The excitement of Agriculture

Today I stood outdoors in a pair of wellies freezing my feet off. Seriously, they are STILL freezing cold! I doubt they’ll warm up until I shove them under some warm water.

This morning Grant made breakfast, and I am in his debt for that. I suppose I’ll be washing the dishes tonight after dinner. Seriously. And Ian, our infamous male housekeeper around the accommodation was sad he missed us eating our crumpets for breakfast (he saw what we ate yesterday). Apparently his daughter (age 9) is obsessed with Harry Potter and has read the last book 3 times, and so has his wife. He is merely halfway through it on his first go and threatening his daughter with a grounding if she tells him what happens. I let him know that I’ve read that book as well, so I am also on strict ruling to not tell him what happens. It’s great fun to know these people. They brighten the day up just that much more.

Anyways, today was my trip out to two farms that are run by the University. The first was Close (Chase?) House. It is used as a testing site for a lot of pesticides and chemicals. They’re also doing a test with ozone and how it affects plant growth. All very interesting, but not for me. I didn’t come here to deal with plants. This is Prof. Finzi’s area of interest. I couldn’t work there and be happy. I like a heartbeat.

The second place was Nafferton Farm. We got to see the cows!! (MOOOO!!!!) They are so inquisitive and funny. We had one just stand and stare at us. Others were looking over sides of barns (low wall) at us to see who we all were. The cute youngsters!!! It was bloody cold out there. Windy, cool, and mucky.

*note to self: Do not wash boots off in the shower again!!!!!

I had to get them a bit cleaner than how they were, and the only water source I know of that isn’t in the kitchen is my own shower. . . so off I went. I think I’m taking them to the pond in Leazes Park next time!!! Seriously.

At 4:30 a bunch of us are going to Tesco. Grant and I are introducing our friends from Pakistan, Egypt and wherever else to that glorious store across the Tyne. I LOVE TESCO!!!!

If any of you come to visit it’s where I’m taking you for foodage. And no, I’m not kidding. It’s so worth it!!

This weekend/next week: The Job Search!!

I need to work on my CV tonight/this weekend so it’s all set up with updated information. I get to put in my current school stuff and all those goodies. I have a resume, so I need to transfer it to CV format. OH BOY!

A moment about weather

Let me just say that I have heard directly from a very nice British lady:  they love to talk about the weather here.  They get together and what is the topic: weather.

On that note, it is getting COLD.  Today it is a balmy 5 C (but feel like 2 C).  This means it feels something around 36-ish degrees.  There is also a strong wind blowing (I can see the trees whipping about outside my window).  At least there is some sunlight.

On another note, we have still not had a single day of complete rain rain rain.  It rains for a few hours in the morning (about 2 hours), then for maybe 40 minutes in the afternoon and then POW, sunlight and finally sunset.  It’s amazing.  I feel like I’m back in Boston. Only those of us whose schedules cause us to have need to be outdoors at just the right moment get poured on.

This happened to me on Monday.  It was raining when I got up, I ate breakfast and by 9:30 there was no more rain.  It got to be about 3:40 and there was a torrential downpour.  My pants were soaked, my jacket stopped repelling water and turned into a sponge.  This was only in 5ish minutes of being outdoors.  And yet my mood wasn’t lessened.  I was still quite elated to be outdoors finally get rained on.  I just wasn’t looking forward to having to dress up and walk over to the Civic Center for a 5:30 event in the rain. But by about. . .  4 something the rain had stopped.  Just perfect.  Grant never got wet. . . I was drenched.  All a matter of timing.

Yesterday, Grant and I went up to the Sports Center to see what all the fuss was about and explore the offerings they had for us.  I’m not much for jogging so this is a nice idea.  Perhaps I’ll take to jogging to the fitness center.  We’ll see how that goes.  Anyways, there was a huge club fair going on in one of the rooms, so we meandered in.  In about five seconds the rowers spotted Grant and asked him if he wanted to join on their team.  I was blatantly ignored.  I just sort of invited myself over to the table and when they asked if I had rowed, I informed them that yes, I’ve been rowing for the past 7 years.  This got a look.  I want on people, you aren’t keeping me off unless I honestly just can’t handle your regime.  I did it in college, I can do it again now!  Anyways, they seem nice enough, and reminiscent of BUs crew team, so I think it would be fun to see how they do.  I just hope they have lightweight stuff.  If not, then yes, I’ll go do something else.  *sigh*

Anyways, there were tons of other groups to look at.  We were approached by the Parachuting Club (*blink blink*), Swing Dance Club (very nice people, and only 2 GBP per dance!), Rock Climbing Club (they saw my Mountain Hardware Jacket), Fellwalking (that was actually on Monday for me), Ultimate Frisbee Club (the girl was VERY excited) and I also joined up with the Biology Club and Conservation Club.  Grant signed up on the Rugby list.  bwahahahaha

Yesterday I also sat down with Google Calendar and planned out each week for this term.  I looked at my course modules and set them all up.  I just hope I don’t have very much to change.  They say “beware, times and locations do change.”  I spent 2 hours fixing this thing up, I just hope it will be easy to manage.

Back to weather:

It’s only been 1 week, but I swear the leaves have gone from green to almost all yellow.  They’ve started falling and everything.  I love this feel in the air of cool weather and layers.  I will like it even more when I know my layers are already here in Newcastle with me and not sitting at home in the living room still waiting to be sent off.  *mutter mutter mutter*  But I won’t go into that.

I’m wonderfully not homesick right now, mostly because I’m pissed as hell at not having my stuff and this just makes me want to deal with home less and less.  I’m also not homesick because my puppy dog is doing quite well (all things considered) and Spidge is well. . .  just being herself.  I do miss my bed.  My back does not thank me for lying down on this hideous mattress every night.  I want a nice comfy bed!! I understand this is a dorm, and you get craptastic stuff in dorms, but my body yearns for a decent nights sleep!!!!

I am thrilled about Friday.  I have my field trip to the Northumberland countryside.  Whee!

Also, every Wednesday (except 2) this term I am out on a field trip from 9-5 either out in Northumbria looking at who-knows-what, or working at a farm, or doing whatever it is we’re going to do.  I’m THRILLED!!!  I am also only taking 3 modules this term.  Next term will be a bit more hellacious at 8.  Yeah. . .not so good right?  I have no idea how I shall do all of that, and I need to ask my Degree Programme Director if that’s just shooting myself in the foot.  My mom thinks that just sounds like overload.  “Eight” is a big number, but some of the modules next term don’t start right away.  At least they don’t really kick off until the bitter cold slackens a bit.

Today Grant and I are going to IKEA to look at mattress pads so we can finally sleep somewhat comfortably.  This country baffles me.  The dorms offer Twin Extra Long mattresses, but no store sells sheets that FIT them.  *shakes fist*  Thankfully Mom will send me my old sheets from my dorm days so I will have sheets that DO fit, including a mattress pad (something this accommodation has never heard of apparently) so I stop sweating all night long due to a plastic mattress and a very thin fitted sheet.  *sigh*

Now if only that package would arrive. . . .

A new morning routine

I’m not good at running.  I will never claim to be a runner. . . EVER.

Last night I told Grant I wanted to go jogging with him this morning.  At 7:34 (I dislike getting up) I rolled out of bed and got prepped up to go jogging.  This wasn’t so bad, it was brisk, sunny and dew covered in Leazes Park.  We started off walking, and as we passed the fisherman guy at the pond (wtf is he fishing for?) we started to jog.  Keep in mind my knees aren’t used to this, and my ankle doesn’t like it either.  We got a couple hundred yards and I had to stop.  We had two more bursts like this before I opted to head in and shower.  I need to slowly introduce my body to a workout.  I’m not going to do jogging like I did crew.  This involved barely anything 3 days a week at the rowing club (compared to college rowing) to sudden 6 days a week of intensive workouts and weights.   Hence the blaring tendinitis and sore ankle.

The rest of today (which I will update later):

Breakfast

Woolworths and the Salvation Army

The Coast!!

Dinner

Relaxation and SLEEP

That is how my day shall go.  I am already feeling like this will be a long day and I won’t be surprised if I crash around 8 pm.

I crashed at 9 last night, who knows what tonight will do to me.

Anyways, time to go make breakfast and see if Grant is all cleaned up and ready to go.

Friday!!

I updated the last post, I’ll continue to fill it in until I get to today.

“Today” is Wednesday and so far it’s been a bit more settling.

I got my Twin Extra Long bed and made friends with the two maintenance guys, Ian and Mark. They are HILARIOUS! Apparently Ian’s 9 year old girl was an extra in a Harry Potter movie and thought Daniel Radcliffe was quite boring. I think that’s great. She also constantly asks him,

“Dad, have you got your glasses?”

“No dear, I haven’t.”

“Why not?”

“It’s Friday.”

What a great conversation. I love it.

Mark on the other hand told me that I shouldn’t complain about my room because I have a view of St. James’s Park!!!!! Okay, I appreciate that I have some very nice trees and there is some light that trickles in, but if I were up a floor or two I’d feel a lot better about it. Earlier they were testing the music, and right now they are apparently “testing 1, 2…3…1″ It’s pretty amusing. Mark also suggested I go outside and tape up a nice view of the Bahamas so I will constantly have a view… of the .. BAHAMAS! He makes me laugh.

So today started out rainy, continued on rainy (Grant and I went to Tesco) and around 1:50 pm it stopped raining and the sun came out. It is now greyish with sunny intervals and I don’t mind any of the above weather systems. But I can safely say it rained all morning, and I wasn’t saddened by this one bit.

*note: The Tesco is over in Gateshead, and it has amazingly wonderful stuff for very cheap.  And there is a butcher shop nearby that looks like they have tasty morsels for a good price as well.  The Metro ride is super fast and . . . free? Unless they catch you that is. . .

I am going to take more pictures soon (I took about 3 earlier today, my first ones in England) and those will go up soon.

I also changed my header image to what my dorm looks like, and the football stadium. You can’t see my view from my room since I am on the side around the corner towards the park, but you have bona fide proof there is sunlight in Newcastle. Either that or I’m just really good with Photoshop.

Seriously, there is a lot of sun here, for a place that is supposed to be “always rainy and grey.” We’ve had sun every single day since I got here, and this is the first day it’s really rained. Who knows what other adventures will happen today. . . . .

Arrived

I am finally fixing this entry,  keep in mind that it’s been a few days, and a lot has happened, I’m going to do the best I can, but it’s going to be a bit wonky.

Monday Evening

I say bye to my dad after having a nice lunch with Anna and Dorian and stuff my duffle bag as full as I can.  In prepping to load the car about an hour and a half later I have to face Winston.  This is probably the hardest moment of leaving since I have no idea when/if I’ll see him again.  I got down on my knees to give him a hug and he just rammed his head into my thighs and stood there pressing into them about as hard as he could (He’s always done this to everyone.  It’s his Doggy-hug or some-such-thing.  He’s never done the whole “let me sniff your crotch”  he just shoves his head there and stands there).  This lasted for a solid 2+ minutes, maybe longer.  It was horrible.  I hate leaving him, and he knew I was going.  This just breaks me into itty bitty pieces.   But finally Winston and I parted ways, and I locked my door for the last time for quite a while.

My mom and I loaded up the car, drove out to BWI and got Grant to help with my ton of luggage.  My items weighed in okay and then they had to do security tags for all carry-on-items.  So needless to say I was running back to where our parents were sitting to grab our carry on items, running back to the desk, praying my bags were light enough, etc.  Quite the fun excursion.

After that we grabbed some horrendous airline food, Grant and I went through security without a hitch (my pillow made it!) and we got on our plane.  At first I thought my seat change had worked and we’d sit next to each other.  Sadly no, we were in the same row, but opposite sides of the plane.  We both had aisle seats.  Grant got to sit next to a very nice gentleman who seemed to be quite chatty.  I sat next to a girl who was also coming to Newcastle for her MA in Creative Writing.  Turns out she went to Bryn Mawr and then Dickinson.  So we both had someone else to talk to the for the 6+ hour flight.  We would be next to each other from London to Newcastle.  And we also had the craziest pilot ever.  Apparently he liked flying in circles.  We got near London and he did a full 360, went straight on for another 5 minutes then made a huge banking turn back towards the airport.  We were all like. . uh. . . can we land now PLEASE??

*note: British Airways food = passable, but not too great.

Tuesday

We arrived in London and started the huge trek over to Terminal 1 or 4 or whatever the other terminal was we were supposed to go to.  This involved walking through a ton of passages, down an escalator and onto a shuttle bus.  From there we had to go through security and then over to customs where they checked our passports. This is where my fun started.

I get to the nicely scowling customs lady and she asks me a few questions and looks at my acceptance letter and says that she needs to go check my passport and could I please have a seat.  Grant got through just fine.  Apparently I was doomed.  So I’m sitting there freaking out.  The British Consulate rejected my application the first time and apparently that turned up rather nastily on the screens when they scanned my passport.  FUN!  Anways, after waiting about 10 minutes for this whole process to go through and I’m about to burst into jet-lagged tears (I didn’t sleep AT ALL) the lady comes back, grins at me, and waves me through.  I am not supposed to travel for the next 6 months unless I wish to be stopped like this again.  OH BOY!

After that heart attack we made it over to Gate 5 where they had us wait and wait for the 11:40 flight to Newcastle.  They they shunted us off to gate 74 or so which was down a hallway, around some corners and then a mad rush to get our seats.  I was starting to feel ill.  So I just stared out the window.  Very nice view.  The plane eventually took off, I had some ginger ale and a chocolate candy thing and stared out the window praying I wouldn’t get ill.  Stomach of steel here I come.

The view was amazing.  Sunlight, green fields, brown fields, towns, cities, the English Channel, etc.  It was lovely.  We started getting a tiny bit lower and I had been playing the game of find-the-railroad since I wondered if we’d see Durham.  Sure enough we flew over a town that I could have SWORN was Durham.   And then lo and behold we saw Newcastle.  We flew way out over the water, looked up to what was probably some of southern Scotland and then finally into the Northumbria farmlands.  We saw cows, sprinklings of sheep (it did look like that), and horses.  And then we landed with a much smoother landing than our cross-Atlantic flight.

Getting our luggage was heart attack #2 for me. My duffle bag was MIA.  Everyone else had their luggage, but not me.  So I go to the desk and they put my name down, address, etc and tell me it’s on the 5 pm flight and I should have it by this evening if not tomorrow morning.  Okay. . I can deal.  *urk*   We then go to our Meet and Greet Service and wait for our shuttle to take us to our accommodation.

The shuttle ride was quite nice, lovely views and then. . .the football stadium.  I shall post pictures somewhere soon.  You have got to see this thing.  I think it’s . . . . well. . it just is.  We unload, get out and get inside for our check-in moment where we are given keys. Nice stuff really.  There is a key for our room and kitchen (you have a single room and the kitchen is usually on your same floor or a floor away), windows, and an electric thing that lets you in the building when you wave it at a panel.  Rather nice really.  Not too bad.

My room is shown to me by a very nice American guy who was quite chatty.  My room is on the main floor and looks out directly at a tree and then the stadium. Needless to say, it will probably get quite noisy when there are matches.  I am not looking forward to this.  My bathroom is literally a water closet, especially after a shower where water just gets everywhere.  It is PUNY.  Washing my hair is great because my elbows don’t really have any place to go.  I am sure Grant is having a worse time.

His room is on the 2nd-ish floor facing the courtyard (i.e. Car Park and bike storage area) and much quieter.  Lucky him.  I am adapting to my room okay, I’d be happier if my kitchen weren’t in the basement, but my kitchen-sharing-people seem nice.  Grant’s are too.

Anyways, after being shown to our rooms we took off to meander the campus and the city.  Since I’d been here before I gave him a quick rundown tour and got myself a wee bit lost.  Thankfully it’s not TOO hard to get figured out again.  And also it’s VERY nice that my classrooms are very close to my dorm.  At least I think they are. . .

The weather was a bit brisk.  We were warned it would be cold, and yes, it was WAY cooler than Baltimore.  Probably in the 50s or upper 40s.  VERY enjoyable to some of us who dislike 80 degree weather.  My new friend from the airplane is in a different accommodation than the two of us, but I hope her flat is nice.

Anyways, Grant and I meandered through the city in search of groceries and foodage.  We found our way to the Co-op (cheap groceries YAY!) and then dinner in Chinatown.  IT WAS EXPENSIVE!!!!!  I’m sorry, but no cheap food in Chinatown.  NO NO NO.  At least not on the street we found.  It was INSANE!  We finally found a buffet that was about £5 each.  Not too bad, and I think we ate our fair share of food.  We were both so dead to the world.

We went back to the dorms and I managed to stay up until 8 pm before I just nosedived asleep.

Wednesday

I woke up at 5:30ish and started the cleaning process of my room. I unpacked, put things away and cleaned up my desk.  I think I finished everything around 7:30 when I finally meandered over to Grant’s room and woke him up.  He’s on the other side of the building so it takes a few minutes to get through all the doors (every 3 or so rooms).  So he got up, dressed and cleaned up and we headed out for our first full day in Newcastle.

….. to be continued.    It’s time to get out of doors for a bit.

It’s the first day it’s rained!!! OH MY!

The silver bird awaits

At least, I think British Airways still has planes that are silver.  Maybe they’re white now.

So I have one back up to 45.? lbs and nothing else will fit in the darn thing.  The other bag is posing quite the problem due to a lack of space.  Seriously.  I only have 27 lbs of stuff in it, and I have a limit of 51.  I NEED to get more in that bag.  So I think I’ll have to take a trip up to REI and get a duffle bag (not the cheapest place, but since Sunny Surplus is gone, there we go) that will hold the rest of my crap that I can fit.  The frame pack will have to travel as a “shipped item” along with everything else I need to have sent.  School supplies, my ONE textbook, etc.  I’m even thinking of waiting to ship my graphing calculator.  I love that darn thing.  It’s so great.  A huge amount of my pens will have to wait as well.  And yes I did whittle down that monstrous amount of pens to something a bit more. . . eye popping, less jaw dropping.  Or perhaps it is the other way around.

Anyways, I am up and about and starting to get all jittery because things aren’t done that NEED to be done.

Good news: I found my GBPs from my trip over there a few years ago so that’s going to be REMARKABLY helpful.  I’ll be treating Grant to lunch with some of that money.  Or breakfast or whatever meal we manage to come across upon arriving at Heathrow.  For all I know it will be just a bottle of water and an energy bar.

Here marks the day I cut back on my soda intake.  Hello fresh fruit and healthier eating.

Grant mentioned something I need to do: have the cookbook shipped.  I am fairly certain I shall have to leave Vincent Price’s cookbook here, but perhaps that Joy of Cooking book shall make it’s way to my flat.  Along with the recipes for  cobbler and the cookies my mom makes that are DIVINE!  Anything that involves vanilla extract. . seriously.

So off to get showered and then errand running. I still have notebooks, notecards, bank run, and a quick run to the dentist to have my “records” printed out to say what has been done recently, etc.  At least I already have my immunization record printed out.   It’s fun to look at the list and remember getting a few of those.  I was LITTLE.  There was one I got when I was 4.  I still remember that horrid thing.  Man did it hurt!

But yes, Winston woke me up to let him outside, my dad is home reading the paper and now I need to jump off to tying up loose ends.   I am not sure how I will deal with losing Winston.  This is the last day I’ll probably see him.  *sniff*

And last night, Spidge lay on my chest for about 10+ minutes.  It was amazing. Purring and happy as can be. It was very sweet.  I shall treasure that moment for quite some time.  If I closed my eyes I could almost imagine it was Kitty, except he kneaded an awful lot, and she just lay there purring.  All the same, very nice to feel like the cat doesn’t despise me.

Irish send-off

Last night was my BRC J. Pats send off.  There were the cards people signed, the big picture of all of us two springs ago and lastly. . . a cake we didn’t get to until rather late.  Ooops.  It was tasty though.

I got to J. Pats near 8 pm because I was starving and darn it, I wanted my lamb stew (Sharyn gets it and it looks amazing, so I was going to try it on my last night there).  There was another event going on as well run by an-ex BRC member. So that was kind of a nice surprise.  Apparently you could get a free drink out of them if you asked for a yellow ticket.  It was either a shot or whiskey or a free glass of beer.  I got myself a free cider.

A few people seemed to come just because I was leaving, and others came because it’s just what you do after practice.  I haven’t been to the boatclub to row AT ALL this year, so I wasn’t surprised to find that there was a small turnout to see me.  There was a good turnout of rowers, but it was more for the foodages and beerages than anything else.

Even two of my con friends showed up and that was especially nice as I haven’t seen Gabe in forever.  It’s always nice to have friends show up.

At some point late into the festivities I asked Patrick to take the picture to the boathouse for more people to sign since not too many signed it already.  I guess it will have to be shipped to me once I get to England.  Anyways, in asking Patrick made some comment and this led to me being picked up and, no surprise here, smacked on me bum!  Sharyn claims it was an arm spasm. . .  Tom well. . . he wanted one last grab before I left. . or something.

I’m going to miss this rowing club.  But it’s time I move on to greener pastures. Literally. . .  there is a VERY green park right next to my  accommodation building, and well, it’s England.  BRC has some greenish grass, and some lovely brown grass too. . .and let’s not forget the dirt areas where no grass will grow.  *sigh*

Anyways, upon having to part ways with Gabe, we had our moment of, “Aww no more hanging out for a while!!”  That was kind of sad and hard to deal with.  I love my friends and Gabe is one of those guys from cons I am glad I never lost touch with.  I might have gone 6 years without seeing him in person, but we talked online an awful lot.  I guess we’ll just have to go back to that habit.  He and Sharyn can be each other’s Bean-rebounders.  Teehee.

*Note* Winston is currently having tonal farts.  Seriously, they do a tiny little scale.  It’s funny, but stinky.

Interesting questions

Today I did a few hours of babysitting for a friend at the Rowing Club.   This lady has 4 kids, ages 5-2.  They are all adorable and just the greatest personalities.  If only I had been this chipper as a little kid.

I knocked on the door and Regan (girl) answered going, “IT’S MS. ROBIN!”  She’s the eldest.  As she opens the door I am faced with little eyes staring at me from all over the house.  And the dogs are barking their heads off.  So I go to solve problem 1: dogs.  They sniff and snort and generally won’t leave me alone.  Reiley (girl, ~4) tries to get them to go downstairs.   Eventually the dogs leave me.

I am now faced with Scotty (just turned 2), Sidney (age 3, and with the best blonde curly hair EVER) and a bunch of toy trucks. These kids are adorable.  Kathy (mom) is making dinner for them to have it ready, and also getting things ready for the meeting she is running off to.

My job: feed the kids, keep them from going too crazy.  Hokeedokee lady!  That’s easy enough.

Kids are hungry. . right?  No.  Regan wants nothing to do with dinner.  So everyone else eats and we make a horrible game of trying to eat her food.  So she just gets to eat it later.  I really don’t care that she won’t eat it now, and apparently this is a common behavior with her.  Peachy with me.  She’s a lot of fun and it’s quite alright.

Reiley is a girl of questions and dressing up like a princess.  She had her Dora DVD with her at the table and got some mac and cheese gunk on it so I washed it off.  As I was washing it she asked me, “How are CDs made with rainbows?”  I actually had to stop and think.  It’s a good question!!  I can’t even remember what I told her.  I tried to make it real enough that it wasn’t a total “fairytale answer.”

After dinner we went up to the play room (everyone but Regan who sat downstairs watching the Disney channel) and put in the Dora DVD.  After about 15 minutes of that Reiley got tired of that and put in. . get this. .  Star Wars VI!  What 4 year old likes Star Wars VI???  I mean honestly.  She told me, VERY matter-of-factly that I had to read that opening bit because it’s important to know what it says.  So I read it outloud for them to hear and then she very promptly told me  that Luke Skywalker was going to come in soon.

She is far too funny!! So anyways, it was very entertaining.

Too sweet for my own good

You would think that I would believe the infamous “they” when I hear, “they say mosquitoes are becoming immune to most bug repellents.”  No, instead I need to put on bug spray and receive about 8 new bug bites before I start believing any of this.  It’s officially true though.  I was covered in that Cutter Bug Spray stuff. . .I have one on my left wrist, back of my right arm, 3 on my leg, one below my knee.  I am itching like CRAZY!  It’s making me a bit batty.

I took Winston for a walk, and that’s how I acquired these bites (and talking on the cell phone on the front porch of Anna and Dorian’s), but c’est la vie. My puppy has bad stools!!!  So he’s going into the vets tomorrow and I have to pay for his doctor bill.  I’m nervous about this.  I am going into the doctors for myself before that just because I should for various reasons and I need a bit more paperwork from them before I go to England.  I’m hoping a list of updated shots is good enough.  I will hate to have to go back there and get a physical. I’ll do it if I have to, but I’d really rather not.

I got my lovely errands done today too.  I went to get my russian books back from the Russian Teacher.  We had a lovely chat about random things with hearing russian and how it’s a handy language and that it takes a lot of work to keep getting conversational at it and blah blah blah.  It was very nice.  He’s a neat teacher.  And it turns out his wife worked in HULL for a little bit.  He is the only other person who has talked about Hull besides my friend who studied there, her sister and myself.   SOOO weird.  And yet so neat.  Teehee.  Apparently she didn’t like it there either.  It’s not a fun place. It does have a Woolworths though.

I also went back to the Dentists office to have my fillings fixed up a bit.  They still hurt to chew on the right side of my mouth.  And temperature is a BIG factor. Hopefully it will feel better soon!  Stupid teeth, they’re not being very nice.

OW!

I felt fine from my shots yesterday.

Today I can’t lift my left arm straight out.  Don’t even think about me raising it above my head.  I hate this feeling.  My muscles in my upper left arm are screaming their worst insults at me, and I can’t do too much about it.  The nurse who put it in my arm said, “It’s like feeling liquid lead.”  Great. . thanks. . OW!!

On the upside, I went to the Aquarium today for my Aviculture volunteer job.  That was fun.  I actually really enjoy my time there even if it does involve a lot of dish washing.  I even feel slightly awake even though I’ve been up for 6 hours and usually I don’t stir until 9:30/10ish when I am all alone.  I am trying to convince myself I SHOULD NOT take a nap.  I think it’s a lost cause.  I just want to lie down away from all the heat and horrid weather.  9 days to go, and my mom is home in . .  3 or 4ish (she gets in after midnight on the 11th, so technically it’s the 12th).  I have to get my room slightly functioning and cleaned up before she gets back or else I will never EVER hear the end of it.

My dad is off at the Head of the Fort Regatta hosted by our rowing club.  He’s doing launch driving.  I hope he remembered his hat.  Or at least has his green umbrella he loves so much.

I cannot stop sneezing.  UGH!

I think I shall go and take a shower to wash off the gunk from ARF (Amazon Rain Forest) and then see how I feel.