turkish delight.

ok well, not turkish, but turKEY! in a land where thanksgiving is not a celebrated holiday, but remains a day with warm (only after stepping in from the cold) memories and good times, it was going to be an accepted truth that thanksgiving was going to, for lack of a better word, suck this year. However, the opposite was true. I may have said this previously, but one night whilst stumbling about covent garden in and around the maple leaf pub, i noticed a sign for thanksgiving dinner. a traditional thanksgiving dinner with turkey, veggies, potatoes, and most importantly, pumpkin pie. This was definitely on the list of events though that I did not want to attend myself. Through facebook status updates, I noted that my friend Andrew was feeling particularly homesick due to a bath bomb he sells at Lush that smelled like the traditional scents of thanksgiving and pumpkin pie. Naturally this jarred the memory reflex in my brain and reservations were made, and two happy Canadian ex-patriates went to thanksgiving dinner last night.

Here, Andrew is proudly displaying his on-tap pint of Sleeman's. Appropriate for two Guelph alumni to be drinking this as well.

I'm not entirely sure I have ever really truly made advanced reservations for anywhere. Look how official it all was!

A feast, to be sure.

When this is set down in front of you, you can't help but continue to grin like a cheshire cat.

Same thing applies to pie. Especially when it's pumpkin pie!

Note the recipe for the "Crumble" - this was quite likely one of the most delicious, autumnal alcoholic beverages I have ever had. It's a new favourite. I took this picture in order to remember the recipe. Orchard fizz ended up just tasting like a wee bit of fruit and black licorice. Not recommended unless you really really like drambuie or sambuca.

So, that was my thanksgiving. There was a wee club jump later on just to keep the festivities going. However, the clubs were PACKED for a monday night (what's with that?), and in the end my need for my bed overcame my desire to stay out and pretend to dance (which is really just an extended effort to not get crushed in a crowd or fall down).

One thing that I forgot to mention, on Sunday night when I went to put down the deposit for the reservation for last night's feast, I happened upon some interesting things in Covent Garden. First of all, I'll mention that I saw one of the best street performance acts I've seen in a long time. It involved stunts, chainsaws, a really tall unicycle, juggling knives, and a man running around in the freezing cold in bright pink underpants. I laughed. I clapped. I had a good time of it. It was really quite by chance because it was a cold night, and I went into the piazza to grab a quick hot chocolate before the kiosk closed up shop for the night, and I heard a chainsaw going. Naturally this sparked my interest, so I figured I'd go watch whatever street performer was in Covent Garden that night. Needless to say I was not disappointed. I like when little random jolts of entertainment are infused into my day.

Last, as I was walking back towards the tube, I cut through the piazza again and saw THIS

How I missed this the first time through, or any other time that I didn't notice a giant silver inflated bunny rabbit is beyond me.

Anywho, my headphones finally bit the biscuit and it's time to replace them. I'd like to say this is a simple want and not a need, but if anyone who reads this has ever taken public transit as their main form of getting around, you know that a silent ride or one without music can be quite painful.

Off I go!

Wax On, Wax Off

so it's thanksgiving. the first one i've had away from home. that's okay though, because i discovered that the maple leaf pub in covent garden does thanksgiving dinner, complete with turkey, stuffing, potatoes, veggies, and pumpkin pie. essentially, the whole nine yards.

so i'm quite excited for that in a few hours. i've been eating tiny tiny amounts all day so that i am sure to have room for the upcoming feast.

this past weekend, helen and i went to madam tussaud's wax museum here in london up on baker street. i discovered in my time there that i only felt normal height beside james dean, einstein, chaplin, and child-mozart. otherwise i just felt quite short. oscar wilde and the princes dwarfed me! anyways, here are some photos from that....

spider-man, spider-man.....

it's SHREK!

and he's enormous

i'm so short. prince william is so tall. dreamy.....?

the author of the picture of dorian gray - oscar wilde. a literary hero of mine.

William Shakespeare!!!!!

Helen with Vincent Van Gogh

Another hero, but non-literary, Sir Isaac Newton!!! and his prism.

Another hero but of the musical persuasion - Freddie Mercury!!! good lord i'm short.

EINSTEIN! he's short! i feel better now.

Ok, i got really excited because i'd read about this guy in the bathroom reader i had at dad's over and over (because there was only one reader in our possession) - Vlad the Impaler. the father of the original dracula. cool, non?

I felt like i had to.

Despite many people seeming to think this is hitler, this is actually charlie chaplin.

SO, this is not in the wax museum, but it was outside the cinema where helen and i went to see zombieland. This is a plaque that when you're facing it to read it, indicates the direction of canada/ottawa as well as how far it is. i forget how far it said, shoulda taken a picture of it closer up. but i at least know where it is now!

Well, i'm off to get clean and ready for turkey time! :)

I finally had purpose!

I had purpose on monday! My agency finally phoned me for a supply day. I ended up way out the OTHER SIDE of this city. The tale begins at 8:20am when I was still very much asleep. It was a monday and me being myself, I had a slob-day sunday and was banking on showering monday. Now, I could have probably gotten up early and showered and whatnot and then just crawled back into bed in case they called (which i do now every. single. day). However, as the case may be, with the odds in my favour in this gamble, i stayed in bed. I awoke to my ringtone and wondered "this is odd, who's calling?" and lo and behold, at 8:20am, my agency was calling me to come to the aid of a school who had a teacher call in sick that morning. I think they may have noticed that I sounded groggy and freshly woken, so the lady assumed "oh, so you're not really ready to go to work then are you" and my response: "not right now, but I can be in 5 minutes". So great, i got directions on what tube to take and I told the agency lady to tell the school that there was no way I would be getting that far by 9am. It takes 20 minutes just to get to the other side of the downtown core most days.

So with the help of hairspray and bobby pins, i fixed the mop on my head. I literally whipped out the clothing I keep on top of the pile in my closet specifically for teaching emergencies and threw them on. Gathered my stuff and was out the door down to the central line as fast as i could. My commute was going well, and at about 9:10 I had surfaced out of the underground still on the tube (but on a different line - i had switched to the district line for the final part of my journey). Called the agency for the rest of the directions (which they texted to me), and they were shocked that I had made it that far that quickly so of course, it was assumed I'd be at the school around 9:40.

That's when everything went downhill. My train conductor announced that the final destination of the train had changed and was now stopping BEFORE the station I needed. So I de-trained. Waited 4 minutes for the next one, got on, and ended up at my stop. Then it was time to embark on a bus. The bus took 10 minutes to come (and it was raining. joy). Then, about halfway to the bus stop I needed to get off at for the school, a dump truck had decided to park in the MIDDLE OF THE ROAD and was clearly not leaving until his job was done. That took a good 10 minutes. By the end of it, I got to the school at 10:18. Right before the kids went off to morning assembly (a daily thing in that school) and their morning recess. Great.

So the rest of the day went very well. We altered our schedule a little bit to include all the important lessons that I needed to cover. Thankfully the lady I was subbing for went handout photocopying crazy and I was never at a lack of activities for the children. Bless those teachers who do that.

The restaurant I gave 6 hours of my time to on a trial shift never called me back. Thanks, jerks. Not even to tell me that they were going another direction. Not exactly the kind of place I'd want to work for anyways if that is how they conduct their business.

But on the up side, I will get paid for monday, and I learned my lesson. I now wake up at 6 or 630 (depending on whether or not i really need to wash my hair that day) and am dressed by 7. make up on, everything. Call the agency and tell them that I am available to work and am ready to go at a moment's notice. No more of that "i haven't showered in days and here i go to work" thing. Never. Again.

We shall see what the rest of the week brings. However I must say even working ONE DAY has  lifted my spirits. Now a few more days and I'll be one happy bird.

sometimes i think man i'm such a tourist

ok, that's not so much true anymore. i haven't been doing as many tourist-ey things lately. the last thing i did that i would classify as truly tourist-esque would be going to the british museum. and that was last week. so it feels like it's been a while.

i'm still unemployed and that is starting to really really get to me. i just want to fill my days with SOMETHING rather than sifting continuously through ad after boring ad on gumtree (a classifieds site for london). the perk to that i suppose is that it can be done in the comfort of sweat pants and a tshirt.

i had a trial run at a restaurant up in islington. it wasn't too bad, actually. i could probably happily work there. i just wish i was TEACHING which is what i came here to do. the agency is kind of letting me down hardcore right now. it's been almost a month since i landed and i've had one interview for teaching. that's not exactly what i would consider to be "okay," or anywhere CLOSE to "okay." SOMETHING will come up I'm sure - i guess i'm just going to have to keep on trying. maybe i'll wrestle with the printer downstairs and print off a whackload of resume's and start meandering to various shops and stores and beg for a job. i hate that it has come down to this. i really do. and the weather turned cold today - the one day that would be a guaranteed good day to be in the park busking. perhaps if it is sunny instead of cloudy tomorrow that's what i'll be doing.

it's time to wander off. i have restless legs.