Recipes for Friends

A Non-Stressful Day October 26, 2005

I woke up around 7:30 this morning without my alarm so I just decided to stay up, though I didn’ turn on my lights until after 9 or so, after my shower. Kyle happened to still be up so we talked for a bit. Then, after my morning routine, I started on finishing my paper. I got it done by around 10:40 so I read the globalization book. My tutor had said I didn’t need to read the whole thing because I would probably get the idea after the first few chapters, but I was going to try to read it anyway. I got through chapter 6. This was not as exciting as the poverty book. He seemed to just keep saying the same things over and over again. I read through my paper once and talked to my mom briefly before I started out to Regent’s for lunch.

I sat with Marshelle and Johnnie. The guy in charge of the meals came and asked me if I had signed up for my jacket potato. I said yes. Later, another guy, Alex, came and sat down and he said he didn’t get his potato so I guess they were short one and were making sure everyone who had one had signed up. Ruth came in to tell me she hadn’t signed up for lunch but we agreed to meet at 1:30 to go to the box office. We went and she got a seat not next to mine but in the same row for Sleeping Beauty. The lady said we could probably get people to move down so we could still sit next to each other. So that will be fun since someone is going with me. Ruth and I are both very excited about the ballet.

After this I read Hitch Hiker for a bit until I decided to go to the Museum of the History of Science. On the way I stopped at Sainsbury’s and got some snickers bars because I wanted one. After 2 bites, I decided I didn’t really want one, but I ate the rest of it anyway, slowly but surely. The museum mainly had a bunch of historical measuring things, like clocks, compasses, beakers, astrolabes, and lots of stuff like that. There was one case with lots of old photography cameras and then another with moving film things, which were neat. There was also a chalkboard that had been saved with writings of Albert Einstein that he had used when he came to Oxford to give a lecture. So it was a pretty cool museum, though not my favorite kind of stuff. It was fairly small, though, so it didn’t take long to go through.

I still had a little while before the economist talk so I went to the social sciences library and read over my paper again. This time I noticed that I had spelled “hire” (as in workers) as “higher” (wrong word), which somehow I had already passed it once and the only reason I noticed it this time was because it told me there was a grammatical mistake for something else in the same sentence. Really glad I noticed though, or else I would have felt quite stupid when my tutor would have pointed it out to me. Then I read Hitch Hiker again. I found the place where the talk was to be given and went up there a little before. It was quite crowded. It was actually very interesting. I had been afraid that it wasn’t going to be considering I hadn’t really gotten into his book. It was about “Debt, Deficit, and the Dollar” and talked all about the current savings and investment of almost all the countries in the world being in surplus while the U.S. is carrying pretty much all of the deficit with huge debt. I was glad I went.

I walked back to Regent’s and read Hitch Hiker until dinner. I didn’t eat much of my dinner. The starter was a spring roll and small salad which was very good but the main course was some kind of noodles with vegetables which turned out to taste somewhat like Ramen seasoning except very spicy. I like spicy but the table ran out of water and it was just a bit too spicy for me. Dessert was ice cream with a wafer cookie, though, which was very good.

Marshelle and I walked back together. When I got in, I talked to my mom for a few minutes before she had to go to a dentist appointment. Then I talked to Kyle while I ate some cheese and crackers and some peanut butter and crackers. Then I drank some tea while I read Hitch Hiker again. I read a lot today but many times it was for short periods of time so, though I am a slow reader, I’m not extremely slow, like this may make me sound, considering it is taking quite a while to read Hitch Hiker. Of course, it’s also 4 books in 1, so that makes it really long too. After reading some, I remembered that I hadn’t written my blog yet, so I’m doing that and then going to bed to get up early tomorrow for my tutorial. it was nice to have things finished today so I could be relaxed the day before my tutorial rather than trying to finish everything up hurriedly. Not having stress is a very good thing.

Well I definitely like my grandma’s lemon meringue pie better October 25, 2005

I meant to get up early this morning and I woke up at 7 when Kyle messaged me because he was going to bed but he didn’t think he would wake me up if I was asleep. I woke up but then I fell back to sleep. Then my alarm went off at 8 so I turned it off and rolled back over, which I usually do, but usually I wake up again around 8:15 or 8:30. I didn’t wake up again until 9:10! Which I know that isn’t that late for some people but it’s sleeping in for me. But nothing disastrous came of it so it was okay. In the morning, I got an introduction paragraph and my works cited page done for my paper. Then I read the globalization book until time to go to lunch. Marshelle and I walked over together and it was extremely windy. I think it almost knocked me over a couple times. But it actually wasn’t too cold, in the 50s, which apparently it is colder over there in Kentucky. Crazy how this weather works. I thought I was supposed to be freezing all the time over here, but I’m sure it will get cold here too eventually. I forgot to see where my seat was for Sleeping Beauty so Ruth and I are going to postpone going to the box office to get her ticket until tomorrow.

Lunch was good, the salad bar and jacket potato. And then they had extra dessert so I had apple crumble with custard for dessert, which was pretty good. After lunch I went up to Regent’s library and started on my paper. I was using four sources as I went and I got through two sources, then took a break by reading the globalization book. Ruth came up to read also so we were both sitting there reading and we could hear the wind outside. It was crazy. Then I got through another source before I had to go to the Christianity and Culture lecture. So tomorrow, I have one more source to get through and then a conclusion. Then I’ll just have to revise.

Before the lecture, I ran up to check my mail and I had a package so I went to go get it before the office closed. It was from Kyle’s mom, which was very nice. Yesterday, I got a letter from Kyle’s grandmother, which I think I forgot to mention. It had gotten somewhat lost in my pigeon hole (I share it with the other G-town students) but Marshelle had seen it last week so she brought it down to me because she thought I might not have seen it. It was a very nice letter and really sweet. Good to get things in the mail, which by the way, Regent’s is probably the best address to send things to rather than Stanley Rd. I think. I didn’t get to open my package until I got back to the house because I had to get to the lecture.

The lecture was really good. It was on visual art and Christianity and it was given by the Bishop of Oxford of the Church of England, who actually had just announced his retirement earlier that day or yesterday. He was quite interesting. His slides of the art he was showing must have gotten mixed up somehow because they were not in the order that he had thought they were. At one point, he had just changed slides, and he said, “Now this is extraordinary,” (I’m expecting him to say something abour this amazing art work), “how we got to this slide at this point.” But he made the order work so it was still a good lecture. Dr. Rob Ellis, who was the guy who came over to Georgetown to interview students before they could be accepted to study at Regent’s for a term, sat next to me and we talked a bit before the lecture.

Afterwards, Kyle Potter led a discussion on the lecture for students. It turned out the only students who really came to the lecture were Marshelle, Luke, Rhys, and me so we were the only ones at the discussion too. I didn’t really talk, but then I never really do in that kind of setting, so we just discussed things about art and religion and then went down to dinner. I think dinner might have had tofu in it. It was a cooked zucchini cut in half with a layer of something on top, which I think was scrambled tofu and chickpeas. There were also potatos, carrots, and cauliflower with some sort of sauce on it. I ate pretty much all of it, plus the starter of hard boiled eggs and some bread. Then dessert was lemon meringue pie. I guess all their meringue things are hard and crispy on top, which I don’t think I like that much. My grandma’s lemon merignue pie has soft meringue and more sugar I think because it’s not as sour. Of course, I guess I shouldn’t be comparing my grandmother’s food with cafeteria food. I ate about half of my dessert and then Marshelle and I walked back to Stanley Rd.

The walk definitely goes quicker with someone to talk to. When I got back I opened my package. It had a nice little book and tea and lots of food, including Halloween stuff like candy corn and little jack-o-lantern napkins. Yay! It was really nice and made my day. Very exciting to get a package and now I have extra snack food for those of you worried about my weight. I will reiterate though, that I think I have stopped losing weight and have stabilized and I may even gain some weight back before I return.

So anyway, I talked to Kyle for a bit and then my mom and then Kim and Lee. Got an e-mail from Christi and Brendan. And now I guess I might read for a bit and maybe make a mug of tea before I go to bed. I’ve been drinking tea a lot since I’ve gotten it, and I’ve even been doing it the British way with milk and sometimes sugar (normally I drink it just plain). Well today was just another ordinary day, well not ordinary because I had extra things to do, but nothing too exciting besides my package, which was exciting. Okay I’m going to stop writing now.

I got yelled at/hit on for the first time today October 24, 2005

Last night, after I wrote my blog, I went downstairs to wash my dishes around 12:30. Matt came in and said that he had been out all day with a group of other economic students working on a macroeconomic problem and they didn’t really get anywhere. They, as in more than one person, had been working on it until midnight and they still weren’t close to being finished. He said it was frustrating. I can’t imagine. I don’t think I’ll ever get that deep into econ. He’s doing pre-doctoral or doctoral stuff with all kinds of complicated math and calculus, if I hadn’t said that before. Crazy smart guy. Just wanted to mention that.

I woke up this morning at 8:15, planning on working on my internship paper for G-town in the morning and then pumping out a rough draft for my tutorial paper in the afternoon. I took a little while but did get my G-town paper pretty much done in the morning. My mom called for a quick chat because she wasn’t going to be able to talk tonight so that was good, although skype was acting weird. I then went to lunch at Regent’s and sat near Marshelle who had been much more productive than me. She got to her library by 10 that morning. She said I would be proud. Haha. I guess she thinks I’m better at keeping on track then her. She was trying to get stuff done because she was going to a play in Stratford this evening.

After lunch I walked with her to the mall, of sorts, so she could buy some hair things to pull back her hair at Claire’s. She had gone to a few other stores earlier and none had hair things so she had to resort to Claire’s. Weird. Then she went to her library and I went back to Stanley Rd. to work. I didn’t get much done. I read through my G-town paper one last time and then sent it off to Dr. Cairo. I read some of Hitch Hiker, which I shouldn’t have done, and then Kyle happened to be back at his apartment so I talked to him some. As soon as I got done talking to him Amanda messaged me so I talked to her on AIM for a bit. Then I finally made myself buckle down. I didn’t write but I got notes down for two of my discussion questions and a sort of outline with pages where stuff is for my paper. The last question, I sort of know but I just have to write stuff down and look through some of the articles again, which usually I don’t take notes on the questions until the morning of the tutorial so I’m ahead there.

I was thinking of going to a lecture tomorrow morning, but now I think I’ll wait since I’m already going to a talk for my tutorial this week. Next week I’ll try going to a lecture when I don’t have my other stuff to do too.

Then the excitement came on my walk to dinner. It was already sort of dark, so I was just walking in my baggy jeans and hoodie so I couldn’t have looked too attractive if they could even really see me. I think I just got their attention because I have blond hair. Anyway, there were these guys across the street sort of jumping up and down and they had been running. They were sort of yelling but not anything that I could understand so I glanced over but kept walking because I thought they were just yelling at each other, like guys do, to pump each other up or something. Then they started to run across the street when the traffic had cleared, and they were yelling, “Hey! Hey!” at me (there was no one else really around). For some reason I was thinking they were asking me for the time. Now I am extremely dense when it comes to guys so this isn’t really that surprising that this is what I thought. If you would like other stories about how I have been dense in the past, you can e-mail me, but my entries are already too long so I won’t tell them here. Anyway, I’m glad I didn’t tell them the time but waited to make sure that was what they were asking. They weren’t, obviously. I had turned, so one guy yells, “I fancy you.” I just sort of laughed and started to turn back around. Then the other guys yells, “Can I have your phone number?” I sort of shrugged and yelled back that I didn’t know it, which I don’t because I never use my actual phone. He sort of said, “Aw!” or something to that effect of disappointment but they went on their way. I don’t know what they would have done if I had said yes because there is only one of me and there were two of them, both of them hitting on me in a way. But anyway, I just laughed and went on my way. Quite an amusing experience.

I came into dinner and I told Ruth about it. She laughed and said I should have said I was taken. Didn’t think about that response, just answered with the first thing that came to my head. Dinner was good and actually filling, some sort of vegetable pie-like thing. Dessert was a trifle, which I don’t think I’ve ever had before. It was pretty good, although there was cake in the jello (or jelly as they say) part of it, which is what it is supposed to be but I didn’t really like that. After dinner, Ruth and I went up to the JCR and some other people did as well. We talked about travel abroad and some other things. She said her parents are now thinking they will come up Saturday instead of Sunday so I don’t guess we’ll do anything that day, but maybe before then, for her birthday.

I think tomorrow after lunch we’re going to walk over to the box office of the theatre where the ballet is so she can get a ticket. I told her I was probably going to a “coffee concert” on Sunday but she said she would be at church at that time so she can’t go. Marshelle is probably going with me though, so I won’t have to go alone. After a while, I decided to head back here, which I’m glad I did when I did because it started raining while I was walking and rained progressively harder as I went, but of course, I didn’t have my umbrella. I put my hood of my sweatshirt up so it was okay but my pants and shoes were soaked as well as my sweatshirt.

When I got in, I talked to Kyle again and when I told him about the guys, he said awesome, not really the response I was expecting but okay. I then read some of the globalization book until it made me tired. Then I talked to Melissa online for a while. And now I am going to go to bed so I can try to get up early and write my paper. Just a normal day with a bit of excitement.

Today was not productive, but that’s okay October 23, 2005

I slept in some this morning, and after my morning routine, I read Hitch Hiker for a while until it was time for lunch. I ate my tuna while reading things on the internet. Then I e-mailed some people and decided that I should read my last article for my tutorial, the only productive thing I did all day. It was an inflationary report issued by the Bank of England for last November. I know everybody is so jealous of me right now. As I was reading this, some random person messaged me on skype. I have no idea who he was so it was weird, so I answered his questions vaguely and finally told him I was going to the grocery and had to go.

So after this, when I had finished reading, I got ready and headed out to Tesco. I was in a really weird mood, just really relaxed, maybe from not doing anything all day. I got to the store and was sort of amazed. Sainsbury’s is pretty small and doesn’t have much stuff. This store was quite big and there were tons of people. They had a fresh bread section and freezer sections, where there were frozen pizzas!! I didn’t get one this time, but I think I will next weekend maybe because they have personal size ones for only 30 pence. I ended up getting some herbal teas, buy one get one free, so I got peppermint (my favorite kind of tea for cold days) and vanilla. I also got some milk, for my tea and other things, and some cheese spread (also buy one get one free). Then I got some cheap chocolate chip cookies, which I might have to get some more of those. And last I got a sandwich size baguette. I almost got a bag of a baker’s dozen of rolls, the kind with the hard outside, sort of like a small baguette, but I was afraid I wouldn’t finish them before they go too hard. And I got all this food for a little over 5 pounds and then with my discounts, a little under 4 pounds. Pretty good deal. So that was very exciting and made me very happy. Now I can have cheese and crackers as well as peanut butter and crackers. Yay!! I’m also just glad to have the store fairly close.

After I got back, I was going to work on my internship paper for G-town because I had almost forgotten about it. However, I was putting stuff up and Marshelle heard me (because you can hear whenever my door opens because it squeaks really loud). She came out and asked if I would want to go to a movie, as long as it wasn’t too expensive. I said sure. So hopefully I’ll finish that paper tomorrow and get started on my tutorial paper too. So after a little while, after I drank some of my peppermint tea, we left and walked over to the movie theatre, which is near Regent’s. We decided they were too expensive and we had just missed one showing so we opted to just walk around town, although most of the shops were already closing. We ran by Regent’s so Marshelle could sign up for her meals and then went by the Eagle and Child because she was really thirsty so she could get a drink. We stopped in Borders and then wandered around the streets of Oxford. We walked home a long way, walking down the street where my tutor’s college, Harris Manchester, is. Then we walked down past Tesco and down that road so I could show her the shorter way to get there because she had been going a different way. It was a good walk and good to talk. We covered a range of subjects, including GSP, which she also went to, at Northern.

When we got back, I made some soup and ate that with my baguette and cheese spread and a cookie for dessert. I was very full, I think the most full I have been since I got here, maybe too full, but it was good. I talked to Kyle while I ate and for a while after I was done. Then I read Hitch Hiker for a while. Now I am going to call my mom and then go to bed. So even though I wasn’t productive in one sense, I still did a lot, after I got out of my room for a little while, so still a good day I think.

WOW!

Okay, so the most exciting part of my day yesterday came on my walk home from church but you’ll just have to read about the beginning of my day first, which was pretty boring, but that’s okay.

I got up and had a granola bar for breakfast. Then I read two speeches on the state of England’s economy that were given at the Bank of England a while ago. They were long but had some graphs thrown in there so it didn’t take too long and they gave me some starting points for my paper, which is good. Then I had tuna for lunch, the guys downstairs were playing video games and then later when I went down to make my supper they were playing again. Just like most American boys.

Kyle called me around 1 and we talked until he had to go to get ready for Andy to pick him up to go see Central’s band somewhere. I had thought about going to a museum at this point, and then decided I wouldn’t have enough time there, so then I was going to try to get out to go to a couple shops, but then realized that they would probably all close around 5 and I would have to spend an hour and a half in Borders, so I read two more articles for my tutorial after e-mailing some people.

Then I headed out for church, stopping by Regent’s to sign up for meals on the way. I had on clothes that were already a littl baggy on me before I left so now they look too big and my hair was being really thin-looking, so I looked pretty bad and I had to laugh at myself. I don’t know what other people thought, but I think I looked like my clothes were about to swallow me. I have to remember to not wear a baggy top with baggy bottoms at the same time. Church was nice, but no music this time so I guess it was just because of the 40 hours thing last week.

After church I stopped in Borders, just because I do that lately. It’s pretty much the only shop that is open past 5 or 5:30. I think in every unfamiliar place I go to, when I’m feeling out of place I find a familiar store there. In New York, it was K-Mart with Amanda Allen because everyone left us when we went to the bathroom. In Athens, it was Starbucks with Melissa because they had food and drinks that were familiar and comforting. And here, it’s Borders because I can wander in there and sit and feel like I’m shopping back home, though it seems a little more crowded all the time, it’s still comforting. So anyway, they were giving out free chocolate so I got a free chocolate bar!! (Exciting thing number 1). I ate part of it on the way home and the rest after I had dinner. Usually I don’t eat chocolate that fast but I haven’t really had any chocolate sort of sweet since I’ve been here.

After I left Borders, I went into Sainsbury’s to see if they had frozen pizzas. I’ve been craving a frozen pizza. They didn’t have any. Sad, but eggs weren’t too expensive so I might start getting some eggs to make myself for breakfasts. Tomorrow, I’m going to go to the apparently cheaper grocery, which is also closer to us than Sainsbury’s (only 0.7 miles away rather than 2), Tesco’s. So maybe they will have frozen pizza or even cheaper eggs.

Then I was walking down the streets, getting ready to go onto Cornmarket, the walking street, and there was a “Moo”ing van!! (Exciting thing number 2). It was painted with spots like a cow and I think it was advertising yogurt, but it definitely was making “moo” sounds like that was its horn instead of a regular horn. It was quite amusing and everyone was looking at it like it was, so it must not have been just a regular English thing. I’m glad I got to see it though. It put a smile on my face for the walk home.

I got an e-mail from Dr. Hadaway that Christa, the other girl applying for senior status at Oxford from G-town, got asked for an interview, so Yay for her!! She’ll go to New York for it and he asked if I had heard anything. I haven’t, though I think she had to have her application in earlier than I did, so hopefully that’s why. I never really considered that I wouldn’t even be asked for an interview, not get accepted, yes, but not even get interviewed, no. But oh well, if I don’t, it just means it wasn’t meant to be and then I won’t have to deal with the stress of going to an interview (I’m not very good at interviews). But we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

I made some Ramen noodles for dinner and ate the whole pack. Lately, back home I have only been able to eat half a pack of Ramen at a time, but I was really hungry so I ate it all. Then I called my mom, who was looking at pictures and getting ready to scrapbook her England trip with Mrs. Calhoun. I talked to Mrs. C. too. Then I read Hitch Hiker until I got tired, around 11, and then I fell asleep and got up at 2:30 to wash my face and brush my teeth but not write my blog, so here it is now, the next morning.