oh dear lord i love this - my oxford friend liz sent it to me saying, "this reminds me of us watching gymnastics in the office." it's basically how i watch gymnastics ON STEROIDS. the dad at the end is the best part.
(i am now laughing out loud just thinking about this video.)
Showing posts with label oxford. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oxford. Show all posts
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Sunday, July 29, 2012
meet my new best friend, george.
george is the 6 year old son of one of the college employees. for two years i've been telling george's dad that he should bring george for a visit, as i'd heard about how cute and red-headed he is. yesterday george came to help his dad around college.
after helping his dad, he came for a visit. and by "visit," i mean it went something like this.
me: "we're watching olympics rowing!"
george: "i can draw that!" [disappears to his dad's office for 10 minutes. comes back with picture.]
pretty good, huh?!
i thanked george and he said, "i have more paper!"
i can take a hint. it became a game - what other olympics sports could george draw?
this is shooting. as you are probably aware, the people at the top are spectators, the guy in green is the referee blowing his whistle, and the other two are in the competition. the bottom guy is saying "oh no" because he shot too low. those enormous red and green blobs are the bullets, obviously.
the next picture is my favorite:
BMX cycling is now in the olympics and george loves that. this is "gerney" (germany) and "team gb" (great britain - but now that the olympics have started "team gb" is the preferred phrase for cheering, i've learned) in a race. gerney is winning, but george says "the team in second place at the beginning always wins at the end." this picture is my favorite because:
1. george has misspelled his own name
2. george is using his "joined up" (what the british call cursive) writing very nicely here
3. george, at 6, is already aware of his country's rivalry with germany in all sports. my first summer here i was very confused about why germany was the hated rival, and a colleague said it is because they were the enemy during world war 2. well yes, i know that...but they were our enemy in world war 2, too, and i wouldn't think of them that way now. but the english home front WAS much more affected by bombings and such during the war, so perhaps i can understand the difference...
george is the 6 year old son of one of the college employees. for two years i've been telling george's dad that he should bring george for a visit, as i'd heard about how cute and red-headed he is. yesterday george came to help his dad around college.
after helping his dad, he came for a visit. and by "visit," i mean it went something like this.
me: "we're watching olympics rowing!"
george: "i can draw that!" [disappears to his dad's office for 10 minutes. comes back with picture.]
pretty good, huh?!
i thanked george and he said, "i have more paper!"
i can take a hint. it became a game - what other olympics sports could george draw?
this is shooting. as you are probably aware, the people at the top are spectators, the guy in green is the referee blowing his whistle, and the other two are in the competition. the bottom guy is saying "oh no" because he shot too low. those enormous red and green blobs are the bullets, obviously.
the next picture is my favorite:
BMX cycling is now in the olympics and george loves that. this is "gerney" (germany) and "team gb" (great britain - but now that the olympics have started "team gb" is the preferred phrase for cheering, i've learned) in a race. gerney is winning, but george says "the team in second place at the beginning always wins at the end." this picture is my favorite because:
1. george has misspelled his own name
2. george is using his "joined up" (what the british call cursive) writing very nicely here
3. george, at 6, is already aware of his country's rivalry with germany in all sports. my first summer here i was very confused about why germany was the hated rival, and a colleague said it is because they were the enemy during world war 2. well yes, i know that...but they were our enemy in world war 2, too, and i wouldn't think of them that way now. but the english home front WAS much more affected by bombings and such during the war, so perhaps i can understand the difference...
Friday, July 27, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
old lady alert: i'm so bad at sleeping in these day. i used to be a champion sleeper, my peak coming when i slept until 3pm one day during a visit home from college. now i'm lucky if i can sleep until 10 or 11...and i feel so gross when i do. this morning? awake at 7:30am, unable to fall back asleep. now, my room is not the cave that my room in atlanta is, so the light streaming through the cracks in the curtains isn't helping matters, so perhaps that is as much to blame as my impending 30th birthday...
yesterday liz, jen, and i went on this adventure!: http://goo.gl/maps/54JI6
we walked from downtown oxford to port meadow and along the isis river...
(very wind in the willows, huh?)
...to a pub called the trout, where we had a great lunch before walking back home. it was hot here yesterday - in the 80s - and we sweated the whole way, but it was a great adventure and we earned our lunch. along the way we passed the ruins of godstow abbey, which is REALLY OLD and very pretty. it dates from almost exactly the same time as the events in the pillars of the earth, which i just started reading...so that was fun to think about.*
i am accidentally a little sunburned now. for the past four weeks there was no physical way to get sunburned through the rain drops and dark clouds, so i kind of forgot what the sun can do. it's just a baby sunburn, though, so i'll be okay.
*as a side note, people never told me how awesome the pillars of the earth is. yes, they told me i should read it, but it has also been described to me as the story of the building of a cathedral. to me, that sounded dry and hard to slog through, so i put it off. they should have to described it to me as the story of the PEOPLE who were involved in the building of a cathedral, because ohmygoodness i am loving this book and it is so readable and not dry at all. now that i'm awake far before my shift in the office today (i'm on from 4pm to midnight) and the weather is just as beautiful as yesterday, i'll be spending most of the day reading my book in christ church meadow, and i couldn't be more excited. the kids leave on saturday, so we're preparing for the run to the end - i have to take as much claire time as possible before the chaos begins on friday!
yesterday liz, jen, and i went on this adventure!: http://goo.gl/maps/54JI6
we walked from downtown oxford to port meadow and along the isis river...
(very wind in the willows, huh?)
...to a pub called the trout, where we had a great lunch before walking back home. it was hot here yesterday - in the 80s - and we sweated the whole way, but it was a great adventure and we earned our lunch. along the way we passed the ruins of godstow abbey, which is REALLY OLD and very pretty. it dates from almost exactly the same time as the events in the pillars of the earth, which i just started reading...so that was fun to think about.*
i am accidentally a little sunburned now. for the past four weeks there was no physical way to get sunburned through the rain drops and dark clouds, so i kind of forgot what the sun can do. it's just a baby sunburn, though, so i'll be okay.
*as a side note, people never told me how awesome the pillars of the earth is. yes, they told me i should read it, but it has also been described to me as the story of the building of a cathedral. to me, that sounded dry and hard to slog through, so i put it off. they should have to described it to me as the story of the PEOPLE who were involved in the building of a cathedral, because ohmygoodness i am loving this book and it is so readable and not dry at all. now that i'm awake far before my shift in the office today (i'm on from 4pm to midnight) and the weather is just as beautiful as yesterday, i'll be spending most of the day reading my book in christ church meadow, and i couldn't be more excited. the kids leave on saturday, so we're preparing for the run to the end - i have to take as much claire time as possible before the chaos begins on friday!
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Saturday, July 21, 2012
we're entering the final week of the program - the kids leave next saturday the 28th, and then i fly home on tuesday the 31st. it's shocking how fast the summers go by when i'm over here. i have LOVED having so many coworkers (some returning, some new) this summer who are such good friends - some seen below - and we've had a LOT of fun over the past four weeks. (i do this job for the fun i have with my coworkers, not for the kids. shhh - don't tell.)
(AND: three of the four of us in this picture will live in new york next year - yippee!)
this is the point in the summer where i start to feel the pressure for all the things i haven't yet done. i haven't spent an afternoon walking through port meadow to the pub on the other side. i haven't been into london to see a show. i haven't spent enough lazy afternoons in christ church meadow reading my book (because it has rained so. much. this. summer. but the weather report for the rest of the time i'm here? glorious!). i haven't talked nearly enough to my other friend claire who is in cambridge. so: i have one week to try to rectify these things.
in the excitement of bill clinton day, i forgot to tell you guys that i am going to the olympics!!!! there are random tickets available online for uk citizens to purchase - if i'm understanding it right, in order to get rid of as much of a black market as possible, any uk citizen can return any ticket to the olympics people and get a full refund if it is resold. as a result, for every day of the olympics there are dozens of tickets to random events available - some very expensive, some very reasonable. a uk friend bought tickets the other day and five of us are going to olympic tennis at wimbledon the day before i leave. so exciting! i don't really care about tennis, but it is a sport i understand, unlike, say, judo...and it's the olympics! hooray!
so: final week in england, here we come...
(AND: three of the four of us in this picture will live in new york next year - yippee!)
this is the point in the summer where i start to feel the pressure for all the things i haven't yet done. i haven't spent an afternoon walking through port meadow to the pub on the other side. i haven't been into london to see a show. i haven't spent enough lazy afternoons in christ church meadow reading my book (because it has rained so. much. this. summer. but the weather report for the rest of the time i'm here? glorious!). i haven't talked nearly enough to my other friend claire who is in cambridge. so: i have one week to try to rectify these things.
in the excitement of bill clinton day, i forgot to tell you guys that i am going to the olympics!!!! there are random tickets available online for uk citizens to purchase - if i'm understanding it right, in order to get rid of as much of a black market as possible, any uk citizen can return any ticket to the olympics people and get a full refund if it is resold. as a result, for every day of the olympics there are dozens of tickets to random events available - some very expensive, some very reasonable. a uk friend bought tickets the other day and five of us are going to olympic tennis at wimbledon the day before i leave. so exciting! i don't really care about tennis, but it is a sport i understand, unlike, say, judo...and it's the olympics! hooray!
so: final week in england, here we come...
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Thursday, July 12, 2012
today i met bill clinton.
here is the full story.
after lunch a faculty member comes rushing into the office to tell us that he's just passed bill clinton on the high street. we are shocked! bill is in town! one of the admin members goes to stalk him and finds that he has landed at the bear, a pub right around the corner from our college. four of us rush out - my friend liz (also in the photo), larry, and michael. we're all americans, we're all democrats, and we're all freaking out.
we get to the bear, where there are several security guards standing around and trying to look nonchalant. liz and i go inside (NO ONE STOPS US) and into the doorway of the room where bill is sitting. total, there were about 15 security guys in the tiny pub, drinking beers and waiting for their lunch, and bill is chatting away with these two americans who i think were sitting there when he arrived. there isn't a huge crowd - we appear to be his only stalkers so far. he is VERY thin, but it is him.
one security guy comes up to us and says "are you just going to stand there gawking? he's trying to eat his lunch!" i apologize (ahh! i hate confrontation!) and say we can go, which he clearly wants us to. i lean over to liz and tell her this. as we're backing out of the room, bill yells "do those girls want a picture?" WE DO, and we rush back inside, where bill shakes our hands and pats the bench beside him so we can take a picture. I AM SITTING NEXT TO BILL CLINTON. our friend larry walks in, and we introduce him, and then for 20 minutes - no exaggeration - we talk to bill about how we're teachers (he calls it "the noblest of professions," and thanks us for our work), and he proceeds to chat with us about romney's jobs plan and how it won't work, his thoughts on charter schools, and how paying teachers more will help improve student achievement. he's a talker, a policy guy, making eye contact and making us feel really special as he rambles on with his thoughts on any number of subjects. after about 10 minutes his food arrives (he had tomato soup and a guinness), and i try to leave - "thank you so much for talking with us - we don't want to interrupt your meal!" AND HE KEEPS TALKING. we stay, obviously. at some point he's talking about chelsea and how she's overextended and he's never going to get grandchildren at this rate and how he's lived longer than all of his grandparents except the one who wore overalls all day and farmed from sunup to sundown, but with all the new technology women can have children so much longer, and if chelsea has a kid when she's 50 he'll be 84 and that will be fine. liz tells him at least chelsea's married - that liz and i are basically chelsea's age and are behind her on that front - AND BILL GRABS LIZ'S ARM AND OFFERS SOME DATING ADVICE: "worry about the other things" - as in, the man will come when you stop worrying about it.
oh, bill. we enjoy you.
finally he says, "it was so nice meeting you guys," and we thank him profusely and tell him we're proud democrats and shake hands again and say our goodbyes. we freak out only when we leave the bar, calling our parents on the office phone and skipping around and reenacting the conversation for everyone. i think about how i would love to call my grandma, if she were alive, to tell her all about it. she'd have something witty and racy to say. it would be awesome. it still IS awesome, of course, but it would be awesomer.
aaaaaaand then the shit hit the fan at work. but that is a story for another day, probably not on this blog...
here is the full story.
after lunch a faculty member comes rushing into the office to tell us that he's just passed bill clinton on the high street. we are shocked! bill is in town! one of the admin members goes to stalk him and finds that he has landed at the bear, a pub right around the corner from our college. four of us rush out - my friend liz (also in the photo), larry, and michael. we're all americans, we're all democrats, and we're all freaking out.
we get to the bear, where there are several security guards standing around and trying to look nonchalant. liz and i go inside (NO ONE STOPS US) and into the doorway of the room where bill is sitting. total, there were about 15 security guys in the tiny pub, drinking beers and waiting for their lunch, and bill is chatting away with these two americans who i think were sitting there when he arrived. there isn't a huge crowd - we appear to be his only stalkers so far. he is VERY thin, but it is him.
one security guy comes up to us and says "are you just going to stand there gawking? he's trying to eat his lunch!" i apologize (ahh! i hate confrontation!) and say we can go, which he clearly wants us to. i lean over to liz and tell her this. as we're backing out of the room, bill yells "do those girls want a picture?" WE DO, and we rush back inside, where bill shakes our hands and pats the bench beside him so we can take a picture. I AM SITTING NEXT TO BILL CLINTON. our friend larry walks in, and we introduce him, and then for 20 minutes - no exaggeration - we talk to bill about how we're teachers (he calls it "the noblest of professions," and thanks us for our work), and he proceeds to chat with us about romney's jobs plan and how it won't work, his thoughts on charter schools, and how paying teachers more will help improve student achievement. he's a talker, a policy guy, making eye contact and making us feel really special as he rambles on with his thoughts on any number of subjects. after about 10 minutes his food arrives (he had tomato soup and a guinness), and i try to leave - "thank you so much for talking with us - we don't want to interrupt your meal!" AND HE KEEPS TALKING. we stay, obviously. at some point he's talking about chelsea and how she's overextended and he's never going to get grandchildren at this rate and how he's lived longer than all of his grandparents except the one who wore overalls all day and farmed from sunup to sundown, but with all the new technology women can have children so much longer, and if chelsea has a kid when she's 50 he'll be 84 and that will be fine. liz tells him at least chelsea's married - that liz and i are basically chelsea's age and are behind her on that front - AND BILL GRABS LIZ'S ARM AND OFFERS SOME DATING ADVICE: "worry about the other things" - as in, the man will come when you stop worrying about it.
oh, bill. we enjoy you.
finally he says, "it was so nice meeting you guys," and we thank him profusely and tell him we're proud democrats and shake hands again and say our goodbyes. we freak out only when we leave the bar, calling our parents on the office phone and skipping around and reenacting the conversation for everyone. i think about how i would love to call my grandma, if she were alive, to tell her all about it. she'd have something witty and racy to say. it would be awesome. it still IS awesome, of course, but it would be awesomer.
aaaaaaand then the shit hit the fan at work. but that is a story for another day, probably not on this blog...
Sunday, July 8, 2012
vin came to visit me in oxford!
she brought two of her london friends and we went punting. talia had punted before, so she was in charge. yay! thanks, talia!
it rained a bit, but nothing too crazy. there was lots of laughing - such a fun day!
we ended the night at an italian place in town, where michelle kwan was sitting two tables away! liz, my coworker here, is a former ice skater and was gutsy enough to go up to her, so i came along for moral support / to talk to michelle kwan obviously!!! turns out that michelle is a torchbearer for the olympics, chosen by one of the olympics sponsors, coca-cola. she was SO NICE, asking us if why we were in oxford and seeming genuinely interested that we are teachers. while liz chatted with michelle and michelle's boyfriend, i chatted with the two coca-cola employees who were schmoozing her at dinner - they live in atlanta. exact transcript of part of the conversation:
michelle: where do you guys live?
liz: new york city
me: atlanta
coca-cola lady #1: us too! where in atlanta do you live?
me: vinings! [i move over to chat with coca-cola ladies while liz and michelle become friends.]
c-c lady #2: me too!
me: well, actually i live in smyrna. [smyrna is a suburb, while vinings is a part of the city of atlanta...vinings is the cool place to live, and everyone in smyrna says they live in vinings.]
c-c lady #2: ME TOO!
[we then realize that we live literally 2 miles apart from one another.]
c-c lady #1: where do you teach?
me: [name of school]
c-c lady #2: my two children go there!
it was a SMALL WORLD MOMENT, PEOPLE.
c-c lady #1 insisted that we take a photo with michelle, even though i was like "we don't want to bug her any more than we already are!" c-c lady also forced "shelly" into the middle. it was awesome.
good. day.
she brought two of her london friends and we went punting. talia had punted before, so she was in charge. yay! thanks, talia!
it rained a bit, but nothing too crazy. there was lots of laughing - such a fun day!
we ended the night at an italian place in town, where michelle kwan was sitting two tables away! liz, my coworker here, is a former ice skater and was gutsy enough to go up to her, so i came along for moral support / to talk to michelle kwan obviously!!! turns out that michelle is a torchbearer for the olympics, chosen by one of the olympics sponsors, coca-cola. she was SO NICE, asking us if why we were in oxford and seeming genuinely interested that we are teachers. while liz chatted with michelle and michelle's boyfriend, i chatted with the two coca-cola employees who were schmoozing her at dinner - they live in atlanta. exact transcript of part of the conversation:
michelle: where do you guys live?
liz: new york city
me: atlanta
coca-cola lady #1: us too! where in atlanta do you live?
me: vinings! [i move over to chat with coca-cola ladies while liz and michelle become friends.]
c-c lady #2: me too!
me: well, actually i live in smyrna. [smyrna is a suburb, while vinings is a part of the city of atlanta...vinings is the cool place to live, and everyone in smyrna says they live in vinings.]
c-c lady #2: ME TOO!
[we then realize that we live literally 2 miles apart from one another.]
c-c lady #1: where do you teach?
me: [name of school]
c-c lady #2: my two children go there!
it was a SMALL WORLD MOMENT, PEOPLE.
c-c lady #1 insisted that we take a photo with michelle, even though i was like "we don't want to bug her any more than we already are!" c-c lady also forced "shelly" into the middle. it was awesome.
good. day.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Sunday, July 1, 2012
pizza van
pizza van, you were so freaking delicious last night, but perhaps you are to blame for my stomach hurting today. we may need to break up for a bit.
but not forever - don't worry. i'll forget about this soon enough.
but not forever - don't worry. i'll forget about this soon enough.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
the view
8:30pm - the view from my dorm room window. (this city is beautiful.)
whenever i see chimneys like this i always think of this scene in mary poppins (is it just me?):
whenever i see chimneys like this i always think of this scene in mary poppins (is it just me?):
Friday, June 29, 2012
over the past week we've been working A LOT to set up the offices and get ready for the kids to come to the program on sunday. the craziness won't end until tuesday, really, when the students get on a normal schedule. when we aren't working, we're out eating and drinking and laughing with our awesome staff. i'm really loving the people i'm working with this year. but you know...all i want right now is a day where i can lie in my bed and alternate between watching west wing reruns and reading my book. i've been spending from 9am to midnight with PEOPLE for the past week...and we all know how big of an introvert i can be. it's been really fun - and we have to soak up as much time as possible with each other before the kids get in the way - but i would looooooove a lazy day.
Monday, June 25, 2012
yesterday: sitting outside in the garden at my favorite pub in oxford, reading until my other friends got there, because YES, you can do that in england and not be weird. heaven!
aaaaaand i inexplicably woke up at 6:45 this morning, after going to bed at midnight.
on second thought, since the sun rose at 4:48am (not a misprint), perhaps that is why. my dorm room is awesome, with two sets of windows...and what i mistakenly thought were pretty good curtains...
first day of work today!
aaaaaand i inexplicably woke up at 6:45 this morning, after going to bed at midnight.
on second thought, since the sun rose at 4:48am (not a misprint), perhaps that is why. my dorm room is awesome, with two sets of windows...and what i mistakenly thought were pretty good curtains...
first day of work today!
Thursday, September 29, 2011
things* i miss about oxford
it's official: i miss oxford. when i got back to atlanta i was just happy to be home, enjoying the comforts of being back in the US. but every year at about this time i start missing oxford and those experiences again; i start thinking about going back next summer. here are a couple reasons why:
1. alpha bar. alpha bar is this incredible food stand in the covered market with lots of fresh and healthy food; i often got a small box (4 items) for lunch. you can mix and match from lots of salads and cheeses and proteins. my favorite small box combination is lentil salad, hummus, carrot and cabbage slaw, and grilled halloumi cheese. i also love the roasted veggies and feta cheese, so sometimes i sub one or the other in. in short: if alpha bar existed in atlanta i would go DAILY. sigh.
here i am talking about food again. oops. the pizza artisan van is a, well, van with a wood burning oven in it. the van man parks on the side of the road in town and makes fresh pizzas in literally 2 minutes. (ignore the question of how he is allowed to have a super heated fire in a van that obviously has gasoline in it.) i became obsessed with this pizza. in 2 minutes you can have a mushroom pizza with roasted garlic on it, topped at the last minute with spinach and rocket (aka arugula). YUM.
1. alpha bar. alpha bar is this incredible food stand in the covered market with lots of fresh and healthy food; i often got a small box (4 items) for lunch. you can mix and match from lots of salads and cheeses and proteins. my favorite small box combination is lentil salad, hummus, carrot and cabbage slaw, and grilled halloumi cheese. i also love the roasted veggies and feta cheese, so sometimes i sub one or the other in. in short: if alpha bar existed in atlanta i would go DAILY. sigh.
2. the pizza artisan van.
here i am talking about food again. oops. the pizza artisan van is a, well, van with a wood burning oven in it. the van man parks on the side of the road in town and makes fresh pizzas in literally 2 minutes. (ignore the question of how he is allowed to have a super heated fire in a van that obviously has gasoline in it.) i became obsessed with this pizza. in 2 minutes you can have a mushroom pizza with roasted garlic on it, topped at the last minute with spinach and rocket (aka arugula). YUM.
3. walking places. in atlanta i drive everywhere except (sometimes) the grocery store that's across the street from my house. places i want to go are far apart and traffic stresses me out. in oxford we walked everywhere, and living in a town where that is possible was wonderful. would i want to live in a place that small year round? probably not. but i miss it.
4. the weather, though atlanta's late september weather is similar to oxford's hottest july day, and i'm appreciative of the fact that we're moving in the right direction. jeans and sweaters and clear days that aren't hot - that's my favorite climate.
5. feeling like you're in college again - sort of - in that there are people around all the time and at a moment's notice you could always find someone to go grab a drink with you or play uno (don't laugh) with you. when we weren't on duty our job was to be free in case of emergency, which also meant that people were free to hang out. real life isn't like that - i, and all my friends, are busy and scheduled and finding time to just hang out requires forethought. ugh. while i understand that real life can't be like a summer job, i'm still sad about it.
*again, obviously not people, as i miss my oxford friends a lot...
Saturday, August 13, 2011
last days in oxford
i have some photos from our last days in oxford that i didn't get around to posting before i left...
on the last night of the program we have a big party for the kids...and a mini party for the adults! woo hoo! our director's 6 year old daughter is particularly excited.
these are the girls from my office this summer - love them:
and the three pembroke deans from last year...i, of course, moved over to oriel this year but that did not prevent us from having a lot of fun again this summer:
remember how we "went ape"? this is our little "go ape" family portrait, which made us laugh a LOT as we took this picture.
after the kids left (without a hitch - yay!) we attempted another 15 person pyramid - which we never completed last summer. this is as close as we got this summer...no success again this year, but we got so close! that's my 12 year old "son" climbing to the top of the pyramid to complete it...shortly after this photo was taken he fell off. oops. pyramids are dangerous.
coming back to my "real" life has been great - so good to see my friend and get ready for the new school year - but i miss oxford, too. it's an amazing summer job and i've been lucky to work with great people all three summers that i've been there. and spending 5 weeks of the summer in england? an incredible - and really fun - opportunity... i know i'm a lucky girl.
on the last night of the program we have a big party for the kids...and a mini party for the adults! woo hoo! our director's 6 year old daughter is particularly excited.
these are the girls from my office this summer - love them:
and the three pembroke deans from last year...i, of course, moved over to oriel this year but that did not prevent us from having a lot of fun again this summer:
remember how we "went ape"? this is our little "go ape" family portrait, which made us laugh a LOT as we took this picture.
after the kids left (without a hitch - yay!) we attempted another 15 person pyramid - which we never completed last summer. this is as close as we got this summer...no success again this year, but we got so close! that's my 12 year old "son" climbing to the top of the pyramid to complete it...shortly after this photo was taken he fell off. oops. pyramids are dangerous.
coming back to my "real" life has been great - so good to see my friend and get ready for the new school year - but i miss oxford, too. it's an amazing summer job and i've been lucky to work with great people all three summers that i've been there. and spending 5 weeks of the summer in england? an incredible - and really fun - opportunity... i know i'm a lucky girl.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
departures day...
...has actually been shockingly easy and organized - probably because (a) my office rocks, and (b) i slept from 1:30am-8am, missing most of the departures (because the two guys in the office WANTED to stay up all night). woo hoo!
we're checking the last 30 or so kids out over the next several hours, making a trip to oxfam to donate all the random things the kids couldn't fit in their suitcases (i got two great poetry anthologies! [only i would be excited about this]), and then having dinner with the staff. hooray!
we're checking the last 30 or so kids out over the next several hours, making a trip to oxfam to donate all the random things the kids couldn't fit in their suitcases (i got two great poetry anthologies! [only i would be excited about this]), and then having dinner with the staff. hooray!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
garden party
other claire came to visit on sunday and we went to the annual oxford garden party that is hosted by the founder of the summer program where we work. think: hats encouraged for ladies, little tea sandwiches, lots of wine. in addition, we had gorgeous weather - 75-ish degrees, sunny. perfection!
i had all these plans to show other claire around oxford - st. mary's church, the sheldonian, the ratcliffe camera, the covered market - and in fact we only had time to (a) eat, (b) drink, (c) garden party, and (d) sleep. oops. it was so fun to show her the college, though, and to introduce her to my friends here. they loved her (of course).
at the garden party we took a picture of my whole office! these are the people i work with on a daily basis - and socialize with on a daily basis. love them! as i've said before, we have a great office this year.
i'll continue to say how shocking it is that the program ends on saturday and i'll be sleeping in my bed in atlanta next tuesday night. wow. i will absolutely miss this place and these people...but i'm also ready to get home and back to my 11-months-a-year life.
the high tomorrow is supposed to be 28 degrees celsius (82 degrees fahrenheit). um, this will be warmest temperature i've experienced since june 21st, when i left atlanta. hooray for this warm weather...but i'm NOT looking forward to atlanta's heat when i return...
i had all these plans to show other claire around oxford - st. mary's church, the sheldonian, the ratcliffe camera, the covered market - and in fact we only had time to (a) eat, (b) drink, (c) garden party, and (d) sleep. oops. it was so fun to show her the college, though, and to introduce her to my friends here. they loved her (of course).
at the garden party we took a picture of my whole office! these are the people i work with on a daily basis - and socialize with on a daily basis. love them! as i've said before, we have a great office this year.
i'll continue to say how shocking it is that the program ends on saturday and i'll be sleeping in my bed in atlanta next tuesday night. wow. i will absolutely miss this place and these people...but i'm also ready to get home and back to my 11-months-a-year life.
the high tomorrow is supposed to be 28 degrees celsius (82 degrees fahrenheit). um, this will be warmest temperature i've experienced since june 21st, when i left atlanta. hooray for this warm weather...but i'm NOT looking forward to atlanta's heat when i return...
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
i think mike was hoping i'd forget
back story: last year while working in england, a (straight) english guy i worked with wore white linen capris (man-pris) several times over the month of the program, and i decided this was the most english-y thing to do EVER. no (straight) man in america would wear white + linen + capris, or any combination of two or more of those items. i told my friends at home about it. somehow home-friend mike agreed to wear a pair of white linen capris (purchased by me in england) out on a saturday night in atlanta, unable to tell anyone that this is a joke/social experiment. in exchange, mike gets (a) one free pair of white linen capris, and (b) free drinks all night. [am i remembering this correctly, atlantans?]
today: i purchased said pair of white linen capri pants. mike, you actually have to do this now.
[don't worry, blog readers: i promise we'll take pictures.]
today: i purchased said pair of white linen capri pants. mike, you actually have to do this now.
[don't worry, blog readers: i promise we'll take pictures.]
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
oriel
for the first two years i worked in oxford i lived in pembroke college, as you probably know. this year i'm in oriel college, so i thought i'd show you what this college looks like! i've actually struggled a bit with what to photograph and put on the blog this year, because i've put a lot of picture on in the past and i don't know what is NEW! and INTERESTING! to show you this year. and then i remembered that you haven't seen oriel. so here it is!
oriel was founded in 1326. this is not a typo. in 1326 it was just a collection of teachers and students, and the physical college wasn't built until the 1600s. this is the front of the college today.
this is a close up of the main gate to the college, where we enter and exit - you'll see that a door is cut into the larger gate so you don't have to open the whole huge gate when someone wants to enter or leave.
the first quad you enter as you go into the college is called...wait for it...first quad. this is the view after you walk through the gate; the dining hall is pictured here with dorm rooms and classrooms on the left and right sides of the quad.
if you go into the dining hall, it's exactly as harry potter-esque as you'd imagine it would be. at the top of this photo you'll see (vaguely) the largest painting in existence of queen elizabeth II. oriel is a royal college (founded by king edward II or something) and is the only royal college at oxford university. so perhaps this is why they get this fancy painting? the other paintings are of former heads of the college, benefactors, etc.
if you go back out into first quad and walk through an archway to your left you enter...second quad!
i live in second quad, in this building on the right; the entrance is between the two tall bushes/trees/whatever.
there is a third quad through a passageway if you were to walk straight ahead in the above photo, and then there is a tunnel under the street that emerges in a fourth quad, called "the island" because it's set apart from the rest of the college. neither of those quads are particularly different from the ones i've shown here, so...i got lazy and didn't photograph them. oops.
oriel was founded in 1326. this is not a typo. in 1326 it was just a collection of teachers and students, and the physical college wasn't built until the 1600s. this is the front of the college today.
this is a close up of the main gate to the college, where we enter and exit - you'll see that a door is cut into the larger gate so you don't have to open the whole huge gate when someone wants to enter or leave.
the first quad you enter as you go into the college is called...wait for it...first quad. this is the view after you walk through the gate; the dining hall is pictured here with dorm rooms and classrooms on the left and right sides of the quad.
if you go into the dining hall, it's exactly as harry potter-esque as you'd imagine it would be. at the top of this photo you'll see (vaguely) the largest painting in existence of queen elizabeth II. oriel is a royal college (founded by king edward II or something) and is the only royal college at oxford university. so perhaps this is why they get this fancy painting? the other paintings are of former heads of the college, benefactors, etc.
if you go back out into first quad and walk through an archway to your left you enter...second quad!
i live in second quad, in this building on the right; the entrance is between the two tall bushes/trees/whatever.
there is a third quad through a passageway if you were to walk straight ahead in the above photo, and then there is a tunnel under the street that emerges in a fourth quad, called "the island" because it's set apart from the rest of the college. neither of those quads are particularly different from the ones i've shown here, so...i got lazy and didn't photograph them. oops.
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