The Lake District

Hi all!

This weekend was enjoyable, I must say. But first let me briefly comment on the production of joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat which i saw thursday night. The lighting = great. Costumes = cheap. Music = awesome multiple keyboards with top-of-the-line sounds. sounded like a full orchestra. very cool . the sound people didn't do their job as well as they could have; sometimes people weren't miked enough and other times the singers were blowing out the mikes and it was painful to listen to.

the most interesting thing about the evening was to observe that at least in york, the theater is like the ballpark. i have a picture of a man DRINKING BEER during the show. and people brought in all sorts of snacks. some noisy. and i got in trouble for taking little film ckips--the usher had to admonish me twice. why she gave a shit, i dont know. power trip. and loads of other people were doing it, with VIDEO CAMERAS (i had my little canon) but because i was onthe end and she could reach me, she picked on me alone.

all in all, it was good. i could have done a better job as the Narrator though becayse i have a higher belt range. teehee. it was fun, though.

WEEKEND:
Friday:

Friday after work, Naomi walked me to the train station as I took off for Manchester (I had to swtich trains 3 times to get to Sarah's place). It was sad to say goodbye to her...it's always weird saying goodbye to people you meet here because there's such a large chance that you wont ever see that person again....so you want to say something like "have a nice life"...it's odd.

the train rides were uneventful, and i got to Windermere 4 hours later, 5 minutes early. Sarah took me to this cute pub where we met up with her new coworker boyfriend Nick. He's a sweet guy. One glass of wine got me a little tipsy, because I was very very tired. We got home, to her little village which has almost no people living in it, no lights--so it was pitch black and all the stars were visible. how gorgeous. i conked out as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Saturday:
Yummy fry-up for breakfast. I dont think I'll ever LOVE baked beans, but theyre ok when youre hungry and youre in England!

After eating we lounged around fora short while, I met Sarah's housemate Zoë. Then we headed out the door for a drive and a walk around the countryside!

Now, this is the stuff we all picture when we think of stereotypical English countryside: green hills, stone walls, cute cottages, colorful trees and flowers...and lots and lots of sheep. And villagers waving at you as you pass by. And mountains and lakes, too! We had a lovely walk for about an hour and a half, to get to this stone circle which is apparently 1000 years older than stonehenge. It certainly looks it; the stones are much more weathered and worn down. The circle was located on a hill which afforded an AMAZING view of the surruonding hills, valleys and mountains. It was windy but not too cold.

Going back, we drove through the country some more, stopping for a snack in --was it Grasmere? correct me if im wrong--anyway we ate a PIZZA with APPLES and CUMBERLAND SAUSAGE. sounds weird? well it is kind of, but very tasty especially after a long walk. I also bought some local treats--Eccles Cakes (theyre like giant Fig Newtons), butter shortbread and Kendal Mint Cakes. These things are awesome--theyre like the center of a York Peppermint Patty only harder--they are made of simply peppermint oil and lots of sugar. YUMM.

We went back to Sarah's place, which by the way is called Bobtail Cottage (and the cottage next door is called Wain Garth--how funny is that!!), and lounged around a bit wth Zoë. I was amazed by the mountainous backyard view they have, and the fact that you can see (and hear!) lots of sheep. Sarah and I had some wine, and worked on the pepper and mushroom risotto dinner, and apple/pear/sultana crumble for dessert.

It came out yummy. Nick had dinner with us as well. Then we headed down to the Eagle's Head--even a village as small as Sattherthwaite has a pub--for a pint. It is a quintessential English pub. Dark, cozy, everybody knows everybody.

A good evening.

Sunday:
Cloudy, raining steadily. Not good weather for me to go on the Go Ape! course, but we decided to forge on through anyway.

Go Ape! isthe outdoor adventure park-thingy where Sarah works. To understand what it is, picture the Ewok village--high up in the trees, swinging by ropes from tree to tree. That's kind of what you do. You are high above the ground, on ledges which are built on the trees. The idea is to get from tree to tree by doign different obstacles. Some are rope bridges, some aer special ladders, some are rope nets, barrels...and zooming down cables which is really fun (until you scrape your head, which i did twice. oh well). ...and jumping off ledges in a 'Tarzan Swing' onto a vertical rope net which you then must climb to reach the next ledge.

I had an absolute blast doing this, despite the fact that I was cold and soaking wet. The best was the huge leap at the end, where you are 60-something feet up in the air and you have to do a huge leap to get to the next net. You are in free-fall for a few feet which is pretty scary, but afetr I was done all I wanted to do was do it again! ..but not quite, becuase it was cold and wet and Sunday roast was waiting in the pub back in Satterthwaite.

It was my first (finally!) English Sunday Roast. Yummy pork with applesauce and stuffing, and cabbage, parsnips, potatoes, cauliflower. Mmm.

I was sad to leave Sarah, and I wasnt looking forward to the 6-hour train ride ahead of me. It does not take anywhere near 6 hours to get from her place to York, but it does on a Sunday because of rail repairs. I had a 2-hour bus ride to Preston, Lancashire and a 90-minute wait there, and then a 3-hour train ride to York itself (lots of stops). By the time I got back I was exhausted and overheated....but what a good weekend.

I spent the rest of the evening hanging out with Sue and Amit. My bed had somehow gotten broken over the weekend so Brad and DJ replaced it with another one for me.

Tha-tha-that's all folks...

2.5 weeks left.