Rainy Thursday

It rained today in Cambridge, and I had to cycle through it. That was an adventure. I think the wind was worse than the rain. You get all wobbly on your bike when a strong gust comes along. The rain just makes you soggy and you get this steady drip, drip off the tip of your nose. I was off to temporary employment agencies to see if I could get some on and off office type work to fill my time with 'til we go to Chicago. The proficiency tests took a while but by the time I got home they called to ask if I was interested in doing some office admin for the council in Bar Hill so it was worth it. We'll see how that turns out.

Anyway, I've been storing up some pics for the past few days and meaning to post them when I had some time at the computer, so here they are.

Okay, remember in one of the previous posts I mentioned the cornerstones at Wolfson? Well, here are some pictures. At Cambridge, they always make a big deal about not stepping on the lawn. People just don't walk across the grass, so it always grows thick and green. Now, according to one of the porters, who gave Mpumi a lecture when he set one foot on the lawn, the university has found that though they don't walk across the grass, people always cut corners. They don't like to walk in straight lines with 90 degree angles. If there's a corner, the will cut it and with repetition that usually kills the grass, like this. (See the corner of the lawn.)

So, anyway, their grand solution to this was the following - a triangular shaped paving stone, placed on the corners of each patch of lawn, or wherever there is a 90 degree turn in the path. With this in place, people can cut corners, and not affect the lawn. Maybe not such a great story but the way the porters tell it, it's a really big deal!


Anyway, more pictures. Here's one of a squirrel that lives in the grounds of Wolfson College. Well, I don't actually know if it's the same squirrel each time but I somehow think it is. This one is really brave and a bit nonchalant about people. I've seen him sit near the bike racks and watch as you struggle to unlock you bike, or sit in the path and watch as you go by. I got this picture only after following him up the path and towards the tree. He'd scamper forward a bit, stop to look at me, then scamper forward again. He eventually climbed about a meter or so up the tree, and then just stood there, vertical and Spiderman like, watching me until I walked away. I was only a few steps away from him at the time.

Oh, and then last night (or was it the night before?) we went to the clubroom and played Scrabble with the Sainsbury peeps. Except for Molebaleng, none of them had played Scrabble before so we had to explain the rules and so forth. Well, Sameer played and I just watched but it was fun except when we knocked a juice bottle over the board, that wasn't so good. Now it has a distinctly mangoey smell when you open the board. And then we played pool for a while.

Here's one of Kings Way in the late afternoon. I had to pull my bike over to the side of the road to take it and even then it didn't come out so good. It was all just so golden and glowy that I had to take a shot.



I also took some pictures of the market because, well I really like it there. The first is of a mum, with one kid in a baby seat on the back of her bike (don't know if you can see it so well) and another kid cycling alongside her on his little bike, with a big flag sticking up from the back of it so cars can see him. It's amazing how families get around on their bikes here. I've seen mum's cycling with a toddler in the kiddy seat at the back and the baby in a baby seat in the front. It's hectic! I'll try to get a picture of one of those bikes if I see one parked anywhere. They also have this other mechanism where the kids bike attaches to the back of the parent's bike so it looks like a tandem bicycle with a big and little part. And they also have this thing, it looks like a motorcycle sidecar except that it's attached to the front or back of a bicycle, and usually a parent rides the bike, and they put two kids in the sidecar, which has a plastic cover with little windows in it. That's also quite nifty. But, I keep thinking, that this only works safely in a place where people who drive cars respect and give way to cyclists and pedestrians.

Anyway, here are more pictures of the market. The first is of the little stalls in the square that constitutes the market. There are real shops, chain stores and such, on the streets that surround this, and even a little indoor mall. But the market stalls offer anything from fresh bread to flowers and plants, second hand books and clothes, spices, bags, and bicycle repairs. The second picture is of some bicycles (including mine) parked against and chained to the bars that surround St Mary's Church, which borders the market on one side. When I took this picture, I'd had my first experience of having to ride in circles looking for parking for my bicycle. That was novel. I couldn't help being amused by it. Also, another thing I find really interesting is the posters that people tie to the church gates with bits of string. They go all the way around the church, just like the bikes, and they mostly advertise plays, operas, or music recitals put on by the students at venues around town.



So anyway, here we are. I'm all out of pictures. The weather says it will be a minimum of -2 tomorrow and a maximum of 2 degrees. So Sameer's decided to stay in all day except to go to Jumuah. And I'll probably do the same, lie in bed with my book, a cup of coffee and copious amounts of biscuits.

Laa la laa

Couldn't come up with a better title. :P I don't have an awful lot to blog about. I was going to make an interesting note about the flagstones around the grassy patches in the college but I forgot to take some pictures so it probably wouldn't work out so good.

Meanwhile let me leave you with a few other updates.

Yesterday I took a walk along "The Backs". This is a part of Cambridge where a number of colleges, which are situated side by side, back up onto the River Cam. It's really a lovely area because there's the river, with a number of bridges crossing it, areas that look like pastures, and also the colleges' private gardens. Some of these are labeled "Fellows Gardens" and some are "Scholars Gardens". Neither kind is open to the public. I'm not entirely sure what the difference is but obviously, there is one. :P

You can get more information on the backs here.

Here's a picture that I took from a bridge behind King's College.



And here's another that I took, also from the bridge. It's of two guys punting down the river. They're going in the direction of Clare College, which is next to King's.



After I'd done strolling along the Backs, I considered making like a student and sitting down for lunch in one of these richer colleges. But I chickened out. (Sad...) I guess I'd rather wait until I had some accomplices. I know the students here all go around eating at different colleges, not only for a change in menu options but also just to see what the different colleges are like, but as I only have a lowly visitor's card, and am not even myself studying here, I don't feel that secure going alone. At least if I go with a bona fide student, it'd be more legit.

Anyways, when I got home, I did - what else - but read my book. The Subtle Knife was really good!

We saw on one of the noticeboards that there was going to be a quiz night in the club room and thought we'd go take a look. We asked the other Sainsbury peeps if they were interested but nobody much was. So we went alone and found a handful of people sitting around talking quietly while a lone guy up front spun some tunes. A few more people arrived but still, there was nothing discernible going on. Okay, we should have asked the DJ guy what was going on but we were a bit shy! So, under the pretense of buying Pepsi and making conversation, we ended up asking the guy who was manning the bar. Sneaky sneaky! Anyway, he said that basically it was a bunch of different categories that you answer on paper in groups of 2 to 10, and that the best team wins a prize. He recommended that we just join a group. So after listening for a bit and finding that we really could answer some of the questions, we did join a group. Two guys sitting on their lonesome. Turned out they were both medics - one was from Cyprus and the other from Bulgaria. I can't for the life of me remember their names. (I think one was "Yevoli" but I can't be sure. The other name was something very Greek sounding.) Anyway, another Medic, Chris joined after and it turned out that the DJ guy, Mark, was also a Medic.

So, we answered the questions, and then there was a swop of papers, and a marking thingy and guess what? We ended up placing second - only one point behind the group that came first! The third place group (of about 10 people) got a box of chocolates, second place got six ₤4 vouchers at the bar. (Yes, I know that was a Lira sign but Sameer did something to the keyboard and now I can't find the Pound.) First prize was a couple of bottles of wine, which wouldn't have been much use to us anyway, so I guess that one point was for the best.

Unfortunately, the vouchers were only valid for that night. Realizing that we probably wouldn't be able to use all of it in one sitting, we offered them to the other guys but they said no thanks, that we should go ahead and use it to stock up on munchies. So off we went to the bar and bought as many smoothies, J2O (juice), chips, and chocolates as ₤8 could buy us.

And here's a picture of the stash. We've been slowly working our way through them since. ;) I think we'll be back at quiz night next week again.

First weekend in Cambridge

Today was our first Saturday in Cambridge. We were originally supposed to go to London today but were invited to a soccer match by Janine so we went to London yesterday and opted to stay in Cambridge for the weekend.

We woke up late - 9am. I was slowly going about my dressing and brushing regime when I got Razia online and we started having a Google-chat. I ended up running late and we had to hightail it to the high street shortly after.

We popped into a few shops to try to find ski-gear. We eventually bought ski-pants from a place called Milletts. They were the cheapest we could find at about £25 each. To get a pair that fit right, Sameer ended up buying the same pair I did - a ladies size 14. Hopefully no-one will be able to tell the difference on the slopes! I freaked him out a bit when I said I saw a flower but it ended up being a fairly nondescript snowflake shape. :P

Then we went off to find the Tattie's that I'd eaten at the first day. We got a bit lost, and found another Tattie's that was on a much more boring street and that didn't have quite the same feeling of coziness. So we wandered around a bit more till we found the right one. But I bet the next time I try to find it, I'll get lost again.

Oh, and I also took the opportunity to take some pictures with our new camera. Here's one of the town, taken from just outside Tattie's. Note how there's loads of people walking along the cobbled street, no cars, a cyclist just past, a couple with their kid in a pram, some people with shopping bags, a tourist with his backpack, little shops on the sides, and the spires of a college in the background. Typical Cambridge! (I'm in love with it.)

Then we went back to Sainsbury's to get sugar and powdered milk since we forgot to get those when we got our coffee the other day. And we went to Marks & Spencers to buy some mugs (50pence each!) because the cups in our room are too small for us mug-people.

And then we cycled back home again. We took the opportunity to take a picture of me cycling. Note how I'm balancing three packets there between my basket and my little rear attachment thingy that I don't know what they call. :P Maybe I'm just not that experienced at it yet but I say carrying all that stuff makes you a lot more wobbly on the bike!

So we came back home and had coffee and biscuits (yay!) while I updated the blog and checked mail etc. Then we got a call from Mervin, Janine's husband, and heard some shocking news. Apparently Janine fell ill very suddenly last night and had to be taken to hospital. They took her to hospital and ran a battery of tests with no result. She was sent home with morphine! We felt awful but Mervin said they were optimistic as the tests at least ruled out anything obviously damaging. Perhaps it's an ulcer or something like that. We hope.

So Mervin said we should go off to the soccer match after all. Janine actually wanted him to go as well but he said he wasn't in a spectatorly mood. Mervin came to fetch us and dropped us at the football stadium which was on the other end of town. We were introduced to some of Janine's MBA peeps, barring another guy, Tim who had broken his arm this morning in another football game. But we didn't end up chatting to them much after.

We sat in the stadium and watched Cambridge United play Altrincham FC. Not the most exciting game in the world but still fun. We could totally understand how people become wrapped up in sports this way. There was cheering, jeering, and chanting. Altrincham played poorly and Cambridge were always in control of the game. The scored once in the first half, and then in the second half Altrincham pulled even after a shocking error on the part of the Cambridge goalie. There were some poor tackles, high boots, and outright fouls. Sameer almost got hit in the head with a football that got knocked into the stands but the guy standing next to him deflected it at the last moment. Our lives flashed before our eyes. Then one of the linesman got hit in the head with a ball. The crowd teased him relentlessly, as they did an Altrincham player who ran into one of the uprights. With moments to spare, Cambridge turned up the heat and scored the winning goal. The crowd went wild. The players piled into a heap on top of the goalscorer. My comment at the time - Whoopee-lê. By the time the match ended, the sun was setting and the sky was on fire. We took a bus back into town, and started the long walk back to Wolfson.

Burns night Céilidh

So yesterday we spent most of the day in London, shopping. Sounds exciting? Well, it was super boring. All wide busy streets and people mauling for sale items in the shops. We got a few items (new camera - yay! - jacket, running top, and slingy bag) but I was ever so happy to get back to Cambridge at the end of the day.

We got back just in time to catch the dancing session at the Wolfson College Burn's Night Céilidh.

"What's a Céilidh?" you ask. Well, according to Wikipedia,

a céilidh (pronounced "kay-lee") is a social event or disco, typically with Celtic music and dancing. The word céilidh is Irish and Scottish Gaelic for 'visit', denoting the event's origin as an informal, home gathering.

Burns Night Supper is an evening on which Scottish people attend to commemorate the life of Robert Burns, a poet and balladeer. (You probably don't know it but Robert Burns wrote the lyrics to "Auld Lang Syne".) There is usually a supper, a poetry reading, and some dancing. A traditional Burns supper includes haggis, neeps, tatties, and whisky. I was keen to try the haggis but Sameer was more skeptical. In the end, it was a non-issue because we got back too late for dinner. According to the other Sainsbury peeps, the haggis was a bit "different" so maybe it was for the best. Although they did say that the recital of Burns' poetry (another tradition) that they did before dinner was served, was really great.

Anyway. We arrived at the Clubroom to find it packed with people. I don't know where all those people were from. A lot were from Wolfson and I know more than a few were from Corpus Christi but I think generally if you paid, they let you in. There were a large number of men in kilts and girls in tartan skirts. There was also a Scottish band comprised of two fiddlers, an accordian player, and a guy on the bodhrán. And then there was a dance instructor, who explained all the dances and then lead you through it with lines like "Couple one meet in the middle, round the side and do-see-do! Girls go up and boys go down, grab your partner, swing around!" Liesel George once called Sameer a "joiner". Well, we joined. And here's a picture to prove it.

Ho-hum Thursday

Nothing much happening in Cambridge today. We woke up late and almost missed breakfast. Then had a really unhealthy English Breakfast (excluding the porky bits). Then decided to give English Breakfasts a miss from now on. Then I mailed a bunch of temping agencies. Then I had a nap coz I was feeling groggy from the English Breakfast and also a little moody about the prospect of going for interviews. Then I woke up and decided to go to the parlor to read. I read the Daily Telegraph and then went to have lunch, carrot soup and for dessert, a coconut and ginger rice pudding. Hmmmmm...

Then I worked on Razia's CV for a bit and decided that it needed more work, as did my own! Then I decided to go back into town to look at things in the shops. I looked and looked and saw lots of things that I liked in Next but didn't buy anything. I got a shirt from H&M for £10. Nothing particularly exciting. It's baby blue and long sleeved, for potential work.

Then I met up with Sameer and we went to Sainsbury's to shop for supplies - foody ones. We got some much needed shaving cream and stuff like peanut butter, biscuits, tea (coz I've been dying for biscuits and tea after dinner every night since we got here!) and donuts which was an impulse buy. The donuts were horrible! They were so awful we had to chuck them after one bite each! A whole 58p of my hard earned money gone! Gone I tell you!

And then the highlight of my day. Zulaigha's friend Janine invited us for dinner at her flat in Cherry Hinton. Cherry Hinton is a 20 minute cycle from the middle of town. Well. Well... Let me say no more about the cycle to Cherry Hinton.

Janine's flat is great. Just close to a supermarket, great size, neutral colors, all wonderful. And the dinner she had cooked. Oh boy! A green salad with pine-nuts, baby corn, strawberries and mange tout peas, grilled mushrooms topped with goats milk cheese and cranberry sauce, a roast chicken, grilled veges, and a potato and cauliflower casserole. *Heaven* Even more blissful was conversation, with a South African - a not-jaded one. It was such a breath of fresh air. To have the familiarity of a fellow Capetonian but the experience and wisdom of someone who's had extraordinary experiences. She gave Sameer some great advice on his career, applying for jobs, and dealing with big companies. And her confidence and enthusiasm even rubbed off on me. I don't feel as freaked out about the prospect of finding long term work her. Also, hearing her speak about her husband, mum, siblings, and hopes to one day have both a career and a family were greatly encouraging. It was such a refreshing change from the anti-kids sentiment I've been getting from some people. It was great.

And then we cycled back to Wolfson. :P

Twenty minutes later we're here at the room, calves burning, and more than a bit sweaty. I think I'll take another shower. Maybe it'll make up for those first three days we were in Europe. ;)

Wolfson and Cambridge

I'm not really in the mood to write much today, mostly because I've started reading Phillip Pullman's Northern Lights (aka The Golden Compass) and I really want to get back into it. But I'll give you all a quick rundown of the latest events and also some pictures.



This first shot is of the facade of W block at Wolfson College. You go in with an access card, down a hall, round a statue that's in a circular room from which three separate hallways run at different angles, straight on, and then immediately left to our room - 105. It's the newest wing of one of the newest colleges at Cambridge so it doesn't have the grand, churchly feel that the other colleges in the city have. Wolfson caters almost exclusively to post-graduate students and has the largest number of international students.

And here are two shots of the room itself. The first one is taken from a position just inside the doorway, at a 40 degree angle or so. You can see the wide desk, the bench over the radiator in the bay window (which overlooks a little garden/yard) and the bed. The second is taken from the same position, just facing straight ahead. The door is obscuring the built in cupboard and there is a slight recess where you see the coat rack. There's a blue tub chair in the nook. We mostly just chuck our excess clothes on that one. (Don't tell my mum I said so!)





The bathroom is really oddly shaped - like a rectangle with a clipped off corner. The toilet is to the left of the sink you can see, on the clipped part of the angle. The shower is on the short end of the rectangle. There's no cubicle or anything, just one screen preventing water from sputtering out into the bedroom. The fixtures are quite new. They're Grohe, and they let you adjust the water to exactly the temperature you want with a little twisty knob. I've decided that I like my water at a warm 45 degrees. :) Anyway, (I know I'm going on about this quite a bit but it was quite intriguing when I first saw it) the oddest thing is that it's really a shower-room. The entire thing is tiled, top to bottom, and there's a drain in the middle of the floor. So when you shower, water goes every which way, splashes on the toilet seat, on the sink, all round the floor. Anyway, it's quite messy coz you tramp the water all over the place and I really wish I could mop! But I don't think there are any implements for that. We got some disposable toilet wipes at Sainsbury and I tried using those but they're not very good. The cleaning lady only comes in to clean once a week. And right about now the dirty shower-room floor is starting to work on my nerves...

Moving on swiftly. So, yesterday, Sameer went off to meet with his supervisor etc and left me to my own devices. So I grabbed my map and wandered off into town. And that's where I took this lovely shot of (wait for it) a bridge, over the River Cam. This one was from one building in Queen's College over to another on the other side of the Cam. :) It was lovely.

So I walked along there and tried not to get run over by all the bicycles. I found my way into the historic center of town, where the only cars allowed are for residents or deliveries. There were students everywhere and - whether walking or cycling - they were all motoring somewhere. After a while I realized that they were all rushing back to their colleges for lunch or to nearby restaurants and coffee shops. Oh and tourists - there were many many tourists.

One funny thing that happened was a girl and a boy were walking along the road in front of me. And they were so obviously hot for each other. He kept putting his hand on her arm and saying arb things and she kept giggling. Anyway, they were so high on love or whatever that first she walked straight into a car (amusing) and then he inexplicably dropped his baguette and spilled all the toppings off (very amusing). Both times, they were embarrassed, tried to laugh it off and made apologetic/sympathetic noises. But as a random person on the street, it was really funny to me. I wonder if they've even admitted to themselves that they like each other. ;)

Anyway, that was mostly how I spent the morning, wandering around the little streets, looking into shops, and hearing snatches of conversation from people going by. I can't remember exactly what people were saying but I just remember thinking how strange it all was.

So, anyway, I found myself right in the center, on Trumpington Street, which becomes King's Parade, and that's where you find King's College, the oldest college at Cambridge. It was a real wow moment. I had to stop and take pictures. But I didn't go in because it costs £5. On the other hand, they have a choral mass on a Tuesday evening which is free and I intend on going one evening. Apparently, the inside is even more lovely and they say the singing is fantastic. So I hope to do that.



After that, I came across a little market type thing (like the one between Cavendish Square and the Link) and I stopped to look at the books on sale. Nothing interested me until I got right to the end -- the full Dark Materials trilogy for £5! Now that was worth £5 so I bought it, then went into a cafe (Aunt Tattie's) and started to read over lunch. (Feta, tomato, and red onion baguette - tasty!)

Then Sameer called and said the MBA guys wanted to go to the mall. I walked back across town (took me about 15 minutes) and then we went off. Some of the guys had tried out their bikes and we decided to go hire one for me at the train station, where there is a big bike rental place. It was flippin expensive but beat buying a second-hand bike because it came with insurance and free repairs whenever needed. (Apparently bicycle theft is huge in town and also, people often vandalise your bike just for kicks. I believe it too. As I was walking around I saw loads of bikes that looked as if they'd been jumped on or hit with a sledgehammer.)

Anyway, off we cycled to the mall. Then I dropped the bike and broke the front mudguard. (Yay insurance...) I am such a clutz these days. There were quite a few big shoe sales but I didn't see anything I liked. Beside, my feet are in between a four and five for some strange reason and most shoes I try seem to be either too small or too big. Weird! So we went to Boots to buy some soaps and things and then, for additional supplies, we cycled to Sainsbury's. In the dark. On the road. With cars. Through circles.

I survived.

Paris in the Wintertime

Ah Paris. To be honest I didn't really like it at first. I thought it was just a shoddy version of Rome. :P But then you realize that Paris has it's own thing going on. It's own culture and traditions and a history that is more recent but filled with enough bloodshed and betrayal to be similarly intriguing. And boy do I wish I went to the type of school that sent kids on field trips. I would have loved to have come here when we were learning about the French Revolution. It would have added so much

Okay, so lets see. Before I get bored with all the retrospection.

Day 1

We arrived Paris ten o'clockish then eventually made our way to the hotel which was close to three different train stations but in a generally dodgy part of town. It was very basic, in true Ibis fashion, but was clean, warm, and had hot showers. (Yay!)

We weren't sure what we wanted to do because we hadn't planned for the trip very well but eventually decided to go to the Louvre, then walk along the Seine, have lunch, and go to the church of Notre Dame. So we got lost a couple of times but eventually we did that. The Louvre was enormous and we got a bit lost at times. There was so much to see and we didn't have much time so we looked at some of the Egyptian displays, then went to see the Mona Lisa, Man with a Glove, Victory at Samathrace, and a few other works. Very touristy - I know! But you must understand, we were exhausted from the last few days. I felt as if I was going to fall asleep half the time! When we were about to leave, we stopped to buy some postcards. I reached for a postcard with one hand and then, from the other hand, dropped our camera on the floor. Totally unexpected!

Oh, here's a pic of one of the many many art students who just sit in the Louvre and sketch the statues that are there.



Afterwards, I wanted to go to the Tuileries Gardens (despite the fact that it was winter) but Sameer was starving so we walked to the Ile de Cita and went to the Place Duaphin, a very beautiful square. I can only imagine what it must look like in summer! So there was a large building on the end and I ask Sameer "What's that?" He looks at our map and says "A hotel". I thought "Hmmm... Must be a really posh hotel..." but anyway. Anyway, we go around the corner and see tons of police cars. Later on I read the guide book and it turns out it's a detention centre (can't remember the name) from Revolution times. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were held there until they were guillotined. Hotel my *ss... After that, every time I asked what a particular building or structure was, the answer I got was "It's a hotel."

After promenading along the Seine, we had lunch at a restaurant that served Italian food then went to the Notre Dame, which was beautiful and creepy at the same time. We wanted to climb up to the top to see the gargoyles and things up close but the last access was at 5:30 and we were slightly too late. So we went home, took our first showers in three days (don't judge us, it was a logistical issue), and slept for about 12 hours.

Day 2

We woke up feeling well rested and got a fairly early start to the day. We took the metro to the Place de la Concorde. It was a crisp morning and already the tourists had started to gather. As we crossed the street to get a closer look at the Obelisk of Luxor (23m high and 3 300 years old!), we were overrun by a group of Japanese school kids, aged around 12 or 13. They were adorable, taking pictures willy nilly. We did the same. After that, we walked down the Champs Elysees and popped into a number of the shops which displayed signs saying "Soldes". There were lots of things on sale but they were still mostly out of our price range. I managed to get a plain black jersey and a lightweight, grey hooded top.

When we got to the bottom, we looked at all the plaques commemorating the various wars France has been involved in and saw the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Then we climbed the 250-odd stairs up to the top of the Arc de Triomph and took in a fantastic view of Paris. After that, we were again exhausted and had crampy calves. We took the Metro towards the Eiffel Tower and along the way agreed not to walk up the stairs when we got there!

We crossed a bridge over the Seine and approached the tower from the wrong side. You may think "What do you mean, the wrong side?" Well, lets just say, if you go to Paris to see the Eiffel Town, approach it from the Ecole Militaire because the view from that end is much more impressive! When we saw the swarms of tourists at the base and the lines that were snaking out from the different entrances, we decided to take a break for crepes and coffee. Hmmm... After the three kilometres up the Champs Elysees and the 250-something stairs up the Arc, we destroyed any calorie deficit that we might have created by sharing one crepe that was smothered in Nutella and about a cup of whipped cream. And then we felt sick.

And so began the most overrated part of our trip - the journey up the Eiffel Tower. Well, the Tower is cool - no doubt. And I think engineers in particular would really enjoy it. At the top they had these panoramic pictures with numbers and labels for each major site in the city. There was one building that I'd been asking about since the previous day, and of course every time Sameer would say it was a hotel. So we had to check to see what it was, and wouldn't you know it, it was called the "Hotel des Invalides"...

But honestly, there were better views of Paris from other places which were much less crowded. We stood shoulder to shoulder with people the whole way and most of our time there was spent queueing and queueing and queueing. Totally overrated. Eventually we managed to get out. At the base of the tower, groups of young people were offering Free Hugs. Jaded, Sameer and I decided they must either be trying to cop a feel or pickpocket naive people.

We walked towards the Ecole Militaire. This part was great. There were kids everywhere, riding the bikes and scooters or just running around. It was one of the things that I loved about Paris. Everywhere you looked there were parents taking their kids out for bike rides or walks. There were parents cycling alongside their kids and parents walking around with baby buggies. We saw loads of dads, walking alone with babies in buggies or kids on scooters, which is not something you see every day, especially not in South Africa.

Sameer stopped to tie his shoelace at one point and I looked around to see this over-enthusiastic, little, black dog running towards us. I involuntarily went "Ooh!", this surprised Sameer who looked up to find a dog right in his face. He fell over. We both laughed as the dog ran back to his owner. A minute later we heard screaming. A little girl was running away from the same dog who was hot on her heels. He must have though she was playing with him and she was so little, running in small circles, crying in fear. She kept crying and her brother - who was only slighter older - just stood there looking puzzled as she ran around. Eventually her mother grabbed her and the owner came to fetch the dog. Poor child must have been emotionally scarred but really we found it so funny.

With afternoon on the way, we rushed off to the Picasso Museum which was great except that there were no guided tours and no audioguides! But seeing the work there really made me want to read up more about Picasso and Cubism. Something drastic obviously happened in 1907. Wikipedia shows it was his African-influenced period. At the museum they segued directly from the Rose Period to Cubism so it was quite a jump.

After that we wandered around the Marais area of Paris. Oh-my-god... It was fabulous. Shops and shops - atelier or whatever, little studios all selling the most amazing clothes, shoes, bags, art, knick knacks, furniture. Boutique stores galore. It was absolutely amazing. Like those little streets in Florence on crack...

And then, starving, we went to Mickey Ds, coz it was late, dark, and we couldn't find any of the restaurants recommended by the bloody Frommers guide book. (Note to self: No more Frommers every again...) At McDs, we had to get my favourite in France - wedges with sour cream dip, hmmm... Bliss. After that we went to the Pompidou Center which is one of my two main regrets about Paris. Not enough time in the Pompidou Center! There was just SO much to see! We got through most of one modern art gallery and then had to hoppit in order to get to the architecture exhibition that was on downstairs. That was great because it was all about the architext, Richard Rogers who, together with another architect Renzo Piano, designed the center. There were models, displays, plans, and videos all about the conception and the construction of the Center. Oh, and may I also add, there were great views of Paris from the Pompidou Center as well. From the escalators running up the side of the building we saw the Eiffel Tower all lit up. Ah yes, the Eiffel Tower - better seen from afar... *snerk* Give it a skip, and go to the Pompidou Center instead. Better yet, the Musee d'Orsay which we never got to see. That would be my second regret from Paris.

Day 3

The final day. We got up late, alas alack and then took a train to Chateau Versailles. This after Mr P got us lost a few more times. Fortunately, wifey pulled through for the team.





Versailles. Oh Lord. Wow wow wow. WOW! Mindblowing does not even begin to explain it. We 21st century peeps were awestruck. I cannot begin to imagine being an 18th century pleb wandering up to Versailles. If anyone here is going to France, please do yourself a favour and spend an entire day there. You want to see more of Versailles rather than less. Take the guided tour through the private areas, and then grab the audioguide and go through the public areas, and then do something we didn't get to do -- walk all the way through the gardens, to the Grande and Petit Trianon and to Marie Antoinette's Hamlet. Again, I wish I went to the kind of school that sent kids on excursions to places like these. My teacher showed us pictures but really, you just don't get the scale of it. Holy holy!

In the afternoon we went to Monmartre. Okay, it is one giant tourist trap. But boy is it pretty. :) We walked up the Butte to the Sacre Cour and as we came up the stairs there was a busker playing "Wonderwall" and everyone on that staircase was singing along. Cheesy but romantic. There were couples everywhere. And - ahem - 'nother great view of Paris from here.

Then we went on a walking tour through the streets. After dodging all the dodgy art sellers in the more pedestrian-heavy squares, we managed to track down two of the windmills in the immediate area. I so badly wish I could have taken pictures but by this time my camera was kaput! They were hauntingly beautiful in the twilight. Then we went to the cemetary which was again, something completely out of this world. If you have the time, you must go there during daylight. We didn't get to go in because it was closed at night but we could see it from a bridge we crossed. Think of those New Orleans cemetaries you see on TV (and Buffy of course) and you'll know what I mean. And finally, we found our way to the Moulin Rouge, which was to the other moulin as Vegas is to the Bo Kaap... As we left that area all we saw was shops titled "Sexy DVD" or "Sexy Store" and a few that were three or four stories high saying "Sexy Superstore" or something to that effect. Needless to say, it was the redlight district...

And yup, that was basically it, up until the disastrous journey home, which I've already written about.

We're Wolfson College people now

Hey all. You're probably wondering why we "went dark" over the last few days. Well, long story short, Sameer left his laptop and cellphone in Welwyn Garden City (WGC) where Lamiese stays and my cellphone battery went from fully charged to kaput in two days. Incidentally, I left my charger in WGC too. This led to a comedy of errors that was actually not that funny. But I'm trying to forget about all that frustration now...

Anyway, things here are going alright at this point but I am still MOER homesick. That's probably gam-attically incorrect (get it?) and more than a little impolite but it does get the point across. I am really tired, so I'm going to do a naughty thing and copy and paste some text from an email I just sent Razia, then embellish a bit.

Starting from the beginning, this morning we

1. sat around CDG airport for two hours, waiting for our delayed return flight to the UK
2. eventually got back to the UK, only to take the same shuttle three times, miss two busses, and eventually get a taxi to WGC
3. starving and late, gobbled down McDs only to find out that Mujkan (Hooman's aunt) had cooked us lunch
4. barely made it in time for the train to Cambridge

Then, in a change of luck we

5. arrived at Wolfson to find the Ntuli's standing on the college steps and immediately felt better
6. met David, the Paul McCartneyesque Wolfson porter who was hilarious and made us feel really welcome
7. met up with the rest of the Sainsbury peeps and, being surrounded by safas, felt even better
8. heard even worse travel horror stories from them and began to feel that ours wasn't so bad
9. had dinner in the college dinner hall (erm, jury's still out on this one)
10. are now ready for a hot shower and a warm bed

By the way, our room rocks. It's 2.5 times the size of my room at home so I don't think I'll be going stir crazy in here. I think for tomorrow I will get my spouses college card (so I can buy food and do washing), look up some employment agencies, shop for necessities such as detergent, explore the town a bit, and try to attend the weekly visiting scholars and spouses meeting. Maybe I'll even take a run. :)

I have taken a few pictures of the room but I'll probably add them to this post later tomorrow. Sameer is already in bed and he can't really sleep with the gentle clattering of keys going on here, so I need to quite asap.

Oh, and regarding the Paris trip, well there is an awful lot to say and I've taken loads of pictures, despite smashing the camera's LCD on the first day. (Don't ask...) But that will be one long post, with lots of pics needing downsizing, uploading, and explanation. It will probably take me a good few hours to write so it'll probably only be up tomorrow night I think.

Missing you all profusely,
F.

Snot en trane

The big day finally arrived. My god. After counting down since July 11th last year! Well, it was a bit of an anticlimax and at the same time very emotional.

Let's see. We were at Sameer's rents until about midnight then went home to pack. Sameer and I couldn't squeeze everything into our little bags and started to get a bit short tempered with each other because it was late, we were tired, and we were all emotional too. Se he went to bed, and I stayed up because I knew I wouldn't be able to wake up early enough to finish what needed to be done. By 3:30am I had packed the last of our stuff into our bags (after chucking a load of stuff I just couldn't fit in), taken a shower and got into bed. I had this sneaking suspicion that I would be moody and depressed come morning.

Well, my cellphone went off and - naturally - I put it on snooze. But then I heard a voice - Razia's! So I hopped out of bed and jumped in with my parents to hear what she had to say (on speaker phone). When my parents were done chatting, we spoke and by that time Sameer was up too and he also had a few words with her. It was such a strange coincidence (fate?) but it put everyone in an upbeat mood.

Shortly afterwards, Faizal turned up to help Sameer with the bags and AG came over to greet us. Then we went to Sameer's parents to greet. Sameer's dad asked him if he had his passport and according to Sameer, this was proof that he was trying to reach out and show his feelings because obviously he had his passport. :P

Off to the airport and checkin. Ho-hum. Nothing exciting there. Then breakfast at News Cafe until boarding. Here's a pic. Detect a hint of emotional stress here? I was hiding behind the camera. No pictures of me will be posted at this point because I looked terrible throughout.

At 7:20 I started hustling people towards the gate because whenever we fly long distance, I always have this paranoid fear that we will miss our plane. Also, I knew someone was going to open the floodgates any moment. So we got to the gate and everyone was just standing around and I decided to just take the leap and make with the hugging and kissing before people started bawling. I was very proud of myself. I only shed a few tears. The same cannot be said of certain other people. (Nuran, Ferzana - I mean you two!) I think my mum held up quite well under the circumstances but I also think she was holding herself back for the same reasons that I was. We'd spoken about my leaving before the time a couple of times so I didn't think that anything more needed to be said. It would just make both of us bawl anyway. :(

Moving on swiftly! We got to the gates and after a double-take at our boarding passes, the BA people moved us up to World Traveller Plus. It wasn't first or business class but there was a lot more leg room, and the seats were wider and extended more than usual. Also, there were fewer people in the section we were in. Sameer wasted no time in inflating his little pillow thing, putting on his shades and falling off to sleep.

This was our first day flight and my first BA flight. Apparently Virgin flies over the Atlantic most of the way but on BA today, we flew through the center of Africa and because it was day, we kept looking out to see the land below. Seeing the desert and mountain tops and dried out rivers was really, really cool! I know I should be more descriptive but really pictures here would tell more than a thousand words. My camera sucks so I couldn't take any good ones but this one shows a bit of what we saw. I think this was from over the Sahara.

There were a lot of movies but I didn't see anything good. I watched Hairspray in fastforward then watched about ten minutes of High School Reunion just to see more of Zac Efron. (He was much better in Hairspray, although the film sucked on the whole.) Oh, I watched Shrek 3. Ho-hum.

Oh, and we played Scrabble. (Thanks Khadija! I see the Travel Scrabble set getting lots of use.) I sucked badly, had to chuck my tiles about four times coz I kept getting consonants only and we played ourselves into a corner. We quit the game when the plane started to descend.

Ohmigod I forgot how big London was! As we landed I just kept seeing lights, roads, cars, highways, housing estates. It just went on and on and on as far as the eye could see. And planes. Dude! (I mean "For Real!") As we descended, I spotted four other planes around us. And as we landed one plane took off alongside us and another in the distance, and then another landed. Why did I not notice this the last time I was at Heathrow? Anyway, we were 20 minutes early but after the planes taxiing/parking/landing system quit on us, we had to wait 20 minutes to get a tug to drag us to the terminal.

Anyway, then there was passport control, which was fine except that we had to have xrays taken to rule out TB. (VFS didn't tell us about that. Take note all you prospective work visa peeps.)

Lamiese fetched us from the airport, then we went to pick Hooman up from Watford Station, and then we came to their home and had a very large dinner. (The area they stay in is very much like Pinelands - our own "Garden City". I'll take pics tomorrow.) We are now watching the wedding video. We're exhausted but we don't have anything planned for tomorrow so I think we'll have a lie in. :)

Family braai

I really want to post a long email about the braai we had at my 'rents house but I'm a bit pressed for time. So, to cut a long story short it was really great. The entire Cape Town family contingent was there, plus a few friends. The weather was good, we sat out in the garden, and the food was yummy. And then when people started to leave I started to get all moody and sad feeling. Sort of like when we left the First Avenue house. Oh and then the packing, last night. Don't even get me started. That was just depressing. Moving on swiftly! Here are some pics from the braai. I'll post about the last day later on this evening. Or tomorrow morning. Or maybe the next day. :P

Schengan Confusion

We went to fetch our passports from the French Embassy today. We were running late and made it in my the skin of our teeth - they close at 12 and we got there at 11:46. :P The lady at the desk gave me a slightly peeved look but you know, I was still in my limits! Anyway, we got the visa and oddly enough I don't look as drugged in this one as in the other two. Something about the light in the picture, although they're all from the same shot. Also, we're a bit confused about how it works. We asked for a multiple entry one, long stay but although the validity is from now until end of March, the duration is listed as 30 days. So we're a bit confused. Hope we haven't spent all that dosh on a dang 30 day visa. That would mean we'd have to do all our trips before the middle of February. :(

Painting with friends

This morning, Ferzana, Nuran and I set out to paint together. Ferzana has been drawing and painting for years, Nuran has been doing so as a hobby as well. I don't draw much and don't paint at all but have always been interested in doing so. As Ferzana had the most experience we decided to take her lead. We took some pictures to work from, printed them out, and stocked up on paint supplies at Builders Warehouse - turpentine, canvas, linseed oil, oil paint, and brushes. Then we came back to mum's house, set up our things in the garden, and got started.

Ferzana got us mixing paint, doing something called "scumbling" where you mix different colors together to form a background color, then we used some flat brush strokes for definition and applied more paint in lighter colors with a trowel (sorry Ferzana - painter's knife).

The result was this - a jumbo print sized picture based on the one Nuran took of sunrise. I call it "Sun rises on Jammie Steps".

I wasn't too sold on the idea at first but once I'd done scumbling on the background colors it suddenly took shape and started to resemble something, where before there was nothing. After that I decided that painting is definitely something I'd like to take further.

Gears of War

Now playing on Insane level. And boy is it insanely hard... :( Mommee!