Monday, November 28, 2011

Tsalani bwino!

Happy Turkey Day From the Miles Family!


This week included six miles', five rudows, four delonys, four poochies, two patriarchs, and one bonfire. Below you see the next generation of coon asses (technical Bayou jargon, thank you). It was great to be together again, and I'm excited to for the next reunion upon Caleb's return from Zambia. Tsalani bwino! (Stay Well in Nyanja, the most popular local language in Zambia where they otherwise speak English)




Tuesday, September 27, 2011

RANDOM, Misc., Etc.

The end of this trip has been like the final stages of packing up a house/apartment to move. First you're very catagorized and everything is appropriately marked. But more and more towards then end you start writing random on your boxes and things get a little scatter as you pick up the pieces that you just need to get in the boxes.

Their Baby Wrote Them a Letter II

Hi Guys,

Tomorrow, I will begin my day at 7:30 at Westminster Abbey for Matins. That will be closely followed by the Changing of the Guard. I will proceed to Borough Market where I will eat lunch and buy lunch (and eat it standing up). I will wrap up the scheduled day as a groundling on the floor of Shakespeare's Globe theater for a performance of Dr. Faustus. Afterwards, I'll meet up with David Hornbeck and we'll see what the rest of the day will hold! It'll be a good one.

It's been very successful. I've been places I've wanted to go. Done things I've wanted to do. Read a lot. Slept a decent amount. And, in all that, I've been able to maintain some form of abstinence! With thirty pounds to spread over the next day! I'm a good full and it's very happy. 

I'm really ready to get back. Brandon's cooking for me on Thursday and then mom'll be around for the weekend. Never fear! Mom is here! I feel like me traveling alone is like me eating squash. As you'll recall, I ate squash everyday my first couple of weeks of program because it's what I knew how to cook. Eventually I got so sick of squash that I had to stop eating it completely. Every once in a while, I'll commit it again, thinking I may have gotten over it, only to realize, come dinner time, that I still hate squash. I'm so glad I'm not in China.

I'm ready to hug you soon! Y'all are the best ever!

Zoe

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Faith with Grace and Bear

Today, I went on an adventure with my friend Grace and Bear. Bear knew a friend from back in his forest days named Duck. They ran into each other again across the pond, and Duck's gone into the sight-seeing business. He's started up his own operation where he carries people around London on his back, and he offered to give the three of us a tour.

Little did we know that there was a man in a red jacket was trying to sabotage duck's business!

As we were driving along London, we saw some great things! We caught a glimpse of Parliment, Westminster, and Big Ben. But then we saw a great big Ferris Wheel! Bear asked Duck "Duck, what's the huge Ferris wheel doing in London?"

Duck said, "Well that's the London Eye. She makes sure that all London visitors are safe as long as they stay within her sight."

Bear sat thoughtfully. "How does she keep you safe?"

"You see," Duck replied, "Big Ben and London Eye are in love, but they can't be together because of the river. Big Ben shows his love for her by chiming every hour, and by protecting the people that the Eye cares about."

"How?"

"By chiming to get their attention."

"Oh..." said bear, giving me a quizzical look.

Our journey continued passed Charring Cross and over Trafalgar's Sq.

"And now to the water!" cried Duck.

Duck descended into the water and splashed us a little. "Duck!" the three of us teased. All of the sudden, we heared Big Ben's enourmous chime's. "What was that for?" Bear whimpered, "It's not a quarter time or the hour!"

Duck was suddenly alarmed. He was sinking lower than normal! He sunk so low that the emergency exit's only exit was to the river!



"What's that under Duck's wing?" asked Grace noticing Duck's uneveness. As soon as she did, a man in a red jacket started pulling out Duck's feathers!

"He's trying to thwart me! Quick! Roar like a lion!" We started roaring like lions (bear being the best of all) and all of a sudden, the Scotland Yard Lions appeared on the walls of the canal, terrifying the man in the red coat so much that he fell off of Duck and was caught up in a fisher's net by the London Water Patrol.

"Man! Glad that's over!" said Bear.

"Me, too," sighed Duck, shaking his head. "That guy's been after me for weeks. I'll see you in the court room," he shouted across the river. We finished just in time for Duck's next visitors to board. We said our good-byes and let him get on his way.

Grace's eyes were still closed with fright, but Bear soothed her. "You can open your eyes now, Grace. It's all okay."

And now the world knows of the beautiful London Eye and the adoring Big Ben.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Poem #2

I like the poem thing.
I'm going to do it again.
It's much easier than describing
All the things that make me grin.

Yesterday I hung out with Grace
and bear came along, too.
We stopped by the Tate Modern
To look at art made with goo.

Today I hopped a bus to Oxford
And wondered around the town.
It looks like a mideval village
and like the clock was turned around.

I walked to Christ Church
and into the great hall
it's like I'd walked into Hogwarts
before they start term in the fall.

And then me and Maugham
Had a little chat
In the Eagle and Child
Where Lewis and Tolkein sat.

I was so pooped when I was done
I went to the hostel and slept
until it was time to talk with Brandon
(an appointment I'm glad I kept).

Their Baby Wrote Them a Letter

M and D,
Woops. I didn't see his burial site. I'm trying to develop a new place concept concerning why we go to the places where genius lived. Is it a matter of wanting to be likewise inspired ourselves or does it make us feel close to them to be walking around in their space? Keats' house was very sweet, but nothing special. And it was nice to walk around Stratford-upon-avon, but Anne Hathaway's house was a farmhouse. It's just something interesting to think about. It is good, though, to picture all these places I've heard about all of my life.
 
The 30th is fine. Brandon and I have dinner plans for that Friday night with another couple (Greg and Brittany. They were the couple that came by my apartment after the engagement party. Greg went to school with Brandon at OBU and they just moved into OKC), and the two of us had talked about going to get a massage on Saturday, but those are the only plans. Earlier today I was scratching at the cuticles on my feet and thought to myself "I need a pedicure." Then I thought we might go together and I was happy.
I think I'm losing weight. My engagement ring is getting lose. Or it may just be that I'm not bloated anymore. Or both. Probably both.
Without fail, everytime I get on off the tube to walk to a new hostel I get turned around. I hate the street signs here and the way that the name of the street changes every 100 meters or so. Today I actually got lost going to my hostel and two Jehovah's witness girls were walking by and offered to take me to my hostel. They were very sweet. They worked together to carry my backpack. It was probably only .2 miles away, but I don't know what I would have done without them.
I don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow. I might go to the British museum in the morning and to the library in the afternoon. I've started writing postcards and buying gifts. I don't know how long the post card thing will last, but it's good for now.
I'm tired. I'm so happy to be here, but I'll be very ready to get back. I thought to go to Brighton Saturday to stay with an FA fellow and eat a few square meals that don't just make me feel like I'm snacking (speaking of food, I had some strawberry grapes today. They're grapes with a strawberry twang and they're DELICIOUS!). I haven't heard from her yet so we'll see. If I don't hear from her by tomorrow afternoon, I'll shoot her another email and then just plan on maybe trying to make a day trip to the hundred acre wood.
Y'all are much loved.
Zoe

Sunday, September 18, 2011

A Post On Which I Rhyme

A whole lot has happened
since I wrote last time
so I thought I'd catch you up
by writing a little rhyme.

On Friday I spent the day
wandering around the town
with my new friend Frank
who had only just come down

from Scotland earlier that day
but he's originally from Maryland.
I found Westminster, Parliament,
And Big Ben to be quite grand.

Saturday was a little rough
I didn't know where I'd sleep
I walked around some in the rain
But I didn't cry a peep.

I finally found a place to stay
And it's better than the place before
I'm glad it was so comfy, so of that
kind of lost I can do no more.

Today was the first real chill.
I felt it down to my bones
While I was walking through Regent's Park
Down to the museum's old stone.

There I saw the Rosetta one
And old grecian urns
and enough parts of the parthenon
to make my head do turns.

And then I paid my homage to Keats
The most romantic of all poets
He was brilliant in his young age
and he didn't even know its.

Then I went to church
to conclude a happy Sunday
tomorrow is coming up quick
and know it'll be a funday!

Friday, September 16, 2011

Good Life: Second Day Journies

Good Morning!

 
There's a song by OneRepublic. It's pretty catchy, but the first of the lyrics are something to the extent of "I woke up yesterday morning in London, somewhere near Picadilly" which is the truth for this kid!

I spent most of yesterday wandering around Hyde Park. It's huge! And it's exactly what I picture when I think about JM Barrie writing Peter Pann or Nanny's taking their prams out for a spin. It was absolutely and I think that if I have an extra day, I'll just come back and sit under the branches of this enormous tree for a few hours and then go back to my spot in the tall grasses.

I made a friend over that way, too. His name was Pat (short for Patrick, of course) and he was from Ireland. He'd moved to London in the 60s and was a builder. A lot of times I can't tell if people enjoy talking or if they feel obligated because they have someone there and they think they need to talk with them. I'm sure it the former; however, I've had this complex my whole life about people feeling obligated to pay attention to me. That's not so much true anymore, but I have pages and pages in my kid diaries about how my friends only hung out with me because they felt sorry for me. I eventually convinced myself that wasn't true because I never hung out with people I didn't want to be with, and I needed to assume that was true across the board.

Last night I was walking around with two young women from Australia (I've had three Australians in my room the past two nights; although none of them knew the others previously). They were trying to find a place to eat. It seems to hit me that I'm in London whenever I walk out of buildings and into the streets. It happened again last night and I merrily proclaimed "We're in London!" One girl said "Yes, I guess is hasn't hit me yet" or "It doesn't really feel like it" or some other note of incomprehension. And I brought up something my Dad told me whenever I was wanting to up and move from wherever I was. He's told me repeatedly that "Wherever you go, there you are."

We're ourselves regardless of the context of our situation. We're not going to feel any different (unless there's some physical difference, of course: hot/cold, smog/no smog, etc.), because no matter where we go we're still ourselves. I thought that during the engagement process I would somehow become an adult before I got married because only adults get married. But, I'm coming to realize that no matter how old I am, I'm still my same age. It's just like how on your birthday someone inevitably asks if you feel old, and you never really do. Although this is very depressing for the 15 now 16-year old, it's really nice when you're 22 and thinking of losing your child self is really sad. I don't ever have to grow up. And it's okay to just be me in London. I'm my own favorite travelling companion (sorry, Bear.)

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Amber in the Ocean: Day 1 First Impressions


Who wouldn't want to be welcomed by this guy, huh?

I'm here! I made it off okay yesterday (on two hours of sleep....). My apartment's not as clean as I want it to be, but cleaning my room was not my motivation to adventure to London.



My flight over was AMAZING! Not even kidding. I had the window seat on both flights, and on the second flight, no one was sitting beside me. They aired two epidsodes of Parks and Rec., one episode of The Office, and one episode of Community. I watched this other movie called Arthur about this trust fund baby who was wasting his life on loose living until he was changed by this girl and his nanny. It was actually really funny. Bear and I were quite happy. When I was coming back from DC during a brief visit last February, an old man stopped by my seat on his way back from the rest room. He pet Bear's head and told me that I would never have a better travelling companion.

Flying into London was beautiful, too. I told my parents and Brandon that it looks like someone dropped amber gems into the ocean. I tried to take a picture of it, but we were going all too quickly. I tried to tell the pilot that this was important, but he wouldn't listen.



 
I'm happy to be alive today. I'm going to sit in Hyde Park and have a conversation with Somerset Maughm.

They all have English accents here. I feel like I've walked into Love Actually (but only as an extra).

Cheers!

Monday, September 12, 2011

A List to Cross

Today's To-dos:

  • Pack (This includes setting aside the clothes I'm going to wear tomorrow, Tuesday, and Wednesday so that when I zip up my bag today, it stays zip; although, the likelihood of that happening is very slim).
  • Find a place to sleep in London at least for the first night.
  • Go to the bank to pick up my currency, raise my spending limit, and tell them I'll be in London so they don't cancel my credit card when I use it for an emergency. Like Pam and Jim... but not.
  • See if I can take my 8 oz of yogurt, 1.5 oz oats, 6 oz of fruit, and 8 oz of milk through customs.
  • Finish the guest list to the best of my ability.
GO!


Sunday, September 11, 2011

The Not-Emo Post

The only category I can put the posts that I've begun and obliterated in is "emo." So here's how things are:

1. I've only partially packed. I've chosen the clothes I would like to take. The clean ones are either in my laundry bag or chaotically folded into crumbled piles on my bed (which I would like to crawl into and I'm not sure what to do with my crumpled piles).

2. I'll be in England within approximately 72 hours, and I have no idea where I'm going to go once I get off of the plane on Wednesday night (10:45 their time). What makes me not worried about all that is the fact that there are hostels every where in London, and I'm in full confidence that they speak English in England.

3. I saw two people in a restaurant yesterday that I knew from my past life at OCU, and I didn't want to say hello to either of them because I was scared. That's dumb. It's much better to look like an idiot to someone who doesn't remember me than to make someone who does remember me feel insignificant because I'm a pansy. I've been given too much good in my life to let fear stop me from loving people.

4. I wasn't able to wear my engagement ring yesterday because I have a rash on my left hand. It went away on all accounts except the area around ring so I took a ring break. I put it back on today because not wearing it felt really uncomfortable, and I'm treating it with hydrocortizone cream and intense lotion.



 


Friday, September 9, 2011

The Untitled Title

This evening I watched The Little Mermaid, cooked eggs, and put the first coat of "gloss ivory" on one of my dining room chairs (if you can really call it a dining room). 

And now I'm logging on the web ("web-logging" is what is is called, "blogging" if you're hip enough to go there). When really I have a wedding to plan, a book to write, a car to find, and a backpack to pack that's coming with me to England on Wednesday. However, I kept promising myself I would get these chairs done, and I think if I make a good practice of keeping the promises I make to myself, all of the above things will get done, too. 

Ya gotta have faith.  Good thing that's my middle name.

(Can you tell that the font's green?)