My Hair Was Whack

Well, the hairstylist didn't say so in so many words, but I got the idea. Yesterday May Gu swung by the house and we scurried off together. She informed in the car that we're going to the salon. Again, you ask? Yeah, only this time it's a posh salon in Taipei - Vis à Vis. She was getting her hair straightened and said I was getting mine deep conditioned. Everytime she takes us, as in any of us younger cousins, it's always luxury city: we eat well, drink well and whatever else we do, we always end up spending a lot of money. I was, like, 'Sure.' Hey, if she wanted to pay, who am I to say no? I got a pedicure thrown in, too. And then a brow trim at the very end.

Posh salons sure are different, lemme tell ya! The massaging was sooooooo much better; I was falling asleep during it! The girl did an awesome pedicure and they carried O.P.I. nail polish, too! Yay.

After consulting with May Gu about what to do with her hair, the hairstylis, Yoko, turned her artistic eye to my hair and said, 'Why don't I give it a cut?' My response was a horrified look and a squaked, 'Shorter? Oh God, no!' She replied, 'No, no, not shorter. I'm just gonna give your hair a bit of shape.' Translation? 'Girl, yo hair is whack! You ain't leaving my salon lookin' like that!' Okay, okay, I hear ya loud and clear.

In the end, it was a good choice because she defined my layers and so it's got a bit of shape to it now besides being just long and straight. She also changed my part to the left, saying that if you keep the same part for too long, you'll start to go bald there - not that I've had my hair parted on the right long enough for it to start going bald.

So my hair looks nice but it's so thin now. I'm not terribly bothered by it since it grows like there ain't no tomorrow and it's the style here, but still, I have never been one to religiously follow the latest styles. Oh well, it's just hair and it'll grow out. At least it's not whack anymore!

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Tetley's In Taiwan!

I went to Taipei again last night with May Gu because I had to go return/exchange a book at Eslite. Before we did that though, we shopped around Taipei 101. My favourite was Jason's Market Place on the first basement floor. Why? It sold all sorts of foreign foods and products, giving me small slices of home (read: what I'm familiar with).

There was so much there! I could probably live here and eat what I ate back in England (although I didn't see any steak or cottage pies...) and I was so amazed. Wennie had said that one can buy just about anything in Taiwan these days but I had no idea.

I don't remember everything that was there but I do distinctly remember Tide and Vanish, Patak's (Indian) curry sauces - omg, I can get curry here! *tear* - and best of all, English tea. YES, ENGLISH TEA!! Lemme shout it from the rooftops... just kidding! I remember a large selection of Twinnings, and also Yorkshire Tea (I have a box back at my parents' house in the States), PG Tips and Tetley's. Oh tea! Obviously, I bought a packet - it wasn't expensive by our standards, only £4 - and I had it this morning. Despite Taiwanese milk tasting different, it didn't really affect the taste of the tea; it tasted the same. *Sigh* I have tea, now...yay.

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Pictures From The Ball

Yes, yes, I know the ball was over 2 months ago but I didn't get around to the getting some pictures and getting them scanned till now, and even so, I don't have many. I got the formal print (left) and an informal one (below) from Raven right before I left. Anyway, they're here. I'll post more if I get any from Raven's mom or from Dave.

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Taipei 101

Okay, so I know I said I was going down to Taipei City Centre...well, I was wrong. Where we were going isn't exactly city centre. We went to Taipei 101 and that area, taking the MRT, which is easy to figure out - It's like the Tube but with much fewer colours. And now I know which bus takes me to the nearest MRT station and where to get off, I'm set. Unleash me unto the city!

Anyway, entire area is full of shopping and entertainment. We walked through some of the shops but it was a quick browse because my goal was to look at the bookstores and find me some books. BOOKS!! And yes I found them! I was slightly worried that I wouldn't be able to find any decent English books but I was worried for nothing; we went to two bookstores there and they both had a lot of English books. Eslite had mostly general fiction and a tiny romance section (tons of Danielle Steele - BLARGH). The books I usually buy and read are filed under romance or crime, though most are a blend of both: romantic suspence, although I am pretty hooked on Kathy Reichs' Tempe Brennan crime novels. Her books inspired the show Bones on Fox and the latest book is called Break No Bones (it's not out on paperback yet).

Page One, the Singaporean bookstore located on the fourth floor in Taipei 101, was an absolute delight. Shelves upon shelves of English books and, and, they had a separate 'Romance' section! YAY. They didn't disappoint in their stock availability either; they had 2 out of the 3 books I was looking for. Not too shabby!

After spending a lot of time browsing through books, we grabbed a light snack and headed to the cinema in the building opposite. The Devil Wears Prada was surprisingly good and I really enjoyed it. I can totally see myself in Andy Sachs' (Anne Hathaway) shoes; I loved all the chaos, clothes and shoes her job involved. The scary part is that I can also totally see myself in Miranda Priestly's (Meryl Streep) shoes - a nicer version, that is - because I'm a bit of a workaholic (not as bad as she is obviously). Meryl Streep is very cool in the movie and I think she did a great job portraying ruthless and cynical. So scary, yet so awe-inspiring!

We finished around 8:30 and headed to Rao He Street Night Market for dinner. It hasn't changed much and my favourite foodstall was still there! There's nothing like it elsewhere; you get the best of Taiwanese food in the world and all for so cheap! Love it.

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Almost 2 Weeks In

I've been here for almost 2 weeks. I haven't danced a drop in exactly 2 weeks. Argh.

Anyway, life is more bearable now than when I first left. I'm managing to keep myself busy (somehow - mostly by sleeping really hahaha) and working on translating my résumé (pain in the freakin' ass, lemme tell ya! GAA!). I got my Taiwanese ID card yesterday, as well as registering myself at my auntie's address. Registering one's address isn't something that we do in the UK or the US; I guess it's a sort of proof of residence besides a bill or bank statement. I think... Anyway, with my ID card done and out of the way, I can go renew my Taiwanese passport.

Life in Taiwan is so totally different from where I've used to live. Like this whole address registration thing...say what? Exactly. However, I will have you know that the drivers here are completely mad - they're worse than the Italians - and I'm just talking about Taipei. Let's not even bring up Taichung or Tainan. Apparently, or so my cousin Ray tells me, Taipei drivers are pretty good at keeping to the rules of the road. What, you call that good? He says that in Taichung, they rules are like guidelines only and in Tainan, the signs and such are just decorations. Geez louise.

In Taipei, the lanes are like guidelines. People pretty much stay in their own lanes on the freeways but in the city...man...lanes, what lanes? Cars and mopeds zigzaging all over and around each other. It's amazing that there aren't more accidents. And blinkers/indicators? Haha, you'd be so lucky. Most don't bother to signal when they're changing lanes or turning. Remember the 3-second rule? (I don't know if we have that in the UK.) Ain't no such thing here! It's like, 'Oh, there's a space there; I'll squeeze myself in.' Oh geez! I'm, like, 'OMG we're gonna craaaaaaaaash or something.' *Wheeze* It's like when the buses were squeaking past the cars down those residential lanes back in Cambridge; if the window wasn't there, I could've reached out and touched the car next to us.

B&Q is also huge here, too. When I saw it, I was, like, 'Hey, we have that in England, too!' Ray's, like, 'No way! I thought it was only big here. You know it's owned by a Taiwanese guy?' O rly? Apparently so.

The weather is completely different, too. I didn't think I'd ever say this but I'm so sick of this damn heat. It was about 25°C/76°F today. Gaaa, I want rain, cool air and I want to start wearing jumpers/sweaters and tall boots! Sigh.

I know there's a whole bunch more to say but I've forgotten them.

Tomorrow, I'm going to Taipei City Centre with a couple of mates (the ones I knew from primary school). Cool! I am setting out by myself first, taking the bus to the nearest MRT (mass rapid transit system) station, meeting Ya Fang there, then we're taking the MRT to downtown. We're gonna go do some shopping - I am so going to the big bookstores because I'm dying without any (English) books to read - and then meeting up with Li Wun and we're going to the cinema. So my goal tomorrow is figure out the MRT system, which should be fairly simple as most public transport systems are pretty similar, and buy myself a book or two. Yay.

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More Thoughts

I have a mobile number now - yay! Ray went out and got me a pay-as-you-go SIM card so now I can receive calls! There's, like, NT$50 on there so it's not much. I won't be using it to call out much at the moment, anyway, so it's good for now. I need to fax in the Customer Information Card (but it's a sheet of paper, not a card...) so the number won't be active until later this week.

I'm so grateful that Wen Yi is here lives here. Thank God I have someone I can call up easily and speak to in full English. I need it.

I think there are some other dust bunny thoughts around here but it's late and I can't remember them...

(The next day...) Right, now I remember.

I went out to Taipei today with May Gu, just the two of us. It was just like old times because we went to the party of the city where we used to always go for shopping and food, near Sogo department store. We did some window shopping around the area; May Gu bought a blouse. We spent quite a bit of time in a shop called Net, which is very much like Gap but less khaki and more Express.

There are a lot of English and American shops here. I know they have Gap here but I haven't seen it yet. I've seen The Body Shop (Yay!), Gold's Gym, Morgan, Baby Phat, Mango (Yay!), Levi's, Nine West and many more. Shopping is pretty amazing here but, BUT, they don't have an H&M here. *Sob!* I miss that store already...

I was browsing through the pictures from my school reunion and I realised I really am much darker than the rest of the girls. I'm much taller compared to them, too, and they're all so thin! They're all so pretty and petite...good grief, I'm so unlike them. However, I do have the biggest chest...hardy har har.

Lastly, Beijing is killing off Engrish. Fun stuff. Maybe I should get a job wiping out bad English signage and rewriting them...

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Live Life, Give Life

Cystic fibrosis. A nasty disease that affects the entire body, causing progressive disability and an early death.

My friend, Ros - beautiful, charismatic, charming, an amazing dancer and an extremely talented seamstress (I've decreed that she's making my wedding dress when the time comes that I should need one).

I can't consolidate the two together but it's true. Read, learn, watch and please help if you can. Spread the word.

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School Reunion

I still keep in touch with several of my schoolmates from primary school. Amazing, non? Anyway, I'd only told two of them - Yi Wen and Ya Fang - that I was coming back, so they managed to organize a getogether of almost everyone who was in our core group. They hadn't told anyone else that I was back, keeping my appearance a surprise. Yi Wen came by to see me first; Shi Hua came by to pick us up. She was so surprised to see me that she was struck speechless. I sat in the back so that when we went by to pick up Ling Jun, she wouldn't see me in the front seat. When she scrambled into the backseat, it took her several seconds to recognize me; then she screamed her head off when she realised it was me. Haha.

About 15 or so people showed up at the restaurant and it was awesome seeing everyone again. I haven't seen most of them for over 7 years and a couple I hadn't seen in about 13 years. We haven't changed much, just hairstyles really, haha (most of us have longer hair now). A few of us have married - all guys - and two have kids. Only two of the couples were able to make it; one even brought their little girl to the teahouse later.


We sat upstairs in the restaurant, with me facing the stairs. When Ya Lan and Ya Ting (twin sisters) came up the stairs and saw me, they instantly recognized me and squealed. Hugs were all around when the girls arrived; the guys weren't as physical. They all nodded to me, saying things like, 'Hey, long time no see' and 'How you doin'?'. Typical of them. A couple of people left in the middle of dinner and a couple others came by to our numbers stayed pretty much the same.

After dinner, we headed to Mao Kong for tea. (Literally translated, Mao Kong says 'cat empty/space'. Weird, huh?) There are tons of teahouses up there. We got tea and just chatted. Someone went and got two decks of cards so we started two games of Big2. It's what we always play when someone busts out the cards. No one even had to ask what we were going to play (I didn't either!); we just automatically shuffed the cards, dealt them in fours and started playing. Some things really never change.

We stayed till about 1:30am. The restaurant (2 pages) and teahouse pictures I have were taken by my mates; I've somehow misplaced my camera *sob* and so am camera-less. It will be rectified as soon as possible. (You will notice a lot of 'peace' signs - or 'yay' signs as they call them here - which is very typical Asian. Don't ask because I don't know either.)

If ya want to read the captions in Chinese, my friend's got hers here. She named the album 'Jessie returns to Taiwan'.

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Friday

Friday night, my cousin May Gu took us to Daluan Restaurant in Ba Li (looks like Bali in English and sounds like Paris in Chinese). It's an aboriginal Taiwanese themed restaurant and there was live music that night, too.

The restaurant was pretty decked out and the food was pretty good. I've discovered that as much as I love seafood, I don't love all of it. I thought I liked oysters but I was wrong. I don't do jellyfish, either.

The live music was pretty good, especially when the band started playing oldies! I love oldies because those are the only Chinese songs I know haha. Well, they sound really good, too. My cousins and I sang along; Shing Shing tried to sing along, too. She's so funny.

Afterwards, we went to a café called Consulate in Dan Shuei for dessert. As we walked to the the Consulate, I noticed a lot of signs with 'San Domingo' written on them, i.e. 'Parking lot of Fort San Domingo' or 'Fort San Domingo (this way)'.

Apparently, Fort San Domingo, or Hongmao Castle (Literally translated? Red fur/hair castle. Don't ask.), was first built by the Spanish to aid their rule over the area. It was later captured by the Dutch, then came under British control. Fascinating. (Long live the Queen and the Empire! Haha.)

Anyway, the desserts to be had at the Consulate were pretty good. Lots of different kinds of tea (black, herbal and fruit), coffees (even frappé drinks), waffles (the Taiwanese are be big on waffles and not your regular, supermarket-type cheap Eggo Waffles) and cakes. I ordered a caramel latte - the espresso part was pretty good - but they got it wrong and didn't mix the caramel into the latte itself; they just drizzled it on top. Oi. My slice of chocolate truffle (they spelled it 'treffle' - I was so tempted to tell them that they spelled it wrong but I resisted the urge) cake was pretty damn good, though. It came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. Mm mmm, I love whipped cream.

Regarding the Taiwanese and their love for waffles...well, I don't really understand it myself. It was really big the last time I was back, which was about 7 years ago. I remember May Gu telling me, 'We have to go to cafés and have waffles!' Keep in mind that was all in Chinese and I didn't know the Chinese words for waffles so I didn't know she meant waffles. When we went to our first café and our orders came, I was, like, 'These are waffles! We eat these for breakfast back home [in the US]!' But these are, like, gourmet waffles drizzled in honey or chocolate or with fresh fruit and fruit syrup. Good stuff.

My aunt, uncle and Ray took Shing Shing for a walk along the water (the café is built right along the river), leaving me, Yi Ming and May Gu behind to chat. It felt like old times, just the three of us chatting about everything and nothing, except we're 12 years older. When I used to live here, May Gu was forever taking us - me, Yi Ming and Yi Ming's two older sisters - out and about. She was the oldest of the female cousins and was a bit of an ape leader. We'd go to the capital, go shopping in department stores and night markets, wander along the streets of places like Dan Shuei, etc. It was nostalgic and comfortable, and it was nice.

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Yang Ming Shan

My cousin May Gu (that's just her nickname, mind you) and her daughter, Shing Shing, came over this afternoon to go out to dinner. Yi Ming came over, too, after getting her hair done. Ray took the two of us to get our pictures taken for our ID cards before meeting everyone else at Yang Ming Shan. My aunt and uncle, May Gu and Ray's parents, were coming, too.

Yang Ming Shan is a popular place, famous for hot springs. There are a ton of tea houses and restaurants up there since the view of Taipei is really nice from there. We went to a restaurant called The Top (it should be Roof Top since that's what the translation really is). It's a nice little place nestled into the side of the mountain with pretty spectacular views. I didn't have my camera otherwise I'd have a couple of pictures to show.

All the covered tables were taken so we had to sit out in the open. It wasn't too bad. There was a bit of wind but the weather was really nice. Everyone was a bit cold but the weather was exactly what I was used to so it felt good. May Gu ordered so much food: veggies, tofu, pork chops, oysters and clams and a whole hotpot of seafood. We'd gone through everything but half the hotpot when it started raining. The unfinished food was packed into boxes and we went somewhere else for dessert. Everyone was trying to decide head down which side of the mountain and I was, like, 'Don't ask me. I'm just a foreigner, haha.' They decided on Tianmu and we settled ourselves at a Häagen-Dazs ice cream parlor. Good stuff.

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Some Observations

Just some random thoughts:

My watch is still set to Greenwich Mean Time. I can't change it just yet...give me a couple more days and necessity will probably force me to reset it.

Y'all know I got a haircut yesterday; I really look like a Taiwanese girl now. Their hairstyles...how do you explain it...if their hair is medium length or long, it seems like the hair all end in a point. The ends are thinner, wispier, like if you take the shape of the hair, it looks like an upside down raindrop. My ends are quite wispy now and she took off several inches. It doesn't look bad, just different. The hairdresser took a comb with a razor attached at the base of the teeth and basically brushed/shaved the ends of my hair. Afterwards, she said, 'There. Doesn't that look nicer? It doesn't look so heavy now.' Thanks, but I liked my hair more when it was that thick and longer. Oh well, at least it wasn't an ugly haircut. She also cut a thicker fringe (bangs) for me.

My auntie keeps saying, 'Now that she's back [in Taiwan], we have to make her prettier.' You sayin' I wasn't pretty before?! (What she meant is that while living outside of Taiwan, I don't take as much care of myself (or so she thinks). I'm just not that frivolous and plus, it's not that cheap to do all these 'beauty treatment' stuff! *Sigh & frown*)

Everyone who's seen me has said, 'Oh, you haven't changed that much. You're just grown up now!' They've also commented on my colouring: 'You're so dark!' or 'How come your face is so dark??' Um, yeah. Does everyone have to say that? It's not fashionable to be so dark over here, obviously. Everyone wants to be fair, like Caucasians, while in the West, we all want to be dark. How topsy turvy.

I was discussing names with my cousin Ray and Yi Ming today. In Western cultures, a cousin is a cousin is a cousin and it doesn't matter which side of the family they're from. In Chinese/Taiwanese culture, we have different names for everyone. My paternal and maternal cousins have different names, which are further differentiated by age (relative to myself). My paternal and maternal aunts and uncles have different names as well, which are then differentiated by age relative to my parents. It's quite funny how different everything is. For example: in the West, one wouldn't call one's in-laws 'mom' or 'dad'. On the other hand, my mother calls both her mother and her mother-in-law 'ma'; you'd just call them by their names. The same idea goes with her father-in-law. Here, it's a matter of being polite, especially to one's elders. People would be horrified if a daughter- or son-in-law went around calling their in-laws by their names - the scandal! Haha.

I still feel a bit lost. My Taiwanese and Chinese is a lot better than I expected though; Yi Ming said the same thing. It's just certain phrases I don't know how to say, which I'd normally fill in with English. I feel like so much flotsam floating around. At least I found CNN International on channel 5. I don't have to work so hard to understand the news when I watch that (phew) and it keeps me abreast of all the sports news, like American football. There is ESPN here and I did watch a bit of the Balitmore Ravens and Denver Broncos game - good 4th quarter.

The brightest moment of my entire day was when I was in the car with Ray and Yi Ming and we were discussing how much it is for an apartment around Taipei. In the city itself will, of course, be quite pricey but it wouldn't be hard to find a nice, decent one-bedroom nearby for just over NT$10,000. That's only about £162, or US$300; I was paying £350 in Cambridge! That totally makes everything feel more attainable. I can't wait to have my own place, my own space. Knowing that makes me feel better.

Want to know a secret? Well, I guess it's not much of a secret if I post it on here but oh well. The first night I got here, when I was falling asleep, my last thought was, 'I don't think I can do this.' We'll see. That's a line from The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King. When Frodo and Sam are almost to Mount Doom, Frodo turns to Sam and says in his quasi-English accent, 'I can't do this, Sam.' Sam then says, 'I can't carry the Ring for you Mister Frodo, but I can carry you!' That made me laugh.

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Flying To Taiwan

The flight was forever long - 16 hours - and my tailbone was so sore afterwards. However, I survived and the food was actually quite good. We flew 12 hours and had a 45 minute layover in Bangkok, Thailand, then another 4 hours to Taipei, Taiwan. I collected my stuff, had to get a visitor's pass since my Taiwanese passport had expired and my American passport would only allow me to stay for 30 days, and made my out of the airport.

I was kind of afraid that no one would recognize me but my cousin Ray had no problem. It took both of us a second to recognize the other but recognize each other we did. We made our way back to my aunts' house, stopping to get some Taiwanese fried chicken (mm mmm), and my mom called about 5 minutes after I got in.

After eating, I sent out a bunch of emails and crawled into bed.

The next day, Tuesday, was a national holiday - National Day, funnily enough - so most people had it off from work and school. One of my younger, closest cousins, Yi Ming (she's my brother's age and we were playmates when I lived here) came out to lunch with the rest of the family. We went to a rather popular buffet restaurant nearby that served a lot of seafood. Mmm seafood! It's so expensive in England. We totally stuffed ourselves mad; we weren't even hungry for dinner!

Afterwards, we hung out at the house for a bit and I showed Yi Ming some of my pictures. She highly approved of Raven (If you're reading this, Raven, pat yourself on the back. But then again, I always told you I have really good taste.) and said he's better looking than Niko. *Snicker snicker* Y'see, Yi Ming's like me, though she does prefer German guys in general. I told her that she is to save up money and get herself out to Germany. She said she's going to come visit me in England and just make a short detour; I told her I'd take her around Germany myself and we'd ogle guys together. I mean, what are sisters for anyway, right? Exactly.

I'm finding it very weird speaking 100% Chinese and Taiwanese but I'm slowly getting the hang of it. Give me a month and I'll be as comfortable speaking it as I am with English. Luckily, I can speak a very mild form of Chinglish with my younger cousins, including Yi Ming. They know a lot of simple English words so I'm not totally lost. When I'm speaking and falter on some words, they're usually able to fill in the blanks for me. We had fun trying to figure out asparagus, too.

That night, Ray took me and Yi Ming to Shilin Night Market, the most popular night market in Taiwan. We had to totally avoid Taipei city centre because of the demonstrators. Shilin's become quite touristy now; I saw several foreigners there. We walked around, looking at the shops and stalls and I've noticed one thing for sure: Taiwanese clothes and shoes, the style in general, is quite froofy and very embellished. Not really my style as I go for simple designs but I'll get used to it. It'll just discourage me from buying more clothes and shoes because God knows I don't need anymore of either. However, I did spend a bit of time looking at trainers. They had so many different styles of Chuck's Converse All-Stars! I especially liked this red plaid one but I don't need another pair of Chucks even if plaid is all the rage this season. I don't really need a new pair of trainers since I have a pair of Pumas at my parents' house...but it is in the States while I'm here in Taiwan...

Anyway, after breezing through the shops, Ray got hungry so we went to the food side of the market. He had some noodles, we shared some stinky tofu, and Yi Ming and I had pearl tea. I love Taiwanese food; there's nothing like it on Earth and you can't really get it (right) anywhere but in Taiwan.

I also met Shing Shing and Jung Jung, my baby second cousins. Gaa, they call me auntie! Makes me sound old. They're so cute, both of them, but Shing Shing refused to talk to me because she's totally shy at first and Jung Jung doesn't even speak yet.

Today, Wednesday, I slept in until almost noon. I don't know how I slept so late but I guess it's jetlag. After lunch, I spent hours online, responding to and writing more emails, and blogging of course. I had days to catch up on and a lot to write. Obviously, I'm not even done yet! My aunt came to fetch me around 5 to go to the hairdressers. I didn't need a haircut, really, just a trim but I did want to get my hair washed. Going to the hairdressers in Taiwan is unlike going to the hairdressers in the US or UK. Here, they give you a total scalp, neck, shoulder and arm massage and, boy, does it feel good! It's, like, orgasmic. No, seriously, it is. If any of y'all visit me while I'm here, I'm so taking you down to a hairdressers and showing you. I even got a pedicure thrown in, too! It was fairly cheap, too, despite getting a 10 or 15% discount. It was just over NT$2000 (that's about £35 or $62) for both my aunt and me; she got her hair dyed, cut and blow-dried, a manicure and a pedicure, too.

Then we came home, had dinner and I finished my emailing and blogging. And now I need the loo.

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My Last Two Days In England

After dragging ourselves out of bed and down to breakfast the morning after the St. Neots Freestyle, Raven dropped me off back in Cambridge. Lam and I went to dim sum one last time at Charlie Chans on Regent Street. It was a nice, relaxing lunch and we discussed the future mostly. She's starting with her and Rasmus' wedding plans. They've been together 4 or 5 years and they're pretty sure they're going to have two ceremonies: a traditional Vietnamese one and a traditional Christian one. That means she needs to go to Vietnam to get a traditional wedding dress, which is pretty exciting! But then again, anything that has to do with shopping is exciting for me. I told her to make a detour stop in Taiwan so we can go have proper dim sum.

Afterwards, I went home and finished packing, wrapped up the stuff I was shipping ahead of me and hightailed it back into town to the post office. I made it just in time, posted my stuff and dusted my hands. Then I hightailed it back home, got ready for that night and hightailed it to Yseult's house to meet Raven. And damnit, for once I was the one who was late! I got delayed by Neil, who wanted to sort out some bits and pieces before I go and give me my deposit back, then by the bus, which is never on time. That's one thing I definitely will not miss about Cambridge - the damn Citi 3 bus.

Anyway, I handed over three large bags of stuff to give to Yseult: my rice cooker and wok (plus several bits and pieces, like chopsticks and some small jars with lids), Nick P.'s George Foreman Grille to give to his brother and my books for safekeeping for until I can come back and claim them back. And some magazines, mostly food ones, that she'd find useful. I left everything with Nicoletta, Yseult's housemate, since Yseult wasn't back from barn dance, aka uncle's birthday party, yet. Then Raven and I dashed off to Mildenhall, in the next county.

That night was the Cambridgeshire Cats American Football Awards Ceremony, which was being held at RAF Mildenhall. We'd booked a hotel as it was unlikely that we'd be sober enough to drive ourselves back after the ceremony so we checked in first, passing the airfield on our way. After checking in, we walked to the base, all along the fence line to the main entrance which we saw on our way over. That was about a mile's walk. While we were walking, Raven called a couple of guys on the team to find out about where to go once on base; no one picked up. However, only cars were allowed through that entrance - damn - so we walked back to the hotel to ask if there was a pedestrian entrance. There was one 300 metres in the other direction so we trekked down that way. The guard looked to be really enjoying door duty when we walked up and gave him our IDs. This is where it gets funny: Raven was fine getting on base with his British Army ID but the American couldn't get onto an American base with her American drivers' license. Say what?! Yeah, that's what I said. The helpful guard informed us that I needed a visitor's pass from the other gate so we had to drive in the end. Double damn.

We went back to the hotel to fetch the car - luckily Raven had forgotten to leave the car key in the room - and made our way down to the main gate again. The corporal at the visitor's centre took down my information but when Raven asked him about the Cats' Awards Ceremony, she had noooo idea what we were talking about but she did recall someone else coming in asking about the same thing then calling someone else and saying something about (RAF) Lakenheath. Bloody hell! Both of us were so damn annoyed with the whole bloody thing and how badly it was organised but it took us so long to get on the damn base that we were going to drive around on it anyway!

The base is like a suburb! The streets had names like 'Texas Avenue' and 'Missouri Street'. There was a commissary, a gas station and a food court which had Taco Bell. Ohmygod, Taco Bell! Raven said, 'No, we're not having that for dinner!' as I pressed myself against the window when we drove away. *Sniffle* They even had a Bank of America! I wonder if I'd be charged a fee for using the ATM there with my BoA card...

The hilarious thing was that we couldn't find our way out. There weren't any exit signs and the road we came in on was two-way so we figured we could just go that way to get out. Ha, we figured wrong! Turns out, if you weren't a military escort, you couldn't go out the way we came in even though there were no signs saying otherwise! This guy runs up to us, exclaiming, 'This is an entrance only!' Raven goes, 'Well then how the hell do we get out of here??' The guy points beyond us, then pauses, lowers his arm and some more silence. You could hear the mental 'umm' loud and clear! As soon as he lowered his arm and thought about it, I lost it and busted out laughing in disbelief. Even he doesn't know how to get out of this place! He then turns to the guard at the entrance and says, 'They can go out this way, right?' while pointing to the 'Escorts only' way out. The guard says, 'Yeah' and we finally made it out. Geez louise.!

Anyway, by this time we figured they'd probably moved the event to RAF Lakenheath and hadn't contacted Raven about the move; he'd left his email and phone number for the organiser but he hadn't received any emails or anything about any changes. Although Lakenheath was just a short drive from Mildenhall, Raven had had enough with running around like a mad chicken looking for this and to be honest, I was starving and really needed some food. Shame, though, because both of us were really looking forward to it! I suggested we just grab some grub, some wine or something and head back to the hotel as there's bound to be something good on TV on a Saturday night. Bonne idée!

I'm good with ideas because then I suggested Dominos pizza and that met with rounds of approval. We ixnayed the wine since I don't really drink enough and Raven declined on the beer; we settled on pop since it was 2 for £2 - Dr. Pepper and Fanta Orange. 20 minutes we had our pizza and garlic cheesebread and found A Knight's Tale on TV. Yay, I hadn't seen it before! It's part of Raven's DVD collection but I just hadn't gotten around to watching it yet. Heath Ledger is yummilicious and Paul Bettany cracked me up - he was awesome as Chaucer. I love happy endings. Raven got a text back from one of the guys saying that no one's had any service on base, that Raven must not have gotten the email about the change of location (uh yeah, he totally didn't get no emails!) and that he was just leaving - it wasn't even quite midnight yet! After A Knight's Tale, I then passed out while Raven watched Clint Eastwood's Escape from Alcatraz.

As award nights go though, it was a pretty good one - despite having missed the Cats' awards - and I had a great last night in England. The next morning, we had an English breakfast then woke Yseult up and went back to hers for tea and to chill out. I had to leave her instructions on all the stuff I'd left, too. Poor Alfie (Yseult's cat's full name is Alfonso Bonzo) had to sit outside while we were over. We chatted about this and that, about the St. Neots Freestyle and our adventure in Mildenhall, and we demonstrated the airplane and a lean for the girls (Nicoletta was up, too). They were suitably impressed. I then said my goodbyes and take cares, fetched my luggage and went back to Raven's to watch some Babylon 5 (so addicting!) before I had to catch my train to London.

I caught the 4:18pm train to London and I was gone. Damn, I hate leaving England.

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Creoc Freestyle At St. Neots

Last friday, Raven and I went to the St. Neots Freestyle (Ceroc) and we met up with Ros and John there. It was such an awesome night and I'm so glad we went because we had some of our best dances that night!!

The venue's ballroom, where we were dancing, was completely swatched in fabric. There were all these disco lights and every song's music video was projected onto a screen at the front of the room above the stage. We'd arrived after the beginners lesson, right in the middle of freestyle. Raven got himself a beer - he was, like, 'Yes, beer!' since we can't buy beer at the Cambridge venue without joining the university's club - while I caught up with Ros and John. Their friend who's a Taxi Dancer for Cambridge Ceroc and also named Ros, was there as well. We got in a couple of songs before the intermediates lesson started. That was the cool part.

That night's intermediate lesson was a mix of Ceroc and traditional jive moves with a small pase doble thrown in. Yay jive!! I did it back in Hull and it's so quick and energetic, you always get a really good workout. Michaela was the instructor that night - she's really good - and she started the lesson with a shasse (jive) or triple-step (Ceroc). Raven really liked that move and I loved it because it was jive. While I was doing it, I'd mutter 'one and two, three and four, back step' like how Jess and I used to do when we did jive. (And as much as I love dancing with Raven, nothing is going to beat dancing jive with Jess cuz we're cool like that.) The best move of the entire night had to be the airplane, though.

The airplane is not an easy move, not because of any footwork but because it's a move where the follower (usually the female) has to trust the leader (usually the male) to not drop her. Yeah, you heard me right: not drop her. I won't go into the details of the entire move but I'll try and explain the airplane bit without visuals: basically, the man spins the woman counterclockwise with his right hand and her left. As she spins, she holds her arms straight out and when her back is to the man, he steps in, catches her beneath her armpits and does a lunge to his left. The woman must keep her arms, legs and entire body straight while falling towards the floor in the man's arms. Then the man pops her back up and spins her around clockwise and finishes the move with a return (a turn). See what I mean when she has to trust him?

The lesson went smoothly enough. I'm reckless enough to throw myself to the floor and trust the guys I was paired with to not drop me. One guy almost did but he is a lot shorter than I am so I was half-expecting it anyway, and we caught ourselves so no one was hurt. But in all honesty, there was only two people there that I'd completely trust to not drop me: Raven and John. However, I know John wouldn't do the move with me because we don't know each other that well even though he's a very, very good dancer; it's one of those moves that you'd only do with someone you've danced with a lot and know really well. Raven totally exploited that and we did the airplane many times that night. He knew he could it with anyone who was willing to do the airplane because during the lesson, he was paired up with a rather large lady. He called her a nose tackle, a position in American football and usually the largest defensive lineman, and she really was. Can you imagine her throwing herself to the floor while a man has to catch her? Yeah. If Raven could do the airplane with her, then he could definitely do it with anyone else, let alone me. Funny thing is, we do that better than the Columbian and we only just learned it that night!

And, and, my favourite dancer was there that night! We'd already said our goodbyes on Monday and I wasn't expecting to see him on Friday so we got one last dance together. I call him my favourite dancer because I absolutely love his name: Adriano. Ohmygod, I love it! It's Italian - his parents are Italian - and it's just so sexy. Raven always laughs when I say his name, which I love doing, because I say it "like I want to have sex with his name". *Shrug* It's Italiano and I can't help it, hehehe. Anyway, it was great to seeing him there.

I also got one last chance to watch Ros and John dance. I mean, Raven and I may be legends but Ros and John are amazing. Theirs is only achievable by having danced with one another for years and years and their bodies are completely in tune with each other. It looks choreographed but you know it's not; they are just that good.

Needless to say, it was an awesome night. I think we left around midnight or soon after, along with Ros, John and the other Ros. Hugs, kisses, goodbyes and take cares were passed all around and that was that.

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I Feel Like Crap - Updated

Yeah, despite yesterday's lingering euphoria, I feel like shit. No, I'm not hungover; I don't do hangovers. I feel crappy because I'd totally forgotten an engagement I'd promised to attend and double-booked my Saturday evening! ARGHHHH. I was supposed to meet up with Kizzy and Nick P. in London to catch up and say goodbye; I'd already moved our rendezvous from Friday to Saturday and now I think I'm going to have to totally cancel it. ARGHHHHH again!

Back in July, Nick had invited me to the end of season American football party. I'd said yes and then completely forgot about it because I hadn't write it down. Sometimes my magnificent memory utterly fails me and I'm so annoyed that I hadn't remembered. Nick had already reserved spaces for us and paid for it, and I can't cancel it. And I can't meet Kizzy on Sunday, either, because she's at work all day and I fly that night. I'm out of time!!

I feel like a fucking heel. Shit. *Sigh*

Rant update:
So someone agrees with me that I am a fucking heel. Take a look at the comment:

Anonymous said...
Sorry you feel like crap, and yes you are a fucking heel. It would appear that your amazing memory has only reminded you to make time to see and say goodbye to your most important friends. As Im clearly not included in this privledged group, I'll just say goodbye and have a very safe trip back home now.
11:31 PM

First of all, you don't have the balls to tell me who you are because you commented under 'anonymous'. Those who know me know that if they are pissed off at me, they can damn well tell it to my face because I appreciate it and respect that. So you've got something on your chest about me? Get it off your chest and tell it to my face! If you want to insult me but don't have the guts to do it to my face and will only say shit behind my back...THAT annoys me the most. I have a tendency to write off anonymous comment-ers anyway.

Second of all, you're not sorry I feel like crap so don't say you are; if you really were sorry, you'd try to make me feel better.

Third of all, there is no such 'priviledged group'. If there were such a thing in my circle of friends, then my best friends would obviously be amongst them. Oh but wait, have I seen Tony and Jude to say goodbye? No. Therefore, there is no 'priviledged group' for if there were, I'd have been down to Bristol by now.

Fourth of all, do you, anonymous, know how busy my life has been since I've finished work? Sure it may not seem like it and I may never say, 'Oh God, I'm so busy!' but just because I don't bitch about it doesn't mean it isn't the way it is. It's not the big things that take up all my time but the little things, the small errands, random tasks and loose ends, that occupy my days. 2 weeks is not a helluva lot of time to try and wrap up my life here, especially when I am waiting on a paycheck my first week. Oh, wait, you're saying I did have money because I got my bonus check? What you didn't know is that half the money went to my plane ticket out of this country and the other half went to my American account to pay bills, so actually, I didn't have that much extra money. Granted, I did spend several days at the Barracks with Raven but that's because he was good enough to help me save a bit of money - I didn't have to pay for anything on base and because it's all dirt cheap, he wouldn't be accruing much of a bill anyway - and to entertain me while I sat on my ass and waited to be paid.

Now back to this so-called 'priviledged group' of friends...Flick, Kim, Helen, Kat and Sophie? I went up to Hull especially because I explicitly promised Flick I would the day after the ball. It also killed 5 birds with 1 stone...or 9 birds since I saw Phil, Jess, Clare and Baby Heather, too. Besides Flick, no one's actually bothered to visit me. Sure Nick P. came up for a night but that was literally one night since he was gone by noon the next day. Yeah, I know we're all busy people but if I was that important, you'd have made an effort. Don't force me to show you the meaning of my 'most important friends' because you'll just end up getting upset and you'll say something about me behind my back or anonymously and that'll just really annoy me all over again.

Therefore, I essentially had one week to get everything I need to do done. Tony and Jude - best friends, mind you - were alright that I couldn't come down to see them. They're sad but they understand and know that I will visit when I'm back. As for the friends I'm seeing here before I leave...well they live in the same city as me. I do as much as I can and that's all I can do.

Anyway, the bottomline is you, anonymous, has me seriously doubting our 'friendship' if you can't even say something as simple as "you're a jerk" to my face. I am saddened by this. If I had a friendship hierarchy, you'd have dropped to a pretty low rung. I think I have a fair idea of who you may be and it actually makes me sick. This is so sad that I don't even want to think too hard on who you are, to try and figure out your identity myself. After high school, I thought we - my friends, my peers and myself - had grown out of this kind of drama and learned to be upfront and honest with each other, but I guess not. Okay, rant over (I think).

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A Double Date

Well, it was kind of a double date. I'd mentioned to Nick that I have a discount card to Strada, a local Italian restaurant, that's good for up to 4 people and he said we should take advantage of that before I go. My thoughts exactly. He suggested that I invite Yseult out and that we pair her up with one of the guys - awesome idea! After that fiasco with that weirdo Martin, she needs to meet a real gentleman and Officers are nothing if not gentlemen. Woohoo! We decided on Charlie: tall (6'3"!), blond and tanned (very Californian), well-built, muscled and physically very fit (you'd have to be considering his line of work) and, of course, very cute. He's got a great sense of humour, very easy-going and has this grin and a twinkle in his eye that's both mischievous and innocent. He makes you want to grin back. We hoped Charlie and Yseult would hit it off.

I went over to Yseult's so that Nick only had one stop to make when he came by to pick us up. Charlie had suggested that we come by his house first for some pre-dinner drinks. He also wanted to show it off and boy, did he have a house to show off! It's not done yet but what he has done to the place is absolutely gorgeous. It's a terrace house and he's turned the inside into a cosy and comfortable haven. The house feels so warm and lived-in - shabby chic maybe? - and althought it's not a new build like Yseult's, it didn't feel old, crumbly or worn-out. I love it. Yseult's got serious competition for her house! Or maybe that's just me because I do prefer old houses with character over brand new houses.

Nick gave us a quick tour of the place. The ground floor has a front room - very Moroccan feeling - and a huge dining room that opens into the kitchen. The dining room is so big that it doubles as a second sitting room; apparently, that's where people usually end up when they come over, instead of in the front room. I love the spacious kitchen because it's got huge windows and a skylight so it's really airy and light. There's even a small garden in the back but Charlie's been neglecting his mowing chores.

Upstairs has a massive bathroom and two good-sized bedrooms. Charlie had designated a room for Nick already but he's going to let it out soon. Haha. The rooms have gorgeous hardwood floors - the original floorboards I think. The pièce de résistance was Charlie's room: the entire attic is the bedroom! Hardwood floors, again, and skylights, it's an absolute palace. Beautiful.

After finishing a bottle of red, we decided to walk to the restaurant as it would only take us 10 minutes and parking in town is a nightmare. Fortunately, Strada doesn't give away reservations unless the party's over 45 minutes late; we were 30 minutes overdue. Oops!

Dinner was amazing. I love Italian food. We got a bottle of house red and some appetizers to start with. I don't remember what the other guys had but I had lobster risotto for my main course and it was sooooo good!!! Ohmygoodness, I love lobster. It was so perfect: good friends (and gorgeous men haha!), delicious Italian food, rich red wine and a lovely restaurant with just the right ambiance.

Conversation flowed really easily and I think having so much wine (we ended finishing 2 bottles at the restaurant) around really helped, too. I didn't drink that much, of course, but I must've drank enough because the comments that were coming out of my mouth! Oh my! At one point, I couldn't believe that I'd just said what I'd said - I'm not going to repeat it! - and neither could Yseult. Luckily neither of the guys had heard what I'd said. I'm terrible haha! ...It was just a little bit of wine!

After dinner we went to The Castle pub, which is on the way back to Charlie's house, and had another drink. I only had a Coke since I was craving it; the other three had lager, lager and a shot of JD (that was Yseult!). By this time, we were pretty drunk and were in no condition to be driving anywhere. We made our way back to Charlie's and called a taxi for Yseult; Nick and I had decided to crash at his instead.

It was a pretty perfect night.

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A Weekend In Hull

I don't think it was even a weekend since I didn't get there till about 6pm on Saturday and I left the next day at 4:30pm.

Anyway, it was a nice visit. I'd promised Flick I'd come up to see her (I'd see Kim, Helen, Kat and Sophie while I was at it, too) since I all but abandoned her the day after the ball. Granted, she abandoned me as well (in her eyes), since she had to get back to Cambridge and to Hull, so really we're even and I was nowhere awake when she was ready to leave.

I met up with Phil at Planet Coffee, whom I hadn't seen since uni got out last year. It was so good to see him and we had a lot to catch up on. He'd been traveling around Europe for 4 weeks this summer and the stories he had to tell! What an adventure he had; I definitely want to do that sometime but it's difficult for me to go traveling without a plan, which was what he did. Crazy man! I love Planet Coffee and its upstairs beanbag lounge. It rocks. Plus, I'd been waiting a long time to have a Snickers Steamer and I'm glad I got one before I left.

Flick joined us later and who did she bring with her?? Jess! Jess squared was reunited, if only just for a night! She was my dance partner back when we were at Hull together. Oh the memories (!!) like the time she dropped me - no, literally dropped me - when we were doing this holding-hands-and-leaning-away-from-each-other-so-that-if-one-let-go-the-other-would-fall-too move in pase doble. It was hilarious. While we were holding that pose, she suddenly thought to herself, what would happen if I let go? It was one of those moments in which you know what would happen but your hands were totally disconnected or something and still did what you know you shouldn't do. So she let go and I fell. *Shakes head*

We went to The Last Viceroy for the best damn Indian curry I've ever had. I dream about that place. They'd painted the walls in shades of blue - much calmer and more soothing than the burnt orange and red it used to be - and the design of the menus had changed as well. Most surprising was the customer service: it was good. They've never been very good at basic customer services, like asking if our food was okay, and we're used to it; the food is so damn good that it doesn't really matter in the end. However, this time around, our waiter came by several times to ask about our meal and if we wanted refills (we never get Coke there anymore because it's always flat but we were tempted to order a glass to see if the changes extended to the pop). After leaving England, who knows how long I'll have to go to get curry like this again!

We all had so much to talk about since I haven't seen Jess and Phil in a year and a half - need to catch up on all the latest gossip! And Flick and I always have tons to talk about - mostly about the men in our lives or the men we want in our lives.

Flick and I were too tired to go to Asylum (the nightclub at Hull Uni) so we just hung out and had good girl chat at her new flat. I can't wait to have my own place. I slept on her airbed and Clare was right: it is the most comfortable airbed in the world.

We went to lunch at Pizza Hut the next day with Kim, Helen, Kat the girls I used to work with at Debenhams - and Heather, Kat's beautiful baby girl. We had a real good time eating, laughing and filling each other in with all the latest news in our lives. Kim and Ben are buying a bed and it'll be their first 'our' thing. Helen and her man are buying a house - cool! The best news is that Kat and Andy have finally set a date for their wedding - 20 October 2007! Yay, a definite and concrete excuse to come back! (Not that I ever need an excuse to come back.) How exciting! She totally dropped it on us like a bomb; I was mentioning that I have two weddings to attend next year and she very slyly said, 'Three weddings.' We all just stared at her for a minute, trying to figure out if what we were reading between the lines is what she really meant and yeah, it was. Awesome.

After lunch, Helen had to go house hunting, Flick went with Clare when we bumped into her outside, Kat and Kim went shopping and I went to meet Sophie for coffee. It was good seeing her because we had a lot of things to talk about: her going to Japan to teach English and what it's going to be like, me flying off to Taiwan and both of us rendezvous-ing on the same side of the world, her situation with Andy and my time with Nick. I showed her pictures from Niko's parade and she approved and was impressed, hehehe. She's really excited about going to Japan and I'm really excited for her, too. I'm glad she's doing something like this because I know it's going to be such an amazing experience. She's doing the Nova program and flies two weeks after I do.

Then I hopped on the train and made my way back to Cambridge. I really should start packing...

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