Foggy London Town: Passport Shenanigans

So we arrived in London on December 26th after a lovely but strange first Christmas away from home. And Andy forgot his money belt on the plane. He decided that it was bothering his neck and so he tucked it away in the seat back pocket and there it stayed. We discovered it was missing when we arrived from the train to the immigration. The security lady almost let us ride back to the plane on a security truck but after a call to her manager she changed her mind. So we stood in line and Andy made it into the country with his Spanish ID card and we rushed to the easyjet desk only to find out the worst news ever from the lady there. She told us that easyjet contracts with a lost and found company for everything left on the plane and our only option would be to call them, leave a message and wait for them to call us back if they found the item. She also told us there was no way we would be making our flight to Dublin so we trudged out of the airport and tried to use our spanish bank account to access money but the atm wouldn't recognize the card so I had to use my card from home and suck up the crappy exchange rate so we had some money. So we bought a coach ticket into London because the airport we arrived at was an hour and a half outside of central London. So we rode and rode through the traffic and arrived at Victoria Station disoriented and overwhelmed by the fact we were in a city we knew next to nothing about with no one we knew and no place to stay. But we wandered a bit and found a "hotel" that cost only 40 pounds a night and we booked it. It was seedy and dirty but it had a tv so we crashed on the bed and watched the Chronicles of Narnia. At 4 am, I woke up to what I truly believe were the sounds of prostitutes soliciting business in the hallway outside of our room and I listened to their drunken raucousness for hours. But the breakfast the next morning cheered my spirits especially because of the tasty tea and the stack of toast we received. So we set out for the day and walked around looking at Westminster, Big Ben, the London Eye and Buckingham Palace. We also found an internet cafe so we could book a new place to stay asap. We stayed one more night at the "hotel" and utilized some Nyquil to assist our sleeping process and thigns went smoother. Then we moved to a great youth hostel where we made some great friends even though we only stayed for two nights. We called the lost and found people several times over the days and finally yesterday we received an email from them that they located Andy's passport. The stress of a missing passport is difficult to convey but Andy also had 150 euros in his satchel and when we checked in with the embassy for an appointment to get a replacement passport, they didn't even have an appointment available until the day we were supposed to leave London. Rediculous. So we were incredibly relieved to find out it was safe. Although, getting is was a whole other battle. It was in an office beyond Stansted airport so we took the tube, a bus and a train to get there. We spent all our money on the transportation and Andy forgot to save 5 pounds to pay the fee to get it back so we had another crisis until we used our american card again. And then we had seven minutes to run back to the train platform and catch the train so we ran and ran with our lungs burning in the 1 degree weather, and just missed the train. The town we were in was tiny tiny tiny and everything was closed. The next train wasn't for another hour. So then we found ourselves in rural England stomping around on a train platform in the cold counting down the minutes until the train came back for us. And finally it did after several dance routines for me to get my blood flowing. So we rode back, checked in with the awesome five star hotel we are transfering to tomorrow, courtesy of my dad's holiday inn reward points, to make sure there wouldn't be any problems. And now we are sitting in the basement of our hostel using the internet and waiting to take the bus to go to our hotel. I feel very very lucky to have turned things around for the best and I am truly enjoying our time in London. It's a very comfortable and beautiful city. And New Years is going to be wonderful and I think we will camp out near the fireworks over the London Eye with some champagne. I am also hoping we can find some discount tickets to go see Wicked and I want to take a tour of the Tower of London. So lots to do and fun to be had.

Christmas in Palma

Today is the very first Christmas day I have ever spent away from home and it feels very strange. Andy and I bought a small fake Christmas tree and we bought several lovely presents for each other (boots, necklace and tea set for me; spain flag, barcelona jersey and cd for Andy) but being away from family for Christmas is a surreal feeling. Especially with the warm weather outside. But we are making the most of it while we can. The only challenge at this point is that both of us are feeling under the weather and we need to start packing for our adventures to Dublin and London tomorrow. Yikes!

But tonight we are going to make a huge dinner with our roommates that I am really looking forward to. Here is the menu:

Deviled Eggs
Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna
Pork Roast
Glazed Carrots
Corn
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
And Banana Bread for dessert

We'll see if we can get it all together in a timely manner so dinner is hot all at once. Last night, Andy and I went to Jill's house for a delicious curry Christmas Eve dinner and her kids were so excited that they kept running around in circles around everything chanting "Christmas is tomorrow, Christmas is tomorrow!" It put me in a festive mood. Jill's parents also flew in from Manchester so we left her dad in charge of the kids and walked down to the Cathedral for midnight mass. The huge cathedral was decorated with lots of danglies from the ceiling and the effect was charming. We arrived at 10:30 and the service began at 11 with quite a bit of singing and frankincense. Yuck. I do not like the smell of that stuff. Unfortunately the service was completely in Catalan so I understood very little but the organ and the singing was captivating and we stayed until midnight but we weren't very far through the program so we ditched and walked back home under the Christmas lights. Funny side story though: On Calle Sindicat in the old town we had heard a pretty noisy party going on above one of the stores on the walk to the Cathedral and then when we were walking back home, an old woman near the loud apartment was out on her terrace with a sizeable stick banging onto the windows of the partyers. It was absolutely hilarious. She was very seriously shaking a stick at them and nobody was listening to her whatsoever. Perfect. Anyways, I need to go get the eggs ready and have a little snack before kitchen madness commences. Merry Christmas everyone. I hope it's a good one!

I may or may not have been struck by lightning

So here's the deal. The weather here in Palma today is outrageously bad and ugly. It has been pouring all day with various spurts of thunder, rain, hail and wind. So I bundled up to go to work and took the toasty warm bus to my stop where I walk an additional 15 minutes or so to get to my school. On rainy days it can be a bit of a bummer, especially because I walk on an overpass above the train tracks and the wind gets a little nasty that high up. Well, I made it to school with only the tops my shoes getting wet but the heat was off so it was pretty cold in our classroom. Even the kiddies wore their coats. Angel the English teacher was super busy so he left me alone with the 5th grade math students to administer a test. Not that big of a deal except that the first class I worked with was out of control and had no qualms about yelling the answers and whispering insults in spanish at each other. But I got it done and luckily the class is always held in the computer lab so I sent the devils to the computers when they finished and paced around to keep warm. The English classes later in the day were more enjoyable because they practiced their song to sing for the Christmas concert on Monday. And all of the music is from Momma Mia. Love it. So we learned "I have a dream" by ABBA. Fantastic.

Now to the good part. It was absolutely pouring down rain when I left the school and it was the end of the school day so I elbowed my way through several layers of concerned parents holding umbrellas outside waiting for their little ones to arrive. I booked it toward the bus while keeping an eye on the ever-increasing level of water on the road because of the possibility of being drenched by a car's spray. So I was running/power walking and at the top of the overpass a car honked at me and just then a big spark flew off my umbrella and my fingers were shocked as a huge clap of thunder banged overhead. I don't think I was struck by lightning because it really didn't hurt all that bad but I was so crazed by the weather and the circumstances that I slammed my umbrella closed and picked up my pace toward the bus while screaming at the top of my lungs, "My life is a joke!" I felt a bit better after some screaming and then it started hailing so I continued yelling while glaring at my lightning rod umbrella dangling uselessly in my hand while I got soaked through and through. So I may have been struck by lightning. But everything is fine now.

Another week gone by

Today I arrived at my school and the substitute I've been working with (more on that later) wasn't there so I milled around a bit feeling awkward and then decided to go back home. I was told the sub was having car problems and no one seemed to know if she would be coming back in anytime in the foreseeable future. Since I don't have keys to the English classroom or access to the lesson plans, I felt lost without guidance so I just left, feeling slightly guilty but also looking forward to the fabulous bed that awaited me back home. And I took a really great two hour nap!

So the sub. My main teacher, Lauren, is always on her game and pretty much teaches English single handedly to 300 kids. But she was chosen for a training session that lasts until Christmas so last week she mentioned that I would be working with a sub until the new year. Patricia the sub is a very nice woman but she is not an English teacher and she normally works with three year olds. So to say the least things were a bit of a challenge on Tuesday. I had the normal misunderstandings as she spoke Spanish and when I spoke English she didn't really understand either. We made it through the day though without any terrible incidents so I considered it a success.

To cheer myself up and get things moving into the Christmas spirit, I bought ingredients to make sugar cookies. They were very difficult to cook because our stupid oven has two settings of hot and super hot so I had to closely monitor the cookies and a couple batches burned but the remaining turned out quite pleasant. Andy and I also hitched a ride to Ikea on the number 14 bus where we bought some Christmas presents for the house such as a garlic press and oven mitts as well as some wrapping paper, ribbon and ornaments. We bought a little fake tree at the Chinese Bazaar across the street and thus, Christmas decorations have taken root in our lovely homestead. We also had a new roommate move in so we are now six and evenings are very cosy as we huddle together for warmth in our unheated apartment. Things are going well.

Remembering

Kevin, Eric, Andy Mardock (with his head turned), Barett, Me and Megan celebrating
Andy Mardock's birthday in the mountains

A Full Week

This week I . . .

Struggled to come to terms with the death of Barett, a friend from the University of Oregon who I met through Andy

Remembered Barett through photos taken of a few very fun weekends spent at the Oregon Coast/mountains and from Eugene

Had a breakthrough with three of my sixth graders who my teacher terms "slow" but really I think they just needed a chance and someone to believe in them

Had a four day weekend filled with late nights drinking, meeting friends and a particularly memorable trip to Valldemossa

Watched the office with my hilariously awesome roommates

Made curry lentil stew and ate it all

Received the best care package in the world filled with countless goodies and very useful items like a purse and an umbrella that made me realize just how lucky I am to have my family