We arrived into London a little late, but we ran like crazy to go see stuff. Oh and flying in to Gatwick was a funny experience. It was so green and all that, we were looking for Frodo in the shire. We jumped on to the tube (hehe) and each of us split off from the group. I went with Rodayne (Head of the Dept) and we went to the Tower of London. We saw some lovely torture devices and some cool military displays. They had some amazing displays of medieval weapons and armor.
Of course we went and got some fish n chips at some local restaurant. I liked the chips, but the fish was a little um, fishy. They leave the skin on the fish and then fry it. I ate it and it still was pretty tastey. Just for the record, Coke tastes pretty good in London. I guess they get it from the Coke plant in Germany.
We spent about 2-3 hours at the Tower of London and we still had about 1-2 hours to get back to the airport. I wanted to see Westminster Abbey and so we hopped on to the tube and got down there (not that it was far). When we got out of the subway, the first thing we saw was Big Ben. For how big it is, it really snuck up on us!
WE ran over and saw Westminster Abbey and the Parliament building. Since the Tour de France is starting there in London all the streets were blocked off. We quickly ran through St James Park and then got to Buckingham Palace. I really thought it was bigger. Ah well, the Abbey blew me away if anything. It was so huge and ornate!
Rodayne talked me into going to Trafalgar Square. My feet were killing me, booking it another couple of blocks really wasn't in my best interest. Buy hey, we did it anyway! So we went and saw a giant monument (even though they are everywhere). Then we headed back to the tube. It was great because we just barely made our connection from Victoria Station to the Gatwick Airport. The train guy was blowing his little whistle really loud at us. I wanted to stuff that miserable whistle down his throat. But I didn't think it would reflect well upon the school.
We made it to the airport and everything was just fine. I think customs is worse in the U.S. but that could just be that the London attitude was a little bit nicer. Or their accents make their demands seem a lot more polite. Typical flight though, we were stuck on the runway for an hour and a half. I didn't really notice because I was completely dead asleep.
We arrived the next morning with no problems at all. From SLC to Windhoek with the crap delays it was a total of 45 hours. They don't have a fancy airport in Windhoek like everyone else. We walked down some stairs and sort of on the runway. I got some illegal footage of that. Like South Africa, they drive on the left side of the road and have the steering wheel reversed. We have caution signs for deer in Utah. They have caution signs for warthogs and kudu (like a large gazelle).
We went out to a seafood restaurant that serves you family size platters. We had plates of prawns, calamari, oysters, mussels, fish, chips and rice. I liked the prawns a lot, but they don't take the heads off. So it made me a little uncomfortable having it stare back at me. So I ripped its head off and places on the other shrimp carcasses hehe. Mike introduced us to the soft drinks, which are very tastey by the way. I also had some brown water that was pretty weird; I think the woman said it was called tep or wap water. Some brand I'm sure hehe.
I went to bed Saturday night and slept for 12 hours! I was dead tired. For my birthday I woke up freezing cold. It was 53.7 degrees this morning (I have a temp on my alarm clock). We all met at the Foundation House, where Mike, Rodayne, Susan and her husband Lynn are staying. The Namibian Polytechnic people met up with us and we had a giant barbeque called a Braii (pronounced "Bri"). We ate lamb, chicken and pork. I also ate this kabob and it was lamb, onion and I thought it was some sort of weird fruit. Not it was fat, I ate season fat.
They sang me "Happy Birthday" and were so nice to me (not that they wouldn't be). Everyone is extremely friendly anyway. They kept coming up to me and hugging me and telling me "happy birthday". There happened to be a cake there and I had ice cream- very creamy stuff. It was a good day.
For the record, my dormitory is pretty decent. Since there is no centralized heating because it is a desert; it has tile floor and is really made to stay cool. I guess this is the coldest winter they have had in a long time. It was probably Brittany's fault for bringing the cold to Africa from Colorado. There are two guards at the college's entrances, then there are two guards guarding the girl's dorms. I have two locked doors into the dorm rooms. There are two bedrooms, with two beds in them. I have the bedroom with the private bathroom. I have a stand up shower and a large water basin sink. Just your standard dormitory room.
I do have a roommate, he's a cockroach I named Chaco. I saw him last night and then this morning he scared the crap out of me when I walked in to the hall. He's not very big, an inch or so. I was going to kill him, but since it was just us, I thought if I start talking to myself it won't be so strange if I was talking to something else. Oh and the dorm advisor is across the stairwell from me. I'm not in bad company, I've got the cockroach.
This is my catch up for the last few days. I know it's ridiculously long. But hey, there was a lot of cool that have happened. I think the video version maybe slightly more exciting. Seeing as this isn't very fun reading, I feel sorry for you poor saps that have to watch it. It's still Sunday here, since we can't get internet till Monday. After that I will be able to check my internet regularly.
Talk to you soon enough.
Em
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