Merry Christmas!

My first Christmas away from home went pretty great. Joe and I went ice skating at Hampton Court Palace on Saturday. I'm terrible at skating (thought I didn't fall) and there's only so long that its entertaining for, but the castle was amazing. It was a home for Henry VIII and was impressive. It has this a huge astronomical clock and some beautiful grounds.

After that, I went to work on Sunday which was awful. People were very grouchy! I got home and did gift exchanges with Joe and Frank. Ate a dinner of cheese, wine, grapes, and olives. I was in heaven.

Monday, Frank, Joe, and I went over to Dinah's for Christmas Day. We ate for about ten hours, did the quizzes in the newspaper (kind of a big deal over here--like a summary of the year in a huge quiz), drank entirely too much, and we chauffeured home by Julian, pleasantly stuffed and sleepy. Wonderful day.

Boxing Day (today--called that because the servants used to walk around with boxes and people would put gifts in them) is very slow. No one had to work so we've barely left the house (last night I had a moment of panic when I couldn't remember if I had to work today so I woke up this morning at 6AM, walked to the tube only to discover that it was closed until 8:30. I then decided that because of that and because no one at Starbucks would answer the phone, that I must have the day off. No one has called me yet, so seems I made the right decision!) but Joe and I are going to see Chicago tonight.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Dead people, wine, and cheese

Kind of an uneventful weekend, but still very fun. Went to Westminster Abbey and saw all the tombs/memorials of famous people (including Sir Isaac Newton's from the Da Vinci Code). Went to Camden Market and were thoroughly unimpressed. Everyone had been telling us it was awesome, but since none of us were in the market for a studded belt, vinyl lingerie, or tee shirts with pictures of farting men, we were disappointed. We had to restore our faith in markets so we revisited the Borough Market and bought some flowers and bean burgers. Two of our friends from Willamette, Steph and Jenna, were traveling through Europe and stopped in on Sunday on their way out. They stayed with us and we had a great time. Last night just the girls went into town and found a really awesome wine bar where we accidentally ordered three massive hunks of cheese (we thought there was no way that we would finish it, but we did!). After polishing off the cheese and a bottle of Spanish wine (I have no idea what kind it was, I just pointed to one on the wall!), we walked across the street to a (non-smoking!) pub and laughed at a nearby couple who were on a very bad date. The boys joined us and we stayed a bit longer and then came home, exhausted and still full of cheese.

I'm getting very excited about Christmas!

Leeds Castle and Rochester

Its been a fun few days. Last Wednesday, we went to a pub meet that BUNAC was sponsoring. We thought it would be a good way to meet some other travelers and make some new friends. Silly us. I approached several people and asked if I could sit with them--everyone said no. We all attempted to make eye contact and invite others to join us at our table. No eye contact. Disappointing!
On Friday, Frank, Joe, Kelly, and I went to see the new Bond movie. Knowing that they sell out early, we bough tickets at 6 for the 8:30 show, got there at 7:45, only to discover that they had sold us tickets for the 5:30 show. We snuck into the right theater and waited for the rest of the crowd to show up. The theater was nearly empty until 8:25 when everyone came pouring in. Very strange. Good movie, though!
Saturday was a shopping day. Joe's work was having a fancy Christmas party on Monday and I actaully had nothing to wear. I mean it when I say that. My mom talked me out of bringing my little black dress so I had to go shopping. After trying on 15 dresses, I conclude that London has crappy taste in dresses. They either look like bad prom dresses or else ice skating outfits. I finally settled on a black strapless one that was too big but I could deal with it.
Sunday we went to Leeds Castle and Rochester with BUNAC. (I just had a thought that BUNAC stands for the countries that participate in the exchange: Brittan, United States, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada!) Leeds Castle has some great lawn area (and black swans!) but the castle was sort of a let down. I did learn where the term chairman of the board comes from: in the olden days, chairs were hard to come by so important people brouht chairs with them so they could sit . Rochester was kind of slow, too. There was a Dickens' Christmas festival happening there (Dickens' home town) so there were people in Victorian garb which was fun to see. We quickly walked through the cathedral before a service started but it was too dark so we couldn't walk through the castle. I bought some cheesy magnets that show my family crest (one for my Grandpa's side, Bennett, and one for my Grandma's side, Barnes). Out of the corner of my eye I saw a dress in a store window and I tried it on and loved it! I bought it and now have to return the too big black dress. We all agreed that the trip was fun but we paid too much for our tickets. Would have had more fun if we had spent £20 instead of £36.
Monday was the party and it was awesome. There was free wine, the food was spectacular, and I got to meet some of Joe's work friends. There was even a chocolate fondue fountain!
Today at work there were several unpleasant people. One man started arguing with a woman about who was next and then told her to shut up. He was so unpleasant that I asked him too please not speak to a customer like that, and he told me to just do my job! I was five seconds away from telling him to leave but then he stopped talking. After him, a woman had a little tantrum because Mela and I were helping an older man buy his drinks and take them to his table (she rang him up and I delivered). Since she'd had to wait 60 seconds to order her drink, she told me that she didn't know why it took two people to help one person and why couldn't she order RIGHT NOW. We accidently made her drink decaf.
North London had a 'tornado' today but it was mostly a lot of wind, rain, thunder, and lightening. But the news calls it a tornado and that's all that matters. Now I'm home and on my way to meet Joe downtown where he is going to buy a sweater and I'm going to try on some boots that I fell in love with. I hope they're uncomfotable so I don't want them. Tomorrow I'm headed over to Dinah's to do some tech help. Nice to be of use to someone who has helped me so much!

And I have more pictures up: http://http://www.kodakgallery.co.uk/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=78jdg5cd.8sjbsbxp&Uy=g21c83&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&localeid=en_GB&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1