Tuesday, December 19, 2006

home sweet nairobi

i have been rather introspective since returning from the uk. as i had expected, it was a whirlwind trip and made me want to have a week of relaxation and rejuvenation, but that will come when i arrive in mombasa to spend christmas on the beach with a good book and ample amount of sun screen (i have the application of sunscreen down to a fine art, with the careful placement of both spfs 15 and 30 for an even colour and uv protection).

the trip was great and as is my custom when i am left with less than half an hour in a work day to fit in a blog post, here is a list of highlights:

- my family surprising me with my sister and not my step-dad at the arrivals gate at heathrow (watch Love Actually, it really is true)
- taking my sister out for her first meal of indian food for her birthday
- the phenomenal amount of people in the streets of london
- watching my mom behave like a moth to a flame whenever she saw a marks & spencer store
- the sunny weather (some days)
- visiting with my mom, my dad, my sister, my nana, and my aunty
- going to a village pub to eat roast beast
- being stopped by the vice-chancellor on my way across the stage for a chat about my degree and my dissertation topic (which i nearly forgot and stared blankly for only a few seconds before coming up with something that resembled research title)
- laughing with my dissertation supervisor
- introducing an unsuspecting greek man to mistletoe (at the insistence of my mom!)
- lots of pints (and some half pints)
- wrapped christmas presents to open
- my first stocking out of a suitcase
- english breakfasts
- new boots for everyone!
- bargaining for handbags in london, i almost used my new head wobble thing
- riding the tube, riding the tube, and riding the tube some more
- listening to the opera singers/pizza cooks at harrods
- a home cooked meal
- snowy balls
- trapped wind
- pink cakes
- skating in greenwich
- roasted chestnuts
- the savoy christmas tree and starbucks lattes
- a heathrow farewell (watch Love Actually!)
- a pick up call to my new favourite taxi driver peter
- 18 degree weather at 11:00pm and the end of the rainy season

revisiting elements of my past whilst in the uk made me think about my future. i am not as sure as i was a few weeks ago what that entails. gotta either get back to living in the moment or making plans. i have mastered both at different times in my life, i suppose it really just depends on where i feel most comfortable now.

but i am done in neither england nor kenya, those are certainties.

6 comments:

kristen said...

i'm glad you had a good time. good luck with both the living in the moment and the making plans. i don't see why you can't be doing both.

i've watched love actually once already this christmas season, i'll have to see if i can squeeze in another viewing (though it would require renting since i didn't bring my copy with me)

Anonymous said...

hahaha. snowy balls, gets me everytime. and trapped wind, too funny.
it was actually my second ever indian meal, remember we went to moti majal a few years ago? but i sure do love indian food.

lu said...

that's true and i was even at the first one! ok, the first south indian meal then. for me too.

was delicious.

and what's more british than indian curry?

Anonymous said...

i think the only possible thing more british is eatting indian curry whilst wearing boots....and a scarf.

Anonymous said...

Snowy balls? Trapped wind? Roast Beast? school me on these, never heard of none of em. sounds like a fiesta... or something entirely different... haha
-J

lu said...

snowy balls - chocolates from marks & spencer that made my sister and i giggle everytime we saw them

trapped wind - apparently the english phrase for being bloated.

and roast beast is exactly that - a roasted piece of beef, delicious.