London

I was in London from the 21st to 3st May. I was a bit disappointed, well blame it on my own expectations. Everything I had planned to do didn't work out. The special ice cream shop I wanted to visit had closed down, the two musicals I most wanted to see were sold out on the three nights I went to get tickets, and I couldn't find the tea my friend asked me to buy back. Okay enough.

The trip itself was pretty good. The museums don't fail. Also meeting up with the fellowship there was good. There were a couple of highlights. I won't go into much detail since London is, well, London.

The good shops are all in the museums

I went back to Camden market. The atmosphere of the place seems to have died down a little, particularly in the stables market. The Locke market was pretty lively though. I thought the shopping there would be good, but it was so so. The food market is the place to be. Behold!

What is this ordinary looking burger?

Zebra meat. It tasted quite sweet actually. It has a nice fragrance, and a slightly pungent after-smell. Sad to say my other meals were not even half as exciting.

I also got to Cambridge. It's a nice place, but a quite the expensive, tourist town. Shops and ice cream carts everywhere. And many people who were evidently NOT erudite/ posh professors, students and co. Despite all the tourist action going on Cambridge looks like a boring place to study. Am I being bitter? Perhaps only slightly. Not saying it's an ugly place though, just boring. Behold!

River canal thing

Who knew punting was a thing with smart, wealthy undergraduates?

Not representative old building

Representative building and amount of bicycles

A less touristy street

That's all really. If there's one thing I've learnt from my trip to London is BOOK YOUR TICKETS TO MATILDA EARLY.  Bye now.

Not Cambridge but still a nice photo

Finland

Clearly I've given up on counting the days. The backlog of writing I have to do for this blog is simply shameful. I don't even think I have pictures for everything.

Moaning aside. I'm in Finland now! This is really exciting for me. For a long time now I've promised myself to see this place. So I landed myself in a farm in Tampere. Basically it's a work and stay arrangement. Work hasn't started yet. I'll write more about it next time.

My host just had graduation party for their son. Apparently it's a thing here. People celebrate graduations from secondary school and pre-u... Some of the guests that came were pretty dressed up too. The biggest celebration is when someone gets his PHd.

Other than that it's been a rather quiet day for me. Work probably starts tomorrow. I'll write about my previous trips too. Promise!

day 127

I'm a bit ashamed of my hiatus... It's been nearly a month since I last posted. Things have been really busy. Coming back from Holland I had a bunch of assignments, followed by two weeks of exams which just ended on Saturday. I also made a short trip to Wales last week! That was really beautiful. I need to get back into the habit of writing again. I promise to write more about Hungary/ Croatia/ Netherlands/ Wales in a bit, and get some pictures up too. Right now I'm packing my bags for London! More soon.

day 102

Hello hello. I'm so sorry I haven't been updating. Things have been very busy, and I haven't quite had the time to sit down and write.

So. I'm now in the Kaye's living room somewhere in Budapest, having a nice cup of tea. We just had a feast of a barbeque: Hungarian sausages, pork chops, chicken fillets, bread rolls, salads, mushrooms, and chocolates. My family has been eating to this excess for the past few days.

Okay so here's a run down of what's been happening:

From the time I last posted to last week I was on a mad rush to complete my assignments before leaving for Hungary. I had aimed to finish everything by Wednesday so I wouldn't have to bring any work along...

The thing is Debbie was over here that weekend too. That was really nice. We had a nice evening just hanging out on Saturday; dinner out after church on Sunday; cooked dinner for the O'Briens' and Breretons' on Monday and Tuesday. So perhaps I didn't have as much time to do my work, but I did have a good time. (I still haven't finished two assignments. Do the maths.)

Wednesday we flew to Budapest. There was a funny story with that. Both of us had booked the same flight, though separately. She had a seat in a first row, and I on the seventh. Turns out that the guy seated next to her was friends with the guy seated next to me, so we swapped! I had my first flight in the front row, next to an old friends.

We got to Hungary, and I met my family and Rayan there. Thursday we got to camp, which lasted till Monday. That was really good.

From there my family, the Kayes' and Rayan took off to Croatia, where we spent two nights in these cosy pine cabins. We went to see the Plitvice lakes on the second day. That was very beautiful. I'll put up some pictures another time.

Back to Hungary on Wednesday, where we got to the meeting. That brings us today! We went to Monika's parents place and we had local pancakes. They were packed with meat and came with a mushroom, curry-looking sauce. Of course there was dessert and coffee.

In the afternoon we went go-karting! I think I enjoyed that more than I expected. It's more tiring than it looks too.

So that pretty much sums up a really, really good week with my family in Hungary. Tomorrow we fly to Netherlands for more fun and food. Hoorah!

day 88

Do you know that magic trick when a magician pulls a chain of handkerchiefs from his hat? Or the exhausting feeling of eating from a deep bowl of noodles that doesn't seem to run out? You know that momentary sensation of neverendingness?

How you doin'

What is that you might ask? Well the other evening I decided to clear the hairs that collected at my shower drainage. At first I thought there were only a few strands. I was wrong.

I pulled, and I pulled, and I pulled.


Mom this is for you

Look at that beast. A monster of hair, mould and grime that had been there the whole time (hey check it out – that rhymed!). If pipes could have cancer I'm sure that's what the tumour would look like.

I'm sorry I showed you this. Such horrors should never be discovered. I hope you've had your dinner. And shower.

I'll be gone now. Good night.