Back in Oxford!

But about to go back to London!

No, not cos it's bad or anything...I'm working tomorrow at MyBnk.

So, I know I was supposed to be blogging more regularly, thus I figured I'd better make a quick note before I jetted, or I should say coached, off. In my defence again, my laptop was packed up and I was very busy before I moved up late Sunday afternoon, and have only just managed to get the internet working in my room, so really my turnaround time hasn't been too shoddy at all!

I'm at Wolfson College, which is a big graduate college in the north end of Oxford (between Jericho-ish and Summertown). Its a 1960s/1970s college and so the buildings have that style to them (not quite the impressive overbearing nature of Keble's red brick!) but inside it's beautiful. I have a lovely room in the Main Buildings on what is quaintly known as Tree Quad (even though the other side has far more trees than this quad). Best of all it's been entirely renovated and all the furniture and kitchen appliances are brand new! I have an en suite bathroom with a tiny shower (still, MY shower) and also a balcony with the most gloriously green view! I can see the river and the island (Wolfson has a little island) and a little bridge and a big bridge and the punt jetty and, best of all, a meadow across the river where cows can be found grazing! Countryside style, yeah! When compared to the proximity of the houses and the small garden full of building stuff at home, well, this is just wonderful.

So far no-one else has moved into my flat (there are four rooms, but Freshers' Week doesn't start until next week, so they could be coming at any time) but the room rent is quite pricey (£17.25 a day or £120.75 a week) so maybe I'll have it all to myself?? Unlikely, heehee. It'll be nice to have some flatmates if they are nice, else I will have to work hard to mould them.

What else? I've met a few doctoral students and a couple of other new guys too, who have all been nice. I've been hanging out a bit with MT (who has been a superstar in helping me settle in!) and her friends, who are all funny and lovely and smart. They did the Telegraph cryptic crossword last night, which was awesome since I always completely skip over the cryptic as something much too hard, but in fact it seems like something I could do after all. We had dinner in hall and went up to the common room afterwards, which is a nice way to wind down on an evening. Apart from that I've been setting up my room and unpacking and sorting various things out and filling in forms etc. The most exciting thing is putting my name on the waiting list for a college allotment! Hopefully I won't have to wait too long (there ARE two people in front of me though). Also watching the ducks swim in the river, doing some recycling, and generally finding my way around. There are loads of kids here (there's family accommodation in college, which is great!) and also two cats, bless.

So yes, so far so good. Am back in London for a little while now, with work and family and various social engagements (although no longer a knee appointment - grrr they've cancelled my operation so I'm back on the waiting list, rubbish!) but will return for Freshers' week. Will do my best to give you an update then.

Vancouver!

Hello hello hello! It's me again, I'm back, and this time ready to keep my blog up-to-date, after that slight hiatus over the summer.

So, first things first: Vancouver. Brilliant!

Good things:

• The people: so laid back and liberal and friendly - returning to London and its relative misery was a bit of a shocker (not to mention the cold over here!)
  
• The surroundings: mountains, ocean, trees and lots of sun cos we were lucky
• Vancouver Island - amazing, especially Qualicum Beach, Cathedral Grove and Tofino (where we went whale watching and I saw my first ever proper whale out in the ocean, wow!)
  
• Kitsilano - the whole area, like Notting Hill, only less in your face
• University of British Columbia - a lovely campus
• Wreck Beach - a nudist beach at UBC, hahaha
• Stanley Park - huge and all along the coast, with lots to do and see, and so much space to walk in, and nature right there in front of you
• Aquarium - all the stuff in tanks were great, although I felt a bit sorry for the beluga whales, orcas, and other large creatures. The butterfly room was brilliant though!
• The bus and transport system - really efficient and effective, although I guess Vancouver IS smaller so it's easier to cater for
• Food - I love food and I love all the delicious pancakes and waffles and biscuits and sugary things, and also all the multi-cultural food too, yum!

Could have been better things:

• Walking around China Town and near Main Street - this area is dodgy, you can sense the poverty and also there is a general feeling of edginess in the area, like anything could happen. Didn't feel happy there at all. Even in the day time it felt dodgy, so imagine our mistake of wandering through the first time late one evening! Luckily we found a restaurant quickly, and the bus system is good so we got out of there straight after supper!
• Museum of Anthropology - now I'm sure most people found this awesome, and we would have too, except that it closed for renovation for six months starting the day before we landed and so we couldn't go! I was gutted as all the tour books really rated it, and it sounded really good, especially with regards to its work on First Nations people. Oh well, an excuse to go next time.
• Money - the falling pound meant we needed lots more money than we thought we would, plus Vancouver IS quite pricey. Still, we spent well and had a good time!

Hmm, I have just had a super long and hilarious conversation with a ex-TFer and now I can't remember my thread at all. I'm sure that's enough stuff to tempt you into visiting Vancouver anyway. X and I had a brilliant time so hopefully you will too.

Right, so next Sunday I move up to Oxford for the week before term starts so this week will mostly be packing and organising and catching up with people. Where does the time go eh?

I'm Back!

I'm busy listening to Spurs play Krakow in the UEFA Cup plus I have clicky wrists, so just a quick note to say that I'm back safe and sound from a brilliant holiday in Vancouver, and that I'm getting ready to go up to Oxford next weekend (oooh exciting!). So fear not, faithful readers, the blog will be back to normal shortly, so keep your eyes peeled (what a gross phrase).

Culture Shock

It is one day to my holiday, woo! However, annoyingly, I forgot about my final Learning Log. The deadline was yesterday, thus this morning I have some work to do. In keeping with tradition, I will ramble on my blog first.

Yesterday was little brother's 21st birthday, I can't believe it! It was a pretty quiet affair - my dad had some of his friends from work round for dinner, but lil bro had lost of work etc. to do, plus he doesn't really like socialising with family-type people, so he made several swift escapes. I baked him a cake though, hopefully he'll like it when he tries it today. Both my other brother and I had huge family 21st birthday parties but lil bro refused. He missed out on some good fun in my opinion!

My dad's friends are from India and it was really interesting and odd to meet them. Really, I think I was a little bit prejudiced. Against the men at least. They all smoked and treated me like a servant person (one of them even handed me his dinner plate when he had finished eating and then stated that he wanted some water!) and also said that in their houses they don't do any of the housework etc. I am really glad I live here and not in India, where it seems even educated people treat women as inferior.

Coincidentally I was just reading a book of short stories/mini snapshots of the lives of various young asian females who live in Britain. Lots of them talk about the difficulties of trying to balance two cultures. I guess I am really Westernised so I find it hard to even accept some of the cultural traditions that maybe people born and raised in India/Sri Lanka would do. Maybe I'm just a bit spoilt?

My mum told me a story that made me sad, about how when she first came to the country, she had to live in a one-room bedsit with my dad, and she only just knew him, and she had no job and no friends here (there were no tamil people) and so when he went to college everyday, she'd be all along for the whole day with nothing to do. And she used to have to wash her hair in hot water cos it was so cold here, and also because they had to put money in a meter to get hot water and she didn't want to waste it because they were really poor, so all her hair used to fall out (she had a lovely thick long plait of black shiny hair when she first came here, which she used to wash in cold water back in Sri Lanka). So she used to sit at home everyday and collect up her fallen out hair and make a plait and just cry with sadness and homesickness. The culture shock must have been huge, plus in those times they were poor and there were no phones up in the village where my mum's parents were, so she was so far away from them and couldn't even speak to them. I don't know if I would have been able to get through that homesickness, but she did. She said that she used to look at apples in the market but was too shy to ask my dad to buy them so she just used to be quiet. I can't imagine that now, she is so out-spoken, but back when she was a brand new young girl from Sri Lanka, well maybe that was how she was. Such a shame about having to be all alone at home when she was a fully-qualified doctor - stupid bureaucracy. Still, she is happy now and she has her own surgery and now my parents have everything, so really I can see how we are spoilt because we will never have to (touch wood) go through the kind of struggles and strains and sadness that they did.

Sometimes I wonder if it would have been easier for us if we'd just grown up in Sri Lanka because them maybe we wouldn't feel so lost between two worlds. I don't know though, when I think about the civil war and some of the poverty and "trappedness" I've seen over there, I just now that we are so lucky to have all that we have, and I couldn't give it up.

Right, to work with me. If I don't post before it, have a lovely short break without me, and I'll be back after Vancouver!