Hilary In London

Thanksgiving in London - Chicken Curry

It is thanksgiving weekend - and like all my fellow Canadians I have been dreaming of changing leaves, crisp days, gords of all shapes and sizes, turkey dinner with all the fixings and pumpkin pie. The leaves do change colour before they fall, but so far all I have seen is brown leaves (and most are still green now). 4 Canadians did sit around and at least acknowledge that it was thanksgiving. I had a late start on Saturday - met up with Jemma and tried to find bushey station (which should be just a couple minutes away...) alas, almost an hour later, after somehow ending up on the M25, going the wrong way, we finally arrived at a tube station. As we approached all the other passangers seemed to be heading away from the station, not into it. A nice service man informed us that this station was not open today. So we spend another little while trying to catch a bus that would take us to a station that was open. Finally, many minutes later, we were on a train heading into London. Poor Jemma got off at her stop just to find out that that stop too was closed. I took a little pit stop and met up with Andrew for a coffee before heading to Dave and Ariana's for dinner. It was nice to see Andrew - I haven't seen him since I first arrived, and doesn't look like our schedules will match for a while still. So arrived at Dave and Ariana's and met one of Dave's friends (a maple leaf fan - but I am glad to say that I schooled him in hockey talk. His only reply was (surprise, surprise): we beat you in the playoffs. I tried to get him to be more original in his insults and try to find something else to say - alas, nothing. He just found new ways to say the same thing. Oh maple leaf fans. At least get some originality.)
Ariana made chicken curry for dinner! Mmmm, and nan bread. I'll have pumpkin pie again soon enough. It was a nice little dinner party and we then headed off to piccadilly and found a pub that was open until later than 11pm! Luckily we didn't miss our train back and then had a little slumber party. This morning, we headed off and met Jemma at Camden Market. What a great place to be on a Sunday! The street was alive with all sorts of stalls and different types of people. I loved walking through the actual market - almost laid out like a labyrinth. There was just too much to look at, but I think we did a pretty good job of finding nice merchandise. I got a watch (which I need like nothing else since there is no clock in my classroom), a bag that is a bit bigger than my purse so that I bring a book on the tube, and this cozy sweater! Not even a hoody - but I did see one that I loved, resisted the temptation.
Tomorrow is an inset day - so although we don't have it completely off it will be a nice change in pace. Not really sure what the plan of the day is - the itinerary says: Faculty time. Who really knows what that means. Next weekend is my trip to Belgium! I was looking at the actual towns that we will be visiting today. The one with the beer festival is a town called 'Diksmuide' and then we are heading to Brugge the next day. Brugge seems incredible! It is a world heritage site - a medival city perserved to the best of their ability. I am so excited to be able to spend some time wandering around there. I'll take lots of pictures - don't you worry!
Time for bed! Hope you all enjoyed your thanksgiving - and make sure you eat some pumpkin pie for me. 

posted by Hilary @ 10:57 PM