Photography from the Christchurch meadow

Nathan here now, with apologies for the infrequency of my posts. I'm trying to sink into Oxford in a kind of subconscious, subliminal sort of way. Periodically it hits me that I actually live here now, but mostly I'm just putting one foot in front of the other: opening a bank account, finding the best places to buy trousers or fennel seed or any number of other things. But everyday life takes place against a backdrop of occasionally quite staggering beauty.

I think I'll like my year here. A lot.

Our graveyard intrigue

The last blog entry I posted (just a few moments ago, though I back-dated it) was written by me on Thursday and Friday while I did not have internet access. We got internet access at our flat on Monday, just yesterday. But the university seems extremely paranoid that wireless presents a major security risk, so we are plugged in with old-fashioned ethernet cables. It is also nigh-impossible to find wireless anywhere around town. I suppose we will make do. ;)

Our first several days here, I was slacking on the photo-taking. I'd been an incessant photo-snapping tourist for three weeks and I needed break. Plus, I figured, this is our new home and I will be here for quite a while (relatively speaking), and thus I felt less compelled to snap photos. However, yesterday was an exceptionally beautiful, warm day and we spent most of it gallavanting around town on foot with camera in tow. I haven't found the perfect bicycle yet, and I may just have to wait until I come back from Kenya, but Nathan did break down and purchase one for himself. (Understandably, as fairly soon he will be riding it everywhere.) Everyone here commutes by bike, and it is impossible to really survive here for long without one. In the meanwhile, we've been walking wherever we need to go, and it usually amounts to 6-7 miles or more per day. We're avoiding the buses, because they're totally confusing and the service is rather poor. Plus, it's beautiful out lately and the best way to really get to know a city is on foot.

We haven't taken many photos of the "Dreaming Spires" that make Oxford so famous, because frankly they are a dime a dozen here. We've been saving our photo-snapping for more unusual sites, and those brief moments when the light comes out to play.











Yesterday we made a great find: an old graveyard in the St. Cross-Holywell Church by Linacre College. It was an old graveyard, and many of the headstones were so old that they were completely illegible. The stones became legible once they reached death dates in the 1700s.



What was particular intriguing about this graveyard is that several parts of it were obviously completely covered up with several feet of ivy (for perhaps many decades) that had only been cleared recently, and several parts of it had yet to be cleared. Many of the headstones were covered and tangled up with at least three feet of ivy above their tops. We're not sure why, but some of the headstones had been incredibly well-preserved (perhaps by the ivy?), and some headstones with death dates from the 1860s looked not to be more than 10 years old but apparently were.








Nathan insisted on doing a photo shoot in the graveyard, but the light was a bit unpredictable:



We spent at least an hour wandering around in this magical graveyard. We definitely intend to go back. Fortunately we both have the same morbid interest in the beauty that is old cemeteries, and Oxford is chock full of them. I was hoping that someone in Oxford would be offering tours of all the old Oxford graveyards, but a google search hasn't pulled up anything of that sort.

On our way home, we stopped for Happy Hour at a place called Kazbar, which is a pretty famous little spot in Oxford. They serve tapas and interesting foofy drinks from around the world. I took my revenge by turning the camera on Nathan (unfortunately the light wasn't great and they turned out grainy, but the expression on Nathan's face is still worth seeing):






Today Nathan is finishing up some administrative financial aid paperwork for his program, and we're going to apply for a British bank account (which is a difficult feat, as I understand it). Tomorrow we're off on a daytrip to London. Saturday Nathan's father, Norman, arrives for a 10-day visit. So far we've got trips tentatively planned to Bath and Stonehenge. In the meanwhile I'm enjoying the slower pace we've established and our little ventures around town.

Our first days

We arrived at Heathrow at few minutes before 7 on Thursday morning after a somewhat rough 6 ½ hour red-eye flight, and about three hours of sleep. The line to get through customs was like nothing either of us had ever seen. At least 300 people were queued up (bear with me as I attempt to switch over to British English), and likely many, many more. However, it only took us about 45 minutes to get through the queue, which wasn’t fun, but could have been far worse. It took nearly two hours for us to get through the airport and to the central bus terminal, where we caught our 8:50 bus to Oxford. I didn’t anticipate it would take quite so long to get through the airport process. Here we are, looking tired and ragged on the bus (as you can see, it was definitely a bright and sunny morning):




We got to the downtown Oxford bus terminal around 10am, and stumbled into a nearby coffeeshop with all five of our VERY heavy suitcases. We next caught a taxi to Linacre College (Nathan’s college), where we retrieved the keys to our room. The taxi took us to our room, which is in a large college flat (with six bedrooms, I believe, two large communal kitchens, and a few communal showers and toilets). We are essentially living in a dorm, which is an entirely new experience for both of us. It is relatively empty, however, and the nice couple currently living above us (a Brit and an American) is moving out in just over a week as they are graduating and relocating to London. Once we arrived, I spent over an hour unpacking almost everything in our suitcases, because I was just that sick of living out of our suitcases. Nathan crashed hard around noon, and I joined him about 30 minutes later. We woke up at about 2pm, and forced ourselves to get dressed and go explore the city on foot. Here is a sign on a pub called The Hobgoblin very near our flat, which we both cackled about (we have yet to pay it a visit):



Nathan will be moving again on the 30th, as I will be leaving for Kenya and we’ll no longer need the more expensive double room we’re presently occupying. He is moving into Linacre College’s main building, into a smaller room with a single bed.

Here's the front entrance to Linacre's main building (FAR less ostentatious than many of the older colleges):



He’ll have access to all the main college amenities, however, including a gym, library, an incredibly large communal kitchen (he’s sure to become popular by working his magic there), lots of common space for socializing, and the cafeteria. The business school is about a mile away – a short cycling distance. Linacre is one of the newer colleges in Oxford (formed in the 60s), and is much more egalitarian in nature and far less formal than many of the older colleges. Also, it is a college only for graduate students so the population tends to be more mature than many of the others. One of the reasons Nathan chose it is because the older colleges (such as Magdalen) only allow families of certain noble descent (or whatever) to occupy certain parts of the dining room, whilst at Linacre the faculty, students, AND staff (such as the cleaners) all eat in a main dining space together. Essentially Linacre is the hippy college of Oxford. They have a few certificates near their reception area declaring them a “Fair Trade College” as well as one stating that they have successfully reduced their carbon emissions by a certain amount in the last year. They also allegedly have the best vegetarian fare out of all the colleges. All in all I think it is a perfect choice.

In January, our cats will be joining Nathan. He’ll be looking for pet-friendly accommodation (which is much more difficult to find here than in the states… it is also legal here for a landlord to not allow children – I believe it is illegal to state that in the US) all throughout fall term to move into in late December/early January. He’ll need to look for a few months to find the right place, so the timing works out pretty well. Since both of us will be moving around a lot, we’ve decided to have all our mail sent directly to the college, so as not to utterly confound our friends, family, and bill collectors who wish to send us mail with lots of address changes.

Our first few days here have been all about running errands, obtaining essentials and sundries (we’ve had to pare down our belongings a great deal, and even more so in our travels throughout the US the past several weeks), and getting to know the town. Our current flat is located on Iffley Road, a few blocks from Cowley Road, which I’ve been lead to believe is the most happening part of town. And it is indeed bustling! There is a long row of shops, restaurants, and great take-away (what they call take out) food. Our first night here we found a fabulous Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi restaurant on Cowley just a few blocks from our flat, with vegetarian meals as cheap as £4.30 (nearly $9… but the cheapest I’ve ever seen in these parts). Even though our flat is a bit far in terms of walking distance from both Linacre College and the business school, I am happy with the location and all of the fabulous amenities. I almost feel like we live in a city (Oxford is only about 100,000, so more on the town side than the city side of the urban spectrum, in my opinion).

We got UK cell phones on Friday, and will hopefully be getting bicycles this weekend so that we can explore a much wider expanse of the town. (There is bus service, but we’re not familiar with it at all, and most people have told us to just cycle around town instead of relying on public transit.) In the meanwhile we’ve been walking everywhere, often with lots of bags and boxes in our hands from various shops (and thus have been receiving smug comments from sidewalk pub patrons).

The other night we cooked in the common kitchen in our flat in the presence of a Malaysian, a Dutch person, a Brit, and us two Americans. The diversity amazes me everywhere I go in this town.

We're here

We arrived in Oxford this morning after what felt like a very long journey. I probably won't have proper internet access for posting photos until Monday at the earliest, so in the meantime I'll be snapping away and should be able to post some jewels next week. Just thought I'd post here to let everyone know we got here safe and sound.

Much love

The last days

The past few days have been relatively laid-back. I'm afraid we haven't been seeing as much of New York as we'd hoped, but we're fairly travel weary at this point and have been feeling the need to relax. Thankfully, Karen and Adrien have been wonderful hosts and their Brooklyn apartment is a great place to refresh and recharge.

On Monday Nathan stayed home to rest up a bit and work on paperwork for his upcoming grad school program. (Believe me, there's a lot of it.) Adrien, Karen, and I headed out to trek across the Brooklyn Bridge and into Soho.







It was a much shorter walk than I'd anticipated, but it was a warm, beautiful day and I spent way too much time admiring the bridge and the view from it.




After spending several hours walking around and exploring the city in the late summer heat, we all returned home, feeling rather exhausted. We went out for some delicious pizza (after a bit of a rest) at a little corner vendor called "Luigi's Pizza," where we were served by Luigi himself. When we retired home, we watched some Law & Order (Karen's addiction to it is contagious) and enjoyed some warm cookies with milk. (Yes, they are ridiculously wonderful hosts.)

Today we began our day by seeing a bit more of the Pratt campus, which is covered in various art pieces. (It was the inspiration for the movie Art School Confidential.)







Then we went into Manhattan, where we indulged a bit by getting some desperately-needed massages in the morning, then headed over to the Chelsea Market for lunch. Karen and I walked almost the entire width of Manhattan by doing so -- which isn't a giant feat or anything, since it's tiny. We took the subway to the upper west side, where Karen went to orientation at her university. Nathan and I went to St John the Divine Cathedral, which is the largest cathedral in the world. Unfortunately we only saw about a quarter of it, since a great deal of it was heavily damaged by a fire in 2001, and they are still doing repairs on it.


Nathan and I were going to visit some museums on the south side of Central Park, but the day got away from us, so we spent some time lounging around in Central Park.

Tomorrow we'll have a few hours in the morning and early afternoon before we kiss our kitties and friends goodbye, pack our bags, and head off for JFK again. Next stop: England.

New York, Day One.

Today was our first full day in New York. We only have two full days left before we leave for England. After sleeping in late (though not nearly late enough), we had brunch with Karen and Adrien (the friends we're staying with) and their friend Ben at an Italian place on the lower westside. This particular place serves you a brunch meal, croissants, and bottomless mimosas for a flat $12, so we thought the pilgrimage on the subway would be well worth it. We wound up spending several hours there, and then walking to a nearby pier to lay in the sun.



Adrien is starting his second year in a three year masters program at the Pratt Institute, and this is the first time I've visited him and his wife Karen. After returning to Brooklyn I went to his architecture studio with him at Pratt and met a few of his studio mates. In the evening we went out to a South African restaurant a few blocks from their apartment called Shebeen Madiba (Madiba is a nickname for Nelson Mandela, and a shebeen is what a bar is called in the South African townships). I enjoyed a very spicy, yummy meal -- and we were even joined by my highschool friend Powen (who resides in Philly), whom I hadn't seen in 9 years.

I'm not quite sure what to do with myself in the next couple of days. There is so much to do and see here I don't know where to begin or how to prioritize. If you have any pointers, do let me know. :)

Chicago, Day Two.

We got a very late start to our day on Friday. In the afternoon we visited the site of our friend Nancy's latest architectural project, then went down to the lakefront by the Planetarium and Aquarium.



There's an exhibit of large globes called "Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet" going on throughout the summer and we caught the tail end of it.



There were some that were quite beautiful and fairly well-done:



Here's our friend Micah, of Micah & Nancy fame:

We also admired more of the Chicago skyline from the lakefront:


In the evening I went to O'Hare with Nancy to pick up more old friends of Nancy, Micah & Nathan's from architorture school (Jeremy & Jess). All six of us met up at an Ethiopian restaurant in Nancy & Micah's neighborhood later in the evening, and had the most fantastic Ethiopian meal of our lives. Afterward we went to a famous Chicago theatrical show called "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind" -- 30 shorts performed in 60 minutes by the Neo-futurists. We laughed a ridiculous amount and were quite impressed overall.

On Saturday we spent much of the day preparing to go to the airport, and then flying to New York. We finally go to our friends' place in Brooklyn at 9pm last night.