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Coreyoria World Tour

“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.”

Ego-boosting and acrobatics.

Yesterday marked the hilarity of the British Beer Festival 2005. Oh man, what a day. Sarah wasn't around because she was at work and I was left wondering what I would be doing for the rest of the day, when Sarah's roomie Jenni approached me about this BeerFest, which sounded harmless. Haha. So then we meet up with a bunch of other girls and make our way toward the Olympia train station, because we didn't know exactly where it was. Well we found it. It was this huge expo center filled with hundreds of booths for beer coming from different countries. And well, there weren't very many girls. It was the only place I think I've ever been where there was a line for the men's' bathroom, and not for the ladies'. Anyway, being a small small minority amongst middle-aged balding men drinking beer became funny quite fast. No one bothered us and the atmosphere wasn't scary, but it was OBVIOUS we were a little out of place. At which point we decided it would be a good idea to take it for what it was worth and all wear cardboard pirate hats that they were passing around. I sampled beer and cider for a good 6 hours ... maybe a personal record. Luckily, more young guys started showing up after a few hours and they started buying our drinks. We were then assaulted with endless compliments, but they kept flocking to me in particular with all of these compliments which I thought was completely hilarious. They all looooved my eyes. Let me break it down for you - that never happens to me in my every day life. One guy even said to me that I must think British people were really ugly ... because I had such nice eyes and teeth. HAHAHA. I just found the whole thing to be a huge joke, but they were all serious and it was really the funniest thing to experience. Anyway, I took it with a grain of salt because it was, after all, BeerFest and I'm sure everyone had on some serious beer goggles. But it was a ton of fun and at one point some guys working behind one of the bars illegally swapped his badge with some of us to get behind the counter and pull some beer. If you want to be treated like working-class royalty, go as a girl to a beer festival. It will be a riot.

Afterwards we went to this punky club called the Notting Hill Arts Club where I felt my hip factor sink back down to its normal status. We met up with Sarah there. These kids were pretty fashionable hipsters, but the environment was really fun and we got to listen to a local band with a kick-ass female drummer. Now the only problem with getting started so early in the day is that we were done for by about 10:30 or so, at which point we headed back to Earl's Court, stuffed our faces, and went to bed pretty early.

The night before, however, was really the most spectacular of them all. Sarah and I had been planning to go to Tate, but we wound up at Shakespeare's Globe after it turned out that Tate was closed. We just kind of stumbled into buying tickets for Pericles, which was a great accidental decision. It was by far the most spectacular Shakespearean play I have ever witnessed. All of the actors were also gymnasts. One of the props on stage were a bunch of ropes tied to columns on either side of the stage, which gave it a kind of marine feel. But then, for the scenes that took place at sea, they would untie the ropes (about 4 men, 3 women), climb up them with their bare hands, and proceed to perform all kinds of acrobatics while belting Shakespeare at the top of their lungs. They performed all kinds of fantastic tricks, at times even swinging over the audience on these ropes and hanging upside by one hand or no hands while doing a split, flipping and tying their ropes, swinging around as though it took no strain. It kept us in complete awe the entire time and afterwards, Sarah and I really felt like little kids whose mouths were probably wide-open during the entire performance. I have never seen gymnastics like that in real life before and it was truly incredible. Not to mention the awesome man from Ghana who played the narrator and a very talented international cast. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to snap photos, but I did get one right at the end when they climbed up the ropes for a final time. It was AMAZING.

Later we're planning on taking a haunted walking tour of London by night, which should be very cool as well. And for me, I'd better get going because I am wasting too much of my day behind this computer. Ciao!

Cor
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4/8/05 17:13

So you don't have a British smile ... I'm taking a hiatus from this blog for a few days. I'm fast becoming the weird dude who just posts bizarre comments on your blog ... I do have a life, I swear ... Cheerio.    



4/8/05 18:53

Earl's Court is where I stayed when I was there, it's a nice part of London. I get so anxious to get over to Europe whenever I read your blog. It sounds like you're having an awesome time over there! Glad you're enjoying yourself...later    



5/8/05 05:57

Brendan, you are fast becoming "that" guy, but doesn't every blog need one of "those" guys? I could never have so many comments if it weren't for you ... you helped make this blog what it is today. Heh. In the wise words of high school yearbooks, "Never change!" Feel better?

Also, I happened to find out the origin of the phrase "cheerio" last night. It orginates from back in the day when royalty and other rich folks would be carried around by "chairmen" so they didn't have to walk. These guys would carry them around like royal sultans ... yadda yadda. Anyway when they reached their destination, they would put the wooden carrying board down, wave their hand in the air, and yell, "Chair ho!" to signify that they could now carry another passenger, the yellow taxi-lights of today's cabs if you will. This wave quickly became misidentified as a good-bye wave and "Chair ho!" morphed into "Cheerio!" Voila - your English lesson for the day!

And Mikey - thanks a bunch! I am having a great time ... and off to have some more fun today. Laters!

Cor    



5/8/05 10:41

Okay, I know this is not an England-related comment, but I thought it was exciting: I told my Mom about Ceasar's unusual size for a beagle and she found out that there is a kind of dog called a Harrier Hound that looks like a beagle but is bigger and is a really old (like, colonial America old), rare breed that turns up occasionally in rural areas in the U.S. because it was used for hare hunting (hence, Harrier Hound). That said, Ceasar may be a rare breed. I thought it was a cool find.

You stay classy, London. Don't show your nice teeth to too many boys, eh? Thanks for the postcard! -Adele    



5/8/05 11:19

Thanks Adele, that was a pretty rare find! Thank goodness for you, your mamma and your unusual wealth of canine knowledge! Hey Mom, did you hear that? Apparently we may have a Harrier Hound on our hands. Only the rarest of specialized dog breeds for the Polk household.

Anyway, I hope you're doing well, Adele. Feel free to e-mail me and fill me on on what you've been up to! :-)    



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