How do you fill time that is too long to do nothing, but too short to really get much accomplished? Play bananagrams of course! On Mondays we have an hour break between lectures. We have to walk from Highfield campus to Avenue. By the time we arrive there is an awkward amount of time. It is also one hard lecture followed by another, so the desire to study is very low. Manthan carries a game with him in his rucksack. The bag is shaped like a banana and it has letter tiles in it. You guessed it, bananagrams. It's a high intensity scrabble type game. He's been trying to get people to play it with him for weeks. So Monday as we sat in the corridor lounge waiting for the Description of Language lecture, we decided why not? So we cleared off the small coffee table and he explained the rules. You get 13 tiles. You have 10 minutes to build words in crossword puzzle style in front of you. The object is to use all of your tiles. If you manage to use all of them before 10 minutes, you say "peel" and everyone has to grab another tile. If you are struggling with the tiles you have, you can announce "split" and trade one for two. Apparently Gina and I gave Manthan a run for his money. Gina, won both rounds and I managed to stay in second in the scoring. Manthan was proud of his use of the word banter and wanted to know if I knew what it was. He says its a very British thing. So he was surprised that I was very familiar with it.... I guess that makes my family British? So he seeks for redemption Monday.... we'll just have to see.
Wednesday my friend Margaret invited me to come to her house that afternoon with my sewing to chat and stay for tea. (dinner) So I grabbed my English paper piecing, hopped on the bus and took her up on it. Every now and again I go a bit stir crazy with my four walls and just me. It was nice to sit and work on my hand sewing and not focus on reading research or dissecting English grammar which I had been doing before going over. It was fun to chat with her and her husband about a myriad of topics. Dinner was lovely and delicious. Of course like good Brits, we had to have pudding (dessert) and I had a wide range of things to choose from. I was a bit confused with the offer of meringue. The only meringue I know of is on top of pies. This is different. It is hard. So at my confusion as to what it is, Margaret brought it out to show it to me. Oh.... very large divinity! Though a bit lighter. That got us talking about food and names for it. Their biscuits are cookies. So I was trying to explain what we call a biscuit. Don, her husband, had a great mental image of biscuits and gravy with his definition of a biscuit. So I grabbed my phone and googled images to show him an American biscuit. That in England is a scone. I don't think they have an equivalent to the American scone, at least not that I've figured out yet. They eat scones with creamed tea. They put clotted cream and jam on them. Did I loose you again? More homework for you... ;) I had someone the other day tell me there are four things Americans are lousy at making, Chocolate, bread, butter, and cheese (the first three I know are right the fourth I'm not so sure... if I find I have remembered wrong I will let you know.) I have to agree 100% with him.
Saturday was the Southampton Philharmonic Choir concert. I sing with the SuPhil which is the student section of the choir. It happens to be the 50th anniversary of SuPhil, so we had a group photo in the program and other highlights. It is fun to be in a choir again. And great to sing with the orchestra. For years I was in the orchestra so it was nice to switch that up. We performed in the o2 Guildhall. It is a cool old building and fun to sing in. I had a "My Fair Lady" moment when I came out of the hall from the afternoon rehearsal. The building has the big pillars out front. As I stepped out by the pillars and started down the steps, it started to rain.... Henry Higgins however was not standing there....otherwise he could have had fun with my English instead.... I digress.... actually he could have picked on my Latin since that was what we were singing in. We performed Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. If you are not familiar with this piece don't worry, many people aren't. To give you a feel for this piece, here is a blerb from our advert for the concert:
"HIghlights include a gigantic fugue at the end of the Credo that was thought to be impossible to sing or play, and at the other extreme the hauntingly beautiful violin solo that accompanies the solo voices in the Benedictus."
The first chair violinist was amazing and played the solo beautifully. I had a perfect seat to watch him and to appreciate his skill and musicianship. It is wonderful to be involved in classical music again. I am also very grateful to my classmates, flatmate, and friends who came to support me. It is always more fun to perform when there is someone in the audience that you know.
So go play some bananagrams, while eating biscuits and listening to Beethoven!
No comments:
Post a Comment