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Day Book #13 (Deleted for some reason)

Personal Daybook #3

On July 2nd, Eliese and I went to the Tate Museum. We got around fairly easy for being by ourselves, which I was very happy about. We saw a Picasso and a Monet piece. Eliese and I just sat there for both in amazement. Eventually we left to go to the play The Jungle, at The Playhouse. The play was very good. I wasn’t expecting much after Leave Taking, but The Jungle restored my faith in plays again. After the play, Max, Susanna, Carly, and I stayed back to meet one of the actors who plays in It’s the End of the Fucking World and Black Mirror. That was one of the best nights ever.

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Day Book #24

I asked this man for a ghost story and when he was telling me he hit all the signs that people do when they tell ghost stories. He was over describing the events that led up to the supernatural experience. When he got to the supernatural experience, he started to speed up a little and stutter. It wasn’t too noticeable, but you could definitely hear it if you focused in on it. At the very end of the story, he was being overly positive and saying that this happened and he was “110%” positive. After the recording he asked me if I was spiritual and asked if I believed him.

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Day Book #23

Prompt #5

There were many learning moments throughout this trip. My very first learning moment here was figuring out the conversion of the pound to the US dollar. I learned that for every pound that I spend it is equal to one dollar and thirty-three cents, which was difficult to get at first. Once I understood the conversion, I was able to budget the trip better. I also thought about how it must be more difficult to come here from any other country besides America or ones that use the Euro, because the pound is worth so much. The next big learning moment I had was the medicine here. I had really bad allergies when I got here and didn’t think to bring allergy medicine. I went to Boots to get allergy medicine, but there was no normal allergy medicine there, just some generic Boots medicine. I eventually found one that would work, because I had to read all the ingredients. If I hadn’t been able to speak English then I would have been out of luck. I also learned how to get around the city of London, which to me is a big accomplishment. I don’t normally pick up directions or figuring out how to get from place to place very well. I finally got the hang of the tube the second week we were here and I never felt more proud of myself before. I got myself and a small group of people to Camden town and to SoHo without any help. The way people are around here and the little things they do differently from Americans was very hard to get used to as well. Like how they like to stop randomly in the middle of a walkway or how they are very quiet talkers, which I am not, or how they say “take-away” instead of “take-out” or “to-go”. None of these are major issues, but in order to fit in a little bit you needed to learn these little things they do, which I have. The hard part now will be to stop doing it once I get back to the States. The majority of my learning moments were me getting used to the way things are done around here, but this one is not like that and is probably the biggest learning moment I have had all trip. This trip I learned so much more about who I am as a person, than I have doing anything else in my life. I wont go into what I found out, but this trip, the classes, these people have shown me who I truly am and that is what I am thankful for the most.

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Day Book #22

Personal Daybook #6

On July 10th, Rick, Will, Jenna, Hannah, Eliese, and I went to Regents Park. Rick took us to his favorite spot in Regents. It was absolutely beautiful. Not a lot of people knew about the spot and it was absolutely beautiful. I was doing homework in the spot and then Will and Rick had me read some of the book aloud. After everyone finished their food and I finished finding quotes, we all got up and finished walking around Regents Park. It is by far my favorite park that I have been to in London. Everyone else, except for me and Jenna, went to the British Library. Jenna and I went to The Globe, to watch Hamlet. We met up with Aaron, but since we didn’t have tickets beforehand, they told us to we had to wait in the return queue for our tickets. We did indeed get the tickets and the best part was that they were only five pounds instead of eight. The performance itself wasn’t very good, but because it was Hamlet, which is my absolute favorite play, it made it decent. The actors from As You Like It also played in Hamlet, but the actors were way better in As You Like It. After the performance, Jenna and I went to meet some of the performers and got a picture taken with them. It was a great day.

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Day Book #21

1.      “’Whatever happens, I accept it. And my child must not waste any energy fighting against Fate. That way, she will be stronger.’” (pg. 3)

2.      “She left the window open. Standing on the sofa to reach, she picked up the Holy Qur’an from the high shelf that Chanu, under duress, had specially built. She made her intention as fervently as possible, seeking refuge from Satan with fists clenched and fingernails digging into her palms. Then she selected a page at random and began to read. […] The words calmed her stomach and she was pleased. Even Dr. Azad was nothing as to God. To God belongs all that the heavens and the earth contain. She said it over a few times, aloud. She was composed. Nothing could bother her. Only God, if he chose to Chanu might flap about and squawk because Dr. Azad was coming for dinner. Let him flap. To God belongs all that the heavens and the earth contain.” (pg. 8)

3.      “If Chanu came home this evening and found the place untidy and the spices not even ground, could she put her hands like so and say, ‘Don’t ask me why nothing is prepared, it was not I who decided it, it was fate.’ A wife could reasonably be beaten for a lesser offense.” (pg. 10)

4.      “Suddenly, she knew that what he was building up there in the flat could be pulled down here, in the hall. And she began to pay attention.” (pg. 235)

5.      “’We can’t get married.’ / ‘Not straight away,’ said Karim. / He shivered as well. Or perhaps it was just a yawn. / ‘Not ever.’ / ‘What do you mean ‘not ever’?’ He sounded irritated. He kicked his boot against the ground. / ‘I don’t want to marry you,’ said Nazneen, looking at the juggler, ‘That’s what I mean.’” (pg. 379)

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Day Book #20

The ideal ghoul gate is broken, over grown, and worn-out. The picture of the ghoul gate that I took at the West Brompton Cemetery was the perfect representation of a ghoul gate. The grass over the grave was very overgrown, the cross on top was broken off and that itself was broken on the ground in front of it, and the writing was so worn-out that you couldn’t figure out was it said at all. West Brompton Cemetery was absolutely beautiful. When you walked in the gates were beautifully designed and there were gorgeous flowers planted around the front. The pathway was made with rocks, which actually was very pretty. The graves themselves were a little creepy, but some of them looked very well kept. The ones that were well kept and clean were not as creepy, but cemeteries have always creeped me out. We didn’t have to go very far to find the ghoul gate that I decided to take a picture of. The grave was not far off the path that we were walking on. After we all found our ghoul gates, we started to head out. We turned around and saw that Max was missing. We stood still for about ten minutes and still no Max. Aaron started to sing a song from a scary movie. Eventually Allison FaceTimed Max to see where he was and all of a sudden the same song that Aaron was singing was playing in the far distance. Allison and I freaked out and we left the cemetery immediately. So that was my experience with the ghoul gate.

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Day Book #19

1.      “He flexed his fingers. The man Jack was, above all things, a professional, or so he told himself, and he would not allow himself to smile until the job was completed.” (pg. 7-8)

a.       The man Jack is portrayed as very serious and motivated. The man Jack wouldn’t even smile until “the job was done”. This makes him more terrifying.

2.      “The child stepped out of the house a little hesitantly. The fog wreathed around him like a long-lost friend. And then, uncertainly at first, then with increasing speed and confidence, the boy tottered up the hill.” (pg. 12)

a.       The child was a very determined. He got out of his crib and crawled all the way to the top of the hill to the graveyard all by himself.

3.      “’I daresay that is a question, Mistress Owens,’ said her husband. ‘And yet, it is not our question. For this here baby is unquestionably alive, and as such is nothing to do with us, and is no part of our world.’” (pg. 13-14)

4.      “’Yes,’ said Mrs. Owens, in response to something that no one else had heard. ‘If we can, then we will.’ Then she turned to the man beside her. ‘And you, Owens? Will you be a father to this little lad?’ / ‘Will I what?’ said Owens, his brow crinkling. / ‘We never had a child,’ said his wife. ‘And his mother wants us to protect him. Will you say yes?’” (pg. 16)

5.      “Bod was a quiet child with sober grey eyes and a mop of tousled, mouse-colored hair. He was, for the most part, obedient. He learned how to talk, and, once he had learned, he would pester the graveyard folk with questions.” (pg. 35)

6.      “Silas gave Bod a quest – to find each of the twenty-six letters in the graveyard – and Bod finished it, proudly, with the discovery of Ezekiel Ulmsley’s stone, built into the side of the wall in the old chapel. His guardian was pleased with him. (pg. 39)

a.       Silas is like Bod’s father figure/mentor even though his father is Mr. Owens. Silas teaches Bod and gives him the things Bod needs.

7.      “’Well,’ said the girl, ‘what was you when you was last birthday?’ / ‘I didn’t,’ said Bod. ‘I never was.’ / ‘Everybody gets birthdays. You mean you never had cake or candles or stuff?’ / Bod shook his head. The girl looked sympathetic. ‘Poor thing. I’m five. I bet you’re five too.’” (pg. 40-41)

8.      “After that initial meeting, Scarlett never saw Bod first. On days when it was not raining one of her parents would bring her to the graveyard. The parent would sit on the bench and read while Scarlett would wander off the path, a splash of fluorescent green or orange or pink, and explore. Then, always sooner rather than later, she would see a small, grave face and grey eyes staring up at her from beneath a mop of mouse-colored hair, and then Bod and she would play – hide-and-seek, sometimes, or climbing things, or being quiet and watching the rabbits behind the old chapel.” (pg. 42)

9.      “Bod had been upset by this when he had first learned about it. He was no longer upset. He was furious. / ‘But why?’ said Bod. / ‘I told you. I need to obtain some information. In order to do that, I have to travel. To travel, I must leave here. We have already been over all this.’” (pg. 65)

10.  “Mrs. Owens said, ‘Back when you were born he promised us that if he had to leave, he would find someone else to bring you food and keep an eye on you, and he has. He’s so reliable.’” (pg. 68)

11.  “Miss Lupescu continued to bring Bod things she had cooked for him: dumplings swimming in lard; thick reddish-purple soup with a lump of sour cream in it; small, cold boiled potatoes; cold garlic-heavy sausages; hardboiled eggs in a grey unappetizing liquid.” (pg. 71)

12.  “He went down to the Owenses’ tomb to complain to his parents, but Mrs. Owens would not hear a word said against Miss Lupescu, on, as far as Bod was concerned, the unfair grounds that Silas had chosen her, while Mr. Owens simply shrugged and started telling Bod about his days as a young apprentice cabinetmaker, and how much he would have loved to have learned about all the useful things that Bod was learning, which was, as far as Bod was concerned, even worse.” (pg. 73)

13.  “Mr. Owens himself was more evasive and less imaginative. ‘It’s not a good place,’ was all he said.” (pg. 99)

14.  “Bod shivered. He wanted to embrace his guardian, to hold him and tell him that he would never desert him, but the action was unthinkable. He could no more hug Silas than he could hold a moonbeam, not because his guardian was insubstantial, but because it would be wrong. There were people you could hug, and then there was Silas.” (pg. 149)

15.  “She stood up and pulled a grubby piece of linen from her sleeve, spat on it, and reached up as high as she could and scrubbed the blood from Bod’s forehead. ‘There, that ought to make you look presentable,’ she said, severely. ‘Seeing as I don’t know when next I’ll see you, anyway. Keep safe.’” (pg. 298)

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Day Book #18

Personal Daybook #5

On July 9th, after class Jenna, Max, Allison, Aaron, Hannah, Charles, Eliese and I went to Hampton Court and walked around the gardens. Everyone except for Eliese and I went to the maze. While everyone was in the maze, Eliese and I walked down by the river. It was beautiful. After the maze, everyone except for Eliese and Hannah, went to West Brompton to get a picture of a cemetery. Allison, Jenna and I heard a creepy song playing in the distance, so we left immediately. Later we went to Soho and I bought a first-edition “Winnie the Pooh” book. Then we went to a Hibachi place to eat dinner, which was ok.

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Day Book #17

When I hear ghost stories, people usually have named the ghost, even if they don’t know for certain what it is. In class we learned about the different types of ghost there are, like the Angel of the House, Deviant Femmes, Extreme Guys and the Genderless Presence. Last week on June 29th, a small group went on a ghost tour, where we heard a lot of ghost stories. The guide told many different stories and they all fit into one of the boxes. There wasn’t an Angel of the House, but I have a friend who’s house is protected by her grandmothers spirit. We did hear about a Deviant Femme on the tour. Bloody Mary, the queen who killed a bunch of her people, is said to still be killing people. There is also the game that teenagers play where they go into a bathroom and say “Bloody Mary” three times in a mirror and she appears. On the tour we also heard about an Extreme Guy, Jack the Ripper, who is said to still be stalking the streets. We didn’t get to hear about any Genderless Presence on the tour, which I found strange because I feel like that one is more common than any of the others. When things move around, or you hear things, is usually from a Genderless Presence.

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Day Book #16

When the group went to The Cauldron on July 5th, we passed an alley with a bunch of flat buildings. Most of them had greenery climbing up the walls, except for the one that I took a picture of. There was no greenery and the paint was chipping away. Usually I wouldn’t have taken a second look at a building like that, but after having talked about the supernatural, I could only imagine why this flat was different from the rest. I thought that maybe the people who lived there previously had died a tragic death or something along those lines and now they cursed that building to never have life in it or on it ever again.

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Day Book #15

When we went to Oxford on July 6th, I was trying to imagine how Lyra saw it in The Golden Compass. However the Oxford that I imagined while reading The Golden Compass was a dark and cynical place. Philip Pullman might not have been trying to portray Oxford that way, but that was the way that I read it. When I went to Oxford in person, it was nothing like what I read. It was bright and warm there. The people were a little snobby, but they were at Oxford so I didn’t expect much more than that. I went down a few alley ways to try to put myself in the mindset of Lyra, being a young child playing around on a huge campus. I loved the fact that while we were there we got to see a film crew in the process of filming The Golden Compass. I thought it was ironic that they were filming that while we were learning that book. Oxford was a great experience though.

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Day Book #14

Personal Daybook #4

On July 3rd, Jenna, Aaron, Charles, Max, Allison and I went to get lunch at Wagamama. The servers there weren’t very nice and they didn’t help us, which resulted in us arriving late to The London Dungeon. I wasn’t expecting the London Dungeon to be as terrifying as it was, but it was very interesting. After The London Dungeon, Aaron, Jenna, and I went to the aquarium. I love aquariums, so this was a very fun excursion. We witnessed the miracle of life as well. After the aquarium we walked over to The Globe to see the play As You Like It. I love Shakespeare, so this play was my absolute favorite.  

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Day Book #12

Personal Daybook #2

On June 28th, Eliese, Hannah, Brittanee, Angel, Aaron, and I went to the Tower of London. We all went to see the Crown Jewels. I realized at that moment that I would do anything to become a princess. After the Crown Jewels, we all went to the tower in the middle of the complex and played all the games. We started cutting close on the time, so we booked it to Bush Theatre. We watched Leave Taking, which I was not a big fan of. I personally would not have planned to watch this play after watching Everyones Talking About Jamie.

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Day Book #11

Personal Daybook #1

On June 26th, Eliese, Hannah, Brittanee, Angel and I went to Kensington Park to get pictures of the Peter Pan statue. We couldn’t find it for about half an hour, but eventually some locals helped us out. After we found it we went straight to the Hospital to find the second Peter Pan statue. That didn’t take as long as the one in Kensington Park. Once we found the statues it was time for us to meet everyone to go to the play, Everyones Talking About Jamie. I was skeptical of the play at first, but after it started I knew I was going to like it. I loved Everyones Talking About Jamie.

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Day Book #10

DAYBOOK PROMT #4

Being here in London for a week and a half, I have gotten better at navigating my way around town and in the tubes. Back at home I drove everywhere, but here I have had to get use to walking everywhere. Back home the sun sets a lot earlier than here, so it seems like the days are longer here. There is also no AC here, but that doesn’t bother me. There are some similarities, but nothing major. When I go to Waitrose or Tescos, they have some items in there that are also sold in the States. They might be sold in the States, but they definitely don’t taste the same. I miss the fact that I can’t just go to Walmart and pick up things at any hour of the night. There is no Walmart or anything like it. I hate that I can’t go look in a store and find exactly what I need. I am very thankful that I speak the same language as most of the people here. I may say a word or two different from the people here, but in the end we both understand each other. This process would be more difficult if I didn’t speak English. The food here accommodates to most everyone so that has been very helpful. But if I couldn’t speak the same language I feel like I would be a lot like Z, in The Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers.

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Day Book #9

DAYBOOK PROMPT #3

When talking about going between childhood to adulthood, from one country or region to another, from alive to dead, we are talking about liminality. Liminality is when you are in between two different states. When you are a preteen or a teenager, you are in a liminal state, because you are not a child or adult. When moving from one country to another, you aren’t a citizen in the country you want to end up in. The alive to dead state is pretty much the same as going from child to adult but on a larger scale. With the theme of migration, the immigrants are continuously in a liminal state. They no longer are in their home country; however, they haven’t made it to their end goal yet. They are waiting to get citizenship in areas that are designed specifically for the immigrants.

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Day Book #8

1.      “About time, what I really learned from studying English is: time is different with timing. I understand the difference of these two words so well. I understand falling in love with the right person in the wrong timing could be the greatest sadness in a person's entire life.”

2.      “It's the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance.”

3.      “I thought English is a strange language. Now I think French is even more strange. In France, their fish is poisson, their bread is pain, and their pancake is crepe. Pain and poison and crap. That's what they have every day.”

4.      “Love', this English word: like other English words it has tense. 'Loved' or 'will love' or 'have loved'. All these tenses mean Love is time-limited thing. Not infinite. It only exist in particular period of time. In Chinese, love is '爱' (ai). It has no tense. No past and future. Love in Chinese means a being, a situation, a circumstance. Love is existence, holding past and future.”

5.      “The loneliness comes to me in certain hours everyday, like a visitor. Like a friend you never expected, a friend you never really want to be with, but he always visit you and love you somehow,”