This Week in London

These last few days have been busy with adventure. I have been trying to make the most of my time here and have ventured out every day to a new place to see what I can see.

Once on our last trip a well-to-do English businessman asked me what my favorite part of London is, and I said "the transportation system." He was disappointed in my answer, but I stand by it. Trains, trams, tubes, and buses, you can get anywhere. The city is so well connected, and you rarely have to wait more than 10 minutes for your next ride. The place we are staying is about 8 miles outside of the city proper, which translates to over an hour journey in to areas like London Bridge and the waterfront, but that hour is easy and is have gotten pretty good at figuring out the main hubs from which other side trips can follow.

There is great pleasure in a latte and a train seat by the window. In this case there was even a table, and I happily watched the fields and brick buildings and graffitied back walls go by. 

My first day out was to the Old Operating Theatre. It was used for poor women mostly, in the early 1800s before anesthetics were invented, and is one of the only 19th century operating theaters still surviving.

I paid 6 pounds to go in (about $10 US) which I never would have done on our world trip. I'm so glad I did, though! By chance, King's Medical College was holding a special lecture for their students inside the theatre on the use of surgery in cancer treatment. I sat down too and listened to the whole thing. It was incredible---the platform where the patient was operated on in the 1800s was now holding a laptop and projector, a screen was hung in front of the place where the surgeons used to (sometimes) rinse their hands in a porcelain bowl, the students and I sat around the wooden rows where medical students used to watch surgeries, beneath the same sign--a quote in Latin that means "mercy before wealth." 

It was an amazing experience, and made me even more excited for the physician assistant program to start in August. 

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I drew all the time on our world trip, but have hardly drawn at all since then. I wanted to get back to it so I google searched for drawing classes in London and found the "London Life Drawing Society" and went to a drop in session for 10 pounds--right down the street from the British Museum, I might add, which was cool in its own right.

I was very nervous about going--what if everyone there is friends and I'm a random stranger, what if everyone there is really good at drawing and I'm not, what if the model looks at my drawing and feels bad about themselves because I drew them poorly, what if I go to the wrong place and walk in and everyone stares at me and and and. Standing outside the door all of my insides yelled at me to just go home and take a nap. I powered through, however, and of course am so glad I did.

 

I've never gone to a life drawing class before, aka nude model. Little desks were arranged in a circle around a table covered with a black cloth. The model had some sort of accident and couldn't come, but to my great surprise one of the other people in the class just decided to get naked and be the model instead. 

While I am by no means a real artist and nowhere near as skilled as most of the people in the class, I was surprised to find I wasn't actually THAT bad. I've always thought that a person's drawing ability was 70% natural and 30% learned, but now I think it's more like only 20% natural, 30% learned, and 50% practice. My ability to draw has increased dramatically in the last year as I just did it over and over again.

The class was a series of 10 and 20 minute poses. It was great experience to have the time to just stare at something and really see what it looked like, how the parts related to one another in space. I had enough time to realize that I have a tendency to make legs too short, and fix it. 

I used charcoal, which I've never really used before. It was so fun! I made the decision to commit to big dark lines, which normally I am afraid of. With the charcoal though if a line went wrong I could just rub it away. 

The guy next to me did this cool thing where he shaded in the paper with the charcoal and then used the eraser to draw. I tried to do this but realized I'm just not skilled enough to get the first line right like the style required, so I drew on top instead and ended with my favorite drawing of the day. It's a style I would never have thought of without going to the class to see my neighbor's idea.

The class also made me feel oddly body-confident and in love with the bodies of all my fellow humans. The man who modeled was very muscled, and it was fun to draw him because you could see the muscles under the skin and it was interesting from an anatomical perspective, but the other two people who modeled first were heavy, and were equally fun to draw because they had swooping curvy lines and just as much detail. I had so much fun, and drawing them felt like a way to celebrate each of them for their unique shape among 7 billion others.

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Finally, yesterday I went out to the Camden Passage antique market, and the to the "Fashion on the Ration" exhibit at the Imperial War Museum.

The antique market was a bit out of my price range, generally, but I had fun wandering up and down the narrow street looking at piles of shiny old things.

I did end up buying this necklace for about $10 US, a souvenir from my adventures.

I ate an amazing "apple and goat cheese" crepe and then went off to the war museum.

The exhibit was 10 pounds, which I don't really think it was worth, although the rest of the museum is free so I suppose they have to make their money somewhere. It was all about how men and women made do during the many shortages of world war 2, and the clever ways they reused items to stay unique and fashionable in a time of crisis.

My favorite examples were of the purses that had special slots to hold a gas mask and luminescent white buttons to give visibility during blackouts:

And the lingerie made from silk maps given to soldiers of the areas they were deployed. The one is from a silk map of Italy a woman's boyfriend had been given while fighting there, which was repurposed by her during the major silk shortages of the war. 

It's been a great week so far. I only have 10 days left before it's back home again to real life. Even that will be okay, though. We have moved to a new town so I can go to school and I don't know anything about it yet, but it seems promising. This trip has inspired me to explore our new town the way I would explore a tourist destination. Walk around, figure out the buses, look for free events, make the effort.

But! That is still ten days away. For now it is off on the next adventure.

Away Again

Today I find myself at the airport again. I am heading to London, where Subash is already waiting, having been there the last 2 weeks watching cricket.

We booked these tickets shortly after returning from our trip--it is good we did, because honestly I doubt we would have booked them now. It seems a bit crazy, but I'm taking it as a gift from our month-ago-travel-happy selves. One last hurrah before two years of school.

That being said, I am very excited to be going! 20 days of fancy coffee and free museums and reuniting with trip friends. 

The cheapest flight was from New York, so I made my way here earlier today. It is about four hours from my parents, and after exploring the options I decided to take a van here. Supertrans!

Me and four of my closest strangers made our way from outside Philadelphia to JFK. 

I have gotten pretty good at packing, although I probably brought as many clothes for this 20 days as I did for our whole world trip. It was kind of liberating to throw in some extra things without having to think of lugging it around for months. I also have a small carry-on full almost entirely with presents. I believe very much in the IDEA of never arriving empty handed, but am sorry to say that even despite depending on the kindness of strangers for most of our trip we hardly ever came bearing gifts to show just how much we appreciated what everyone did for us and how much we liked them. I can blame it on a lack of luggage space and funds, but whatever the reason I really regret it. Sorry, everyone! This time, seeing some of our old friends (and depending on their kindness once again) I am ready!

I will try to photograph the luggage at some point, but the breakdown is as follows:

1 x jeans 

1 x shorty shorts

1 x dress that can go either casual or fancy depending on accessories 

2 x tank tops

2 x t-shirts

2 x long sleeved shirts

1 x cardigan

1 x sweater

1 x sneakers (wearing for journey there to reduce packing space)

1 x sandals

1 x first aid kit

1 x giant medical text book and flash cards, required for my program in August 

As for my purse, I took this photo at the airport for your perusal: 

These are all the things I've learned to be most important to have on your actual person when possible instead of packed away. The breakdown here is:

Slightly trashy novel

Journal and two pens

Travel watercolor set and tiny watercolor papers (in the zippered pouch)

Eye glasses

Sunglasses

Eye cover -- I've never used one of these before but have been having some light sensitivity issues lately and thought I'd give it a try

Headphones

Phone charger and UK adapter 

Candy

Make up and deodorant 

I also have on my person a sweater and a fashion scarf, which I have learned by experience always come in handy when traveling. 

They've started boarding now so I should go. I have a D seat which I think means I'm going to end up in the middle, but we can always hope for a miracle. 

I'm off to 7 hours of terrible movie watching and sleeping, and then to the tube and at last our friends' house where Subash and fun times are waiting.

See you on the other side! 

The Best Grilled Cheese Ever

Tonight we made an unexpected detour off the train home and stumbled onto a pub hiding beneath the stairs. It was called The Camden Town Brewery, and we decided to stay awhile.

We ordered two pints and sat outside in the evening chill. I swear beer looks more delicious in England. I never cared about beer at home but here it looks all frothy and golden and refreshing.

Next to the Pub was a little food stand selling grilled cheese, appropriately named The Cheese Truck, and it smelled amazing. One look at their menu was all I needed to know I had to get one of these sandwiches right now.

(Note: "rocket" is the British word for arugula)

I went for the goat cheese / honey / butter sandwich. They put it on the grill and cooked it with great care, using a flat metal iron weight of sorts on top.

It was incredible.

I could eat that every day. Every meal! 

Earlier when in Manchester I was a bit down on London, but after the last weeks here I have to take it back. It's still unforgivably expensive, but almost all of the museums are free (post on that later!), it's so easy to get around, and--if you can afford it--there is delicious food everywhere.

Not a bad way to spend an evening!

Journal Pages - London Museums

Old Spitalfields Market - London

Yesterday (Sunday) while the India cricket team was on its way out I wandered over to the Old Spitalfields Market near Liverpool Street. It is open Thursday to Sunday with different themes each day. Sunday's is a general market. Around the outskirts are a number of cheaper vendors selling shoes and clothing, and inside a big covered area is the main event, which is full of artsy creations of all kinds.

I struck out from our current home and took the subway/tube to the nearest station, found using the amazing "CityMapper" app. Once there my dysfunctional sense of direction took over and I had to ask someone for help. This has been my MO so far. London is laid out so well and the subway system is easy, so I can confidently get to the required station. On the street, especially in more touristy areas, there are extremely detailed helpful maps showing You Are Here and there is everything else. Despite these, I still end up going in the wrong direction, and usually either just do this until I can see it has happened on the next map, or just ask someone. 

With guidance from the employees at a Starbucks cart I quickly found what I thought was the market. It turned out later this was the outer ring of vendors. I didn't realize until, thinking I was finished, I wandered into this big area and found all of the more expensive artsy ones. 

The market was great, and basically my ideal shopping experience. There were Things Everywhere!

If I didn't have to carry everything I owned in a tiny backpack I would have bought a whole new wardrobe. And it would have included these tiny sequin shorts:

There were all kinds of interesting clothes I've never really seen before.

I wasn't sure if haggling was allowed or not, and after some investigation my understanding is that you can certainly ask, but if the person says no you should accept it and move on. Also people a more willing to give you discount on buying multiple items than just reducing the price of one.

My previous haggling experiences in India were different--you could argue back and forth a lot more. I did this with one of the sellers early on in the day and it got a little awkward, and by the end of the day I felt embarrassed that I had done it. Also while I was haggling another vendor came up and told me that he wanted "skin on skin" and that would be the way to get a discount. Because I live in an innocent fantasy world it actually took me a second to understand what he meant, hah!! "Am I supposed to shake his hand?" I thought. To the original sellers credit, he looked as uncomfortable with the comment as I was. I left after that. 

Anyway, as it went on I realized that you weren't supposed to haggle so much, and when they said a price for the most part they meant it and were sticking to it.

I had a fun time at a sunglasses stall, where some of these nuances were explained to me by the owner. My advice to anyone going would be to ask something stupidly polite like "is the price negotiable?" 

While I was at this stall a woman came over and started an argument with the vendor about a bracelet in plastic wrapping. She wanted to open it and when he said she couldn't made a big deal about it. After yelling at him about it for a while she said that she wanted to open it because maybe he was selling broken things and she had to make sure, and the vendor had enough. He put his hand over the bracelet and said "you're right, I sell broken things, you don't want this." And when she tried to argue again he basically told her that he didn't want her money, and that after she treated him that way he wouldn't sell to her if she was the last person on earth. 

He told me after that some people treated him like he was their slave, and he would rather lose the sale to teach the lesson that they couldn't treat the vendors like shit. 

It was a little scary---what if I had somehow been that person??--but a good lesson. I think the main issue was not even what the woman said but how she said it. She really did talk to him like he was her servant. 

It's hard to always be doing something new and not know the rules. I had a fun day but it was also tiring to try to not to mess up. After watching that exchange I felt embarrassed about how much I had argued with the previous guy. As I've said before, when traveling you have to be okay with standing out and making mistakes, but sometimes this gets old.

Even worse, once I got to the inner artsy market I was taking pictures of these delightful little creature creations and the stall owner came over suspiciously to ask why I was taking pictures. I guess when you are selling your creativity you have to be careful that people aren't just going to steal your ideas, and even though it wasn't that big of a deal I was totally mortified and wanted to disappear. 

Anyway, I am making this sound worse than it is, probably. I slowly got over it and was careful to only take pictures from farther out, and not zoomed in on any one item. There have been many cases of big chain stores like Urban Outfitters and Target stealing design ideas from independent artists, and the artist almost always loses, so I understand the concern. 

The inside market was amazing, and full of incredible displays put together carefully and with love. This one stall selling jewelry had a trees everywhere, with necklaces hanging from them.

According to the website, a lot of the vendors are recently graduated art students. I ended up in a t shirt stall with another woman who was trying on shirts. The price was discounted if you bought two, and, with the vendors permission, we went in on it together and each got a shirt. Mine is a cat, of course!

After all of this I needed to sit, so I went to a place within the compound called "Crepe Affair" and had a lemon/butter/sugar crepe with vanilla ice cream.

I drew some pictures for a while and then finally left to head back to the subway/tube station and then meet Subash at the cricket ground.

I really had a great time. The market was awesome, and a fun way to spend the day. This place has different events throughout the month also, like a "Brewer's Market" beer market and a "Paw Pageant" coming up on Aug 25 described as "a host of doggy dudes donning couture designer fashion."

The market is obviously well loved and cared for by its vendors. Even the brochure map is fun:

It turns out this is just one of many many markets in London. 

Cricket ended early so today Subash and I are home sleeping in. I am going to work on some journal pages next. It's good to have some time behind a closed door regenerating. I have to build my reserves back up for the next adventure, where I will inevitably make some mistakes or commit a cultural faux-pas without knowing it. It's all worth it, though! I have no regrets.

Except that I didn't buy those sequin shorts.