Haggis, Brighton, and the Year of the Dog

Since I was still at a hostel, Monday and Tuesday I did anything I could to just hang out and not be at the hostel really. Wednesday night we had a plan to go with a bunch of people, including a fair amount of Canadians, to the Maple Leaf in Covent Garden to watch hockey. My work suddenly planned a quick outing after work since one of our staff was leaving, the event causing the Canadian plans to be delayed. After finally arriving, we met some v. friendly Canadians and Brits before the night ended with a bit of drama due to some of my coworkers showing up a bit late and a bit intoxicated. I returned that night to my new flat, since I'd dropped my luggage off that morning and had thus officially moved in.

Thursday was Burns Night, celebrating the birthday of scottish romatic poet Robert Burns. The Scottish gastronomic and cultural equivalent to Thanksgiving, we were v. excited and had bought discounted tickets to a bar that we'd been to at a BUNAC pub meet. The owner was Scottish and put on a fabulous 3-course Haggis dinner, complete with a bagpiper, whiskey, Scottish poetry (usually spelled phonetically for Scottish accents!), and super fun cleidh (KAY-lee) dancing like we'd done at Hogmany. Friday, I was finally home early enough to unpack my things and celebrated by going to see my first movie of the weekend, "Munich."

Saturday we decided to get out of town, so two new BUNACers (Alyssa and Michelle), Trace, and I went to Brighton for the day on the Southeast coast of England. We had no idea how cold it was going to be there with the wind off the Channel and all, but it was freezing the entire day (though still no snow)!!! We wandered along the beach, down the Brighton Peir, and over towards the the Royal Pavilion while I munched on some melt-in-your-mouth/so-much-better-than-stickin-krispy-kremes donuts. The Royal Pavilion was a "country house" built by George IV for himself and his secret wife, though it was later remodelled into a kind of Arabian palace. We wandered around the v. ornate rooms and such before we realized we were really hungry and got lunch. After, we started shopping for a while before heading back to town for more gelatto and attempts at a movie. (Morgan and I saw my second film of the weekend, "Jarhead.") (photos: seashore at Brighton; Michelle, Trace, and Alyssa on the peir; and the Royal Pavilion from the best view I could get a complete photo of...)



Sunday was Chinese New Year and London's China Town put on a big shindig. I missed the parade that morning, but saw a lot of the performances in Trafalgar Square, got a gift (10 pence!) from the Money God, and saw the Chinese Fireworks before I got fed-up with the ridiculous crowds. Trace and I at that point went to Harrod's for my first time. It was a v. big and a v. expensive department store, but good to go in once. After, I went to the cheap theatre to see my third film this weekend (the new "Pride and Prejudice," featuring a few things that we tried to/actually did see on our trip to the Peak District). (photos: Trafalgar Square just after the parade on Chinese New Year; some of the Dragon dancing; and the Money God)