My New Home - and Still no Boat Time!

I have now been living in my new home for 3 weeks (sorry I haven't kept to my fortnightly posts - I think monthly is going to be more realistic with all the activities I'm throwing myself into). After a week of complete spoiling with my aunt and uncle, Aly and Paul, they helped me shift my life into my room.

Left: 

Lisa, Adam, Alicia and Lydia in the countryside area behind Halls 

Right: Westminster Halls L Block (My room is top right window at the front)

         
Right: I love the sky! The planes constantly draw criss-cross patterns so sunrise and sunset are stunners!


My new digs mates aka varsity family (aka United Flat Three) consists of Lydia - a hugely bubbly and energetic Greek girl in first year Nutrition (Our baby of the flat), Adam - from everywhere (Kidding, he was born in Hong Kong, but he's British, and sounds a bit Irish to me, and possibly a bit American too...oh and he has lived in China and an Indian country which slips my memory right now). He's a bundle of fun, studying post grad teaching. He's married to Hubey (a chinese girl who lives and is studying in London). Then there's Stu from Bury (Near Manchester) who is in his first year of Theology and Philosophy. One of my first encounters with Stu was him walking out of his room with his arms stacked with microwave hotdogs and pizza - to which I had a good chuckle. He has since been dubbed "God" of Stuism and has been coverted to munching on carrots and celery occasionally. Who next? - Gil (Short for Guillaume - which is French for William). He is the stud of the house, studying his Masters in Hotel Management, he's well suited to what he studies, as he is a chatter box and a half and loves food and appreciates the great outdoors. He loves South Africa - he did a bit of work at Singitha, in Kruger - most of conversations end up being about the bush. Then last, but most definitely far from the least is Al (Alicia) the beauty from Spain. She is full of fun and giggles - we do spans of (Horrific on my part) singing, hand standing, climbing walls and trees and poles, making games and generally playing the fool. She's studying primary level education which I guess is why she's so in touch with her inner child. We're a pretty international bunch, and spending time together comes naturally. We all seem to gravitate to each other and have settled in with such ease - it's as if we've lived together for ages (and that's not just my opinion).

Itching for a Row

It's official. Running is "oarsome". Running only just dims that craving for sport and moving my body these days. After almost 3 weeks without being on the water, I had a sudden realisation - I've managed to keep up a basic level of fitness with a few runs a week and the odd strength session here and there, but the feeling of gliding and sliding, tipping and pushing just aren't satisfied by a run. I miss my little Severin Rowing Boat! The sound of pounding feet on the road is also more of a grind than the swish, splash and bubble of a rowing boat.

I managed to lug my 30kg of luggage around again last week. As I left Duncs and Brendan, (and Henry the Chinaman) in Limehouse and Headed (secretly and spontaneously) off to Bath. Oh Beautiful Bath!!! I headed out prepared to sleep on the pavement or in the train station should I not find a backpackers. Pretty confident I would find the one I had researched I headed off, and arrived at Bath Backpackers fairly ready for bed after a day of marching up stairs and dodging focussed Londoners. Lisa (spelled Lille) from Austria, and I hesitantly started chatting, and ended up spending the entire of the following day together. We explored a vast majority of the Bath sites, my favourite being The Old Roman Baths. We had a decent amount of fun together, singing random songs as we walked to our various sites, watching the odd street show here and there, shopping for trinkets post cards and sweeties, and grocery shopping for our dinner. It was as if we had been friends for many years, and I was sad to say goodbye to her the following morning.

Next week the real varsity life starts. (Not quite like the real world, but will be work, nevertheless). My Halls (Res) is stunning from what Aly (My Aunt) and I could see from our snooping. I move in this Sunday. To Westminster Halls, which is in Botley area of Oxford. I will be living no less than 50m from the Varsity sports hall and a mere road crossing to the sports fields (Which have about 3 Rugby Fields worth of space to make use of!). Couldn't ask for a more ideal position.

A little Off Topic

So this post is going to be about travels more than any form of rowing itself. Between my last post, and this one I managed row a regatta - great fun! Other than the importance of good navigational skills, I learnt how small the rowing world is. In my great trek to study at Oxford Brookes in the UK, I had many-an email conversation with an ex-pat South African guy....needless to say after a year of on and off contact, I made good conversation with his sister, without knowing they were related until later on at the regatta!

Anyway I have now safely arrived in the UK and have started my new adventure with gusto. My flights were fairly uneventful, as flights tend to be. I did however, do well to make a nuisance of myself by jogging up the flat escalators at Dubai International, only to find out that my much anticipated free shower was out of service! The refresher towel I had stashed came in madly handy at that point. So relatively fresh, I embarked on flight number 2, where I made a connection with a Persian/Egyptian airhost - who after much conversation plied me with a few airplane bottles of amarula (whether this was a friendly gesture or a way to get me to stop walking around and go to sleep, I don't know. If it was the latter, he was unsuccessful.) 

I arrived at Heathrow to be bombarded with excited "whatsapp" messages from Laura and half anxious ones from Mum. Getting to Laura from there was easy. Minus the part where I was unaware that to get off an overground train, one must push a button to open the doors. Easy once you know. And when you aren't carrying 30kg on your back and another 7 on your right shoulder. Yes, Mariaan and Mum were right, a decent wheelie bag would've been great at that point. I grudgingly swapped platforms by lugging myself along with my bags up and down 4 flights of stairs. After successfully pushing the button I eventually exited the train at the right destination. A couch has never felt more comfortable than it did that night.

Adventures over the past few weeks have included The Tube, DLR and Overground, Museums, Charlie Chaplains' Old School, Parks, Rain Jackets, Canals, a Club and some Bars, Tapas, Tower Bridge, Thousands of red ceramic flowers at Tower Bridge, a crazy Carnival (Nottinghill Carnival) where I may have gotten high on secondary fumes near the Jamaican Bus, new friends and old ones and a few new toys (Which should make Blogging a little easier!)

I've had a week with Laura (and her house mates Manos (the Greek) and Pedros (the Spaniard)) and a week with Duncan (and his South African house mate Brendan). Their hospitality has been incredible! Next week and a bit will be with family - and then it will be time for the big move to Oxford where I will be in res (Halls), and all set to study hard and train hard...and party and travel hard too of course!

So from my current playground called London,

Adios amigos. ;)

*K

P.S..I plan to have my next post up in about 2 weeks, which should give me time to get some more exploring and mischief under my belt :) 

Party night in London! (Above and below)

Tower Bridge with Laus - The Shard (above)

Tapas with Uncle Paul at St Katherine's    Dock- omnom! (Above)

Red ceramic flowers outside The Tower Of London (in commemeration of each soldier who died in WW2) (below)

Learning the Basics

I think I have finally cracked my running addiction and replaced it with an equally, if not more addictive sport. Rowing has crept its way and lodged itself deep in my heart as my newest challenge and passion.

I started out 8 weeks ago - all set to hop in a double scull with Coach Hils (Hillary Abraham). Mother nature clearly wasn't playing ball, so session one was spent on the ergo (Rowing Machine) due to crazy wind and choppy conditions. Round 2 was far more successful, and with the likes of Hils in the boat with me, I took to the boat and the glassy harbour "like a duck to water"

Clambering into a single scull a few sessions later highlighted the fact that the stability of the "duck" was clearly thanks to Hils. My first session in the single included a graceful swim and less elegant re-embarkation which left me and my ego bruised. These things need to happen though, I've realised that baby fails are merely stepping stones to highlight the tiny bits we need to focus on to improve. I've set my larger than life goals and the grind of the day to day pushing through the baby ones has begun. 8 weeks in and I've learnt a whole new vocabulary, how not to fall in (and how to get back in when I do) and how to let go of old goals to get focussed on new ones. I'm so excited at the prospect of where this adventure is going to take me.

It's an adventure, which has started at home - giving me a little something to take with me to the UK where I will be doing my MSc in Applied sports and Exercise Nutrition (as a good excuse to travel Europe).

Some Vocab for Non-Rowers....
Feathering a blade is when the blade (or oar) exits the water and is turned so that it is parallel to the water (when it is perpendicular, and under the water to propel your boat forwards this is called squared blades).
Another important phrase I've learned is "catching a crab" -or in my case, enough crabs to make a full 3 course crab meal. This is when one of the blades (or both) don't exit or enter the water properly - the equivalent of a 'Freshy' in racket, bat and club sports.

My first time in a single scull (Post ego - bruising).