Dancin in the Streets

This is a post dedicated to all things street theatre, music, dancing, etc including Covent Garden street theatre, underground musicians, and Chinese New Year. Why you ask? Because London is all about dancing in the streets and its ridiculous enough that it deserves its own post. Plus, I have some really funny pictures that just must be shared.

First off, Covent Garden, the self-proclaimed home of street theatre! To start, Covent Garden is a market area with all different kinds of booths and then shops surrounding these. In every corner of the market there are street performers rotating in and out. Everyone from magicians to musicians to acrobats and much more line up to showcase their talents and make some spare change and maybe be "discovered." I learned later that you actually have to audition to even perform there. When I went, I saw a crazy woman doing acrobatics with plastic knifes and a neon pink leotard, a group of dancing violinists, and an opera singer. I wonder how much money they make? And if they have other jobs? I went on a weekday so they can't have a regular 9-5 type job. If school doesn't work out for me, I'm coming back and bringing my mandolin that I still haven't learned to play. If I mix that with my ex-cheerleader skills I think I could have a really interesting show.

I believe those are vegetable steamers she is wearing as a bra.

Dancing fiddlers!

Next, underground musicians. So, most big cities have performers in their metro/subway systems, but London's seem to be the most prepared/ well established/ interesting that I have seen. And some of them are really talented (and as you can guess others are not). My favorite guy I've seen at a few different locations but he always has his electric guitar and amp and is like really goin at it. He plays like hard rock too, not your typical elevator music. They don't shy away from being loud either. I can generally hear the musicians playing from way up the escalator before I even get down by the tube. This could also be a future career for me if I had any musical abilities at all.

Lastly, Chinese New Year. I heard, although this could be completely inaccurate, that London has the largest Chinese New Year celebration outside of Asia. I heard it over the radio in Wales so don't quote me on that, but I would believe it. There were so many people gathered in the streets that there were times when you literally couldn't move. And it wasn't just a couple short streets either. The crowd spread through all of Chinatown and Trafalgar Square and pretty much everywhere else nearby as well. Honestly it was kind of lame though. There were performances on a stage but the crowd was so big I couldn't see them. And it was just an endless sea of people pushing you and tripping you and this giant dragon throwing lettuce at you and banging a drum in your ear. Granted, I really hate crowds, so if you don't mind them then you could have found some way to have fun, but I couldn't get over the not being able to move thing. And then when we tried to go sit at a restaurant and eat, one person told us to go upstairs then the upstairs guy yelled at us to get out and go downstairs. I was so over it, so we left and ate lunch at a British restaurant instead. Best. decision. ever. If I stayed at the festival two more minutes I might have had a panic attack. I'm being a bit dramatic but in summary I would not go again next year even if I was in London.

Happy Chinese New Year!

That's all folks. for now.

Day Trips Part 3: Stonehenge and Salisbury

So, its no secret that I am probably the biggest nerd in the world. Don't worry you can agree, I'm not ashamed. And now one of my nerdiest dreams has come true, seeing Stonehenge! I have wanted to go to Stonehenge for as long as I can remember. Studying it in elementary school always fascinated me. Its actually all a part of my larger archaeological fascination with megaliths (aka big rocks), seeing that another one of my dreams is to visit the giant statues at Easter Island. Let's be honest, my dad and I may or may not have carved the Easter Island statues out of potatoes when I was younger. (PS thanks Dad, best project ever!) Anyway, I have been super excited about Stonehenge since I bought the bus ticket the first week of classes, like giddy with excitement. Everyone warned me its really boring, but I refused to let anyone stifle my enthusiasm.

My first visit to one of the 7 wonders!

For the record, it is a little boring. I mean, the only thing to do is look at rocks and it was cold and rainy. BUT I still loved it because now I have pictures in front of it and I learned a few new interesting facts. Such as...

Here goes, some of the main myths of how stonehenge got there:

(1) Giants brought the stones to Ireland from Africa and then no one could move them from Ireland so Merlin got frustrated and flew them over himself.

(2) The devil found the stones in Ireland in a woman's back yard. He wanted them for some reason or another so he made a deal with her that she could have as much money as she could count while he was packing up the stones. She thought since the stones were so large it would take him a long time and she would be "as rich as a princess." Turns out, however, that the devil is pretty strong and he picked all up in seconds and she got pretty much nothing. The devil carried the stones and flew them over to England, dropping a few along the way which are still scattered across the English countryside.

(3) Aliens.

Yep, that's pretty much what I learned from stonehenge. Oh, and that the stones came from Wales and were once thought to have healing properties when pieces were dropped into drinking wells. Stonehenge is officially checked off the bucket list!

Since the bus ride was 2 hours long and we were only at Stonehenge for an hour, they drove us to Salisbury too, which was nearby. The main thing in Salisbury is the beautiful cathedral which is home to the largest steeple in the UK, the oldest working clock, and the best preserved of the 4 original copies of the Magna Carta.

Salisbury Cathedral

Salisbury is also home to a cute town and lots of shops though. Tapas were eaten, tea was had, and stores were entered (though nothing was bought, sadly). Then back on the bus and home again.

Salisbury... Beautiful town and crisp, clean air!

Short post today but don't worry tomorrow is the Chinese New Year parade/festival so updates will follow as well a description of ridiculous London street theatre.

Cultural Immersion UK Style

So, when I decided to come to the UK a lot of people were like "Why go somewhere that speaks the same language?" Or "It's just like a better/worse (depending on the person) version of the US?" Or "You should go somewhere more interesting and/or exotic."

Well, I am officially here to say that the UK is plenty culturally dissimilar. I mean sure I am not becoming fluent in another language while abroad or sure it's more similar to the US than many parts of the globe, but its not like I'm just in a distant part of DC or anything. I mean I've only been here for about 3 weeks and I have already been introduced to 2 new languages (native to the UK), eaten a whole bunch of food I've never heard of or tasted, and learned a whole lotta history I didn't know before.

First for the languages:

Croeso i Gymru means "Welcome to Wales" in Welsh, which is one of the weirdest languages I've ever heard by the way. I went to Cardiff, Wales Friday and the language spoken sounds nothing like it looks written. In fact, written it looks completely unpronouncable. There are approximately 10 consonants per vowel (I reserve the right for artistic exaggeration). Well that is until you take into count that y's are always vowels and w's are also vowels. Millenium Stadium, where all the rugby and soccer matches are played, is spelled Stadiwm y Mileniwm. And Wales is spelled Cymru though you change it to Gymru in certain sentences. And Cardiff Castle is Castell Caerdydd. Don't try to pronounce these out loud unless you know Welsh because you will inevitably mispronounce.

Second language? None other than Cockney or Cockney Rhyming Slang or whatever you prefer to refer to it as. Granted, it's not a language proper and its kind of along the lines of pig latin or jibberish but its different in the fact that it holds cultural and historical value, oh and the fact that its way more fun to learn. I have recently been introduced to Cockney talk by a lovely Canadian who's been here since first term, a dapper young englishmen, and a few others along the way. Its now officially my goal to learn as much as possible and annoyingly speak it to everyone who won't understand when I return to the states.

Cockney lesson 101 (aka some of my favorite words I've learned): Rosie is tea, dog and bone is phone, ruby is curry, Anchor Spreadable is incredible, Alan is flu, and Antiseptic is Antiamerican. How do Cockney rhymes work you may ask? Well, they are like rhyming word associations, so some are obvious like dog and bone phone but others are more complicated antiseptic. Septic tank= yank so antiseptic means anti-yank or antiamerican. Apparently you just have to learn the vocab and while new words are occasionally made you can't really make it up as you go.

Ok, now for weird food:

Raclette- its a swiss dish I think. Its this cheese that heated and bubbled and then scraped over potatoes and pickles

Mulled Wine- ok this isn't that weird but I had never had it until I got here and here its everywhere, especially outdoor markets because its so cold and now I'm officially a fan

Pies- the British will put anything in a pie. Just think Sweeney Todd.

pickled everything- they seem to love pickles, and pickled sandwiches and museums have pickled animals...

Mayonnaise crazy- they love mayonnaise and not in moderation

Chips vs. Crisps- chips are french fries, crisps are potato chips

OK and I am not going into all of the European history I'm learning because that is both boring for me to write and boring for you to read. In summary, however, it involves art museums, bus tours, castle visits and the like.