Winter Light: White Night Oxford

Last night I went out with a group of friends to check out the Winter Light: White Night event in Oxford. It's an annual event where some stores stay open late (7pm!) and museums and art galleries open their doors for free.

I met up with Janick, Karen and Kaori at Gloucester Green, where some artists were setting up for an art sale. We went to the Ashmolean Museum first to check out some harpsichord music. Here we are in front of the museum.


Later we met up with Nina and Vinita for dinner by Oxford Castle. There were some neat ice carvings out, and we even saw one ice carver in action!


Here are some of the finished ice sculptures:


Then we went and checked out the Broad Street area where they had some kind of giant light-up inflatable cones on display. There was weird music/sounds playing from underneath each of the cones, and they changed color from red to green, yellow and blue. We weren't really sure what to think of them, but I suppose it was something to see!

We ended our night at the Museum of Natural History, with a glass of "hot squash", which we found out is half juice and half hot water. It's not bad, especially if you've been walking around the the cold for a while! The museum had some really great stuff on display, so I'd like to go back when it's not so crowded!

This is going to be a tough week for everyone, as it is exam time! All of the students are pretty stressed out, especially since most of them have been away from school for a while and aren't used to taking exams. Everyone I have talked to has said their husband or boyfriend has started growing a beard because they are spending so much time studying!

Templeton Opera Night

This quarter's formal event for Templeton College was called Opera Night. It was held at Paul's college about 2 miles away from where we live. I don't think we've explained the college system on the blog yet, but basically students at Oxford go to classes at Oxford, but all must also be a member of a college, which operates kind of like a fraternity. The college provides housing and hosts events throughout the year, in exchange for several thousand dollars membership fee.

At Opera night, a real opera singer entertained us during the cocktail hour and during dinner. After dinner, there was an after party with a DJ and dancing. The food was really tasty and it was so nice to get dressed up all fancy for a night!

Here we are at cocktail hour with our friends Sun and TJ. Their little girl is about 8 months old, and she is so cute!

And here's what the table looked like:

Templeton is so cool they even have their own bottled water!


Us at the table

Two Polish guys named Pawel

Thanksgiving in England

No, the English do not celebrate Thanksgiving. And you can't buy canned (or as they call it "tinned") pumpkin here to make pumpkin pies. But, despite these setbacks, we celebrated a legitimate Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings. A big thanks goes to our friends Brady & Amanda for hosting the event at their fancypants non-student apartment (no Brillo pad rugs there!).


While our husbands were in school, Amanda, Danalisa and I prepared the turkey. Somehow I got the job of cleaning out the turkey, which was an adventure! Jodi had some friends visiting, so she missed out on the turkey experience.


We managed to have a great spread; Danalisa & Steve did mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, Jodi made green beans & stuffing, I made cranberry sauce and corn bread pudding, and Amanda managed to acquire some canned pumpkin from her mother-in-law when she visited, so she made homemade pumpkin pie for us all! Yum!

I think the two most remarkable things that happened that night were 1) Brady solved a Rubik's cube in 2.5 minutes, and 2) Millie (who's 2 years old) liked the olives I brought so much that she stuck one on each finger and showed them off to everyone!

Paul and I have a lot to be thankful for this year, for our marriage, our families, and our old friends and our new friends here in Oxford!

Coffee Culture

As I poured my morning brew today, I realized I haven't written anything about the state of coffee in the UK. I could have been terribly shocked when I arrived here and shopped for coffee, but I had been sort of prepared on our honeymoon. When we stayed with Paul's grandparents in Poland we probably had coffee every day, however it was never made in a coffee pot. Everyone seemed to be using instant coffee, which I thought was really strange, but I thought maybe they weren't big coffee drinkers and just kept the instant stuff around for a picky guest.

Well, a couple of months later, we're in England and shopping for coffee. While in the US, there are maybe 2 brands of instant coffee, in the Sainsbury grocery store the instant coffee section is as big, if not bigger than the ground coffee section. We decided that rather than buy a coffee maker, we'd just get one of those french presses (cafetiere) and an electric teakettle since Paul loves tea. But, cleaning out those cafetiere things is a real pain! So after 2 months here, we've made the change to instant coffee, for the most part. It's actually quite tasty! I read somewhere that the world's largest freeze-dried coffee manufacturer is located just outside of Oxford, which made me think, when coffee is freeze-dried, it's probably done when the coffee is at its peak flavor. Where ground beans may be sitting in your fridge for weeks at a time, freeze-dried is kept at its most robust, almost creamy state. It's kind of like how canned vegetables are better for you and tastier than fresh; they've been preserved at their peak.

But, I know that as soon as Paul & I have a more permanent residence, we'll get a legitimate coffee maker. The freeze-dried stuff is good, but it's still not the same.

Sad news

I wouldn't feel right posting my next blog entry without writing something about what happened last week - my grandfather passed away. He was 80 years old, and had survived several heart attacks and strokes over the past 40 years (though you'd never know it to look at him). It happened while my parents were flying back from New Zealand, so my brother was the only family member around (besides my grandmother). We're all thankful Grandma had someone there to help out, and I know his girlfriend was also helpful, as she works in nursing. But, of course, we all wish we could have been there for Grandma when it happened, even though it wouldn't have changed the outcome. Last year Grandpa had a pacemaker/defibrillator implanted, so while we knew he wasn't in peak condition we all wanted to think that this was his "safety net" and that everything would be ok. None of us was really prepared, but I think in some ways this is easier than watching someone slowly get sicker in a hospital. We are thankful that God took him without causing him to suffer.

I know this will be a difficult adjustment for Grandma, as they just celebrated their 59th anniversary. I can't imagine what it feels like to know someone that closely and for that long. They had a wonderful marriage, and I often have told Paul that I hope we have a marriage like theirs. There were well over 250 people at the memorial service, which attests to the great impact he had on so many people. It was really touching to see how many people cared about him. His obituary is listed here.

I am so thankful he was able to attend our wedding this summer. The wedding pictures were the last ones taken of him, and I know he really was thrilled to be there. I couldn't believe it when, that night, he drove me and Paul back to the hotel after the gondola ride at 1AM. He didn't usually stay up that late, but he made an exception for his only granddaughter. These past few years as I was moving around and going back to school, he made sure to let me know I could come to him for anything if I ever needed help. When he gave me gifts that I thought were too expensive, he'd tell me he'd rather give it to me now and get a hug and a kiss than wait until after he was gone. Maybe I was a spoiled granddaughter, but I know that as his only granddaughter and he as my only living grandfather, he didn't try to buy my affection, he was just being genuinely loving and giving.

We will miss him dearly.

Sov i ro, Morfar. Jag älska dig.

Bodleian Library Tour

On Thursday I went on a tour of the Bodleian Library with Danalisa & Jodi as part of the Newcomer's Club. I've heard several accounts as to the exact status of the library. It may be the world's oldest English language library. It also may be one of the oldest libraries in the world, or one of the oldest in Europe. Regardless, it was first built in the 1400s as Duke Humfrey's Library. The first floor took over 50 years to build, as the master craftsman who built it was very particular and took his time building the first 3 walls of the building - so much so that he died before finishing the job. Today, you can see where he left off - the side where you walk in near the information desk is much less ornate than the rest. However, after the original builder died, there was no money left to continue construction of the building and so Thomas Kemp, Bishop of London acted as a fundraiser for the building, ensuring that its construction would be completed. Thus, the impressive vaulted ceiling is not only beautiful, but also acts as a record of donors - the family crests of donors adorn the peaks of the ceiling (Kemp's wheat sheaf theme is all over the place). The building was used as the examination room for centuries. Two students were examined orally at the same time, in latin, and the public was invited to watch - talk about pressure!

You can see a really neat virtual tour of the room here:
http://www.chem.ox.ac.uk/oxfordtour/panoofweek/divinityschool2-360.html

So why is the library called Bodleian? The original library established by Duke Humfrey went into great decline, but was later expanded by Sir Thomas Bodley around 1600. Bodley was a collector of books, and collected over 3,000 books from around the world with which to stock the library. So Duke Humfrey still gets credit for one room (no photography allowed), and Bodley gets credit for the whole shebang. The Humfrey library is really interesting to see. As the library was built well before electricity, and open flames were not permitted in the building, the bookshelves are arranged so that each is next to a window. So why wouldn't students just go take the books to a sunny corner to read? Well, the wood-covered books were chained to the shelf! And I thought that having the Business school library close at 11pm was bad! Many of the original books are there - I saw one from 1532!


Another interesting room we saw was the Convocation House, where traditionally convocation has taken place. The room has a really beautiful fan ceiling (see picture on left). Parliament at Westminster was modeled after this room, just scaled up to fit more people. The two sides of seats are separated by "one arm, one sword and six inches" to the center of the room. This is because the men who would meet here brought swords with them, and should any attempt to take a jab at the opposing side, a safe distance was kept. I made sure before I left to get a picture of me sitting in the chair where the king would have sat long ago. The podium in front of the chair swivels forward on a spring so that a fat king would be able to get in and out of the fancy chair easily.

The rest of the tour was in the Radcliffe Camera (a round library) and through underground shelf/storage areas for the Bodleian. The camera building used to be open on the first floor. Students would enter from the bottom of the building, then climb up the stairs to the actual library - the books were kept upstairs to avoid the damp found on the ground floor. I highly recommend taking a guided tour of the Bodleian library if you find yourself in Oxford. While the buildings are beautiful, the history is fascinating - I've only recalled a small portion of what I was told on my tour!

Banbury Cross

Today I went to an interview with a recruiter in Banbury. Yes, the same Banbury as in the Banbury Cross you remember from the nursery rhyme. I had initially thought that Banbury Cross was something like an intersection of two roads, but it turns out that while it is an intersection, it's also actually got a real 54-foot high cross in the middle of the roundabout! However, the original cross was destroyed in anti-Catholic rampages in the 1600s, so it was rebuilt in the late 19th century. Just a few years ago, they added the statue of the "fine lady on a white horse, with rings on her fingers and bells on her toes". (she's to the left of the cross - click on the picture to enlarge if you're curious).


The town itself is really cute, with many small shops, restaurants and windy pedestrian-only roads. I plan to go back to explore the shopping some more, as it seemed to be much less expensive than in Oxford. And it's just 15 minutes away by train!




And one funny sighting in Banbury - the Blues Brothers outside of this record store!






The interview went much better than the last. Perhaps the last recruiter was just having a rough day. But, we'll see if anything comes of it. In the meantime, I've got plans to go to London with the girls on Thursday (we got those 1 pound fares on Megabus). I think I'm going to be checking out the aquarium, which is great since I can stare at fish all day!