recap of the week

This past week was not too eventful. Spring break is approaching very fast so we are all anxiously awaiting leaving for our trips and more even anxious for my parents, traci and tadd to get here!! Tuesday I had a very productive day at Hoxton Trust. We put the april newsletter together and took new spring pictures of the garden to put in the newsletter. This was quite an experience. Karina didn’t have the cord to upload the pictures right to our computers. So, we went to buy a cd put the pictures on that and then upload the pictures to the computer from the cd. Well, we get to the “chemist” (like our pharmacy) where they have the photo kiosk. We have no idea how to use it, so we ask the lady to help us. She said that the cd burner doesn’t work. But she says we could try something else. Long story short – 45 mins later i finally politely cut in and suggest we just go through the steps that the machine tells us to do. It works. Funny. The lady says we are the first people to ever get it to work – we can’t believe this because the machine looks like it had been there awhile. Karina took us out for lunch to a cute little sandwich shop where we had our first experience with jacket potatoes. They are similar to our bakes potatoes but apparantly they are pretty popular in London.

Wednesday was class day for me at LMU. This was the last class before spring break so the attendance was terrible. Jackie and i both agreed that going to class was pointless because all the lecturers do is read through the slides. But in order for us to keep our visas, we had to actually go to class :) But the upside to this is that LMU’s spring break is 2 weeks so next week will be a breeze! After class, i worked on homework. For my Contemporary Britain seminar, we have to each give a 5 min seminar discussion starter. So i pulled some stuff together on British consumer and travel trends. Interesting huh? If you would like more information on this, just let me know and ill be sure to help ya out. That night jackie and benji got 2-4-1 movie tickets so kim and i went with them to see alice in wonderland in 3D. I didn’t really know what to expect from it but it was a pretty good movie!

Thursday was another class day. We watched London’s bid for the olympics in my events seminar and talked about the impacts it will have. Then erica, benji, fonzie, and i went out for indian with jackie because she was leaving the next morning for her spring break to china!

Friday erica, benji and i went up to notting hill and portabello market. It’s a market that has a lot of antique things so it was different than the other ones i had been to. Most of the shops/vendors were legit, but there were others where it felt that i was at some crazy lady’s garage sale! But it’s in a really cool part of town so it was fun to see something other than Westminster :) We later got caught in the rain but it was ok because when the rain stopped we saw a rainbow!!

We have had some really sunny weather lately! So we went for a few walks through the parks and just enjoying the sun! I honestly don’t think it’s going to stay this way – just have a feeling i guess. This is NOT typical london weather :) but if it stays this way, i will not complain that’s for sure!

Luck of the Irish? I think not!

Well Erica and I went on our first journey outside of the UK this past weekend – to IRELAND. The place I have wanted to go to since I knew I was going to be studying abroad! We were both really excited and we got a really good deal on our flights as well. Our Ryanair flight was scheduled to leave 9:55, gates close at 9:15. We left Vandon at the right time cuz as we were walking out the door, the power goes out cuz the construction that gives us our wake up call every morning hit some line so they had to shut the power off for fear of shock. So we left to take the train to Gatwick airport plenty on time so we wouldn’t have any problems. We checked in online so we had our printed boarding passes, checked in when we got there and headed through security. Things are going well and we have plenty of time before we have to make our way to the gate – the gate wasn't even up on the board yet so we checked out the duty free stuff. Finally, they put up the gate number and we make our way to the gate to board the plane. We get to the place where they tear our tickets and the guys says, “you were supposed to go through a passport check before you went through security because you are a non-EU passport holder. You will have to be escorted out to the bag check and get your ticket stamped. We can’t let you on the plane. You won’t make this flight.” WHAT?! are you kidding me? we just spent 2 hours messing around the airport and we had to get a stupid stamp? Apparently it was on our ticket, but we thought that’s what we did when we ‘checked in.’ apparantly not! So we book it back to the desk where we were supposed to be escorted out. Of course there is no one sitting there, so we have to call them and they tell us they will send someone down. 20 mins later 3 people finally show up – we are about in tears and very frustrated. We get escorted out to get the stupid stamp and they tell us there is no way we will make the flight so we will have to book another transfer flight but “unfortunately our flight was the last one to dublin that night’ and we will have to wait til tomorrow morning. Interestingly enough, Erica was talking with a guy and he said that’s what Ryanair does…even if we would have made it back to the gate in time (they close the check in gate 40 mins before the plane departs) they would have sent out someone to “randomly bag check” us so we would have missed the flight anyway so we would have to pay for another ticket. They more than likely had already sold our seats to someone else. Talk about being very upset and very angry!

Well, from here we had two options – book a transfer flight for 100 pounds or check out what we could find online. Well, we would have just went back to Vandon house to check our online sources but since the power was out we had to use the internet at the airport. The flight prices were outrageous so we decided to head back to vandon and figure it out in the morning. We heard from our friend that since the power was out Vandon was compensating us a meal for dinner so we found the only open place on Victoria street we could find at midnight and got ourselves some mcdonald’s as we talked about what just happened and what our next step would be. We walked back home…yep lights still off. We walk up the 3 flights of pitch black stairs with the only lighting from my phone, throw our bags down and go to bed.
The next morning, i go downstairs only to find that the power was still off. Reception said that it will be figured out by 2 and to just go out for breakfast and hopefully they know what's going on when we get back. So we did that and went to starbuck’s to use the internet and find that we can get to dublin by taking 2 trains across England and Wales and then a fairy from Holyhead to Dublin. So we go back to Vandon, grab our already packed bags and go to the train station. Awesome, we can still get there and spend some time in Ireland!! Things are looking up! The trainrides when really well! The ferry was really sweet as well! It was like a mini cruise! There was a buffet-style restaurant available, a bar, slot machines, arcade games, a movie playing, shopping and even a VIP lounge you could upgrade to if you wanted. 7 1/2 hours later we arrive in Dublin. We find out we just missed the last bus into town so we’ll have to take a cab. Thats what we do – except we have bigger problems. We don’t have a place to stay tonight. We call a few places and they are completely booked. There’s a concert going on in town and tomorrow there’s the big Ireland v Scotland rugby game. Everything is full! SWEEEEEET!! So our driver drops us off a hostel where they would be able to point us in the right direction.

We get rejected by the first 3 – fully booked. But they told us to check out Gardiner Street cuz it was lined with a bunch of places to stay. So we checked out i don’t know how many hostels and b&b’s but at least we had some options. We went into one and the guy showed us the room he was trying to sell us for the night – it was just mattresses on the floor, the bathroom was outside the room with the sink falling off the wall….yeah it was that bad!! So we said, “yeah we’ll think about it…” We were discussing our best options on the street when a guy came up to us and asked us if we needed a place to stay. He then brought us back to one we had been already which was one of the cheaper options we had and somehow talked us into giving him the money without seeing the room first. Let’s just explain the atmosphere in this terrifying experience shall we?!? we walk in and there was a group of 5 or 6 guys just sitting there looking like they were part of the maphia. Then the guy takes us through another room that had about 20 guys and one girl – eyeing us down and talking in whatever language they were speaking…we then proceed down a few steps to our room where the guy “unlocks” our room by pushing a few buttons on the door and saying the key code outloud for all to hear. Talk about feeling safe?! we walk in the room – half of the beds weren’t made from the last people who stayed there, the window is being held open with toilet paper rolls because it stunk so bad! The guy leaves and Erica looks at me and my eyes had to be about as big as ping pong balls with the most terrified look i have ever had in my life. I felt like we were going to be the next stars of “Taken” part two Dublin city centre style – and we were not going to take the part of liam neeson! Needless to say, we did not stay here long! Erica went back and told the guy were were not comfortable here and they sent us up to another hostel they owned up the road. It wasn’t great but it was a whole lot better than the first one! We ended up meeting another one of the owners ( a family with like 7 siblings own a number of hostels in dublin) and another guy who was with him. They were playing darts before we arrived so they taught us about the game of darts. It’s pretty big in Ireland i guess! I am not very good at all! but i think i made a little improvement!

The plan was to get up at 5:45 to meet the guys from our program (who were couchsurfing or at a different hostel for the night) to catch a bus tour to the cliffs of moher. Well, we looked online and it was too late to book online so we were just going to find an atm and pay for it before boarding. We get up on time (getting about 3.5 hours of sleep) and make our way through the drizzle to where we thought we were supposed to get on the bus. We called the guys and we were in a completely different part of town and still had to find an atm. Well, we didn’t make the bus and we were soaked. Great start to the morning, right? So we made our way to Mcdonalds for a little breakfast and a regrouping session. We decided to do different bus tour that some of our friends did when they came to dublin. We thought we were supposed to meet the bus at quarter to 10 but we get a phone call around 9:30 and we were supposed to meet them at quarter after 9. Oops! But our luck changed cuz we told them where we were at and they came to pick us up in the red van right there! The tour was so amazing and definetly the right tour to take! It went through the Wicklow Mountains on the back roads that aren’t used much :) We saw many lakes, an old monastery from the time when Christianity made it’s big spread throughout Ireland and also, my favorite, to places where they filmed bits of PS I love you and Braveheart! it was really laid back tour where we never stayed on the bus more than 15 mins so we could take pics and stuff. We had a great time!! I thought England was pretty, and it is, but nothing like Ireland!

When we got back we booked a hostel for Sunday night so we would be sure to make it to the airport on time. Then we went back to an internet cafe to check out a relaxing/chill/ safe place to stay that night so we could shower! We found a place online in a coastal suburb of dublin called swords that served breakfast and had a private room. We had a slight mix up with reservations but they sent us up the road to another place with open rooms and it all worked out fine! The place was super cute and quiet and Erica and I agreed it was probably the best shower we’ve had since we got to England (which says alot about Vandon’s plumbing… :)) We finally started to chuckle about the night before and how amazing Ireland was. however, it didn’t take long before we were both out cold from exhaustion! We got up on for our full Irish breakfast and got ready for the day wondering what the day held for us.

We took the bus back into dublin and dropped our bags off at our hostel. It’s crazy how heavy those bags can get when you carry them around all day! Then we did the most touristy thing we could have done in dublin – the hop on hop off bus tour! It’s like the big bus company tour in london where it takes you around the city to see all the historic and popular tourist sites. We saw trinity college, the largest park in England, Guinness brewery, the cathedral and a lot more. There was like 20 different stops! we didnt get off too much because we were a little pressed for time but it was a fun way to see the whole city! After the tour, we went to walk by the river Liffy and found a bench and just watched the river until one of our friends came to find us and we walked around for 2 hours to find a restaurant “off the path.” We didn’t find one. We ended up an Eddie rocket’s – a very american diner type restaurant. Then Erica and I went back to the hostel(the good one! an amazing one comapred to our past experience!) to clean up a bit before we went out to check out temple bar. We walked around temple bar for a while trying to find a chill place with come live irish music. We found one, got a table and took in the atmosphere and did a lot of people watching. There was a big rugby game that day, where Ireland lost to Scotland, so there were a lot of guys in kilts walking around! We never got a picture with one of them but it was still really sweet to see! We even met a few guys who were born and raised in dublin who told us about “lady guinness.” We didn’t know what they were saying half the time but their accents were really cool! That was our last night in Dublin!

We got up the next morning, boarded the bus that took us to the airport, went through the PASSPORT CHECK! and waited at our boarding gate. There was no way we were going to miss this flight! and we didn’t. We slept most of the way and we were back in london in no time! We really did have a great time in ireland, but we were glad to be back home in London - despite the fact that when we got back, they were tearing apart the Vandon House dining room and working on the electric so the downstairs had no power. They are remodeling our dining room – which when it’s done it will be nice, but until then its a pain in the butt! but o well – there are worse things! It was great first trip outside of the UK! and things can only get better i’m sure!!

Another gorgeous Monday!

Friday we had our “free” Indian meal with anyone in the program who wanted to go. 2nd time with Indian food, 2nd time absolutely loving it! We started off with some big round tortilla looking things that we dippped in a few different dips (sweet, spicy, mango and one other one). We then moved on to the onion baaji’s – so good! Out came the naan next! Wow – it’s a big slab of the most amazing bread ever i think! Then we shared a mango chicken curry, a lamb curry and 2 different vegetable dishes with rice! It was a fantastic meal and we ate so much that we didn’t have to make dinner that night! :) We were supposed to go on a tour of parliament after this but because of something with the upcoming election here, they had to reschedule it. So instead we were given 15 pounds to use on any touristy attraction we wanted. Erica Jackie and I decided we wanted to check out a show that night so we went online to see what we felt like going to. We found STOMP – a combo of theatre, dance, comedy and percussion where they use pots, pans, garbage bins, matchboxes, lighters, anything you can think of to make music. It was really good and so funny! We laughed the whole time!

Saturday, Jackie and I went up to Oxford street to check out a few shops and make some returns. It was quite the experience to get there though, as the 2 major tube lines we usually use to get everywhere in the city were down for routine maintenance. Talk about frustrating! But we eventually found the right bus to take us to Marble Arch! The rest of the afternoon was spent on homework/chilling out at Vandon.

Sunday there was St. Patricks Day  festival at Trafalger’s Square so Erica jackie and I decided to go check it out. It was crazy! They had the whole area enclosed and they had live Irish Music playing, vendors were selling traditional food (including a hot dog that jackie got and she said it was disgusting :)) and beverages – guiness and such;) Then there was a parade that went through part of central London and ended at Trafalger. It was not a parade like we have back home – no candy. But from what i gathered, each county in Ireland was represented and different groups of people just walked through. There were a few bands, a few groups of bagpipes :) (loved it) and even a few group of Irish dancing! There were people of all ages – from little toddlers holding teddy bears in front of bands to elder couples smiling and waving at everyone watching. It was very different from back home, but it was cool even so!

We then walked through St. James Park where we stop to take  pictures in the newly sprouting flowers! Erica does some pretty cool things with her camera (she’s an art major) so we had a little mini photo shoot! When we got back to Vandon we decided it was time to get some “pub grub.” We went to a pub called Strutton Arms – a very popular place for people to go to watch football and rugby games! Jackie and I ordered our Chicken and Chorizo pies and erica had the fish and chips. It was pretty good! Jackie and I headed to Hillsong for the 6:00 service and a group of others decided to check out the London Eye at night. yet another great service!
Monday, oh monday! So gorgeous out! I  decided to take advantage of the weather and go for a walk around the parks. I came back and broke out the capris! We definitely hit 50 to mid 50’s today. Spring has finally sprung (knock on wood:)) Another plus, I finished my Media Review for one of our Central Classes. A big burden out of the way! We leave for Ireland thursday night so i gotta get as much done in the next 2 days as possible! We had our “family dinner” tonight. I was in charge of this one (kinda) and people voted for a breakfast for dinner theme. What better breakfast than an eggbake right?! So i emailed mom for her recipe and we dominated the eggbake! It was a huge success with our bacon and red, green and yellow peppers served with fresh fruit! Team Vandon won yet again :)

Week gone by…ending with the bounty hunter!

Well it seems i have been slacking on updating my blog. I apologize and will try to catch you all up! Last thursday we had our usual BES and Contemporary Britain classes for Central and then I went to meet with my events presentation group before seminar. The researching for this presentation is getting really old and there is very little information on my subject so we just decided to do the best we can with what we have:) That was about all the excitement for that night, aside from a chill night spent with friends in Vandon House.

Fridays we get our room cleaned (so nice!) so we have to be out by 11. Erica and i decided to finish one of our British Experience Seminar assignments. We started out at Sir John Soane’s Museum. It’s a house museum full of a whole lot of random trinkets that a guy (sir john soane) had collected over his lifetime. He was a very skilled architect who designed the Bank of England and other buildings. The museum was…interesting and very cluttered. Not my favorite. But there was an Egyptian sarcophagus and it had hieroglyphics written all the way around it – inside and out. We then made our way to Lincoln Inn’s Park where we found a plaque that faced the Canadian headquarters during the war. right behind it was a maple tree planted to commemorate something or other. It was a very small park but it was gorgeous out and the sun was shining, people were playing frisbee and just relaxing in the sunshine. It was great!

We then walked to the Holborn area – an area where most of the London barristers (the hot shot lawyers who step in when other lawyers need assistance) work. People like Oliver Cromwell and Margaret Thatcher are on the rosters outside of each hall. It was so pretty and well kept. There was a park with a fountain and the area had a wall all the way around it so it was like its own community. We walked around the narrow pathways and just checked it all out and it was pretty cool. Although we wondered how hard being a barrister must be cuz apparently one of them had time to check their  facebook account:) After we finished walking around we made our way to the rounded Temple Church. It was the headquarters for the Knights Templar in the 10th century. Interesting fact, this church was used in the film The Da Vinci Code. I’ve never seen the movie, but for people who have i bet it was cooler!

That fulfilled our assignment but instead of taking the tube back, we decided since it was SO nice out, to just “take the Thames back.” We just walked along the river and did some people watching! Since it was a Friday, there were loads of tourists and a very large amount of school kids. If i was a teacher, taking my class to central London would NOT be a fun day for me! Stressful! We took a few pictures of things we saw along the way including the sphinx things next to Cleopatra's needle and pictures in front of Big Ben (where one guy decided to sneak up behind me and get in on my picture!) It was a very lovely leisurely walk!
Sunday we worked on homework most of the day and then headed out to Regent’s park for a little afternoon break. This is the largest park i have been to yet! There were like for sure 9 different football (soccer) fields and also gardens and other things to walk through. Very cool. It was a little chillier today tho so we decided to go for a short walk and find a coffee place. Well, we saw some sweet looking houses so we went down that street to check them out. However, the street in london are not…straight or grid-like. We got a little lost and ended up walking around for 45 mins. We finally found a tube station and went to Tottenham Court Road to get to Hillsong Church. Another amazing service!
Nothing too exciting for Monday and Tuesday – just the usual student stuff. Yes, i know its hard to believe but i do have to go to class and complete the coursework in order for me to graduate in May :) But Wednesday night we had a group activity – a “ghost tour” around St. Pauls Cathedral. We heard many stories of suspected ghosts who people claim to see once in a while in certain places and also went to a few courtyards where public executions were held. Things were way more grotesque back then by the way! seriously! It was chilly, but still very interesting with a different twist on touristy tours.

Today, was the excitement of the week. Started out with the usual Central classes in the morning. But this afternoon, we decided to go check out the bounty hunter premier in Leicester square. We only waited 3 hours for this one instead of the 5 for Valentines day, but we still managed to get great front row spots for some great pics! O yeah, and autographs of Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler! we even got a picture with Gerard! We had a nice little conversation about who spit on him and who was going to take our picture! He was so cool and very good to his fans! They both were actually. They took time to go around to the whole gated area to sign posters, books, pictures and even my friend’s magazine with Jens picture on the front that i helped him out with! It was a great time!

The night I saw and touched Robert Pattinson!!

So, yesterday was Wednesday – aka class day. We were sitting in lecture when Jackie asks me if i want to go to a concert that night. I really was not feeling a concert on a wednesday night. But by the end of seminar, she had me convinced – i would go with her to see Bobby Long. I had never heard of him before but she said that it was at a place called relentless garage and there was a festival called Howdy Do. This was the closest thing that sounded like country music since ive gotten here so i thought it can’t be too bad. She’s got excellent taste in music so i knew we would have fun!

We headed over there on time so we could pick up our tickets and grabbed a table. There were 8 groups performing that night – 4 in the minibar room and 4 in the main room. Bobby long was 3rd in line so we just chilled at our table while the first band did their thing (the lead singer wore a purple headdress on her head but she had a very good voice) and then the 2nd group was actually from North Carolina. It had been awhile since i’d heard the american accent so it seemed a little out of place here :) but they were very good as well. The music was awesome!! I would put it in the folk/rock group. Kinda random pair but if you heard it you would agree. Anyway, then it was time for Bobby Long. Now jackie is a huge fan of him so we gave up our table to move closer to the stage. I had done a little “you-tubing” before we left so i would have somewhat of an idea of who i was listening to. He wrote a song that Robert pattinson performed called “let me sign” for the Twilight film! Very good song, if you haven't listened to it, you probably should! Anyway, apparently Rob and Bobby are good friends! His concert was awesome! For not knowing any of his songs before, i decided i could definitely listen to him more often!  When he was finished we decided to make a few rounds to see who was all around. There were people of all ages at this festival enjoying the music and having a good time.

We were getting ready to leave but Jackie decided she was going to get one more and chill. I waited for her behind the crowd at the bar and when she returned she had a shocked smile beaming on her face. “Dude!” she said. “Robert Pattinson is at the bar right now!” “WHAT?!” i said. “Robert Pattinson is sitting at the bar getting a drink right now. Check it out! Go get drink!” Sure enough, like 7 feet away from me i see him leaning on the bar ordering a drink. I made my way to the bar and asked some girls who i think were with him and were talking right next to him if i could squeeze in and get a drink. “Sure! Of course"!” they said and let me pass. I was literally standing right next to him; he had his back to me and was deep in conversation with his friends but we definitely glazed shoulders! I made my way back to jackie and we just stood there chatting it up like it was no big deal :) and of course occasionally (maybe more than occasionally) glanced over to see R-pattz making his way around his circle of friends until he was standing right behind us. We were so tempted to pull out my camera and ask for a picture. But we decided to be mature. He was obviously out for the night with his friends to watch Bobby and we thought if we were in his shoes, we didn’t want to be the girls to ruin his night by asking for a picture. No one else was making a big deal about him being there, so we didn’t want to start something either :( however, we have the memory, right?!  We felt like junior high girls on the way back home! but it was such a great night and i am so glad Jackie convinced me to go out! Great music and seeing Robert Pattinson in person (correction – touching!) made for one of the best nights in London yet!

Spoiled with sunshine! Are we still in London??

We have been so spoiled the past two days! With temps near 50 yesterday and today, it would be a shame not to be outside! Yesterday morning after breakfast i made my way over to Hyde Park where i spent the majority of the morning just taking random trails and seeing where they led! This is one very large park. When i decided to head back, I noticed the group of guards on horses coming down the road and followed them back to Buckingham Palace where I watched a little bit of changing of the guards again. It’s interesting listening to the tourists talk about what’s happening knowing that i said some of the very same things! :)

The rest of the day was spent on reading for class and working on my Events Industry presentation stuff. Erica and i decided to head back outside for a bit to run a few errands. The the most annoying thing happened when we came back to Vandon. We were ready to finalize our Dublin trip and see what other trips we could plan for the semester. We were all into it and making progress when the only thing we needed to make the reservations stopped working. Yep, that’s right, our internet was down for the rest of the night! Talk about frustrating! It’s kinda hard to book a trip online when you can’t get online or even do research on key impacts and ethical concerns on charity events :) I guess we found out how dependent we are on our technology. Then to top it all off, the Vandon Cooking Club was not able to cook their traditional Monday Family dinner because the stoves decided to stop working. No tamales for us :( However, there is a good side to every story! the upside to this one is Erica and I figured out our tv and watched tv in our room for the first time. 10 things i hate about you was on! Yay heath!

Today, also a fantastic day! Not only was the weather amazing but i had seriously amazingly fun day at my internship! We finally got to interview the ESOL (English as a 2nd language) class today! It is a class strictly for women from all over the world who are looking to learn english to improve their lives and work their way to getting a job to help support their families. Most of the women were from Turkey, some from France, India and few other countries. They all have different backgrounds and joined the class at different times so they are all at different levels. This is a very crucial time for them as they will be taking an exam next week to test what they have learned throughout the course: Reading, writing, listening and speaking English. They also learn about health, how to fill out different forms (i.e. employment) and how to make an appointment. Many of the women we talked to said the class was more than just learning english, it was about making friendships. They said that by not knowing english, they couldn’t communicate with other so they didn’t have many, if any friends, so they felt very alone in London aside from their families. I met so many amazing women today! One really touched my heart. She was the first one i saw today when i came into the office where she greeted me with her loving smile. She came here from India 27 years ago and has since then raised 3 children who are now grown. She is a child of 9 and in India, girls don't to school because it’s too expensive. When people asked her why she didn’t take the class before, she said that she didn’t want anyone else to raise her kids; her kids are her life! She said when someone asks about who she is she responds with “I have two eyes – my sons, a heart- my daughter and my husband is my body.” It was so sweet! Throughout the whole interview she was smiling and asking me questions about myself and my family. She wants to get a job in a nursery school so she can work with kids – so full of love! (Mom, she reminded me of you!)

Doing these interviews was such an eye opener. The women were so determined to learn english because it opened up so many new opportunities for them. Most of the women knew more than one language and yet they still were disappointed when they were not perfect with english. I couldn’t help but feel out of it when the only language i know is English and a little spanish! They were so happy to be able to communicate with us and so excited to talk to us! The interviews were a great for us to do but also very good practice for the women before their exam next week. I was very impressed with their progress and I hope they all do well next week!

Karina had a conference to go to in Manchester today so we got to leave early, which meant more time in the sun and more time to cover the other half of Hyde Park! Since the stupid internet was down (STILL!!) i couldn’t work on any homework so it worked our great! After a long, beautiful stroll through the park, I headed back to Vandon where I was very productive on catching up on journaling (which does not need the internet:)). Then it was time for our rescheduled Vandon Cooking Club family dinner of our make-shift tamales! Yes, we are very creative with our dishes. From shredding the beef and chicken to making the polenta, we did it all! Although the presentation struggled a little tonight, the flavors were fantastic! The texture was a little like grits i was told…but like i said. They were still fantastic! and we have plenty leftovers! We wrapped up the night watching Slumdog Millionaire. If you haven’t seen this film, definitely go see it! It was so good! and an excellent way to spend the night without internet!