Snap Crackle Pop - what a beautiful ballet

PAB and I had the pleasure of seeing Swan Lake performed at the Bristol Hippodrome last week. The principle dancer was a young, beautiful Russian (aren't they all) and the dancing and music, as always with Swan Lake, superb. Actually the only thing I could find amiss in the whole performance had nothing to do with the dancers or musicians or even the lighting. It had to do with the audience. As the curtains rose and the jester twirled, I hear criiiinkle. Chomp, chomp, chomp. Sluuurp. And "Oh no love, I just spilled me beer. Move your purse".

Now I realise Americans started the whole eating in the movie theatre, $10 popcorn, biz. But what we haven't done (and hopefully will never do) is extend that kernel crunching, candy smacking, soda slurping annoyance into the proper theatre (ballet, opera, symphony, etc.). I am a candy fan as much as anyone, but I think I can forego a snickers or two during Tchaikovsky. A ballet is one place where you should be guaranteed to NOT have a beer spilt on you. I had to keep myself from saying SHAME to the bartenders and candy vendors when leaving the theatre.

I don't know why this bothers me so much, but there seems something sacreligious about eating Cadbury Eclairs while watching two lovers die on stage.

Now that that's off my chest I can go about my British life without glaring at every passing Brit as a suspected candy cruncher :)

Snap back to reality, oops there goes gravity...

A very long pause between blog entries, I use for my excuse the fact that I saw many of my avid readers ;) during Christmas/New Years. The weeks leading up to Christmas break and the weeks after were hectic, to say the least.

The ferry company that PAB and I used regularly to visit his family in France went bankrupt, and we lost (or rather I should say PAB lost as he paid) a book of 10 passes that we had pre-paid for. Unfortunately in the UK when a company goes bankrupt it's the customers who lose out. Neither PAB's credit card nor SpeedFerry would reimburse us, so we were stuck paying an exorbitant amount to see his family for an early Christmas. The trip was wonderful (as France always is) though I did manage to give myself a horrible cold that landed me in bed for the large part of the trip. I did fight my illness and muster my strength in order to partake in a Christmas dinner of cider and wine (I think we ate as well, but it seems to slip my memory). The holidays does not make having families in different countries even easier. Definitely a plus for PAB in the boyfriend category for giving up foie de gras and Bordeaux for velveeta queso and Coca-Cola ;)

The trip home was an AMAZING way to end 2008 and begin a new year. PAB and I arrived in Houston on the 19th of December, and were pleasantly surprised to see none other than Rikki Baldwin waiting for us at the airport. My poor parents were stuck in New York in a snowstorm (while we were greeted by balmy 80° weather in Houston) and had somehow convinced Rikki to drive all the way from Magnolia to pick us up.

Sunday we had the annual cookie decorating party at the Peoples (though this time minus the tree) and for the first time it hit me everything that I was missing in Bristol. Funny that I had to return home to feel homesick...But it is true that the opportunity to have friends from Junior High, college and work together in the same room does not happen often when you're an expat.

After only a day and a half we left Houston for Louisiana for the most spectacular gorge fest, again another thing I had been missing in Bristol. Is there anything better than turnip greens in hamhock, potatoes in hamhock, heck ANYTHING in hamhock? Grandma's cooking never tasted so good :) Another miracle happened while in Louisiana - my Dad's family (half of it at least) managed to get together for an occasion that was neither a wedding nor a funeral! It was great to have all the Peoples together, though a little overwhelming for PAB (especially when Aunt Zoey started speaking to him in French and Aunt Amanda and Aunt Liz revealed their competitive horns). I would like to take this opportunity to blame my loss on my partner's ADD and to challenge any Peoples brave enough to traverse the Atlantic to a rematch. Anytime, anywhere.

The beautiful Christmas weather in Louisiana (PAB kept saying he couldn't believe it was Christmas when it was 80° outside) definitely did not prepare us for New York. Even the pugs have put on a layer of blubber to protect them from the cold! It was PAB's first time in New York and it's always great to visit a city with a first timer, minus the picture taking. We went to the Statue of Liberty, apparently some kind of French mecca, we heard enough French for PAB to feel right at home ;) While I buried myself in books at the New York library PAB visited the Rockefeller observation deck and watched a gorgeous sunset over the Hudson and the Empire State building (see pictures above!)

For New Years we road tripped (or rather bus tripped) to D.C. to celebrate not only 2009 but three Dec. 31st birthdays. We had a good old fashioned house party at Julia's, and again a gorge fest (PAB is going to think all we do in the U.S. is eat...) It was wonderful to have a little Baker reunion, I definitely miss the feeling of community at Baker, it just doesn't work out the same way when you're in a Masters where half the people are married or have children. In D.C. we also had the pleasure of an informal tour guide, Jessie's Mom drove us around during the day and at night to visit the monuments and told us about the many controversies of Capitol Hill. We visited the National Cathedral which PAB said was almost, almost as good as an European cathedral.

Before we left we enjoyed two New York classics - steak and Broadway. We saw Grease on Broadway, third row! I felt transported straight to my childhood, only I didn't live through the leather jacket and thunderbird era only watched it on video cassette with my never grown up parents ;) Our last night my parents treated us to Peter Luger's, and I promise you, I never knew bloody cow could taste so wonderful. Even PAB was impressed at their rare cooking. After woofing down half a cow, who would ever imagine that I was once vegetarian?

The trip was, without a doubt, phenomenal. Which made returning to Bristol to finish my two 5000 word essays even more difficult. I somehow made it through (you always do in the end) and now it's English life as usual. I start classes next week (and give my dissertation proposal!) and hopefully the routine will help me to get rid of the lingering homesickness. PAB and I went to see Swan Lake in Bristol, and I missed home even more while I struggled to hear the orchestra above the crinkle of wrappers and the crunch of Cadbury chocolate. The British have taken the American movie theatre snacking straight into the real theatre, someone really should put a stop to that. With every crunch and crinkle I could feel my Oxford ideal of the British fading into the past...

Anyway, I hope you all had a lovely holiday (and thanks to all of you who made mine so wonderful!)

A New Perspective on Journalism

Yesterday I had the good fortune to be invited to the Guardian Student Media Conference in London (I had the not so good fortune to be stuck on a crowded tube that shut down and to miss my bus back to Bristol, but that alas, is a different story). I was not entirely sure what to expect, the only journalism I had been to previously was hosted by the Houston Chronicle and directed entirely at high school students and dumbing down what it is that journalists actually do. As it turns out, they do not just sit around making up fabulous quotes from famous people and sticking them in with a couple of transitions. If I learned anything yesterday, it was this--as a journalist you must live for the news. Most likely the news worthy story is not going to pop up on your radar at 10 AM after you've had a nice shower and a hot coffee. It usually comes in the middle of the night, in some far off jungle in the Congo, and you have to get out of your nice, warm bed, run to the office, chase down quotes from people who either hate you for your insensitive, "objective" probing, or actually don't know what the bleep they're talking about, and then write an article for the morning paper. Because you know the Times, the Independent and every other bloody newspaper are rushing to do the same, and you can't be the last with the story.

The conference itself lended an air of glamour to the profession. The Guardian is situated in King's Palace near King's Cross Station (yes, where Harry met his train for Hogwarts) and in a building meant for a modern day king. Glass, sterile black and white, abstract sculptures and paintings. I have a feeling Alan Rusbridger's (Editor of the Guardian) office looks something like a thrown, where his majesty overlooks his two newspapers and website. Interestingly enough, the Guardian website is in the top five most viewed online newspapers in the world, right behind two Chinese, a Japanese and the New York Times! Apparently somewhere in North America 8 million people look at the Guardian website every day (I have a sneaking suspicion many of them are British expats), and to think I had never heard of the Guardian before, much less guardian.co.uk...

The Guardian has definitely taken the internet ball and ran with it. They have realized the importance of visual and audio support for a generation brought up on DVDs and IPODs. They have gone from a print newspaper to the documentary film business. It seems that a journalist today needs to know everything--photography, web design, video, blogs. I can only imagine asking Walter Cronkite "Mr. Cronkite sir, would you mind keeping a daily blog for our online viewers". Mr. Cronkite, who anchored through Kennedy's assassination and the Vietnam War would probably tell us to bugger off (if he were British, that is). But it seems now that journalists either get digital, or get sacked.

I won't bog you down with all of the sessions (art and music criticism, editing, commentary) or the posh food (mini burgers, portabella mushrooms and goat cheese, apple juice in wine glasses, I assure you as students we were all very pleased). The one thing I think the conference was missing was the lower orders. It is all well and good to hear from top Editors, from journalism professors and esteemed art critics, but what we really want to know and hear about are the experiences of the trenches, the people out there sweating away for the Congo stories at 2 in the morning, who have to keep up their blogs, their internet commentary, their video feed, and somehow, their personal lives.

Otherwise, the conference was a wonderful experience (as London always is) and certainly fired me up for at least giving newspaper a go...My work on the UWE newspaper and on PARN's e-magazine have really fired up a dormant passion for writing that died somewhere in my four years at Rice. I will still apply for teaching jobs in January, but (hopefully) the urge to write will still be there.

On a much different note, HAPPY THANKSGIVING! PAB and I are headed to France in a couple of hours, not to celebrate Thanksgiving, but a very early Christmas. At least the food will be good :) Love you all, enjoy your turkey (make a turkey and roll leftover sandwich for me) and see you at Christmas!

An American Mum in England

Where's me Mum?

Even the pugs have caught the Liberal New York spirit! Now if only it could work it's magic on my Dad...

A quick update before my Mom arrives (in approximately one hour!) and takes up all my extra computer time...

The Masters is going well, though it's hard to tell after only 3 weeks. I've already had my first run-in with Academia and its elitist principles. In a class on academic writing and presentation, we discussed who scholarly articles should be aimed at--almost every student said OTHER PROFESSORS! Exactly my contention with Academics! Reading should be pleasurable and for everyone, and if you have a good enough thesis, and an interesting enough article, anyone from high school on up should be able to read and understand it!!! Pretencious arses ;) I bet there is a lot of Shift-F7 (Word Thesaurus) going on behind closed doors. They should take their fingers out of their butts (as PAB would say) and write a decent article!

I didn't even realize I felt so strongly about the topic until I started writing :) Well, there you go! Either the PhD is not where I'm meant to be, or I need to revolutionize the system! I have realized that I am a HUGE NERD, and greatly enjoy spending a sunny Saturday (a rarity in Bristol as it is) cooped up in the library reading about Oscar Wilde. I have decided (tentatively) to do my thesis on literature after 9/11, so if you have read books, articles, poems, seen movies, etc. let me know!

In other news...Work is going well! The woman who was previously head of communications and marketing left on Wednesday, so the training is finished and the real work has begun! I have two e-newsletters to send out by the end of the month. I will send examples so that you have a better idea of what I'm doing :)

Time to get the flat prepared for me Mum (don't want her thinking we live like heathens!) Catch you laters gators!

The Peak District (and other good news!)

The last weekend in September seemed to mark the end of what the English call "summer"--occasional sun and chilly winds. Fortunately, PAB and I had planned on a "mini break" (the English actually have a term for weekend vacations) for this last weekend, before school and (presumably) work started for me. The end of my summer of "do nothing" :) We chose the English Peak District as our destination, and brought along two other couples, friends from PAB's Masters at Cranfield. Our little party consisted of 4 French, one American and one British. As it turns out, the French made crepes, the American made sandwiches, and the British made a traditional English breakfast (bacon, eggs, etc.), so we all lived up to our country's respective expectations :)

We left for the Peak District on Friday, and after a slight problem with the map (PAB kept waiting for the toll of the M6 toll, not realizing that there is no toll until you get off, which happened to be 6 exits after our intended exit!) we arrived in the charming village of Hartington in the South of the Peak District National Park. F.Y.I. the difference between a "village" and a "city" in England--a city has a cathedral. I think in the U.S. the difference is whether you can find John Deer tractors on the main roads in the village ;)

The weather was PERFECT, our cottage was ADORABLE (see above pictures!) and there was an apple tree literally sagging with its delicious fruit! England started to take on some of that charm the Romantic poets had so unfairly made me expect. The cottage had three large rooms, a full kitchen, a living room with a FIREPLACE (not the electric, fake one that adorns my living room in Houston, but an actual fireplace with a hearth and wood and a poker!), and a state of the art kettle, everything one would expect from the perfect British cottage :) We ate outside the first night, a "plancha" (a kind of French grill) with chicken, pork and sausage, and some kind of delicious tomato sauce they make in the South of Spain! We had wine galore and saucisson and chorizo for appertifs, who said Europe wasn't LOVELY?

Saturday we took advantage of the gorgeous weather (which I am very grateful for now, as the sky has gone back to its natural grey and drizzly state) and rented bikes. We planned to take the Tissington trail (an old railway line) down to the reservoir and then back up the High Peak trail. On the Tissington trail all was wonderful and gay, the ride was mostly downhill, we took our time and had a relaxed lunch (supplied by the brilliant American sandwich maker). The view on the trail was absolutely gorgeous, quaint hills with stone marked fields, cattle and sheep. We even had a cow block the road as we biked through the hills (again see pics above). We made our way to the reservoir and realized that it was closely closing in on mid-afternoon, the bikes were due back at 5:30, and we had completed less than half of our journey. We then began a race back to where we had rented the bikes, unfortunately having to make up for all the downhill on the way there on the way back. Not surprisingly we didn't make it back at 5:30 (or even at 6), but the bike renters were nice chappies, and gave us back the full deposit (perhaps out of pity when they saw our tired and dirty faces). We calculated that in total we had done 31.5 miles!!! I guess my training for the MS150 was not in vain...Saturday night we celebrated our "Tour de Angleterre" and Fabienne's birthday with cake, champagne and poker!

Sunday we cleaned up what little damage we had done to the cottage, took some apples from the tree (okay 30, but I didn't want them to go to waste!), and headed to Bakewell for the legendary Bakewell tart. Bakewell is the largest village in the Peak District, and has all the tourist charm one could ask for. I would definitely recommend the Peak District to English travellers, but ONLY if the weather is nice! 31.5 miles is trying in good weather, deathly in rain.

And after a wonderful mini break, it's back to school! So far, my classes are WONDERFUL, I like the professors (nothing beats British humor) and the material is interesting. AND (drumroll please)...I found a JOB! I will be working part-time (20 hours max with my student visa) at an organization called PARN. Check out there website:

http://www.parnglobal.com/

because until Tuesday I won't know exactly what the company does. But as for me, I will be going back to Marketing and P.R.! I will keep you updated on the progress at work :)

Until later gators! Tata!

Garden Party Anyone?

Back from the U.S., an amazing trip (to say the least). The fast-paced life in New York definitely made my return to the quiet, nothingness of Filton a reverse-shock, but a pleasant shock. I can breathe again :) I can drink tea in the middle of the day, and now I can do so in my garden! PAB and I moved flats last weekend, disassembled the furniture (pulling 100 nails out of a delicate cardboard wardrobe backing is no easy feat!), though not as trying as it sounds--we moved approximately 25 feet, down. We have moved from 77B Wallscourt Road to 77A :) A pain in the butt to move everything, carrying arm load after arm load of books, clothing and airplane models, but well worth the hassle! Last weekend was perhaps the most brilliant of the summer, weatherwise, and we made the absolute most of our new garden--dinners and tea outside, burgers on our new grill! We still haven't quite arranged the garage for the car--I tried to go inside last weekend with a broom and was chased out by spiders larger than any roaches we have in Houston--but we do have a little shed for the bikes! The flat downstairs is much bigger (still relative to English living spaces), so visitors are welcome (and now we won't have to put the table in the kitchen when we pull out the futon)! Garden parties will abound!

Last week PAB and I also had a visit from his high school friend Mathieu (not to be confused with Matthew) and his girlfriend, Audrey. I acted as official guide of Bristol and London, in French! See parents, you didn't entirely waste your money in sending me to Paris :) Our trip to London was one for the record books, we did a river tour of the Thames, walked the bridges, took an inside tour of the Queen's palace (otherwise you can only go to Buckingham by invitation!), and did the National Gallery! I felt I did Mathieu and Audrey well and London justice, they fell asleep as soon as we got back on the bus for Bristol ;)

Last week I also had my Induction ceremony for my Masters programme (busy week eh?) There are 15 students in the programme, and I am the only one not graduated from U.W.E. A little unnerving, but apparently normal in England (most students who continue their studies stay at their school). The professors all seemed nice and approachable (not always the case at Rice, as Natalie can confirm with Skura), they had wine and cheese with us after the ceremony. Free food/drink is definitely a benefit of being a student :) My first class is Monday, and I am trying to get in all of the pre-reading while desperately searching employment; already a lot more work than undergrad!