Near Norwich: seal pupstravaganza.

Ella, Tina, Ricardo, and I headed to the coast to see some seal pups. They were adorable. We were all very pleased.

Parts of the landscape were striking, in a grass-dune, prairie-ish kind of way.

A volunteer let us look through his telescope for SUPER EXTREME CUTE SEAL CUB CLOSE-UPS.

Ahhh, rock pillow.

New career goal: SEAL WARDEN. Bad seals, bad seals, whatcha gonna do...

Seals running is one of the best things I've ever seen.

Norwich: miscellaneous British things.

Bonfire Night

November 5th - also known as Guy Fawkes' Day. The night of, Ella and I watched V for Vendetta, which I had never seen before, with a few fireworks going off outside. The next night, we went out to near the uni to watch the official fireworks. We could've paid seven pounds or so to get onto the fairgrounds to supposedly get a better view, but we're cheap, and the mixture of fog and firework smoke made it difficult to see everything pretty quickly, anyway.

Revolution shmevolution!

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rugby

Woah. Rugby is intense. A few of us met at the uni pub to watch England vs. New Zealand. It was the first time I had actually watched rugby - except, I think, they played it once on Friends to highlight Ross's wussiness. I was secretly rooting for the All Blacks [in the actual game, not on Friends] - and they were victorious!

I have a lot of respect for the game. The players don't try to score pity points with theatrics like in soccer [don't get me wrong, I get a huge kick out of the drama in soccer, but I don't have much respect for it], and they accept the refs' decisions.

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comedians

A long time ago, we saw Shazia Mirza at the Norwich Arts Centre. Besides being a bit awkward - which I guess is pretty much required for a comedian - she was great. She's from a Muslim, Pakistani family, so most of her material is about pressures from that, her family trying to set her up, things like that. She talked about how she had been invited to tea at Buckingham Palace, along with several other well-known Indian Brits. She decided to not point out that she's actually Pakistani. The incredibly awkward small talk between her and the Queen is just brilliant. At one point during her show, she asked whether anyone was there from the States, and the others made me raise my hand. When I told her where I was from, she said, "Oh yes, Wisconstins...isn't that some kind of sauce?"

A few weeks later, we went back to see Robin Ince, who mostly talked about and read from books he had bought at secondhand book stores. One of the best ones was a romance novel whose plot included deadly crabs - as in, actually the animal. We made sure to get a picture with him and one book he particularly got a kick out of, which contained only pictures of hunks in various stages of undress and ridiculous poses and settings:


He didn't talk about this on this particular evening, but this is still an amusing clip:

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just some things I've seen around

It's a tree on a house! I don't know why. But it looks good.

Bussiness? The state of being bus-like? I didn't know that was usually open.

Apparently they're really into the University of Michigan? I haven't actually seen anyone wearing these out on the streets, though - next big thing, I guess.

Speaking of which, I've been going to the campus of the University of East Anglia so much - to hang out at the grad bar and environmental sciences happy hour, go to concerts, I even went to an American Studies guest lecture on swearing like a sailor in the 1700s [apparently "damned son of a bitch" was the ultimate insult back then, even among no-good mutinying scoundrels] - that I almost feel like a part of it, so I got a UEA sweatshirt [with a rabbit on the sleeve to represent all the rabbits running around campus] and bag. I was wearing the sweatshirt in town one day and went to get a smoothie - and got a student discount just because of the sweatshirt! Cha ching. A few more smoothies, and this thing'll have paid for itself!

Norwich Beer Festival.

Around the end of October, Tina and I headed to St. Andrew's Hall - which used to be a church - for the 2010 Norwich Beer Festival, put on by Norwich CAMRA [Campaign for Real Ale: "campaigning for real ale, pubs and drinkers' rights since 1971" - now that's a charity I can get behind!]. I put on my Angkor Beer shirt from Cambodia for the occasion.

Around 11 on a Friday morning, we made our way to the back of a very long line. While we waited for about 45 minutes to get in, we noticed that the line was mostly full of guys. Beer festival? More like sausage fest!





Once inside, we bought tickets and glasses and headed over to the cider kegs. These were nothing like Strongbow, though - very different taste and almost no carbonation. I got a perry, which is a cider made from pear instead of apple. The older gentleman who was pouring cider out gave me a couple samples first, and when I chose one and asked for a half pint, he just looked at me and said, "A hahlf pint." I said, "Yes, a half pint." He said, "No - a hahlf pint." So I put on my best British accent and was rewarded.

In the area featuring Norfolk beer, we started talking to three guys - a father-in-law, a son-in-law, and the son-in-law's friend. They come here every year, and the friend even comes all the way from London, where he now lives. He knows he's going to be made redundant soon, and he's planning on taking up brewing - so we listened to his recommendations for what to try out.

I finished up the experience with a Scotch egg ["a shelled hard-boiled egg, wrapped in a sausage meat mixture, coated in breadcrumbs, and deep-fried" - wikipedia] and a beer called Hey Pesto, which did, in fact, taste like pesto. I was appalled and intrigued at the same time.

Norwich: serendipitous music.

A few weeks ago, a few of us went to the university to see the tea-drinking DJ Mr. Scruff lay down some phat beats.



It's a fun show, with Mr. Scruff's own drawing accompanying the beats. It started a little slow, though, and by the time it seemed like it was getting more interesting, we couldn't really get into it anymore and a particularly inebriated member of our group [not me or Ella, just to clarify!] was insisting we leave.

Thank goodness for that particularly inebriated member of our group, because the timing was perfect - after the 30-minute walk home, Ella and I were just coming up to her place right when a big white van was parking right in front of her house. We noticed it had a German license plate, and when multiple handsome young men started piling out of the van, we decided to strike up conversation. It turns out they're a Danish "death indie" band called Mimas, they had played a show that night elsewhere in Norwich, and they were spending the night in a house just down the street. Since I generally know I like indie music and adorable Danish men, I bought their album despite not having heard the actual music - they were very excited about their first-ever street sale.

We got a picture and hugs from Mimas.

It turns out we loved their music, anyway, so it all worked out. Here's a taste [and if you like this, also check out Dad Rocks!, a solo project by one of the guys]:

P.S. Some of Ella's roommates really like Bon Iver, Eau Claire's hometown heroes. It's very exciting to rock out to Bon Iver in a student kitchen in England and tell the roommates that Justin Vernon, the group's leading man, lives a few miles from my parents! [And if you like Bon Iver, also check out Volcano Choir, another Justin Vernon project. In fact, I couldn't quite get into Bon Iver at first, but after listening to and loving Volcano Choir, I gave Bon Iver another chance and fell in love with them, too.]

Passive houses are the best thing ever!

I finally got around to reading a New York Times article from September on passive houses in the US and how they're lagging far behind the passive house movement in Europe, especially Germany.

Exciting quote:

...homes using [the passive house standard] can be up to 80 percent more energy-efficient, over all, than standard new houses and consume just 10 percent of the heating and cooling energy.

The past two years, I've been involved in translating the Passivhaus Institut's annual conference proceedings, and although by the end of the month-long process I'm a little burnt out and threaten physical and/or psychological harm to anyone who dares utter the words "blower door test" or "shape factor" near me, I actually think they're really fascinating and a very important future-oriented, sustainable construction option. The upfront costs scare a lot of people away, but over time, they more than pay themselves back by saving on heat, etc. - especially since it's likely that energy prices will just keep rising.

I'm pretty sure the Brits have never heard of double-glazing [and triple-glazing is probably up there with fairies and minotaurs - the stuff of legend!]. Even when windows are completely closed here, the draft [or draught, as they call it here] still rustles the curtains. Ridiculous. The heating bills in this country must be through the [insufficiently insulated] roof.

I want a passive house when I grow up!

Norwich: cats.

I mean, Norwich isn't one of those places where stray cats are running around all over the place, begging for food at cafes and hanging out at the beach. But there are a lot of cats here, for some reason. They seem to have free run of Ella's street, although they're not strays - they're well taken care of and are usually wearing collars.

This one was chilling at a pub down the street and had no qualms about jumping on Ella's lap and demanding attention.

There are so many cats here, the university even provides special parking for them.

Norwich: a couple churches!

Here's something interesting about England: it has churches!

And they're pretty.

Norwich: traffic cone thinking cap.

A statue in the main shopping area [don't know who the guy actually is, though].

Written on the back of the same statue: "is this it?" Not sure whether that's referring to life in general, the crass commercialism surrounding the statue, or traffic cone hats.

In a country where some pubs close at 11 p.m...

...of course 8 p.m. is considered "late night shopping."

How cute.

The wandering umbrella.

This umbrella has been around the world with me, but it rarely saw the light of day [or rather, gray skies of rain] in places like Egypt. I finally brought it out in a serious way here in England, and one day, upon returning home, I set it down, still partly open, in the shoe area at the bottom of the stairs to dry out.

A few days later I noticed that it had disappeared.

A day or two after that, Ella and I headed to the nearby Tesco Express for some groceries, and in the yard of a house halfway there, there was my umbrella - closed up and lying in a complete stranger's yard.

The most likely explanation is a drunk roommate, but I prefer to think that my umbrella had caught the travel bug and wanted to see more of the world for itself.

Although if that's the case, it should've tried a little harder - every time we walked by for the next couple weeks, it was still lying there. I'm not sure how the people in the house didn't notice a strange umbrella in their yard for that long.

But it's gone now, and I just hope it's fulfilling its dream and seeing the wonders of the world - although probably just on rainy days.

Norwich: revenge of the colony.

Haven't been to a game yet, but maybe I should look one up...after playing softball in Germany, I'm fascinated by American sports in other countries.

Apparently Uncle Sam's secret identity is Captain America.
I WANT YOU...to eat a hamburger.

Jesus dinosaurs in Cambridge.

Ella had to work at the Lush store in Cambridge for a day, so I went along for the ride.

I spent most of the day wandering around town and along the River Cam before finding a bench on the riverbank for a bit of reading and nap-taking.

Speaking of naps, the main thing I noticed about the town was its habit of naming things after that dude who took a three-day one.

A sign pointing to Christ's Pieces, one of the parks.

Jesus Lock Gauging Station on the river.

One of the colleges in the University of Cambridge is called Jesus College - because it's on Jesus Lane - but its full name is actually The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the Glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Fun fact from wikipedia: "The College was founded in 1496 on the site of a Benedictine nunnery by John Alcock, then Bishop of Ely. It has been traditionally believed that the nunnery was turned into a college because the nunnery had gained a reputation for licentiousness."

Also, there are dinosaurs on the college's lawn. Licentious nuns and Jesus dinosaurs...my kind of college!

It was a glorious day with beautiful skies - here are a few other pictures from my wanderings.

The State of Suspended Animation, also known as England.

After one last night at home, consisting of dinner with the parents and grandmother, giggles with the friends, and packing, my dad drove me to the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport to catch my flight to London.

The problem was, back in February, I bought a flight to London for the end of September, thinking I would have my visa for Portugal by then [I was planning on buying the flight from London to Porto closer to the time]. As it turned out, I didn't have it by then. But it cost far too much to cancel the flight, so instead of hunkering down at my parents', I decided to twiddle my thumbs in England until I get the go-ahead for Portugal.

I almost had to turn back around to Eau Claire, anyway - the check-in people at the airport almost didn't let me on the plane. I had no return flight and no long-term visa [yet!], so they were concerned that England would turn me away, and they didn't want to be responsible for getting me back to the US. After a few phone calls and reassurances that Germany had trusted me enough to give me plenty of visas, they grudgingly let me check in.

Of course, I spent the course of the trip terrified that I would indeed be yelled at and told to turn right back around the minute I stepped foot on British soil.

Of course, the passport person barely glanced at me, asked a few perfunctory questions, and waved me into Her Majesty's United Kingdom.

Since then, I've been crashing at Ella's, working a little, sleeping a lot, getting back into running, reading, meeting some incredible people from around the world [including enough Portuguese people to make my own Little Portugal right here in Norwich], and, perhaps most importantly, watching every single episode of How I Met Your Mother.

Also, some other stuff. But that's for future posts.

Teach me how to Bucky - holy matrimony style.

From Chicago, I once again got a craigslist rideshare - up to Madison - and once again was not murdered. Always appreciated.

It was my first time back in Madison since graduation a little over two years ago, and it was so nice to be back - I had forgotten how awesome it is.

I spent a lot of time with various generations of AYFers and a little time with former Waldsee campers, went to some of my old favorite restaurants and bars, walked around campus and re-lived the good ol' undergrad days, and took a German friend to his first American wedding.

Sparkle Court is just the most adorable name for a street ever.

In the first apartment I crashed at, there was a poster of Darwin hanging in the bathroom. For some reason it was full of typos, but this was my favorite one: "...The Preservation of Flavoured Races..." - I bet strawberry-flavored species would be best preserved...they make jelly out of that stuff all the time!

Library Mall on the campus end of State Street - if you look closely, you can see the Capitol at the other end.

The day of the wedding, the local low rider club was displaying some of their prides and joys on Library Mall.

Husband and wife!

The reception was at Memorial Union [the student union], so Bucky dropped in and kicked it with the bride.

At some point, Christian and I may or may not have crashed the other wedding reception that was in the Union that night. We may or may not have had a couple glasses of free beer [psh, our reception had free beer and wine - step up your game, other happily married couple!], danced to "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy", signed their guestbook in German, and fled back downstairs. The above and below pictures may or may not have been taken at that other reception.

After the reception and some time on State Street, it was time to introduce Christian to the wonder that is Ian's macaroni and cheese pizza.

The song "Teach Me How to Bucky" by a couple of UW students. Silly, but fun in a school-spirit kind of way. By the way, our football team is doing awesome this year. The day of the wedding, we totally trounced Austin Peay [admittedly, a school I had never heard of before] 70-3. A couple weeks ago we beat Ohio State, which was #1 at the time and is our mortal enemy all the time. I don't even really care about football, and it's still exciting.

Chicagoland.

Took the Greyhound bus from Eau Claire to Chicago. A friend called and asked me how to say inappropriate things in German - I told him I couldn't tell him right then, and he said, "Come on, no one else on the Greyhound will know any German." In fact, two young Amish couples and their babies had gotten on in Tomah, and although I wasn't sure exactly how much crude German slang they would understand, I didn't want to take my chances. I tried to eavesdrop on their Pennsylvania Dutch and see how much I could understand, but the bus was too loud.

I spent most of my time in Chicagoland [that's actually a name for Chicago and its suburbs (including bits of Wisconsin and Indiana), not an amusement park or anything] riding the el and other commuter trains. Public transportation is so wonderful.

I ate awesome Mexican food with Jenny, walked around downtown with Shane, went to a Dave Matthews Band concert at Wrigley Field with a stranger [sold my extra ticket on craigslist], grabbed a greasy-spoon breakfast and drank PBR [not at the same time] with Dave [who works at the Chicago Diner, a vegetarian diner with such illustrious customers as Moby, who Dave seated once], rocked the suburbs with Amy and Kaytee [nine-bar pub crawl...goodness!], and scoured the empty financial district for dinner with KT [once the business day is over, everything seems to just shut down there].

Art never fails to amuse me.

Barber signs never fail to creep me out.

Home.

Finally, I made it back home - Wisconsin!

First order of business: celebrating Ben [my brother] and Chiemi's marriage.

The weather the day before was terrible, but the day of the celebration was just beautiful. The casual event included lawn games...

...barbecue chicken and Texas toast from Mike's Smokehouse...

...family and old friends relaxing and chatting...

...and ADORABLE BABIES.

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Mom, Dad, Abby [the dog], and I spent a day at the cabin.

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Mexican and giant margaritas with my grandma, my mom, and my aunt.

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I hopped on my good old bike and went for a ride around the countryside, including some parts that I had never been to before - amazing what you can find even in your own neighborhood when you explore a little.

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Kickin' it with Abby and Pokey.

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Otherwise I spent a lot of time sleeping, watching trashy TV, running [including the Buckshot Run, an Eau Claire tradition in Carson Park benefiting the Special Olympics - I was so excited to finally run a race in my hometown...and then show Chiemi the statues in the park of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox and Hank Aaron, who played baseball with the Eau Claire Bears], etc. Exactly how time at home should be.

I also went back to the Cities twice - once to watch Wicked with my parents and once to see friends. One of them, Nate, works at Summit Brewing and has his own concoction coming out soon for a limited time - an imperial pumpkin porter. Yeah, that's right, sounds delicious and autumnal, doesn't it?!? If you're in the Twin Cities area and like beer, check out the link, go to at least one of the release events, buy his beer, and tell me how it is, because I probably won't get to try it and I'm very sad about that.