Amy's posterous - Stories, photos, and more as we embark on life in London!

February 13, 2009

Trip to Brighton

Yesterday I took the train (about 50 minutes) South to Brighton. I didn't look at a map beforehand or anything, just knew the name of the city where I was going and bought the corresponding train ticket. I was headed down just for the evening, where I was speaking at the New Frontiers in Social Media event. Luckily for me, the train got in early and I had time to take some pictures as I walked from the train station to the venue. And guess what: It's right on the coast! Who know?! Well, most people, apparently; but I didn't.

Here are some pictures from the main drag in Brighton; a super cute town! Max and I are investigating bike paths/routes between London and Brighton to go back together.

Click here to download:

Trip_to_Brighton.zip (2774 KB)

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October 28, 2008

Regent's Canal

Our flat is just a block from the canal which stretches through Islington, Camden, Regent's Park, the zoo, and all the way down to Little Venice. The day before Sascha arrived, Max and I took a stroll down the canal to check it out and were more than pleasantly surprised!

Not only was it a beautiful day, with temperatures in the low 70s (that was just two and a half weeks ago, and it is currently 48 outside at 3pm), but the canal was a getaway to a calm, beautiful, and charming stretch of the city we hadn't yet explored. We walked for a few miles until stopping by a long stretch of house boats in Westminster and heading back. Unfortunately, the camera battery died just as we were starting the walk, so we'll have to go get more pictures now that the charger has arrived (thanks, mom!).

Click here to download:

Regents_Canal.zip (3884 KB)

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October 24, 2008

MMT in UK

Last weekend, Max and I met up with a face from home: Brian Walsh! Brian served as an awesome intern at MMT through De La Salle's business intern program. He is now studying at University of Portland and spending the year abroad in Salzburg, Austria. He and some of his fellow abroad students have been putting in lots of miles to see as much of Europe as they can during their time here. He and nine or so others were in London for the weekend, so we met up to have some coffee, catch up on life, and show him a bit of our new city.

We walked from Holland Park over to Hyde Park to St. James Park, to the Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard. It was a long walk :) The picture below is from outside out the palace before we parted ways. Great meeting up, Brian - hopefully we see you again before you head home!

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October 21, 2008

Recipe comparison

I subscribe to Care2's Healthy & Green Living e-newsletter and get tasty-looking recipes all the time. This one caught my eye today because I desperately have been craving my mom's chocolate zucchini cookies lately. This recipe looks pretty tasty, and I'm a sucker for flax seeds, so I may give it a try this weekend.

Mom, what do you think? Does it compare to your recipe? :)

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October 19, 2008

Review: Shunt Lounge & Paperweight

Here's the first of what should be many more reviews!

Shunt Lounge

Rating: 3 Thumbs Up

Thursday night, Max, Sascha and I went down to London Bridge where the unmarked entrance for the Shunt Lounge is located. Shunt is a performance space as literally as that can be taken. Occupying the now-out-of-use train tunnels connected to the London Bridge Underground (tube) and Overground (above ground train) station, you are free to roam about as you please, through the tunnels: some are left empty, some have art installations, others stages (either figuratively or literally) where performances of all kinds take place throughout the night. There is a bar, a DJ and some areas for both dancing and seating, some stages are more traditional and obvious than others. Quite a few people from Max's program were there as well, though it wasn't the best atmosphere for meeting new people and have conversations, as it was quite loud in many places and when it wasn't there was a performance...that, and some of the folks seemed quite interested in drinking.

The creators of Shunt are graduates of Central (Max's school) and the curator is participating with Max's program as a weekly speaker right now. It is a curated space, with all of the acts changing weekly. Some of what we saw:

- aerials with hoops or bars (suspended from rope from the ceiling).

- French back rides (a guy dressed as a Frenchman would give you a backride, usually running, throughout the space for free).

- a guy doing beat-boxing type vocals that were expressive/synched with his body movements and such throughout one of the tunnel spaces.

- a piece that took place over an hour or two, with 4 characters at sea filming in a small box set up as a submarine or ship with a window so you could see them though the camera was projecting it live in multiple locations against the wall so you could follow their dramatic excursion from wherever you were (audio was going over the speakers that are throughout the space, though competing with the music from the DJ), including a run-in with a Spanish mermaid, some passionate dancing, and the death of the captain.

- a puppet show piece, that was done with three people, one acting as the marionette, another the woman 'controlling' her and the third a man helping the marionette break free.

- two performances by The Paper Cinema, including "King Pest" by Edgar Allen Poe. This was by far our favorite. It was incredibly well done, the amount of planning, story-boarding, drawing and practicing had to be immense. Pretty much, they have created drawings, some simple, others large and very intricate, to relate the entire story with only music (being performed/created live) to help narrate. They have a camera set up between the two 'actors' with a black wall only a foot or two away. They manipulate the hundreds of black and white drawings, cut out and put on sticks, in front of the lens of the camera, all the while watching the screen where it is being projected and which the audience is watching as well. It sounds so simple, but it was one of the most moving theatrical performances I have seen in a really long time. It was incredibly touching and the characters were drawn in such a way that you really connected to them and empathized, even without human actors or spoken word. Both performances were so touching and passionate, nearly everyone in the facility came and crammed into one tunnel for over half and hour to watch in silence.

- a ticketed piece (we arrived early to get tickets as it is a one-on-one performance so not very many during the course of the night) that we all liked, for different reasons, and to varying degrees. Max and I liked it more than Sascha, though she admits that the jet lag may have had an effect on that. With your ticket, you arrived to a small 'waiting room' area near the main entrance where two young women (in character) took your ticket, filled out a booking with your information, gave you a ticket that was much like a luggage tag on your wrist, and prepared mint tea while you waited. Next, you were taken into a dark room where music was playing and when they shut the door behind you, a young man flipped on a table lamp and you saw you were in a very small, but comfortable, homey and cluttered room (bookshelves, cloth, odds and ends filling the place up) where he asked you to take a seat opposite him at a table. He talked very quickly and was always fumbling with things in his hands, whether a ball, a nut, whatever. There was a blackboard with things written on it in a list and he asked you to chose one to hear about. I chose Black Holes; so I heard the description of black holes and theories about our universe, etc. explained, very quickly, with a few objects incorporated for metaphors. After the theory lesson, you are asked if there is anything you want to talk about, a lesson you want to teach. Then, you are asked to turn around and make a move on the chess game already under way, after your move, he makes one as well. Lastly, you are asked if you want to change the record that's playing (though I left it as it was with Led Zeppelin). You are taken out of the room from a different exit (as if there were space for multiple exists), where you leave your tea in an otherwise very empty part of the space and then taken around the corner where you get to look through a peep hole to see the scene recreated with the person who had signed up for the slot after you (in my case, Max). After you watch the other person go through the same scene, with different decisions of course, that you just went through, you are taken around another corner back to the waiting room where you write down any thoughts in another book, much like one you'd have at a wedding or other event for people to write in. It was wonderfully done and the whole experience of having this special appointment, secret meeting and then secret observation worked to, simultaneously, build your feeling of privilege or specialness to be part of something secret and knowing that it isn't unique or special or secret. It was fun but also really serious feeling, the way a very secret experience is.

The current season is over in November but we are hoping to go again before then. Next time you're in London, we'll take you!

'Paperweight' at The Camden People's Theatre

Rating: 3 Thumbs Up

After winning at the Fringe Festival recently in Edinburgh, Paperweight is running at the Camden People's Theatre. One of the developers and actors is a Central grad (notice a theme?) so we were able to get discounted tickets for the Saturday night show. The theatre is really close, well, it is in Camden so I guess that's obvious. The performance sounds a bit reminiscent of The Office TV show or even Office Space the movie. We were assuming we'd see some of that same drama and comedy but were pleasantly surprised to find instead a very real and very emotional exploration of the relationships, games, and ultimately the decisions that revolve around two people in otherwise-dead-end office jobs. It was funny, silly, sad, and charged. Even had some nudity! We were happy to see the piece move beyond the jokes and humors already explored in the tv shows and movies about cubicle lands. We were also surprised at the level of emotions and story line conveyed to the audience with a noticeably limited amount of dialogue between the two performers. There was a lot of conversation that took place in interaction, not talking, that seemed natural and not forced - probably because we can all relate so well to the situation.

We are definitely keeping our eye on the theatre for more shows and watching for other pieces put together by the Paperweight team.

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October 12, 2008

The Office, a tryptic

1. Literally, my office

A colleague and super awesome guy, Simon Berry, offered up his desk (and accompanying wifi router, comfy chair and tall tea cup) for me to use as often as I like in the 1 London Bridge CAN center. This is super cool. CAN is a company that builds awesome office buildings in very accessible/popular areas and then nonprofits get to fill up the open plan space on the cheap. They get communal board and meeting rooms, kitchens on every floor, and all that kind of stuff. It's great. Simon runs RuralNet and is only in his desk in London maybe once a week or once every two weeks and that is just for meetings in meeting rooms anyway. So, I've taken him up on his offer, at least while we don't have internet at home, and have been commuting from Camden down to the south waterfront. It is about 30-40 min commute depending on traffic, and it makes me feel very at home coming down hill, hitting the bridge and riding along the water to work, just like back in Portland; this time though, the bridge is huge, the river is huge, and it feels even more important and connecting to be aware of the city from the bridge. Pictures of 1 London Bridge below...

2. Figuratively, Max's school

On our second day in London, when all of the letting agencies were closed and we couldn't work on finding an apartment, we biked to Max's school to check it out, prove it exists and all the loan money was really going to a legitimate place, and figure out how to get there for once he was in session. It is all very compact, the buildings made into each other, more or less, and pretty old - all as we expected. We took a couple pictures of the school, the famous graduates' names carved into the steps, and Max standing out front. He just finished his week of orientation and tomorrow will begin for real! Whatever that means. He doesn't have classes so it is hard to know what to expect. He has three other people (all girls) in his program. There are also four students in lighting design, sound design, and directing (and most all are girls, in the school at large, and graduate degrees at large). He has projects with all of the students in Advanced Theatre Practice and then individual projects, as well as paired work with members of other strands. It is broken into four terms with each one building on the previous. We'll keep you posted on his projects and the school!

3. Comedically, the tv show

We still don't have internet in our place so haven't been able to watch much online, like the Daily Show or the debates, etc. Max was able to download The Office (US version, already watched UK) season 1 over the course of the week by connecting to the wifi on his campus and any rogue signals at home. So, we have been able to have one bit of sit-back-and-relax viewing thanks to Michael and the gang :) We are about to jump in to season 2, now, so more updates later!

:)

Click here to download:

The_Office_a_tryptic.zip (6790 KB)

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October 9, 2008

Biking in London

We've been asked by lots of folks back home and actually by many here for a comparison of the bikability between London and Portland. I think of three main issues:

1. Bike Lanes

In London, the bike lanes are actually the bus lanes; bikes are just supposed to ride in them, too. It would be okay, probably, if this is how it actually played out. Instead, you have taxis darting in and out of the bus lanes as a way to dodge through traffic. You have bus lanes that turn into left turn only lanes so buses are trying to merge back into normal lanes of traffic, and so are bikes. Then there are the instances where curb and railings are on both sides of the bus lane, trapping you the lane, in a huge pile up of buses so there you are, standing with your bike, trapped between two double decker buses with visible black exhaust everywhere. It's awesome!

2. Share the Road ethic

As I'm sure you can glean from the first point, there isn't a great deal of 'share the road' idealism out here. The reigning theory is more 'every man for himself' or even a challenge of man v metal. Of course no where is perfect unless it is just one vehicle or the other, and Portland had many drivers who openly disliked cyclists using the same space. In London, I've found many a driver who tries to disregard your presence or acknowledge when you were in the right.

3. City Planning

Lastly, and most annoyingly, is the city planning. London's growth outwards from the downtown and in between neighborhoods has made for a crazy nest of streets. Looking at a map, you'd think it would be miles and miles and a lot of time to get between two places; all of those streets are really so very small, though, that it doesn't take all that long at all to get where you want to go.

The hardest part is creating a route from the map. We've all done this before with driving maps, etc. You find where you are, and where you want to go, and then identify what looks to be the most direct or the only logical route to take. So, that's what you do, and you take off. Lo and behold! The street you are biking down magically turns into a one-way going the opposite direction that you are and you have to turn. Well, you can't just turn immediately onto a parallel street and continue in the direction you want to go because there is no such thing as parallel in London. Instead you are forced to turn and then continue off course for much too long before you can turn and head in a corrective path that only adds minutes and miles onto the route. Needless to say, we've had fun!

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There have been a few recent bike accident deaths in the news lately which is pretty scary - ghost bikes going up around town much faster than in Portland. The most recent was a young woman, 31, who moved to London a couple years ago and just celebrated her 2nd wedding anniversary. She worked as a dancer for a couple local theatres and was biking home when she was actually smashed by a bus. It was horrible. We are very careful when we ride, always wearing helmets and being cautious though it seems we are the minority. In my commute I see many other cyclists not wearing helmets and darting in and out of different lanes. I'm so scared for them.

It isn't all bad though. It's a big city, a bigger city than Portland, which means just by per capita standards there are more cyclists on the roads so it always feels a bit better to come to an intersection, stop in the bike box (more bike boxes than I imagined they'd have) and not be the only cyclist. We've seen a lot and built out a much larger mental map of the city than many other people simply from riding around instead of dropping down to the tube and re-emerging where you want to be with no idea what lies between the two areas.

So, come visit and bring your bikes (or rent them here) and we can show you the city by bike! Plus, it's much easier biking on the weekends without commuter traffic and all. Just have to yell at J-walking tourists!

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October 9, 2008

First weekend in Camden

Our first weekend in Camden was great! As you'll see in the pictures below...

The weather was unlike it should be for the area and time of year so we took advantage of it and bike around! We headed down to the South waterfront (London is divided S v N by the Thames River, unlike Portland's E v W). We tried to get day-of cheap tickets to a show at the National Theatre but they were already sold out. So instead, we:

Walked along the waterfront, past the theatre, Tate, bridges, Eye, and all that.
Crossed over the river to take an obligatory photo in front of Big Ben to prove that we are Londoners :)
Ate lunch in one of the small palace parks where it was starting to look like autumn.
Biked back North, to walk around Soho, get some groceries, and then try our luck finding Max a winter coat in shops around Oxford Circus.

At the end of the day, Ron, Khara and Nathan (the wonderful friends who let us live in their living room for two weeks) came over to see our new place. We even tried out Quinn's across the street. It was great! Much larger than we expected, cozy, crazy decor, and patrons of every demographic imaginable.

I think we've positioned ourselves in a spot of London we are really going to enjoy!

After over two weeks of very high stress from all of the banking and apartment hassles (thanks to our moving timed perfectly with the international banking crisis!), it had set myself up quite well to come down with a horrible cold once we finally moved in and were settled. That's just what happened. On Wednesday of last week I started getting a tickle in my throat and when I woke up on Thursday, well, I was sick. I made it through the morning in the office but just barely. Friday I was horrible. Feeling so much better after a day and a half of solid sleep, tea, spicy food, sleep, tea, spicy food, that I thought I was up for all of our adventures on Saturday. It really took it all out of me and Sunday and Monday I was back on the couch. I'm all better again though, feeling much more like myself. But, like usual, Max now has it :) He's fully aware of the symptoms and what's in store so acting accordingly!

Sick or not, we're happy.

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October 9, 2008

The Sample Ward Kitchen

I know that everyone is curious how we are doing finding food, especially Amy-safe foods. Well, one good thing is that we have a fabulous kitchen. A better stove than we had back in Portland and we bought all the pots/pans/wok the day we moved in so we could get to cookin'!

After a grocery trip to the two main grocers in China Town in Soho last weekend, and a run over to the Thai Market on Camden High Street, the kitchen is now fully stocked and in some respects even better than back home!

We have myriad spices, whole and ground, including hot curry powders, sesame seeds like you wouldn't believe, hot chilies and chili flakes, curry and lime leaves, and so much more. The most painful, because of its weight, at the time but best in the long run purchase from IKEA so far as been the mortar and pestle for making up some great spice mixes.

Sauces have been harder to find as far as gluten free since they have mostly the same selected we have back home. We have found a brand that makes GF soy sauce but it's really expensive and comes in a small bottle so we go through it too quickly. We have all that we really need though with soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic chili sauce, and some Indian spice concentrates. Tofu is actually pretty hard to find, at least tofu that isn't already flavored and thus glutenized.

Earlier this week I visited heaven, well, a place that matches the location's description to my understanding: an organic grocery store up the street from our flat that has all the organic, gluten free, vegan food I could possibly eat. I went in just to check it out and ended up coming home with a bag of groceries and all the things we needed for dinner. Plus some extras! Including (everything is O, V, GF) a bottle of pesto, largest jar of peanut butter I've seen in the UK so far, largest box of Amy-safe cereal I've ever seen (and only 1.50!), baking supplies, tofu, tea... I even got Max an organic IPA, bottled at a little organic brewery in the UK. He said it was the first real IPA he's ever had in Europe and it was actually hoppy! It is from Pitfields Brewery if you want to check it out!

We have even made some of our favorite dishes lately, and maybe made them even better than ever! For example, we found the huge rice noodles to make with spicy stir fries of mushrooms, bell peppers and onions (think PK), great tofu and broccoli for the General Tso's, awesome pre-made organic pasta sauces for penne with peppers and spinach, and gluten free vegan already-made bread so we can have garlic bread with dinner and peanut butter and jam sandwiches for lunch!

So, obviously, there will certainly be no need to worry about our food situation. We are just fine, and actually, very full!

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September 26, 2008

Goodbye, Portland; Hello, London!

It's been two weeks exactly and the first time we've come up for air since the move. Lots of updates to come...

The Flight from Home

We definitely felt like two birds leaving the nest: Portland felt like such a home for us. Our apartment on Stark St, our friends, our families, our jobs and so, so many connections and memories. It felt like we were turning our back on everything, but at the same time, it was so surreal that it seemed like we were just headed out on another trip to Europe for a couple weeks. After two weeks, well, we still don't have a ticket home so it looks like we'll be here for a while! :)

We had a really early flight out of Portland to Los Angeles. It was early but a short flight, so not really much of a chance to sleep. Then we had an eight and a half hour layover in the small, remote terminal for Air New Zealand's international flights. Nothing really to do and certainly not a lot of Amy-safe eating options. Thank goodness for mom's peanut butter sandwiches! Seriously though, she made me sandwiches, and they were the only thing that got me through. The plane ride from LA to London was incredibly long. It was hard to sleep since it wasn't really night time to us. Max had the aisle seat and next to me, in the window seat, was an extremely petite Armenian woman dripping in Gucci and updating me regularly on how she was doing with her Millionaire spin-off game she was playing on the in-seat video screens.

We landed barely worse for ware and decided our best route was to leave the two bike boxes at the luggage check (only 6.50 GBP each for 24 hours) and try to haul the rest with us to an address we had written down from Ryan and Alletta, apparently the address of some friends of theirs. We got on the tube, rode all the way from the airport end of the line nearly to the opposite side of the city before our stop came up. Then, because we would of course be disoriented after no sleep for over a day (it's 1 pm on Friday local time at this point after not sleeping since Wednesday night) so we turn the wrong way out of the tube station and walk over a mile before we realize our mistake. We turn around, walk back past the station and it is only a matter of blocks to the apartment where we meet up with Ryan and Alletta's friends, previous housemates actually. We drop off our backpacking packs, computer bags and guitar. Change our very sweaty clothes, and then head out to grab food on our way back to the airport to pick up the bikes.

We are staying in Islington, a nice enough neighborhood in northern London, but one we hadn't been through on our visit before. Walking around, it was only 4 in the afternoon, so not a lot of restaurants were open for dinner yet. When we finally found one, we didn't care that they brought us the most expensive bottled water to drink or that we were barely able to keep our eyes open. The food was probably run of the mill, but we were starving so it was excellent (a big thanks to Marie, Ric and Blaine for sponsoring our first Indian dinner in London!).

After cleaning our plates, we headed back to the airport and picked up the bike boxes. It was an interesting process of carrying the boxes, together because they were too large and awkward to carry separately, on to the tube and then out of the station and down the street. We obviously looked ridiculous, because we were stopped by an older, obviously drunk, Irishman on the steps of a local pub as we stopped at the intersection to rest our hands. He wouldn't take no as an answer and then drug the boxes into the pub himself, forcing us to come get a drink with him. We saddled up to the bar and were introduced to his friend, the woman working the bar and the manager. They were obviously regulars. He bought Max a cold Guiness and an orange juice for me (though he repeatedly expressed his disappointment that I wouldn't try to beer, regardless of my explaining what Celiac Disease was). After lots of jokes, stories that were never finished, and some very warm welcomes to London, we headed on with the boxes to the apartment.

That was it. We were here. It was around 9 pm at that point and it had been a long journey. We were going to be occupying the living room of the flat while we were staying here so it wasn't bed time yet. Instead, we dove into apartment hunting and Khara (one of the actual residents of the flat) laid on us all the pointers and hints she could think of. We set up some appointments and sent off lots of inquiries for the next day. We were on our way!

Apartment Hunting

The hunt for apartments was at least as difficult as we expected it to be. Everything that is posted online, whether you are looking at an agency's site specifically or on an aggregator site, is already let by the time you call. It's more of a ploy, really, just to get you to call the agency so they can then try to get all your information and convince you to schedule viewings for other places that you don't know anything about. We also went into quite a few places in person to talk with letting representatives and get on their radar. We arrived to our first viewing really early; so early in fact that we were able to text message the agent and cancel because the place was nothing like it was advertised and there was no way we could live in that neighborhood (dirty, sketchy, etc.).

After all Friday night, all day Saturday, and nearly all of Monday spent biking around from agency to agency, calling about postings, and some very disappointing viewings, we found IT: the exact flat we had imagined. It was in a perfect location, on the corner of Camden St and Kentish Town Rd, just blocks from the overground train, the tube, and a bus stop at the corner out front; across the street from a small block park, and just two blocks from the grocery store. Plus, it was the largest flat we'd seen! Both bedrooms were at least the size of the living room in most flats, two bathrooms, all new fixtures, paint and furniture (we even got to say what we wanted!), and places to store the bikes. From the bedroom window we look in Amy Winehouse's window, so we may even be featured in some B grade paparazzi shots!

We were absolutely thrilled to have it, but then we had two weeks of excruciating stress over banking issues. Turns out we had timed our move perfectly for the banking crisis in the US, leaving it very difficult for us to get wire transfers or even any communication with our bank. There were many twists and turns and even tears. But, thanks to mom (once again! sandwiches and then money) we were able to get things sorted out enough that we could move in. We are meeting with the landlords tomorrow at 11 to get the keys and sign the contract. After that, well, will be at least one BIG trip to Ikea!

Ryan and Alletta Time

From last Monday through Thursday we had the fine opportunity to hang out with, bike a bit of the city with, and even get some private tours from our dear friends Ryan and Alletta. They were on their way out though, moving back to the US after living in Scotland and London for two years while Alletta attended school after school to get degree after degree. It was bittersweet: wonderful to be in the big city with friends, romping around, picnicking and swapping stories, but sad knowing it was our last chance to do that with them for what could be a long time. It was a great time though!

We saw some of Regent's Park, Ryan's old 'office' (Cycle Surgery), some friends of theirs, old favorite cafes and bars, and got to hear about the little things we'd need to know: words that are different, spellings that drive you crazy, good streets to know for short cuts, and other such gems that only foreigners would think to tell other foreigners.

We were certainly sad to see them off, but are feeling ready to begin our adventure over here.

So much love to everyone!

Here's a picture of Max and I at the Candid Arts Trust cafe where we met with a friend and colleague of mine who had I never met in person, Laura Whitehead.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewhiteheads/2875818003/

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