Last Friday afternoon I had coffee with a friend I used to dance with in CT. You have to love the networking of Facebook. Basically reading the news feed (and yes it is sketchy) I figured out that Jessie was in London. It was exciting so I wall posted and told her I was here too and could we cross paths? We had a wonderful long two hour catch up conversation and she invited me to have Thanksgiving dinner with her and her flatmates at the end. I was so excited. That was a really nice afternoon.
The next day I went in the late afternoon to Camden Market which is pretty close to our dorms with a friend who lives across the hall from me. She showed me all around and I got some ideas for Christmas gifts. It's really busy there and a little sketchy in some areas, but very cool and they had the only Mexican food I've seen in this city.
This is indoors looking down in one of the classier buildings with all the fancier crafts and jewelry etc.
This is near the stable something or other, the horse figures were almost life size, a little creepy, but fun. Also there was a stunning lantern just hanging from a random ceiling.
I bought for myself a European hat, and two jean skirts....
And then came the Chavez film.......
This documentary was made by several American students covering Venezuela in the months leading up to the election in 2006. It was not biased, but covered every angle, opposition, the party, the people, their patriotism and the attitudes there. It was just a really interesting movie and I learned a lot about the politics there. The main producer was there, it was set up by the international relations club at LSE, he showed it at several colleges in the States including Middlebury and now is doing a UK run. He said it's been very well recieved and I can see why. Anyway a nice education venture and one that I feel enriched my understanding of an region in the world I haven't covered enough. Maybe senior year. Hummmm....
Finally, Thanksgiving!
I ended up leaving here around six and going down to Lancaster Gate and over to Jessie's very nice flat she's sharing with a bunch of friends. I got to sit and chat with her while she cooked. I offered to help, she wouldn't let me. Her mom had prepared the chicken and some stuffed potatos beforehand as well as stuffing etc and so she was thawing and cooking those, then making an apple cheese pie, and gravey, and the mashed potatoes. One of her flatmates made some ginger carrots which were soooo good. All in all it was an incredibly tasty and filling meal. It was nice just to eat something not British and be out of the dorm and with Americans on our dorky holiday. The British really do go "huh what?" Heh. I left around 10:30 and came back and did a bit of work and finally got to sleep way to late.
And I think minus the loads of reading etc I've been doing that pretty much wraps up the bigger different things. I am going to Canterbury Sunday so expect an update there, then I'm going to be under a rock for probably close to two weeks, minus the occasional surface/Germany postings, because of academic hell. Then I'm heading home for Christmas. Just broke out my Christmas music today! Score! Oh that makes me happy.
