When foreign becomes familiar...

Whenever you are being trusted to show people around a given area, it brings to the surface how much you really know of your surroundings. And, once you have people with you who have no idea where they are, you start to realize just how familiar you have become. It is so interesting, because even in the short amount of time I have been here, I have already become extremely comfortable with the transportation systems, with the cultural challenges, with the way of life in London Yes, I still get lost, I still hate when it rains, and I still do not understand why so many people in a freaking English speaking country do not understand me when I ask for something completely normal and they stare at me as though I am spea

king another language – but I can still say with confidence that I am well-adjusted here.

 

That is why it is so strange to think that it was only four weeks ago that I came off the exact same plane my parents arrived in on this morning, and yet four weeks have transformed a foreign city into a familiar home. And showing my parents this new home has been so exciting and a little stressful, because of course, the minute they

 step off the plane the weather goes from uncharacteristically beautiful to a friggin’ down pour…. Ugh, that would happen! But even though the rain was pouring, having them in the same city as me brightened my day.

 

I woke up this morning, anticipating their phone call from the hotel to let me know they had arrived. I got myself all ready for the day, got the call, put on my new coat and headed off to theater class, where we discussed The Girlfriend Experience- that show I saw about the brothel that I found quite disturbing – and took our Midsummer quiz. Then straight away I got on the tube and took it to Lambeth North, the tube stop for the Imperial War Museum, where I was to meet up with my parents and the rest of my history class for a WWI tour led by my professor. The rain was pouring down miserably as Laura and I drudged through puddles to find out way there. Upon walking to the entrance I spotted my mom peaking from underneath her raincoat hood and I ran toward her, forgetting about the rain altogether. My poor parents were such troopers, and throughout the whole day they kept their eyes open and their chins up through the rain and the exhaustion.

 

The narrated tour of the museum was smelly (my teacher stinks really bad) and long winded – he is a good story teller, but he goes on and on and on and on forever and ever, just like this sentence – which can become boring after you have heard the exact same war hero story for the 15^th time just with a different guys name in the intro. I am all about paying my respects but we were barely able to take in the artifacts through all the droning. But my mom loves history, so she really enjoyed it, and we spent a little time there after to check out the D Day exhibit. Then we were off to Oxford Circus so they could see South Molton St – the street where I work.

 

I showed them the building door, but we did not go up because my parents wanted to meet the infamous Rob and Gordon when they had more than two hours of sleep in them, so in

stead of going up, we got a coffee and a brownie to charge us for the evening. Then we went back to my flat so they could see where I call home here. As we were walking toward the flat, I gained a new found appreciation for how lucky we are to be living in such a nice neighborhood. I cannot wait until the sun comes out, because everything in London is so much nicer blanketed in sunshine – especially Little Venice.

 

After planning our day for tomorrow (which includes Tower of London, among other top tourist attractions J ) We went to Leicester Square and had dinner at Bella Italia before going to see the show Blood Brothers. I know, I know, I am a horrible daughter for dragging my parents to a show on their first night here, knowing they would be exhausted – but we got a great group ticket discount that I couldn’t pass up. Plus, we had a really great time finding the theater from the restaurant. We got horribly lost, but after having shared a bottle of

 wine at dinner, it quickly turned into a hilarious adventure. We got to the theater just in time, and saw the show, which was your classic musical drama – kind of redundant music, and not very uplifting, but it was a very English theater experience since the characters all had Liverpool accents – which Rob and Gordon had warned me would be kind of difficult to understand – turns out, they were definitely right. At the end of some of their words they sound like they are hawking a loogie, which is not really….well….attractive. But the show was an experience, not my favorite, but definitely worth seeing.

 

Laura and I went back with my parents to their posh hotel in South Kensington, which is a beautiful area - very upscale – in fact it even has a Whole Foods on the block, which is the closest thing to a real grocery store you will find here. Laura and I are def going back to that J. After seeing their fancy, yet small room (everything here is downsized…Americans simply do everything bigger – bigger hotel rooms, bigger food portions – I suppose all to sustain our bigger bodied population J ) and grabbing some goodies my mom brought for me, Laura and I headed home – our familiar home on our familiar street in our now familiar life in London.

 

Tomorrow it is sightseeing bright and early with a hopefully well-rested duo J

 

Miss you all so much (its not the same without you here Lynnie J I love you)

 

Love and hugs,

Jenny