Morocco

I have to apologize for this post being a day late.  I worked all weekend, and then went to a concert last night.  It was an iTunes Live concert; all of July iTunes has been hosting free concerts every day with various types of acts. Some, like last night's jazz groups are lesser known, and others have been more main stream, like Death Cab for Cutie.  Anyway, it was a lot of fun and a nice mellow way to end the weekend.  

So, to my pictures.  On the trip to Spain, as I think I've said, we went to Morocco.  We took a ferry from a port city in Spain to Tangier, Morocco.  The ferry was only about an hour, and it was somewhere, in luxury, between the ferry I took to Zanzibar and the ferry I took back from Zanzibar.  My sister, Alexis, will know exactly what I mean, but basically it was nice and comfortable if not overly luxurious.  And, there was no 'first class' with a big ol' spider in it!

Once we arrived in Tangier we had about six hours before we needed to be back.  We ended up hiring a guide to take us around on foot. We were very leery of doing this and being 'taken', but realized

 that there were no "Welcome to Morocco" tourist places, so we would need someone to help us nav

igate the winding streets.  We found out that most of the people off the ferry do this, and that it is just how it is done in Tangier.

We had a lovely day, and it was nice to get another Africa stamp in my passport; I had to get a new passport for this program (ugh, you know those things are good for 10 years, so um, yeah, I'm old) so I've been slowly re-filling it.     

We walked around and saw a carpet shop, a apothecary, had some traditional Moroccan tea, and ate hummus and falafel. We also found out that many movies that are set in some sort of African or desert-esq city are being filmed in Morocco.  The scene in upper picture, taken from the roof of the carpet shop, should look familiar to those who have seen the Bourne Ultimatum. Our friend, Jason Bourne, went running across the various roofs in this picture.  Blackhawk Down (a movie that I, inexplicably, love) was also shot here.

We really didn't have enough time to explore, but it was definitely enough time to 'wet our whistle' so to speak.  I'd love to go back and explore more of not only Tangier, but Northern Africa. I'd like to see how different it is from Malawi and Tanzania.  It did remind me of Stone Town in Zanzibar, probably because both cities have strong Arabic and Muslim influences.  The second picture shows how close the buildings are.  

One other thing: many of the guide books will tell you how 'dangerous' Tangier is.  We never really felt that way, and I think it goes to show that you really shouldn't put too much stock in avoiding 'dangerous' places. You just need to be careful and make smart decisions (like paying for a guide).  If we'd listened we wouldn't have been able to see how beautiful Tangier is!

Have a nice week. 

Me and Holmes

I love detective novels, especially British detective novels.  Give me a good Agatha Christie novel and a rainy London evening and I'm all set. And a dork. I also love Sherlock Holmes, despite the fact that I haven't read that many Sherlock Holmes books.  What I really love the most, though, are Sherlock Holmes statues.  Yes, I am weird.

On my first trip to London, in 2004, it was important for me to head over to Baker Street (where Holmes' office was). The tube station (on the Hammersmith & City, Metropolitian, Jubilee and Bakerloo lines) is all Sherlock.  There are little tiles with his profile and everything. (The statue is technically on Maryleborn Street).  Since living in London I even spent one evening with Jerome and Javier, in search of Holmes.  Since we so brilliantly went into London without our trusty A to Z's, we wandered around for about 2 hours until we finally found Sherlock.  Around midnight.  In January. Alas, he was all covered in scaffolding, but it didn't stop me from getting a picture.  But, he was all fixed when I went back with Kymberly and Justin. Plus it was light out, and much warmer.  Then, when we headed to Edinburgh we found a statue of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who I am sure you know, created Sherlock Holmes. The statue looks eerily like Sherlock, so I think it counts as a Sherlock statue.  Anyway, I've put up the three pictures of Sherlock I have, all taken this year.  If anyone can tell me where there is a Dr.Watson statue, please do, then I can have a complete set.

Ok, have happy weeks everyone! Enjoy the nice American summer if you are there!

Game, Set, Match

Well, I had an interesting, eventful week. I began the week camping, queuing, and attending Wimbledon, and ended the week, not celebrating our independence, but sick in bed. Yuck. Obviously, Wimbledon is the more happy of the two occasions, and that is what I choose to document here!

Wimbledon is one of the few sporting events the general public has the opportunity toget good seats, the day of the event. All you have to do is queue! Yes, folks, we camped out at Wimbledon Park from 4:30 pm on Monday in order to get good seats for Wimbledon on Tuesday.

Here is how it went:

We put up our tents around 4:30 pm. At 6:00 official Wimbledon employees, called Stewards, handed us queue cards. These cards are numbered, and indicate when you can claim a wristband for the court of your choice. I was number #28, which guaranteed I would get the court of my choice. We then hung out all night, got around three hours of sleep, and were woken up by an Honorary Steward (a Steward of an advanced age) at 5:30 am. I will say if I could an alarm clock of an old English man whispering politely each morning, I would!

After that it was many more hours of queuing, before we got to purchase our Centre Court tickets! Then it was more waiting for a match to actually begin. FINALLY, around 1 pm, the first match on Centre Court began. We were only seven rows back!

It was a quarterfinal match between Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova. It was actually a great match, with Dementieva having match point in the second set, but Petrova forcing a new game, and winning the set. In the end Dementieva prevailed.

Our second game was Serena Williams! She totally dominated her opponent Agnieszka Radwanska winning 6-4, 6-0. It was amazing to see her, she looks even stronger in person.

Centre Court looks much smaller in person, than on television, but you can really feel the tradition. From the way the ball boys and girls have to give the players tennis balls, to the way we marched in the queue, everything felt very old and English. So, to fit right in, after a long day in the sun, we capped off our day with two Wimbledon traditions: Pimm’s and Lemonade and Strawberries and Creme. (see me, tired and happy, left)

Wimbledon was a great, long, exhaustive experience! I might even do it again next year! The two pictures in this post are of Serena Williams in the middle of a serve, and me with my Pimm's and Strawberries. But, I have updated my photo page with many more Wimbledon pictures. If you'd like to see more, just click here. Don't forget you can always get to my photos from the link to the left, about 5 sections down.

As always, until next week.

Solid as a Rock

On my recent trip to Spain, my friends and I actually covered three countries and two continents in three days.  We flew into Spain, and then spent a day each in Spain, Gibraltar (which is an English territory), and Morocco.  It was good times, I say, good times.

Gibraltar is home of the Southern most point of Europe, and you can see Africa from its tip.  There is also the famous Rock of Gibraltar, and the equally famous monkeys.  The picture is of me and Mr. Monkey chilling out on the rock.  We had some drinks and talked politics (like how Spain wants Gibraltar to be Spanish, but the people of Gibraltar want it to stay English) before we posed for this picture. He's pretty smart; I believe he got his PhD from Oxford. Or maybe it was Cambridge.  I can never remember.

I was hoping that since we were in an English territory the cars would have to be driven on the left side of the road. Since in Spain they drive on the right side, I wanted the cars to have to switch sides at the border (a la "Wee Britian"--those of you A.D. fans get this joke).  Alas, Gibraltar is one of the few English territories, commonwealth countries, or former colonies that don't drive on the left side of the road.  [The only other two I know of are Canada and the U.S.).  Oh well, it is probably safer that way. All in all it was a great trip.  

Until next week.

Shakespeare Rules

When Kymberly and Justin were in London for a visit, we took a day trip to Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon.  As you probably know, Shakespeare was born and lived in Stratford, and while there we were able to see his birth home.  The city is full of Shakespeare as he is the reason so many tourists come.  The Royal Shakespeare Theatre is based in Stratford, and in the center (or, when in England, centre) of town there is a statue dedicated to Shakespeare. This statue memorialized the tragedies and the comedies, and located in the four corners around the statue are four famous characters, such as Hamlet.  Unfortunately, the city was doing a lot of contruction around the statue, and I wasn't able to to get a great picture of the characters.  The statue itself was not touched by construction, and the picture to the left is part of the memorial.

Many towns in England are on rivers, and you can usually tell because the town is "upon" something, and generally evokes images of quaint little English towns. For example, the town Kingston (which is in London, close to me) is called Kingston-upon-Thames as it is on the River Thames. (So, really, London could be called London-upon-Thames, but the words quaint and little do not exactly fit with London).   The same is true for Stratford, which is "upon" the River Avon.  Interestingly the word "avon" means river in England.  So, the picture to the right is the River Avon, or the Avon Avon (ha ha), in Stratford just across from the Shakespeare statue.

Stratford is quite a lovely little town, and it easy to see why Shakespeare, despite all the fun of various sorts he had in London, always came back home.  

Picture of the Week--Straddling the Hemispheres

Here's the first official Picture of the Week!  This was taken a few weeks ago when my friends Kymberly and Justin were in town visiting.  On this particular day we went to Greenwich, which you may know is the home of Greenwich Mean Time where all time is measured from (though it is called Universal Time now).  This is the home of the Prime Meridian, which means that it is the marker of the Western and Eastern Hemispheres. 

For someone who gets pretty excited from little things like state lines (um, that's me), the hemisphere line was AMAZING.  I got to straddle the hemispheres, say "meet you in the Eastern Hemisphere," run from one hemisphere to the other, and talk about that time I was in that "other hemisphere.  So, basically, your typically dorky Sara-stuff.  

Anyway, hope you enjoy seeing me in both hemispheres.  I know I enjoyed my visit to them. 

The Times They Are A-Changin'

New post time!  I know, I know, it happens so infrequently you all thought it would never happen again.  I have been busy finishing up my semester, traveling, and having friends visit.  I guess things are "calming" down, but really I feel like it is all about to change again. And I am a little sad about it. 

Now, to be fair, I usually feel a bit of melancholy in May.  I think it is due to end of school,  graduations, and moving on.  When I worked at USM, the campus always saw a dramatic change in May: it became this quiet peaceful place (where I didn't have to fight for a parking spot). It always took some adjusting to life there without students or faculty around as often.  I am currently going through this again, as I live on campus and it is suddenly silent after a semester full of loud parties. Still, I don't think these are the only reasons.  I think that this year, it is different. Or maybe not different, just more. I feel the winds of change more than I have in a long time.  

I am sure some of it has to do with my becoming a new decade, and all of those old issues that I've already talked and written about, ad nauseam.  I also think that I'm moving into a new phase of adulthood. The kind where you have a career, maybe start a family, buy a house, etc.  I think as more of my friends do these things, while not necessarily making feel like I need to do it, I am realizing that people my age are old enough to do these things.  Like, my peeps, we can be U.S. Senators now. That's a little mind blowing sometimes.  Weren't we just in college? Also, am I now too old to say peeps? [Do not answer that question.]

Also, there is the obvious: I am finishing up graduate school, saying good-bye to the new friends I have made, looking for jobs, moving on, etc.  So, these play into this feeling as well. Still,  I am finding that I am ready to be settled, at least for a little while.  Even if I am only in London for a year, I want to find a flat, and just be content for a year.  I have felt in flux for so long, sometimes I think since I graduated college, that just being at ease will be nice. 

Still, change can be, and has often proven to be, exciting. It is exciting to think of living in London for a year, getting a job in a non-profit, making new friends.  So, while there is that same old sadness, there is also that same old feeling of excitement.  And anyone who knows me, also knows I am emotional, and sentimental, which is how I feel now.  I just can't be any other way.  

So, of course, I'll keep you posted.  I am also going to institute my picture of the week--I've been to so many interesting places of late that I want to show them off. They can also give me something to write about if nothing is going on. The one in the post is from Jamaica--Hope Gardens to be exact. This is Jamaica's Botanical Gardens located in Kingston, next to the UTech campus.  I was excited to get this picture, because I hadn't figured out how to work my close-up feature yet.  I still don't always get that feature right, but sometimes I do, and then you get pictures like these.

I'll start in full force on Sunday, and get a new one up each Sunday. Well, I intend to start that on Sunday, and change on Sundays. You know, sometimes the best laid plans...

Stay tuned.