Happy Independence Day from the Motherland

So, I guess I have two days to update. The problem is, as ridiculous as this may seem I am having a bit of trouble remembering exactly what I did yesterday.

I know that I went to class, first London Literature and then British Culture. Both were quite bad, although British Culture was an improvement over last time because we talked about Britain instead of about America the entire time. Still, it is difficult to get much out of the little we do talk about Britain because most people in the class, including myself, have very little background information on the country and its very lengthy history. Perhaps it will improve; I have to do my group presentation on Great Britain in 1963, and am thinking of focusing on the sexual revolution, one of the topics she gave us to choose from. That at least will be interesting.

London Lit is more and more frustrating as each class passes and we talk less and less about the books. I actually enjoyed Conrad's The Secret Agent, and was quite disappointed when we spent most of last class on a repetitive discussion of literary theory, particularly Derrida, which I already spent an entire semester on. Even if I hadn't, we are here to focus on the literature we are reading, and as much as theory can be helpful it is not necessary to discussing the book. People in the class are much more intelligent than the professor seems to think. He is very enthusiastic and knowledgeable and I really do appreciate that, I just wish he let us do more and was able to sit back a bit.

It is after class that I can't quite remember what I did. I think I just came home, finished my book, ate dinner, and talked to people until it was time to get ready for the play. Oh, and I handwashed some of my clothing in an effort to save money on wash since it costs a total of 6 US dollars per (small) load. I have enough clothes to last a long time, I just needed a couple of essentials washed. It seemed to work surprisingly well, and I was even able to find sensitive skin detergent at the store so that I hopefully won't irritate my skin any more.

Last night we saw Maxim Gorky's The Philistines last night. I was not particularly impressed. I can see that he was very socially observant and clever at tying relationships within the family to those within Russia as a whole, but it didn't make up for the fact that I felt like the characters were yelling existentialist, philosophical tirades at each other through the entire first act, with very few reasons to be so desperately unhappy. The second act was slightly better as the pace of the play quickens after the depressed daughter attempts suicide, but I felt like it ended just when it started getting interesting. Really, though, it was quite funny at points, and the set was good. And it wasn't as absurdly unbelievable as our last play, The Pain and the Itch, which portrayed all Americans as hypocritical, unfeeling leftists and really amused the British audience. And that was by an American author, too.

Today we had a class excursion to the British Museum. Established in 1753, many consider the museum to be a leftover of the British Empire, since it contains many artifacts that were taken from countries when they were under the control of the British Empire, or that were simply taken from other countries by travelers, with or without consent. A few good examples are the Rosetta Stone, taken from Egypt (which wants it back) and the famous Elgin Marbles, which are pieces of the Parthenon in Greece that were taken legitmately from Greece...but when it was under Turkish control (Greece really wants these back because they're trying to reconstruct the Parthenon). Great Britain refuses to give any of them back, under the claim that they were obtained legitimately and that there is a clause in the founding of the museum that says once something is put there, it must remain there. Good thing this doesn't apply to visitors. To be fair, the museum is really gorgeous and has incredible collections that stretch for a walking total of 2.5 miles, and allows many people to learn about cultures from around the world. Still, it is a touchy subject. The tour was good, although I had to leave at the beginning for a bit because
I was feeling a bit queasy and claustrophobic...the museum was incredibly, ridiculously crowded. Luckily I only missed the Egyptian sculpture room, but I took a whole class on that last year and most of the information she gave us before I left was exactly what I had learned beforehand.

After a two hour tour we were ready to be somewhere a little more spacious and wandered to a nearby park to eat lunch. After lunch we shopped around some of the touristy places with two girls, and then we decided to go to the Bank of England to exchange some very old pounds that one girl has, but cannot use because they are soooo old. Unfortunately, unlike most other banks it closes at 3pm instead of 5, and so we spent the hour walking there in the rain for....not much. Although it was a nice walk and good excersize. We took the tube back and I split from the girls to stop in a few shops and the grocery store for some eggs and veggies. I found a really cheap (fake) pashmina and a pair of leggings in an effort to stretch my very summery wardrobe farther, since the weather seems to be only in the mid-upper 60s even through next week. So much for hot London summers.

Then I came home and made dinner, eggs and hash browns with pepper and onion and garlic. Tasty. I decided against going out tonight to celebrate the 4th because I have a bit of a cough and would rather not push it. Also I did some homework, although mainly I looked online to see prices for tickets to Bath and Stonehenge for this weekend. I found a decent tour for 54.50 GBP that includes transportation and admission to some of the sights, as well as a Blue Tag Guide (guides in England who actually have PhDs or Masters in history and do this professionally...they are really, really good). So it's a possibliity.

In other news, I saw a headline today that read "London Battered by Freak Weather," and thought perhaps this really is an unusual summer. Little did I suspect that it was talking about a random hailstorm bordering on a tornado that happened in South London yesterday (I didn't get to see it, since I live in the north of the city). Oh my, this is stranger than I thought.