The First Post (Tourist Weekend)

Hello friends and family!

My incredibly beautiful and abnormally talented sister suggested I start this blog to keep people up to date on the shenanigans I'm getting into in England. So sis, this first one's for you!

Its a lovely Monday morning in Nottingham. The sun is shining which is welcome though unusual but it is still freezing outside. Literally. It is exactly zero degrees Celsius which is 32 degrees Fahrenheit which is exactly freezing. I'm holding out hope that the sunshine means warm weather soon.

So Phil and I had a fantastic weekend! It started with drinks at our friend James Fox's house on Friday. I brought up poker as a means of occupying our time and proceeded to teach the boys how to play hold 'em. They pretty much knew how to play, just not how to deal. The first hand had five cards in each payer's hands. From there, I proceeded to teach them five card draw with suicide kings and one eyed jacks wild. After that, we played Phil's version of five card draw and we finished up the night with Pocahontas which is a game of poker that is best known by its appearance in Almost Famous.

On Saturday, we returned to James Fox's to retrieve something I left there (I can hear all of your subconsciouses collectively sigh 'that's so Emily'). Since we were the the area, Phil suggested going to see the Sneinton windmill which sounds somewhat lame but I really enjoyed it. The windmill was built by a baker whose son grew up to discover a mathematical formula that changed the way scientists understand and work with magnets and electricity.

There was a little museum there that had a bunch of displays that explained magnets and electricity to kids so of course Phil and I wandered around turning cranks and making magnets dance. The windmill itself was incredibly old and we climbed as far up as we could but the only view we got was through a tiny dusty window. I still had fun being chased by Phil up the very narrow, incredibly steep, and questionably crafted staircases.

We headed back to Phil's for a rest then went out for drinks with Phil's housemate Andy and his wonderful American girlfriend Tracy (who is just visiting unfortunately). Andy's motorcycle friends were there and the plan was for all of us to go see the crazies but only we four had bought advanced tickets. We got there a little late and had terrible seats but the film was SCARETASTIC!!! At one point Phil got up to use the restroom and I begged him to stay so I had an arm to grab. I was only half serious.

Yesterday we went to Nottingham Castle which isn't really a castle but the site of a castle that was torn down long ago and now is host to a museum. We've been there before but had never really looked around or gone inside the museum (or at lease I had never gone in the museum). IT was basically what you would expect from a museum about a castle that used to be where the museum is now, but I really enjoyed looking at the exhibits and seeing the dress that the sheriff of Nottingham's wife wore (for the record, I AM a girl). You know, I never knew that Robin Hood cut off the sheriff's head. Crazy!

After the castle, Phil and I had a pint at the pub around the corner then I went to church. Bad idea! I'll never have a pint before church again. I had to run out after the homily. The restroom was in a different building and the usher gave me the key but wasn't very clear on which door it unlocked. I tried two doors before I found the right one but still made it back before communion.

I went to my young adult church group after which the organizers like to call YAG. It makes me giggle a little. One of the members gave a talk on what its like to grow up half Iranian and half polish. She also talked about the misconceptions of Islam and her parent's decision to raise her and her sister christian. I thought it was really cool that her father's family were perfectly fine with her sister and her being raised christian. Their only concern was that they be good people.

Ok, so I realize that this is getting to be a very long blog, so I'll bring it to an end shortly. I just want to close it by saying I had a great weekend being an American tourist and seeing some of the sights that people living here don't normally go to see. I'm also really happy that I have found someone that I can be a tourist with. When I was living in LA, I only got to see these kinds of things when people came to visit. I like getting out and going for walks through parks or picnics on castle grounds or visits to museums. With the exception of the walks through parks, these aren't things you typically do on your own. I mean, I would but I'm not typical. Anyway, I'm grateful that I've found someone who challenges me and encourages me to have new experiences and see new things.

This coming weekend we will be going to Wales for a wild west themed murder mystery hen party (Bachelorette party). Think the movie Clue but staring young John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. Check out the flier below! I'll let you all know how it went next week (hopefully with pictures!)



Cheers!



~Em