"Always look on the bright side of life!"

So, on Friday I saw Spamalot, the musical version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The musical, as advertised, pretty much ripped off the movie completely, but after the boring, stuffy plays we've been forced to sit through, this riduculous Disneyfied and circus-like musical was just plain fun, fun, fun!

The Palace Theatre--Leister Square, London

Big, show stopping tunes lightened my mood considerably and the ridiculous antics on stage reminded me of something I’d see during a rowdy Vaudeville performance. It was entertaining to see the proud British ridicule their own romanticized history. However, the absolute best thing about Spamalot was the amount of audience participation. The ‘holy grail’ was actually hidden underneath one of the seats in the audience; on the day we saw the play it had been hidden beneath the chair of a boy who looked to be about 10 years old. King Arthur and his knights brought him up on stage, sang a song about him and made that little boy feel like a ‘king’ for a few moments. Everyone in the audience clapped and cheered for him; everyone was laughing and smiling.

Galahad (aka Dennis) and The Lady of the Lake in a Phantom of the Opera parody.

Everything having to do with West End/Broadway theatre was made fun of; the songs were hilarious. I particularly enyoy the Diva's Lament (Whatever happened to my part?), Find your Grail and I am not yet dead!

"He can finally come out and say that he is G-A-Y-M-C-A!" This was probably one of the funniest songs I have ever heard. I thought my ears would start bleeding I was laughing so hard.

Sir Robin and ensemble in the final act.

Spamalot ended with the cast leading the audience in one last rousing chorus of” Always look on the bright side of life!” complete with karaoke-style words projected at the top of the stage so no one would have an excuse for not singing!

Here's a video to give you a taste; Tim Curry plays King Arthur in the American version. The guy that plays Bradford Mead in the TV show "Ugly Betty" played King Arthur in the play I saw! How cool is that?

Sometimes life is like a day in "The Office."

My new favorite TV show! What's not to love about Jim and Pam? They're probably the most realistic, down to earth, true love couple on any show right now. Me and my roommate, Marika, are completely in love with Jim. He's the perfect guy, and cute to boot!

So anyway...

The other day a group of us skipped the first morning class to go out for a classic English treat--pasties! I hadn't had one yet and was dying to try one.Mmmm. They were so good; I got one filled with apple stuff and raisins. So, I'm sitting in class trying not to burn my tongue eating this huge pasty; even after blowing on it for half and hour the apple glue stuff inside was still lava hot! I decided to go for it and took a huge bite. While the bite was good and very apple-y, it caused the remaining apple filling to overflow onto my shirt.

How embarrassing...

Everyone was like, "Ewwwwww!" because the front of my shirt was covered in apple filling. I dashed to the bathroom where I stripped off my shirt and washed most of it in the sink. I came back into class with the entire front of my shirt wet. I displayed it to my roomie Marika and said very seriously, "I think I saved it."

She busted out laughing and we realized that whole scene was like something right out of the "The Office," and my line of "I think I saved it" was totally something Dwight would have said. Ah ha! We're still laughing about it.

Fact: I spilled dangerously hot pasty filling on my shirt.
Fact: Due to quick thinking I was able to save it.
Fact: There is no longer a stain on my shirt.
Question: Have I learned my lesson about eating pasties?

You tell me.

The other day, I was bored and decided to take pictures mimicing characters of "The Office." I think my hard work paid off...or "that's what she said!"

Dwight.

Pam-a-lama-ding-dong!

Kevin...

JIM!

Only 8 days to go...and so little time!

So, it’s been awhile since I’ve updated my blog, and that’s mostly because I’ve been absolutely swamped with homework! I feel so overwhelmed, but with only 8 days to go until I fly home, I’m hoping I’ll be able to muster some sort of ‘oomph’ and finish the things I need to do. I'm still having to put up with my whore of a roommate. So annoying...
That said, I’ve still been trying to see some things before I go before I have to return to California. I’ve sliced this blog into four parts, each one concerning a brief summary of a fun little adventure I’ve had during the last week.

Part One: The importance of being earnest…and cute.

Last week we went to the Museum at the Docklands for a lesson about the slave and sugar trades in London. We took the DLR (Docklands Light Rail) out there and it was a pretty cool day.

Marika and I have become pretty good friends with the movie guy at the Blockbuster down the street from our flat. He’s very funny and we get a lot of laughs from talking about the differences between British and American lifestyles. He even drew me a lyger. It didn’t look anything like a lyger—more like dragon with wings coming out of its legs—but it was the effort of it I appreciated.

We finally found out his name is David, though he prefers ‘Dave’ or ‘Sly.’ Whatev, he’s still cool like that.

He’s taken off our late fees, which was awesome! I went to take movies back one time and spent the better part of an hour talking with him. He seemed really upset that I’d be leaving; I got the vibe he wanted to ask me out or something. I’m glad he didn’t; that’d be awkward. I mean, he’s nice and funny, but definitely not my type. =0

Anyway, he went on to say he really enjoyed our conversations. We exchanged emails, a parting hug, and I told him if he ever came to California I’d take him around and show him stuff. I’ll definitely miss him, even if he tried to get a little too friendly with me. =]

Part Two: Weaver?!

So, one of my best friends from junior high has shown up here in London. Apparently, she’s the cousin of one of the dudes across the hall, and she came over to visit him for about a week. It was so weird when I opened the door, saw Zach pointing to a girl standing beside him and I probably blinked a couple times (I’d just woken up) before I asked in a shocked and incredulous voice, “Weaver?”

Yes, it was Megan Weaver from Immanuel Junior High. Wow. I haven’t seen her in 7 years! And of all the places I would meet up with her again…London? I have sudden desire to start singing, “It’s a small world after all!”

The entrance to the Cheers Pub and Restaurant.

The street sign, obviously!

Tuesday night I went out with Zach, Chelsea, Megan, Josh and Quincy to the “Cheers” pub at Piccadilly Circus. The original plan was to go out for a drink or two and then head back (we’re all pretty tired by this point), but a short night out turned into taking a late night stroll through Chinatown and paying a midnight visit to the Tower Bridge. Unfortunately we didn't stop to grab a late night bite at the "Crispy Duck" take away place, which was a big let down. But it was a great time to reconnect with Megan. I was surprised to see she hadn’t changed that much and she filled me in on most of the old junior high people I’d forgotten about. Fun, fun!

Megan, me and Josh at the entrance of London's Chinatown.

Random street performer jumped into the picture!

Tower Bridge at night.

Part Three: The Natural History Museum

Tuesday after class, Marika, Josh and I hopped on the Tube, walked through the subway and made our way to the Natural History Museum.

This is what a 'subway' is in Britain.

Natural History Museum entrance.

This was definitely one the coolest museums I’ve been to on this trip. I love animal science, and it was so neat to walk through all the many animal exhibits. The big exhibit was about dinosaurs—I’ve never seen so many fossils in one place before! There were at least 12 complete dinosaur skeletons.

RAWR!

Cool shadow effect!

RAWR again!

Wow. Amazing! There was even this robotic (*cough* “real”) dinosaur that I got a video of. Most of this museum was geared more for a younger audience, so it was a nice change from all the pompous, intellectual places we’ve been.

What are we made of?

There was another interactive exhibit we walked through about human biology. This was definitely an exhibit you’d never see in America. Although it was geared towards kids, they definitely did not shy away from sexual things. There was one interactive exhibit which had a 3-D model of a human vagina and your job was to push various buttons to see how “successful” the traveling sperm was.
0_o Definitely awkward. I felt perverting looking at it! Hahahaha.

Is this what our brain are like inside?

What's your brain like: a leaky bucket, a computer, a sponge, a diary, a camera or a maze? I'm definately the maze. =]

There was another section about human birth, complete with an 8 foot tall baby. Ew! After reading and seeing those pictures, I’m seriously considering never having kids. =] Later there was a section about newborns and how they develop motor skills, hone their senses, etc. That was really neat. There was a section about optical illusions and one funny one about the menstruation cycle. I thought the title was funny.

I hope they were kidding, because the cycle is anything but beautifully balanced. Pffffft.

Interactive magic!

Funny mirror.

How many triangles do you see?

Having enough of the human body stuff, we moved on to the large living and extinct mammals exhibit. They had a life scale model of the Blue Whale, which definitely makes you feel small and powerless, and I got some awesome pictures of some elephants, camels and things.

Kitties!

Rikki Tikki Tavi!

E is for Elephant...

We quickly walked through the Fish exhibit and the gift shop before leaving the museum.

Creepy deep water fish.

This made me want to throw up.

Museum cafe.

I could definitely go back and spend a lot more time there; the entire building reminded me of the museum in the movie “Night at the Museum,” complete with the huge dinosaur displayed in the entrance hall! I wonder if everything comes to life at night…

Part Four: Hampstead Heath

Hello from Hampstead!

On Thursday, after meeting with Dr. Denbeste to go over Fathers and Sons, Josh and I hopped on the London Overground train traveling northeast to Hampstead, a nice little residential area on the outskirts of London. This was definitely a very poshposh place to live. The houses were beautiful and the streets were lined with Jaguars, BMW’s and Mercedes. Hamptead had a very Carmel-ish feel to it and I really enjoyed walking about and marveling at the rich people live.

Main Street!

My dream house!

The best part of Hampstead is the enormous park known as Hampstead Heath. The park is full of green lawns, soft sprigs of dogwood blossoms, ivy clad trees and lovely, winding paths. It was wonderful to walk around, pet the doggies and appreciate nature. I’m definitely beginning to understand the British people’s fascination and undying love affairs with all things green and growing.

Hampstead Heath

Josh hiding.

View from the top of the hill.

Interesting trees.

So, that’s what I’ve been up to lately, plus thte homework. Tonight I’m off to see Spamalot, the Monty Python musical. I’m so excited. I really don’t have any idea what it’s about, but I hope it’s funny. I could really use a good laugh.

Tah-tah!