Last night I decided to go out and have a drink, Paris-style. Dillan and I found a small bar very near the Bastille and grabbed a couple of seats out front to people watch. No one in the bar was speaking English but we managed to get our drinks. We made idle conversation for a while and wondered if anyone nearby spoke English.
Soon, the woman (let’s call her Sarah) at the table next to us asked us where we were from. She is a student at the Sorbonne and speaks 3 languages. She was with her boyfriend (Alex) and his two friends. Both her boyfriend and his friend were Russian nationals in the Foreign Legion and were wearing their uniforms and accompanying stiff white hats. The two men in the Foreign Legion were paratroopers. At one point one of them pulled out their cell phone and showed us a four minute video of his military training. How incredible is it that -- using a cell phone to overcome a language barrier?!
Sarah said that when she first met her boyfriend, he couldn’t speak a word of French, only Russian and German. They only spoke in German to one another for the first few months of their courtship. Since then his French has developed and his Russian accent was nearly indiscernible. The woman was the only one who could speak English so she served as translator for the rest of us.
We were mostly talking with Sarah and then Alex interrupted and asked Sarah to interpret for him. He told us that when he was a small child in Russia that he had two dreams. One was to come to America and see the Twin Towers before he died. The other was to see Michael Jackson perform in concert. Then he looked stonily at both of us and said something that translated to “now both those dreams are dead.” It was fascinating.
Next we met two German nationals, Tom and Martin. Martin has been living in Paris for the past twelve years with his wife and children. He and Tom were childhood friends. Tom was in town visiting Martin for the weekend. They both spoke impeccable English (actually they put most Americans to shame) and they were a lot of fun. I have a very German last name and when I told them what it was they were horrified that I didn’t speak German. They felt that I was turning against my heritage. Overall, they were very confused as to why most Americans don’t speak more than one language. Honestly, interacting with all these Europeans who speak at least three languages fluently made me feel inadequate.
Anyway, it turned out to be a really fun night. Hearing about these strangers’ lives and how they live was extremely interesting. Thanks to Dillan for letting me tag along!
Showing posts with label Michael Jackson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michael Jackson. Show all posts
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Weekend Update!
See I can be dainty. Take that world!Thurs July 2 roundup
After the Oxford trip on thurs we were all exhausted! It isn't Florida hot here but its getting up there. I don't think it would effect us as much as it does if there was air conditioning at any of the places we visit. Or anywhere in Europe for that matter. It's not that its hot inside most buildings because its not. Its just that the air conditioning would move the air around and give you a chance to cool down a little before you head back out into the sunshine. I'm permanently sweating which isn't really fun. We all keep commenting about how shocked we are by this weather. Even Londoners that I've talked to express disbelief at this heat wave. We've only had it rain on us twice since we've been here. It's both a blessing and a curse because without the rain it never cools down but it's nice that we aren't soaked from head to toe. I have to admit I'd rather have a sunburn than trudge around in the rain. The best part is that after all the sightseeing's done and we are headed back from dinner the sun starts to set (around 9:30!), a breeze kicks up and it's absolutely beautiful. I haven't had any trouble sleeping in our flat thanks to that breeze so I can't really complain.
We were going to go out to dinner for my birthday but had a difficult time finding somewhere to eat so we just gave up on it because we were so exhausted. Headed to Boots (like walgreen's) and then to Sainsbury's (grocery store) to find something to eat. I have to say that I LOVE the UK's take on fast food. Everything here is pretty much organic, no GMO or chemicals, ready to eat, cheap and delicious. I have fallen in love with the prepared sandwiches. I guess you could compare them to the ones you would pick up at a gas station except they are super fresh (they usually sell out of everything by the end of the day) and better than what you get at a deli in the states. They don't use hydrogenated oils or fillers and much of their food isn't processed or filled with chemicals. It's amazing to look at the label of something your eating and see the first ingredient is chicken, the second egg, the third tomato, etc instead of a bunch of gobbledy-gook words you can't even pronounce let alone know what they are. I feel like I'm eating a lot healthier. Well, ok so I've still been consuming a lot of calories (especially in the form of baked goods) but at least not chemicals. Can you blame me? : )
After dinner I slept the sleep of a dead person. It was wonderful. Happy birthday to me.
Friday July 3
British MuseumWe slept in a little and lounged around the flat then got up and headed out to do some shopping. I was with Michele and we went to a popular shopping district on Oxford Street. You would not believe the wall of people that were also shopping that day! From what I've heard UK retailers only have 2 real sales per year not like in the states where we have sales for every holiday known to man. Anyway, this must be one of the sale times because every store in London has sale signs in the window. Even at 50% off though most things like shirts or shoes are at least 50 GBP usually more. Yikes. We went into a couple of stores and tried on clothes and I was horrified that nothing seemed to fit me at all. Then we went to another store that listed all the size conversions on the tags and everything made sense. A US size 10 is a UK size 14. Yowch. Ate a birthday waffle with ice cream (thanks Michele!). Toyed with the idea of buying some gladiator sandals and also a beautiful leather Fendi knockoff bag. Decided against them both and then it was time to go because we had plans with friends to go to the British Museum for afternoon tea.
Our plan was to go to the British Museum simply to work on our photography focus for the day, but Michele heard that they had a restaurant that serves traditional English afternoon tea. We all had been wanting to have tea somewhere before we left and this sounded perfect. Joanna, Nate, Michele and I all decided to go. The restaurant is one of those swank, white tablecloth kind of places so needless to say the loud, denim-clad Americans were sat far to the back of the restaurant and around a corner. This worked out in our favor though because it's just more relaxing to enjoy your meal in a private setting. We each ordered afternoon tea service which includes a tower of cakes, treats, scones and finger sandwiches (18 GBP - steep but well worth it). Oh and also a pot of tea. Delish! The best part was the scones with clotted cream and tipsy strawberry jam. I had wanted to try all three for a while. So good!
Clotted cream is a lot like butter. It's kind of halfway between whipped cream and butter. It's very good but not what I was expecting. The English have got this tea thing down.
At one point while were waiting for our check I got up from the table to take some pictures and have a look around. I looked over on a table and found a little empty box with cats on the cover. It was so cute I picked it up and took a picture. Later the manager came over to our table to check on us and I asked him about the box. He said I could have it. Score! Apparently it's some kind of very expensive chocolates called "cat's tongues".
We are perpetually getting used to the service standards here in the UK and trying desperately to figure them out. We are never sure if we are supposed to tip or not and it seems like it takes forever to get our bill. It is nice to not be constantly bothered by wait staff but at tea we asked for the check twice and finally decided to just leave a pile of money on the table and leave. We were standing outside the restaurant taking pictures and a waiter came out and told us that we hadn't left enough money on the table! Oopsy. They were very nice about it but it was still a little embarrassing.
Later, we walked around the Museum taking pictures. The collection is so huge, varied and impressive.
We left the museum to do some more shopping around the West End. Stumbled upon another Michael Jackson shrine -- this time situated in front of a music store. This one was way bigger and more impressive. Pictures, flowers, and cards were taped all over the store front and spread on the ground. There were a couple people sketching MJ pictures for people to add to the shrine and the giftshop next door was blasting Thriller. London is taking this one hard. I wonder if its like this in New York or LA? I haven't even looked at CNN or watched television at all since I've been here so I have no idea what's going on back home. Florida could have dropped of into the sea for all I know. It's kinda nice to be so off the radar. It makes me stay more in the moment on this trip.
Check it out -- this one's in Arabic
Sunday, June 28, 2009
MJ
As we all have heard by now The King of Pop passed away a few days ago. London is mourning his loss along with the rest of the world. The media coverage of his death by the UK press has been extensive to say the least. We caught wind of a Michael Jackson tribute party at Club Koko in the hipster laden London neighborhood of Camden. We hopped on the Tube at the Tottenham stop and zoomed to the Mornington Cresent stop. This was my first Tube excursion and I loved it. Something about the curve of the walls and the trains themselves, the mosaics and the cool breeze created by the trains had a calming effect on me. We hopped off the tube and frantically darted across the still imposing London traffic we came to a stop in front of Club Koko. There were a few people milling about outside all of which were smartly dressed. We looked around and then at each other and noted that all of us Americans were horribly under dressed. Nate approached a bouncer and ascertained that indeed we were in the right place however there was a cover charge of over 16 GBP! None of us were interested in paying for entrance so we found another pub down the street and had a couple of rounds of drinks. It was a great time.
The next day Michele, Nate, and I stumbled across this shrine to Michael Jackson in front of one of the West End theaters that's running a live production of Thriller.
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