Happy Halloween!

This past week Tracy and I were stunned to learn that apparently China and Nigeria neglect celebrating Halloween. Since Halloween is fantastic and deserves celebration, Tracy and I decided to throw another party for the flat and company. Since some of the boys arrived early, they showed off their skills by baking for us this time around!

Joel and Jimmy, being adorably domestic as they argue over the cupcake mix.

Jimmy was especially proud of the finished product- he added each white chocolate sprinkle with tender loving care.

I got us a pumpkin to cut up as well, since anything you can both set on fire AND eat is awesome.

"No. No, Jimmy, you cannot pour whiskey on the candle." (I'm serious.)

I'm pleased to report that fire-lit vegetables are popular with 20-year olds all over the world! 

Charming! I did my best with the knife we had. Haha, Joel, not realizing that by "cut up" I meant "carve a face," actually about hacked the thing in half with a massive butcher knife. Fortunately I rescued the little guy just in time!

Delicious pumpkin seeds- totally worth touching the nasty pumpkin guts.

Highlights:

This morning Tracy, Lorraine, and Natalie gave me a call, asking if I wanted to meet up with them at the "Snail and Lettuce" for breakfast/lunch. I walked in and they had pre-ordered a full English breakfast for me. Good gawd-- for friends who went to London with me, forget what the hotel served us in the mornings! On one plate here there were two sunny side up eggs, two thick slices of toast, two huge slices of bacon, baked beans, a small cup of melted butter, a big mushroom, and a massive sausage, PLUS a huge cup of tea to go with it. Now THAT is a full breakfast!

For the record, things I might never get used to: Not getting ice in ANY drink you order.

Things I'm adjusting to a little too quickly: Just wearing leggings instead of pants.

Classes in full swing!

Preface: 

Blake is phenomenal- I should have read "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" years ago. It only took about twenty minutes max to inhale the thing, but it was brilliant. This week, however, is Wordsworth. At risk of total Romanticist blasphemy... I've never been a big fan, and have fallen asleep at every other attempt. At least there's some Coleridge mixed in! What's really got my wheels turning though are the concepts in our Literary Editing class. Are literary works (as Marx and today McGann seem to say) works of society as a whole? Just instinctively, I hate the idea... of course society affects the author, but individual genius plays a much larger role! *fizzle* You get it.

However, what with all that reading and thinking to get done, I'm just going to sum up this past week in a series of charming bite size moments/things I learned (Essentially, an all-highlights entry). ^_^ Enjoy:

~Jessica after dinner one night, gave us all a brief psych test she had learned in class. Basically, each fill-in-the-blank question she gave us was symbolic of your inner self, etc. One of the questions, for example, was "You go hunting in the woods, what animal are you hunting?" After all the questions, you learn that whatever animal you answered reflects the type of significant other you go for (ie: deer = sophisticated, graceful, etc). Well, Tracy, when forced to answer instinctively, responded "turkey." As if that weren't already hilarious enough in itself, Tommy, whose first language is Chinese, quickly responded, "Perhaps he will have good taste." XD I would like to believe I was witness to his first pun in English. It was a beautiful thing.

~Speaking of Tommy, this past weekend we also took Tommy out for a shopping spree. Alright. Tommy is from China, about 5'11'' and approximately... 130lbs (seriously). He is potentially the most adorable creature on the planet-- his favorite food is strawberries. He also possesses magnificent cheek bones and PERFECT lips (which he claims to be embarrassed by). However, although he dresses fine, I swear on my life, he wears the EXACT SAME SWEATER every single freaking day. It is a nice sweater, but we're tired of seeing it.

**This sweater. EVERY DAY.

So we gave him a makeover. 

OH. SNAP. Apparently there was a sexy, raging hipster buried under that freaking sweater :D

~In China, apparently lunch is the big meal of the day- dinner is more of a light snack. I now feel slightly less guilty about taking advantage of their delicious generosity in the evenings... 

~Tracy, while "softening" the butter for our dinner, decided to leave the aluminum wrapping on when she tossed it in the microwave. Next thing I hear, "umm... hey Jess?" I turn around and FLAMES. Literally. Flames in the microwave. Fortunately, we were both completely dumbfounded  calm and handled it perfectly- no fire alarms went off, and the fire extinguished itself.  

~Adesewa, Tracy, and I were doing the girl talk thing, when the subject of moronic girls who claim they can't live without their boyfriend of seven or eight months came up. In response, Adesewa tossed out a nifty Nigerian saying: "If you kill yourself over one man, a thousand men will walk over your grave."

~Tracy made egg tarts! http://en.christinesrecipes.com/2009/03/cantonese-egg-tarts-recipe.html

Oh wow, soooo good. I need to make these for Christmas! Earlier that evening as well, Joel made us dinner. As it turns out, his room is ridiculously clean and he can cook like a wizard. 

~Flawed assumptions: "Oh, ok, cool, I can just use that massive, ancient, cathedral-looking building there as a landmark." *walk ten minutes, pass fifteen more equally epic buildings at every street corner* "Ah. Aaaaaaand I'm lost."

Dinner time!

So, since we have a communal kitchen, every evening seems to be a time to get together, talk out any frustrations about the day, and just generally chill out. Dinner always seems to turn into a group effort! The other night, Tracy and I made chili, but it until after an epic battle with the three cans of kidney beans and tomatoes... 

We broke one can opener that Carina had gotten from a friend (apparently in China most of the cans have tabs, so nobody in the flat knew how to work the stupid thing anyway), so I went out and bought a new one. Literally two minutes later, the new one was broken as well.

After about an hour of knives, broken can openers, and infuriated shaking, the cans were busted open.

It was worth the wait!

Every other night here practically turns into a feast- when you share, there's more food for everyone. Tracy, Tommy and I are getting to be better cooks everyday, and Carina, Rebecca, Jessica, and Adesewa are like master chefs! They cook every day, and always so generous ^_^ Last night, one of Tommy's classmates from China did both the corn and chicken dish plus the mushrooms/soy sauce and chicken plate. Rebecca made us each a plate of thin noodles, hot dog slices, cucumbers and carrots too- it was all DELICIOUS. Tracy and I contributed hamburgers, which also turned out surprisingly well! 

So far though, one of my favorite things yet has been Jessica's "little fishies" from Korea. Super salty, with a tangy, nutty sauce--I had to close my eyes the first time, but these little guys are just fantastic.

Can you spot the little fishies?? (Hint: look for eyes)

Lovely Sunday Walk: The Clifton Suspension Bridge

Here we are starting out! This is Jessica (Eunjae, actually- it seems many of the Asian students pick an English-sounding name) standing in front of Hogw-*ahem* the Will's Building.

We decided to duck into the Will's Building this time to grab some photos (since nobody would believe us if we told them how epic it was). This isn't even the Great Hall- this is just what you see when you first walk in.

(the inside of the Will's building from the top of the stairs)

Tracy giving us her raptor impression next the arm bones of some giant dino.

Our Student Union! Not terribly impressive from the outside, but it's a BIG place on the inside.

We arrive! It was a beautiful day, so much sunshine it was almost hard to take pictures of people standing in front of the thing. There were plenty of couples chilling out on the lawn nearby, just enjoying the gorgeous scenery. It was free to walk across the bridge.

The brick walls on either side of the bridge were sturdy and safe, but surprisingly low for a bridge of this height. If you want a crazy story about it, check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Ann_Henley

(courtesy of Mr.Mock)

Haha, oh yeah, I totally don't stand out in a crowd! An awesome older dude who told us he was visiting from Lithuania(?) took this photo for us.

The stunning view from the other side of the suspension bridge. Compared to bridges at home size-wise, it technically was quite small, but the gorgeous view of the city and the clever way the bridge was, well, "suspended" made it absolutely worth the walk.

On our way back we caved and started hitting up some of the hundreds of little shops tucked away in every alley. We easily could have just missed this little in-door gem. It had lots of charming, whimsical little stuff, but if detailed cupcake and teacup-shaped/scented candles aren't your thing, there were also cool antiques and great old book stores.

You might not be able to read it here, but this is Buckingham Chapel. CHAPEL. ....THIS in England... is a CHAPEL. Good grief.

Finally, yet another hilarious smart car (great for the environment, but they are basically toys). Here you see a mop wedged inside- just to give you an idea, the mop was basically the exact length of the entire car. Haha, the other day I also saw one parked on the last edge of pavement-- it had backed in, so its side door was facing the front of the other car that was actually parallel parked.

Highlights:

One of the quirky shops featured 1: this awesome knife rack, and 2: a mug that I wasn't able to get a photo of but the bottom of it read "Every conversation should be approached with caution and sensitivity." Standing above though, was a grouchy looking orange critter that said "Total bullocks!"

The daily Bristol Walk- Finally, photos!

This is one of several "Banksy" graffiti art pieces around the city- haha, I get to pass this little masterpiece every morning, it's about 3minutes from where I live.

This is the stunning Bristol Cathedral that is (more or less) right behind my building. I walk 3 minutes, and BAM- why, hello epic cathedral, good morning to you too!

Me and Tracy, standing in front of one of the entrances to said epic cathedral :D

Another gorgeous shot of the gorgeous cathedral (Tracy has a pretty sexy camera with all the bells and whistles). The dude there is named "something... something... Roy"-- I kid you not. Therefore, his name shall henceforth be simply Roy. Because that is awesome, and he looks like a Roy anyway.

This is College Green, I believe, and it stretches all around in the front of the cathedral. Very beautiful.

Perfect place for a field trip! They had all the little British chillen in neon vests, so they could be spotted as they ran around the green in front of the Cathedral (*note: if this was my what my childhood was like, I'd want to sip tea all the time too)

This is right in the same area, I believe it is some kind of council building- it curves around one side of the College Green, just being its epic British self.

More of the Green. This panoramic view is of the street right in front of the street we actually live on. These are all pretty daily sights for us.

Now! We shall climb THE hill. Park Street. It is my arch nemesis, and I must face it every day if I want to go just about anywhere. No photo can really do it justice, but this one is trying pretty hard.

Aaaand we're climbing, and we're climbing, crazy British car, and we're climbing, Wallace and Gromit, and we're climbing, Swinky's (*squee! cutest cupcake/chocolate shop ever), climbing, frickin' climbing...

Milkshake break!!!

*The shakes tasted good, but were very foamy compared to what I'm used to (aka, good old, dense, ice creamy, give-you-an-anuerism-trying-to-drink-it-with-a-straw, 'Murican shakes)

AND YES! VICTORY! Top of the world! Take that, hill, YEAH. 

Our reward is the Will's Memorial Building and the attached Bristol Museum. What's that, Hogwarts, you feel like living in Bristol and being epic today? Yeah, that's cool with me, you just do your thing.