After my last post, Penny, Kevin and the kids brought out a cake for me after tea, which was so nice and unexpected! Kari very loudly sang "Happy Birthday" [though she rarely does anything quietly...], throwing in the word "tomorrow" after "birthday," since it wasn't really my birthday yet.
Yummy cake!
For tea that night we had pasta, and Penny and Kari were making a cream sauce that was SO GOOD. Kari and I made it again last night...mmmm! I ate way too much that night and wasn't expecting cake after that, so I was REALLY full that night!
I took the train out on Saturday along with 5,000 people going to a football match. I only had one minor mishap with the trains...I thought I bought an all-day pass for all of the tube system when I left GX, but it turns out I didn't, and had to call Mollie to figure out what I DID have to buy. The trains in London [aka the Tube] are really nice inside compared to BART or Muni. The seats are reallllly padded, but nicely kept up. The biggest/most annoying difference to me was that unlike on Muni and BART, each line and direction has different platforms, so you have to make sure you know what line you're looking for, otherwise you'll never be at the right platform at the downtown stations.
We were trying to go to the Notting Hill Carnival, which was conveniently supposed to be over my birthday weekend. But, when I got there Saturday afternoon, Mollie got a call from a friend who was there and said that it wasn't on until Sunday, and Sunday was "kids day" rather than the main part of the carnival. So instead of spending that night at the carnival, we went to Leicester Square. AND WE GOT THERE ON A DOUBLE DECKER BUS. I seriously think Muni should consider these, because it's so much easier to see where you are if you're on the top section [these were all enclosed]. It was really awesome to be able to see where we were going and actually have a better view on things than if we were just at street level.
Mollie, Hannah and me waiting for the bus to Leicester Square.
Anyway, in Leicester Square we ate dinner at a Pizza Hut [my choice]. Pizza Hut is very different in England...it's a more legit restaurant than in the US. The three of us stuffed our faces with pizza, and Mollie thought they had ranch, but it turns out they stopped carrying it, much to my disappointment. Mollie and Hannah love ranch now too, apparently, so I'm glad I have some comrades in my hunt for ranch dressing in the UK.
We saw "Salt" that night, which was really good but totally left wide open for a sequel, it really didn't even have an ending.
That night we went out to this huge park behind their house, Hampstead Heath. It reminded me a lot of Dolores Park back in San Francisco, which was kind of neat. We climbed up to the top of the hill in the park and could see pretty much all of London lit up in the dark. Everything was so cool lit up!
Sunday Rey [another au pair from near where I am who was out in the city with us] made potato pancakes [I made eggs...], and the girls dipped theirs in ranch, which I never would have thought of. There are a few Australian bars in London that Mollie and Hannah go to every Sunday, so we knew we were going to one of those, Walkabout. Before we went there though we went to the Camden Markets, which are like a HUGE flea-market, but permanent. Every type of food you could imagine was there, including this crazy potato-chip stand that spiral-cut a potato and then fried it. Someday, I promise there will be a video of this.
Part of Camden Markets used to be a horse stable, and they have HUGE fake horses in there.
We got to Walkabout and it was kind of weird to be in a bar at 3pm on a Sunday, but since Monday was a Bank Holiday, there were even more people there than usual. We left for a bit to check out "kids day" at the carnival, but then came back before leaving about an hour later. When we got back, I passed out pretty fast.
Monday morning Rey had to leave to go back home, and the girls and I spent a majority of the day in bed before finally getting up to check out the carnival. There was a 12-hour parade involved, and we couldn't figure out why it was sooooo long. Well, it's because the parade moves about 1 mile an hour. We accidentally ended up in the line that was only allowed back in the tube station, but we'd gotten the feel of it, and I had my backpack with my weekend stuff in it, and since it was so crowded, we didn't want to risk anything bad happening to my stuff, so we went to the Marylebone station, got McDonald's [tastes EXACTLY like home], and then I got on the train back to GX.
Overall, I had a nice birthday weekend!
This week has been pretty low-key. I got all three of the kids playing Words with Friends now, and Kari and Ellie want to play really fast, so they like to pounce on me when it's my turn, which is funny. Ellie even BEAT me once...but I helped her play "quiz" with the q and z on double-letter spots, so she got 42 points for that word. This time I'm not helping her find words as much.
Yesterday, Ellie started teaching me how to play tennis. Yeah, start laughing! It wasn't TOO bad, nothing was broken and no one was injured. It actually wasn't too bad!
More language differences for dad:
- "Red Route" instead of "Red Zone" for fire lanes.
- Things aren't for rent or for lease, they're "to let."
- Gas stations are called petrol stations.
- Some houses here just have a name and no actual number.
- You go to the cinema, not the movies.
- TJ Maxx is called TK Maxx, but the logo is exactly the same.
