Salzburg tomorrow!

I met with some of my co-operating teachers and the students today.  I'm centered in and around Brixton, in South London (love the accent!), and I've got four schools under my wing.  Let's see, the instruments I'm teaching vary from Djembe to recorder, saxophone to baritone.  On top of that, I have six deaf to partially deaf students that are being mainstreamed in music class.  Yum.  Looks like I'll be teaching them on instruments with a lot of vibration, like drums or trumpet.  These kids are tough - when I met them today they very quickly pointed out that I looked like Harry Potter.  I just shook my head with pure wonder.  I will never escape that resemblance!  Even with a short haircut, different glasses, and all that . . .  I'm listening to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road right now - I can't believe I had never heard the album before.  All the teachers I'm working with seem really nice and well-meaning, but all of them are mainly performers.  I'll be interested to see how they've adapted their teaching styles.  

I finally bit the bullet and bought an A to Zed to save me from the disaster of yesterday, where I got lost completely in South London.  I hate buses.  That is all.  

Elton John is groovy.  

On a lighter note, sometimes I feel like dancing.  Andy, that was meant for you.  Not sure why.

So here's a story:

6:30 - I walk in the door and Omar says to me, "Hey, I just saw this advert in the paper.  There's a restaurant in Soho that's celebrating it's 20th anniversary.  They're serving their meals at 80's prices.  6 pounds for 2 courses.  Let's do it! ".  I said ok.

6:40 - We're on the way to the Tube station.  I get there, realize I don't have my oyster card, and have to go back.  I should have stayed right there .  . . 

7:30 - We arrive and are ignored by the staff.  Alrighty then.  No one speaks English except for the maitre'd and he gets us downstairs, where we are the first customers.  Everyone speaks Italian, so I try to remember my basics.  

We order our meals and our wine, and everything seems fine.  By this point we had been there a while, but not unusually long.  Our wine comes, our bread comes, alright.

8:30 - first course.  Good stuff.  We kill it.  Then we begin the waiting game.  

9:00 - 2nd course.  Delicious, for the most part.  Slightly raw pasta, but still good.  we kill it.  

9:30 - 10 - Customers begin leaving in disgust.  Nobody is getting their food, and the waiters are confused about who is getting it.  I feel bad for them.  They can't speak our language and are blamed for everything.  Not my gig.  

10:30 - We are the last people in the place, waiting for dessert.  We are prepared to stick it out, but Omar has to go hassle the maitre'd, who is a jerk and doesn't remember us, even though he took our orders.  

10:45 - We get the dessert.  Not great, but whatever.  At that point we begin discussing payment.  We consider just leaving, leaving a couple fivers on the table, haggling, and paying full price (HAH!).  We decide to haggle.  We confront the maitre'd, and I can see Omar getting ready for a fight.  He complains that it took three hours for our food.  The guy looks down, clearly PO'd, and says "Just leave".  We are OUT!  We get outside, look at each other, and ask, "What the - ?  Did we just get a free meal?"  The staff gave up close to 40 pounds.  Whatever!

Clearly worth it.

yeahhhhh.   

So . .
In the absence of anything to say specifically, in the past week I have seen a lot of notable architecture, seen some cool exhibits, done some shopping, and caught some good music. That's a brief summation, but accurate.
But I fugured you would be more interested in some little things about London. So here's a list of 10 things I love and 10 things I hate.
Things I love
1) Coke has SUGAR in it. Adds a whole new dimension of flavor (it tastes better)
2) Buskers, or people that play music in the tube stations here, are actually talented.
3) Free newspapers. Even if they're trashy, they're something to keep you head buried in so you don't have to look at people on the Tube.
4) Children with British accents are funny. Really really funny.
5) Old women with British accents are funny. Really really funny. Sometimes they have biscuits as well.
5) HobKnobs were a great idea. Oats and chocolate, dipped in coffee. Who knew?
6) Food is super multicultural. I had no idea curry could be so different.
7) Piccadilly Square is a lot like Times Square, just classier.
8) There actually aren't any Werewolves in London. Warren Zevon, anyone? Anyone?
9) There is still frisbee here
10) Peanut Butter has sugar in it, instead of corn syrup. Not as sweet.

10 things not so great about London
1) Peanut Butter has sugar in it, instead of corn syrup. Weird.
2) Mice are still annoying here.
3) So are landlords.
4) Washer/dryers really just means washer + lie.
5) There's no chicken broth! I don't understand!
6) There's only so much "mind the gap" that you can take.
7) London. Is. Expensive.
8) Why can't I watch the Office online? Man!
9) Why do pubs close at 11 on my road? Don't they know that's when we usually arrive?
10) I miss some aspects of home, like Ithaca townies, Mom's cooking, and certain likeable folk.

Ciao for now!

Hey to those who are interested,

Lots to talk about!  This weekend was certainly very entertaining, and I did a whole lot.  So let's see. 

Thursday - went to Brit Pop.  The professor is crazy, but really passionate about the subject.  There's going to be a lot to cover.  And I'm going to have to go to concerts.  Darn!  Then I tried to go see the New York Phil play the Rite of Spring at Royal Albert, but I got delayed on the Tube (of course) and intensely lost on the bus system.  Let's just say always ask the driver where in blazes you're going.  I ended up in Hammersmith with a developing awareness of the need for a map.  By the time I got to the concert, I was 15 minutes late and the doors were CLOSED.  Sad.  I went out for coffee with Laura instead and had a good talk.  And we found out you can't buy wine past 11.  Whatever.  

FRIDAY - CRICKET!!!!!!  We went with Bill to Hyde Park (again, lost), and he walked us through the rules.  Cricket is an intense game, way cooler than I thought it was, and I like it better than baseball. From here on out, don't feel bad if you don't understand the terms I'm about to throw at you.  We then separated into two teams, and I felt very inadequate, like I usually do with new sports.  But I got up to bat, and maybe it was something with the bowlers, but I was cracking grand slams all over the place.  They were going all over the field, too, and this was over the course of three overs.  I got 17 runs before I finally got my wickets knocked.  At that point I felt confident I was going to win the prize for most runs.  It wasn't to be however, but I do get some consolation.  I got two wickets as a bowler (although I started out really bad), so I get the prize for most runs and wickets combined.  After that it was back to the apartment and I felt great.  I then got ready to meet Laura for her birthday at a picnic in Hyde Park, and I took the bus to the Hyde Park corner, not realizing that HP is huuuuuuuuge.  So I was forced to walk all over London to get anywhere near Royal Albert, on a hope and a prayer.  Have you noticed a theme yet?  I got the hall in time to get a good spot in line for the concert, however, so it worked out.  The NY Phil played Ravel Mother Goose Suite, Bartok Miraculous Mandarin, and Tchaik 4.  You could have kicked me in the teeth and I probably wouldn't have felt it.  They got 3 (!!!!!!!) encores, and Lorn Maisel is about the most energetic conductor I have ever seen, even though he looks like a pterodactyl.  We then went to the int'l student house and had a few pints for cheap.  All in all a good night.

SATURDAY - Walk - St. Paul's, St. Bartholomew's.  That is all I have to say.  I have some good pictures.  The most beautiful churches ever.  And so much history!

Sunday - Bill took us on another walk, this time to Liverpool Street, where we saw the Petticoat Market, Spittlefield Market, the Up market, The Brick Lane market, and the "Beigel Shops".  Lots of cheap clothes, crowds of people, shouting salesmen, haggling, shady deals, and FOOD!  I have officially found curry heaven.  Brick Lane street is curry heaven.  I'm going there again, that's for sure.  I got some good Spanish paella today, with prawn heads and all.  Good pictures.  

Well, ciao for all.  Hope everyone is well back home!

Woo!  Lots to talk about.  Now that I finally have a place, it's been nonstop hitting the town, sort of.  Yesterday, Omar, Mike and I went to the Carnival on Notting Hill, near where Laura lives, and it was insane.  I knew it was going to be good when all I could smell for blocks was caribbean food.  The Carnival is supposed to celebrate respect for the Afro Carribean community, and it's the second largest street party aside from Rio!  The parades were awesome, the costumes over the top, and the food/drink/atmosphere was one big block party, to say the least.  After that we hit up my first Halal food place here, a block from our apartment.  The food was spicy, strangely colored, and all around overwhelming.  The tv in our apartment only gets Arabic channels, strangely enough, so we had a good time filling in the blanks on the sitcoms.

Then this morning, I woke feeling like I had a sack of potatoes in my shoulder blades - I think it was all the moving I did the day before.  The shower had almost no water pressure, and we couldn't quite figure out how to work the toilet.  So the morning was  . . . interesting.  My ogre tired side didn't know what to do.  In any case, I went to my first class, British comedy, and it was great!  We watched a very wry, dry British movie and will talk about it next class.  It's going to take me a while to get used to the 2 1/2 hour classes we have here.  With that done, I caught some lunch and headed to the natural history museum with laura, omar, mike, and eric.  DINOSAURS!!!  YEAHHH!!!    Finally, we ended the day with a wonderful concert (for 5 lbs!) by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.  They played Romeo and Juliet (go tenor sax) and Tchaik 5.  It was an inundation of music, and I'm still in awe.  I just walked Laura back to her place, cause the drunkies are still out from the Carnival.  Wow .  . . 

Ciao!  

Hi all,
I have a place to live! Woot! It's not great, but it's just four months, right? London really beat me up though; all this searching was mentally and physically exhausting. It gave me a new appreciation for the snap decision and the art of haggling. In any case, my troubles are over for the most part, and I can finally relax and have a drink. Mike and I got quite a bit lost last night, trying to get back to the hotel, so that's a first at the moment. I'm slowly adjusting to the pace of this city, and noticing more and more that I need to blend in a little more. That's all for now, I think.
Ciao!

Hi all,
As this is my first blog, I'll make it short and sweet. London is a beautiful city, with a lot to do, but as I've recently found out, it's also a city with landlord sharks like any other one. The last two (is it three? I can't remember!) days have been absolutely insane with how many places we've gone through, and it's been fairly stressful. The one good thing is that I've gotten very good at traveling around this maze of a city. It's worse than Boston! Anyway, I think we've finally narrowed it down, and with any luck, we should be signed on in a few hours. That'll be a huge load off. Then I can get down to business, like going museum hunting, sightseeing, and napping! Until next time, contact me if you want to say hi!
"Mind the Gap!"