My grandparents are visiting us in England right now. It's nice to see your relatives again, but there was a bonus as well. My grandfather, Carey, was a student at Christ's College for 2 years, so he is an alumnus of Cambridge. If you are an alumnus and you would like to come back to Cambridge, you may, with some special privileges. With his special 'former alumni' card, he could take the rest of us could take a tour of some colleges - for free. So we went strolling about King's College Yard and we saw the famous Bridge of Sighs from 50 meters away (if Carey was a St. Johns pupil we could have been on it), and one of his friend's friends (who happened to be a fellow of King's College) took him to the King's College Chapel for a church service. We got to sit in seats that very high standard people would sit in because we were the guests of the fellow of King's College.
The service was great. The priest was very good, and the material was more interesting than most church services I have been to.
But the cherry on top of the whole thing was the choir. Carey said there were contests for boys all over England to be part of that choir. The sound was absolutely amazing. It really made me think of how the human voice could be not just a plain old voice, but an instrument.
After the amazing service, the friend's friend (a.k.a Dr. Keith Carne) was asked by Mom how old the boys in the choir were. He said, "Maybe from ages 8 to 18." Then Mom asked about how if they started from age 8, would they keep singing until 18. "No, they just sing until their voices break." Everyone must have been stunned at this, because throughout the tour of the dining hall of King's College and over the college bridge, no one spoke much (or at least not as much as they had before). However, it was still quite a nice day to have.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Bath and Stonehenge
On Sunday the 19th of October, we took a tour of both Bath and Stonehenge. It was quite a lot of fun to see some famous places in England for a change instead of seeing all the museums in the U.S.A.
First, our tour guide drove us to Stonehenge. He said we would have 1 and a half hours of free time. He recommended that we take the free audio guide, so we did.
We had seen the site of Stonehenge as we drove to it, but when it was right there, 50 yards ahead of you, it was even better.
The audio guide was very detailed and gave you an excellent blend of history, architecture, and the special character of Stonehenge. It also explained the many different reasons that Stonehenge was built. According to the guide, Stonehenge could have been an early form of graveyard.
After our audio guide was done, we sat down and had some hot chocolate. Then, Dad and I explored the cow pasture near Stonehenge (his blog is at http://nmafpblog.blogspot.com ). When we got back to the bus, it was time to go to Bath.
We were about five minutes away from Bath when I caught a glimpse of a beautiful Georgian-style city on a lush hill overlooking a valley. It turns out that it was Bath. WE got about 1 hour of free time when we got there, which was mostly spent on lunch at a Parisian cafe and exploring the Roman Baths. Afterward, we thought we would not take a tour that our guide had offered us, and we admired the River Avon. But as we looked up at Pultney Bridge, we saw our guide's long curly hair and his face appear to be walking across the bridge. So we said, "What the hey, let's follow him." and so we did.
He led us to the north of the city to a place called the Royal Circle, which was a roundabout full of apartments that looked exactly the same (the whole city was made out of the same kind of stone). It looked like a palace, put it was really split up into different sections. We then walked on the the Royal Crescent, which was the same as the Royal Circle except bigger and semi-circle shaped. It overlooked a field covered with life-size painted pigs. ????? It turns out that they were being auctioned in that field to get rid of them. But why all the colors? Well, there was a story that goes:
The pigs in the field represent the pigs in the story. The town had made them, but they were getting in the way, so they were going to auction them off.
After that view of the weird pigs, the guide picked us up in the bus and we drove home.
First, our tour guide drove us to Stonehenge. He said we would have 1 and a half hours of free time. He recommended that we take the free audio guide, so we did.
We had seen the site of Stonehenge as we drove to it, but when it was right there, 50 yards ahead of you, it was even better.
The audio guide was very detailed and gave you an excellent blend of history, architecture, and the special character of Stonehenge. It also explained the many different reasons that Stonehenge was built. According to the guide, Stonehenge could have been an early form of graveyard.
After our audio guide was done, we sat down and had some hot chocolate. Then, Dad and I explored the cow pasture near Stonehenge (his blog is at http://nmafpblog.blogspot.com ). When we got back to the bus, it was time to go to Bath.
We were about five minutes away from Bath when I caught a glimpse of a beautiful Georgian-style city on a lush hill overlooking a valley. It turns out that it was Bath. WE got about 1 hour of free time when we got there, which was mostly spent on lunch at a Parisian cafe and exploring the Roman Baths. Afterward, we thought we would not take a tour that our guide had offered us, and we admired the River Avon. But as we looked up at Pultney Bridge, we saw our guide's long curly hair and his face appear to be walking across the bridge. So we said, "What the hey, let's follow him." and so we did.
He led us to the north of the city to a place called the Royal Circle, which was a roundabout full of apartments that looked exactly the same (the whole city was made out of the same kind of stone). It looked like a palace, put it was really split up into different sections. We then walked on the the Royal Crescent, which was the same as the Royal Circle except bigger and semi-circle shaped. It overlooked a field covered with life-size painted pigs. ????? It turns out that they were being auctioned in that field to get rid of them. But why all the colors? Well, there was a story that goes:
Once there was a prince of a kingdom who was going to become king as soon as his father died. However, the poor boy had a mysterious skin disease that even the royal doctors could not cure. So, the prince was banished from the castle grounds, never to be king unless he was cured. So the prince wandered around some fields when he found a farmer. He asked the farmer, "May I take care of your pigs?" he was young and wanted to please, you see. So the farmer let him take care of his pigs, not knowing about the prince's skin disease. Soon later, the pigs had the strange disease too, and they started turning into strange colors, polka-dotted spirals, and every other pattern you could imagine. The prince was embarrassed at this, so he went to a nearby lake to wash his hands. When he took them out of the water, he was cured! He sprinted back to the castle and showed his father that he was cured. He became king and they all lived happily ever after.
The pigs in the field represent the pigs in the story. The town had made them, but they were getting in the way, so they were going to auction them off.
After that view of the weird pigs, the guide picked us up in the bus and we drove home.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Mushy Peas
When I have a bite to eat at school, like lunch, I sit and watch my British friends using some strange methods to eat their food. First of all, they always take stuff and mush it onto the back of their fork, especially peas. And pretty much 100% of the school does it, so I feel like some weirdo who just got warped into Britain from a planet that doesn't know anything about British eating habits.
Another thing is that they sometimes take everything on their plate and make a mixture of all sorts of stuff. Usually, I keep most of my food separated, so I find it quite disgusting to see my classmates putting their peas in the rice and the rice all over the bread with a delicious topping of onions. Yuck.
Another thing is that they sometimes take everything on their plate and make a mixture of all sorts of stuff. Usually, I keep most of my food separated, so I find it quite disgusting to see my classmates putting their peas in the rice and the rice all over the bread with a delicious topping of onions. Yuck.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
The Way of the Brits
What has given me my biggest thing to ponder about in GB is all the customs that the Britons have. At a pub, there is a so-called 'invisible queue' which is a line of who ordered their drinks first. To get in the queue, you have to rest your elbow on the bar, maybe with some money or the menu in your hand. When the bartender nods at you, you are in the queue. But that is if you are only going to drink. If you want to have dinner there, you can get the bartender's attention and tell him what you want from the menu.
When we have a rugby match against another school, the hosts usually have match tea, or a small dinner after the match to eat and socialize with the other team. But they are usually just when the visitors are coming from far away. For example, I had a match where we had to take a bus from St. Faiths (our school in Cambridge) to a school called Wellingborough, which is in the middle of England. After we lost 21-5 to them, we had match tea in a nice cafeteria (much nicer than at St. Faiths) and had lasagna.
The British are very big about their queuing habits. My dad read a book called "Watching the English" which is about the hidden customs/rules in England. Kate Fox, the author, experimented with how people would react by her cutting in line. She noticed that they looked quite angry, but that they were too polite to say anything about it. From my experiences in America, if you cut someone in line, accidental or not, they will say something like, "Hey, get back there," or whatever.
Overall, the British are much more polite-ish than most Americans, which makes life a lot more different in England.
When we have a rugby match against another school, the hosts usually have match tea, or a small dinner after the match to eat and socialize with the other team. But they are usually just when the visitors are coming from far away. For example, I had a match where we had to take a bus from St. Faiths (our school in Cambridge) to a school called Wellingborough, which is in the middle of England. After we lost 21-5 to them, we had match tea in a nice cafeteria (much nicer than at St. Faiths) and had lasagna.
The British are very big about their queuing habits. My dad read a book called "Watching the English" which is about the hidden customs/rules in England. Kate Fox, the author, experimented with how people would react by her cutting in line. She noticed that they looked quite angry, but that they were too polite to say anything about it. From my experiences in America, if you cut someone in line, accidental or not, they will say something like, "Hey, get back there," or whatever.
Overall, the British are much more polite-ish than most Americans, which makes life a lot more different in England.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
A Day in London
On Saturday October 4th, I went to London to celebrate my birthday, which was the day before. It was quite interesting to compare Cambridge, where we are living, and London. The first thing that struck me was that London was almost completely empty of bikes. It was like they had gone extinct in the period of time it took to get from Cambridge to London. Also, the immenseness of the city made me feel more like a foreigner than I ever was. Everybody seemed to know exactly where they were going and when the thing was happening. We were stopping at practically every corner to look at the map. When we finally got home back to Cambridge, I felt much more normal as I sat down at our local pub and had a bite to eat.
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