Back from New York

So I’m back.  Actually, I got back on Sunday night which is two days ago but I have pretty bad jetlag and I am very, very tired on top of that.  I had ambitious ideas about spending the week blogging and finishing it all up by the end of the week but that’s unlikely to happen; I’m more likely to spend the week doing absolutely nothing instead. 

To put it into perspective, when we went on our road trip in December, we would see one, maybe two attractions in a day.  I found that pretty tiring but to be fair, I was sick.  I was seeing three or four attractions a day in New York, walking three to five miles every day and I walked a record-breaking 7.8 miles in 30°c, humid conditions on Friday when I was in DC.  I sound like I’m complaining – I’m not.  I had the most amazing, wonderful trip and I saw so much.  I’m just very much in need of a mental holiday right now.  I also need to get back into Greenwich Mean Time which means I am not staying up until 3am again tonight and I am going to go to sleep shortly!  I hope.  Jetlag is meant to be worse going east to west but I’m feeling really weird at the moment.  :)

Anyway… I will start posting the photos and stories soon.  I kept a paper diary while I was in the US which I will post along with my stories.  You’ll get an insight into the things that go through my mind when I spend a week alone!  I won’t be able to upload all of my photos on this blog though.  After sifting out the blurry shots and the duplicates, I was left with 521 photos.  If you take the numerous shots I took of the Washington Monument out of the equation, I’m still left with a good 500!  (I fear some weird sort of Illuminati conspiracy because I couldn’t stop taking photos of the Washington Monument).

Exhibit A: one of numerous photos accused took of Washington Monument

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Emm in New York

There are so many things I wanted to do before I went on holiday.  I wanted to post about the Race for Life that I did and about going to see War of the Worlds tonight.  But alas, that will all have to wait as I have some last minute packing to do and then I’m leaving at 6am tomorrow morning for the airport.  I still haven’t decided if I am taking Ste’s laptop with me but I’m leaning towards not taking it at the moment which means I will be out of contact for the next 9 days.

New York City here I come…

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Day Out: Further up the Thames

This is the second part of my post on our ride up the Thames in a TFL Thames Clipper. [Part 1]

London Bridge

In the distance, you can see London Bridge.  It is a pretty boring, nondescript bridge and many people mistake the magnificent Tower Bridge for London Bridge.

Under London Bridge

London Bridge is simply a road bridge over the Thames.  Thankfully, it is made of concrete these days and is in no danger of burning down.

Southwark Bridge (1921) in front of Cannon Street Rail Station (1866)

I absolutely love all the bridges over the Thames. They are exquisite and they represent so many periods in history.

Millennium Bridge (2000), Blackfriars Railway Bridge (1924) + Blackfriars Bridge (1869) just visible

My favourite bridge in London is the Blackfriars Bridge.  Ignore me if you hear me say that Tower Bridge is my favourite because Blackfriars Bridge is really beautiful. 

Blackfriars Bridge (1869)

Thank you for allowing me to indulge my love of architecture and old bridges! Moving along swiftly now (as, indeed, the clipper was moving)...

 
The OXO Tower and complex (1929)

Big Ben (1859) and the Houses of Parliament

Our boat ride had taken us all the way from the O2 to the Westminster Millennium Pier. 

Eye in the sky

As you may know, I can’t get enough of the London Eye and I could sit and take photos of it all day.  I was pretty happy to get some new angles!

The London Eye (1999)

We got off the clipper at Bankside Pier which is right by the Globe Theatre.

 
The International Shakespeare Globe Centre and Globe Theatre

The Real Greek

We had lunch at The Real Greek which should be avoided at all costs.  The service was absolutely awful with the waitress forgetting half our order and neglecting to mention that the other half was not in stock.  Added to that, we got charged for all the items at the end but managed to correct the bill. Shocking, terrible service – I can see now why they weren’t full!

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The Expat Curse: Saying goodbye

There are a couple of curses in the expat experience.  From browsing expat blogs this weekend, I’ve seen mention of never fitting in to one’s adopted homeland; finally settling into a new life just to have to move again and not being able to gain employment at the level previously achieved.

This weekend I’ve experienced personal heartbreak and the worst expat curse of all: having one’s loved ones move back home.  People often emigrate to new shores in groups and it’s never going to work out for everyone.  There will always come a time when some of the group go back.

So for their last weekend in England, Sara, Donovan and Keira spent the weekend at my house and I followed them around as they wrapped things up.

Guildford Cathedral [taken on my Nokia N70]

We went through to Guildford Cathedral yesterday.  Guildford Cathedral reminded us of The Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria, South Africa.  They both have the same really ugly architecture on the outside but at least the cathedral is reasonably pretty on the inside.  We went there because Donovan was performing with the joint Guildford Choral Society and Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra’s production of Verdi’s  Requiem.  They had a four-hour practice yesterday afternoon and I was fortunate enough to sit through an hour of rehearsal.  It was majestic!

Inside Guildford Cathedral [taken on my Nokia N70]

    

Keira enjoyed watching her daddy perform but she didn’t like the loud drums!  Her daddy has always been a good singer and attended the Drakensberg Boys Choir.  I uploaded a short video of the practice to YouTube.

We decided to save Keira’s nerves and ears and we went through to Guildford Town Centre so that Sara could go to the bank.

Abbot's Hospital [taken on my Nokia N70]

It really is a picturesque little town and I enjoyed taking some photos from the roof top of a parking garage while Sara and Keira went to the bank.  I definitely think we’ll go back there one morning and hopefully visit Godalming too.

A view up Guildford High Street (showing Guild Hall ) and Guildford Castle [taken on my Nokia N70]

We then went and finished packing up the house and handed the keys to the estate agent.

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Today was a little more serious.  I woke up and immediately wished I hadn’t.  It took me a while before I felt like facing everyone and then I had to rush back upstairs as I started crying.

It wasn’t properly explained to Keira what was going on but she picked up on all the tension and she looked as sad as I felt.

Stephen took this photo of me watching Keira and I was pretty miserable!  Actually, all I could think was “do NOT cry in front of the three-year-old”.  Anyway, as they were taking three massive suitcases, there was no room for me in the car.  They left around 1pm and by now they will be in the air.  I’m very sad.

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World Blog Surf Day: a South African braai in London

Welcome to this edition of World Blog Surf Day: Food Edition and hi to everyone who has clicked over from DaveAvenue.  This WBSD has been organised by Sher from Czech Off The Beaten Path and is the second such event to be organised.  The idea is that each expat blogger shares some of their experience and then links to another expat blogger so that you, the reader, can take a virtual trip around the world.

Food I miss and eating like a South African in London

I’ve been an expat my whole life.  My tagline should actually be ‘professional expat’ as opposed to ‘eternal tourist’!  I was born in South Africa and we moved to England then Nigeria then back to England by the time I was five and then returned to South Africa when I was nine.  My father hailed from Liverpool though and returned there a couple of years later.  After spending 25 years in South Africa, I consider myself to be South African through and through.  I am mostly fluent in Afrikaans and my heart and soul belong to that beautiful country at the tip of Africa.  

While in South Africa, I craved English sweets such as Flying Saucers and Cadbury’s Buttons.  Those are easily transported in a suitcase and for 25 years my cravings were periodically met as I visited UK or friends visited us.  If only it was that simple getting good old South African favourites over here!  The things South Africans miss the most can’t be simply put into a suitcase and up until a couple of years ago, our favourites were near impossible to get in England. 

Now South African shops are opening all over England and you can buy products online too and thus it was possible for us to have a good old South African braai last weekend.

Braai is the Afrikaans word for barbeque and it is universally used in South Africa to describe the art of cooking meat outdoors on an open flame.  We use charcoal or wood and firelighters, heat the fire up to its hottest point and then cook the meat as the fire cools down.  This gives the meat a distinctive smoked taste.

We consider a braai to be very different to a traditional barbeque because of the meat we cook on it.  No cheap hamburgers or sausages for us.  There are a couple of vital items in a good South African braai experience:

Boerewors is a very long, pure beef sausage that is presented as a coil in a tray.  The word boerewors is an Afrikaans word that is literally translated as “farmer’s sausage”.

One of the guests at our braai last Saturday told how he used to take his grandmother’s secret mix of herbs and spices to a butcher in north London to get them to make up boerewors for him.  It took a couple of tries for him to convince them not to bulk up the recipe with cereal but eventually the butcher must have tasted the sausages because he has made them to order ever since.

Sosatie is a skewer with chunks of chicken or lamb on.  The important thing is to marinate the meat for at least a couple of hours or overnight so that it absorbs the tasty flavour.

Another vital ingredient in a braai is marinated chops, steaks or chicken pieces.  The meat drips with marinate as it is moved onto the braai and is usually really tender and succulent. 

As you can see from Stephen’s plate above, the meat is the focus of the plate but most people also pile their plates high with salads.  Salads are  a central part of the braai experience.  Apart from your standard greens and coleslaw, potato salad made with mayonnaise and egg is also a firm favourite. 

There is one other traditional part of a braai that English-speaking South Africans like us aren’t as keen on and that is mieliepap.  This is a porridge made with maize meal and it is served with a tomato and onion relish.  It is most popular amongst the Afrikaner or black populations in South Africa.

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There are a couple of other items that we love to get at the South African shop.  I usually go to the SAvanna shop in the Vaults at London Bridge.

I love my colleagues. One of the biggest things I miss from South Africa is rooibos tea. Pronounced roy-boss (not ruby bush like my colleagues say) rooibos is literally translated as ‘red bush’.   It is naturally caffeine-free and full of anti-oxidants and can be enjoyed with milk and sugar or black, with lemon and honey.  I found this cup on my desk the other day and it truly cheered me up!

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Meebos (also known as Safari Fruit Dainties): this is mushed, dried fruit covered in sugar.  Yum, yum.

Fizzers are chewy candy sweets – my personal favourite.

Caramello Bears are chocolate bears with caramel inside.  I eat the heads off first and then the bodies.  They look just like koala bears and are most likely an Australian import.

Milo bars are chocolate bars made from Milo.  Milo is a Nestlé chocolate drink that is available just about everywhere in the world except for Europe and the US.

And last, but certainly not least, we have biltong and droëwors.  Biltong is a dried, cured beef that is similar to beef jerky.  I like very dry, lean biltong and I don’t like the biltong in London as it tastes like dried British beef to me which is exactly what it is!  Droëwors is literally translated as ‘dry sausage’.  I have never been a fan of droëwors as it has a faintly alcoholic taste.  Stephen and my brother love the stuff though so I usually buy them £15 biltong and £10 droëwors at a time.

You can imagine that shops and butchers selling boerewors, biltong and droëwors are making a roaring trade in England as it is not legal to bring these items into the country and they must be made here. 

The 2001 census showed that there were officially 140,000 South Africans living in England but it is estimated that the figure is more accurate at about 500,000.  This 2007 article suggests that there are as many South Africans in the UK as there are Poles.  It is no small wonder that so many South African shops and themed pubs popping up then!

Continuing your journey on World Blog Surf Day

Please click through now to Emmanuelle at Winning Away.  Emmanuelle is a French expat living in Vancouver, BC and she has a wonderful, professional blog on how to ‘Live Your Expat Life to the Fullest’.  Have a wonderful World Blog Surf Day!

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Day out: Taking the Thames Clipper

I’ve wanted to go on a boat cruise up the Thames for the longest time and we finally got a chance on the Bank Holiday Sunday. The weather was glorious, the sky was blue and it was a lovely warm day. So we left the Thames Barrier and we drove up to The O2 and caught the TFL Thames Clipper from the Queen Elizabeth II Pier. Our group was made up of four adults and one teenager. A single trip on the Clipper is a whopping £5 and a return is £10. You can get a roaming ticket for £12 which allows you to get on and off as you please and they gave us a deal and allowed the teenager to go free when we bought four roaming tickets. Score!

The Clipper is so smart inside and it has a bar. I could have sat there the whole day just drinking coke and watching the sights go by.

We soon realised there were seats available outside, on the stern of the boat. I think you call it the stern but it is 23 years since I was a girl guide so I’m not sure.

[Click on the thumbnails for larger photos]

The Clipper goes really, really fast and we guessed that was the reason why we felt no sea sickness. The first stop was Greenwich which is usually so pretty but had ugly yellow cranes on the pier on this occasion! The photos above show the chimneys of the old Greenwich Power Station and the Greenwich Foundation.

The Peter Deilmann Deutschland cruise liner was in town for a couple of days

Canary Wharf pier

We were at the Canary Wharf pier in no time. I love Canary Wharf and I just knew I was going to get my best shot of Canary Wharf ever! I thought the pier looked like it came straight out of the seventies.

The best shot of Canary Wharf ever

I know I’ve taken tons of photos of Tower Bridge and the Mayor’s office before, but never from the middle of the Thames!

Tower Bridge and City Hall

Tower of London and Traitors Gate

If you click on the photo above, you can clearly see Traitors Gate where enemies of the Crown entered the Tower of London. [See my tour of the Tower of London: part 1 ¦ part 2].

HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge

Across the river from the Tower of London we saw the magnificent HMS Belfast which is permanently moored and can be accessed via Tower Bridge or London Bridge station.

I need to go now so I’ll have to complete this post next week. Ten sleeps to New York!

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World Blog Surf Day: Food Edition

Photo credit:  NASA, Public Domain

I’m taking part in World Blog Surf Day again.  This edition is taking place on 13 June 2009 and is open for all expat bloggers.

The theme is food as in "food I miss," "great food where I live," "favourite recipes, photos," "where to eat," "local specialties." 

I did not realise that the deadline for submissions was yesterday so thank you Sher for accepting my application today!

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Day Out: Thames Barrier, London

The Thames Barrier with a closed section visible on the left

For some reason I cannot quite pinpoint, I have long been fascinated with the Thames Barrier in London.  Yet despite living in that area for a year, I only saw it for the first time from the Docklands Light Railway on the way to the airport in March.

Well, we finally made a visit to the Thames Barrier on the Bank Holiday weekend (the day after we went to Canterbury).

The weather was absolutely glorious that day and by 10am in the morning it was already sweltering.  I love London in summer!

The Thames Barrier is the second largest moveable flood barrier in the world (the largest is in Maeslantkering in The Netherlands).  It was set up to protect the 125 square kilometres of central London from tidal surges.  Tidal surges are a real threat in the area and in 1953 the North Sea Flood left 307 people dead in the UK and 1,835 people dead in the Netherlands.  A flood in 1928 had left 14 people dead and the scale of these natural disasters prompted the construction of one of London’s most visible landmarks.

The Tate and Lyle plant across the Thames to the south

Only a fool would underestimate the seriousness of tidal surges in the area.  Two South African fools such as Stephen and I for example.  On 9 November 2007, the barrier had to be closed twice following a storm surge in the North Sea that was comparable in scale to the 1953 surge.  Stephen had been in the country a week and we got calls from my father in Liverpool and my uncle in Westerham asking if we could find somewhere else to stay that weekend.  Well, Ste and I hadn’t seen each other in four months and we weren’t about to go through that rigmarole, so we laughed off the threat.

In reality, the only thing that saved the area was that the surge did not coincide with high tide.  We were living in Thamesmead which is down-river from the barrier (and therefore not protected by the barrier) and the area would have been submerged had the flood actually happened – we were probably the only idiots who actually stayed in Thamesmead that weekend!!

The O2 (formerly the Millenium Dome) and Canary Wharf across the Thames to the north

The Thames Barrier was a quiet and eerie place but then it was before noon on a Sunday in London!  I noticed long ago how quiet things are up to lunch time around here. I would recommend that people go visit at least once but you may want to combine your visit with a trip to Greenwich or the O2.

There is a lovely park there (The Thames Barrier Park) but unfortunately my guests did not want to visit it.  There is also an information centre which is meant to be open seven days a week but apparently it was not open on the day we went to visit.  I would suggest calling them first on 020 8305 4188 if you want to visit the Information Centre and remember, you can get 2 for 1 tickets if you travel with National Rail.

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