Airport hell

Okay I’m awake now. I wanted to update yesterday but I hadn’t slept for 60 hours and was feeling a bit like a zombie.

As you can imagine, it was a long trip getting to Namibia. I didn’t sleep at all during the flight to London, so by the time I met up with Allison at Heathrow I was in a bit of a daze. It was an unusually sunny day in London. We grabbed a bite of macaroni and cheese at the Bridge Eating House (where sadly they were not offering any bridges as dishes), and then we tried to nap on the bench in front of the Burberry store, but was unfortunately continuously awakened by Katy Perry mall music being blasted to motive travelers to shop.


ah, Heathrow airport, you and your many benches that everyone tries to sleep on.

I didn’t get any sleep on my next overnight trip to Johannesburg either. For the record, an eleven hour flight is an extremely long flight if you don’t sleep through it. On the bright side, we got a glimpse of a full moon over Paris. Also, I was being extremely well fed – over the last few days, I’ve had so many airplane meals that I’m starting to like them, a lot.


view from the plane of the full moon over paris

Once we arrived at the Johannesburg airport, we looked for that sense of Africa, but ultimately we just got a sense of airport, which is pretty universal/international. One more flight, and we finally arrived in Windhoek, Namibia! By that point, I had not slept since Sunday night (it was now Wednesday), and I was pretty convinced I’m never going on a plane again.

These were my first impressions once arriving in Windhoek:
1. Palm trees! At the airport!
2. Wow, there is desert everywhere!
3. The airport is small.
4. This airport reminds me of Kamloops BC.

Driving on the left side of the road is really freaking me out. Also, it was really hot – at least I think it was. Our drive blasted the heater for the whole drive into the city, so maybe actually this is cold for Windhoek. Whatever. As we drove into the city, I got more and more excited. I’m in Namibia! I’m in Africa! And everything was so beautiful – the long stretches of desert, the rolling hills. And then there is downtown Windhoek itself! As we drove through, I got this weird feeling of falling in love with this place. Unfortunately, photos will have to wait because I forgot to bring the right cord to connect my camera to my computer (bangs head against wall).

We had a lovely first night here. We went to a NICE restaurant - the Namibian Institute of Culinary Education, with a scientist from Stanford doing research here, a German woman doing research on water in the north, a UN worker, and a retired businessman motorcycling his way through Africa. We got to try a yummy local beer called Camelthorn (which I keep accidentall referring to as Cameltoe). But most importantly, I got to sleep in a REAL BED, and slept for about eleven hours.



locally brewed Camelthorn (not Cameltoe) beer.

posing with your gods

luke and i have started collecting adjectives that we use to describe our experiences in london. mine include words like "visually stunning" and "religiously enthusiastic". luke uses words like "goddamn ridiculous" (meant to be said in awe) and "con job". he doesn't know it, but i've started collecting luke-isms.

about St. Vincent's Cathedral: "It's so big. It's like two CN towers with a cross stuck on top."

about the London Tower: "It's almost as good as a Starcraft fortress. Almost."

about Jackson Pollock: "Goddamn con job."

and this is why i enjoy having luke as a travelling companion.

today we hit up the British Museum, which, to put it in the words of luke, is awesome because the British plundered everything of value in the world and stuck it in that museum. good old imperialism. there we saw the freaking Rosetta Stone (!!!), greek sculptures plundered from the parthenon and real life egyptian mummies. well, not so really living (that would be a horrow show), but actual mummies. we also saw the korean exhibit (luke: "starcraft?") and the japanese one - the japanese one was bigger and also contained some korean artifacts that they doubtlessly plundered from the korean when they were doing their imperialist thing. go figure.

we also took the time to check out city hall, the tower bridge and the london tower, which i was too cheap to go into (16 pounds, really! con job.). the best part of my day, however, was going to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and attending a theatrical production of King Lear...for five pounds! luke and i were right in the front row, up against the stage too - it was a sweet deal that appealed to my cheap korean sensisbility immensely. we were so close to the action, i was afraid that the swords were going to accidentally put my eyes out. The Globe theatre is set up like the theatres of Shakespeare's times, with an acoustic stage (no microphones), an open air concept (thank god it didn't rain), expensive-ish seats in the back and standing room for the peasants (luke and i got peasant tickets).

it was really, really great. i forgot how much i like shakespeare. we all go through this stage about how much we hate shakespeare and the way all his tragedies end the same with with the hero's fate of death and the freaking metaphors and imagery that our english teachers shoved down our throats. but away from the high school setting, you suddenly realize how accessible those plays from the 16th century can be - i look at the daughters arguing with king lear and think, who hasn't fought with their parents before? i was amazed that i could be so moved at an old, old play with people speaking in old english accents.

luke and i walked back home and it was a long long walk. i really hope that i will start losing weight soon with all this walking that i'm doing. i was hoping to do the euro-diet - lots of walking, and little eating because you have no money. unfortunately, i'm spending a lot of money of beers, because i love the London pub scene, even if half the bars seem to close before midnight. luke and i found this out the hard way when we tried to find a bar on our way home - he still refuses to go to the club Heaven with me. oh well, the sidewalk curb is just as good.

tomorrow luke and i will part when i take the train down to Brighton to meet Tay, and after that i leave britain for Madrid. hopefully i'll slow down and won't go through money so freaking fast, because i've only been travelling for a few days and have already gone through an obscene amount of money. i'll be a little sad to leave England - it really is a quaint country, despite all this never-ending rain. it was a great place to start my european journey, since it is similar enough to home that there isn't as big a culture shock. plus everyone here speaks english (even if i can't understand the british accent half the time, or what the heck "franked mail" is). i think i will be all right in Paris because i speak some french, but Madrid is going to be interesting, since my spanish skills are limited to "una cervoza por favor". hopefully it'll all work out.

let me know of any suggestions of places i must visit in madrid!

i peed in parliament today

also noteworthy: i walked on art.

luke and i have done so many things today that i can't even remember it all. i'm glad we met up with Farah for dinner, because she was able to show us around a bit and give us advice on what's worth checking out. with her cute british accent. afterwards we went pub hopping and discovered different kinds of beer that we liked (and some beers that we didn't like). the pubs were pretty packed, even for a monday night, probably because the chelsea-liverpool "football" "match" was on. we watched too, and figured out which team we were rooting for based on which one was winning (chelsea). it made us feel very british.

the hostel here isn't too bad - it's pretty clean, friendly and secure, compared to the montreal hostel i've been staying at since i was eighteen. communal living is a little strange though - i am not as used to getting nonchalantly naked with strangers as i would have expected. plus my roommates here are all in bed by the time i get in at midnight, and they are all up and out the door by 6AM. what on earth could they be doing so bloody early in the morning?

luke made me get up early this morning so we could have a full day. we decided to hit up all the stereotypical London tourist things today. we took a stroll through Hyde Park over to the Serpentine Lake where we saw two ducks mating. luke thought they were just diving for fish but i knew better.

we also watched the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. they had a cavalry and a marching band. i thought they'd play something traditional like the national anthem, but the band played a jazzy version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", which made me miss the days of being in concert band.

we tried to go to 10 Downing Street to see where Margaret Thatcher led the world with an iron fist into a decade of conservatism, but the security there was too confusing to get in. instead, we went over to the houses of parliament (BIG BEN!) where we sat in on a session of the House of Lords. Luke and i were in search of the crazy ghost of Lord Denning, and his crazy crazy rulings in law cases. yes, i am fully aware that this makes me a nerd, but i thought it was all really cool.

after that, we wandered down the River Thames and saw a million tourist traps that we weren't willing to spend money on. until we found the Tate Modern! which was, to my shock, free. and totally awesome. i had really wanted to go but wasn't sure if luke would be into that sort of stuff, but surprisingly he said it would be cool, so we went. it was mind-blowing to see all these famous works of Pablo Picasse, Diego Riviera, Piet Mondrian, Jackson Pollack, Andy freaking Warhol and probably more guys that i am too excited to remember. Luke called it all a con job and may or may not be considering dropping out of law school to become a similar con job artist. there was a special Marcel DuChamp exhibit going on (complete with the L.H.O.O.Q. installation) but they were charging us money so i didn't want to go. sigh. it would have been so cool. as a little girl from little old ottawa, i have never seen so many famous works of art up close. IT WAS SO COOL. again, i realize what a nerd this makes me, but that's what i like about museums - they make it seem a bit more hip.


we took a long walk back, stopping by another pub for more british beer, and i got to try british-made fish and chips for the first time. we also almost got kidnapped by some scientologists on our walk back, but my quick thinking saved the day. no tom cruise just yet!

other british things i'd like to find:
the spice girls
oompah-loompahs
Hogwarts
that park that Mary Poppins goes to.
bangers & mash
Thom Yorke
M.I.A.

bedouin soundclash is playing at the hostel cafe right now. canadian music makes me miss home. okay i better go. i don't intent to keep posting long entries like this -i'm just too tired to go out tonight so i'm staying in this time. gotta get ready for tomorrow - luke and i are going to go see King Lear at Shakespeare's Globe!

london

so i realized that i came to london and forgot to pack a rain coat. i'm a moron. i'm going to re-think my entire wardrobe while i'm here in london. i'm thinking bikini and flipflops. it hasn't stopped raining since i got here...well now it has stopped, but as soon as i step out it'll rain again. i'm writing this from a sketchy internet "cafe" somewhere downtown.

otherwise london is pretty neat. my guidebook tells me that england is a culinary wasteland, but there's no way that the food here can be worse than the stuff they served on the plane ride here.

mental note: depending on an overnight flight to get a night's sleep is not a good idea.

right now, i am exploring the city with luke, who is, when i am sober, my esteemed colleague at law, and when i am not so sober, a dirty pole. in a couple hours we're going to meet up with my girlfriend Farah from dinner, an old friend from Ottawa who has since moved back to London and curiously picked up a much thicker British accent than i remember. i've only been here for a few hours but since i've landed, i've already ridden the train, watched someone get kicked off the train, rode the tube, and visited an Ann Summers Store (to ask for directions).

okay i'm going to try to take advantage of this momentary sun.

hey candi: the biggest lesbian bar here is called the Candy Bar. not that i'm making any suggestions about you but i still want to try to find it and take a photo of it for you.