Cathedral to Quay

Today, we went on the Cathedral to Quay tour. As the name suggests, it goes from the cathedral, out to the city wall, where it cuts south, joining South Street at the former location of the South Gate, and then continues on to the river and down to the quayside.

We joined the tour a few minutes late (the guide was almost finished with the standard "Potted History of Exeter"), and the first thing he talked about was Richard Hooker's statue. Hooker, as near as I was able to determine from the guide's comments, made the Anglicans more Catholic. After that, we went over to look at the cathedral, which we have now done on several tours. We took an up-close look at a flying buttress, and it was explained to us that during the Exeter Blitz in 1942, a German bomber took out two of the twelve buttresses on the north side of the cathedral. If it had been three, the roof might have collapsed. On hearing this, Amanda proclaimed that the architect (who has been dead for 800 years, as she knew full well) deserved a raise.

After the cathedral, we went over to the Dean and Minister of Music's house, numbers 10 and 11 Cathedral Close. We were able to go into their courtyard, which is reportedly much prettier in the spring (it looked pretty bleak today, I must say). We were, however, not allowed to walk past a certain point in the courtyard, which made looking around a little bit difficult.

After that, we meandered our way through several stories about medieval Exeter (the typical ones about people with royal connections that lived here) and then heard the standard lecture on the city wall. After we had passed the last of the wall, we heard about the prison that was formerly at the South Gate. Thieves were held in the lower level, which doubled as part of the city sewer, and debtors were held in the upper level, where they dangled shoes out the window by their strings to beg for cash, thus giving rise to the phrase "on a shoestring."

Moving on, we saw several Georgian and Victorian-era houses, and then proceeded on to the River Exe. We heard about how Countess Wear (not on the tour) got its name (a greedy countess built a wear across the river to block shipping traffic because she wanted a cut of the profits), and how the canal was established. Apparently, a descendent of the countess about two hundred years after her initial wear extended the wear to cut off all riverine traffic, instead of allowing cargo lighters through. There was nothing that anyone could do about it, until the unlucky guy was found to be plotting against Henry VIII, who promptly locked him in the Tower and had him executed. The people of Exeter, on hearing this, wrote to the King asking for permission to remove the wear, which Henry gladly granted as a dig at his now-deceased former courtier. Sadly for Exeter, the river had accumulated too much sediment behind the wear to allow ships into the port of Exeter. As a result, the city hired a Welshman to build a canal, which he did, although it took him 60 years. The canal opened in 1832, the same day that the cholera epidemic of that year broke out in Exeter. (Coincidence? I think not!) Unfortunately for Exeter's merchants, the wool trade was declining by the mid-19^th century, and the canal was never utilized to its full potential.

Today, the quayside is primarily a tourist attraction, and is home to a great many craft shops, and also the home of Scout Troop 19, which weaseled a new Scout Hut out of developers who were re-developing the quay in the 1980s. The tour ended by plugging the virtues of the Custom House tour, which is not currently available. We were also told the Custom House featured two things, known as the King's Pipe and the King's Drain, where goods that were caught being smuggled were (officially) either burned or poured out, as appropriate. The guide closed by saying "If you believe that, then you'll believe anything."

Christmas Dinner

On Christmas morning, we got up, got dressed, and went to church. As usual, the service began at 10:30 am, although, as promised in advance by Rev. Sails, it lasted less than 45 minutes. It included everyone (under the age of 10) sharing their favorite Christmas gift. We had a boy (about three) sitting in front of us who came dressed as Father Christmas, and was none too happy to be wearing the hat when his mother tried to put it on him. However, someone else sitting nearby prevailed upon him to put it on, and Rev. Sails picked him up and showed him off to everyone, and commented to Little Father Christmas on how funny everyone looked (and noted that he got to look at us every week). About ten minutes later, Little Father Christmas escaped from his mother and went darting up the right aisle of the church, with mom in hot pursuit (she caught him about three rows from the front; they had been sitting about 15 rows back from there). One of the older ladies wandered over to mom shortly thereafter and offered to take him outside the sanctuary to play with him, which mom gratefully accepted.

Amanda, incidentally, refused to show off her Build-a-Moose, Chris Moose, arguing that she was over the age of ten. I was sad.

The sermon was about there being no circumstances in which there was no room for a particular type of person on the church, which we thought was rather fitting, given our experience of the night before at the cathedral. It was nice to hear that God loves gay people and that they should be welcomed in church. I gather that Rev. Sails and a lot of Baptist ministers that I know would not get along very well.

After the service ended (in under 45 minutes, as promised), we milled about and talked to people for a while as the Leas caught up with the people who were youth-aged when they first moved to Exeter. Most of those people now have children that are youth-aged, and Dr. Lea commented on how most of them look very much like their parents did all those years ago. After everyone had filtered out of the church, we walked back to the Lea's house, which is on the other side of the city centre. Our walk took us past the cathedral, through the (empty) back side of Princesshay, past the St. Luke's Campus, and very nearly all the way home. The Leas, it turns out, live all of about 10 minutes away from where we do. It's about the same distance from the Mint (25 minutes walk), so we got back to their house shortly before noon. We then set about talking with Dr. Lea, and discovered that we had all lived in Germany in the past. He lived there in the 1970s, and Amanda and I, of course, lived there two years ago.

Dr. Lea then had to depart for the lab on campus to "Feed the Rats their Christmas Dinner," as it's called. He notes that they don't actually have any rats anymore; however, as the guy in charge, he still gets to feed them on Christmas as part of a long tradition of lab animal care. While he was away, his sister and brother-in-law arrived. His sister is a former patent attorney turned Methodist minister, and his brother-in-law is a retired history teacher. We snacked on crisps, olives, and a few other appetizers as we talked with them and awaited the arrival of one of the Lea's sons. This is the one who is local; their other two children live in Germany and California. He was bringing the last of the food (the fried potatoes), along with his partner and her two children (as Mrs. Lea was careful to point out to us, they are not their grandparents).

One of the boys (the older one, if memory serves) went around lighting candles in the dining room, including lighting the incense cone inside the Smoking Man, who was purchased in (appropriately) Germany. After a while, he had to be relocated to the patio, as he was overpowering the assembled diners with his smoke.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, some other smoke was being produced. It turns out that one of the two figgy puddings that was cooking boiled off all the water in its pan, which led to quite a bit of smoke forming in the kitchen. Once the minor disaster of the resulting smoke had been dealt with, we began to eat the figgy pudding and other assorted desserts. The figgy pudding, we were told, is an acquired taste, and the recipie is passed down from mother to daughter-in-law (apparently, boys are picky about how they like their figgy pudding!). Dr. Lea told us that he was the only one in the family who really liked figgy pudding, and Mrs. Lea cut in and said that she had developed a taste for it. Amanda liked it, although I wasn't a huge fan. I don't expect it to pop up next Christmas, but she might surprise me.

No Room at the Cathedral

Tonight, we went to the Christmas Eve Service at Exeter Cathedral. Barely.

The service was slated to begin at 6 pm. We arrived at about 10 minutes to six, and were promptly told that the church was full, and we couldn't come in. The building absolutely was not full, and there was enough room for another good 500 people (there were only about 50 who were shivering outside being told there wasn't room). Apparently, all the wasted space was necessary so that the happy little procession around the cathedral could take place. After about 40 minutes, one of the staff was kind enough to let us in, after some other people had left. We ended up in the far back corner of the right nave of the cathedral, near the designated "Exit" door. For reference, the cathedral has three doors: The main doors in the centre, and two smaller doors, one on each side. The one on the left is the designated entrance door, and the one on the right is the designated exit door. Typically, the centre door is not opened. However, at the end of the service, all three were opened for people to depart.

After we got inside, we were able to see most of the procession around the cathedral (which was ridiculous), and everyone in their full clerical uniforms (including the local bishop). Perhaps they should have been more concerned about getting people into the cathedral on Christmas Eve than they were about their silly little rituals.

Christmas Eve

Today, I worked at Build-A-Bear from 9am-2pm. It was quite a nice day to be there. We had free Christmas stickers sheets to give out to anyone who wanted them and free calendars for those who bought bears. Everyone was in very good spirits, and most of us Bear Builders wore ribbons on our heads to make the day a bit more festive. When it was time to go home, I got a very nice surprise- each Bear Builder was given a smaller version of Build-A-Bear's Christmas moose with light-up antlers and an assortment of Cadbury chocolate. I am quite tickled about my moose, whom I have named Chris. He is much cuter than his larger counterpart- and I liked the large ones enough that I nearly bought one on double discount day!

When I got through at Build-A-Bear, Will and I went to Tyepyedong for lunch. Supposedly, this was part of my Christmas present from him, though I suspect he really just wanted a great meal at a restaurant we both enjoy. 

Zed is for Zebra

At Build-a-Bear this morning,  I learned that the animal that I have always called a "zee-bruh" is known as a "zeh-bruh" here in England when my boss Dave asked me to stuff one for a little girl. Later, I remarked to a colleague that this pronunciation was odd to me. "In the U.S.," I explained, "the zebra is always used as the classic example of a word starting with the letter Z when kids learn the alphabet, because zee is the first syllable of zebra." My colleague smiled and nodded, politely. When I got home and shared the story with Will, however, he burst into laughter. "She probably had no idea what you were on about," he remarked, gleefully reminded my that in British English, the last letter of the alphabet is called "zed" rather than "zee!"

Decorating for Christmas

Selecting reasonable Christmas decorations when spending Christmas thousands of miles from home can be a bit of a challenge. Trees, lights, and other large, traditional decorations can be quite expensive and useless to take home at the end of the year, so a little creativity is in order. Will and I began decorating after receiving our most recent care package from Mom and Dad, which included candy canes, fall leaves made of felt, two Christmas guest towels, and a rubber ducky dressed up as a reindeer. We bought a tiny tree for £1 at Poundland and decorated it with the fall leaves and candy canes. We also decorated it with some small Christmas crackers, also purchased at Poundland. Then, we went to Cancer Research UK and bought a set of tiny ornaments and three angels, one holding a candle, another holding a wreath, and a third with its hand clasped together. We placed the angels on top of a row of Will's naval history books, surrounded by Christmas crackers. (We're planning to give the angels to Mom, Granna, and Will's Grandmommy when we get back to the U.S., so they are serving dual purposes.) We then put the ornaments on the little tree and placed the tree and the rubber ducky in front of the row of books, and next to the nativity scene Will bought me for Christmas a while back. We made the guest towel into wall hangings, and we strung a piece of green rope that we've had sitting around for a while across two of the walls in the living room and hung cards on it. I think they look quite nice. 

When Are You Closing?

Last Thursday at Sports World, a customer asked Amanda a question: When are you closing? She assumed that he was asking about that night, as Thursday late-night shopping is common in Exeter, and told him 9 pm. He said, "No, I mean closing permanently; you went into receivership, and you, Woolworths, and JJB Sports are all closing." This was news to Amanda, and so she did some checking, and it turns out that Woolworths and JJB Sports are closing. Sports World is owned by Sports Direct, a different company (which happens to own the distribution licenses for the No Fear brand in most of the world, but not the U.S.).

Receivership, incidentally, is similar to bankruptcy. The Exeter Woolworths is closing; Amanda and I were there yesterday morning, and it was not a pretty sight. It had been about a month since I had been to Woolworths, and the last time I was there, it looked like a normal store. This time, something was clearly going on. There were many empty shelves, probably a little over half of the shelves in the store. Most of the items that were left in the store were on a significant discount, the smaller ones were around 20%. I picked up a lamp for about £2, and the bulbs for it for another 50p or so. It's very sad to see Woolworths going under; they had the best collection of decent, inexpensive goods that we'd managed to find in town. With them gone, we'll be left with Marks & Spencer, which is considerably more expensive in general (from comparison of a few household items after we first arrived, from 50-100% more expensive), and the charity shops, which were even cheaper than Woolworths, although their selection is generally very limited.

When looking for a particular item in the charity shops, you can expect to be looking for several weeks before it turns up. For example, I searched for a coat for about two months in the charity shops, but never found anything in my size that was even close to what I was looking for. At Marks & Spencer, I found a couple of coats right away, but they cost well over £100. At another shop in town that has a more limited focus than Marks & Spencer, I happened to catch a good sale and find a coat that was almost exactly what I was looking for, at a cost of less than £50.

 

JJB Sports, incidentally, tended to be a pretty expensive sporting goods store. Amanda and I went by one night, and never managed to find anything that we hadn't seen cheaper someplace else (most often at Sports World). As far as we're concerned, it won't be missed.

Carol Service

Carol services are a British Christmas institution.

The basic idea of a carol service is that a bunch of people get together and sing carols in a semi-church service-like atmosphere. They seem to always include congregational hymns and scripture reading; however, beyond that, there don't appear to be any hard rules. Some contain a sermon; some don't. Some have a choir singing additional songs, others don't.

Amanda and I went to the Mint's carol service, which did feature a choir but no sermon. For the sake of comparison, the ECU's service featured a sermon, but no choir. Hopefully, we will have the opportunity to make it to some other carol services over the next two weeks so we can broaden our sample to get a better idea of what goes on.

My Amazing Colored Coat

I've been looking for a new winter coat for quite a while. We had been keeping our eyes out at the charity shops for weeks, but nothing had turned up in my size that was remotely satisfactory.

Today, we deviated a bit from the charity shop strategy. After taking some pictures at the cathedral, we went over to visit the Edinburgh Woolen Mill, which is neither in Edinburgh or a Mill, and sells products not made of wool (go figure). I could spend all day picking out clothes there, because they have lots of nice sweaters, shirts, trousers, jackets, hats, etc., and those are just the men's clothes. Amanda actually picked up a few shirts that were on a massive sale earlier in the year. Today, it was my turn.

I found a nice, big coat for £55.00, with an extra 20% off. With the discount, that came to £44.50, or $67. Even better, we'll be getting another 15% back when we leave the country in May, as we can get our VAT sent back to us for being non-Brits. I look forward to getting my $9 back!

What does the coat look like? Well, it looks a lot like my coat from Germany did, except it's a little bit bigger and has more pockets. Also, it is green instead of brown, with navy accents instead of brown. It's nice and roomy, and the pockets are big enough to actually put things in (what a concept)! Amanda says I look pretty good in it .

You Don’t Have This in the States

She was right.

When I arrived at church this morning, I was warned by one of the ladies handing out programs that it would be an unusual day. Today was the Exeter Civic Service, held at Mint Methodist Church. As she put it, it was an event of pomp and high ceremony. She was understating things.

The service began with the procession of the Lord Mayor of Exeter and his party from the Guildhall to the Mint. Amanda got lots of nice pictures of this. She had to be at Build-a-Bear before church ended, so she got a ringside seat for the procession. The Lord Mayor, Deputy Lord Mayor, and the rest of the party were all dressed in their full official regalia, and, as it was a state occasion, by royal edict, the hat and sword presented to the city by King Henry VII in the fifteenth century preceded the Lord Mayor's party.

At the service, the significance of the hat and sword were explained. During the course of the explanation, the Lord Mayor asked what year Henry VII became King. Much to our shame, the history doctoral student that I was sitting next to and I couldn't come up with the year, although we both got the decade right (the year was 1485). I did, however, correctly answer who the previous king was (Richard III).

The sermon was given by the Lord Mayor's Chaplain. Now, I'm sure it's crossed your mind, why was the service held at Mint? Because the Lord Mayor's Chaplain is a member at the Mint. The Mint has several retried ministers in the congregation, which reportedly can make for some interesting good-natured jabs being traded among the active and former ministers involved.

Here are Amanda's myriad shots of the parade (which moved so slowly that she almost mistook it for Christmas).

Stash!

At the University of Exeter, each society and club has something called a "stash." What is a stash? It's a set of clothes that bear the society/club name, university crest, and, sometimes, the member's name.

For example, archery has three shirt options (hoodie, polo, rugby) and a bag. The shirts come in white and bottle green (and white/navy combo for the rugby shirt). I got the bottle green polo and bottle green hoodie, with my name on both. I got them at the session this morning. I'm very happy with them!

International Postgraduate Discussion Group

Yesterday, I took part in a discussion group composed of international postgraduate students at Exeter. We were asked a number of questions, ranging from why we came to Exeter, to what resources we used to select a postgrad programme, to what our experiences with the admissions process were. We were also asked to take a look at the Exeter prospectus, and those from several other universities, and talk about what we did and didn't like from each one.

At the end, we were asked what one thing about our experience could have been better. All eight of us took the opportunity to vent our frustrations at the Accommodation Office. It turns out that absolutely no one had anything good to say about them. The people who wanted to live on campus (3) couldn't, the people who wanted to live off campus (4) were required to live on campus, and the person who wanted to move from one campus dorm to another couldn't do that, either.

All told, we said that the university would be a much better place, if only the Accommodation Office could get their act together!

Date Night II- Mamma Mia!

Ever since we moved into our apartment, we've had to walk past the Odeon Cinema every time we wanted to go downtown (for example, to go shopping, eat out, or go to church). I've wanted to go to a movie for weeks now, and I finally got the opportunity tonight. The cinema was having a 2-for-1 special on tickets to the final showing of "Mamma Mia!," and we decided that it was definitely worth the £3.70 to go see it. Ironically, Will and I first became interested in seeing that movie during the summer when the interim preacher at my parents' church mentioned it in one of his sermons. He completely disapproved of the movie and its entire premise, but his plot summary peaked our interest. As it turns out, his plot summary was highly inaccurate, but the movie was still a lot of fun. I love musicals in general, and this one is no exception. 

The Odeon Cinema is a very nice theater, though it is not particularly large. It definitely makes a great place to go for a date night.

Study Skills Seminars

Over the course of the term, I have attended a number of study skills seminars for postgraduates offered by HuSS (my school at Exeter). They have covered topics such as citations, essay writing, effective reading, what professors expect in seminars, how the British academic system works, etc. Several of them have been deathly dull; however, most have been at least somewhat interesting. Granted, the interesting part hasn't always been in the material.

Take today, for instance. Today, shortly after the seminar began, the fire alarm went off. Everyone dutifully gathered their things and walked down the stairwell, up the hall to the main lobby, and out the front doors, then across the porch and down the stairs to stand along the street. It turns out that this was an unannounced fire drill. "Unannounced" fire drills are different from "unscheduled" fire drills in one important way: Although the students and professors get no advanced warning, the fire department does. As a result, we at least didn't have to wait for the fire department to clear the building before we were allowed back inside. All told, the fire drill took about twenty minutes, which meant that we had to hurry through some aspects of today's workshop.

In archery news, my shooting was quite a bit better today. I shot an average of 8, 6, 3 tonight, with a total of 128 on 24 shots, or an average of just over 5 per shot. Not counting my opening round, when I was still trying to sight my bow properly (in which I shot 3, miss, miss), I shot a 125 in 21 shots, or a little shy of 6 per shot.

Nativity Scene

The other day, I found the perfect nativity scene at the Cancer Research UK shop in Exeter. It was hand-made out of yarn by one of the shop's volunteers and is extremely lightweight, which means I should have no trouble getting it back to the U.S. Will bought it for me as a Christmas gift and gave it to me early so that I could use it to start decorating our flat for Christmas. Now I just need to gather a few more decorations, and the place will begin to look appropriately festive.

Archery

In keeping with the instructions of one of our Squad coaches, I've taken to writing down my shooting records. Here are my stats from tonight:

• 5, 3, miss
  
• 9, 6, 3
  
• 7, 2, miss
  
• 8, miss, miss
  
• 2, 1, miss
  
• miss, miss, miss
  
• 2, 1, miss
  
• 8, 5, 4
  
• 10, 8 , miss
  
• 7, 5, 2
  
• 7, 4, miss
  

All that averages out to something like 7, 3, miss, or 4, 3, 3. Overall, in 33 shots, I shot 109, which averages out to less than 4 per shot. My eventual goal is to average 9, 7, 6 consistently, which would have put me at a point total of 242 for the night. I missed by more than half.

In other words, my shooting was pretty much rubbish.

VAT

The British Government, in its infinite wisdom, has decided to stimulate the economy by lowering the sales tax, know as Value Added Tax (VAT), from 17.5% to 15% for the next 13 months. Personally, I think the government could have put the 12.5 billion GBP that the tax discount will cost to better use. This change is expected to save the average resident aroung 200 GBP over the time period it is in effect. Interestingly, however, the law passed to make this change does not require retailers to lower the price of items to reflect the change. Thus, since British prices include VAT, some businesses, including Sports World, have opted to leave prices the same and simply make a larger profit from each item.

While this might seem unreasonable, it is far more practical that trying to change the price of every taxable item in a large store or training sales assistants to know which items are taxed and which are not so that they can make the adjustments at the till. For many stores, this would be a logistical nightmare and would cause more harm than good, defeating the original purpose of the tax reduction.

Despite this, however, some customers feel strongly that the prices should be lowered. One customer at Sport World today insisted that we call a supervisor, because, in her words, "I've been to six shops today, and at every one of them, they've taken some off at the till. And you're supposed to, too!" Another customer asked if prices were reduced and responded by calling us "Meanies!" when I told her they weren't. Other customers remarked that it was "odd" that we weren't reducing prices like Marks and Spencers and some other High Street shops.

Council Tax

In the UK, the primary method that local governments use to fund things is called Council Tax. In essence, it's an occupancy tax that is levied on all employed persons who live in the district. There are various council tax "bands," which are based upon property value. Tax is assessed at a different amount for each band. The bands are fairly broad, so there can be a wide deviation in property values within a band.

Everyone pays council tax except for students and the unemployed. Getting registered as a student can take a bit of doing. Amanda and I submitted our paperwork to register as students over two weeks ago, and when I called today to check on the status of our filing for an exemption, they told me that they had mailed us a letter stating that both of our exemptions had been granted (hallelujah!) on Friday. I assume it will arrive tomorrow, which is the day after the council tax payment would have been due.

As an interesting note, if one or more people who live in a residence are students, but there is one person who is not, the council tax bill is reduced by 25%, and the remaining person/people is/are left to foot the bill for the remaining 75%. This provides a very strong incentive for students to live only with each other, or for one student to live with four or five young professionals. I don't quite understand the logic behind the system, but everyone here seems to either accept it or be resigned to it.

Curry Lunch

Today, I went to a Rotary curry lunch put on by the (infant) Exeter Enterprise Club. It was just started recently; in fact, they're still on their first group of officers. The lunch was held in East Budleigh (pronounced BUD-lee), which is not their usual meeting place; however, the Village Hall provided a nice venue for the lunch.

Attendees had a choice of several different kinds of curry: vegetarian, turkey, lamb, and two varieties each of beef and chicken. These were served with rice and lettuce. After lunch, there were fruit bowls and various cookies for dessert.

I was seated at the end of a table. On my left was the Rotarian that I rode with (he's from the Exeter Southernhay Club), who is an architect.



On my right was a guest of one of the Exeter Enterprise Rotarians who is a civil engineer, so the two of them had a bit of a conversation about their professions' rivalry. From there, the conversation moved on to topics of economics, which was fine with me as I know far more about that than I do about either architecture or engineering. The conversation turned to naval history a few times, but, for the most part, the topic quickly shifted back to something else. It seems that history is so interconnected with other things that it is difficult to stay on-topic when attempting to discuss it!

After the lunch itself came the obligatory recognitions of the people that made it possible that accompany any event of this type. Following that was a brief presentation about polio (one of Rotary's major charitable causes) and an account of a Rotarian's recent trip to Tibet and Nepal. The Rotarian I rode with, when unable to recall her name, referred to her as "The one with the O.B.E." She does, in fact, have an O.B.E. Her presentation was not very flattering to the Chinese, but was very flattering to Tibetan Buddhists. You'd think the Chinese were worse on the Tibetan Buddhists than the Taliban, from the way she talked, but that, of course, is not true, as any historian (or anyone paying close attention to world events in 1997) can tell you.

Apologies if the formatting on this entry is a bit odd-it's my first attempt to type a blog entry in Word and then upload it, and I'm not sure how it will turn out.

International Thanksgiving

Tonight, Will and I joined Christine Difato an several of her friends for an international celebration of the American Thanksgiving holiday. The group consisted of three Americans, three Turks, a Greek, an Italian, a German, a Saudi, and a Cypriot. With the exception of me, all are University of Exeter students, and with the exception of Will, all are currently working on PhDs.

The dinner was potluck-style, and Will and I made dressing. Our first attempt was aborted when we smelled it burning and removed it, in its crispy black state, from the oven. Fortunately, we had enough of all of the ingredients to try it again, and the second attempt was successful. We ended up arriving about 45 minutes late, but that wasn't a problem because some of the other participants were still busy cooking when we got there.

The food was tasty, the company was quite enjoyable, and the conversations were interesting. Among the topics discussed were the irritation caused by British sinks (Why are there separate faucets for hot and cold water, making it impossible to have warm water???), the excessive drinking habits of Brits, and the British habit of acting like the UK is part not of the EU. The Europeans in the group were especially keen on discussing what they perceive to be British oddities.

Overall, this was one of the most fun events I've attended for months. I am quite glad we were able to participate.

3 for 2

There is a British Christmas institution known as "3 for 2." It works like it sounds: You buy two items, you get the third free. Of course, it's only on selected items, and the free one is the cheapest.

Stores try to out-3-for-2 each other. For example, Marks & Spencer claims that theirs is "Not Just Any 3 for 2," and they go on to explain that they rank your items in order of price and give you every third one free, rather than giving you the cheapest ones at the end free (which is apparently the common practice).

I first saw a 3 for 2 sign a couple of weeks ago at Boots, and I assumed that they were just doing something special. Then the signs started to pop up everywhere: bookstores, department stores, outdoor stores, etc. I'm sure the grocery stores can't be far behind!

In other news, Cheddar cheese IS NOT American (despite what the Germans will tell you). It is British, and is named after a place called Cheddar. Who knew?

Cleaning Up

Today, one of my classmates, Dave, and I went back out to the Navy Records Society's warehouse in Marsh Barton. Our mission: Clean up the place! There are something on the order of 300 boxes of books (for a total of over 5,000 books), which were mostly scattered at random.

We began by cleaning out the outer room, which was no small task (it was home to about 200 boxes). That left us with all 300 boxes in the inner room, and we began to sort them. Ultimately, we got about 200 of the boxes on the pallets in the inner room, and the other 100 back in the outer room in something close to an orderly fashion. Now, we have a map of where all the books are located, and can actually get to almost all of them without having to move more than ten boxes. Previously, to get to some of the books required moving over 100 boxes. Needless to say, it's much easier to get around now!

I also picked up several new books, including the three that I accidentally left behind last time we were out there.

You may be wondering why Dave and I spent three and a half hours of our day on this. The answer is that the Navy Records Society paid us £100 for the job, which was £50 each, which came to over £14/hr. Not bad!

Exeter Xmas Parade

Today was the Exeter City Christmas Parade. Amanda and I duly took up station on the High Street, roughly across the street from Build-A-Bear, at about 20 minutes before the parade was due to begin at noon. We expected to see the usual mix of floats, marching groups, and Santa (known here as Father Christmas). No sooner did the parade begin, however, than we came face to face with Bearemy and Paulette, Build-A-Bear's two mascots! They were the first act in the parade, followed by a group of majorettes.



Behind the majorettes came a couple of charity groups collecting money. Rather than throwing candy into the crowd, parades here feature people walking along the crowd with buckets to collect cash for charities. Behind the charity groups came Father Christmas, who was followed by another group of majorettes (who knew they were so popular here?).



After the tail of the parade passed us, we scampered down the street to the courtyard of the Guildhall Shopping Centre (what was formerly Victoria Street before shops were built over part of it in the 1970s), and ran into Bearemy and Paulette again! We both managed to get some nice pictures with them, before they fled to escape the "snow" that was falling from the sky. The fake snow was made of soap bubbles, which could have made a mess of their fur. Shortly after they escaped, Amanda had to go to work at Sports World (which is located in the Guildhall Shopping Centre), and I went on to Tesco to go grocery shopping and then headed home to work on a book review.

Christmas Lights Switch On

Today, as I was leaving Sports World, I noticed that there were hundreds of people gathered on the High Street. Since there are usually not many people there around 6pm on a week night, I asked a bystander what was going on. He explained to me that Exeter's city Christmas decorations were about to be turned on. As I made my way up the street, I could see that many people, especially children, were carrying glow sticks and light-up swords, and other people were wearing blinking headbands and cardboard reindeer antlers. There were also some people in costumes, including one dressed as a robin and another dressed as a robot. Soon, the DJs facilitating the event led a countdown to the switch-on, and the decorations were powered up. The switch-on was immediately followed by a spectacular firework display, which lasted around 10 minutes. Following the fireworks, the DJs urged us to stick around for various live performances that were taking place in the area. I couldn't stay for long, because I needed to wash up and cook dinner, but I did catch a glimpse of a man twirling fire batons.

What a pleasant surprise it was to catch this huge, local event!

Rotary District 1170 Conference

Today was Day Three of the District Conference for Rotary District 1170. As Exeter is located within District 1170, the four Ambassadorial Scholars in the district duly packed into Peter's SUV and rode over to the Winter Gardens Conference Centre for the day. Although I was a little bit tired this morning (as I stayed up far too late following the scores of football games last night), I was able to make it through my brief introduction of myself without any major problems. However, I think I was probably way too fascinated with the coin vortex in the Hall of Friendship at the conference. On the other hand, I always find those interesting!

It was very interesting to get to see a formal Rotary event; the only things I had seen thus far were club meetings and the LINK Weekend, which doesn't exactly count as a formal Rotary occasion. Most of today's portion of the conference consisted of the general session's speakers and some award presentations; however, we were able to have lunch with the Rotarians. Lunch consisted of a choice of lamb or turkey main course (no secret which I had), with several choices of vegetable (all involving cabbage in one way or another), and a choice of potato (whole fried potatoes or boiled potatoes with carrots and something green). Dessert consisted of some sort of fried cream puffs, cheesecake, or choice of fruit crumbles.

After lunch, the four of us had our picture taken on the existing portion of the wharf. The wharf is featured on the front cover of the conference program, after a fashion. The wharf recently burned, so the picture bore no resemblance whatsoever to the actual wharf in its present state. We got a nice picture with some lovely grey sky behind us, though, pretending that "this is our island in the sun" to facilitate Julia's photoshopping efforts.

After the picture, we returned to Exeter, and I set back to work on my 4,000 word paper for Exploration & Interpretation (due on Thursday), which is currently about halfway written.

First Shift

My first shift at Sports World began this morning at 11:00 AM. I was asked to arrive early so that there would be time for me to try on uniforms prior to the start of my shift. I arrived around 10:45 AM and received my red Umbro polo shirt and navy blue Umbro trousers. The trousers are significantly too long for me, so I need to find some safety pins before tomorrow so that I can keep them pulled up.

My shift consisted of four hours of being taught to use the till (cash register). I was trained by Martin, another part-time employee who has worked here for over a year. Working the till is quite easy; however, answering customers' questions is not. Between the British accents and the new vocabulary (including "football boots" instead of "cleats" and "trainers" instead of "tennis shoes") and the fact that I do not yet know much about our inventory, I have a tough time with questions. I assume this will improve quickly, but it is frustrating to seem so ignorant!

Sports World

In addition to my Christmas temp job at Build-A-Bear, I now have a part-time job at Sports World, a retail shop that sells tennis shoes and a variety of other athletic shoes, clothing, and equipment. Today was my "induction," or training day. I was trained with two other new employees, Steph and Emily, both of whom are a lot younger than me. Our training consisted of reading various policies, hearing explanations of the policies, signing documents saying we understood them, and taking a tour of the store. My first shift is tomorrow, and I will receive my uniform right before it. I am quite excited that things finally seem to be working out in terms of employment here!

Pudsey Bear and Pub Quiz

The BBC, a large British news organization, organizes an annual charity appeal known as Children in Need, and one entire evening of its programming is set aside for raising money for British children's charities each year. This year, it will occur on 14 November. In the run-up to the broadcast, many shops are selling items featuring Pudsey Bear, the Children in Need mascot. Both Boots Pharmacy and Build-A-Bear Workshop are among the shop selling Pudsey merchandise. Yesterday, Will purchased me a smalled, stuffed Pudsey from Boots. It is adorable!



Another notable event from yesterday is that Will and I went to the Bowling Green, a nearby pub, for the weekly pub quiz. The quiz consisted of 40 questions which had to be answered by each team on a sheet of paper. The top two teams won prizes, as did the team judged to have the funniest name. Will and I came in last, probably because we had the smallest team and the least knowledge of local history and culture. Following the 40 questions and the announcement of winners, another 5 bonus questions were asked. Any team that correctly answered the five bonus questions would have received a cash prize, though in this instance, no one did. Thus, the cash prize rolls over another week and will increase by five pounds next Sunday. Despite our poor performance, we had a good time, and we are considering asking Kim and Chris to join us next week.

Naval Archives

Today, several of my classmates and I joined two of our professors at the archives of the Navy Records Society. We were expecting an organized, library-like room, with row upon row of books. We could not have been further from reality.

The archives consist of two small rooms in a warehouse. The first room is full, floor to ceiling, of boxes of books. The boxes are labeled; however, we quickly discovered that the labels were wrong as often as not. The second room has several wooden pallets with boxes of books stacked on them, but most of the room is taken up by other items, such as office chairs and other office furniture.

We spend about two hours trying to hammer through the maze of books, but we were only able to get to about 40% of them. Out of those, each of us found some books that we wanted. Personally, I got about 20 books; most of the others got five or six.

In the interests of cleaning up the mess, the Society will be paying Dave and me to re-organize and label the boxes so that they can let people come in and go through the boxes to find books that they want. We'll be doing that on the 21st, so this little adventure isn't over yet.

Master Bear Builder

Today, was my second day of work at Build-A-Bear. I learned how to use and fill the stuffing machine, received my "Master Bear Builder" name tag, and shadowed Checky as she led a party for 6 little girls. The party was a lot of fun. In addition to helping the girls stuff their bears, Checky led them in a series of games and activities. There was plenty of shouting, running around, and, of course, laughing. Then, while the girls were playing a game, we were joined by Sam dressed as Build-A-Bear's bunny mascot, Pawlette. Pawlette posed for pictures with the group and even participated in a few games before returning to her home. Personally, I was quite jealous. I've never had a 6 foot tall bunny come to MY birthday party...

The Poppy Appeal

In the UK (and the rest of the Commonwealth), Veterans' Day doesn't exist. Instead, the 11th of November is called Rememberance Day, which is commemorated by the sale of poppy lapel pins made of a foam-rubber like substance. I was discussing this with one of my classmates, and he explained that "We can't actually remember the veterans; we remember the events. If we remembered the veterans, we might show actual appreciation for members of our armed forces, and that would call into question the personal worth of the aristocracy, and we can't have that." He was being partially sarcastic, I think (I still don't quite have him figured out).

In a related area, there is a display in the cathedral yard (in front of the statue of Richard Hooker, to be exact) commemorating those who died in the various wars of the past few decades. There are sections for every branch of the military, and several other areas, such as the merchant marine and civil defense. Here's what it looks like:



In a completely unrelated area, I tried to exchange my computer today at Curry's Digital, but they didn't have the replacement in. Sadness. They promise it will be in tomorrow, though, so I can finally get the swap done!

NHS

Today was my first opportunity to truly experience NHS, Britain's National Health Service. On Monday, I registered with a doctor at the Mount Pleasant Medical Center. The process was quick and easy- I simply needed my visa and proof of address, which I provided in the form of my bank details. I was randomly assigned Dr. Clare Clarey as my primary care doctor. As soon as I had finished registering, I made an appointment to get some birth control and have my injured knee looked at.

Despite everything I've heard in the States about NHS, I was given an appointment for Thursday of that same week, which is, of course, today. After I arrived at the appointment, I had a very brief wait to see the doctor, and she was very helpful and addressed both problems in a quick and efficient manner. At no time did I feel rushed, patronized, or otherwise annoyed- something that I cannot say about most of my visits to American doctor's offices!

It turns out that I simply have a strained MCL, which is fortunately not dangerous to walk on, despite that it hurts. The doctor recommended that I put ice on it when I'm at home and that I use any anti-inflammatory for pain. She also prescribed me an appropriate contraceptive. I took the prescription to the pharmacy next door and waited about ten minutes while it was filled. Best of all, bost the doctor's appointment and the prescription were FREE! Most prescribed medications cost 6.50 GBP, but contraceptives are provided without cost.

Overall, my first encounter with NHS was overwhelmingly postive, much to my surprise. I can only hope all future visits are equally pleasant.

Bonfire Night

The evening of November 5 is Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Bonfire Night, in the UK. The event is an annual celebration of the successful foiling of the Gunpowder Plot of November 5, 1605 in which several Catholic, one of them named Guy Fawkes, attempted to blow up both houses of Parliament. The festivities consist mainly of fireworks displays and bonfires, though I'm told that residents of a nearby town celebrate by running around town with flaming barrels of tar on their heads. Tonight, and for the past several nights, I've been able to watch various displays of fireworks out my bedroom window. Because Will and I live on the fifth floor and relatively close to the city center, we have an absolutely amazing view.

Election 2008

Finally, finally, election day has arrived! Regardless of the outcome, I will certainly be glad when this one is over. As a supporter of Hillary Clinton, I lost my enthusiasm about this election months ago. The ads and the constant bickering about America's problems are exhausting, and I cannot help but feel that this election has dragged on for far too long.

Will and I intend to stay up late watching the returns on cnn.com and foxnews.com. I am expecting Barack Obama to win handily. Nearly all of the British people I know will be absolutely overjoyed if this happens. My brother, Robert, says that all of the non-American students in his language school in Beijing feel the same way. One of them, a Khasak, recently informed him, "Robert, even I know that Barack Obama is the right choice for President!" It is interesting that the world is so certain while America is so divided. Why is it that millions of people who have never set foot in the United States, experienced our culture, or dealt with our problems believe that they can know with certainty that the Americans who support John McCain are wrong or misguided. While I certainly often have preferences about who I prefer to win foreign elections, I would never go so far as to say that one candidate is the "right" choice- unless I believe wholeheartedly that the candidate's opponent is downright evil. Surely the world does not view Senator McCain this way. If they do, that speaks volumes about the damage that has been done been Obama's propaganda machine.

Torches

Imagine my surprise when, on a recent tour, shortly after we entered a dark place, the guide mentioned that she needed to get her torch out of her purse. To me, a 'torch' is a lighting tool that uses real, live fire as its source of light. Here, though, the term is used instead of flashlight to describe a portable, electronic lighting device. In fact, I bought Will a "wind-up torch" just yesterday, for use in case of an unexpected power outage or similar circumstance. The wind-up torch can also emit a siren sound or charge a cell phone, making it and incredibly useful purchase.

Lunchtime Mint, Part II

Today, I went to the Mint's lunch at the pastor's home. It was a lovely lunch; it consisted of a Korean dish composed of rice, peppers, tomatoes, and olives (no idea what it's called, but it was good!), pasta, lasagna, and cheese and biscuts (ie, crackers). It was accompanied by wine, apple juice, and orange juice (and, of course, the obligatory tea and coffee). I spent most of my time lounging in a rocking chair in the office/library, talking to the other assembled students who gravitated to the library. One of the topics discussed was the recent Students' Guild meeting (see my post from 31 October for more details about that).

We also took a group picture, which was supposed to be in the living room. However, the living room wasn't large enough to hold everyone, as apparently more people had arrived than expected, judging from the shortage of plates, glasses, and chopsticks (which went very fast). Instead, we retreated to the garden, and lined up along the fence, where we were shot twelve times by five different cameras.

It was also announced that we would be having another Sunday lunch in the Common Room next week, which is to continue through the month of November. Apparently, the side that favored the extension of the October Lunch Programme won out, so we'll have to see how long these lunches last, and how frequently they take place.

In other news, Alabama is now rightfully ranked #1 in the AP and Coaches' Polls. I assume the BCS Standings will agree. Now, for dealing with LSU . . .

Exeter Autumn Festival

While walking home from an afternoon of shopping today, Will and I were lucky enough to catch a live outdoor performance of the City of Exeter's pipers and drummers. The performance was part of the festivities of the two week long Exeter Autumn Festival, and it truely was a treat.

Paracetamol

Throughout the entire time that Will and I lived in Germany and traveled across Europe, we never once found a pharmacy which sold acetaminophen, the active ingredient in the pain killer most of us know as "Tylenol." Aspirin and ibuprofen were easy to find in every country, from Ireland to Morocco, but we found literally no acetaminophen anywhere in Europe. I even tried describing the medicine to pharmacists, but none of them had any idea what I was talking about.

In England, however, we have finally been able to find it- except here, it goes by the name "paracetamol." At first we weren't sure it was the same medicine. However, the following facts let us to conclude that acetaminophen and paracetamol are indeed the same: 1) Paracetamol is quite inexpensive, often costing less than 1p per pill. 2) It acts as a stand-alone pain-killer but is also find in numerous more potent painkillers. 3) Any product containing paracetamol has very severe-sounding overdose warning, such as "Contains paracetamol. Do not exceed the stated dose. Do not take this medicine with any other paracetamol containing products. Immediate medical advice should be sought in the event of an overdose with this medicine, even if you feel well, because of the risk of delayed, serious liver damage."

We actually brought enough Tylenol with us to last for the entire year, but if we happen to need some when we're away from home, now we know what to look for!

Exeter Students' Guild General Meeting

Today, I went to a General Meeting of the Exeter Students' Guild, which featured a great debate about the meaning of equality. Of the numerous motions/resolutions which were discussed, here are the highlights:

• Statement of Opposition to Tuition, Fees, and Student Debt: passed overwhelmingly, in spite of some opposition from a few Guild officers who felt it compromised the current fight against tuition and fee increases.
• Removal of Bibles from University Accomodation: failed 96-112 (with four abstentions), on the grounds that the Gideons can continue to place whatever book they like, whereever they like.
• Amendment to the Equal Opportunity Policy: failed overwhelmingly (about 50-650); presented to allow religious groups to restrict membership (especially of their leadership) on the basis of belief.
• Creation of a "No Platform" List: failed (about 320-400); sought to establish a list of groups whose members were not welcome to speak on campus because of their views. The follow-on resolution would have added the British National Party to the list; however, due to the failure of this resolution, it was moot.
• Opposition to Bottled Water, Except for FairTrade Water: passed overwhelmingly, with the proviso that the Guild Shop be allowed to sell water that gives its profits to digging wells in Africa.

Overall, the meeting lasted three hours, and only accomplished about half of its agenda. It was interesting to see a British meeting at work; however, there were probably better uses for the three hours.

It's Hailing

Right now, I am sitting on my bed watch BB-sized pieces of ice bounce off my balcony. (Will, on the other hand, is getting an up-close-and-personal look at it as he walks home from class!) This is the second time it has hailed since I've been here, which is strange for me since I've only experienced hail three or four times in my entire life before moving here. So far, it's made a habit of catching me completely off-guard be occurring on days when the temperature outside is well above freezing. I tend to associate "ice" with "freezing temperatures outside," but apparently, one is not a prerequisite for the other!

Photo Shoot

Today, I took part in a photo shoot for a photographer out in Marsh Barton. He takes "stock" photos for use by universities and businesses in their recruiting propoganda. In essence, said universities/businesses buy pictures from him, insert them in their recruitment materials, and *poof,* they have happy, smiling students/employees. This is particularly useful for anyone lacking happy (or for that matter, any) students/employees.

I was one of the models for a "student" session. It took about an hour and a half, and paid £8 per hour, which was pretty good, I thought, for basically just sitting there. Granted, it cost about £2.5o to get out to Marsh Barton, but that's still a pretty good profit margin. It's not like I was going to be doing anything else that paid anything during those ninety minutes (for anyone who was trying to compute economic costs).

In other employment news, Amanda will be starting next week as a Bear Builder at Build-A-Bear Workshop in Exeter (located on the High Street for your shopping convenience), and I will (pending background check) be starting at EDF Energy as a customer service rep later this week. It will be nice to have some cash flowing in rather than out, for a change!

Lunchtime Mint

On every Sunday in October, Mint Methodist has had a lunch for its college students. Every Sunday except today, that is. Today, there was a lunch at the home of a couple of Mint's members. We, along with about seventy others, were invited to attend. About fifty of those invited showed up, judging from the number of plates used at lunch. Reportedly, thirty-eight were set out, and had to be supplemented with more.

The menu consisted of rice (lots of Koreans were there), a vegetarian curry of some sort, ham, cheese, biscuts [crackers in American English], nuts, crisps [chips in American English], fruit salad, and a wide selection of desserts, including cake, chocolate pie, brownies, a raspberry cobbler-type dish (Amanda says it was really good), and lots more that I can't remember. Amazingly, despite the number of people there, the food did hold out, and there were some (small) leftovers. Perhaps if all seventy of the invited guests had come, all the food would have been consumed!

The gathering was quite international, with those in attendance including people from the UK, the US, South Africa, Lesotho, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea! Conveniently, the lunch doubled as a baptism party for a little boy from South Africa who was baptized this morning. Most of his family lives too far away to attend the baptism, so the church made an extra-special effort to make this a special day for him and his parents.

In other news, we've been invited to another lunch next week, this one at the pastor's house. At least I guess that's what you call him . . . when one of the Koreans asked him what to call him, he said that just about everyone calls him "Andrew," he is addressed on letters as "Reverend," his position is "minister" (not priest, which was the question that started all this), and that in formal situations, he is referred to (though rarely addressed as) "Mr. Sails." Somehow, I suspect that "Brother Andrew" or "Pastor Andrew" or even "Reverend Andrew" would probably elicit recognition.

Build-A-Bear Workshop

This afternoon, I was hired for a Christmas temp position at my favorite store in the whole world, Build-a-Bear workshop. I start on November 4, and I am really pleased to have a job and excited about working at such a fun, upbeat place. The only downside is that it will be difficult not to spend a large portion of my earning on buying things there! I've been a customer of the Build-A-Bear Workshops in Alabama since they opened, and I have acquired a nice collection of bears and bunnies from them over the years.

Church in England

In England, church is an intellectual exercise. Thinking is actually encouraged in sermons, with frequent admissions that the preacher does not know all the answers, and thus encourages everyone to ponder the issue at hand. Logic lessons (most recently, on false dichotomies) are also frequent features. This stands in very nice contrast to frequent sermons in the US (especially in Baptist churches) which are frequently just lectures on the way things "are," not why (and certainly not admissions that the preacher doesn't know the answer on a given subject).

I find I prefer it this way. Perhaps it's my being intellectual; perhaps it's my sincere desire to believe that Richard Dawkins is flat wrong (he says "Thinking is anethema to religion"), but it's nice to be able to think about religious issues without being smacked down by those you try to discuss with. And it's not confined to churches, either; the Exeter (University) Evangelical Christian Union frequently discusses philosophical issues in an intellectual way, which is also quite nice. I can't say that this is a European thing, because I went to a very American church in Germany (because my German wasn't good enough to go to a German one), but it's something that I approve of!

Mailbag

We've been getting quite an assortment of interesting mail lately. Here is a sampling of some of our favorites:

Voter Registration Letter
We got a letter which explains that the occupants of the house need to verify their voting details. The previous two tenants were both eligible to vote; however, being non-EU and non-Commonwealth citizens, we are not. Thus, we had to complete the part of the form that says that we can't vote, and send it back in to the Council. As an aside, we were legally required to complete this form.

Council Tax Form
We had a nice form waiting for us when we moved in requesting our information for Council Tax purposes. If you're unfamiliar with the concept of a council tax, think about the most regressive form of occupancy tax possible, and you'll be about there. We are still trying to establish our exemptions from Council Tax as students, which requires far more paperwork than it should, not least because the University says that I should be on the list of exempt students that the Council has. We were legally required to complete this one, too.

TV Licencing Form
To be able to watch, record, or otherwise utilize television, you have to buy a TV licence. We got a lovely letter from the responsible government agency, informing us that they knew that there had been a change of occupancy at this address, and that they also knew that we had not purchased a TV licence. They then offered us several methods by which to do so, or face fines if we failed to purchase a licence. We were legally required to provide the requested information, which we did with a phone call saying that we did not own, nor did we intend to own, a television or recording equiptment for use at this address. They assure us that an inspector will be coming by to verify this as soon as is convenient for an inspector.

Other People's Mail
We frequently get mail addressed to the last three tenants, and to the landlord. We also get things addressed to a mysterious person who goes by the lone name of "Occupier." If anyone wants to come by to collect their mail, we have a nice pile accumulating. The offerings range from sales catalogs to university grade reports to political propoganda to coupons to run-of-the-mill advertising. Some of them, for reasons not fully understood, do not have an address, but were just deposited in our mail slot. Frequently, mail without an apartment number is simply left on the table in the lobby, but apparently sometimes the mail guys feel like handing it out at random.

All that said, Deutsche Post was quite more efficient! Royal Mail means to leave you a slip when you have a package waiting at the post office, but Deutsche Post always did leave one. We had to go hunting for our package on our own this time. We're glad we found it when we did, because it had our absentee ballots in them. Thus, we've now voted, and can ignore the rest of the campaign season! It's a great feeling!

Rotary in Preston

Tonight, Amanda and I went down to Paington, to visit the Preston-Torbay Rotary Club. We rode down with Peter Lowless, a local Rotarian at the Exeter Southernhay club. Also riding down with us were Julia (whose last name I dare not try to spell) and Sangmi Li (no promises that I transliterated that correctly) and her husband, Choi. Anne-Katrin Luther, the fourth Rotary scholar in the district, met us there. Anne has her own car, and was able to drive the roughly 25 minutes from Dartington herself. At the meeting, we had a lovely dinner (regular price £13.50 per plate) and heard the District Governor speak. Also, we saw the induction of three new members, including the club's first female member. After dinner, the Sergeant-at-Arms issued numerous "fines" to club members and visitors for "infractions" of various types. In similar fashion, the Exeter Southernhay club has a "Good News Box" which members put money into to celebrate good news. Speaking of which, my host counsellor's husband recently got a promotion. Admiral Stanhope will be taking over as First Sea Lord next year, which means he will be the overall commander of the Royal Navy. The position of First Sea Lord can be traced back to 1795 (then known as Admiral of the Fleet, which later became a rank), and was called "First Naval Lord" for a number of years before being renamed First Sea Lord in 1904. Interestingly, the holder of the office need not be a lord, despite the title. I suppose that's enough of a history lesson for one night . . . also, it's very late, and I have a busy day tomorrow!

FIRE's Spotlight

One thing about the United States which I greatly value is free speech. That might seems trivial, but in Europe, speech is typically far more restricted than it is in the U.S. For example, in Germany, it is illegal to sing the first verse of the German national anthem or to deny that the Holocaust occurred. In France, it is illegal to make statements which "incite racial hatred." While these rules may seem reasonable at face value, they and others like them are often used to stifle independent thinking and can cause more harm than good.

I am proud that America puts very few restrictions on speech, even though I disagree with many things that people use this right to proclaim. Thus, it concerns my greatly that my university persists in enacting unconstitutional speech codes. For several years now, as a member of the Campus Freedom Network of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, I have closely watched the administration's efforts to make our campus more "accepting" by restricting unpopular speech, including its creation of tiny "free speech zones." In addition to being unnecessarily Draconian, these measures undermine the very purpose of a university- to promote learning through the free exchange of ideas.

If this issue concerns you as much as it concerns me, then I urge you to consider joining the Campus Freedom Network at '>http://www.blogger.com/. The CFN provides students with information on currently threats to campus freedom, suggestions for combating it, and assistance it fighting it when necessary.

Date Night

Earlier this week, Will and I decided that this afternoon/ evening we should go on a date together. Originally, we had planned to go on the "Forgotten Exeter" tour and then to a restaurant, but we decided to forgo the tour in favor of taking the longer "Forgotten Exeter and Tucker's Hall" tour next week.

Instead, we spent the afternoon shopping. Although I made it to England with plenty of skirts and trousers, I needed a few more shirts. We also needed a few household items, which we intended to buy from Woolworths. Unfortunately, though, Woolworths had a fire yesterday and has yet to re-open, so we will just have to wait. I am not clear on exactly how major of a fire it was, but it apparently caused the emergency sprinkler system to activate and thus required a massive cleanup effort.

Over the course of the afternoon, we wandered in and out of several shops around town before eventually ending up and the Oxfam store, one of several charity shops in Exeter. (The British Heart Association and Cancer Research UK are among the other organizations which operate charity shops in town.) Like the others, the Oxfam store is part thrift store, but it also sells Christmas cards, lapel pins, and a number of fair trade items to raise money to fight poverty. We bought several things we'd been needing- a sugar canister, a shirt for me, and a tray in which to put to coins that we want to keep. We might have bought a few more items of clothing, but the store was trying to close and needed us to hurry and check-out. They were quite nice about it, simply stating, "It's time for us to close, but we're happy to take you're money."

After finishing at Oxfam, we proceeded to the Cathedral Yard where a nice store, the Edinburgh Woolen Mill, was having a sale. I managed to buy two very cute shirts for a total of 8 pounds. Then, we headed over to the Ship Inn for dinner.

We chose the Ship Inn because it is our Lonely Planet Guidebook's most highly recommended pub in Exeter. It has a very nice atmosphere and claims to have been the favorite pub of Sir Francis Drake- though of course that is impossible to prove our disprove at this point. Nevertheless, the food there is quite tasty. Will and I both had three bean chili which, oddly enough, was served with Spanish rice. Afterwards, we stopped by Tesco and bought tiny strawberry cheesecakes for dessert.

All in all, it was a very nice day.

Good Stuff

Good day today. I got some studying done, applied for a few jobs, and worked on grad school applications. Tonight, I went to Tae Kwon Do and the International Hour (actually two hours). It was "good stuff" (more on that in a bit).

I'm currently reading Blenheim Preparation, an account of the events in the post-1688 wars (King William's and Queen Anne's) leading up to Marlborough's victory at Blenheim. There are another ten books waiting in line behind it, so I've got to finish it soon if I'm going to be ready on time!

Tae Kwon Do was a lot of fun; I'd forgotten how much I missed it! Even better was the International Hour, a meeting of (male) foreign students in Exeter. Tonight, it was me, a Chinese guy, and a French guy. We discussed British manners (none of us had a clue!), and talked a little bit about the financial crisis (we all have some background in economics). We also discussed the differences in British and American English (and barely scratched the surface). Perhaps the funniest part was when the Chinese guy asked the English host why he said "good stuff" so much (hence the title), to which the host had no good reply. Eventually, the best that could be come up with as an explanation was that it was intended to demarcate different topics in conversation.

I also learned the proper way to buy drinks at a pub, including the dynamics of the "hidden queue" that operates at the bar. In short, you are supposed to approach the bar, make a mental note of who is standing there already, and catch the eye of the bartender when, and only when, it is your turn. You do not hold your money in the air, call to the bartender, or knock on the bar, all of which are considered to be extremely rude, and might well manage to start a fight (not a good thing!), much like showing up in the wrong colours on the night of a football (soccer) match. Additionally, one person out of a group orders drinks for everyone, and the group members rotate who places the order for the round. In theory, this means that everyone will actually pay for their own drinks, but it, of course, doesn't always work out evenly in practice.

We also found some lovely Laughing Cow cheese (if you're not familiar with it, go to your local Tesco, Sam's, or Wal-Mart and buy some; it's delightful!) to go with our "cream crackers" (essentially baked, unsalted crackers). We first discovered this brand of cheese at Sam's one day last year, and have been in love with it ever since. We had previously eaten it with pretzels; however, since the object of cream crackers is to put cheese on them, we decided that there couldn't be a better topping.

You'll notice that Amanda finally made a post; it's a great story. Enjoy!

Job Search and Global Gathering

The first few weeks here in Exeter have been quite interesting for me. Unlike Will, I am simply a "tag-along," with no reason for being here other than to accompany him. This feels rather awkward at times, but I'm glad that I was able to come.

While Will busies himself with academic and athletic pursuits, my main diversion has been looking for jobs. I'm hoping to find a temporary position as a statistician or data analyst, or perhaps a job working with children. The search has not gone as quickly as I would have liked, but I am optimistic that I will have a position within a couple of weeks.

Beyond searching for a job, I've begun getting to know a few people. I recently began participating in a group for wives of international students in Exeter called the Global Gathering (http://globalgatheringexeter.blogspot.com/). The group is run by several British ladies and held at the home of one of them. About ten women make it to the two-hour meeting each week, and many of them bring their toddlers along. Today was my second Global Gathering meeting, and I had a very good time. We learned how to make delicious strawberry and raspberry tarts, and we got to eat them after we finished cooking.

Here are a few pictures of the preparation process:

Unfortunately, the group will not be meeting again until November 6 because Biddy Walton, the lady who hosts the gathering, will be spending the next two weeks in Morocco improving her Arabic. I hope I can continue participating at least occasionally; however, it is on Thursday mornings, so it is highly likely that when I get a job, I will have to stop attending the gathering.

A Fat, Grouchy Archer

My archery instructor, Rob, referred to himself last week as "the fat, grouchy one." That said, he was very pleased with his group's progress tonight and is hoping to get us graduated off ahead of schedule. I also got some nice pictures of myself doing things wrong, as you'll see below. Prior to archery, my day didn't exactly go as I had planned.

I went to the Exeter Southernhay Rotary Club meeting this morning, as is becoming my usual for Tuesdays, and was called upon to give a brief introduction of myself. I was able to come up with something that apparently did the job, and several of the members talked to me afterward about their historical interests. I enjoyed that and got invited to visit the Topsham Museum with one of them.

After that, I had a lovely time in class (especially in the pre- and post-class discussions with my classmates), and then returned home to eat lunch and change clothes, as I was still in my dress clothes from the Rotary meeting this morning. I found, to my horror, that two of my three pairs of trousers had gotten holes worn into them, which forced me to go on a shopping spree. After much trying (and discovering that I'm quite fatter in European sizes than in American ones, because European sizes use bigger numbers), I was a bit grouchy, but I had managed to find four pairs of trousers that fit. Total cost for them: a little under £35! I found them at Marks & Spencer, of all places, which is a higher-end department store (they were on clearance). After that adventure, I went home for dinner, and then on to archery, thus making me a fat, grouchy archer, just like Rob. He'd be so proud!

By the way, I'm not just trying to sound British my using the word "trousers." There is an important distinction between "trousers" and "pants" in British English. In essence, trousers are an outer garment, and pants are an undergarment. I'm sure you can sort the details out.

Happy Birthday, Paddington!

The Paddington Bear books are a highly popular children's series about the adventures of a bear from Peru who is adopted by a family that finds him at London's Paddington railway station. Today is the 50th anniversary of the release of the first book. Both Google and Wikipedia may note of the anniversary on their front pages, and numerous shops have special edition Paddington products for sale. I think I am going to buy a little stuffed Paddington bear as a souvenir, either for me or for one of my cousins.