What in the world could these things all have in common?

Read on, and be enlightened ;)


Friday
After our little day of shopping, we decided that what we needed to was to just chill and see a movie. Originally we planned on staying in to do this, but then Dustin, a friend down the hall, stopped in and said he had found a movie theater that was playing movies for £1. So we thought, hey a movie for a buck (or literally two, in the US) is a pretty good deal, we should do it.

So in our lack of enthusiasm, or just plain energy, we wander out into the evening in Central London (if you're wondering why this sounds like such a task it's because in London, you literally walk everwhere, and we'd just finished a day of shopping on one end of the city, walked home, and then now were heading to the opposite end).

Of course, just to spite us, we arrive at the theater and get in line moments before the manager comes out and says the 9:00 showings are sold out. Which happen to be the last ones of the night.

Well, that was fun. Now what?

We decided to wander for a bit, and saw some signs toting "£5 Comedy Show" so we decide, humor is exactly what needed to be added to our situation at hand, and get tickets. The show was actually pretty good, and although there were so many of us Americans in the audience, there were also good sized groups from Ireland, Sweden, Whales, France, and Scotland to offer a more wide variety of countries to pick on than just us (or our political leaders).

------------

Saturday
The day of the big game!! Yep, today I attended not only my first live 'soccer game' but also my first English 'football match'. We got on the tube for our half hour ride to the Fulham stadium (teams were Fulham vs. West Bromich) The crowds were intense, and people were squeezed tighter than sardines onto the tube. Once we got there the choas only ensued. I have to say I don't think I've ever seen so many drunken people in the middle of the day (we left at noon) before. In England it's not illegal to drink in public, hence the hoards of people walking around with booze in their hands, and its also not illegal to be intoxicated, or basically drunk and disorderly in public.

This would also help explain part of why the crowds at the game are so much more lively and loud than at any American sport I've attended. The West Bromich fans (partially due the fact that their team was losing the entire match) were standing and cheering the entire time. I tried to learn some of the cheers, or better yet, just try to understand what the heck they were chanting, but between the accents, the shouting, and the drunken slurring/singing all was lost to my ears. But it was quite fun to listen regardless.

Fulham ended up winning by 6-1 (a high score in football/soccer) and after the game we headed to a mexican restaurant we'd heard was quite good. However, I have my own points to contradict this:

1) any Mexican restaurant that doesn't serve chips and salsa is not "good"
2) any Mexican restaurant that doesn't have Flan or Fried Ice Cream on the desert menu, and instead New York Cheesecake and Brownie Sundaes, is just plain wrong.
3) any Mexican restaurant that serves you French Fries instead of beans and rice on the side of your order IS NOT MEXICAN!!

As you might've assumed by this point we were all quite dissapointed. I mean, really...French Fries? For goodness sake, they have the word FRENCH in them, that is definitley not Mexican. And I know that fries are called "chips" here, but in the realm of Mexican food, chips are things preceded by the word tortilla that are served with salsa, which we were DENIED!

All in all the decor was nice, but obviously Britain needs some illegal immigrants to swim over here and open some real restaurants to show 'em how real Mexican food is done. And if ever in London, and craving Mexican food don't eat at Chiquito. But if you're in London and feel like a fahita or a wrap and some fries, feel free.

So after our dissapointing dinner, we were all missing America a bit (if only for the Mexcian food) and on the way home we saw a banner advertising £1 ice cream/blizzards at Burger King. So in our 'British food sucks' angst we decide to pop in only to find out that their ice cream machine is out of order...too bad that's the main item of food that their employees are advertising all over the city. It only fueled the fire.

Which brings me to the next event of the evening. Our school caught on fire. Yep. Right after we had all settled in for the night, and I had literally JUST changed into shorts and had no shoes on, we were rushed--or rather slowly, tired and confused (the alarms here sound nothing like anything signaling 'fire') shuffled out of the building. After freezing in the extreme cold for 40 mins or more, the fireman signaled it was fine to enter the building again. Which was very nice of them. Not nice, however, was the leftover smell of burning nastyness (still don't know what the source was) left for us to uhh..savor throughout the rest of the night slash next morning.

Sounds like an eventful weekend, yes?
Pics of the football game can be found here: Fulham vs. West Bromich

My Space
My Tube
My Demo Reel