us all around London my first time in, asked if I wanted to go for some coffee and I was glad to do so. The plan was to go into Bracknell, the nearest city to Binfield, but upon arrival he announced that we were going up to Henley.

The town of Henley-on-Thames is about a 20 minute drive NNW of Binfield (we had a great time navigating with his GPS). Henley is a world-renown center for rowing. Each summer the Henley Royal Regatta is held on the Thames River (pronounced tehmz) which is the same river that passes through Central London. The race attracts English middle and upper class.

When we got there it was a beautiful day. The sun was shining; it was nearly 75 degrees outside. We spent most of the afternoon walking around the town, meandering in and out of shops. One shop that we went in was completely filled with all sorts of things: doorknobs, stools, tins, dishes, eating utensils - all quite old. The ceiling was barely six feet tall and there was just room enough to pass through the different aisles without knocking over one of the trinkets.

The view from each side of the bridge as you enter Henley

Who knew their mail-drops were bright red too? I thought it was a fire hydrant!

(Tomorrow, or possibly the next day I will have a post up about our trip into Windsor this Sabbath. Also, we are headed back in tomorrow to London for another festival so the picture tour of the campus might have to wait 'till next weekend)

NSA Trip to London

At the beginning of every new school year the NSA (Newbold Student Association) rents a bus and takes the new students on a free trip into London.

We started off the trip at Hyde Park in Central London. In the park, there is an area in the corner that is protected by law for public speakers to talk about any subject. It has been this way for about 150 years. When I went there was a Pentecostal Christian speaker, a Muslim from Afghanistan (left) and another man speaking out against women in America and how they are all homosexual and can't cook or obey their husbands. This was definitely hard for me to listen to without wanting to give him a piece of my mind.

From there we went to St. Paul's Cathedral which appears even larger because of the shorter buildings around in and the small distance placed between it and other buildings.

On our way to the London Bridge we stopped buy several street performers. One was a pair of girls moving marionettes to the beat of a song they were playing. The dolls were so small but very much in sync with the music.

We finally got to the London Bridge for a spectacular view...

... and finished the day off where we started, the London Eye:

Overall, the day was filled with tourist destinations and a lot of walking. We went to an Evensong at Westminster which was more up-and-down than I've ever experienced in church but still enjoyable. I ended up asleep by 9:30 p.m. and got in well over 10 hours of needed rest. As promised, I will have pictures up of the campus soon.

A Medley of Observations

It has now been a week since I first arrived at Newbold (a week to the hour actually). And over the past seven days I've jotted down notes here and there in a journal about small things I've noticed in my short time here - cultural differences that is. I'd like to share a few with you now and again over the next several months that I am here.

When transitioning from an Adventist high school to an Adventist college, you are likely to get the "you're an adult now" speech. It will invariably include curfew, worship attendance, mixed gender settings, and drinking/drugs. Instead of being in your room and asleep by 10, you can now stay out 'till midnight. Instead of attending every worship, you can now choose three a week you'd like to go to. Instead of never being allowed in a room alone with someone from the opposite gender, you just can't bring them into the dorm. And instead of never ever being involved with anyone who drinks or deals drugs, you just can't do either on or off campus personally.

The dean orientation at Newbold went something like this: Just let us know if you're going to stay out all night. You aren't required to attend any worships, but we'd recommend it. You can have guys in your rooms, but only 'till 10 o'clock at night. And if you have a drinking or smoking problem, we'd like to help and just ask that you don't partake in either on school property.

Very different speeches. The most bizarre to me is what is called "Visitations" where girls and guys can spend time together in each others rooms until 10 pm every night. My neighbors will be playing video games with their boyfriends when a guy will come up to my room and knock on my door inviting me to hang out in the lobby with a bunch of friends. Do you not find this odd? What would happen if our American Adventist institutions tried this?

I've had many interesting conversations with British students and graduates about their career goals and what they are currently studying or have studied. I've found one common thread in these conversations that has been quite interesting: students will choose a course to study at a university not because they are interested in pursuing a career in that particular field but because it's practical. Many students will spend three years studying biochemistry just to become a more well-rounded person and then go on to study theology or literature. Or they will study theology to become more familiar with intellectuals but they will have no interest in God and will later take up a job at a marketing company. I've talked to a math major who never wants to do math again but thought it was a practical choice and a chemistry major who's thinking about teaching english in Japan. How much pressure would that take off of us "Undecided" majors to pick something we want to do for the rest of our lives at age 18?

It's about a 30 minute walk each direction into Bracknell, the nearest shopping to Newbold, from Binfield. I've gone in three times in the past week to one particular shopping center called Princess Square to buy cereal, a new curling iron, and get money from the ATM. The first time we went in, we shopped in the afternoon 'till about four o'clock and stopped at a cafe for tea. We were there an hour, drinking our tea, and when we left at five all the stores in the whole shopping center were closed - even the cafe we were in was closing. This was a Monday.

Every shop - no matter what it is (except gas stations) closes at 5 p.m.: department stores, grocery stores, cafes, everything. One of the British guys I was having tea with, upon my asking if the stores always close early, said, "Well, around the holidays they have late-night shopping where the stores are open 'till about 9 p.m." This was unbelievable to me. I mean, the prime time for shopping at stores in the states is from 3-9 after schools get out in the afternoon/evenings. The Costco parking lot is nearly completely full after 3:05. Coffee shops in Walla Walla and College Place are considered to close early when they aren't open past 8 p.m. Would America be able to fuel its economy if stores closed this early? Would college students actually have to go to bed at a decent hour because they didn't have any caffeine in their blood from their late-night coffee runs? Granted, this is a much smaller town than say - London, but even there most stores are closed by 7.

In the near future I plan to post a blog with a campus tour of pictures and some more pictures of the quaint English town you too will come to know - Binfield.

The Melting Pot

I knew it was inevitable. At some point in my time here I would ruin some kind of electrical device. There is always great inconvenience in adapting and converting all kinds of electronic devices overseas: laptops, cellphones, straighteners, hairdryers, and more. Well, today was the day - my day.

Monday morning, the forecast was sunny (a rarity) and I knew it would be one of the few days it would be worth it to blow dry my hair. I plugged it in - nothing exploding yet. I turned the hair dryer to the highest setting (I didn't want to be drying my hair all morning) and then turned it on. The power nearly knocked me out of the chair I was sitting in! Turns out the "high" setting is about twice as powerful here as it is in outlets in the states. Ok, lesson learned, right? Use the "low" setting. Apparently not.

This morning as I was getting ready I knew we had pictures for our ID cards today so I figured it'd probably be a good day to do something to my hair. I plugged in my curling iron and went on with my morning, getting dressed and such. Two minutes later as I smell plastic burning I turn around to see the handle of my curling iron melting off the actual iron. I had left it on the high setting. I proceeded to pick up the handle to get the hot iron off my desk. Unfortunately the iron had already completely detached and fell on the floor. The next few minutes consisted of me juggling this really hot iron around the room to find the safest place for it while trying to keep the smoke alarm from going off by opening the window.

So next time you are tempted to curl or straighten your hair in a hurry in a foreign country, remember this: just because you plug them in and they don't explode, doesn't mean something equally damaging isn't going to happen.