Last London Weekend

Our days left in London are already in the single digits- 5! Our flat mates start leaving tomorrow. It is so weird that everyone is starting to pack up and head out in all different directions. Aviva will fly home to Montreal tomorrow, Sarah back to Brooklyn, and Kayla to Paris with her parents. Nikki is here until Thursday and then off to Turkey, then we leave Friday, followed by Kyla heading home to Indiana and Ayumi off to Barcelona next weekend. Goodbyes are never fun!

Today we all went to tea together at the Orangery in Kensington Gardens and then walked around Hyde Park. The highest temperatures here have still only been in the 80s since we have been here, but you really notice the complete lack of air conditioning everywhere in these temperatures, especially on the cram-packed tube or when you are trying to go to sleep at night! Texas may be hot, but we do have air-conditioning at least.

Leaving here is bittersweet. Sall and I both agreed that if we didn't have exciting things like living in our brand new house (that we haven't seen completed, yet!) or getting to see all of our friends and family, we would be much more sad about leaving. We still have 5 more festival performances to get through though! On Tuesday, Buckingham Palace opens for tours, so we are heading there after work, and then meeting Ayumi and our boss Nisa for dinner and then going to see West Side Story as a final goodbye. On Friday, we have to bring all of our luggage to work (we take the overground though, so it won't be too difficult despite the amount stuff we have with us) will set up for our final festival performance, and then Mark and David Hannah (the same guy that picked us up at the airport) are taking us to Paddington station to get on the Heathrow Express. After an almost 9 hour overnight layover at JFK in New York, we will be back in Dallas by 11am this Saturday, fingers crossed. See y'all there, right??

Things we are looking forward to about being back in the USA:

- unlimited refills of diet coke and iced tea with plenty of ice
- air conditioning
- being able to understand everyone's accents (and everyone being able to understand ours!)
- seeing our new house (and grandma's)
- seeing our friends and family and phoebe (our dog!)
- SNOW CONES, cool whip, and normal peanut butter
- text messaging, phone calls; means of communication other than skype and email, basically!
- target

Well, I will post again to let everyone know we made it safe and sound back home, but until then- CHEERS!

A HOT day in London...

Today is the first day that it has been "hot" here. And when I say "hot", I mean about 75 degrees Fahrenheit. These people think THAT is hot. We got off work early today because Mark wanted to go see some water buffalo that was in Cumberland Square a couple of blocks away, and Sally and I went to the park earlier than we normally do. The grassy areas were full of sun bathers taking advantage of the "heat wave". We did manage to get a little bit of sun being outside all day at the festival, and hopefully the little bit of exposure will prevent us from having heat strokes when we get back to the 100 temperatures of Texas! On our way to the park though, a Irish man stopped to tell us that we looked alike (we've noticed!) and then that we also looked like the Bush twins (which oddly enough my dental hygienist told me 3 days before we left to come here). That got us talking about Texas, and then his time spent in Ireland, Virgina, and London. We chatted for a little bit before we had to part directions, but we have determined that we really just love the Irish. Every Irish man that we have encountered so far this summer has been just lovely; they are much friendlier than the typical Brit.

Today was a great day for the festival- we had a crowd of over 300! Latin Tribe is a group of Brazilian dancers that perform samba and lambada (think nearly naked girls with huge feather headdresses, sky high heels, and lots of tassels, sequins, and bedazzling) and they always bring a big crowd! The capoiera group and salsa dancers were amazing, too, and the weather was perfect for an outdoor performance. Tonight we are headed to the National Gallery for the last time to make sure we have seen everything we want to see. We have been there twice already, but still aren't done, so we are taking advantage of the fact it is open until 9:00 on Wednesdays!

Scots, Thieves, and a Trip to the Ocean

The plaza where we hold the festival everyday is surrounded by several skyscraper office buildings owned by British Land/Broadgate Estates, the sponsors of the festival. They have security 24/7 and to get anywhere you need ID access. Friday at work, I needed to get down into the underground control room to check out a key to the room where we keep the sound system for the festival, so I made friends with a security guard with an ID to get me onto the service elevator. As I was saying thanks and waving bye, he stopped me and the following exchange occurred:

Me: Thanks so much for your help, see you later!
Him: No problem, you're welcome. You are from Scotland, yeah?
Me: Uh, no. I am from the United States, actually.
Him: America?? Are you sure??
Me: Positive, actually. I'm from Texas!
Him: Texas, and not Scotland? Really?
Me: Yes sir! See you later!

The poor guy was so confused. Never thought I would be mistaken for Scottish over here!

Today Sall and I, along with Kayla, Aviva, and Kyla took the train to Brighton for the day. It was a lovely sea side town. We had lunch on the waterfront, walked to the pier, wandered around all of the shopping district and had just sat down with our afternoon tea when Aviva realize her wallet had been stolen. Since it was a nice day, the streets were packed with people, and she didn't even notice it was missing until she went to buy her tea. That kind of put a damper on the afternoon, and we left a little earlier than we thought we would, but still enjoyed what time we did spend there. It reminded me of summer trips to Galveston with the Gundersheimers or Corpus Christi with our family!

We are less than two weeks away from heading home, but still have so much to do before we leave- it is going to be a busy two weeks. See y'all soon!

It has been a busy week! Mom, Dad, and Molly left yesterday morning, and we had a lovely time with them. They got to see most everything they wanted to see, minus a festival performance at the Diorama- we had to end early on a few days due to bad weather. Highlights of their London trip include: Kensington Palace, Tower of London, Dad's man purse, seeing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat again!, pub dinners, a visit to flat 6, and plenty of shopping!

Yesterday morning we meet them for coffee and then went our separate ways at the tube station. Mom and Dad, we have not heard from you since then, but hopefully the trip home was ok! After running some errands after we left them, we headed back to flat- it had felt like weeks since we had been there because of all of the visitors we have had! Last night we had dinner in Covent Garden with Kyla and Kayla and then went to see a West End show none of us had heard of until we got here called Into the Hoods. It is a hip-hop take off of the musical Into the Woods. The story was told almost entirely through dance and some sporadic narration and had a soundtrack by Jay-Z, MC Hammer, Jackson 5, Prince, you get the picture- needless to say, we all loved it. Today we are getting ready to go to several different Sunday markets around town. We have already been here for over 2 months, and have less than 3 weeks here, now. Where did summer go?!

5 Americans in Paris

Well isn't Kyla just precious! Most of what she relayed to y'all about our lives here is true. I did somehow manage to pull tendons in both ankles causing them to swell and bruise for almost two weeks, but after following the doctor's orders (at least what I could understand of the doctor's orders- her accent was nearly impossible to comprehend) and wearing a wrap called the "tuber" they are doing much better. Sally already finished eat, pray, love and if you haven't read it, you must, and we are still so excited about our friend Justin's new job! Anyways, here is what has been going on since I last updated...

We had an amazing time last week with Laura Beth and Donna Bevill. They were only here until Thursday morning, but managed to fit all the important stuff in, including a pub visit and West End show- Phantom of the Opera! Our tickets were great, and we all loved it. We all especially loved the actor playing Raoul- as Sally put it "He was the most beautiful man I have ever seen." We were sad for them to leave, but so glad they got to visit!

Friday, Mom, Dad, and Molly got to London. We headed to Paris for the weekend on the Eurostar. Dad and I fell asleep during part of the journey and spent the rest of it trying to figure out if we were in England or France because we slept through the Chunnel portion of the ride. Dad also insisted on wearing his raincoat tied around his waist the entire weekend and carrying a black man purse that was given to him by, you guessed it, Betty "Grandma" Harper. Thanks for that, Grand! We only had two days, but managed to fit in almost everything- the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Seine River Cruise, Night Bus Tour, Musee de Orangerie, the Obelisk, Champs Elysee, Arc de Triumph, Pantheon, Saint Sulpice, Luxemborg Gardens, Versailles, Notre Dame etc, etc. We had a lovely time, but I was ready to get back to London! Sally made an itinerary for the rest of their trip, and we are just going to meet up with them when we get finished with the festival in the afternoons. Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!!

Hello from the girls' roommate!

Greetings, Tulsa and Texas, from the Hubbert sisters' roomie Kyla! Cassie let me use her computer for a bit and didn't log out...so now I'M taking advantage of that.

The girls have a big week coming up- Some special, family time in Paris and London. We are going to be so blessed to meet Momma and Poppa Hubbert and the elusive third sister, Molly. Just buildin' memories, as Nana King would say. Sorry Sam, maybe next summer.

In Cassie news, her ankles are sprained. Both of them. Well, at least I think they are. And I once broke my finger, so that makes me qualified to make a medical diagnosis. Anyway, she seems to want a opinion that's a little more 'valid,' and so she's going to the clinic tomorrow. Until then, we've had to hide the meds that she's been popping like candy.

In Sally news, she is starting the book 'Eat, Pray, Love.' It's really all you need, you see, to eat, to pray, and to love. It's a great book and we're all hoping she'll really enjoy it. And hurry, so the rest of us can read it.

In other news, the girls were very excited that their dear, dear friend Justin got a job back at Tulsa this coming semester. However, they are disappointed because it will put certain restraints on their social agenda, what with him now being a faculty member. Regardless, Justin, the girls of apartment 6 wish you the best of luck in your coming professional endeavors. We've never met you, but we're sure you'll make the admissions department proud.

Also, the mystery of the Great London Pantie Snatcher has not been solved. The doors were never fixed, and so we have moved all valuable...undergarments...out of arm's reach from the door. The silly burglar sure has a skewed idea of what's valuable and what's not.

Well, that's all from London. Thank you all for sharing the girls with us. They sure are a lot of fun!