weekending.

The last couple of weekends have been very nice here. Last weekend our friend Roland, who was at SES while we were there, visited us from London. He is working on a MPhil in Philosophy there, and took the bus to Cambridge for the day. When Roland got here we started by grabbing a pasty, which gave us strength for our long walk down to Grantchester.

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Along the Cam in Grantchester is a tea house called The Orchard, where we joined the Swansons. It has a long history of famous Cambridgians- http://www.orchard-grantchester.com/history.html. After visiting one sees the draw. It is beautifully secluded, not just away from other things, but somehow apart from them. Here are a few pictures, although they don't quite capture it.

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We asked for directions from a couple on our way down, they told us to take the scenic path by the Cam, but to be cautious of swordsmen. They weren't kidding:

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The track down is beautiful and spotted with cows.

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We had our first cream tea - delicious. Andrea will probably be posting something about it soon. (If you look up creamed tea on wikipedia, there is a picture of The Orchard.)

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After tea, clearly we needed a pint. So we tried a pub in Grantchester.

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After the pub we walked Roland to the bus stop and biked home, ending a very nice Saturday. Saturday was great, and nothing against Roland, but Sunday had Harry Potter. Somehow we didn't get around to seeing the sixth movie before we left. Lucky for us, a student film society was showing it last weekend. And here is where we watched it:

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The movie itself was great. Although choppy at first, like most of them, it found its rhythm and really delivered. Although I do have a gripe with how they portrayed part of the ending, but I don't want to give anything away. I was inspired to re-read book seven by watching it.

reflections &c.

:: I was at a charity shop recently looking for bowls (we had none) and trying to find more cheap english china when I caught a glimpse of this lovely antique fisheye mirror for only £5. I wasn't going to buy it because it is big and heavy and unnecessary and I was on my bike. Well, I found a set of really cheap bowls but I couldn't use my credit card unless I spent more than £5 so I HAD to buy something else to put me over (we still had no way of getting cash so it was the credit card or nothing). I spent over a half an hour trying to find something else in the shop that was small and useful but I couldnt find ANYTHING. So I had no choice but to buy the mirror! I told the guy that I had no idea how I was going to bike home with it, but that I would figure something out AND I DID! I used the belt from my sweater and tied it through the handles on a big reusable grocery shopping bag making a big loop, then hung it over my shoulder and biked home! Now the big wall in our flat isn't so barren - and I can keep an eye on brandon without his knowing it.

This situation reminded me of the time I fixed my car with the belt from a sweater. Sweaters are like duct tape apparently.

:: We FINALLY succeeded in transferring money from our US to British bank account this week! We have had a bit of trouble doing so, including having a check rejected and sent back to us with no explanation. For nearly a month now we have had no way of getting cash (except when Alissa and Jonathan took some out for us - thanks guys!) and every time we logged in to our British account online to see if the money had gone through we saw the word "NIL." That's right, it said NIL, how insulting is that?

:: In church today we sang the Mr. Bean "Alleluiah" song from the episode where he was in church! I could not help but crack up through most of it, especially near the end when the congregation actually messed up the Alleluiahs a lot like Mr. Bean did. :)

:: This week I learned how to knit.

I started going to a craft group for newcomers and visiting scholars with Jill and Philly on thursday mornings. A nice British woman is teaching us how to knit. I completely failed the first time, but this week I think I got it! I think I can say I learned how to knit.

why the dahms (that's right, both of us) should not be allowed in public, reasons #2 & #3

See reason 2:

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Yeah Brandon, Andrea is abnormally tall, but it seems harsh to say she shouldn't even go out in public. No, not that, look at her feet, in particular the trail of white. Yes, that is what you think it is. And yes, apparently this actually happens, at least once. Alissa and Jonathan were with us to experience this, and we all had a long laugh at with Andrea.

That evening the four of us went to a pub for dinner. This was my first go at fish and chips here. They were good, although I once had better in Nashville. Anyway, as we were leaving the bar filled up with what appeared to be a sorority rush. I had to squeeze my way through them on the way to the toilet and back, which involves walking up and down stairs at this particular pub. Standing up to leave, Andrea stops me and points down... to the toilet paper stuck to my foot. The embarrassment was undercut by how amazing it was that this happened to both of us, on the same day. Obviously I received my due after giving Anne such a hard time earlier. Unfortunately, the scene unfolded too fast for us to snap a picture. So here is an artist's rendition:

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Cheers.

we had visitors.

We had a wonderful time with Alissa and Jonathan last week! They made the perfect first vistors setting the standard for all of you who hope to follow in their footsteps. It was so good to see them and spend time together exploring Cambridge and chatting / catching up. They came through England as the GRAND FINALE (in our opinion) to their two week European adventure to Italy and Paris.

Some highlights from their visit include:

::PUNTING!::
We finally experienced the famed Cambridge past-time of punting on the River Cam. Punts are low flat-bottomed wooden boats which are operated using a long pole in shallow water (like the gondolas in Venice). We ended up self-hiring a punt instead of going on a guided tour because it was much much cheaper. We were really worried that punting would be harder than it seemed especially since we've seen many people from the shore that look to be frustratedly struggling to get the punt to do what they want it to (and more than one resulting collision). After a two minute verbal instruction, Brandon made the first attempt. He actually turned out to be really good! (do I sound too surprised?) We punted about half an hour down the Cam to the Bridge of Sighs where we switched so Jonathan could give it a try and bring us back within our one hour time limit. He had a bit of difficulty getting the hang of it, which resulted in our going in many circles and hitting the walls on each side of the river before we started heading in the right direction. Within about 5 minutes he had also re-engineered the current method of operating the punt by turning himself around instead of the boat. It made for a hilarious and memorable experience! He quickly mastered it, however, and had us back just minutes over an hour.



::EVENSONG::
We went to Evensong (evening mass) at King's College Chapel and heard the famous King's College Choir. It is chillingly amazing to hear their voices echo in the vastness of the majestic architecture. On saturdays they have a boys choir which is even better, but this was a wednesday so it was men, and it was still awesome. I had to borrow this photo because to my great dismay and torture I am not allowed to take pictures in the Chapel. The seats you see in the picture are where the congregation sits with the choir next to them in another section. (pic from woklife.com)



::HIDDEN TREASURE and SUPERPOWERS::
Alissa and I had so much fun shopping together at the market, looking for a birthday present for my mom whose birthday was the 8th (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM) and going around to the second-hand (charity) shops looking for hidden treasures! We finally found some adorable tea cups, so now I can properly observe the 4 o'clock British tea time.

We also discovered that Alissa possesses the superpower of "FINDING OWL TRIVETS!" She found two owl trivets in two hours! Who knew that superpower even existed?!




::BRAVING the GREAT OUTDOORS::
When Alissa and Jonathan arrived we decided to hoof it back from the rail station (over 2 miles) tugging their suitcases over narrow cobblestone passages. It turned out to be really fun (and really easy as they packed SHOCKINGLY light. Seriously it was impressive). We decided that, despite the drizzle, we would do the same thing when it was time for them to leave town. As we stepped out into the spitting rain we were all proudly proclaiming our bravery, and just as Jonathan was muttering something about our having a "stiff upper lip" it started to DOWNPOUR. We all froze, looked at eachother and RAN back inside yelling and laughing. We promptly and humbly called a cab. This actually turned out to be nearly as brave a venture as the windshield was almost completely fogged over but the cab driver still sped through the dark rainy streets on the WRONG side of the road (well it seemed wrong to us). It was a bit scary, but also fun. We had to say our goodbyes quickly as they dropped me off on a corner near our friend's house (where I was headed for dinner), and it was better that way because I didn't have a chance to get really emotional. It was still very sad to see them go, but I am so thankful for the wonderful memories we made!

Miss you guys already!

If you want to see thousands more pictures from their visit click here.

tidbits ::2::

- Alissa and Jonathan are coming TOMORROW! I (we) CAN NOT wait! We are trying to make guest preparations like getting our 4th chair back from the custodian, and buying bowls and sheets (we also got a trusty air mattress.) Of course our first real rain is scheduled to start... tomorrow so I'm praying that weather men are wrong over here too.

- On my first bike ride I got a bug in my mouth. On my second bike ride I drove on the VERY street where we took the "bus and bike lane" picture - at night. On my third bike ride I got hit in the face with a moth. On my fourth bike ride I got hit in the face with a bee. On my sixth bike ride it was spitting rain in my face and windy and freezing - at night. I think it's safe to say our bikes have been an overall success thus far.

- The one item we can't find in england (so far) is CHOCOLATE CHIPS. Semi-sweet chocolate morsels are rare here it would seem. We have looked at two groceries and both had only one option sold in TINY bags and expensive. Also, their vanilla extract is the color of apple juice (I poured and poured it on and could still barely taste it.) How are we supposed to make cookie dough under these conditions?!

summa read along

I know there are a few people out there planning on reading along with me in Tour of the Summa. If you haven't recently told me about this, please email me or comment here letting me know. I think it will probably be easier to do this by email than on here. I'm putting together a short introduction, some helps, and the reading schedule for the first weeks. Hopefully I can send this out on Saturday.

to cycle.

From blog photos

From blog photos