Sameer has taken the 5th.
Monday, March 31, 2008
The mystery of the curious fridge contents
So in search of munchies, I opened the fridge, not expecting much except week old, leftover blueberries, crushed garlic, milk, and an assortment of condiments. Instead, I was surprised to find this curious cooking implement.
Sameer has taken the 5th.
Sameer has taken the 5th.
Madly in love with BSG... again
I've been watching episodes on end and also rewatching that awesome intro I posted earlier. It is so beyond cool. :)
S, I cannot believe that you fast forward through that! It's the one TV series intro I never get sick of because it's different every week (you've noticed that, right?) and because the music is so great.
I love the clips of the destruction of Caprica, the swearing in of Roslin, and the surviving humans fleeing from the Cylons. It gives me goosebumps every time.
Here are two pictures that I think demonstrate how the BSG writers try to draw their audience in by subtly tapping into our underlying consciousness of world events. The first is of the swearing in of Lyndon B. Johnson after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The second is the swearing in of Laura Roslin after the destruction of the twelve colonies. That scene is so poignant that you just couldn't "make this stuff up". The show's writers deliberately scripted it this way. Similarly, the memorial hallway on Galactica recalls the photo memorials put up by family and friends of lost ones in the days following 9/11. And of course, I probably don't have to remind any South Africans BSG viewers about the references to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Ooh, now that we have broadband I'm dying to listen in on the podcasts of the writer's meetings that are posted on the official website.
S, I cannot believe that you fast forward through that! It's the one TV series intro I never get sick of because it's different every week (you've noticed that, right?) and because the music is so great.
I love the clips of the destruction of Caprica, the swearing in of Roslin, and the surviving humans fleeing from the Cylons. It gives me goosebumps every time.
Here are two pictures that I think demonstrate how the BSG writers try to draw their audience in by subtly tapping into our underlying consciousness of world events. The first is of the swearing in of Lyndon B. Johnson after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The second is the swearing in of Laura Roslin after the destruction of the twelve colonies. That scene is so poignant that you just couldn't "make this stuff up". The show's writers deliberately scripted it this way. Similarly, the memorial hallway on Galactica recalls the photo memorials put up by family and friends of lost ones in the days following 9/11. And of course, I probably don't have to remind any South Africans BSG viewers about the references to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Ooh, now that we have broadband I'm dying to listen in on the podcasts of the writer's meetings that are posted on the official website.
Lonely Monday
So I'm feeling a bit lonely today. Not only am I lucid enough to have a realistic idea of how slowly time is passing but Sameer has gone off to campus to sort out his student card and his first assignment. His classes start tomorrow. So far today, I've made a trip to the market downstairs to get Strawberry Yoghurt Frosted Cheerios and a Downy Ball, bought a Subway sandwich, and saved a lady's hat from traffic.
Cheerios are similar to Honey Nut O's back home (they have that flavor too) but the O's are really tiny in comparison. They're tasty but obviously junk food cereal. As you know, I usually like to have both healthy cereal (low GI and fiberful) and junk food cereal (high in sugar, salt, and fat, and low in fibre) in the cupboard. My instant oats and fresh blueberries served me well but I felt I needed a change and some crunch. So Cheerios it was. They're pretty good. Crunchy, tasty and with the cheerfully deceptive tang of strawberry. Of course, I was starving an hour after breakfast but, contrary to what the All Bran Flakes people say, you can't get it all from one cereal. So I had some of those disgusting Oke-Dokes we got -- artifically flavored buttered popcorn in a bag the size of toddler. Costs $3 and Sameer managed to polish most of it off in one sitting. I had to forcefully remove them from him. I much prefer my Garrett's Caramel Crisp popcorn, which cost $2.50 for about one tenth the serving but lasts three times as long.
Uhm, what? Oh yes. The Downy Ball. Downy is a fabric softener that they have here. We bought some but couldn't use it because you have to put it into a little plastic ball and pop it in with the wash. I bought it in anticipation of laundry day, which will probably be tomorrow. (I also anticipate that Ferzana will Skype Call us just as we head off to do the washing.)
Funny thing about the US - all their washing powder is, well, liquid. We went wandering up and down aisles at Target when we first got here, looking for a box of washing powder and we just couldn't find it. It didn't help that it was so hard to find a label that said "detergent" anywhere on the bottles. We had to really look hard to find them. Eventually we settled on Tide, because it sounded familiar. I just found it so strange because in SA and also in the UK, they have powder detergent and liquid fabric softener, or those dissolving cubes that the O' Donaghues had. But liquid and liquid? It was just a bit strange. Anyway, now we have our Downy ball so we can add fabric softener to the wash.
Anyway, after breakfast I surfed the Net, a lot. Not in the sense of flicking from site to site looking at arb stuff but more in the looking for interesting articles to read. That meant trips to Salon, Slate, and the New York Times. And of course my compulsory stop at YouTube. And then it was lunch time, what do you know?
So, I had $5.90 to my name and didn't think that I should use all of it. I considered going back down to the market for soup but I got there and all the soup smelled so disgusting I gave up. (Note to self: cook your own soup!) Considered going to Panda Express - my new favourite take-out place - for Chinese but decided to try to save some money and instead went to Subway. It's the advertising I tell you. They have this advert that comes on no less than 15 times a day (not even exaggerating) and it's people in different situation making hand signals and the soundtrack goes "Five! Five Dollar! Five Dollar Footlong! At Subway!" and after about the third time I saw it I started singing along every time it comes on and it drives Sameer absolutely crazy. :P
On the way back, I saw a woman in a Cubs hat crossing the street, pulling a huge cart piled high with boxes and bags. The wind swept her hat off her head and into the traffic. She looked at the hat kind of regretfully as it blew further and further away from her, and then just walked off. I waited for the lights to go red, then made my way between the cars to retrieve her hat, which had stopped rolling around. Then I ran after her and gave it back. She seemed surprised and I felt like I'd done a good deed. Then I felt really fatigued and tired. I guess the flu may be over but I'm still recovering.
Anyway, many jalapenos later, I'm back at the PC. There was a brief interlude with the parents who, I think were just trying to show the family how Skype video chats work, coz they got me to dig out the webcam and hook it up and point around the room with it and asked me what I've been up to and I gave them the same answer I've given them the last three days - nothing much. Sad, boring but true.
Right now I'm watching the Battlestar Galactica season 1 episode "Hand of God" and I've finally found out which episode of the series the song Wander my Friends is from. :) Whenever I listen to that I try to remember what the context was, because it's so Irish and seemingly out of place in the BSG world, and now I remember, so yay! I thought it was pretty well used in the episode - not too overbearing or too emotional.
They're having a BSG marathon on the Sci-Fi channel - nothing but BSG from 8am to 6pm this evening. :D It's a great way to catch up with everything before season 4. I think they'll probably run through all three preceding seasons before Friday. It's cool because you forget about all the tiny things that happen to the characters, little mysteries that get glossed over or forgotten, places characters have come from and things that motivate them. I am so psyched for season four! At least I don't have long to wait - season four premiers this Friday "10/9 central". I have cleared my nonexistant calendar.
I've also noticed that the intro here in the States is different from the one they show in the UK and in SA. It's got some arb mood music instead of the awesome mantra that we get with our intro. (Sorry Bear but you know Raya's intro is way cooler!) For those of you who've never seen Battlestar, here's a taster, along with Bear McCreary and Raya Yarbrough's awesome Hindi inspired intro.
Cheerios are similar to Honey Nut O's back home (they have that flavor too) but the O's are really tiny in comparison. They're tasty but obviously junk food cereal. As you know, I usually like to have both healthy cereal (low GI and fiberful) and junk food cereal (high in sugar, salt, and fat, and low in fibre) in the cupboard. My instant oats and fresh blueberries served me well but I felt I needed a change and some crunch. So Cheerios it was. They're pretty good. Crunchy, tasty and with the cheerfully deceptive tang of strawberry. Of course, I was starving an hour after breakfast but, contrary to what the All Bran Flakes people say, you can't get it all from one cereal. So I had some of those disgusting Oke-Dokes we got -- artifically flavored buttered popcorn in a bag the size of toddler. Costs $3 and Sameer managed to polish most of it off in one sitting. I had to forcefully remove them from him. I much prefer my Garrett's Caramel Crisp popcorn, which cost $2.50 for about one tenth the serving but lasts three times as long. 
Uhm, what? Oh yes. The Downy Ball. Downy is a fabric softener that they have here. We bought some but couldn't use it because you have to put it into a little plastic ball and pop it in with the wash. I bought it in anticipation of laundry day, which will probably be tomorrow. (I also anticipate that Ferzana will Skype Call us just as we head off to do the washing.)Funny thing about the US - all their washing powder is, well, liquid. We went wandering up and down aisles at Target when we first got here, looking for a box of washing powder and we just couldn't find it. It didn't help that it was so hard to find a label that said "detergent" anywhere on the bottles. We had to really look hard to find them. Eventually we settled on Tide, because it sounded familiar. I just found it so strange because in SA and also in the UK, they have powder detergent and liquid fabric softener, or those dissolving cubes that the O' Donaghues had. But liquid and liquid? It was just a bit strange. Anyway, now we have our Downy ball so we can add fabric softener to the wash.
Anyway, after breakfast I surfed the Net, a lot. Not in the sense of flicking from site to site looking at arb stuff but more in the looking for interesting articles to read. That meant trips to Salon, Slate, and the New York Times. And of course my compulsory stop at YouTube. And then it was lunch time, what do you know?
So, I had $5.90 to my name and didn't think that I should use all of it. I considered going back down to the market for soup but I got there and all the soup smelled so disgusting I gave up. (Note to self: cook your own soup!) Considered going to Panda Express - my new favourite take-out place - for Chinese but decided to try to save some money and instead went to Subway. It's the advertising I tell you. They have this advert that comes on no less than 15 times a day (not even exaggerating) and it's people in different situation making hand signals and the soundtrack goes "Five! Five Dollar! Five Dollar Footlong! At Subway!" and after about the third time I saw it I started singing along every time it comes on and it drives Sameer absolutely crazy. :P
On the way back, I saw a woman in a Cubs hat crossing the street, pulling a huge cart piled high with boxes and bags. The wind swept her hat off her head and into the traffic. She looked at the hat kind of regretfully as it blew further and further away from her, and then just walked off. I waited for the lights to go red, then made my way between the cars to retrieve her hat, which had stopped rolling around. Then I ran after her and gave it back. She seemed surprised and I felt like I'd done a good deed. Then I felt really fatigued and tired. I guess the flu may be over but I'm still recovering.Anyway, many jalapenos later, I'm back at the PC. There was a brief interlude with the parents who, I think were just trying to show the family how Skype video chats work, coz they got me to dig out the webcam and hook it up and point around the room with it and asked me what I've been up to and I gave them the same answer I've given them the last three days - nothing much. Sad, boring but true.
Right now I'm watching the Battlestar Galactica season 1 episode "Hand of God" and I've finally found out which episode of the series the song Wander my Friends is from. :) Whenever I listen to that I try to remember what the context was, because it's so Irish and seemingly out of place in the BSG world, and now I remember, so yay! I thought it was pretty well used in the episode - not too overbearing or too emotional.
They're having a BSG marathon on the Sci-Fi channel - nothing but BSG from 8am to 6pm this evening. :D It's a great way to catch up with everything before season 4. I think they'll probably run through all three preceding seasons before Friday. It's cool because you forget about all the tiny things that happen to the characters, little mysteries that get glossed over or forgotten, places characters have come from and things that motivate them. I am so psyched for season four! At least I don't have long to wait - season four premiers this Friday "10/9 central". I have cleared my nonexistant calendar.
I've also noticed that the intro here in the States is different from the one they show in the UK and in SA. It's got some arb mood music instead of the awesome mantra that we get with our intro. (Sorry Bear but you know Raya's intro is way cooler!) For those of you who've never seen Battlestar, here's a taster, along with Bear McCreary and Raya Yarbrough's awesome Hindi inspired intro.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
On non-standard McDonald's products and lack of excitement in my life
So I've been in bed for the past, oh five days or so. Needless to say, Sameer is totally bored out of his mind. I've just been drifting in and out of sleep so it seems more like three days in bed, hence I'm not quite as bored as he is.
I told Sameer I was happy to go out with him later this evening so we tried to book Pablo Francisco tickets. But the online booking thingy didn't want to accept his non-US credit cards and the trip planner outlined a walk-train-bus-walk strategy that wound up being about an hour either way. And that I was not so enthusiastic about. I couldn't quite hide my lack of enthusiasm from Sameer (he knows me too well) and he didn't go to extreme measures to find an alternate way to book the tickets. So here I am again, in bed, watching the umpteenth episode of CSI on Spike TV. (At a certain point it starts to feel like you're just watching one looonnngg episode.) So we're staying in again and having toasted sandwiches and orange juice for dinner.
Anyway, let me tell you about how completely disappointed I am in McDonald's. I mean, I thought McDs was supposed to be all about standards and standardization. The beauty of McDs is that if you're in a foreign country and can't read the menu, you can order your meal and still know exactly what will be in it and how it will taste. Well I've just found out that this is a complete fallacy! McDonald's has differences!
As some of you may know, I am super addicted to MacDonald's apple pies. They are the most divine, most delectable desserts. I have even on occasion been known to make special trips to McDs to buy nothing but milkshakes and apple pies. They have the thick, cinnamony syprup, the tender apple cubes, and the best part - the crunchy, bubbly, philo-like pastry. Heaven!
So last night I ask Sameer to get me an apple pie from the McDs downstairs, and settle in for coffee and apple pie. I open the box and the smell of apple comes wafting out - hmmmmm... Then I removed the pie from the packaging and - horror. Dull, powdery, non-crunchy pastry! I took one look at it and knew what it would taste like. I steeled myself for one bite, too many! Ugh!!! Sameer wouldn't even taste it, it looked that gross. It tasted flat and doughy. There wasn't even the telltale crunchy sound when you bit into it. The filling didn't even ooze! I was totally grossed out and had to toss the remainder of the pie.
I could not believe that McDs could drop their standards this way. Surely they wouldn't trade in the fabulous South African/British McDs apple pie for this pretender? Or what, is this just standard American pie? Please God, no! Not after watching Waitress and dreaming of Nathan Fillion and hundreds of different types of pie - peach pie, banana caramel pie, cherry pie. The list goes on as does the visual imagery. My dreams are shattered...
Quickly, change of topic.
I'm reading: Wizard's First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
I'm listening to: nothing!
I'm playing: Gears of War on Xbox Live in black and white (long story) by proxy ie Sameer is actually playing and I'm just watching. I refuse to play until we get this darn PAL/NTSC thing sorted out.
I'm watching: YouTube videos of people playing Guitar Hero, way too much CSI and season 2 of 30 Rock
I told Sameer I was happy to go out with him later this evening so we tried to book Pablo Francisco tickets. But the online booking thingy didn't want to accept his non-US credit cards and the trip planner outlined a walk-train-bus-walk strategy that wound up being about an hour either way. And that I was not so enthusiastic about. I couldn't quite hide my lack of enthusiasm from Sameer (he knows me too well) and he didn't go to extreme measures to find an alternate way to book the tickets. So here I am again, in bed, watching the umpteenth episode of CSI on Spike TV. (At a certain point it starts to feel like you're just watching one looonnngg episode.) So we're staying in again and having toasted sandwiches and orange juice for dinner.
Anyway, let me tell you about how completely disappointed I am in McDonald's. I mean, I thought McDs was supposed to be all about standards and standardization. The beauty of McDs is that if you're in a foreign country and can't read the menu, you can order your meal and still know exactly what will be in it and how it will taste. Well I've just found out that this is a complete fallacy! McDonald's has differences!
As some of you may know, I am super addicted to MacDonald's apple pies. They are the most divine, most delectable desserts. I have even on occasion been known to make special trips to McDs to buy nothing but milkshakes and apple pies. They have the thick, cinnamony syprup, the tender apple cubes, and the best part - the crunchy, bubbly, philo-like pastry. Heaven!
So last night I ask Sameer to get me an apple pie from the McDs downstairs, and settle in for coffee and apple pie. I open the box and the smell of apple comes wafting out - hmmmmm... Then I removed the pie from the packaging and - horror. Dull, powdery, non-crunchy pastry! I took one look at it and knew what it would taste like. I steeled myself for one bite, too many! Ugh!!! Sameer wouldn't even taste it, it looked that gross. It tasted flat and doughy. There wasn't even the telltale crunchy sound when you bit into it. The filling didn't even ooze! I was totally grossed out and had to toss the remainder of the pie.
I could not believe that McDs could drop their standards this way. Surely they wouldn't trade in the fabulous South African/British McDs apple pie for this pretender? Or what, is this just standard American pie? Please God, no! Not after watching Waitress and dreaming of Nathan Fillion and hundreds of different types of pie - peach pie, banana caramel pie, cherry pie. The list goes on as does the visual imagery. My dreams are shattered...
Quickly, change of topic.
I'm reading: Wizard's First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
I'm listening to: nothing!
I'm playing: Gears of War on Xbox Live in black and white (long story) by proxy ie Sameer is actually playing and I'm just watching. I refuse to play until we get this darn PAL/NTSC thing sorted out.
I'm watching: YouTube videos of people playing Guitar Hero, way too much CSI and season 2 of 30 Rock
Friday, March 28, 2008
Insular thinking
It all makes sense now. The reason why the average American knows so little about the world. I've been watching a lot of news on ABC and FOX and it's suddenly occurred to me that they have absolutely no world news section! Oh there's a sports section and a weather section and a finance section but no world news. Everything is US oriented and in fact pretty much all of the news that I've seen has to do with the mid-west ie just that middle portion of the US where Chicago is situated. What is up with that?
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Chicago roundup
So I've been ill the last couple of days and feeling generally ugh. Sitting in bed with the laptop and tv remote controls nearby, the blinds open, and faithful hubby making frequent food runs. It would be fun, except for the fever and phlegm.
Anyway, here are some highlights from the last couple of days.
Though we're not huge fans of the zoo, Sunday was a Sunday and also, Easter Sunday so most things were closed. So we went down to Lincoln Park and the Lincoln Park Zoo (which is free) for a look around. It was pretty cool, as cool as zoos can be. The poor giraffe looked really really lonely. But at least the polar bear had a friend and a pool to swim in, the lions had their own little pride, and the gorillas had a whole family with both indoor and outdoor enclosures and the use of vertical space too.
Papa lion came into the indoor enclosure to roar at everybody and that was quite an experience given that we were standing two feet away. But the leopard was all alone and kept pacing and pacing and glaring at us with his beautiful green eyes. We felt kind of sad for him.
The gorillas were quite cool. We watched them play around, the smaller ones playing with the snow and tasting it. One of the younger ones ticked of Kwan, the big daddy, and he put on a bit of a display, growling and dragging branches around and generally intimidating the little ones. You probably know this zoo, the gorilla enclosures and Kwan from the movie Return to Me, with David Duchovny and Minnie Driver.
That was Sunday. On Monday we went down to Wicker Park (seen the movie Wicker Park?) for a look around. Well we got a bit lost when Sameer decided we should check out the local GameStop (video game trade store) and ended up in a fairly dodgy area. You know you're off the beaten track when you can't find any Starbucks anywhere. So we quickly scuttled back to the trendy part of town. It was a bit too trendy for us I think. I think people who like vintage clothes and designer clothes would really like it but we didn't go into those stores much.
One clothing store we did like was called The T-Shirt Deli. We didn't buy anything because they were a bit pricey but we just got such a kick out of being in the store. It was set up like a butchery or delicatessen with fridges and coolers and things but instead of meats or cheeses in the trays, there were t-shirts! The theme was carried through to every last detail. The t-shirts were garnished with parsley, the prices were written up on big chalkboards, and there was additional deli machinery all round. It was awesome!
There was a huge second hand bookstore with first hand book prices, called Myopic Books but it was so run down and cool that I know I'll go back some time. It reminded me of the old main library at UCT. (Check out the website for some good pics.) It spread over three floors and all the sci-fi and fantasy was in the basement. There was a grey and black striped cat purring and slithering around down there. He was cool but did't want to talk to me, only Sameer. They sell large cups of coffee for a dollar in the store and people come in, buy a cup and just mousey for ages. The weirdest thing about it was the huge papermache figure of a cop being pecked to death by a flock of pigeons, which was in the window.
The other cool shop we went into was a book store called Quimby's. Again, it just had the most awesome retro vibe. They sold comic books, philosophy books, photography books, magazines, and loads of independently published stuff. I told Sameer, Quimby's is what Wizard's should be like. But I must say there was an inordinate amount of comic book porn and fetish mags in there. Every time you turned around it was naughty, naked nurses and dildos. Sameer bought a Batman comic and we skedaddled.
The next day (Tuesday) we stayed in coz I was really feeling under the weather but we went out on Wednesday coz Sameer was going stir crazy indoors. We went to the Chicago Field Museum, which is the Museum of Natural History. It was huge and airy and bright and had the coolest exhibits. Their most famous exhibit is Sue, the T-Rex. It's the most complete T-Rex skeleton ever unearthed and I gotto say, she is scary as hell. The Ancient Americans exhibit and the Slavery exhibit were also pretty hectic. They also had some great photo exhibits. One details a science expedition to the North Pole and there was another all about women's rituals from around the world. Tres cool.
On the way home we finally spotted the Sears Tower, the third tallest building in the world. As I suspected, we can never see it because we're too close to it and all the other towers block it out. It's just a few blocks away from us.
And then we discovered our new favourite supermarket - Whole Foods Market. Everything in there looks so wholesome and fresh and yummy. I have to go back. They get extra special brownie points for stocking Nando's garlic peri peri sauce. Needless to say, we stocked up.
Oh, before I forget again. Another new thing we discovered in Chicago. We were walking down the street downtown and I thought it was starting to snow again. But then we realized that snow was blowing off the tops and sides of buildings and falling to the ground, sometimes in huge chunks. And that's when we also noticed the huge signs and placards up that said "Caution, falling ice." I never knew that could/would happen. Weird but kind of pretty.
Anyway, here are some highlights from the last couple of days.
Though we're not huge fans of the zoo, Sunday was a Sunday and also, Easter Sunday so most things were closed. So we went down to Lincoln Park and the Lincoln Park Zoo (which is free) for a look around. It was pretty cool, as cool as zoos can be. The poor giraffe looked really really lonely. But at least the polar bear had a friend and a pool to swim in, the lions had their own little pride, and the gorillas had a whole family with both indoor and outdoor enclosures and the use of vertical space too.
Papa lion came into the indoor enclosure to roar at everybody and that was quite an experience given that we were standing two feet away. But the leopard was all alone and kept pacing and pacing and glaring at us with his beautiful green eyes. We felt kind of sad for him.
The gorillas were quite cool. We watched them play around, the smaller ones playing with the snow and tasting it. One of the younger ones ticked of Kwan, the big daddy, and he put on a bit of a display, growling and dragging branches around and generally intimidating the little ones. You probably know this zoo, the gorilla enclosures and Kwan from the movie Return to Me, with David Duchovny and Minnie Driver.
That was Sunday. On Monday we went down to Wicker Park (seen the movie Wicker Park?) for a look around. Well we got a bit lost when Sameer decided we should check out the local GameStop (video game trade store) and ended up in a fairly dodgy area. You know you're off the beaten track when you can't find any Starbucks anywhere. So we quickly scuttled back to the trendy part of town. It was a bit too trendy for us I think. I think people who like vintage clothes and designer clothes would really like it but we didn't go into those stores much.
One clothing store we did like was called The T-Shirt Deli. We didn't buy anything because they were a bit pricey but we just got such a kick out of being in the store. It was set up like a butchery or delicatessen with fridges and coolers and things but instead of meats or cheeses in the trays, there were t-shirts! The theme was carried through to every last detail. The t-shirts were garnished with parsley, the prices were written up on big chalkboards, and there was additional deli machinery all round. It was awesome!
There was a huge second hand bookstore with first hand book prices, called Myopic Books but it was so run down and cool that I know I'll go back some time. It reminded me of the old main library at UCT. (Check out the website for some good pics.) It spread over three floors and all the sci-fi and fantasy was in the basement. There was a grey and black striped cat purring and slithering around down there. He was cool but did't want to talk to me, only Sameer. They sell large cups of coffee for a dollar in the store and people come in, buy a cup and just mousey for ages. The weirdest thing about it was the huge papermache figure of a cop being pecked to death by a flock of pigeons, which was in the window.
The other cool shop we went into was a book store called Quimby's. Again, it just had the most awesome retro vibe. They sold comic books, philosophy books, photography books, magazines, and loads of independently published stuff. I told Sameer, Quimby's is what Wizard's should be like. But I must say there was an inordinate amount of comic book porn and fetish mags in there. Every time you turned around it was naughty, naked nurses and dildos. Sameer bought a Batman comic and we skedaddled.
The next day (Tuesday) we stayed in coz I was really feeling under the weather but we went out on Wednesday coz Sameer was going stir crazy indoors. We went to the Chicago Field Museum, which is the Museum of Natural History. It was huge and airy and bright and had the coolest exhibits. Their most famous exhibit is Sue, the T-Rex. It's the most complete T-Rex skeleton ever unearthed and I gotto say, she is scary as hell. The Ancient Americans exhibit and the Slavery exhibit were also pretty hectic. They also had some great photo exhibits. One details a science expedition to the North Pole and there was another all about women's rituals from around the world. Tres cool.
On the way home we finally spotted the Sears Tower, the third tallest building in the world. As I suspected, we can never see it because we're too close to it and all the other towers block it out. It's just a few blocks away from us.
And then we discovered our new favourite supermarket - Whole Foods Market. Everything in there looks so wholesome and fresh and yummy. I have to go back. They get extra special brownie points for stocking Nando's garlic peri peri sauce. Needless to say, we stocked up.
Oh, before I forget again. Another new thing we discovered in Chicago. We were walking down the street downtown and I thought it was starting to snow again. But then we realized that snow was blowing off the tops and sides of buildings and falling to the ground, sometimes in huge chunks. And that's when we also noticed the huge signs and placards up that said "Caution, falling ice." I never knew that could/would happen. Weird but kind of pretty.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Forced into comment moderation
I am so miff right now. Some random, frakkin' idiot posted a comment that had a link which I accidentally clicked via the silly touchpad on this laptop and I almost ended up installing a spyware thingymabob because of it. I am so pissed off by this. It's just rude and mean and unnecessary.
I couldn't just remove the comment because I didn't have comment moderation enabled and I ended up deleting the entire post because of it. Fortunately it was a short post. But now I feel as though the only way I can prevent this from happening in the future is by screening posts. I really don't like comment moderation because I like the immediacy of posting comments without waiting for moderation but this a-hole has forced my hand. I'm just generally upset about the whole thing. Apologies to everyone who posts here for the now enabled moderation. It's a pity it had to come down to this because of some random person. Meanwhile I've reported the knool to Blogger. Hopefully they'll take him /her down soon.
PS: Okay, after a chat with Joseph I've decided to disable moderation again but to also prevent search engines like Google finding my blog. Hopefully this will prevent anything like this happening again. If it does happen again though, I'm going to have to remove the blog from the blogger listings as well. But anyway, boring admin stuff. Moving on swiftly.
I couldn't just remove the comment because I didn't have comment moderation enabled and I ended up deleting the entire post because of it. Fortunately it was a short post. But now I feel as though the only way I can prevent this from happening in the future is by screening posts. I really don't like comment moderation because I like the immediacy of posting comments without waiting for moderation but this a-hole has forced my hand. I'm just generally upset about the whole thing. Apologies to everyone who posts here for the now enabled moderation. It's a pity it had to come down to this because of some random person. Meanwhile I've reported the knool to Blogger. Hopefully they'll take him /her down soon.
PS: Okay, after a chat with Joseph I've decided to disable moderation again but to also prevent search engines like Google finding my blog. Hopefully this will prevent anything like this happening again. If it does happen again though, I'm going to have to remove the blog from the blogger listings as well. But anyway, boring admin stuff. Moving on swiftly.
Millennium Park and Michigan Avenue
I got up quite early the next morning, I think because my clock is still out of whack. The previous day, Sameer and I had spent a lot of time just looking out the window because we were just so taken in by the view of the buildings, the snow, and the cars coming and going below us. When I got up, I went to the window and looked out to see everything covered in snow. It was still snowing at that time and I noticed that there were only two lanes in the streets open for traffic.
Sameer got up shortly afterwards and we got showered and had breakfast. Before we left, we looked out again and by this time the clouds had gone, the sun was out, and someone must have been out with snow shovels and machines to move the snow from the streets because all the lanes were now clear, and parking lots and pavements were also snow free.
We took a walk up our street, Madison Street, all the way through to Millenium Park. Along the way we passed a number of Starbucks, a couple of Dunkin Donuts and a Garrett's Popcorn. We stopped to have Dunkin Donuts (the were okay) and I got a bag of caramel corn at one of Oprah's favourite Chicago traditions, Garrett's Popcorn. Near the end of the street we also came across a comic book store, which of course we had to go into.
Then on to the amazing Millennium Park. We wondered around all starry eyed and snapped away along with the other tourists. We were really entranced by the Cloud Gate Sculpture, which is more commonly known as The Bean. Can you tell why?
After that we walked through Grant Park which is across the highway, along the lake. It was a very plain park, no major centrepieces or flowers, probably because it was winter and totally snow. But with the benches facing the lake and the tall towers of the city as a backdrop, it was beautiful.
While we were there, we spotted a small group of people on a private tour. The strange thing about them was that they were all on these machines which I was raving about six months ago and for some reason now can't remember what they're called. :P Can anyone jog my memory? Anyway, after reading all about them on Slate and Wikipedia, it was really cool seeing them in real life and seeing how they move and turn. Cool. :)
Then made our way to Michigan Avenue, also known as the Magnificent Mile. It's a long street lined with posh shops. We couldn't really afford anything but we had a good time wandering through Macy's, Bloomingdales, the Apple Store (ohmigod), Levis and so on and so on. We did actually buy something in Borders (been in one, been in them all) where I picked up a copy of Wizard's First Rule to keep me occupied. Though I gotto say, pricewise we were both still missing the second hand bookshop in the market at Cambridge. Here's a picture of the city from Michigan Avenue.
We stopped for lunch at Pizzeria Uno, a famous pizza place which is listed in all the tour books. Predictably, it was packed and there was a 20 minute wait for a table and an hour long wait for the deep dish pizza. The pizza was divine though and Sameer has come away with a new idea - cheese underneath, chunky tomato sauce on top. Just to make you luss, a picture of the famous Chicago deep dish pizza. This is an individual sized pizza. We were going to order a medium but the lady who took our order took one look at us and said "I think it would be better if you ordered an individual." It was more than enough. We were stuffed after one slice and took the rest home for dinner.
Sameer got up shortly afterwards and we got showered and had breakfast. Before we left, we looked out again and by this time the clouds had gone, the sun was out, and someone must have been out with snow shovels and machines to move the snow from the streets because all the lanes were now clear, and parking lots and pavements were also snow free.
We took a walk up our street, Madison Street, all the way through to Millenium Park. Along the way we passed a number of Starbucks, a couple of Dunkin Donuts and a Garrett's Popcorn. We stopped to have Dunkin Donuts (the were okay) and I got a bag of caramel corn at one of Oprah's favourite Chicago traditions, Garrett's Popcorn. Near the end of the street we also came across a comic book store, which of course we had to go into.
Then on to the amazing Millennium Park. We wondered around all starry eyed and snapped away along with the other tourists. We were really entranced by the Cloud Gate Sculpture, which is more commonly known as The Bean. Can you tell why?
After that we walked through Grant Park which is across the highway, along the lake. It was a very plain park, no major centrepieces or flowers, probably because it was winter and totally snow. But with the benches facing the lake and the tall towers of the city as a backdrop, it was beautiful.
While we were there, we spotted a small group of people on a private tour. The strange thing about them was that they were all on these machines which I was raving about six months ago and for some reason now can't remember what they're called. :P Can anyone jog my memory? Anyway, after reading all about them on Slate and Wikipedia, it was really cool seeing them in real life and seeing how they move and turn. Cool. :)
Then made our way to Michigan Avenue, also known as the Magnificent Mile. It's a long street lined with posh shops. We couldn't really afford anything but we had a good time wandering through Macy's, Bloomingdales, the Apple Store (ohmigod), Levis and so on and so on. We did actually buy something in Borders (been in one, been in them all) where I picked up a copy of Wizard's First Rule to keep me occupied. Though I gotto say, pricewise we were both still missing the second hand bookshop in the market at Cambridge. Here's a picture of the city from Michigan Avenue.
We stopped for lunch at Pizzeria Uno, a famous pizza place which is listed in all the tour books. Predictably, it was packed and there was a 20 minute wait for a table and an hour long wait for the deep dish pizza. The pizza was divine though and Sameer has come away with a new idea - cheese underneath, chunky tomato sauce on top. Just to make you luss, a picture of the famous Chicago deep dish pizza. This is an individual sized pizza. We were going to order a medium but the lady who took our order took one look at us and said "I think it would be better if you ordered an individual." It was more than enough. We were stuffed after one slice and took the rest home for dinner.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Bloggin the Windy City
Wazzup ma homeys?!
Can you tell I'm watching Scrubs? No? Pretend JD just said that first line to Turk. Heheheh.
Anyway, I'm feeling slightly ill and slightly moody and I guess it's not the best way to write my first blog on the Windy City but I'm already soooo behind I have to get a move on.
Our flight from Heathrow was 8 hours long but because of the time difference we arrived only a few hours later. :P So it felt like one in the morning (of the 21st) for us but in Chicago was still only about 7pm on the 20th. When we got off the plane, we went through customs and they were very polite and professional and didn't give us any hassles except to make a few remarks about the hot pink ink we'd used to fill in our landing cards. (It was the only pen I had on hand.) But then we found out that BA had left one of our bags in London and it turned out to actually be the box that Sameer's Xbox was in, so there was some stress and drama that we didn't need.
We caught a taxi to the Best Western River Park North, checked in and took hot showers - bliss after the flight. It was also really cool having a TV in our room post-Wolfson. There was so much nonsense on the three channels we had access to and the one thing that really stood out was how much endorsements movie stars here do. Everything from Tylenol to Car Insurance was endorsed by some Hollywood person. And also, the news was all about the impending snow showers and whether the city had enough salt for all the roads and highways. When we woke up in the morning it was snowing, and not just light Davos snowing but seriously snowing.
We had breakfast in the hotel restaurant (the fluffiest pancakes I've ever had) gathered all our baggage and caught another taxi to Presidential Towers, where we'd rented an apartment for the duration of Sameer's term at the Chicago GSB. Erin, the leasing agent, gave us our access cards and keys and then took us through the building to show us all the amenities. Here are some pictures of Sameer standing outside the entrance to Towers 1 and 2, Sameer in the main foyer area, me outside the McDs downstairs, and then Sameer outside the supermarket which is also downstairs.
She also showed us where the laundry room, business center (ie computer room) and gym are. Alas, you actually have to pay for the gym membership but they have everything - pool, sauna, track, all cardio and weights machines, and studio sessions. We're still trying to decide whether to join or not as it's quite expensive.
Anyway, then we went to the room/apartment (ie studio) and looked around. We're in apartment 6 on our floor (there are 45 floors in the building) so our floorplan looks like this. It's small but bigger than our room at Wolfson, and it has comes with kitchen and tv, so it's definitely a step up!
Then we went back down to get our bags. Here's Sameer pushing the trolley thingey around with all our stuff on it.
And then the people from Cort Furniture Rentals came with all our stuff. Here's a pic of Sameer wandering around while they set the bed and the table up.
One of the guys had been in the US army for six years and he was telling us where the best place to get a tv stand was (we hadn't hired one) and where the closest grocery store was. Very friendly guy. Funniest thing about him was that his accent was exactly like Bill Paxton's in the movie Aliens. He sounded just like Hudson! I didn't realize people actually spoke like that. :P
After they left we unpacked the boxes they'd left with all the kitchen stuff and bedding in it. This company is so awesome and I think if anyone is ever relocating to the States they need to get this service. You order online and they deliver a set of boxes to you and it has everything you need in it -- different sized glasses, bowls, cups, saucers, plates, sideplates, pots, pans, knives, sieves, cutlery, baking implements, cooking implements, placemats, napkins, plastic food savers, dish clothes, toaster, coffee machine, telephone etc etc. There was only one thing they didn't get us and we found out that this is just an American thing. We have a coffee machine but no kettle. So if we ever want hot water, we have to boil it on the stove. Go figure. Anyway, point is, about an hour later we were all set up, and the place looked like this.
Then Sameer had to go register at the university so we took a taxi to the Metra station because it was snowing and we weren't exactly sure where the station was. Afterwards we realized that it is so close - just a few blocks - that we might as well have walked. The picture on the left was taken from inside the taxi as we drove down our street, Madison Street, which is right in downtown Chicago and slap bang in the center of everything. We are right near the offices for Citibank, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, JP Morgan, and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The Chicago Civic Opera House is two blocks up the road and we're just one street over from the Chicago Theatre District. We walked down that street the other day and there are like three theatres within two blocks.
Also, another thing I noticed right away is that there is a Starbucks on every street corner. Okay, maybe not every street corner but I am not exaggerating when I saw that no matter which way you look, there is always a Starbucks in line of sight. Hectic! One of the taxi drivers we were speaking - a really sweet old Iranian guy - told us that it's because Chicago is such a cold city. The harder it snows, the more people make for the coffee shops.
Point? Oh yes, Hyde Park, where the University is. It was very quiet, I guess because it was Good Friday (we later saw a number of families coming out of churches) and because it was snowing steadily. We went to the Office of International Affairs and Sameer signed up and updated his contact details, then we went to the Graduate School of Business to look around. Here's a pic of their main foyer.
Then we headed back to the train station. It was snowing really hard by this time and the snow was stinging our faces, so we had to keep our faces down as we walked. We were both covered in snow and our feet were freezing too.
The train station at Hyde Park is really basic. Just a wooden staircase up to the platform, which is also made entirely of wood. It has no kiosks or benches or anything, just the wooden platform that the train pulls up to. Also, there is no-one at the ticket office so you have to buy your tickets from a vending machine. We were looking at the stairs and I saw what I thought might be either snow or salt. I asked Sameer to test it but he didn't want to, so I picked up a piece and tasted it. Yep, definitely salt! The salt helps melt the snow off stairs, sidewalks and roads.
So we caught the train back to Millenium Station, the Metra station we'd originally left from, and then caught another taxi to Target, which is sort of like Hypermarket. We got some groceries and detergents there and also a shower curtain for the bathroom. Here's a nifty pic of this escalator they have for shopping carts. You push your trolley onto a special track and then get onto the escalator yourself, and it meets you at the top. Tres cool!
After the shopping we very fortunately caught a taxi back home (Target is quite far from us!) and then went upstairs to unpack the rest of our stuff. Also, Sameer called a company called RCN and organized for them to come through the next day to hook us up with cable and high speed internet. And that was it for day one for us.
Can you tell I'm watching Scrubs? No? Pretend JD just said that first line to Turk. Heheheh.
Anyway, I'm feeling slightly ill and slightly moody and I guess it's not the best way to write my first blog on the Windy City but I'm already soooo behind I have to get a move on.
Our flight from Heathrow was 8 hours long but because of the time difference we arrived only a few hours later. :P So it felt like one in the morning (of the 21st) for us but in Chicago was still only about 7pm on the 20th. When we got off the plane, we went through customs and they were very polite and professional and didn't give us any hassles except to make a few remarks about the hot pink ink we'd used to fill in our landing cards. (It was the only pen I had on hand.) But then we found out that BA had left one of our bags in London and it turned out to actually be the box that Sameer's Xbox was in, so there was some stress and drama that we didn't need.
We caught a taxi to the Best Western River Park North, checked in and took hot showers - bliss after the flight. It was also really cool having a TV in our room post-Wolfson. There was so much nonsense on the three channels we had access to and the one thing that really stood out was how much endorsements movie stars here do. Everything from Tylenol to Car Insurance was endorsed by some Hollywood person. And also, the news was all about the impending snow showers and whether the city had enough salt for all the roads and highways. When we woke up in the morning it was snowing, and not just light Davos snowing but seriously snowing.
We had breakfast in the hotel restaurant (the fluffiest pancakes I've ever had) gathered all our baggage and caught another taxi to Presidential Towers, where we'd rented an apartment for the duration of Sameer's term at the Chicago GSB. Erin, the leasing agent, gave us our access cards and keys and then took us through the building to show us all the amenities. Here are some pictures of Sameer standing outside the entrance to Towers 1 and 2, Sameer in the main foyer area, me outside the McDs downstairs, and then Sameer outside the supermarket which is also downstairs.
She also showed us where the laundry room, business center (ie computer room) and gym are. Alas, you actually have to pay for the gym membership but they have everything - pool, sauna, track, all cardio and weights machines, and studio sessions. We're still trying to decide whether to join or not as it's quite expensive.
Anyway, then we went to the room/apartment (ie studio) and looked around. We're in apartment 6 on our floor (there are 45 floors in the building) so our floorplan looks like this. It's small but bigger than our room at Wolfson, and it has comes with kitchen and tv, so it's definitely a step up!
Then we went back down to get our bags. Here's Sameer pushing the trolley thingey around with all our stuff on it.
And then the people from Cort Furniture Rentals came with all our stuff. Here's a pic of Sameer wandering around while they set the bed and the table up.
One of the guys had been in the US army for six years and he was telling us where the best place to get a tv stand was (we hadn't hired one) and where the closest grocery store was. Very friendly guy. Funniest thing about him was that his accent was exactly like Bill Paxton's in the movie Aliens. He sounded just like Hudson! I didn't realize people actually spoke like that. :P
After they left we unpacked the boxes they'd left with all the kitchen stuff and bedding in it. This company is so awesome and I think if anyone is ever relocating to the States they need to get this service. You order online and they deliver a set of boxes to you and it has everything you need in it -- different sized glasses, bowls, cups, saucers, plates, sideplates, pots, pans, knives, sieves, cutlery, baking implements, cooking implements, placemats, napkins, plastic food savers, dish clothes, toaster, coffee machine, telephone etc etc. There was only one thing they didn't get us and we found out that this is just an American thing. We have a coffee machine but no kettle. So if we ever want hot water, we have to boil it on the stove. Go figure. Anyway, point is, about an hour later we were all set up, and the place looked like this.
Then Sameer had to go register at the university so we took a taxi to the Metra station because it was snowing and we weren't exactly sure where the station was. Afterwards we realized that it is so close - just a few blocks - that we might as well have walked. The picture on the left was taken from inside the taxi as we drove down our street, Madison Street, which is right in downtown Chicago and slap bang in the center of everything. We are right near the offices for Citibank, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, JP Morgan, and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The Chicago Civic Opera House is two blocks up the road and we're just one street over from the Chicago Theatre District. We walked down that street the other day and there are like three theatres within two blocks.Also, another thing I noticed right away is that there is a Starbucks on every street corner. Okay, maybe not every street corner but I am not exaggerating when I saw that no matter which way you look, there is always a Starbucks in line of sight. Hectic! One of the taxi drivers we were speaking - a really sweet old Iranian guy - told us that it's because Chicago is such a cold city. The harder it snows, the more people make for the coffee shops.
Point? Oh yes, Hyde Park, where the University is. It was very quiet, I guess because it was Good Friday (we later saw a number of families coming out of churches) and because it was snowing steadily. We went to the Office of International Affairs and Sameer signed up and updated his contact details, then we went to the Graduate School of Business to look around. Here's a pic of their main foyer.
Then we headed back to the train station. It was snowing really hard by this time and the snow was stinging our faces, so we had to keep our faces down as we walked. We were both covered in snow and our feet were freezing too.
The train station at Hyde Park is really basic. Just a wooden staircase up to the platform, which is also made entirely of wood. It has no kiosks or benches or anything, just the wooden platform that the train pulls up to. Also, there is no-one at the ticket office so you have to buy your tickets from a vending machine. We were looking at the stairs and I saw what I thought might be either snow or salt. I asked Sameer to test it but he didn't want to, so I picked up a piece and tasted it. Yep, definitely salt! The salt helps melt the snow off stairs, sidewalks and roads.
So we caught the train back to Millenium Station, the Metra station we'd originally left from, and then caught another taxi to Target, which is sort of like Hypermarket. We got some groceries and detergents there and also a shower curtain for the bathroom. Here's a nifty pic of this escalator they have for shopping carts. You push your trolley onto a special track and then get onto the escalator yourself, and it meets you at the top. Tres cool!
After the shopping we very fortunately caught a taxi back home (Target is quite far from us!) and then went upstairs to unpack the rest of our stuff. Also, Sameer called a company called RCN and organized for them to come through the next day to hook us up with cable and high speed internet. And that was it for day one for us.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Luck o' the Irish
Hey all. Guess who has internet again? :) We're in Chicago and are hooked up with cable and high speed internet so, yay! Also, I'm having a minor infatuation with this city. All I want to do is gush but I will lay off coz I know that if I go ahead with it, Dublin, Balbriggan, and St Patrick's Day will be lost in time. Now, I kind of fell behind on this bit because when we were in Ireland, I was still busy trying to catch up on the last of the Davos posts, which I did but it means I haven't blogged anything about Ireland. So I'm going to do my failsafe "Follow the pictures" technique which usually works to jog my memory and flesh things out. Here goes.
We got a RyanAir flight to Dublin and both promptly fell asleep. We woke up just before landing. When we arrived, we were in a queue with a horde of young American tourists who kept talking about all the Guinness they were going to drink while they were there. :P There was an EU queue and a non-EU queue. The EU people had about four people tending to them and the rest of us had one guy. So it took us about an hour to get through the queue. Not sure what was up with that but anyway. At least they were nice to us once we got there. We met Joe and Ethné met us at the airport and after hugs and hellos we hopped into a taxi to get to Balbriggan (Baile Brigan) where they stay.
It was quite cold and overcast and we spent the rest of the evening in front of the warm fake fire catching up. The next day we caught the train to Dublin. It was a DART train and was quite new and comfortable. (Chicago trains are neither of those!) Joe gave us a running comentary of the place on the way and the O'Donaghues pointed out birds that we'd only heard of before - rooks, starlings, and magpies.
Once in Dublin, we walked towards the main street in town, O'Connell Street, with it's tall spire, the Monument of Light. Well, it didn't show up that well on the day because it was pretty dark and overcast but I took this picture a few days later and it shows the sparkliness of it pretty well. This is both Joe and Ethné unsuccessfully attempting to hide behind Sameer.
So, then we did a bit of a walking tour of the area and ten minutes later we lost Sameer. We crossed a road towards O'Connell Bridge with a hoard of tourists. He went straight and we all turned right. And then after a brief panic, and me thinking "I bet he didn't see us turn and just wandered straight over", I went back to the bridge used the last of my airtime to call him, turned around and as he picked up the phone, saw him standing on the opposite end of the bridge. Here's the lot of us looking relieved to have found Sameer again.
Then we crossed the River Liffey via the Ha'Penny Bridge (pronounced "Hay-Penny") and went into Temple Bar, a cultural center in Dublin which has medieval cobbled streets and loads of tiny shops and restaurants. By now we were already pretty much soaked because of the constant drizzle. We popped in to a couple of comic book shops and regular book shops, looked for some memorabilia (didn't find any we wanted to buy), and I ogled some nifty Doc Martens in a shoe shop, but didn't buy any. In retrospect, I really really should have bought a pair! Then we had lunch at a restaurant in the area. After that we went to Trinity College for a quick look around and then moved on to Grafton Street - a busy shopping area in Dublin - and after being further soaked opted to warm up in Bewley's Coffee Shop. I had an average tasting apple crumble pie with a divine apple tea. Strangely yummo!
Anyway, then we wandered off to St Stephen's Park, which again, looked inviting but we were too soaked to really take it in. We resorted to doing impersonations of Derek Zoolander's Blue Steel look.
After that headed home and immediately got into freshly tumbled dried clothes and sat back to some hot soup and general vegging out. Sheer bliss - reminded me of all those times we got soaked as kids, coming home from school, and got sent to take hot baths before getting into freshly ironed PJs, and eating soup.
The next day we did nothing much in particular. Joe suggested we go down to the beach but it was cold and overcast and we felt really lazy so we spent most of the day playing the Xbox, watching tv, surfing the internet (in my case updating my blog) and talking nonsense. Oh, and we watched the first Alien movie in the dark and I jumped out of my skin and was generally scared witless. Good movie that. Too good.
The next day was Saint Patrick's Day and we got up and rushed off to catch the train to town. We got a late start so we were running a bit behind and just when we were starting to think we wouldn't make the ten o'clock train, a taxi happened to pass by. So we caught that and got there in time to see all the parents and their kids in a all shades of green gathering on the platform.
When we got to Dublin we joined the flocks of people heading for O'Connell street. It was so much fun seeing all the adults and kids in their paraphernalia -- green shirts, wigs, hats, antennae, painted faces, Irish sunglasses and shorts, fluffy hats big and small, and so on and so on. There was such an incredible party feeling and I kept thinking "Wow! To be a kid on St Paddy's must be such a big deal!"
We stopped along the way to buy some Irish looking things to help us get more into the mood. Ethné got a big, floppy hat, Joe got a pair of glasses with an Irish flag painted over it, Sameer got a green hoody that said Ireland on it, and I got an aliceband with a pair of floppy green antennae attached. Here we are in our goodies.
Then we went off to look for a good spot to stand. Well, arriving an hour early turned out to be too late as there was already a crowd three rows deep there. We eventually stopped looking for a good spot and settled for an alright spot. Some experience St Paddy's people had turned up with step ladders or climbed statues to get a good view. This might be an idea for next time. Or else turn up really early and bring a blanket and some boardgames. :P
Once we had a good spot, we sent the guys off to get munchies and then stood around people watching and waiting for things to start. The adults were cool to watch but again, the kids were the cutest. Some were happy to site on their parents shoulders and wave a flag, others got bored and started playing games or chasing each other around, and others fell asleep in their parents arms. For me, I think of the Saint Patrick's Day Parade as a special treat for children, with the adults fun just being secondary.
Then the Parade started properly. There were marching bands - five or six of them from different places - police men on horses, large paper mache puppets, metallic, moving sculptures, huge floating balloons, motorized floats, people in costume, dancing people, fire blowing people, and people on stilts. It was a case of sensory overload.
After an hour, we started to get really cold and opted to break for lunch. We went off to Costa at a nearby mall and Sameer got KFC. Then I got "lost". I prefer to think of it as a case of miscommunication and bad timing. Then Sameer and I both got lost. Then we all tried really hard not to get lost. At one point, when Sameer and I had been separated from Joe and Ethné, we came across these two strangely lifelike mannequins.
The next day, Joe and Ethné went to see their cat Sliver, who is in quarantine after relocating from SA to Ireland, so Sameer and I went off to Dublin on our own. The weather was better but it was still cold and after wandering about fairly aimlessly we ended up taking one of those City Sightseeing tours, which was a nice way to take a look at the more out of the way areas that you wouldn't really want to walk to. When it ended we ran to the train station to catch the train to Drogheda (Dro-huh-da!), made it by the skin of our teeth, and found that the train had been cancelled. Then we tried to get some admin for our Chicago accommodation done at a nearby internet café and caught the next train. We made Sameer's Jamie Oliver Mushroom Sarmies for dinner (drool) and then played a few cut-throat games of Munchkin, which shamefully, we lost to the O'Donoghues. Methinks we shall not live it down...
Since Joe was leaving early the next morning, we said our goodbyes. It was sad coz we realized that it would probably be years before we saw each other again. Then we packed up most of our things and went to bed.
The next morning, we had breakfast, bid Ethné goodbye and walked to the main street in Balbriggan where we had to find an internet café to print some forms and fax them off. Between the insanely slow internet and the odd owner who couldn't fax our forms properly, this seemingly simple task took about 45 minutes. In that time we missed about three buses to the aiport. One of them drove by just as we exited the internet café. I was so mad! But it all panned out I guess coz the bus drive there was quick and uneventful and when we got there we were the first people to check in for our flight. Also, we didn't get any hassle about our business in the UK when we touched down, unlike our racial profiling incident after our Switzerland trip.
Inspite of all the trademark Irish sogginess, we had a great time in Ireland with the O'Donaghues. Again, thanks for looking after us and letting us invade your home guys. We really appreciate it!
We got a RyanAir flight to Dublin and both promptly fell asleep. We woke up just before landing. When we arrived, we were in a queue with a horde of young American tourists who kept talking about all the Guinness they were going to drink while they were there. :P There was an EU queue and a non-EU queue. The EU people had about four people tending to them and the rest of us had one guy. So it took us about an hour to get through the queue. Not sure what was up with that but anyway. At least they were nice to us once we got there. We met Joe and Ethné met us at the airport and after hugs and hellos we hopped into a taxi to get to Balbriggan (Baile Brigan) where they stay.
It was quite cold and overcast and we spent the rest of the evening in front of the warm fake fire catching up. The next day we caught the train to Dublin. It was a DART train and was quite new and comfortable. (Chicago trains are neither of those!) Joe gave us a running comentary of the place on the way and the O'Donaghues pointed out birds that we'd only heard of before - rooks, starlings, and magpies.
Once in Dublin, we walked towards the main street in town, O'Connell Street, with it's tall spire, the Monument of Light. Well, it didn't show up that well on the day because it was pretty dark and overcast but I took this picture a few days later and it shows the sparkliness of it pretty well. This is both Joe and Ethné unsuccessfully attempting to hide behind Sameer.
So, then we did a bit of a walking tour of the area and ten minutes later we lost Sameer. We crossed a road towards O'Connell Bridge with a hoard of tourists. He went straight and we all turned right. And then after a brief panic, and me thinking "I bet he didn't see us turn and just wandered straight over", I went back to the bridge used the last of my airtime to call him, turned around and as he picked up the phone, saw him standing on the opposite end of the bridge. Here's the lot of us looking relieved to have found Sameer again.
Then we crossed the River Liffey via the Ha'Penny Bridge (pronounced "Hay-Penny") and went into Temple Bar, a cultural center in Dublin which has medieval cobbled streets and loads of tiny shops and restaurants. By now we were already pretty much soaked because of the constant drizzle. We popped in to a couple of comic book shops and regular book shops, looked for some memorabilia (didn't find any we wanted to buy), and I ogled some nifty Doc Martens in a shoe shop, but didn't buy any. In retrospect, I really really should have bought a pair! Then we had lunch at a restaurant in the area. After that we went to Trinity College for a quick look around and then moved on to Grafton Street - a busy shopping area in Dublin - and after being further soaked opted to warm up in Bewley's Coffee Shop. I had an average tasting apple crumble pie with a divine apple tea. Strangely yummo!
Anyway, then we wandered off to St Stephen's Park, which again, looked inviting but we were too soaked to really take it in. We resorted to doing impersonations of Derek Zoolander's Blue Steel look.
After that headed home and immediately got into freshly tumbled dried clothes and sat back to some hot soup and general vegging out. Sheer bliss - reminded me of all those times we got soaked as kids, coming home from school, and got sent to take hot baths before getting into freshly ironed PJs, and eating soup.
The next day we did nothing much in particular. Joe suggested we go down to the beach but it was cold and overcast and we felt really lazy so we spent most of the day playing the Xbox, watching tv, surfing the internet (in my case updating my blog) and talking nonsense. Oh, and we watched the first Alien movie in the dark and I jumped out of my skin and was generally scared witless. Good movie that. Too good.
The next day was Saint Patrick's Day and we got up and rushed off to catch the train to town. We got a late start so we were running a bit behind and just when we were starting to think we wouldn't make the ten o'clock train, a taxi happened to pass by. So we caught that and got there in time to see all the parents and their kids in a all shades of green gathering on the platform.
When we got to Dublin we joined the flocks of people heading for O'Connell street. It was so much fun seeing all the adults and kids in their paraphernalia -- green shirts, wigs, hats, antennae, painted faces, Irish sunglasses and shorts, fluffy hats big and small, and so on and so on. There was such an incredible party feeling and I kept thinking "Wow! To be a kid on St Paddy's must be such a big deal!"
We stopped along the way to buy some Irish looking things to help us get more into the mood. Ethné got a big, floppy hat, Joe got a pair of glasses with an Irish flag painted over it, Sameer got a green hoody that said Ireland on it, and I got an aliceband with a pair of floppy green antennae attached. Here we are in our goodies.
Then we went off to look for a good spot to stand. Well, arriving an hour early turned out to be too late as there was already a crowd three rows deep there. We eventually stopped looking for a good spot and settled for an alright spot. Some experience St Paddy's people had turned up with step ladders or climbed statues to get a good view. This might be an idea for next time. Or else turn up really early and bring a blanket and some boardgames. :P
Once we had a good spot, we sent the guys off to get munchies and then stood around people watching and waiting for things to start. The adults were cool to watch but again, the kids were the cutest. Some were happy to site on their parents shoulders and wave a flag, others got bored and started playing games or chasing each other around, and others fell asleep in their parents arms. For me, I think of the Saint Patrick's Day Parade as a special treat for children, with the adults fun just being secondary.
Then the Parade started properly. There were marching bands - five or six of them from different places - police men on horses, large paper mache puppets, metallic, moving sculptures, huge floating balloons, motorized floats, people in costume, dancing people, fire blowing people, and people on stilts. It was a case of sensory overload.
After an hour, we started to get really cold and opted to break for lunch. We went off to Costa at a nearby mall and Sameer got KFC. Then I got "lost". I prefer to think of it as a case of miscommunication and bad timing. Then Sameer and I both got lost. Then we all tried really hard not to get lost. At one point, when Sameer and I had been separated from Joe and Ethné, we came across these two strangely lifelike mannequins.
The next day, Joe and Ethné went to see their cat Sliver, who is in quarantine after relocating from SA to Ireland, so Sameer and I went off to Dublin on our own. The weather was better but it was still cold and after wandering about fairly aimlessly we ended up taking one of those City Sightseeing tours, which was a nice way to take a look at the more out of the way areas that you wouldn't really want to walk to. When it ended we ran to the train station to catch the train to Drogheda (Dro-huh-da!), made it by the skin of our teeth, and found that the train had been cancelled. Then we tried to get some admin for our Chicago accommodation done at a nearby internet café and caught the next train. We made Sameer's Jamie Oliver Mushroom Sarmies for dinner (drool) and then played a few cut-throat games of Munchkin, which shamefully, we lost to the O'Donoghues. Methinks we shall not live it down...
Since Joe was leaving early the next morning, we said our goodbyes. It was sad coz we realized that it would probably be years before we saw each other again. Then we packed up most of our things and went to bed.
The next morning, we had breakfast, bid Ethné goodbye and walked to the main street in Balbriggan where we had to find an internet café to print some forms and fax them off. Between the insanely slow internet and the odd owner who couldn't fax our forms properly, this seemingly simple task took about 45 minutes. In that time we missed about three buses to the aiport. One of them drove by just as we exited the internet café. I was so mad! But it all panned out I guess coz the bus drive there was quick and uneventful and when we got there we were the first people to check in for our flight. Also, we didn't get any hassle about our business in the UK when we touched down, unlike our racial profiling incident after our Switzerland trip.
Inspite of all the trademark Irish sogginess, we had a great time in Ireland with the O'Donaghues. Again, thanks for looking after us and letting us invade your home guys. We really appreciate it!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Summary of final day at Davos
Well, I'm going to keep this one really short.
We woke up and looked out at the snowy world. It was lovely. After saying our goodbyes to everyone at breakfast, we went out and threw powdery snowballs at each other. Swiss Chris came with us to the ski rental place as his skis were there, and then we went to the train station which was right next door and, using his native tongue, helped us buy (read "bought") our train tickets back to Zurich Airport for us. Then we hit the slopes for our final morning.
The slopes looked totally different from what we were used to. Everything was covered in a layer of powdery snow. It was soft and fluffly, like putting your hands through flour. We wandered around for quite a while before we got to skiing, just looking at the new snow that lay over everything - on the bridges, the stones by the river, the trees, and covering all the slopes in what looked like whipped cream, making then enticing, making us drool over the prospect of being the first to step on it, ski over it.
Following our lessons and my newfound ability to turn, slow down, and stop, I got over enthusiastic and took a nasty fall down a very sleep slope. Skis went this way, legs went that, poles flew somewhere, hat disappeared, I flipped into the air, revolved in a horizontal position, touched down hard, thought "OW! I thought powder snow was supposed to be fluffy," then "Actually, this isn't as bad as it couldn't have been," (all that in about a split second) eventually skidded to a halt, saw the tip of Sameer's head somewhere above me, heard him call "Faranaaz, are you alright?" Sat up, realized there was snow down my back, all over me, and in my hair. Also, surprisingly, my glasses were still on my face. Then, all shaken and stirred, gathered up my bits and bobs, wondered how many people saw me wipe out, and carefully got back onto my skis. After that everything went "downhill" for me, so to speak. But Sameer did really, really well.
At about 1 o'clock we had lunch with Pippa and Jonathan at the restaurant on our slope. Everyone else had gone off to try the slopes at Klosters. Sameer had the Chi Chi again, and I had the Rosti one last time. His Chi Chi was way better than my Rosti, so I ate most of his meal. He wasn't too please.
Then we went to get our things, which we'd left in Pippa's room as we had to check out in the morning already. We showered in Patrick and Florence's room and then, at about 2:45, we caught the bus outside the hotel. Got to the Davos Platz station and caught our train to Landquart. Changed trains there to Zurich Central. Changed trains there to Zurich Flughaven (airport). Caught our plane. Slept the whole way to Luton. Got off there and got a taxi to Welwyn Garden City train station. Took the train there to Cambridge station. Then caught another taxi (in the pouring rain) to Wolfson. Arrived Wolfson 11:45. For those who aren't that math savvy, this works out to a total travel time of 9 hours. At that rate, we might as well have flown back to SA. ;)
And that was our Davos ski trip in a rather large nutshell.
For a final bit of cool stuff, play the video below.
We woke up and looked out at the snowy world. It was lovely. After saying our goodbyes to everyone at breakfast, we went out and threw powdery snowballs at each other. Swiss Chris came with us to the ski rental place as his skis were there, and then we went to the train station which was right next door and, using his native tongue, helped us buy (read "bought") our train tickets back to Zurich Airport for us. Then we hit the slopes for our final morning. The slopes looked totally different from what we were used to. Everything was covered in a layer of powdery snow. It was soft and fluffly, like putting your hands through flour. We wandered around for quite a while before we got to skiing, just looking at the new snow that lay over everything - on the bridges, the stones by the river, the trees, and covering all the slopes in what looked like whipped cream, making then enticing, making us drool over the prospect of being the first to step on it, ski over it.
Following our lessons and my newfound ability to turn, slow down, and stop, I got over enthusiastic and took a nasty fall down a very sleep slope. Skis went this way, legs went that, poles flew somewhere, hat disappeared, I flipped into the air, revolved in a horizontal position, touched down hard, thought "OW! I thought powder snow was supposed to be fluffy," then "Actually, this isn't as bad as it couldn't have been," (all that in about a split second) eventually skidded to a halt, saw the tip of Sameer's head somewhere above me, heard him call "Faranaaz, are you alright?" Sat up, realized there was snow down my back, all over me, and in my hair. Also, surprisingly, my glasses were still on my face. Then, all shaken and stirred, gathered up my bits and bobs, wondered how many people saw me wipe out, and carefully got back onto my skis. After that everything went "downhill" for me, so to speak. But Sameer did really, really well.
At about 1 o'clock we had lunch with Pippa and Jonathan at the restaurant on our slope. Everyone else had gone off to try the slopes at Klosters. Sameer had the Chi Chi again, and I had the Rosti one last time. His Chi Chi was way better than my Rosti, so I ate most of his meal. He wasn't too please.Then we went to get our things, which we'd left in Pippa's room as we had to check out in the morning already. We showered in Patrick and Florence's room and then, at about 2:45, we caught the bus outside the hotel. Got to the Davos Platz station and caught our train to Landquart. Changed trains there to Zurich Central. Changed trains there to Zurich Flughaven (airport). Caught our plane. Slept the whole way to Luton. Got off there and got a taxi to Welwyn Garden City train station. Took the train there to Cambridge station. Then caught another taxi (in the pouring rain) to Wolfson. Arrived Wolfson 11:45. For those who aren't that math savvy, this works out to a total travel time of 9 hours. At that rate, we might as well have flown back to SA. ;)
And that was our Davos ski trip in a rather large nutshell.
For a final bit of cool stuff, play the video below.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Davos Day Three
So it's been ages since the day so my memory might be going a bit shaky. Also, we pretty much didn't take any pictures on this day because I forgot to take my camera with me in the morning. Let's see...
We got up early and had breakfast. I tried the Bircher Muesli and I must say, it was divine! I didn't try it before coz I thought it looked a bit sludgey and gross but actually, it was really good. Here's a pic that I took the next day. I've actually decided to try to make my own Bircher Muesli when I get to the US or back to SA. It's basically oats soaked in lemon juice overnight. Then you add yoghurt, apples, nuts, and mixed berries to it. It is yummy! Anyway, after half a bowl of that, I was stuffed.
At breakfast we discovered that the hooting that had awoken Sameer at one in the morning was actually Brett, who had lost his keys and couldn't get into the hotel. He ended up sleeping in his car. It was so cold, he had to wake up every now and again to drive around and get the heating going, then park off and go back to sleep again. Brett had been so drunk the night before that he couldn't find the hotel, had gotten lost, then got tired lugging his skis everywhere and decided to hide his skis behind a tree along the way. Later on, he was picked up by a pair of Scandinavian girls, who he'd shared a taxi with, and they'd managed to get him back to the right hotel. Of course, this was before he realized that he'd lost his keys.
After breakfast, Brett went to go find his skis and we later found out that he never found them! I think one day soon, some lucky Davos resident is going to be taking a stroll through the town and see a glint of red sticking out from behind a tree, and find a pair of skis.
Anyway, the previous day we discovered that you could leave your skis and shoes at the ski rental place near the Jakobshorn slope where we were skiing in the afternoon, that way you don't have to lug them all the way back to the hotel in your uncomfortable ski boots. So this morning, we wore our sneakers and took a leisurely stroll to the rental place to collect our things. Patrick and Florence had also recommended that we take some lessons, as we weren't doing so good. So we went to find out about that. The first place we went to - the Top Secret Ski School - wanted to charge us about 200 Euro for the day. We decided to nix that idea and instead just bought some thick, woolly ski socks for me. They were expensive but at least my horribly painful blisters were soothed slightly.
Then we trudged up to the restauranty thingy near the slope we were on, to the Davos ski school there. They said we could have an all day lesson for 60 Euro each, which was so much more reasonable, so we did that. The group we were joining had already left so we had to run or at least hobble off to the next little slope, which was near the kindergarden ski school.
We got there and Bedilia, the woman we were supposed to join up with, said we should rather join the more beginner group. So we joined up with an instructor called Yann. No picture him -- tall, skinny, pale, with a light blond fuzz on his jaw, wearing blue reflective sunglasses and the blue and yellow Davos ski school uniform. He was great. Didn't say much but somehow managed to get you to do what you needed to. So he'd demonstrate what he wanted, go to the bottom of the slope and watch you come down. If you weren't doing something right he'd say "Try not to cross your skis. Lean out like this, and push your heal out, like this" and he'd demonstrate. The one funny thing he told me was "Stand up straight. Not like an old lady sitting down." If I ever get the videos uploaded you'll be able to see me doing my little "old lady sitting down" move. :P But if you did something right, he would say "Ja, dis is goot!"
Anyway, we spent the whole day there, except for a short lunch break with the guys further up the mountain. We went to a restaurant just a bit down from the Panorama, which we'd been to the previous day. I didn't get any pictures there, but it was lovely. (Here's a picture I took the previous day from the Panorama's observation deck.) There were deck chairs along one end with people taking in the view, an outside area with big wooden tables and benches and then the indoor area. They have this cool thing where you enter the building in go into a little hallway that has heavy leather curtains that are lined with wool. This keeps the chill out of the building when people come in and out. This was where we first saw a bit of snow. It was very light, almost non existent, just the occasional flake coming down. You couldn't actually even examine the flakes because they melted as soon as they touched something.
Then we went back to the ski school for the rest of our lessons. By the end of the day we had both made so much progress and we felt really excited about trying out our moves the next day. It was really quite cool to see how all those tiny things that Yann had told us throughout the day added up. Now we could actually stop and turn at will. ;) He actually told us that if we come back the next day, we should join Bedelia's group, which was more advanced.
We went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. We went to a place called Pot Au Feu, a lovely restaurant which for some reason was decorated entirely with paintings of sheep and little stuffed bunnies. We had fondue for dinner. No starters or side dishes required, just fondue. They told us it's not really traditional to have anything else with your fondue because it is so rich and filling. They brought the fondue to us in a large enamel pan that was placed over a flame and shared between four or five people.
Here's a picture Sameer's classmate Lauren took of the fondue. We dipped little cubes of bread into it. After about six cubes, I felt a little ill. It was cheesy, very cheesy. It was so rich that I couldn't eat anything else, not even dessert. A cup of coffee was all I could manage. Sameer's classmate Chris (who they called Swiss Chris, as there was another Chris in their class as well) said that fondue and raclett, which is a similar type of dish eaten with potato, are great Swiss dishes but people tend not to cook them at home anymore because once you make a fondue or raclett in your house, you never quite get the smell out. Yes people, real fondue is made with very smelly cheeses! The next morning when I got to breakfast, I was going to have a slice of bread with cheese. I took one bite and decided to switch back to my Bircher Muesli. I think my sense of smell and taste for cheese had been heightened the fondue and I just couldn't do it.
Anyway, after dinner people started tasting the cherry schnapps and the cherry spirits and drinking "soup shots", which was basically left over meat fondue sauce, which some of the other people had had for dinner, mixed with equal amounts of sherry. Some of the heavier drinkers were totally sozzled. When the bill came Sameer and I were like "Wow. Thank god we don't drink alcohol." Our bill was about half of everyone elses. I can't imagine how that kind of drinking can be sustainable, not just from a "my liver is dying" point of view but also from a financial point of view. Anyway, after that Sameer and I went back to the hotel and everyone else went off to another bar.
We fell asleep almost immediately, we were that tired. And it was the deep sleep of the truely done in. Suddenly, there was a pounding on our door. I got up out of my sleep wondering what drunken reveller was knocking on my door. I looked at my cell phone and saw that it was 2am. Sameer went to get the door. He opened it and found Patrick and Florence shouting "It's snowing! It's snowing!" I have never lunged out of bed as quickly as I did that night. By the time Sameer closed the door and came across the room, I'd already opened the door and was leaning out the balcony looking into the sky for the snow. I couldn't see it at first because it was so dark. But then I looked to where the street lights were and I saw it. Snow, falling like rain. Then we looked around and realized that everything -- trees, cars, roofs - was covered in a fine layer of powdery snow. We watched it snow until we got too cold to stand outside then went back to bed. Florence was right, when it snows, the world sounds very far away.
We got up early and had breakfast. I tried the Bircher Muesli and I must say, it was divine! I didn't try it before coz I thought it looked a bit sludgey and gross but actually, it was really good. Here's a pic that I took the next day. I've actually decided to try to make my own Bircher Muesli when I get to the US or back to SA. It's basically oats soaked in lemon juice overnight. Then you add yoghurt, apples, nuts, and mixed berries to it. It is yummy! Anyway, after half a bowl of that, I was stuffed.At breakfast we discovered that the hooting that had awoken Sameer at one in the morning was actually Brett, who had lost his keys and couldn't get into the hotel. He ended up sleeping in his car. It was so cold, he had to wake up every now and again to drive around and get the heating going, then park off and go back to sleep again. Brett had been so drunk the night before that he couldn't find the hotel, had gotten lost, then got tired lugging his skis everywhere and decided to hide his skis behind a tree along the way. Later on, he was picked up by a pair of Scandinavian girls, who he'd shared a taxi with, and they'd managed to get him back to the right hotel. Of course, this was before he realized that he'd lost his keys.
After breakfast, Brett went to go find his skis and we later found out that he never found them! I think one day soon, some lucky Davos resident is going to be taking a stroll through the town and see a glint of red sticking out from behind a tree, and find a pair of skis.
Anyway, the previous day we discovered that you could leave your skis and shoes at the ski rental place near the Jakobshorn slope where we were skiing in the afternoon, that way you don't have to lug them all the way back to the hotel in your uncomfortable ski boots. So this morning, we wore our sneakers and took a leisurely stroll to the rental place to collect our things. Patrick and Florence had also recommended that we take some lessons, as we weren't doing so good. So we went to find out about that. The first place we went to - the Top Secret Ski School - wanted to charge us about 200 Euro for the day. We decided to nix that idea and instead just bought some thick, woolly ski socks for me. They were expensive but at least my horribly painful blisters were soothed slightly.
Then we trudged up to the restauranty thingy near the slope we were on, to the Davos ski school there. They said we could have an all day lesson for 60 Euro each, which was so much more reasonable, so we did that. The group we were joining had already left so we had to run or at least hobble off to the next little slope, which was near the kindergarden ski school.
We got there and Bedilia, the woman we were supposed to join up with, said we should rather join the more beginner group. So we joined up with an instructor called Yann. No picture him -- tall, skinny, pale, with a light blond fuzz on his jaw, wearing blue reflective sunglasses and the blue and yellow Davos ski school uniform. He was great. Didn't say much but somehow managed to get you to do what you needed to. So he'd demonstrate what he wanted, go to the bottom of the slope and watch you come down. If you weren't doing something right he'd say "Try not to cross your skis. Lean out like this, and push your heal out, like this" and he'd demonstrate. The one funny thing he told me was "Stand up straight. Not like an old lady sitting down." If I ever get the videos uploaded you'll be able to see me doing my little "old lady sitting down" move. :P But if you did something right, he would say "Ja, dis is goot!"
Anyway, we spent the whole day there, except for a short lunch break with the guys further up the mountain. We went to a restaurant just a bit down from the Panorama, which we'd been to the previous day. I didn't get any pictures there, but it was lovely. (Here's a picture I took the previous day from the Panorama's observation deck.) There were deck chairs along one end with people taking in the view, an outside area with big wooden tables and benches and then the indoor area. They have this cool thing where you enter the building in go into a little hallway that has heavy leather curtains that are lined with wool. This keeps the chill out of the building when people come in and out. This was where we first saw a bit of snow. It was very light, almost non existent, just the occasional flake coming down. You couldn't actually even examine the flakes because they melted as soon as they touched something.Then we went back to the ski school for the rest of our lessons. By the end of the day we had both made so much progress and we felt really excited about trying out our moves the next day. It was really quite cool to see how all those tiny things that Yann had told us throughout the day added up. Now we could actually stop and turn at will. ;) He actually told us that if we come back the next day, we should join Bedelia's group, which was more advanced.
We went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. We went to a place called Pot Au Feu, a lovely restaurant which for some reason was decorated entirely with paintings of sheep and little stuffed bunnies. We had fondue for dinner. No starters or side dishes required, just fondue. They told us it's not really traditional to have anything else with your fondue because it is so rich and filling. They brought the fondue to us in a large enamel pan that was placed over a flame and shared between four or five people.
Here's a picture Sameer's classmate Lauren took of the fondue. We dipped little cubes of bread into it. After about six cubes, I felt a little ill. It was cheesy, very cheesy. It was so rich that I couldn't eat anything else, not even dessert. A cup of coffee was all I could manage. Sameer's classmate Chris (who they called Swiss Chris, as there was another Chris in their class as well) said that fondue and raclett, which is a similar type of dish eaten with potato, are great Swiss dishes but people tend not to cook them at home anymore because once you make a fondue or raclett in your house, you never quite get the smell out. Yes people, real fondue is made with very smelly cheeses! The next morning when I got to breakfast, I was going to have a slice of bread with cheese. I took one bite and decided to switch back to my Bircher Muesli. I think my sense of smell and taste for cheese had been heightened the fondue and I just couldn't do it.Anyway, after dinner people started tasting the cherry schnapps and the cherry spirits and drinking "soup shots", which was basically left over meat fondue sauce, which some of the other people had had for dinner, mixed with equal amounts of sherry. Some of the heavier drinkers were totally sozzled. When the bill came Sameer and I were like "Wow. Thank god we don't drink alcohol." Our bill was about half of everyone elses. I can't imagine how that kind of drinking can be sustainable, not just from a "my liver is dying" point of view but also from a financial point of view. Anyway, after that Sameer and I went back to the hotel and everyone else went off to another bar.
We fell asleep almost immediately, we were that tired. And it was the deep sleep of the truely done in. Suddenly, there was a pounding on our door. I got up out of my sleep wondering what drunken reveller was knocking on my door. I looked at my cell phone and saw that it was 2am. Sameer went to get the door. He opened it and found Patrick and Florence shouting "It's snowing! It's snowing!" I have never lunged out of bed as quickly as I did that night. By the time Sameer closed the door and came across the room, I'd already opened the door and was leaning out the balcony looking into the sky for the snow. I couldn't see it at first because it was so dark. But then I looked to where the street lights were and I saw it. Snow, falling like rain. Then we looked around and realized that everything -- trees, cars, roofs - was covered in a fine layer of powdery snow. We watched it snow until we got too cold to stand outside then went back to bed. Florence was right, when it snows, the world sounds very far away.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
We interrupt this blog for a very important announcement
Read this and tell me if you notice anything familiar.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Tripping the ski, or over the ski
Day 2 - we were up just after seven, having breakfast by eight and on the slopes by nine. Ski gear. Here's what you wear - a thermal base layer (spencer and long johns) to keep you warm and absorb sweat, super thick woolly socks, a fleece jacket for extra warmth, and then your breathable, waterproof, wind resistant ski pants and jacket.
I went to the local outdoor store to buy my thermals. They had some nice stripey stuff but unfortunately nothing on sale in my size. So I bought the polka dot set. Now I've learned that polka dots are the new black. Like the spots on a leopard, they camouflage most rolls. Now look quick coz these pics may not be here next week. ;)
In case you're wondering why it took two hours from waking to skiing, it was because Wiebke and I got our ski boots mixed up. Her feet were squeezed into my little ones and I was clomping around like a Tyrannosaurus. I got to the slopes, realized there was something wrong and then had to go clomping back to the ski rental place to get the right ones. Oh, I should mention, they adjust your skis to match your weight and the size of your boots so it was pretty important that I did it.
With the right ski boots on, I suddenly realized exactly how uncomfortable they were. Lord. Seriously, I have never been in more discomfort. It's fine while you're skiing but walking around in them is killer.
So, we get there and Patrick gives us a crash course in skiing. How to put your skis on, how to take them off, how to hold the poles, how to walk up the slope without falling. I had to ask how you get up once you fall and that puzzled him. He had to think about, then had to sit down on the ground and get up so I could see how it's done. (Once you realize that Patrick hasn't fallen down while skiing for about three years, it starts to make more sense.) Well, it didn't really help though coz on day four, I was still falling over and lying there on my ass until help arrived.
So the thing about skis is that they just go. If you stand on them, they will just start sliding in one direction or the other. Sameer crashed into a fence and I fell into a ditch, just from standing up. And if you're new to it, you have this thing where you feel yourself slipping, and then you just slowly panic until you crash. :P Or say you fall down and you try to get up, you put your weight on the skis and they just start slipping away from you until you're flat on your back again.
The trick is to angle your skis at 90 degrees to the slope of the mountain. That's the only way to stop it. Once you figure this out, you lose your fear, and then when you start slipping, instead of panicking, you just readjust your skis. Also, if you've fallen over, you first have to adjust your skis at the right angle to the slope and only then get up. This sounds fine, until you fall over with the skis in opposite directions and your knees bent inwards at a crazy angle. You can't move your legs, so you can't move the skis and the angle between your legs and skis is so wrong that you can't even reach the clips to release your ski boots. Yes, improbable as this may sound, it happened to me and I had to be rescued again.
Anyway we did that pretty much the whole morning. It was fun but really tiring. All the tromp, tromp, tromp up the slope (imagine walking sideways up a staircase, one step at a time - that's how it looks) and then sliding downwards, hoping not to fall, and then falling anyway.
What was really embarrassing was the little kids that came screaming down the hill. There was one little guy in a red suit, with a helmet and goggles. He must have been about four. He was literally about thigh high to me and Sameer. He'd come flying down this impossibly steep hill (we were only practicing right at the bottom of it, where it evened out), screaming in German. I imagine he was saying something like "Get out of the way, old lady!" Unfortunately I don't have a picture of him but here's one of some little munchkin all bundled up, carrying mom's skis.
On this thing about tiny people skiing down scary mountain slopes, let me just relay a story Patrick told us. He said his first memory is from when he was about two and a half. He was in one of those kiddy-carry hiking shoulder packs on his dad's back. And his dad was skiing down a mountain. 'Nuf said.
So Patrick went to ski the black trails (the difficult ones at the top of the mountain), and Sameer and I stayed on the baby slopes all morning. His two friends Pippa and Jonathan were also in that area. Pippa's skied before a couple of times, and Jonathan was like us, new to all this snow and stuff. He was learning to snowboard and he was really catching on fast. By midmorning we were kus and needed a drink, so we had one at the little restaurant/bar thingy right next to our slope.
After that, we were back on the slope. Tromp tromp tromp, slide slide slide. It's really quite fun, once you learn how to stop sliding off into all directions and we really enjoyed ourselves. Another thing I learned that morning was that you need to have sunblock and sunglasses on the slopes. You get so sunburnt from being out in the sun all day and the light reflects off all the snow and it can be really harsh on the eyes.
Lunch time came round and we went up two different cable cars to get there, to an altitude of 2690km. You go up this old fashioned cable car and everyone comes clomping in in their giant ski boots, with their skis and snowboards, helmets and goggles. And you pack in 'til you can barely breathe. And then up you go.
The restaurant we went to was called the Panorama restaurant and it had 300 degree views of the Alps. It was amazing. For lunch we had some traditional Swiss food. The one dish was called Rosti (with the s pronounced sh) and it's basically grated potato with a creamy sauce, topped with cheese. Sometimes they have other toppings on it as well, like bacon or veal. Sameer went with sunny side up eggs on top. I had something the name of which I can't remember. But it was basically macaroni and cheese, with potato cooked in, and it's served with sauteed apple mash on the side. Apparently this is quite a ski-related dish. It was very yum. A lot of their dishes were very pasta or potato heavy and I figured all that carbo loading is to prep you for more skiing.
So anyway, afterwards we went up to the observation deck to take some pictures. And here they are.
Then we went back down to the baby slopes to practice or stopping and starting. We fell over a lot and Patrick came down again to help out some more. This is where a video is really needed so I'm going to try to upload one that Florence took of us.
Anyway, by the end of the day my legs were killing me. Every time I took a step (walking, not on skis) I felt as though my shins were on fire. I had a sneaking suspicion that it was the seam of my thermal tights chaffing against my skin but stupidly put it off to what I was told was normal tight ski boot chaffing. Well, I was right. When I got back to the hotel room in the evening and took of my boots, I discovered this. First I almost passed out. Once the air hit it, it hurt even more. (Maybe it was psychological.) So I undressed, gingerly, and then lay down in the bed, and drew the covers over me. I didn't want to move. But, unfortunately I had to get up to shower and dress as we were supposed to meet the rest of the guys for dinner.
We had dinner at the restaurant that was at the bottom of the slope we were at all day. Most of the people had stayed on there after they were done skiing and were still clomping around in their ski boots and ski clothes. I felt miserable but soon got over it. Without the constrictive tights and boots, my blisters started to hurt less. Also, everyone was in such a good mood that I perked up. They were all drinking Gluhwine - a strong, heated, spiced wine - which is another traditional ski drink. And they were playing something called Destiny (I think that's what it was). Basically, you have to drink with your left hand otherwise you have to down your drink. Needless to say, people were very "perky" by the time dinner was over. Florence was ill so she left really early, and we left around midnight when the rest of the party moved on to the bar. Apparently they were there until about two in the morning, quite a feat considering that they were all back at breakfast by eight sharp the next morning.
Because we didn't stay on, we didn't get to see them play the "Nailing" game at the back of the restaurant. It's a traditional Swiss game where someone hits a nail into a tree and then passes the hammer around. Each person gets to hit the nail once and the person who finally bangs the nail in flat wins. Much later that night, the other MBA peeps ended up playing the game but we were already in bed by that time.
I went to the local outdoor store to buy my thermals. They had some nice stripey stuff but unfortunately nothing on sale in my size. So I bought the polka dot set. Now I've learned that polka dots are the new black. Like the spots on a leopard, they camouflage most rolls. Now look quick coz these pics may not be here next week. ;)
In case you're wondering why it took two hours from waking to skiing, it was because Wiebke and I got our ski boots mixed up. Her feet were squeezed into my little ones and I was clomping around like a Tyrannosaurus. I got to the slopes, realized there was something wrong and then had to go clomping back to the ski rental place to get the right ones. Oh, I should mention, they adjust your skis to match your weight and the size of your boots so it was pretty important that I did it.
With the right ski boots on, I suddenly realized exactly how uncomfortable they were. Lord. Seriously, I have never been in more discomfort. It's fine while you're skiing but walking around in them is killer.
So, we get there and Patrick gives us a crash course in skiing. How to put your skis on, how to take them off, how to hold the poles, how to walk up the slope without falling. I had to ask how you get up once you fall and that puzzled him. He had to think about, then had to sit down on the ground and get up so I could see how it's done. (Once you realize that Patrick hasn't fallen down while skiing for about three years, it starts to make more sense.) Well, it didn't really help though coz on day four, I was still falling over and lying there on my ass until help arrived.
So the thing about skis is that they just go. If you stand on them, they will just start sliding in one direction or the other. Sameer crashed into a fence and I fell into a ditch, just from standing up. And if you're new to it, you have this thing where you feel yourself slipping, and then you just slowly panic until you crash. :P Or say you fall down and you try to get up, you put your weight on the skis and they just start slipping away from you until you're flat on your back again.The trick is to angle your skis at 90 degrees to the slope of the mountain. That's the only way to stop it. Once you figure this out, you lose your fear, and then when you start slipping, instead of panicking, you just readjust your skis. Also, if you've fallen over, you first have to adjust your skis at the right angle to the slope and only then get up. This sounds fine, until you fall over with the skis in opposite directions and your knees bent inwards at a crazy angle. You can't move your legs, so you can't move the skis and the angle between your legs and skis is so wrong that you can't even reach the clips to release your ski boots. Yes, improbable as this may sound, it happened to me and I had to be rescued again.
Anyway we did that pretty much the whole morning. It was fun but really tiring. All the tromp, tromp, tromp up the slope (imagine walking sideways up a staircase, one step at a time - that's how it looks) and then sliding downwards, hoping not to fall, and then falling anyway.
What was really embarrassing was the little kids that came screaming down the hill. There was one little guy in a red suit, with a helmet and goggles. He must have been about four. He was literally about thigh high to me and Sameer. He'd come flying down this impossibly steep hill (we were only practicing right at the bottom of it, where it evened out), screaming in German. I imagine he was saying something like "Get out of the way, old lady!" Unfortunately I don't have a picture of him but here's one of some little munchkin all bundled up, carrying mom's skis.On this thing about tiny people skiing down scary mountain slopes, let me just relay a story Patrick told us. He said his first memory is from when he was about two and a half. He was in one of those kiddy-carry hiking shoulder packs on his dad's back. And his dad was skiing down a mountain. 'Nuf said.
So Patrick went to ski the black trails (the difficult ones at the top of the mountain), and Sameer and I stayed on the baby slopes all morning. His two friends Pippa and Jonathan were also in that area. Pippa's skied before a couple of times, and Jonathan was like us, new to all this snow and stuff. He was learning to snowboard and he was really catching on fast. By midmorning we were kus and needed a drink, so we had one at the little restaurant/bar thingy right next to our slope.
After that, we were back on the slope. Tromp tromp tromp, slide slide slide. It's really quite fun, once you learn how to stop sliding off into all directions and we really enjoyed ourselves. Another thing I learned that morning was that you need to have sunblock and sunglasses on the slopes. You get so sunburnt from being out in the sun all day and the light reflects off all the snow and it can be really harsh on the eyes.
Lunch time came round and we went up two different cable cars to get there, to an altitude of 2690km. You go up this old fashioned cable car and everyone comes clomping in in their giant ski boots, with their skis and snowboards, helmets and goggles. And you pack in 'til you can barely breathe. And then up you go. The restaurant we went to was called the Panorama restaurant and it had 300 degree views of the Alps. It was amazing. For lunch we had some traditional Swiss food. The one dish was called Rosti (with the s pronounced sh) and it's basically grated potato with a creamy sauce, topped with cheese. Sometimes they have other toppings on it as well, like bacon or veal. Sameer went with sunny side up eggs on top. I had something the name of which I can't remember. But it was basically macaroni and cheese, with potato cooked in, and it's served with sauteed apple mash on the side. Apparently this is quite a ski-related dish. It was very yum. A lot of their dishes were very pasta or potato heavy and I figured all that carbo loading is to prep you for more skiing.
So anyway, afterwards we went up to the observation deck to take some pictures. And here they are.
Then we went back down to the baby slopes to practice or stopping and starting. We fell over a lot and Patrick came down again to help out some more. This is where a video is really needed so I'm going to try to upload one that Florence took of us.
Anyway, by the end of the day my legs were killing me. Every time I took a step (walking, not on skis) I felt as though my shins were on fire. I had a sneaking suspicion that it was the seam of my thermal tights chaffing against my skin but stupidly put it off to what I was told was normal tight ski boot chaffing. Well, I was right. When I got back to the hotel room in the evening and took of my boots, I discovered this. First I almost passed out. Once the air hit it, it hurt even more. (Maybe it was psychological.) So I undressed, gingerly, and then lay down in the bed, and drew the covers over me. I didn't want to move. But, unfortunately I had to get up to shower and dress as we were supposed to meet the rest of the guys for dinner. We had dinner at the restaurant that was at the bottom of the slope we were at all day. Most of the people had stayed on there after they were done skiing and were still clomping around in their ski boots and ski clothes. I felt miserable but soon got over it. Without the constrictive tights and boots, my blisters started to hurt less. Also, everyone was in such a good mood that I perked up. They were all drinking Gluhwine - a strong, heated, spiced wine - which is another traditional ski drink. And they were playing something called Destiny (I think that's what it was). Basically, you have to drink with your left hand otherwise you have to down your drink. Needless to say, people were very "perky" by the time dinner was over. Florence was ill so she left really early, and we left around midnight when the rest of the party moved on to the bar. Apparently they were there until about two in the morning, quite a feat considering that they were all back at breakfast by eight sharp the next morning.
Because we didn't stay on, we didn't get to see them play the "Nailing" game at the back of the restaurant. It's a traditional Swiss game where someone hits a nail into a tree and then passes the hammer around. Each person gets to hit the nail once and the person who finally bangs the nail in flat wins. Much later that night, the other MBA peeps ended up playing the game but we were already in bed by that time.
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