Week 26

By Aaron

Exploring the City: This past weekend, we set off on a journey to London.  While I have long considered the British city to be my favorite place to visit in the world, Joni had not previously visited it.  Budget airline EasyJet provided our transit, a two hour flight from Madrid to Gatwick airport.  For any Americans who have not had the pleasure, EasyJet would be a close comparison to Spirit Airlines in the US - the priority is low fares with every possible amenity available at an additional cost.  Knowing this going in, our experience went quite smoothly - though Joni was disappointed by the lack of complimentary beverage service as she enjoys sipping on that sweet sweet cranberry-apple whenever she flies.

Once grounded in London, we proceeded through a lengthy customs line and embarked on a train that took us to Victoria Station in the center of the city. After walking in vain search of Buckingham Palace to glimpse the tail-end of the changing of the guards, we happened upon the Santander bike sharing service.  Similar to the system that we utilized in Paris, London has a network of stations containing a fleet of bikes available to rent - at the stunning rate of £2/day (about $2.50).  This meant that we didn't end up riding the Underground or any buses during our stay, something that saved us money but that I regretted a bit after the fact as I thoroughly enjoy taking various modes of public transportation.





Like all our other weekend trips thus far, we rented a room on Airbnb.  We checked in to drop off our bags before heading out for the day, and found a sign welcoming us by name!  It was definitely the nicest room we've stayed in through Airbnb, though the whole apartment was quite chilly.



The entire city was hit with a cold snap, and while we were active or indoors a good amount of the time it was still very evident whenever we entered a building after being out (however briefly!).  We managed to fit in three different theatrical productions - the musical version of "School of Rock" the stage adaptation of the novel "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" and the classic thriller/chiller "The Woman In Black."  All productions were enjoyable in different ways, and shared the common thread of being very reasonably priced - we didn't pay more than the equivalent of $30 for any ticket, which is a bargain for West End prices.  Theatre-going is a past time that we've not indulged for about 8 months, and it's something I knew I missed but hadn't fully realized until this past weekend.






With all the theatre we didn't have too much time to do a lot of sightseeing, but we checked off a fair amount of things.  Here's a brief rundown:

- Seeing Big Ben/Parliament

- Crossing through a small section of Hyde Park
- Frantically and respectfully traversing a packed city block of protesters from the women's march...on our bikes!
- A stroll through Trafalgar Square, pre- and post-women's march

- A glimpse of Buckingham Palace

- A jaunt through the wonders of Harrod's department store

I think that London (and likely England in general) is so appealing to me because it is a mix of familiarity with just enough oddity to seem exotic.  The language is obviously very similar and provided little to no difficulty.
Lost in Translation: It's a small one this week, but after a brisk pre-theatre dinner we asked for the check.  The waitress smiled and said "Certainly.  Though I must insist on calling it the bill."  Who knew!

Memorable Meal: After scoring our tickets to "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time," we meandered in search of a place to eat.  I had been craving an English breakfast, and we found exactly that at Balans Soho Society near the Gielgud Theater.  Eggs, "bacon" (closer to ham), sausage, a cooked tomato, a giant cooked mushroom, and toast.  I missed the sometimes-traditional baked beans, but was glad to avoid any contact with blood sausage.  In addition to serving scrumptious food, this restaurant made me realize what I crave when traveling to a new place: something local, not too expensive, with hip and/or location-specific decor, and lacking a recommendation to vouch for quality I think I prefer a chain of some sort.  I always think of myself wanting to try exotic or trendy foods, but really I crave a sense of order.  This will hopefully prove helpful in future travels, as Joni and I often struggle with choosing a spot when it comes to dinner.

En la clase: Joni started a new Spanish class this week.  Twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, she goes over to our friend Cat's house and a teacher comes to teach them both.  It's still early, but Joni is enjoying the structure of having a teacher.  I've been vigilantly attending a workbook focused on Spanish verbs, along with painstakingly working my way through the Spanish television show "El Ministerio del Tiempo."  There is still a ways to go, but I think we are both feeling good about the progress we've made.

From the teaching side of things, the past week has been full of fruitful discussions surrounding the recent inauguration activities.  Thanks to a thought-provoking collection of inauguration-themed Trump cartoons unearthed by Joni, our students had a platform to air any questions and ideas about the new US president, Obamacare, Twitter and the strangely compulsory connection between a bible and a nation principled on freedom of religion (there were a lot more questions than answers on that last point!).  One of my students mentioned a public opinion poll that found Spain to be the most anti-Trump nation in the world.  This led down a few fascinating rabbit trails about populism and even Maslow's hierarchy of needs.  Need I state the obvious, that these students are incredibly intelligent and informed?

Final Notes:
We recently took up a fiendishly addicting obsession with the BBC show "Sherlock."  I'm not exactly sure how it started - I've heard the show highly praised for a couple years - but it fortuitously preceded our adventure to the British isle.  This past Monday we were watching the show and spotted a familiar face.  British actor David Fynn is currently slaying audiences eight times a week as the fun loving Dewey Finn in "School of Rock," but he also appeared as train geek Howard Shilcott in 'The Empty Hearse' - the first episode kicking off the third season of "Sherlock."  It was a fun and well-timed intersection between two anglo-centric forms of entertainment, and we would heartily endorse checking out both shows - if you have Netflix or if you are planning a trip to New York or London.

Last but not least, we are pleased to share that Joni's dad's surgery went smoothly last week. Everything appears to have gone well, and although it is going to be a long recovery, he seems to be in good spirits about the whole thing.  We've been checking in with almost-daily updates over video chat, which has been really nice.  What a blessing to have ready access to technology that helps bridge physical divides!