Nott What You'd Expected...

I miss Tsing Tsao

Today marked my first and last visit to the Nottingham Goose Fair, along with my first and last attempt at making Chinese food for the group....

Despite our best efforts, Chinese food took about an hour and a half longer to cook than we anticipated, but the Cashew chicken, Fried rice, Sweet and sour fried chicken, and homemade fortune cookies (with real fortunes inside) possibly made up for our tardiness.
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Goose Fair is, as explained in an earlier post, is aa cheesy carnival that began 712 years ago as a festival/market in Nottingham. Now it's as commercialized and gross as any county fair in iowa, only in iowa we don't have confederate flags (yeah, check out the pic)....
---quick sidenote, guns are illegal to carry in the UK, so apparently games like this are kindof a novelty...On the top of this building were four Confederate flags, waving proudly....

Basically, Goose fair was a cultural experience. There were people everywhere, and as many rides as you can possibly fit in a confined park space... Some of the highlights were the very American "New York Cafe", the "Las Vegas Casino", the "Thunderbirds Are Go!" ride, the expanse of Mushy Peas that were offered at every single food stand- with mint sauce or without, The NFL ride (pic below), and the 'kick the ball in the net' variation of the more American 'throw a ball into the strikezone' game....

The ride on the right is one that Anna and I rode (for 3 quid each)-- it was amazing- basically a free fall over and over again for 5 minutes- the best view of Nottingham at night that you'll ever see.....
This is the American Football ride, which had to confuse the hell out of any Englishman.... what does football have to do with carnivals, and what does football have to do with the UK? Note the awesome paintings of the cheerleaders as well as the names of all of the NFL teams.....

The Cock on a Stick is a candy rooster that is enjoyed by many Goose Fair faithful. It's kindof a gag, but it sells very well....Why the hell are these peas so popular? I didn't have any money, so i couldn't try it out.....
After Goose Fair, we made our way to The Lion, which is not too far from our house. The pub was reccomended by David Juggins, a friend of the Luther program, and it definitley lived up to his hype. IT was more of a coffee shop atmosphere, and the live music was awesome. Quiz nights are mondays, so we've vowed to try our luck....
Walking home from the pub, we saw this advertisment, one of my favorites so far in the UK:

Tomorrow is an early start, we leave for Wales at 9am- we'll be all over the country, and hopefully i'll have plenty of pictures to post when I return....

Beyond Wales, it sounds like we're getting a trip to London together to see Wicked, the Kevin Spacey play, and sightsee a bit before our class trip in February.... even further down the road, it sounds like Hil and Brandon and I have very strongly decided that an early-November John Meyer sighting is in order, and might fly over to Switzerland to check out his digs..... I'm really looking forward to extensive travel here....

Lost without LOST,

kevin


Finally, a pic of a poster made for students about the SUDDEN RISE IN TUITION COSTS!!!! (yeah, an increase to roughly $6,000 US Dollars a year)

And lastly, my FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL PICTURE (included here for tradition, making it my 15th or 16th such pic) Note my awesome European messanger bag... don't leave home without it.

posted by Kevin @ 11:22 PM