last week, in manchester, we stayed in a really cool hostel – if you’ve ever been to summer camp, it was like hanging out in the mess hall. this week, however, we’ve been staying in central london in a sketchy $9 a night dump i can’t wait to leave from. it makes me kinda claustrophobic. the hallways are so narrow. if i were a larger individual, i might have trouble fitting through the hallways. it’s true what they say – people seem to be generally thinner in the UK. i have a hypothesis for why this is – fast food is way expensive!! in canada, i can get a super extra mega value meal at mcdonald’s for under three dollars canadian. a steal! and so tasty! i walked into a london burger king the other day, and was shocked to see that even the whopper JR. costed four pounds (about six dollars canadian)! that’s without fries (or “chips” as they call them) or a drink. seeing these prices, i walked out and bought bread and meat from the local convenience store (which are all called “tesco”. no 7-11 or macs here). but it makes sense – the only reason i buy fast food is because it is so cheap. if i can get a delicious meal for 3 dollars, i will frequently do so. here, where you’re ranging from 6-8 dollars for slime food, no wonder people seem to be slimmer.

i miss grease though.

anyways it is time for edition four of

THE EUROBLOG

- last night we went and saw a play called “avenue q” at a theater where it had been playing for five years straight. and the place was still packed. the play stars puppets and is a laugh riot. out of the seven plays i have watched, this one ranks near the top.

- (for my fellow american and canadian readers: the world cup is a tournament of “soccer” games played in europe. “soccer” is a game where you attempt to kick a “football” into a “net” in order to score “points”. the group of players [or "team"] that scores the most points at the conclusion of the game is the “victor”.) for the longest time, whenever someone back home asked my opinion of soccer (or “football”), i would respond with some variation of “that is boring and i don’t care”. i’ve watched a few games in the hostel now, though, and my opinion is rapidly changing. its super exciting! last night, after spain won the semi-final (spoiler alert), the streets of london were flooded with crazed fans screaming and singing that “ole, ole ole ole” song. it was so cool! hundreds of fans on the streets jumping and shouting. some of them brought trumpets out with them (which i like to picture as if they have on them all the time. so when they go to the supermarket they bring a trumpet, just in case they need to express their spanish pride).

- london sights seen so far: st. paul’s cathedral (went to the roof. so high and sweet. they also have this thing called a whispering wall, wherein you can stand on one side of an enormous circle and whisper into the wall, and your companion on the other side is able to hear it. we used this opportunity to whisper the lyrics to the black eyed pea’s immortal “boom boom pow”) and big ben (which was incredible. maybe my favorite thing so far. at the grounds of big ben were camped an large group of anti-war protesters, who had been camped out in tents on those grounds for months. one guy had been there for nine years!! they were smelly but very interesting. one came to talk to us and may have been crazy, as he kept repeating a rap to us over and over. it went – “i ain’t a part of the sea, i ain’t on that mtv screen”. over and over. “i ain’t a part of the sea, i ain’t on that mtv screen. i ain’t a part of the sea, i ain’t on that mtv screen.” then he would say “i ain’t pink. i ain’t britney spears“. i believed him.

till next time!!

jkd