'What do you call a man with a seagull on his head?'
Cliff!
Ha ha! Reminds me of...
'What do you call a man with no arms and no legs in a pile of leaves?'
Russell
laughing even more...

I just read that first joke in 'thelondonpaper' (a free publication that gets handed out to pedestrians everyday during rush hour), and had to share the joy.

Something else I just read 'thelondonpaper' that wasn't so funny: sunset is at 3:58!
That is just not right.

I used to gripe about the winter in Chicago when it would be getting dark as I was leaving school at 4:20; I never thought it could be worse! And it will get even worse, since the 'shortest day' of the year isn't until the end of December! I might cry if the sunset time starts to get too close to 3:00. Pair an early sunset with a gloomy, cloudy, rainy day in London and you might as well put your pjs back on after lunch because there's not much hope for daylight on days like that. It's difficult to get motivated to do things outside or to leave my room when it gets dark so early.

The thing about cities is that they never actually get very dark because there are so many street lights, etc. Plus, with the addition of Christmas lights strung everywhere, it's almost as light at 8:00pm as 8:00am.
Christmas lights have already been up in London for a while. Just like in the US, it appears that the beginning of the Christmas season is getting earlier and earlier. But since there's no Thanksgiving Day in the UK, no one can use the 'celebrate one holiday at a time' arguement against this trend. Most of the controversy I've heard about lighting up London so early revolves around wasting electricity and fossil fuels--which is also a valid point. I wish the fanatical holiday decorators in the Chicago suburbs would consider this argument a bit more.
On Saturday I was pleasantly surprised to come across a large decorated Christmas tree in Covent Garden. However, as I walked closer, my holiday cheer faded... the tree is scrawny and it is poorly decorated. If this is London's equivalent to New York City's in Rockefeller Plaza, it's a sad comparison. I took a picture of it, but the patheticness of it can't be fully captured with a camara so you'll just have to trust me that you're not missing anything.


A couple of weeks ago I was on Regent Street which is also decorated for Christmas. There are some elaborate light banners strung up across the street from building to building. Looks quite pretty at first until you notice that the banners are decorated with characters from an animated movie that's coming out soon. I'm not sure if these can be considered Christmas decorations. But actually, maybe that's the point--they wouldn't want to imply anything religious about the holiday because people might be offended. How thoughtful.

Thursday 23 November was just another ordinary day here in London. But every American was aware that it was Thanksgiving Day and we intended to celebrate properly. Two of my American friends, Meredith and Stephanie, share a flat in north London and decided to host a dinner for whomever wanted to experience this quintessential American tradition. In the end 16 people showed up at their cozy, that is, tiny, apartment. Only five of the group were actually Americans, but no matter--it was fun to be with some of our foreign friends who were experiencing their first Thanksgiving dinner. We had all the typical dishes, including turkey, stuffing, rolls, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and green bean casserole. At first I was doubtful that we'd have enough food, but in the end everyone ate until they were full, which is exactly how it should be on Thanksgiving.
This was the first time I had been away from home for Thanksgiving, but since it had to be that way this year, I am glad I was able to celebrate here with such a great group of people.

Delicious! Meredith did a fabulous job with the turkey.

Jon had a bit of a hard time cutting the turkey with a small steak knife. But students on a budget don't have money to buy a proper carving knife--we have to make due with the bare essentials!

Digging in!
Sylvia (Hong Kong), Sarah and David (UK)

A little of this, a little of that...
Karina (Germany) and Krissa (Greece)

Stephanie is VERY excited about mashed potatoes.

Some of the Thanksgiving rookies: Marta (Latvia), Mona (Egypt), and Karina

Gina (Figi) loves the drumstick.

Who needs chairs around a table? The coffee table and floor work just fine!
(Yes, that is a washing machine in the kitchen.)

The Americans in the group: Stephanie, Jessica, me, Jon, Meredith.

After.

Why is it that people who snore are always the first to fall asleep? My otherwise fabulous four-day vacation to Valencia, Spain was somewhat tainted by a snoring woman who shared a hostel room with us the last night. We had reserved two beds in a six-bed room not expecting it to be completely full because it's the off season for travel. But we realized that it doesn't really matter how many people are in a room if one person happens to be a snorer.
Aside from the less-than-desirable roommate and minimal sleep our final night, the hostel itself was great: nice lounge area, kitchen, and access to the internet. The showers were great too--probably the best I've ever experienced; they were the kind where the showerhead is directly overhead so it feels like rain. Ahhh!
Since watching a travel program featuring Valencia this past summer, I have really wanted to visit the city. I went to Madrid and Barcelona in 2000 so I was eager to see how Valencia compares. So when I came across great deals on flights from London a few weeks ago, a friend and I decided to take the bait and make it happen. I found that the longer I was there, the more I loved the city.
Traveling in a country where another language is spoken is a challenge. Both my friend and I know some Spanish so we were determined to try using it as much as possible and not appear like ignorant tourists during our stay. But knowing how to speak in a foreign language and actually having the courage to use it are two different things. I'm great with Spanish vocabulary and can read it fairly well, but speaking it was especially difficult for me. The first test was when we arrived at the airport--in order to get to the city center we had to purchase bus tickets. We dug back into our memory from past high school/college Spanish classes and managed to communicate effectively enough to get what we needed. This is basically how we functioned for the entire stay--grasping at any words or phrases we might remember from our studies years ago. We discovered we could accomplish a lot even with our limited knowledge. An additional challenge to visiting Valencia (or Barcelona) is that this region of Spain speaks primarily Catalan Spanish which is different from the Spanish I learned--Castilian Spanish. Castilian is spoken in other parts of Spain and in the Americas. Signs and directions were generally written in both forms of Spanish and where only Catalan was given, we were able to interpret them well enough since there are similarities between the two. As the days progressed, we got more comfortable using Spanish which is another reason why leaving was sad.
As is usually the case when traveling, we've come back with great memories and stories. One in particular is not so pleasant, but I can't seem to get it out of my head--my friend almost got her purse stolen! It's a long story, but the short version is that a man sat down near us at an outdoor cafe and we saw him leaning over to grab her bag. Thankfully we caught him in the act--our trip would have been ruined had he actually gotten a hold of it. It was at this point when we wished we had known a few choice Spanish words to scream at this jerk. What's even crazier is that later that night at the hostel we met another traveler who actually did get her wallet stolen that day! Yikes!
More than once, my friend and I stated how it was so unbelievably awesome to be in Spain for a long weekend. It's such a foreign concept to people in the US, but here in Europe, and especially London, it's so easy and cheap to travel all over the continent even if you only have a few days. My entire trip to Spain probably cost a third of what airfare alone would have cost from Chicago. I can't afford NOT to travel while I'm here!

Here are some pictures of my trip:

Let's start with the most important thing--the weather!
It was beautiful and sunny and warm every day.
We actually saw the temperature up to 25 a few times--beats London's weather any day.

Plaza Ayuntamiento--one of the main plazas downtown.
More plazas and beautiful places...

'Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciencias' is a relatively new development which contains several museums. The architecture is modern and is quite a contrast to the rest of the city.
We went to the science museum and L'Oceanografic, the largest aquarium in Europe.

The Mediterranean Sea!
I can't believe I was there just a few days ago!

My feet in the water. Felt great!

Lunch at a nice cafe on the beach.

Crazy tree! Kind of creepy-looking...in a cool way.

Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Giggleswick, Shitlington, Horsehouse...No, these are not made up words from a Dr. Seuss book-they are real towns in England. All of them are somewhere in the Yorkshire Dales National Park which is where I spent the weekend with a couple of girls from my residence hall. Since I came to England, my time has been spent almost exclusively in London. Although I love cities, I was eager to check out the surrounding countryside and breathe some fresh air. Yorkshire Dales is a popular place to visit because of its beautiful scenery; it is also noted for being the home of the Bronte sisters and the setting for Wuthering Heights as well as the home of James Herriot, the veterinarian and writer of animal stories. It's a very inspirational place for the literary types, apparently. Oh, and for the Wallace and Grommit fans out there, their favorite cheese from the Wensleydale Creamery is made in the area. For our visit, the plan was to hike on the Pennine Way from Horton-in-Ribblesdale to Malham then make our way to Skipton.
We left London in the late morning on a bus headed for Leeds and then switched to a couple of trains which finally dropped us off in the cold and rain and darkness in Horton-in-Ribblesdale. We eventually found our accommodation at a quaint place called the Golden Lion Hotel. After warming ourselves with a delicious homemade meal and pint of Boddington's, we retired to the 'bunk room'. This is the place they put the cast-off budget travelers like us. There were 15 bunks, but we had the room to ourselves because it is not the high travel season. The room was actually quite cute and probably would have been great in the summer, but it was a chilly night of sleep since the heater didn't really function well.
We got up with the sun in the morning and set on the trail leading to Pen-y-ghent, one of the famous peaks in the Central Dales.
Pen-y-ghent is the black hill in the background.
The sun stayed out for only about an hour before the clouds and wind and rain rolled in. I have never experienced such a strong wind--even in Chicago! It was a tough hike, but despite the conditions we managed to carry on quite well for a couple of hours and enjoyed the beautiful landscape.
Lots of stone walls, just like Ireland.


Built-in steps over the stone walls.
And then we lost the trail. For the next couple of hours we stumbled through rocky and uneven terrain, trying to find the trail again, all the while being abused by wind and rain. We never found the Pennine Way back, so we eventually decided to head to a road in the distance. We tried to get the attention of several passing motorists to ask for directions to Malham, but they either thought we were giving them a friendly wave or that we were hitchhiking because no one stopped to help us. Finally a couple of highway workers in a large truck stopped, listened to our story and told us in what direction we needed to head. In the end, they had sympathy for our miserable, pathetic-looking selves and gave us a lift the rest of the way!The truck that brought us to Malham.
By 1:00, our soaked shoes and socks were drying by a fire in a restaurant in Malham. We ate a good meal and delicious hot chocolate. And the restaurant had two cats--the day was getting better and better!
When our energy was renewed, we hiked to a place called Gordale Scar.

Our hostel in Malham was fabulous! There was complementary tea and coffee and our bedroom was warm and cozy!
In the morning, we took a short walk to Malham Cove.






Then we began our 11-mile walk to Skipton. This walk was mainly on roads, but we were still able to see plenty of scenery.
We also met a variety of animals along the way.


Even though this time of year isn't the best for weather, it was great to be able to enjoy this popular tourist destination without all the crowds. Today, I am in the hurt box with some sore leg muscles and a few blisters, but the experience was worth it!