Snippets of the week #3

This week has been dominated by a very touristy event: a visit to the Tower of London. Otherwise I made myself a breakfast with a taste from home, had Thai food at the Borough Market did some book shopping on King’s Road, and had some interesting bus experiences.



Pad Thai @ Borough Market

 

Eggs with Pumpkin Seed Oil



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Tower of London is a huge place, and it’s very tiring because you are basically climbing stairs up and down the entire time. But the architecture alone is extremely impressive, and so is the history. The weather was gorgeous, the sun was out and it was the perfect fall day!

 

  

Customer Service

Me, going into a shop, trying to top up my phone plan.

--Hi, I’d like to top up my phone please.

--What do you want? (Not in a mean way, but not in a very friendly one either)

--I had a 20 £ Freedom Freebie (that’s the actual name of it, I’m not making up funny-sounding words here) and I’d like to renew it for this month.

--Okay. Our system had problems this morning, so it might not work.

--I’m sorry?

--Our computer system in all our shops crashed, so it might not work.

--Okay… (unsure of what else to say)

--I’ll check. (I’m terribly sorry that you have to do something for my money)

--(stares at screen) Yeah, It doesn’t work.

--Okay…(still unsure)…so…

--Just come back – maybe in, like, an hour?

--Ah, okay…thanks!

Now I already had the urge to switch to a different network provider, but then I’d have to change my number and so on, so I decided against it. I went back into the shop about 45 min later, and there was a different girl there.

--Hi! I was here earlier, they told me to come back – I wanted to top up my phone, but there was a problem with your system-does it work now?

--Yeah, Yeah, want do you want?

--I’d like to renew my 20 £Freedom Freebie (I cringe on the inside every time I have to say this out loud.)

--Okay…(stares at screen)…that’s 20 £.

I give her the money, she hands me a receipt.

--There you go!

--(confused) How does this now work?

--Just call this number (circles number on receipt) and follow the directions.

--Ah, okay, thanks! I’ll try it right now, just in case.

She looks at me with a bewildered expression, which I ignore. So I call the number (still in the shop) follow the directions, enter the 12-digit code – and it doesn’t work. So I try again, same thing happens. So I go back.

--I’m sorry, but it doesn’t seem to work.

--Yeah, we had some problems with our system today, just try again later, maybe every 20 minutes until it works.

Ah, thank you – I have no plans today anyway.

 

Snippets of the week #2

 

Coffee Coffee Coffee

I love coffee. It’s as simple as that. I didn’t used to like it, in fact, when I was about twelve years old, we had a school assignment where we had to write a short text about our likes and dislikes. I wrote that I find coffee disgusting, and couldn’t imagine ever liking it. Oh, well.

I also love coffee shops. Actually it’s one of the things I enjoy most about travelling. Travelling is usually about exploring another culture, country and city. You are exposed to a lot of new experiences, which can be overwhelming. Entering a coffee shop takes all that insecurity away, and you always feel at home, even if the coffee is terrible. Because a lot of the time it really isn’t about the coffee, but about the atmosphere and the people. This story is about all of the above.

In August, while vacationing with my family in Thailand, we went to the Chatuchak Weekend Market in Bangkok. It’s the biggest weekend market in the world, and anyone who has ever seen it will agree with me, when I say, it’s a rather crazy place. You can get everything there, and that is not an exaggeration. From food to clothes to artwork, to things like artificial flowers, pets, kitchenware and scented candles and oils. Amidst all this, there also is coffee, in all of its variety. So I stumbled upon a teeny tiny place called Koko Drip. It had a very calm atmosphere within this busy market, and as I later found out, the shop had just opened a week before. The coffee was lovely, and so I decided to buy some to take home. And it wasn’t your ordinary coffee, so much I can tell you. Here's what it looked like.

 

Instructions

 

Instant coffee, but not instant.

Result

 

Snippets of the week #1

Things I heard, saw, thought or made up -and random pictures.

 

 

“I can’t get the lights to turn on, it’s pathetic, but we’ll have to do this in the dark.”

How important are first impressions? I think, that even though I’m studying at one of the best universities, apparently, they still have the same problems as my home university in Vienna. Not enough tables in the classrooms, clogged toilets, and incredibly smart, intelligent and wise people (university teachers), who experience technical difficulties. “I wanted to show you this presentation, but it’s not working, it seems like no one used this projector ever before.” I find this quite comforting, it makes it all seem less daunting and intimidating.

 

People are the best part of life. Apart from coffee, obviously. No, seriously, people are amazing. And they amaze me. For example, how can anyone say: “I think this story is about an honest parrot…” and say it with a straight face? She was really serious, and I started to wonder: How can we know that a parent is honest? And: Has anyone ever called a parrot dishonest? It makes quite a good insult, I think.  “I trusted you, and you betrayed me. You dishonest parrot!”

 

"Two for a fiver!” Columbia Road Flower Market. Gorgeous sunny weather, masses of people and a very nonchalant atmosphere. That’s what Sundays should be about. The vendors praise their products and shout “Three for a fiver!” right in your ear. “People are just standing here without purpose, and without flowers in their hands. What’s wrong?” As the day gets longer, the prices go down, and the flowers remain beautiful. And if you wait long enough, you’ll hear: “Three for a fiver!”  

 

 

 

An afternoon in the park

 

It might have been the perfect park experience. Is there such a thing? I was never really a park person, I didn’t spend much time in them back home - somehow there was always something wrong, always something that made them not the place to stay. But I always wanted to be the person who goes to the park to read a book. So I decided to try it out. And, surprisingly, I loved it. 

 

I went to Queen’s Park, in an attempt to get to know my new area. It was a lovely day, the sun was out, and people were enjoying it. I picked up a latte at a bakery, and strolled down to the park. I was greeted with the clichéd image of traditional park life. Parents pushing their sleeping babies, dogs pulling on leashes and kids climbing on trees. Girls giggling, nannies chatting and teenagers telling each other secrets (“You really can’t tell anyone, it’s a real deep secret.”). Squirrels nibbling, toddlers crawling through the grass and during all of this the sun was shining through the treetops. Quite kitschy the whole thing.

So people who know me also know that I am not a kitschy person. But I really enjoyed this idyllic scene. I really wanted to sit down and read my book. And so I did. Not the most exciting story ever told, but still a pretty important one for me. I got a couple hours of peace and quiet after two rather stressful and hectic weeks of moving to London, finding my way around university and meeting people from all over the world. I enjoyed all of those experiences, but it’s good to know that I have a calm place to go back to.

 

This seemed like a good way of starting this blog, which will hopefully consist all sorts of ideas, experiences and thoughts. I hope you stick around!

Julia