i see london i see...

this weekend i went to london! it was my first time. :) london is coooooool. big time.

on the left: mind the gap!!!
right: westminster abbey








left: in front of the parliament building
right: unmoving english gaurd








left: parliament building from the back
right: cool english telephone booth!!!

here's the rest of the photos if you care to see more:
london photo album

along with seeing uber cool london this weekend, we also went swimming (i bought a new hot pink swim cap to give me more incentive to keep going), and played two intense games of monopoly on sunday. i luuuuurve monopoly! i haven't played in forever! we pulled it out, set it up, and suddenly i was looking at it thinking..."something's different here, this isn't exactly how i remember it, but i can't put my finger on what it is...now if i could only find broadway..." so it turns out the british have their own game of monopoly (and why wouldn't they? what incentive do they have to win american play money?) complete with locations all over england and the english pound. so it was a slight lesson in geography as well. but the point is, i won both games. :) he he.

i got my kindermusik license this week!!!! now if only i had a visa that let me use it...

england at a glance.

so....

i've arrived! i made it to england last thursday morning. ali picked me up from the airport and we headed to his house. where he lives is absolutely beautiful, full of nearby pastures and wooded areas and parks. i went for a run today and got completely lost, which i find is the best way to figure out what's around me. as well as the best way to get in shape since once i've gotten myself completely lost, i have to get home, which often requires about 3 miles more than i'd really planned. but his parents have been so gracious, and i'm working on finding my feet here. (kind of hard!)

england is very...er...english. sort of what you would picture really. the houses are all not really so much house-ish and more cottage-ish in my opinion. and everything is soooooo smaaaaaalll. the roads, the sidewalks, the cars, the cottages. everything just feels cute and dainty. oh, and old. everything feels really old. probably because it is.

i met a bunch of ali's friends this weekend. two of his friends dj once a month, so we all went out to that club and had a fun night out. i feel kind of like the new kid on the block. the new american kid on the block. i look the same (well, i sort of look the same. the girls here all look like they come straight out of an h&m magazine...good thing i've got heels and skinny jeans or i'd be an absolute fish out of water...), but i definitely don't feel the same and i'm not sure why. sometimes they're all talking and i have no idea what they're saying or even what the topic of conversation is. i'm not sure if it's the accent or the british jargon or both, but sometimes i feel completely lost! but i'll get it eventually.

so, i've mostly been filling my days with sleeping in, unpacking all my stuff and the boxes i sent from korea, trying not to miss korea, wishing ali would come home from work sooner, trying to understand his french mother's accent (oh! but i get to start french lessons with her this week!), and trying to orient myself! new places always bring difficult and sometimes sad adjustments. but the sad times always make the joyful times that follow all that much more joyful. as dad would say...it build character. :) he he.

ok, ali's done with band practice! toodles!

jolly good.

i find myself yet again writing from another airport. chicago o'hare this time. i caved and paid the stupid fee so that i could have wireless. 4 hours in an airport makes one do crazy things...such as pay for the internet. anyway, in exactly one hour and 23 minutes i'm moving to england! well, boarding a plane that will inevitebly lead to my move to england 8 hours later. :) and you know what that means??? I GET TO UNPACK MY SUITCASE!!!! i haven't done that for 2 months!

ali has been here the past couple of weeks, a week in chicago and 4 days in iowa, in a fantastic and at times comical trip i'd call "britain meets the midwest." if that were a book, i think the picture on the front would have to be ali, in his skinny jeans, blue rocknroll belt, and swooshy punk hair climbing into a massive green john deere combine harvester with my dad in complete farming gear. but i think he liked the midwest and i know the midwest liked him so HOORAY for two cultures getting along. and now i'm entering another book called "midwest girl meets england." :)

so i had a mcdonalds icecream cone tonight and OH MAN when did they get so good? seriously, why haven't i been eating those every single day? mmmmm. made the 4 hours in the airport more bearable.

next post will be from england! maybe i'll write with an accent. he he.