THE WIRE

Ok, so I've recently become an avid fan of a UK film magazine called Empire.



The last couple times I've gone to London for meetings, I always end up picking up a copy at Euston train station waiting to head back to LP. For many reasons, it's great - interesting articles, funny commentary, excellent coverage of both mainstream and independent film, etc... but what really caught my attention was the article about HBO show, The Wire, in the issue above.

For those unfamiliar with The Wire, it is an excellent crime drama that completely undoes the regular crime show (think Law & Order, CSI, etc. but ten times better and covering one case spanning an entire season). This show is realer than any show I've ever seen in my life and for that, I love it. Even Barack Obama says it's his favorite show. How could you go wrong with that, right? I mean, it's not like he won any votes from moral America for expressing that opinion.

Well, the UK loves The Wire... and not because any television station has picked it up in syndication over here... in fact, I really have no idea how this country became fascinated with this very American based show, but the DVD seasons sell like gangbusters in this country. So much so, Empire devoted a 4-page article interviewing the creator, David Simon. Myself being a sociology/political science major, I love this show. Not because it makes me feel good (because it doesn't) but because it's a real insight into what we as Americans have let urban America become. It doesn't offer any solutions or opinion but rather it serves as a portrayal of the politics behind all major organizations - the police system, political figures, school system, and the systematic flow of money out of communities that really need it. We're talking about culturally engrained issues that would take generations, if we were to address the problems now, to affect positive change. This is saddening and also a reason I chose to move away from devoting my life to issues that would only serve to endlessly frustrate me. It's also fascinating, however... a country built on a cultural and ethnic melting pot that has time and time again proven its inability of addressing issues pertaining to equality. The people that need to be slapped in this world are those who believe every citizen in America has equal opportunity. They don't and it's not because they're systemically kept from receiving an education or entering the work force, but it's because socially and environmentally, there are individuals beginning life at a serious disadvatange and the American government time and time again chooses to ignore these issues. Anyone that seriously devotes time to studying American race relations ultimately has to reach this conclusion and David Simon & co. do a fantastic job of bringing this to light - not only because the writers of this show have devoted their lives to studying these issues through written and insitutional work, but because it makes a point of being truthful.

So, if you have some spare time and haven't already, please watch The Wire. It's affected me deeply, most notably Season 4 I just finished, and brought back to life thoughts about issues I used to both independently study in high school and also academically in college.

And, again, if for nothing else than acknowledging these issues, Barack, you have my vote...

- Chris

Coins

I feel like the States has a nice coin system... you have the penny (a nice bronze to help identify it), then the nickel (little thicker in your pocket), the dime (small, distinguishable), and the big quarter. Just at a glance, you can tell each apart easily.

Well... welcome to the land where coins make zero sense. There are 8 total. Now, I'm about to show you a picture, don't be alarmed...



From top left,
1p (= 1 pence), 2p, 5p, 10p
20p, 50p, 1pound, 2pound

All are different sizes, look, the 2p is larger than 1pound, the 5p smaller than the 2p, the 20p and 1pound about the same size and the 50p and 2pound about the same size!

So, imagine us, TONS of change in our pockets, trying to dig through every day to pay!

Why, England, why??

- Chris

More from the weekend...

Nic didn't post my favorite picture of the weekend so I wanted to throw it up here. We were walking back and the sun was setting (yep, the sun actually came out!). Here, they turn on these building lights and at least for me, it's a really cool experience; makes you realize you're actually in Europe (I mean, forget the accents, small refrigerators, and medicore food... it's all about the building lights, man!).

Not sure if you can really tell in the picture (I had Nic pose!) but you can at least see a street shot of all the cool buildings.



Also, here's another cool shot of the spider light:



Finally, here's me staring up at the spider... intrigued, somewhat frightened because I felt like it could drop on my head at any moment (I don't like spiders):



- Chris

A Beautiful Weekend of Exploration

This weekend, Chris and I decided to explore. We made a list of stuff we wanted to do:

1. Get Waffles 

2. Go shopping for stuff

3. Eat Sushi!

We headed to a place called Qwaff's Waffle House. Instead of getting waffles, I thought I'd try the crepes and they were delicious!!! I was so happy to finally find a great breakfast place. Chris' waffle was a little on the crispier side, but he was still satisfied. And the best part was that it was cheap!

I wasn't feeling so hot (Fresher's Flu someone called it) so we stayed in for awhile and read. I started reading Chuck Palahniuk's "Lullaby" and am almost finished - hoping to finish tonight. Chris started reading Palahniuk's "Rant" that he picked up at the bookstore earlier in the day. I think they are both about serial killers....hmm...does the author have a theme going here?

Around dinner time, we headed out in search of the one Japanese restaurant we Googled called Etsu. We wrote down directions which eventually took us down by the docks. And this is what we found:

The Liver Building (pronounced Lye-ver)

A historic church mixed with newer buildings, a common theme of Liverpool.
A cool looking statue...
And more cool looking buildings (the Liver Building is in the background with the birds on top)....

Finally, after asking a meter guy for directions, we were able to find the restaurant which was a lot closer to our flat than we actually thought. No matter, because it was worth the walk around. It was DELICIOUS!!!! We had edamame, miso soup, udon, sushi....I couldn't believe how much I missed all of it. I felt nourished again. Unfortunately, like most delicious food in this city, it was PRICEY! That's why we're going to make our own sushi etc. (Thanks to my Auntie Kim and Uncle Frank for sending us the AWESOME care package of much needed Asian food!). 

After dinner, we walked back a way we had never gone before and came across something totally random. A gigantic spider of light. 

It was hanging out between some office/apartment buildings. How random would it be to look out your window and see that?! Since the city is the 2008 European Capital of Culture, there are a lot of "artistic" random things around. It's been pretty fun. 

We didn't get a chance to go to the Albert Dock, but hopefully we'll go this coming weekend. There are a couple museums that we'd like to check out along with a ton of restaurants/pubs too.  So far, the docks are one of our favourite places since it reminds us a little of home and San Francisco.

Til next time!

Nic 

xoxoxoxo

My first week of school!

Hey Everyone!! 

Sorry it's taken us awhile to get another blog posted. Chris posted like crazy and I've just been worn out from all of my frustration with the phone/internet company. But, finally, we have internet at home, and I'm able to use it however long I want. It's glorious!

I am finishing up my first week of school and it's been going pretty good so far. I have a few "not as interesting" classes such as Entertainment Law, and Managing Finance....but I know they are important so I'm going to do my best. We've already been given a project (not due until 3 months from now), and we have to produce a show and it can't be as simple as putting on a band...so my group is going to brainstorm and hopefully come up with something super creative. We'll see.

This is outside the main gate of LIPA: 

 

Here are some more interesting pictures of the Paul McCartney Auditorium: 

\This is the stage where we have a few lectures and we also got to see the 2nd and 3rd year dancers perform here during Induction Week! They were damn good!

This is the balcony area...isn't it beautiful?!
This is the outside of the auditorium and the main area of the building:
Here is a close up just because it's cool:

Most of the people in my class are between the ages of 18-20...kind of strange since a few of them were born in 1990!! I mean, damn! That's a different decade! haha. Luckily, they are all surprised when I tell them I am 26. (Thanks for the good genes Mom!) I'm not the oldest though! There are a couple of guys who are both 29. Most of the people are from England, but there is also a person from Dublin, Scotland, Switzerland, 3 from Norway (it's the Norwegian invasion - seriously...there are a TON of them at LIPA), Germany, and then me. Yay for international students! :)

The walk to school is about a half an hour...a little over a mile one way...so my legs are getting strong let me tell you! I like being able to walk everywhere, although it has rained quite a lot already and it sucks to have completely drenched squeaking feet all day long. But, the walk is beautiful no matter how gloomy outside it is and I get to catch up on all sorts of music as well as listen to music from home. Here are a few unique-to-Liverpool things that I get to walk by everyday:

St. Luke's Church which was bombed out during WWII and is now preserved and is kind of like a park/meeting area.
This is the side of St. Luke's:

This is a cathedral right across from my school...it's an Anglican cathedral, but don't remember if it has a specific name...hopefully Chris and I will go inside this weekend and take more pictures!
Anyway, hope you enjoyed seeing more of Liverpool. We plan to head down to the docks this weekend which supposedly has a ton of restaurants, bars, museums, etc. So we'll have more pics to put up soon and probably a lot more information. 

Much love,

Nic

Last thing... British Humor = Awesome

OK OK, I'm in blog mania today, but I have one last post before I call it a day. Nic and I bought these hilarious postcards at our wonderful, free wi-fi place of internetdom called FACT. I doubt you would ever see these in the states... really because I think some parent of a 7 year old might scream out in horror, then some manager would remove them from the store, and the story would end up on a local news channel with the headline "Inappropriate content condoned by local store". Here's one plus for the Brits:










And lastly, my favorite (this one's for you, Crashley & Sarah):



Holy shit! Awesome (or "Brilliant" as they say here)

- Chris

Emergency Exit

So, most of you I'm assuming are familiar with having to sit in an emergency exit on an airplane (I personally like it for the leg room), but there's the responsibility of opening up the hatch in case of emergency, yada yada. Well, on our Virgin train back to Liverpool from London, I saw the craziest emergency exit procedure I've ever seen. I had to take some pictures and share. You tell me if I'm nuts for thinking this is crazy...





Ok, yes, you are reading correctly:
1) You need to break into the little compartment shown above to get the hammer
2) Take the hammer and bang the window in one spot until it breaks a little
3) Using your hammer (or hands), tear open the window and jump out (like the little exit running man you see - side note, does that not look like the DRI circle pit symbol to you? maybe it's just me)

Hmm.

You'd think maybe a piece of glass you could kick out... or a special door... something... anything... might be better than having to take a hammer and break open the glass.

Must be a European thing.

- Chris

LONDON!

We’re on our way back to LP from our first ever trip to London! Figured it would be a nice getaway before Nic starts school on Monday. First, here’s a pic of the fancy train(s) we rode on. I like this train thing; nice way to travel and they’re all around Europe.

We got in a little late because we were out the night before at a social gathering at Nic’s school, which was fun, but unfortunately made us not want to wake up on 4 hours sleep. So, we slept in a bit and caught a 10:30am train to London Euston station with a transfer in Birmingham. Mind you, the weather in England the past few days has been horribly rainy and windy. Nic had to walk a total of 6 miles yesterday to and from school a few times. Needless to say, she was not stoked to walk anywhere. We high-tailed out of our flat to try and make it to the Lime Street station as soon as we could (to get as much time in London as possible). Nic was hungry though…and when she gets hungry = she needs food now = she’s ready to tear your head off. Unfortunately, we had to run to the platform to catch our train so she didn’t get anything right away. But, luckily they had a sub-par food station on the train where I picked up a sandwich for her while she was sleeping – I know, what a great boyfriend, right? (yep, I’m giving myself a pat on the back).

There was a little delay in Birmingham for our London train, but we were able to get on and off we were! Got into London about 3:30pm and caught a cab to our hotel (Melia White House), which in and of itself, was pretty rad (pics below). If you’ve ever been to London, you know it’s incredibly expensive, but this was actually on the less expensive end vs. some other places in London city centre. I made dinner reservations at this awesome restaurant called “Eat and Two Veg”. What it means? Have no idea. But, it’s very cool…and all vegetarian. It’s in a district called Marylebone, which as Nic says, is “super cute”. After getting a wee bit lost, we hailed a cab on our walk there, and it turns out we were on the opposite side of Regents Park than we should’ve been. Thank you London cab driver. When we did get to the restaurant, however, it was well worth it. This place takes the most carnivorous meals (burgers, bangars, etc.) and makes them vegetarian – bloody brilliant! The décor is sort of like an upscale diner (maybe a little 5-Spot-ish for all Seattle-ites?). Anyways, if anyone visits that’s vegetarian, we need to go here. I ordered a cheeseburger, Nic ordered a vegetable burger, and we ate some of the best hummous of our lives. Seriously, it was great to have good food again. I couldn’t get enough. I stuffed myself silly like a giddy plump boy in a candy factory.

Here’s Marylebone:

The next day, we checked out and went down to Oxford Street, which is one of the main shopping districts in London (so Nic could shop her little heart out). French Connection, H&M, etc etc… expensive, but good.

All in all, for my first trip to London, I have to say, that city is pretty rad. Many people have told me over and over it’s one of their favorite cities in the world so it was nice to finally experience it first-hand. The people are a bit harsh, not really into saying hello and more than willing to shove their way through on a street, but if you have a strong backbone, you should do fine. The only time I really wanted to strangle someone was getting coffee on Oxford in a Café Nero. I asked for an iced mocha latte, and the girl behind the counter said I needed to grab it from the fridge. I said “you don’t make them on request?”. She rolled her eyes and said they were fresh, made daily. So, I handed a pre-made one to her to blend with ice and received back a very lackluster coffee. I really wanted to just slap my hands and say, “Really? Don’t talk to me about coffee. I’m from Seattle. Are you kidding?”. Take that, brit.

- Chris

P.S. For your viewing pleasure, here's Nic in a British telephone booth :)

P.P.S. Here's a funny pic of us in the hotel room



P.P.P.S. No, kidding

Partay

So, I hadn’t left the house for almost two days. We stayed in on Thursday (miserable outside and exhausted) and since I work from home, I was at the apartment all day Friday as well. I would have gone out to get lunch or something but we were waiting for both a FedEx shipment and our cell phones to arrive (which never did – awesome).

Nic came back and said they were having an international student social thing in her school’s bar (yep, her school has a bar… inside the building… this country really likes to drink). So, having not had much contact with people in the outside world for 2 days, I thought it might be good to get out. We went and ate Indian at this great place a few blocks away called Sanam and then walked it up to her school around 8:30pm. When we got there, it was a bit overwhelming with people everywhere, but we quickly found a seat next to a couple Norwegians, an American, and a girl from Denmark. Cool conversations were had with everyone… the Denmark girl was going for Theatre Production, the American for acting, and one of the Norwegians (girl named Ida) was studying the Management program with Nic.

I have to say, it was a really rad experience seeing all of these kids with artistic ability be able to find an outlet for their talents. Let’s be honest, for kids who want to pursue the arts, it’s a tough world to get into. As formal education goes, there really isn’t a whole ton of institutions to get involved in (much less for Management like Nic). At UW, I majored in Poli Sci and Sociology, but all the while, I was doing internships, working in radio, and trying to network within the music community. You really had to work to open up doors for yourself (and I know so many of my friends know this as well and worked just as hard as I did), but I just thought it was really cool to see a school dedicated to helping open those doors for its students. I was impressed.

As we gained more and more liquid courage, it was very cool to talk to students from other regions of the world. That girl, Ida, was super rad and Nic and I had great conversation with her. It was interesting to learn how much American influence there really is in foreign countries. All of the movies and music she loved were all American. They started teaching English in second grade; part of the reason being because they want to be able to understand American entertainment. It’s very much like this in the UK as well. How crazy is that? As an American, my perspective is always very silo’d from the rest of the world. Sort of like, what’s going on out there? We have very few international banks, international papers that cover foreign stories, very little anything. You’re always forced to search it out. It struck me as interesting, to say the least.

Further, it was great talking to Darren, Nic’s International advisor. Super awesome guy from Manchester, very friendly. We started talking about music (big surprise), and I asked him what bands defined Manchester. Obviously, if you’re from Seattle, we have Nirvana, but also bands like the Fastbacks, Sunny Day, etc that represent, to me, what Seattle is. He said Joy Division, New Order, The Smiths, and Stone Roses. Can I say awesome? Apparently, he saw The Smiths in front of 50 people once but has never seen Morrissey solo. I relayed my story about watching a panel with Morrissey at SXSW in ’06 and how pompous he was. He said “nah, he’s just misunderstood”. Come on…I think he’s a little biased… because Morrissey could not be more full of himself. Makes great music but I’m also certain looks at himself in front of a mirror for at least 5 minutes before going outside each day. He also got on a rant about how people in the NW can’t stand London because the people there are so heartless… and they copy everything the NW does. He said, name one good band from London. I drew a blank. “Exactly”. Funny.

- CT

Pictures from around town

Hey Everyone! I thought I would post some more pictures to give you an idea of what our surroundings look like!

This is a museum/library. We haven't gone inside just yet, so we aren't quite sure what kind of museum it is...

The most "interesting" church we've ever seen:

This is only about a 5 min. walk from our house - a couple theaters - one is called the Odeon where the most recent films are played:

A lovely double decker bus and cars driving on the other side of the road (ack!):
Part of John Moore's University:
Some statues in a park where a ton of people like to hang out:
More to come for sure!

Love, 

Nic

Lamb Banana!

We've told some of you... no, we weren't making it up. All around LP, there are lambs shaped as bananas. Picture evidence above and below... look for the smiling asian girl with her hand on the Lamb Banana:



Ha!

- Chris

Our First Week...

So, it has been one whole week since we've been here and this is what we have accomplished or discovered:

• Still no phone/internet service at home - why? you may ask. Well for starters, they only work M-F 9-5pm here, no more no less. This means that stores and banks also stick to these hours (except, we noticed that a lot of stores are open later on Thurs. Not sure why yet). We have to walk EVERYWHERE which takes much longer (damn, our legs are tired!). And well, Chris doesn't really "exist" in the country (not the right paperwork as far as most places are concerned) and even though I do, I have to have a letter from my school (which is a 20 min. walk one way). Sigh....we're both quite frustrated that we have to walk to this place called Fact (a cinema, media place) any time we want to go online. 
• We have bank accounts - hurrah! One step closer to "existing". However, Chris is still trying to figure out if the bank account he currently has is the best one for him. 
• We have a gym membership! WHOO!! And the gym is right across the street from us - a HUGE convenience. We certainly don't want to have to trek across town to go work out. Plus, they have these super advanced machines that can track our progress by entering a unique pin number. Maybe this will help us stay motivated!
• These following "myths" are in reality - TRUE: 1) It is DAMN gloomy here. Just like Seattle. In fact, it's been overcast every day that we've been here except for today. Today, we are blessed with mostly blue sky and actual SUN! 2) The food (as everyone warned us) does not rate very well in diversity, taste, or vegetarian options. There are a TON of burgers, fish and chips, sandwich shops, and um...well, more burgers. And for vegetarian options, it's pretty much salad without the meat, or maybe some pasta. There are only 2 Mexican places in the whole city (as far as we can tell anyway) and the Japanese/Teppanyaki place that we tried didn't have the correct flavoring. Sad! So Chris and I are going to cook A LOT! 3) Liverpudlians are SUPER friendly and very polite. This is a relief since we've had to ask a lot of questions, directions, etc. and they are always obliged to help. To our surprise, it appears that we are "cool" since we're Americans coming from Seattle. :) 
• The city is BEAUTIFUL in various ways. There are a lot of very old (like centuries old) buildings mixed with new buildings - possibly because it is the city that was chosen for Europe's 2008 Capital of Culture Award which celebrates art, music, life, diversity, etc. Thankfully, there are a lot of new shops such as H&M, French Connection, Diesel, and several others which brands I don't recognize. There are also a lot of dilapidated, abandoned buildings cluttered around the city. My guess is that they just haven't renovated them yet, but nonetheless, they are still beautiful and a part of the city's history. It's refreshing to see a mix of things rather than condo after condo. There are also ENORMOUS cathedrals and other government buildings. 
• The accent is quite thick - sometimes we'll pass by a few conversations and have absolutely no idea what it was about or if it was even English! We're starting to pick up on things better though. Oh, and instead of "For here, or to go?" We get "For here, or take away?" More sayings later...
• The English drink A LOT!!!! Like seriously, a drink with lunch and dinner at least. The few times that we've sat down and ordered food, we were asked if we'd like something to drink (we said water), and we were given strange looks and they said, "No, I mean, do you want something to drink." We looked around and everyone had some sort of alcoholic beverage in hand. Whoops...
• Finally, the last thing that I can think of is that we have absolutely no idea on what the tipping custom is. We notice that in coffee shops, there is a tip jar like normal, but in the few restaurants we've been in, we haven't known what to do. We noticed something was a little different when we tipped a few people and their eyes got big and they gave us a big "THANK YOU! Cheers mate!" like it doesn't happen or maybe just not in our custom of 15-20%. We'll find out what's "normal" soon enough.

Alrighty then...more to report shortly. Chris is updating the blog with our pictures as I type! YAAAAAY!!!!

Much love,

Nicole

PS. Happy Labor Day! Although it is an average working day over here, we still remembered!