Hope you'all are doing well! Once again, it's time for my weekly
e-mail, although it's slightly off by a few days since I have been out of
town (and thus haven't had e-mail access)...gotta love the rural British
countryside!
Well, early last week I got my Japanese test back, 83.3...not bad
considering that I joined the course only five weeks prior & it's a
cumulative course! I don't know if it's by Japanese standards, in which
an 83.3 is a B, or it's British, where an 83.3 is clearly an A...but
everybody I talked to said that it was wonderful. Plus, I saw some of my
"kurasumeeto" (classmate)'s scores, everything from 90s to 50s...and
nobody seemed upset. Gotta love the British educational system!!
The highlight of last week was the foot-&-mouth disease spreading all
over Britain. It's actually quite entertaining...British officials are
positive that it can be spread through wind, but they actually don't have
any cases of it being spread by any way other than it being passed through
animals at arbitoires at the national level. If you haven't heard,
foot&mouth is an incredibly infectious disease that hits hoofed animals,
cows, pigs, sheep, etc. It's all over the countryside, and us Londoners
have actually been told to stay in London and not leave. Once an animal
has been found wih it, though, he has to be killed so that his meat
doesn't decrease in value. As a result, meat prices here have
skyrocketed, if meat is available at all. Thank god I'm a red-meat
vegetarian! & the saga continues...
On Thursday evening I picked my boyfriend up at Heathrow Int'l
Airport...he flew in on a flight from Rome and it was our two-year
anniversary to boot...he brought me a beautiful Italian watch and I gave
him a Scottish wool sweater from Edinburgh. We spent the past weekend in
Abergavenny, Wales, which is known for being in the National Park of
Brecon Beacons. John loves hiking and I just bought new hiking boots with
"Born in Camden" written on the tongue. But alas, it wasn't meant to be.
The hiking, that is. Thanks to foot-and-mouth, all of the parks in the
country are closed, and if you're caught on them, you're subject to a fee
or $7500. A guy was found in Snowdonia Nat'l Park last night because he
got lost, and after getting help, now faces such a fee! But anyway, we
had reservations in Abergavenny, so we figured we wouldn't back out.
We hopped on the delayed train to Abergavenny Friday (no, it didn't
crash...I had nothing to do with the Selby Train Crash last week,
honest!)...we stayed at a BEAUTIFUL B&B about a mile outside of
Abergavenny. The town itself is cute, High Street is pretty much the only
place to be, but lots of cute shops and stores...maybe 5000 people live
there? The town is surrounded by mountains and is supposed to be bustling
on market days, but due to foot & mouth, market days aren't exactly
promising anymore. While there, we went to the castle & the visitor
centre, as well as numerous restaurants. Luckily, because the B&B was a
mile outside of town, we got some hiking in as well. The B&B, as I stated
before, was phenomenal--views of Brecon Beacons National Park, gorgeous
gardens, a stream running throughout the property, an affectionate fat cat ("Moonlight"), delicious breakfasts, an old
retired Jersey cow named Fern, and all in a Georgian house. I don't have
the pictures up online, but I will soon...it was so worth it! Even though
we couldn't really go anywhere, the B&B itself was worth getting out of
London!
We arrived back in London today amidst the stories of an IRA bomb at the
BBC station. Ahh...city life! I'm planning on taking John on some
walking tours of London & such before he goes...and then to
Stratford-upon-Avon over the weekend! I love having company too... :)
It's making me very happy! My pics will be up sometime
tomorrow afternoon. :)
Anyway, talk to you soon and miss you'all bunches!
|
