Normally I have no problem with having a room mate, we don't pay each other that much attention and she is usually out anyway. I do try and build up brownie points anyway, if I'm doing my washing up and there is some of her stuff to do as well I'll wash it up , but perhaps the biggest way I try to earn brownie points is by giving her and her boyfriend space when he comes round, if he is staying over I'll sleep on the sofa. My room mates doesn't see why I should sleep on the sofa, she sees absolutely no problem with me being in the same room as them, I don't particularly appreciate the idea of being woken up by them having sex but not being able to leave the room as that would involve me walking past her bed, so I willingly sleep on the sofa. However I once awoke to his snoring and was forced to sleep on the living room floor (she had friends sleeping on the sofas). I think its fair to say that I try my hardest to be a good room mate, I just wish she'd do the same.
I'm not going to kick her out onto the sofa any nights because Oz lives very close by and can easily go home to sleep (her boyfriend has graduated and lives near LA), also Oz agrees that it is wierd to have another girl sleeping in the same room as us, and so surely it is not beyond her to return home unexpectedly. So far she has walked in on us unexpectedly three times. The first was my birthday and she assured me that she wouldn't get off work until after midnight, instead she got home two hours early. We heard the front door lock go and dived behind a convnient kitchen worktop and yelled "don't come in! Give us 2 minutes!" she was so shocked that she left the door slightly ajar and returned over five minutes later by which time Oz and I were sitting on the sofa watching a movie pretending nothing had ever happened.
I can't rememeber the second time, but I know it happened. Oz can't remember it either - perhaps we had our memories wiped MIB style.
Last night it happened again. My room mate has just turned 21 and she and her boyfriend went nightclubbing, after having the room to themselves for hours they finally left and Oz and I quickly occupied it. Unfortunately ten minutes later I hear teh familiar sound of someone walking up the steps and Oz quickly jams a chair under the door handle to prevent anyone entering. I'm very thankful he did because one minute later Lisa tries to enter without even a knock. She only tries once so we hope she has given up on trying to get in, however a short while later we hear her yell "I forgot my ID!" seriously, who forgets their ID, it is vitally important for a night out on the town in the US, I know this is her first time going out, but who can be that stupid? Anyway Oz dives under the covers and I wrap my dressing gown around me and grudgingly open the door. Our embarrassment was quite public, there was not only my room mate and her boyfriend to witness this debaucle, but also our flat mate and two of her friends. I long for my own room, where you can have sex whenever you want and you can lock the door and not let anyone in...
Earlier that day I had walked in on my room mates boyfriend with only a towel covering him up, I had popped next door and left the door unlockes, but that pop turned into a cup of tea, so I decided to go and lock the door. When I got in not everything was as I'd left it, the light in my room was on, so I went to investigate, only to discover her boyfriend with just a towel covering his dignity. Another time I almost walked in on them, I had left to go to next door when a party was taking place here, so assumed that I would be able to get in and get my stuff later, but when I returned the place was all shut up, except for my room, which had been barracaded shut with a chair, did I insist on going in though? No, I just went without what I'd wanted to get, wish my room mate would do the same.
Well next September I will get my own room again, but with no Oz to enjoy the freedom with...
Friday, November 30, 2007
Friday, November 23, 2007
Thanksgiving and sickness
Yesterday was Thanksgiving and Oz and I were all set to spend it with the American family I've been partnered with. However the day before Thanksgiving I started to feel really ill with a sore throat and later bad ear ache, I went to see a nurse and got tested for a variety of throat infections, one of which came back very quickly and proved to be negative, the other I'm yet to find out about, I did however leave with a few non-prescription drugs that have largely proved to be useless. Anyway Oz and I cancelled our planned trip to the Channel Islands and hoped I'd feel better soon.
I woke up at 3am on Thanksgiving morning when Oz a sleeping Oz decided to cuddle me closer, unfortunately due to the ibuprofen wearing off (and another batch not being allowed to be taken for another hour or two) it was too painful to go back to sleep as every time I swallowed the pain woke me up again. I ended up dozing on the sofa because at least then I could sleep sitting up which was less painful. When I finally gave up the hope of further sleep and got dressed in an impressive 5 layers of tops. Needless to say I was pretty useless, I was in lots of pain but could take no more ibuprofen (why can you only have 6 in 24 hours - why?) and only had 2 paracetamol tablets left that made absolutely no difference. So I sat on the sofa moaning until Oz got up 3 hours later and produced some Tylenol from his bag which helped enough to get me out of the house.
We went for a walk along the beach, and ended up buying some food, unfortunately by this point my Tylenol hit was wearing off and I was feeling crap again. Thankfully the only shop that was open in IV sold aspirin, so I got to add that to my painkiller collection, my liver is now working overtime with trying to get rid of them all. Walking around IV was very strange, instead of the bustling place I had come to know it was more like a ghost town, very, very few people around and only one shop open. I am very grateful, I could not cope with a loud IV when I have ear ache and am feeling well and truly crap. If my neighbours call me the "English bitch" already, I dread to think of what they'd call me after I tried to politely, yet extremely firmly get them to shut the hell up.
I had hoped that the walk would make me feel marvellous, they helped a lot when I had ME, however it just made me feel worse and so I had to phone up and cancel my Thanksgiving plans, which is a real shame, I would have loved to experience a real American tradition. But it couldn't be helped and I made the right decision to cancel.
When I eventually crawled back I sat in my bed and called by family, I succeeded in really worrying my mother, but I enjoyed the chat nonetheless. Oz brought me lunch in bed, which was very sweet of him and he met my parents and sister via the wonders of Skype. After that he sat down next to me and showed me his home town of Melbourne and we discovered that he lives only 8kms from Neighbours very own Ramsay street - which in my mind means I've pulled my very own Neighbours spunk! It also means that when I visit him I can go and see the Neighbours set! He promised to go with me, which is just about the most romantic thing that has ever happened to me seeing as he hates Neighbours. But our Neighbours time did not finish there - we watched the Fraser and Rosie wedding online and the inevitable wedding disaster. Oz hated it but I patiently explained to him that its brilliance lies in its down right awfulness, he still didn't seem to understand why this made it fantastic. I'll have to convert him another day.
After that I actually went to sleep and woke up to my surprise several hours later feeling awful as all my painkillers had worn off. After very slowly making a nutritious soup for dinner and eating it even slower I felt better and Oz and I curled up on the sofa and watched Pride and Prejudice (he suggested we watch it - I am a phenomenally lucky girl!). After Pride and Prejudice we made our way to bed and enjoyed another nights disjointed sleep.
I woke up agan very early and after proving how little brain function I had by running the cold tap for about five minutes in an attempt for it to run warm, once I had found the correct tap it quickly ran warm and I climbed into the shower. I eventually got dressed and this time wore only 3 layers, although one was thermal. Again Oz lay in and I made a pathetic attempt at washing up and ended up dozing on the sofa again. I felt even worse this morning because on top of my ear ache and my sore throat I had a blocked nose and have enjoyed sinus pressure all day long.
Oz has taken really good care of me today, making me dinner, cups of tea and fetching and carrying countless things as I sit around hoplessly. He's trying desperately to get me to eat lots of fresh fruit and veg as well as anything else that counts as healthy. Unfortunately I'm not hungry and am really tired so its very difficult to eat, but he tries anyway, the darling.
At the moment Oz is sat next to me on the sofa, both of us with our laptops, him doing his zoology memorisation (he has to learn ridiculous amounts of fishes which will inevitably never come in handy ever again), and me writing this blog very slowly. I have lots of work that I should be getting on with, but I can't bring myself to do it, I just feel too ill. I can't see myself getting better very quickly and may well have to skip some classes next week unfortunately, although this does lighten my work load temporarily.
Being ill has made me realise just how great the NHS is, if I was in England I would have gone to a walk-in centre today and hopefully gone home with some advice and prescription painkillers, as it is the place my medical insurance covers is closed until Monday and they won't pay for me to go anywhere else unless I am basically about to die or am greviously injured. Friends of mine have broken feet, had crippling earache and had their feet sliced open and the medical insurance has made them pay for it. I can afford the $500ish visit to the "Emergency Room" if necessary, but my travelling would be severally affected by the loss of money, so instead I'm intending to lie on my sofa moaning until the second they open, when I'll be in the Nurse's office as soon as my lathargic body will allow me.
I woke up at 3am on Thanksgiving morning when Oz a sleeping Oz decided to cuddle me closer, unfortunately due to the ibuprofen wearing off (and another batch not being allowed to be taken for another hour or two) it was too painful to go back to sleep as every time I swallowed the pain woke me up again. I ended up dozing on the sofa because at least then I could sleep sitting up which was less painful. When I finally gave up the hope of further sleep and got dressed in an impressive 5 layers of tops. Needless to say I was pretty useless, I was in lots of pain but could take no more ibuprofen (why can you only have 6 in 24 hours - why?) and only had 2 paracetamol tablets left that made absolutely no difference. So I sat on the sofa moaning until Oz got up 3 hours later and produced some Tylenol from his bag which helped enough to get me out of the house.
We went for a walk along the beach, and ended up buying some food, unfortunately by this point my Tylenol hit was wearing off and I was feeling crap again. Thankfully the only shop that was open in IV sold aspirin, so I got to add that to my painkiller collection, my liver is now working overtime with trying to get rid of them all. Walking around IV was very strange, instead of the bustling place I had come to know it was more like a ghost town, very, very few people around and only one shop open. I am very grateful, I could not cope with a loud IV when I have ear ache and am feeling well and truly crap. If my neighbours call me the "English bitch" already, I dread to think of what they'd call me after I tried to politely, yet extremely firmly get them to shut the hell up.
I had hoped that the walk would make me feel marvellous, they helped a lot when I had ME, however it just made me feel worse and so I had to phone up and cancel my Thanksgiving plans, which is a real shame, I would have loved to experience a real American tradition. But it couldn't be helped and I made the right decision to cancel.
When I eventually crawled back I sat in my bed and called by family, I succeeded in really worrying my mother, but I enjoyed the chat nonetheless. Oz brought me lunch in bed, which was very sweet of him and he met my parents and sister via the wonders of Skype. After that he sat down next to me and showed me his home town of Melbourne and we discovered that he lives only 8kms from Neighbours very own Ramsay street - which in my mind means I've pulled my very own Neighbours spunk! It also means that when I visit him I can go and see the Neighbours set! He promised to go with me, which is just about the most romantic thing that has ever happened to me seeing as he hates Neighbours. But our Neighbours time did not finish there - we watched the Fraser and Rosie wedding online and the inevitable wedding disaster. Oz hated it but I patiently explained to him that its brilliance lies in its down right awfulness, he still didn't seem to understand why this made it fantastic. I'll have to convert him another day.
After that I actually went to sleep and woke up to my surprise several hours later feeling awful as all my painkillers had worn off. After very slowly making a nutritious soup for dinner and eating it even slower I felt better and Oz and I curled up on the sofa and watched Pride and Prejudice (he suggested we watch it - I am a phenomenally lucky girl!). After Pride and Prejudice we made our way to bed and enjoyed another nights disjointed sleep.
I woke up agan very early and after proving how little brain function I had by running the cold tap for about five minutes in an attempt for it to run warm, once I had found the correct tap it quickly ran warm and I climbed into the shower. I eventually got dressed and this time wore only 3 layers, although one was thermal. Again Oz lay in and I made a pathetic attempt at washing up and ended up dozing on the sofa again. I felt even worse this morning because on top of my ear ache and my sore throat I had a blocked nose and have enjoyed sinus pressure all day long.
Oz has taken really good care of me today, making me dinner, cups of tea and fetching and carrying countless things as I sit around hoplessly. He's trying desperately to get me to eat lots of fresh fruit and veg as well as anything else that counts as healthy. Unfortunately I'm not hungry and am really tired so its very difficult to eat, but he tries anyway, the darling.
At the moment Oz is sat next to me on the sofa, both of us with our laptops, him doing his zoology memorisation (he has to learn ridiculous amounts of fishes which will inevitably never come in handy ever again), and me writing this blog very slowly. I have lots of work that I should be getting on with, but I can't bring myself to do it, I just feel too ill. I can't see myself getting better very quickly and may well have to skip some classes next week unfortunately, although this does lighten my work load temporarily.
Being ill has made me realise just how great the NHS is, if I was in England I would have gone to a walk-in centre today and hopefully gone home with some advice and prescription painkillers, as it is the place my medical insurance covers is closed until Monday and they won't pay for me to go anywhere else unless I am basically about to die or am greviously injured. Friends of mine have broken feet, had crippling earache and had their feet sliced open and the medical insurance has made them pay for it. I can afford the $500ish visit to the "Emergency Room" if necessary, but my travelling would be severally affected by the loss of money, so instead I'm intending to lie on my sofa moaning until the second they open, when I'll be in the Nurse's office as soon as my lathargic body will allow me.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Birthday time
A few days ago that annual event came round again for the twentieth time. Turning 20 seemed a dull affair, I am able to do no more things than I was able to previously, the only positive (besides having an excuse to party) was that I am no longer a teenager, I haven't felt like one for over four years, so its about time I turned 20. My birthday started well - at the stroke of midnight I was studying really hard on a subject that I don't like, and for a while the next morning it continued in the same vein.
Once I'd woken up my day started properly it got off to a bad start with a big dose of homesickness, opening presents from my family highlighted how far from home I am and how little we know about each other at the moment. I went to an exceptionally dull lecture quite emotional, barely not crying and whilst being unable to concentrate on the lecture I decided to renounce my birthday. Unfortunately thanks to facebook announcing my birthday to all my friends it was impossible to pretend it wasn't, in fact one of my friends told my Arabic teacher and she got everyone to sing me happy birthday in Arabic. So my birthday forced itself upon me.
I almost did not open the rest of my presents, I wasn't sure I could face it without breaking down again, but I braved it and was very glad to have done so. My best friends had sent me a wonderful package of lots of little presents, they were not at all expensive, but they were so well thought through, they had put so much effort into making it. It made me cry for all the right reasons, it really made my birthday.
After opening the presents I went shopping for drinks for my party, well I didn't actually buy them, being too young, but I went with my English friend from next door and she physically brought them. I spent almost $200 on alcohol, but I got probably 8 litres of high-quality spirits (no cheap crap for my guests!), 4 bottles of sparkling wine and a case of Newcastle Brown, alcohol is much cheaper in America. I know that it may sound like I've spent a lot of money on alcohol, but I'd easily spend that much on alcohol within a month in England and I've hardly spent any money on alcohol since being here. Anyway, it was my birthday!
It had been quite a tiring day what with loads of studying, shopping and being homesick and so when I eventually got to see Oz I basically collapsed on his sofa. He was very sweet with me though and gave me a cuddle. For my birthday he got me a head torch (a torch on a headband, a bit like a caving torch - to any American reading this I mean a flashlight, I'm not in the habit of holding flaming torches to my head), he was really excited about just how useful it would be for our camping trip next weekend and how I should wear it whilst walking around IV, which I point blank refused to do, I don't try to be cool, but that is taking my geeky side too far. I had my apartment to myself and so we decided to get a take-away and have a romantic meal by ourselves. I sent Oz off to go and buy the food and tidied up and set the table, although having said that I couldn't use the lighter and so had to get Oz to light the candle. We had a lovely Vietnamese meal with a bottle of sparkling wine.
After dinner we cuddled on the sofa and watched an Indiana Jones film (Oz loves those films and I've been promising to watch those with him for weeks). We also drank a fair few cocktails (we had to test them out for my party) and got quite squiffy. All in all my birthday was pretty good.
This Friday I had my party and held a cocktail one, I love cocktails but cannot go and have them in bars, so I decided to bring them to me. It was also a good excuse to wear one of my nice dresses that I haven't had the chance to yet.
Typically I wasn't ready for the party it started despite having spent the afternoon cleaning and getting ready, when my first guests arrived I was in the bathroom getting dressed. Thankfully Oz had helped me set up and played the role of host. Soon enough I had drinks in all my guests hands and was playing the role of good hostess. I quickly discovered a real advantage to having a bloke at a cocktail party - you can steal their drinks with no feelings of guilt, and so get to try far more. I did try a few of my female friends ones, but it was more fun to nick Oz's, I got to cuddle up to him in the process.
Despite inviting plenty of Americans very few turned up and I had loads of international students in my apartment. This meant that when I lit the candles on my birthday cake I had happy birthday sung in not just English but Japanese, French and Dutch. I was dunk enough to really appreciate the variety. My party quickly got very busy and popular, and just as quickly people got very drunk. I am forever indebted to my English next door neighbour for getting far more pissed than me, apparently she was falling over so her boyfriend took her home. The last few hours of the party seemed to disappear, and before I knew it there was only 6 of us left, but for some reason the bathroom door was locked and no one knew who was inside. Five minutes later a very drunk Dutch guy stumbled out leaving vomit in the sink, lovely.
The next morning I awoke late to a messy apartment and a slight hangover. I had to be in Santa Barbara a few hours later so quickly got dressed and tried to tidy up. I discovered that a had no vodka or Bacardi left and very, very little Bombay sapphire, which is the only alcohol I really cared for. Ahh well, I'll just have to get Oz to buy me some. It had been a great party.
Once I'd woken up my day started properly it got off to a bad start with a big dose of homesickness, opening presents from my family highlighted how far from home I am and how little we know about each other at the moment. I went to an exceptionally dull lecture quite emotional, barely not crying and whilst being unable to concentrate on the lecture I decided to renounce my birthday. Unfortunately thanks to facebook announcing my birthday to all my friends it was impossible to pretend it wasn't, in fact one of my friends told my Arabic teacher and she got everyone to sing me happy birthday in Arabic. So my birthday forced itself upon me.
I almost did not open the rest of my presents, I wasn't sure I could face it without breaking down again, but I braved it and was very glad to have done so. My best friends had sent me a wonderful package of lots of little presents, they were not at all expensive, but they were so well thought through, they had put so much effort into making it. It made me cry for all the right reasons, it really made my birthday.
After opening the presents I went shopping for drinks for my party, well I didn't actually buy them, being too young, but I went with my English friend from next door and she physically brought them. I spent almost $200 on alcohol, but I got probably 8 litres of high-quality spirits (no cheap crap for my guests!), 4 bottles of sparkling wine and a case of Newcastle Brown, alcohol is much cheaper in America. I know that it may sound like I've spent a lot of money on alcohol, but I'd easily spend that much on alcohol within a month in England and I've hardly spent any money on alcohol since being here. Anyway, it was my birthday!
It had been quite a tiring day what with loads of studying, shopping and being homesick and so when I eventually got to see Oz I basically collapsed on his sofa. He was very sweet with me though and gave me a cuddle. For my birthday he got me a head torch (a torch on a headband, a bit like a caving torch - to any American reading this I mean a flashlight, I'm not in the habit of holding flaming torches to my head), he was really excited about just how useful it would be for our camping trip next weekend and how I should wear it whilst walking around IV, which I point blank refused to do, I don't try to be cool, but that is taking my geeky side too far. I had my apartment to myself and so we decided to get a take-away and have a romantic meal by ourselves. I sent Oz off to go and buy the food and tidied up and set the table, although having said that I couldn't use the lighter and so had to get Oz to light the candle. We had a lovely Vietnamese meal with a bottle of sparkling wine.
After dinner we cuddled on the sofa and watched an Indiana Jones film (Oz loves those films and I've been promising to watch those with him for weeks). We also drank a fair few cocktails (we had to test them out for my party) and got quite squiffy. All in all my birthday was pretty good.
This Friday I had my party and held a cocktail one, I love cocktails but cannot go and have them in bars, so I decided to bring them to me. It was also a good excuse to wear one of my nice dresses that I haven't had the chance to yet.
Typically I wasn't ready for the party it started despite having spent the afternoon cleaning and getting ready, when my first guests arrived I was in the bathroom getting dressed. Thankfully Oz had helped me set up and played the role of host. Soon enough I had drinks in all my guests hands and was playing the role of good hostess. I quickly discovered a real advantage to having a bloke at a cocktail party - you can steal their drinks with no feelings of guilt, and so get to try far more. I did try a few of my female friends ones, but it was more fun to nick Oz's, I got to cuddle up to him in the process.
Despite inviting plenty of Americans very few turned up and I had loads of international students in my apartment. This meant that when I lit the candles on my birthday cake I had happy birthday sung in not just English but Japanese, French and Dutch. I was dunk enough to really appreciate the variety. My party quickly got very busy and popular, and just as quickly people got very drunk. I am forever indebted to my English next door neighbour for getting far more pissed than me, apparently she was falling over so her boyfriend took her home. The last few hours of the party seemed to disappear, and before I knew it there was only 6 of us left, but for some reason the bathroom door was locked and no one knew who was inside. Five minutes later a very drunk Dutch guy stumbled out leaving vomit in the sink, lovely.
The next morning I awoke late to a messy apartment and a slight hangover. I had to be in Santa Barbara a few hours later so quickly got dressed and tried to tidy up. I discovered that a had no vodka or Bacardi left and very, very little Bombay sapphire, which is the only alcohol I really cared for. Ahh well, I'll just have to get Oz to buy me some. It had been a great party.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Sequoia - sun and snow
Oz and I were lucky enough to get a space on the Excursion clubs Sequoia National Park and last Friday we finally set out. We met our driver and fellow passenger at 6pm and were disappointed to discover that it would apparently take 6 hours to get to the park. I've been here over two and a half months and still the sheer scale of America astounds me. We finally arrived at midnight and it was pretty cold, although over the course of the weekend it got a lot colder. Thankfully some people had set off a lot earlier than us and had set the tents up already, so we all climbed into a tent and quickly failed to get that much sleep. Unfortunately the tent we had chosen to sleep in had a faulty zip, we could not close the door, I improvised with some string and a pack, but the door was wide open and made it far colder than necessary.
When I gave up on the idea of getting any more sleep and crawled out of the tent to a beautiful view. We were in a valley surrounded by tall fir trees. Oz and I went for a walk and found a stunning creek and massive rock. It was lovely.
Soon enough everyone else woke up and we had a small breakfast and set off. The pack didn't feel too heavy at first, but after only a mile going pretty much straight uphill I really felt it. At certain points I only was able to keep going thanks to Oz's encouragement and him holding my hand. I was really excited when I saw a sign telling us it was only 1.7 miles left, but that was the longest 1.7 miles I've ever walked. It was really steep and took well over an hour to climb, it was the hardest physical thing I have ever done. I was so pleased to get to the top and our campsite. I dumped my bags and had a half-hearted look around, I was too tired to do much.
That evening we got a fire going and sat around it warming our cold, sore selves. It got dark around five and there was no point in staying awake that long, it was the first time in years that I've been in bed by eight.
That night I got even less sleep than I had the night previously. I had spent the night listening to the rain coming down and the moment it stopped I got up. I looked around to see some snow on our tent and puddles underneath others.
Oz and I were very lucky to not get flooded, a few of the tents did and as our tent had a washing line built into the inside and so ours became a drying tent with the wet sleeping bags drip drying. This meant that we had no cover or anywhere dry to sit the whole day. But at least we had the nice warm feeling inside that we'd done something good. I also had the feeling of freezing feet that night due to my sleeping bag soaking up a small patch of water that we had failed to dry properly. I slept even better that night...
On the Sunday the weather started slightly snowy and declined considerably over a few hours. When I got out of my tent the only snow (besides on my tent) was on the nearby rock face.
However by the next day the snow was really deep and our outside toilet looked like this.
I know that it doesn't look like the best toilet in the world, and sure, there was ice on the seat, but the view was the best I've ever had from a toilet, 
don't you agree?
When we left on Monday the snow was still thick on the ground, but the sun was out on the snow was slowly melting. However when we left there was still several inches of snow on the ground and we could barely see the trail we were supposed to be walking. It was really slippery and we couldn't see the rocks that littered the trail. The guy who was leading us had forgotten his walking boots and was doing it all in skate shoes that barely had any grip, I have no idea how he didn't end up breaking his ankle. I found it hard enough to have the energy to notice my surroundings, it was hard enough to be able to safely put one foot in front of the other, move forward and breathe. I knew that my surroundings were beautiful, but I was too tired to notice them.
I was so pleased to finally get down the mountain, but walking without my pack was really hard, my pack wasn't evenly balanced and I almost fell over getting rebalanced. We had eaten really badly the whole weekend and that day all we had eaten was two tiny packets of porridge, half a tangerine and a small handful of trail mix (raisins and nuts). After walking 8 miles we were ravenous and Oz was especially hungry, he was eating peanut butter straight from the jar. However it was four hours before we were able to have a meal.
Before we headed home we went to see General Sherman, the worlds largest tree. That's largest, not biggest or widest - it is the tree with the most wood. It is just a massive tourist attraction, there is a two metre wide tarmacked path to get down there and fences keep the tourists away from the big trees. There were loads of tourists having pictures taken next to it, American smiles abounded. Oz was really excited about seeing it, he wanted to hug it, however he was prevented by the big fence. Ultimately General Sherman is just a big tree, I was unimpressed.
After General Sherman we set off home along the windy road. About halfway down Oz was feeling sick due to his ears not stabilising and we had to stop for a little while. When we started off again our driver realised the breaks weren't working. They had broken and if it wasn't for Oz feeling ill they'd have broken halfway down the slope and we'd have driven off the road. Unfortunately the small car park we had broken down in had no mobile phone reception and the payphone was broken. We asked a driver to inform the rangers of our situation, but we had no way to know if they had done it or not. After a while of waiting with no news we decided that one of the other passengers and I should hitch-hike to the nearest town and phone the American AA. We got a lift with a young LA couple, but we didn't get nearly as far as expected, when we got to the gate we asked the ranger about breakdown advice and discovered that our car brakes were just over heated and the ranger helped them slowly and carefully down. We got out of the car and waited for our car for half an hour. The brakes were OK, but we had to go really slowly and so it took us about 9 hours to get home.
We decided to stop off at the first restaurant we came to and have a massive meal as we were all really hungry and the lack of food was beginning to make us feel ill. We ended up somewhere called Riverview restaurant in a tiny town called Three Rivers. It was real America, the restaurant looked more like a cafeteria and had a seedy looking attached bar. I had a top sirloin with fries and it was really good. The guy who hitch-hiked with me ordered a pizza and a sandwich with fries, he finished neither but still had a dessert, which he also did not finish. It was so wasteful. The meal was really appreciated by all of us and it gave the brakes ample time to cool down.
After that the journey was fairly straight forward and we got back about midnight. It felt so good to get into the shower and actually be clean for the first time that weekend. This morning I awoke really sore but I have some great memories of that weekend.
When I gave up on the idea of getting any more sleep and crawled out of the tent to a beautiful view. We were in a valley surrounded by tall fir trees. Oz and I went for a walk and found a stunning creek and massive rock. It was lovely.
Soon enough everyone else woke up and we had a small breakfast and set off. The pack didn't feel too heavy at first, but after only a mile going pretty much straight uphill I really felt it. At certain points I only was able to keep going thanks to Oz's encouragement and him holding my hand. I was really excited when I saw a sign telling us it was only 1.7 miles left, but that was the longest 1.7 miles I've ever walked. It was really steep and took well over an hour to climb, it was the hardest physical thing I have ever done. I was so pleased to get to the top and our campsite. I dumped my bags and had a half-hearted look around, I was too tired to do much.
That evening we got a fire going and sat around it warming our cold, sore selves. It got dark around five and there was no point in staying awake that long, it was the first time in years that I've been in bed by eight.
That night I got even less sleep than I had the night previously. I had spent the night listening to the rain coming down and the moment it stopped I got up. I looked around to see some snow on our tent and puddles underneath others.
Oz and I were very lucky to not get flooded, a few of the tents did and as our tent had a washing line built into the inside and so ours became a drying tent with the wet sleeping bags drip drying. This meant that we had no cover or anywhere dry to sit the whole day. But at least we had the nice warm feeling inside that we'd done something good. I also had the feeling of freezing feet that night due to my sleeping bag soaking up a small patch of water that we had failed to dry properly. I slept even better that night...On the Sunday the weather started slightly snowy and declined considerably over a few hours. When I got out of my tent the only snow (besides on my tent) was on the nearby rock face.
However by the next day the snow was really deep and our outside toilet looked like this.
I know that it doesn't look like the best toilet in the world, and sure, there was ice on the seat, but the view was the best I've ever had from a toilet, 
don't you agree?When we left on Monday the snow was still thick on the ground, but the sun was out on the snow was slowly melting. However when we left there was still several inches of snow on the ground and we could barely see the trail we were supposed to be walking. It was really slippery and we couldn't see the rocks that littered the trail. The guy who was leading us had forgotten his walking boots and was doing it all in skate shoes that barely had any grip, I have no idea how he didn't end up breaking his ankle. I found it hard enough to have the energy to notice my surroundings, it was hard enough to be able to safely put one foot in front of the other, move forward and breathe. I knew that my surroundings were beautiful, but I was too tired to notice them.
I was so pleased to finally get down the mountain, but walking without my pack was really hard, my pack wasn't evenly balanced and I almost fell over getting rebalanced. We had eaten really badly the whole weekend and that day all we had eaten was two tiny packets of porridge, half a tangerine and a small handful of trail mix (raisins and nuts). After walking 8 miles we were ravenous and Oz was especially hungry, he was eating peanut butter straight from the jar. However it was four hours before we were able to have a meal.
Before we headed home we went to see General Sherman, the worlds largest tree. That's largest, not biggest or widest - it is the tree with the most wood. It is just a massive tourist attraction, there is a two metre wide tarmacked path to get down there and fences keep the tourists away from the big trees. There were loads of tourists having pictures taken next to it, American smiles abounded. Oz was really excited about seeing it, he wanted to hug it, however he was prevented by the big fence. Ultimately General Sherman is just a big tree, I was unimpressed.
After General Sherman we set off home along the windy road. About halfway down Oz was feeling sick due to his ears not stabilising and we had to stop for a little while. When we started off again our driver realised the breaks weren't working. They had broken and if it wasn't for Oz feeling ill they'd have broken halfway down the slope and we'd have driven off the road. Unfortunately the small car park we had broken down in had no mobile phone reception and the payphone was broken. We asked a driver to inform the rangers of our situation, but we had no way to know if they had done it or not. After a while of waiting with no news we decided that one of the other passengers and I should hitch-hike to the nearest town and phone the American AA. We got a lift with a young LA couple, but we didn't get nearly as far as expected, when we got to the gate we asked the ranger about breakdown advice and discovered that our car brakes were just over heated and the ranger helped them slowly and carefully down. We got out of the car and waited for our car for half an hour. The brakes were OK, but we had to go really slowly and so it took us about 9 hours to get home.
We decided to stop off at the first restaurant we came to and have a massive meal as we were all really hungry and the lack of food was beginning to make us feel ill. We ended up somewhere called Riverview restaurant in a tiny town called Three Rivers. It was real America, the restaurant looked more like a cafeteria and had a seedy looking attached bar. I had a top sirloin with fries and it was really good. The guy who hitch-hiked with me ordered a pizza and a sandwich with fries, he finished neither but still had a dessert, which he also did not finish. It was so wasteful. The meal was really appreciated by all of us and it gave the brakes ample time to cool down.
After that the journey was fairly straight forward and we got back about midnight. It felt so good to get into the shower and actually be clean for the first time that weekend. This morning I awoke really sore but I have some great memories of that weekend.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Mid-term excitement
The reason I haven't been blogging that much recently is simple - its to do with a simple little thing called mid-terms. In your English brains you probably think this means something exciting like half-term holidays and I have been too busy travelling to keep in touch. Au contraire. I have been stuck inside revising for tests. Only its not called revising over here, its called plain old studying. Well let me tell you that I am plain old tired of "studying". And I intend to let my frustrations out in this blog.
I feel like I haven't had a weekend since this term began. Each week Arabic gives us loads of homework, plus other subjects give us readings and the result is that I don't get to relax or travel. Its beginning to wear me down a bit and I better get the opportunity soon or I will create one myself by ignoring all my work and just hibernating. It is concerning that it is only Monday and I'm already calling for a weekend, I usually get to Wednesday before begging for one.
I'm used to having exams once a year, over here they are six times a year (or eight if you go to summer school). There is what feels like constant tests. I'm not too good at revising, I like to have something more specific to aim my work at, for example an essay. Revising everything is too broad and I get distracted easily. However over here I have no choice but to study (and procrastinate!).
I'm getting good at procrastination. Today being bonfire night I decided to reassert my Englishness in anyway I could, unfortunately I have no garden to have a bonfire and no fireworks to set off, so I made toffee apples. They were yummy and made me feel British. I've also been frequently distracted by the TV (we have about 200 channels - way too many) and Oz, who I invite over when I know I shouldn't.
I had my first midterm of this block (I had an Anthropology one two weeks ago) this afternoon. It was Arabic and going into it I was pretty sure I was going to fail. However it turned out to be much easier than expected and I think I passed. Sure, I couldn't remember number 4 or 9, but beyond that I filled in everything.
Tomorrow I have a modernity and secularisation exam and am fairly concerned about that. Our lecturer is very intellectual and gives us readings to do that seemingly don't relate in anyway to the topic and then goes off on massive tangents, yet still expects us to have a detailed knowledge of the subject. I went to a study group today and one of the guys there had some really detailed notes and he helped flesh all the gaps in mine out, I'm now feeling fairly confident. The guy kept using the analogy of his being naked to explain Freud's sublimation, so its fairly likely that I'll wake up tonight dreaming of him dancing naked in the rain, thankfully he's hot and so it won't be too much of a hardship. That study group went on for three hours and I'm now knackered, all I want to do is to doze in front of the TV, however my room mate is studying on the floor in front of it, so its kind of out of use at the moment. So instead I'm writing to you lovely people.
Changing tact entirely the weather has been bad here lately, and I mean October in England bad. There had been a thick cloud that has been really low and cold hovering over IV for a few days making everywhere really cold, and with ridiculously thin walls it is cold inside houses. Girls are walking around in ugg boats (that's ugg for uggly), they clearly think its freezing, its not, but it is decidedly cold. However today it broke and the sun came out. Not before I had gone shopping online (I'm too busy to shop in person) and brought myself a winter coat and long sleeved tops. Seeing as the weather has improved I may have jumped the gun and so am in the process of persuading Oz that we should go somewhere really cold for Christmas so I can wear my new coat. I'm thinking a nice cabin in Yosemite, it would snow!!!
This weekend I'm going backpacking in the Sequoia national park with the excursion club and Oz, should be good fun, although really hard as we've got to walk miles with all our stuff (tents, food, etc) on our backs, plus bear cans - containers that smelly stuff goes into that bears can't get into - we're in bear country. Apparently its going to be very cold, so I've had to buy thermals and polar fleeces, scarfs and jumpers (which is another reason to go to Yosemite for Christmas - I want my moneys worth!). Should be great fun though. Although its another weekend with no lie ins.
I feel like I haven't had a weekend since this term began. Each week Arabic gives us loads of homework, plus other subjects give us readings and the result is that I don't get to relax or travel. Its beginning to wear me down a bit and I better get the opportunity soon or I will create one myself by ignoring all my work and just hibernating. It is concerning that it is only Monday and I'm already calling for a weekend, I usually get to Wednesday before begging for one.
I'm used to having exams once a year, over here they are six times a year (or eight if you go to summer school). There is what feels like constant tests. I'm not too good at revising, I like to have something more specific to aim my work at, for example an essay. Revising everything is too broad and I get distracted easily. However over here I have no choice but to study (and procrastinate!).
I'm getting good at procrastination. Today being bonfire night I decided to reassert my Englishness in anyway I could, unfortunately I have no garden to have a bonfire and no fireworks to set off, so I made toffee apples. They were yummy and made me feel British. I've also been frequently distracted by the TV (we have about 200 channels - way too many) and Oz, who I invite over when I know I shouldn't.
I had my first midterm of this block (I had an Anthropology one two weeks ago) this afternoon. It was Arabic and going into it I was pretty sure I was going to fail. However it turned out to be much easier than expected and I think I passed. Sure, I couldn't remember number 4 or 9, but beyond that I filled in everything.
Tomorrow I have a modernity and secularisation exam and am fairly concerned about that. Our lecturer is very intellectual and gives us readings to do that seemingly don't relate in anyway to the topic and then goes off on massive tangents, yet still expects us to have a detailed knowledge of the subject. I went to a study group today and one of the guys there had some really detailed notes and he helped flesh all the gaps in mine out, I'm now feeling fairly confident. The guy kept using the analogy of his being naked to explain Freud's sublimation, so its fairly likely that I'll wake up tonight dreaming of him dancing naked in the rain, thankfully he's hot and so it won't be too much of a hardship. That study group went on for three hours and I'm now knackered, all I want to do is to doze in front of the TV, however my room mate is studying on the floor in front of it, so its kind of out of use at the moment. So instead I'm writing to you lovely people.
Changing tact entirely the weather has been bad here lately, and I mean October in England bad. There had been a thick cloud that has been really low and cold hovering over IV for a few days making everywhere really cold, and with ridiculously thin walls it is cold inside houses. Girls are walking around in ugg boats (that's ugg for uggly), they clearly think its freezing, its not, but it is decidedly cold. However today it broke and the sun came out. Not before I had gone shopping online (I'm too busy to shop in person) and brought myself a winter coat and long sleeved tops. Seeing as the weather has improved I may have jumped the gun and so am in the process of persuading Oz that we should go somewhere really cold for Christmas so I can wear my new coat. I'm thinking a nice cabin in Yosemite, it would snow!!!
This weekend I'm going backpacking in the Sequoia national park with the excursion club and Oz, should be good fun, although really hard as we've got to walk miles with all our stuff (tents, food, etc) on our backs, plus bear cans - containers that smelly stuff goes into that bears can't get into - we're in bear country. Apparently its going to be very cold, so I've had to buy thermals and polar fleeces, scarfs and jumpers (which is another reason to go to Yosemite for Christmas - I want my moneys worth!). Should be great fun though. Although its another weekend with no lie ins.
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