If I weren't so excited, I'd be scared

Oh jetlag, why have though forsaken me??? I think that's how our day started on Wednesday. We were both up ridiculously early. Of course, being the well trained child I am, I fell asleep after a little breakfast and woke up at a more decent hour (Silan did not - but she did get through a good amount of a Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld). We ventured out into the great city of London to see what we could see. See ALL that we could see. We started in Trafalgar Square. From there, it was a whirlwind of London by foot. The National Museum, Covent Garden and Leicester Square all in quick succession. We then took our time walking along the Thames from the London Eye all the way to the rebuilt Globe Theatre.

The world of art welcomed us in again at the Tate Modern. The gallery was calling us. The first room we went in to had artwork by a Canadian artist. It was this giant red wall of cloth made from all sorts of clothing. Different shades of red. It was inspired by his Native-Canadian heritage. Some of our favourite pieces (I'm speaking for Silan here...she may correct me later) include: the egg shaped sculpture almost 6 or 7 feet tall with the a slice of light that symbolized the creation of the universe AND we can't forget, the wall of music. It look like blank staff paper (music with 5 lines on it for writing) only the lines were made up of newspaper clippings about news in the world and the gaps in the lines symbolized the notes heard when the news was read.

After the Tate, we walked over the millenium bridge and tried to see St. Paul's Cathedral. Lucky for the Queen, it was closed for her birthday service. Instead, we sat on the steps and watched this little boy chase after pigeons. This kid looked like he was having the most fun in the world with these pigeons. He's run after them, flapping his wings, yelling 'AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.' It must've been fun because his sister caught on and imitated him as well. [Look for a video soon to be posted of our rendition of 'The Pigeon on the Rocks'].

We decided that we hadn't walked enough yet and walked all the way back to Covent Gardens, then Leceister Square to pick up our tickets for Avenue Q and grab dinner, then back to Covent Gardens for a bit, then back again to Leceister Square for the show.

The musical was amazing. Think muppets gone wild mixed with family guy and queer eye. With Ernie and Bert-esque characters, one discovering his homosexuality, porn-obsessed monsters, and muppet strippers, what could possibly be missing??? These are some song titles to get the idea: "The internet is for porn" and "Everyone's a little bit racist", and some quotes: "If you were gay, that'd be okay" and the first line of the show "What do you do with a BA in English".

The next day we had a mini-adventure to Oxford. On the tube on the way to the bus station, we learned that just because taking three different lines on the tube has less stops, doesn't mean that it's faster than taking one tube with many more stops. We got to the right bus about 20 minutes after our booked tickets were for, but luckily someone had been hit by a car and the buses were delayed so we didn't actually miss it. Was that inappropriate? Too soon?

We got to Oxford safe and sound and made our way to a few attractions, most importantly Christ Church where the Great Hall in Harry Potter is as well as the staircase where Neville found his frog in the first movie haha. We met up with Miriam and had dinner in the park where we were attacked by a small flock of flies. At first we thought it was because we were near the grass, then we moved to the middle of the field and thought it was the pizza, then when the pizza was gone we realized it was Miriam. Like an old lady with cats, Miriam will grow to be an old lady with flies. The day ended far too soon and we had to make our way back to London.

Don't you wish your dining hall looked like THIS?

This picture was taken moments before we missed our

bus (too busy saying goodbye and the driver drove away)
and had to wait 15 minutes for the next one

Today, on Friday, we made our way to St. Paul's Cathedral, where we 'visited our relative, Sir John Ren fnie' and got inor free, waving the 10 pound fee and the line to get in. Of course we paid our respects to our great great great grandparent as well as Sir John A. Macdonald (Cool guy eh?). We then made our way to the British Museum (pictured below), which unfortunately was too close to closing, however we did get to go through a few exhibits and see the Rosetta stone.

Our day came to an end with some Indian food and the show, Chicago. Tynan and Carolyn (Silan's brother and his girlfriend) joined us in the city for dinner and the show. We got to have a nice sit-down dinner with superb fresh naan. The show was great. I think it may have been ruined because I already saw the movie but it was still good nevertheless. The highlights of the show include men in velour pants and women on ladders...you shoud go and see it :) [Personally, I, Janelle, think that it wouldn't win over Avenue Q. Mostly because, could you turn down a show with a song about the internet and porn? I think not!] [Silan agrees - muppets and racism over murderers and all that jazz]

We're off tomorrow afternoon to Africa. I have to keep saying it out loud because otherwise it doesn't quite feel real. We've gotten our placements over the last couple of days. We'll both be working at the Volta Regional Hospital; Silan in the physiotherapy department and Janelle in the Social Welfare Unit.

It may be another long flight, Silan may freak out again and Janelle may just sleep the whole flight, we may be throwing ourselves into an unbearably hot climate, but at least...

at least...

... at least we won't be jetlagged?

Nontheless, Africa is Africa, and we're far too excited to be worried about long flights, the wings falling off the plane [That's all Silan's paranoia], and hot weather.

written by Janelle AND Silan (if you were confused on who 'I' was... sorry we took turns writing throughout)

look at Silan being so rebellious

look at Janelle being so stupid