NFL fun

Ive slacked with my posts but there is good reason...We have been busy with cool things like NFL games.. We've also been saying goodbyes to Paul's friends and family, and traveled up north to Chester to see my aunt and uncle, and now we are in Scotland at my cousin Rachel's house. I did have time to write on the buses and in the car, but I'm also trying to finish this 500 page book I've been carting around and promised I would finish it before we leave the uk. So there you have it. And also, traveling is tiring so I have found myself dozing off during these bus and car journeys. My bad!

The Jags game was interesting. I knew that we would probably be disappointed with the score based upon their record this year, but it was still fun. It was a totally different experience to what I'm used to. There was a "tailgate area" where you could buy food and drinks, they had the cheerleaders parading around on a little stage, as well as a band and other entertainment going on. There was no cornhole or anything like that, and all the entertainment and food stalls shut down an hour before the game. There were people wearing all different teams' jerseys, not just the Jags and 49ers. It was more like a celebration of American Football than a regular game. I was surprised at how many Brits were really into the NFL. I guess it's like the people who follow the Premier league in the US, but that's mostly glory chasers who like teams like Man U or Arsenal. However, I did see Bills, Lions, Falcons, Patriots, Seahawks, etc jerseys walking around so it seemed like there were lots of people who followed a specific team.

And the there was Ne-Yo. We were walking in just before kickoff and I hear a montage of songs I've heard but since I'm not into mainstream radio and it's mostly stuff I hear at the gym or something I knew the songs but I didn't realize the singer was on stage performing. We were walking up to our section and I looked into an entrance for another section and saw this guy singing on stage. It wasn't until we got to our seats that the announcer said it was Ne-Yo.. That was something different to back home..  Unless it's the Super Bowl or a bowl game or something you don't usually have a recording artist perform at a game. Then he came out and sang the national anthem! It was nuts. They really played up the entertainment during pauses in the game too... It was a lot of fun even though the Jags are terrible and we were embarrassed. We got some banter from the Brit fans when we left in the 4th quarter but laughed it off.. The game was all around a good time and we are so thankful to Stephen for getting us tickets so we could experience a game across the pond... Definitely a different feelifng in Wembley Stadium! 

Next I'll write about a British Halloween..... I'll make myself useful during the 7 hour car ride back to Chester tomorrow :)

MC

Common courtesy

Well we are on our way back to London, a final journey from Portsmouth to Victoria Coach station. It won't be our last visit to Victoria, as we have 2 more bus journeys after this one.. I've noticed after being on buses that when it's busy, there's bound to be one extremely loud individual who talks the ENTIRE time like.. The last time was when we were heading back from Brighton and I was in an exceptionally irritable mood due to feeling poorly.... That individual wanted to let the whole bus know all about his night before and discuss the features of the iPhone 5 and other various Apple products. I wanted to throw my Apple products at his head in hopes it would stop him from talking on and on and on for 2 hours straight. I took many deep breaths and Paul and I rolled our eyes many times.

This time I have the opportunity to sit next to a guy who apparently wants the entire bus to hear his conversation. We are sitting in the very back of the bus.. I. Want. To. Shove. Socks. In. His. Mouth. I have my iPod playing some sweet tunes in my ears and I can still hear him over it. I refuse to turn it up any louder as the person next to me may hear it, and I don't want to be annoying. I have 200 pages left in my book and I realllly wanted to finish it today, but even with tissues in my ears , my ADD brain could not shut out the endless yacking coming from across the aisle. 

Now I know that London is basically a stones throw from Portsmouth, it's only a 2 hour bus ride... But if there is one thing that has been reinforced in my mind from my journeys on buses, trains, and planes, it's that there must be some common courtesy. Believe it or not, no one in your immediate area (except of course, your seat mate) cares about what your have to say, no matter how many expressive hand gestures and tones of voice you use. We are all just trying to get to our destinations, plodding along without bothering anyone.. How I wish everyone had the same mindset. There's a reason why phones aren't allowed in the "on" position on planes, it's because people seem to have lost common courtesy and there would be 250 phone conversations going on at once and no one could hear anything if there was an emergency. Ha. 

This isn't the first time I've been short tempered (keeping it inside, of course.. It's the Brit in me) about being stuck in close proximity to people who have no common courtesy. One time on the train there was a lady talking to someone on the phone for the whole train journey! It was over an hour of her yacking about some teaching conference she went to. People kept looking at her and giving her looks due to the volume of her voice. Another time I was seated in front of 2 businessmen who were comparing salary and sales and all that jazz, very loudly as if they wanted to impress the whole plane, for like an hour straight. Last time we came from London, there was a dude in the back and every other word was the f word while he spoke to someone on the phone. I felt sorry for whoever was on the other end. There's a time and place of lively conversation... For the sake of everyone involved in this traveling experience, there needs to be some unwritten rules taught that set a specific volume level and duration for conversation. That's just my idea.....

Tomorrow we get to see our hometown team, the bottom-of-the-league Jacksonville Jaguars, take over Wembley against the 49ers. The other times we made it to a game they won, so maybe tomorrow will be the turning point and they win A game. I will send good vibes. :) Monday we head up to see Ian and Celia, and will be enduring a 6 hour bus journey. I will bring my earplugs along in my purse for that journey, so I can peacefully sit and enjoy my bus ride in the case that I have loud friends along for the ride. Call me bitter, but I guess I was taught manners and when you're in a public place, especially an enclosed coach, it's not polite to be loud and annoying. Thanks Mom and Dad for raising me to be a polite member of society. I wish everyone had that upbringing!

Movies in the UK

For Just a quick update... We went to the movies to see Captian Phillips today with Paul's mum. I realized how similar the experience is to our movie experience, except they have......

For anyone who has not tried British chocolate, please find your nearest Publix or other store with an "ethnic food" aisle, go pick up a crunchie bar or a curly wurly, or a twirl bar, lion bar, milky buttons, etc. Your mouth will love you forever. I'm not a huge milky chocolate fan, I prefer the super dark bars, but omg if you eat slowly and savor their chocolate, it's an experience. Not waxy and so creamy.... And they get to snack on it at the movies! I didn't get the popcorn here, but, Paul says it is sweet and salty.. I think they have a good thing going here. Too bad, like our cinemas, it costs an arm and a leg to see a movie   get snacks, and the whole 9 yards. We were lucky it was "Super Tuesday" and we got 1/3 off the ticket price. And like we do back home, we smuggled snacks in purses. Oh yeah they had a Ben and Jerry's ice cream bar too. Craziness.

We are going to the Jaguars game this Sunday before we head to Chester..... If anyone knows anyone that's going, we would be happy to meet up and tailgate (yes you can tailgate here, but you have to have a ticket to get into the grounds) before the game! So lucky to have gotten to do  all this cool stuff here.. We have some great friends and family. :) it will be strange to be a traveler in a foreign land with language barriers soon... Strange but exciting..

Until next time.... Hopefully we will see a WIN for the Jags. Poor guys, it's pathetic.

MC

****if you can't find British chocolate at your grocery store world market is another gem that sells all the goods.

Late nights

The Local Natives concert was great, they sound just the same as they do on my iPod and they put on a killer show. The concert was in Brixton, a part of London that is having a pretty big rejuvenation. Paul and I were warned about this part of London because it's supposed to be scary, i.e. One of Paul's friends was stabbed at a KFC because he stuck out as a visitor. It was a cool place though with cool bars and restaurants. We got out of there before the tubes shut at midnight, though. We didn't end up getting back to Stephens apartment until 3 am.... It was interesting being on the late bus through London on a Thursday.. It was so busy!

The next morning I dragged myself to a yoga studio about a mile from Stephens house. It was a 90 minute class and totally reinvigorated my body and was much needed. A much better class than the gym yoga class I took at the gym we got a free month to ( it pays to know people :) ) in Portsmouth. Needless to say we have kept very fit between using the free gym and walking wayyyy over 10,000 steps daily. This pedometer watch I bought was a great investment.

My good feeling was shattered the next night we had yet another late night out after traveling back to Portsmouth  to go out to dinner with Paul's friends and their wives/girlfriends. I learned that doing 2 3am nights in a row is now longer a feat I can do and feel like a human being for days to come. I am still recovering from the combo of Thursday/Friday. I guess I am now "old" and a detox is currently underway. Hooray for fresh veggies, ginger/lemon tea, yoga, sauna at the free gym, and lukewarm lemon water. You can take the health nut away from home but you can't make her stop being a health nut... Being a yogi has given me a feeling of knowing when my body feels right, and between Thursday and Sunday, I definitely felt out of whack. Despite of all this, I still had a blast and have no regrets. Just thankful I know how to get back to equilibrium! Or at least on my way there..... :) 

We are going hiking tomorrow! Hopefully the rain holds out.. Last few days in Paul's hometown before we head up to Chester to see my auntie and uncle, and then cousins in Scotland... Looking forward for the future. :)

What a weekend.

So I finally got my yellow fever shot last Thursday and I am finally feeling normal again. The day after we went to a model village called Butser where they had lots of goats and straw huts.. It shows what life was like back in roman times. Unfortunately due to the side effects of my shot I felt awful while we were there. I decided life in those times was probably hard, cold, and terrible. That may have been the yellow fever talking...

I still haven't gotten my wish to hike yet, but that's the issue you face when you don't have a car. It's nice to walk everywhere and not spend money on gas and whatnot, but for when you want to go to a random trail off the motorway it's tough. Especially when there is only one bus that goes there daily... Maybe we can hitch a ride with one of Paul's friends and get dropped there.. One has actually offered and I think we should take him up on it. :) 

Saturday Paul and I did a pretty intense workout and got our photo snapped by the trainer, Bic. Here is the pic from Bic of Xstream Fitness.... Definitely a doozie of a workout, and whatever yellow fever was still left from my vaccine was surely sweated out!

We had a fun weekend that included a surprise trip to Brighton to see Suzi, Paul's little brilliant sister. She is getting her PhD in breast cancer research, and she knows how to have a good time...what a girl!! We only stayed the night, but, we had a lot of fun. While I somewhat feel like I am back in college again due to the total lack of responsibility (minus budgeting and paying bills at home) and current employment status, I definitely cannot live like I did back then. I am so used to taking care of my body ...being careful of  what I put in and getting a little sweat in everyday, that when I deviate from that routine I cannot be a productive part of society the next day. Or I am just getting old... Regardless, we had a great time in Brighton and I wished we could have spent more time there. Here are some highlights from that night... 

As you can see the night progressed to me doing some sort of weird pose and Paul making faces into the kebab shop. I ate a entire falafel kebab and was glad it was a rainy day the next day..........

If you want to see more photos than what I post on here, friend me on Facebook or follow me on Instagram.. @mchophop

Since our return to Portsmouth, we have recouped from our quick trip and have been enjoying the sunshine.. Paul gets his dose of yellow fever tomorrow and I hope he doesn't have the reaction I did.. The we head to London  to see one of our fave bands, the Local Natives, and head back for a big dinner with all of Paul's friends and their wives... All I know is I will not put myself through the ringer as I did this past weekend. Wish me luck!

Local natives....

http://youtu.be/NmefFcRJbXE

A feeling I haven't felt in a while..

I was thinking today of how clear my mind has been lately, and I think it is down to the lack of stress and anxiety I usually have moving around my head like the ball in a pinball machine. For the first time in probably 6 years, I feel calm and at ease. No worries of students lives, data, planning, observations, coworker drama, working multiple jobs, etc etc. I feel normal again.. Funny now detaching yourself from everything that you are familiar with will make you closer to your true self and feel free... It will be hard to go back to a grind when these magical months are over, but I will remember this feeling I have currently and know how to get back to it.. Maybe in India I will finally get better at meditation and can make this feeling my happy place...haha.

Speaking of India, the great outsourcing company VFS was brilliant in processing our visas and we are officially allowed to enter and stay for 6 months if we wanted to... So quick. It took 3 days, unlike the company they use in the US that would have taken anywhere between 3-25 days to process, if we were lucky.The office we went to in Atlanta before leaving in hopes to get the visas then was the most unorganized and unprofessional mess I have ever experienced in terms of travel documents. Be wary of this should anyone want to get a visa for India in the US. It can be a confusing process!

We have been back in Portsmouth since our last commute to London, but as we are professional commuters now and should probably buy stock in National Express, we are heading back up to London for the Local Natives concert next week. It will be awesome! During our week so far we have ventured out into other parts of Hampshire and seen small villages and pretty vistas. I am getting antsy to go hiking in the South Downs hills and talk to some of the sheep I've seen on top of the hill... I think that maybe we will venture out that way later this week. I'll be sure to post photos. :)

I ran my first international race on Sunday, and thinking my poor quality of sleep the night before would have make it an awful experience, I surprised myself and got my fastest 10K time to date... 47:15. I also came in 4th in the overall women's division.. I killed it! It was awesome! It didn't dawn on me that I was doing so well until the turnaround mark, where I noticed that there weren't hardly any women heading back toward the finish line and I was surrounded by dudes except for a couple other girls... It felt amazing, and the weather was unbelievable.. Sunny, around 63, and hardly any wind. I couldn't have asked for a better day. Coming in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd would have been sweet though.. ;) I've set a new pr to beat!

Stephen has come down to visit for a few days this week.. We played trivia at a local pub last night, or "pub quiz" as they call it here. I love trivia, especially when it involves fun people and a few drinks. We had a great time and while we didn't win, we did better than the last time we played trivia... It's hard being foreign for these questions though because half the people I didn't know, and I'm not up to date on all current events! That's another good thing about travel... You see places through a visitors eyes and don't have to get wrapped up in all the political and social issues that would affect you if you lived there.... I must say its nice not being wrapped up in the mess at home either... Out of sight, out of mind. I will never miss seeing all our problems plastered over the news every time I turn on tv or happen to be at the gym and be subjected to Fox News as I sweat on the cardio machine. I will continue to live in the moment and not worry about things I have no control over... Travel is awesome to promote a healthy mind.. I suggest everyone at least set goals to visit somewhere unknown and work toward it.. It definitely makes life more interesting! 

Until next time...

MC

London Commuters

At this rate, we might as well get a job in London and start commuting on the regular. We turned our India visa paperwork and surprisingly they were processed and ready for pickup as of Monday. So, we are heading back to London tomorrow to pick them up. The visa processing service is outsourced so they were unable to tell me whether the applications are actually approved.... I was worried because of the such quick turnaround that something went wrong... I guess that is a half glass empty mindset I need to get rid of! So we will see tomorrow when we open up the sealed envelope from the High Comission of India at the outsourced processing center. India is the king of outsourcing so it only makes sense...haha.

While in London we did have a great time with Steve, walking around the high streets, seeing the architecture and enjoying the food. We had some awesome pho, which, we can only compare to our mom n pop Vietnamese restaurant in Atlantic Beach. We thought that place was the bomb too, and it lacks ambiance in all definitions of the word. This place we went to had a full drink menu, was candlelit, and had the freshest ingredients and stocks that simmer for 12 hours before serving.. So good. That's one thing I've noticed here.. People may slag off the Brits for having the rep for "dull food", but in reality it goes way above ours... Everything is fresh, and you can even see the farmers name on some of the produce you buy and the supermarket. And their ingredients lists on packaged stuff is decipherable and not 3 paragraphs long. Delish. Europeans have it right when it comes to good quality produce, too. It smells and tastes better than our organics. But then again, it doesn't have to travel as far as ours does. So I guess it's all relative.

Now I'm sounding like a foodie. Here are some pictures of what I saw in the Borough Market, a wonderland of fresh breads and cakes, meats, cheeses, produce, seafood, spices, jams, etc. Paul and I were in sampling heaven and had lunch there as well. I'm forever grateful to Steve for taking us to this gem. O.m.g.

Mmmmm meringues.

Oh and the fresh stuff is so cheap......way cheaper to buy tons of fresh food and cook it rather than eating out. We have been very lucky to have some nice home cooked meals and meals with Paul's friends in Portsmouth, which has saved us a lot of money. The hard thing about traveling is finding where the decently priced food is if you cannot cook your own. 

In Iceland it was super expensive to eat out, so we would go to the supermarkets and buy the soup they sold there from the salad bar or other ready made meals. At the hostels and with our host Inga we cooked some yummy stuff in her kitchen. I'm interested to see where our other destinations will take us on our food journey.... Ya gotta eat to live! In Peru 2 years ago I lived on canned tuna, bread, and fruits when we didn't order the " Meal of the Day" where the locals eat... It will be cool to compare different cultures "meals of the day" as we venture on.. I just hope I can stomach it.

Next I will write about all the family fun we have had the past couple days..... We have been busy seeing family and friends, as well as seeing sights around Portsmouth that I haven't really been able to sit down and write. I will try to get better at this blogging thing... It actually takes some time to write, as I have foolishly forgotten. Cheers!