le semana del muerte fuego.

This week, oi.

On odd weeks I have two tutorials. One on Wednesday (see post from last Wednesday) and one on Thursday at 3. This means I am doing two essays this week. Not so bad, and totally doable on top of the lectures. But this week we also had a long essay proposal due (in which we present our question, thesis and sources we will use, along with their location in the Bodley). So that sucked up almost a whole days time to work on these two essays I have looming. Thus it is almost 3 am and I am sitting in the living room with Robby-mc-roberson (who is wearing blue pj bottoms and a long john shirt, coffee at his feet and oatmeal at his left, sorry, right) writing this post. Today I sat in my room all day writing my paper about Kit Marlowe and Doctor Faustus (Goethe is much better in my opinion). Then I went to my tutorial, got back, took a break for a bit and now I am on to Much Ado About Nothing. I love my Shakespeare tutorial but man I wish it was on Friday.

Plan of action: sleep till 7, get up and write. Be done at 12. Editing done at 1. Tutorial at 3.

pray for me :)

the fridged freezingness

Today was tea at Frewin Court. Frewin is the office where the lovely people who make it possible for me to be here work. Its this little tiny place, between a pub and a club down an alley off of Cornmarket Street, which happens to be the busiest street in Oxford. Its a cool feeling when Im walking through a crowd of people to suddenly turn off the street down an alley. I feel super sneeky secret agent style. Its 2 stories, which in England means that its actually 3 stories plus the basement (Crick is like that too), with offices on the ground and first floor, and conference rooms on the second floor and in the basement is a kitchen, mailboxes, and couches galore. Its small though, dont get me wrong, shuved between two buildings.

ANYWAY...I engaged in some amazing conversation at tea, about Christopher Marlowe, christian schemes, grad school, Augustine, Virginia Woolf, the Archbishop of Georgia, post-colonialism and Simons 31/2 year old daughter. After tea I went to the Oxford University Origami Society...please dont judge. After this..wow it is taking me a LONG time to get to the point of this post...

It was dark by the time I left downtown (530-6ish, actually it starts getting dark here at like 3) and it was raining. Now normally this isn't a big deal except this morning it was sunny out so Ashley has her flats on with no umbrella. But thank the Lord for Peacoats (sp?) and scarves because on the way home it was FREEZING. I could feel the blood pulling away from the surface of my body, couldnt feel my thighs and my ears went totally numb. As I rounded the corner of Crick road I could see the lights of the house and broke into a jog as it started to snow. (!)

According to the internet it was 3degrees outside, celsius. It freezes at 0.

brrrr..

its raining its pouring

Exciting things that happened this morning:

Technically morning 12-2
I made snickerdoodles
I ate chocolate covered strawberries made by christye
I read out of my new Wordsworth Complete works, published in 1918

Morning according to normal people 8-12
I watched Shakespeare in Love (studying marlowe and shakespeare this week)
I stayed in my pjs until 1 (so technically not morning)
Dave made coffee
I almost finished my long essay proposal
It poured rain

My life is thrilling.

Actually what makes it all better is that I'm in Oxford.

to substitute, not replace, alta

Yesterday my friend Danny and I decided to get some lunch while we took a break from the Library. He said "where do you wanna go?" I said "somewhere warm". It was freezing yesterday. So he said, ok I'll take you to my favorite coffee shop.

So we walked down Cornmarket Street, down St. Giles and ducked into a little place called Green's, which happens to share a wall with the famous Eagle and Child pub (which I still havent been to yet cause I heard its not that good). Green's is fairly inexpensive, always a plus, and I noticed within the first 5 min. of being there that the music they play is good (Coldplay, David Grey, Beatles, Iron and Wine). We got some coffee and a muffin and headed upstairs. Most places in Oxford used to be houses, but now that they are restaurants you order downstairs and there is seating upstairs...even McDonalds. I was delightfully surprised by the accomodations upstairs. There is a room to the left with a window that overlooks the street, lots of tables and chairs, a fireplace and art on the walls. In the room on the right there are more tables, two windows and some couches. In this room there are pictures of El Capitan and Half Dome, from someones random adventure. We grabbed a seat on the couch and talked and ate and then he asked me to teach him how to draw (like it would just take a few minutes) so we did...for about an hour. It was so pleasant.

Then today I got up and went down to Green's again. The Bodley doesnt open until 10 on saturdays so I spent some time reading Much Ado About Nothing first, which is the play Im reading for my Shakespeare tutorial this week. After the Bod closed at 4 Koleun and I went back to this wonderful little coffee shop, got tea and a smile from the girl behind the counter, and sat reading until 7. (well, almost 7)

Needless to say, I found a new hangout spot.

superhero tutor

Last night I had my early british literature (1509-1620) tutorial at Regents Park College with Dr. Richard Lawes. It is my primary tutorial, meaning that I meet with him once a week, and my essay this week was on John Donne.

I found out a few days ago just how incredible this Richard Lawes is. He lives in London, so he has a hour to an hour and a half commute everyday. Not only is he a tutor in Oxford but he also has students at Magdalen College at Cambridge University. He also is a doctor of medicine so two days a week he works in a hospital. He carries a toothbrush in the left inside pocket of his jacket, an umbrella on most days, even if its not raining and wears a gold wedding band on his left hand.

Anyway, it was a really good tutorial. We talked about the paradox that Donne employs in his poetry, the fact that he talks about love and God using the same words and image and how he wrestles with his faith.

My tutorial is at 20:00 in town, so I have to walk a ways in the dark. Last night before I left I asked my friends TJ (Biola) and Dave (Waynesburg PA) to walk me down so I wouldnt have to walk by myself. Teej said "hmm...your tutorial is an hour? Dave, what in the world could we do for an hour while we wait for Ashley?" Dave replied in his slight PA accent "Im pretty sure there are more than 69 pubs open in Oxford that would gladly accommodate" Keep in mind that these are the boys that are determined to try every pub in Oxford before they leave. :) So they walked me there and picked me up and then we had a pleasant, but brisk, walk home.

please accept my apology

I am so very sorry for the lack of updating. For those living vicariously through my blog, take a deep breath and start to live again, because now that the pressure I was thrown into as soon as I got back is fading for a moment I will try my darndest to catch you up on the happenings in Oxford.

Let me tell you about my morning.

This morning I woke up (the white blinds were closed, and it was sunny this morning for the first time in 3 or 4 days, there was a lot of white light in our room and so I thought it had snowed outside while we were asleep...sorta disappointing) refreshed and ready to go. I cleaned my room, ate breakfast and headed out for a lecture entitled "Contextualizing Virginia Woolf", which was absolutely amazing and helped me a tun because I am planning on writing my long essay on the Bloomsbury group.

Then I quickly walked to Frewin Court (the main office for the SCIO program...which is oddly placed between a bar and a club) because it was really cold outside today. I opened the big red door, walked down the twisting staircase to the basement where the mail (and a random assortment of couches) is located. And what was waiting for me on the coffee table??

A PACKAGE COVERED IN STICKERS!!! I promptly opened it, feeling the anticipation of everyone in the room. Inside I discovered contents of the most wonderful nature, from two of the most wonderful children ever. Original pieces of art (that I hung on my wall as soon as I got home) 4 boxes of macaroni and cheese, a box of ritz crackers (much needed and missed snacks) and....dut duu da daaaaaa!!!!!!!!!

A CAMERA!!!! OH MY GOSH I AM STILL SO EXCITED! I can not wait to walk around the city and capture all the things I have been looking at for the last month and a half. I ran around the house showing everyone who would listen. :) Then I called the Robecks and talked to Cristina and Rebekah.

me: bekah guess what I got in the mail today!
RRR: (in a sleepy voice) what?
me: I got a big box with lots of stickers all over it..
RRR: (gasp) That was from mee!! were you excited?
me: of course I was! all my friends were really excited too.
RRR: really? did they like it?
me: yup and I was jumping up and down cause I was so happy.

Since then I have been working on a paper. Currently I have a working outline and I probably wont sleep until I have a draft. But first..dinner.

a sampling of haslach

This is what most of the trees looked like this weekend. And I love fall.

This is the old church tower and the new one. A really good view of both, kindof a sweet pic

These houses run along the outside walls of the old city. It was built in the 1700s?

This is a picture I took on our drive through the countryside with Michaela and Ludwig. Thats Haslach down there..and some other small villages, with the Black forest surrounding it. It was really cold...

This is Uncle Sepp's house. Michaela's is about a block up the street behind it. This is where my mom stayed when she visited as well.

Again..love the colors.

This is a pic walking down into the city..





This is a picure of my mom in Bollenbach..one of the many I aquired this weekend. Im totally diggin the hot pink pants. We really do look alike huh? (ps. she may die when she sees this on here) i love you mom.

a little farmhouse in the kinzig valley

Today, there was painting.

This morning I woke up in a little farmhouse, with a view out my window of the Black Forest. It was cloudy, but I was hopeful. I got up, took the most wonderful shower in 3 weeks, and went down and ate breakfast with my cousin Stefan and his wife Silvia.

After breakfast I went down in front of the house to paint. Its tucked into a hillside surrounded by green fields, an apple orchard and dark evergreen trees. As I painted the clouds came and went and I took a few breaks for coffee. It was incredibly relaxing..to sit, paint, play with their cat, and then turn around and look down at the Kinzig valley and Haslach at the bottom of it.
You see, this house is 270 years old and my great great great grandparents built it. Stefan grew up here and it has been a unique symbol of togetherness for my family. Many people lived here and there are many, many pictures of family together in front of it.

And today (monday) I painted it for my mom.

to mom, haslach in fall colors

This morning I woke up at 11. Its the latest Ive slept since Ive been over here. But I was sooo tired last night. It felt good to be rested today.

So when I left oxford I had to pack in a hurry. We had two papers due the morning I left, so I was editing them and trying to pack at the same time. Inevitably (is that how you spell that word?) I forgot some stuff. Socks, shoes other than my flats, and shampoo. Oops. Anyway I wish I had €1 for every time I have gotten a comment about how my feet must be cold. sheesh.

So I got up and had some breakfast. THen Michaelas daughter Valeska came over with Zepp. They had lunch with us. It was fun, Zepp is a really cute old man and he likes to talk and make jokes. No mom, he didnt give me alcohol but he did ask if I had a boyfriend. He also asked about Mark. I guess tomorrow we are going to go to Strausberg with him, he is going to show me around. Thats really exciting.

After lunch Michaela and Ludwig took me to a train model museum. It was actually really cool, despite how it sounds. It shows the train that goes through the kitzig valley and everything is so intricate and detailed. The lights go down for nighttime, all the trains stop at the stations, theres little people and cars that stop at stop lights...it was cool.

Then we drove around the countryside. SO BEAUTIFUL. Everything is green and the black forest actually looked black today, except it looks like somebody sprinkled yellow and orange and red into it. They showed me the flat your mom lived in with Roswitha in Haslach. And a bunch of the little villages around. I have pics, those will come later.

Tonight after dinner Michaelas sister Eunice came over, and brought pictures. Theres one of Roswitha and Clint, when they came here. And then my favorite picture as of yet, the one of you when you were here with Gisela, you have on neon pink pants and your hair is cut really similar to mine. There is one in front of the farmhouse and then one of you guys walking up the road in Bollenbach. I took pictures of those so you can have a copy.

I think I am going to try to get up early in the morning and go for a walk around the city. I love you, a whole lot. Oh! while Eunice was here they asked to see pictures. I showed them the one of the house in the snow, the one of you and dad at yosemite and then the one at sarahs graduation, with Mark in it. Then pulled up a map of Cali and showed them where all of you guys live. and, random question, how old is anthony?

love you.

to my mom, from the motherland

So this morning I woke up at 445, got myself some toast, and headed down to the bus stop at Gloucester Green to catch the 530 coach to Heathrow. Christye went with me, such an amazing friend! Let me tell you that I slept all the way there. I got on the plane, slept, and then got off to get my bag. It was a pretty good flight, first time in a long time that I have flown with no one next to me.

At the border they always ask you the purpose of your visit. It was cool to tell them I was visiting family. Oh ya, security in London is rediculous. They take your picture before you go through security, and you walk through the metal dector and they frisk you. WEIRD. So I got my amazing backpack off the conveyor belt and walked out the door. I was sorta worried that I wouldnt recognize Michaela, but that was dumb of me. SHE LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE GISELA. And you and roswita to an extent. I knew exactly who she was when I saw her. And she did too I think, the first thing they did was hug me and then she said "and you have a Fix nose!" LOL.

After that we went and met her son, Florian, who is studying in Stuttgart. Then they took me to Octoberfest..which is apparently a huge thing in Germany. And she told me the one in Stuttgart is the second largest in the country. So, we walked around, had lunch and oh my goodness. They were playing traditional music, and there were hundreds of German people singing along in all the right places and some of them were up on the tables and EVERYONE had a beer. And im not talking like a bottle, more like a LITRE. Dont worry, I ordered a coke.

After that we walked around the carnival more and Florian and I went on a Drop Zoneish sorta ride. It was fun, they all got a kick out of watching me screem.

After that we drove back to Haslach. I slept part of the way but as soon as we got to the Black Forest I was wide awake. IT IS SOOO BEAUTIFUL. The hills are steep and all along the top are immence pine trees, thick. And the valleys are beautiful green rolling hills and the treeline is lined with all kinds of trees that are turning color. Red, orange, yellow, lime green. And farm houses nestled into the landscape, with smoke coming out of the stacks. Amazing.

We got here and after I put my stuff down they took me on a walk around Haslach. It was so sureal. All the stuff Ive ever heard about it and here I am, walking through it on coblestone streets being told all about it as we pass all kinds of people Michaela and Ludwig know. We went to the cemetary, the church were Roswita and Gisela were baptized, and saw where your parents used to live, which isnt exactly there anymore. I took tuns of pictures but I wont be able to put them up till I get back to Oxford.

Next we stopped at Michaelas fathers house...Stephan? Anyway, this is my favorite part. He is super cute, but highly dissapointed I dont speak any German. He got out photo albums. He has the originals of a lot of the copies you have. They told me names of the people in the picture with the nun, but i dont know if Ill be able to remember. Then he showed me a picture of you and your mom at christmas in Danville, I guess it belonged to Michaelas mom. Then I almost cried when he gave it to me. :)

Um, what else..oh he had a copy of the poem you have in the hallway, I asked Michaela if she would traslate it for you..she said yes.

We ate dinner, sausage salad, (consisting of sausage, cheese and onions with oil and vinegar over it) and then meat and cheese and bread.

And now Im writing you this. And every Y i have typed was first a z and then i had to go back and fix it, because the y and z are switched on this keyboard. I love you. Its a little weird I think, being here without you. I think that we should try really hard to make that trip with everybody.

I love you a whole lot. Dad too.