overdue entry on london

After being somewhat isolated in Geneva for a few weeks, Chris and I took a weekend jaunt to London. I never normally use the word jaunt, but it just popped into my head (and how often do you get a chance to use that word, anyway?) so somebody inform me if I’m using it incorrectly. I think it describes the whole experience though.

So, as my previous entry stated, we stayed with Chris’s high school friend and his girlfriend in the Earl’s Court area. Following a delayed flight, a train ride on London Gatwick’s express, and a go on the Tube (London’s Underground), we got in really late on Thurs night and grabbed dinner at a local restaurant in the area, Balard’s. I think the bill came out to over a hundred dollars for three people and we just had one entrée each and a beer. Intro to the pound, where the exchange rate was 1.8 USD to 1 British Pound. I tried to think of things in dollars so it wouldn’t seem so bad, but it was super expensive! Go with the flow, though.

On Friday, I made Chris attempt to show me around, so he took me to see Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. He didn’t really know the significance of either, so I read about them in one of many tourist guides we had along. We also attempted to go shopping in SoHo and ate fish and chips at a local pub. Other highlights of the day included getting passport pages added to my passport at the local US embassy (there is no embassy in Geneva, just a consulate) – they just tape pages labeled A-Z in), dragging Chris into a Dali/Picasso exhibit and being a little freaked out, but enjoying the sculptures with soft clocks and drawers coming out of people, meeting up with a college friend who’s studying at the London School of Economics for cheap Korean food (yum!), where our waiter refused to acknowledge our order unless we spoke to him in numbers (example conversation with Chris follows), seeing the streets overflow with people at local pubs (everyone just stands outside with their beer on the pavement), and riding in a British taxi. Also, missing our reservations at Kensington Roof Gardens with our hosts and standing in a ridiculous line to get in with no other people of color. I guess reservations and guest lists are rampant in London, but this is probably skewed since this hs friend was all into going to exclusive places. Back to the Korean waiter though:

Tanya: Let’s order another plate of bu gol gi (marinated Korean beef) and share it.
Chris: OK (calls waiter over). Hey, can we have another plate of bul gol gi? (points to plate that we already have on the table, which is shaped like a cow, in case you didn’t know what you were eating)
Waiter: Number 44?
Chris: Um yeah, bul gol gi. (We have no menu at the table)
Waiter: Bul go gi? Number 44? This? (points to plate of bul go gi on the table)
Chris: Yes, we’d like another order.
Waiter: Number 44?!

This goes on for a few minutes. My college friend Anna and I are like, what’s going on? It was hilarious, but we did end up getting another plate. Yummy. This was our cheapest meal in London, and I think plates went for between ten and twelve dollars. At dinner, we caught up, talked about her degree program and compared her educational experience to the US, shared some Swat gossip, and talked about social justice. Following that, we walked around and got dessert and coffee at a café. Good times, fun stuff.

On Saturday, we hung out with high school friend the whole day. His gf, who is German, stayed home because she had a toothache. We went to a food market reminiscent of Reading Terminal Market (but much bigger!) where Chris ate a turkey sandwich with cranberries and applesauce (year round Thanksgiving at this food stand), consumed many food samples, and walked along the River Thames. We visited the Tate Museum of Modern Art, which is housed in an old converted power plant, and high school friend made fun of most of the pieces, but I thought it was on the whole interesting and kinda wandered by myself. I also browsed an outdoor used book sale and Chris bought me a cute necklace at a little boutique while hs friend was getting a 15 minute Swedish chair massage. Later, we stumbled onto an outdoor fair that was talking about sustainable development and healthy eating choices (mostly for kids, but it was a family affair), enjoyed a view of the city from a balcony bar, ate some pasties at a pub where we noted three groups of annoying girls having hen parties (British bachelorette parties), and caught the night’s showing of STOMP (some really creative noisemaking and rhythm here). This was a busy day, and we ended it with some Belgian food (mussels, sausage, mashed potatoes, cheese, beer) at this industrial looking restaurant where you sit on benches (like in a ski lodge) in the basement. Chris had to leave to go back to the US early the next morning due to news of his grandfather’s passing, but I had a little time before my flight back to Geneva, so I explored Camden Market (a British Chatuchak, or a series of huge outdoor markets!) and ended up picking up a Punkyfish hoodie and grabbing some quick Thai food. All in all, it was a good time, and I think it would be fun to go to school in London…if Chris made money ;). Seriously though, salaries are generally commensurate with the cost of living (this is also true in Geneva, where UN employees get crazy benefits and make tons of cash)...unfortunately, there is still a huge poverty problem in London, many kids live below the poverty line, and homelessness/poor housing conditions are rampant (we met many street campaigners on these issues and saw billboards in the Tube trying to raise awareness :) ...see, it worked, since i still remember it a few weeks later! too bad med school didn't work like that for me ;) ).

shout out to everyone who is studying for Step 2!!