Ever since I arrived in London I had been trying to get a group together to go to Wimbledon before the tournament ended. The first week we had some orientation stuff in the evenings - so even though we had our afternoons off we didn't have all day free. A group went on Saturday (but I did the Hamlet thing instead) and I'm glad I didn't go because one of the Londoners was playing so there were thousands of people there. Four of us (Diana, Coryl, Sarah and I) all wanted to go and decided we were going Thursday (July 2nd) no matter what! So as soon as classes ended we grabbed a bite of lunch and headed to Wimbledon. My roommate Kylee and her friend Jordan joined us. They had gone with the group on Saturday (who didn't get in) so they knew where to go. We entered the queue and just kept walking and walking through probably a 1/2 mile of green mats where usually there are tons of people waiting. We eventually arived at the stadium and bought 16 pound ground tickets. This would get us in to everything except Center Court. This is where all the big names play. You'd think you were in a baseball stadium. And how do I know this? Hmmm you'll just have to wait and see :)
The queue had things for people to look at and read, of course there was no line when we were there but we stopped for a few impersonations.
We headed to Court 2 and sat on the 2nd row. We watched a mixed doubles match for about 2 hours. It was fun to be so close!
My ticket:
Welcome to Center Court! After the mixed doubles game we discussed the possibility of "sneaking" onto Center Court. No one was brave enough to try so finally I was just like I'm going in to see! Diana followed me and we headed to the nosebleeds thinking they would be less strict up there. By the way in tennis matches spectators are only allowed to enter and exit the court when the players are switching ends of the court, so there are guards at every roped off entrance monitoring the people... and checking tickets. We timed it so perfectly! We chose an entrance with a mom and 3 kids anxiously awaiting the guard to let them in. The family wasn't holding tickets so I started to actually get some hope that we might get in. As we waited Serena Williams won her match and the chaos began of people pouring out of the stadium. We walked right in and immediately started taking pictures in case we were kicked right back out. I walked up the steps pretending to look for my "seat" and as a couple left their seats on the end, I stepped right in. I memorized the girl so that I would know if they came back. It turned out to be not a problem at all because everyone left for the break between Serena and Venus. We basked in the glory of being on Centre Court and watched Venus walk onto the field, warm-up and start playing. Since the guards don't let people in during play as soon as that happened we could sit back and relax until the next break where I would make sure the woman wasn't coming back. After the second break we decided it was time to leave, a lot of people were coming back; but we were there for about 45 minutes or so it was awesome!
Venus Williams serving
Excited!
Diana and I never found the rest of the group after that. We're not used to not having cell phones! We hadn't set a meeting spot or anything. So we headed to the shops to look at souviners. Diana is a tennis player (I liked to sit by her during the matches to ask her questions and she liked explaining the strategy of the game to me) so she was looking for a few things. I bought a t-shirt! We then watched some men's doubles for awhile then we were starving so we walked back to the train back to London. It was so much fun and getting into Center Court just made my day!
On Friday we went to Southall as a group. We had learned about the Sikh, Hindu, and Muslim culture in our Culture class on Tuesday. We started with the Sikh Guadwara (temple) which is the largest outside of India. We took off our shoes upon entering, put scarves on our head and addressed people with the proper greeting (sahts-ree-acall with your hands together and eyes lowered). We watched people give offerings before the Book (their scripture) and if we felt comfortable we could do so as well (most of us gave 50p or a pound since they were feeding us lunch). It was amazing to think about the devotion and sacrifice of these people to their religion. I had an increased interest with these cultures because I had just read Three Cups of Tea. In the basement they have a kitchen where they serve food to anyone.
Here's Sarah and I eating lunch.
Most of us did some dishes after we finished our lunch just because we had the time and to hopefully get the chance to talk to some Sikh people. I met one lady who spoke English and we talked for a bit. It was a really neat experience.
We then went to 2 different Hindu temples. Each one presented us with an offering as we left (usually a piece of fruit). Everyone was warm, friendly, and excited for us to be here learning about their culture. There was no tension that we were from America where so many people have prejudice against people from Southeastern Asia. They explained their religion with just the intention of our greater understanding. We had time to shop before dinner and a lot of girls got Henna tattoos on their hands, bought bangles (bracelets) and Indian outfits. I got a really neat bracelet and a red skirt for 2 pounds (see last picture).
We went to an Indian restaurant for dinner. Very authentic, the people had just come from Pakistan 8 years ago. They were Muslim and most people who go to this restaurant were Muslim. The food was delicious!
Saturday was the 4th of July. Caitlin, Sarah and I got up early to go to Portobello Road Market before it got crazy. We spent 4 hours there! Its huge. We stopped in middle and got crepes and rested. I bought a pink cardigan. I took a nap, did some homework, went for a run, then a group of us went out for dinner. I suggested a pub nearby, Prince Edward, that Mom and I had gone to. It was a lot of people's first time in a pub. It was fun!
Kaitlin W., me, Sarah, Rebecca, and Garret
After dinner Sarah and I headed for Kensington Gardens to see Peter Pan! Her birthday was a few weeks ago and her mom's present was to buy 2 tickets to Sarah's favorite childhood story. So she got nice tickets and invited me to come. It was in a tent with an amphitheater type style. The special effects were awesome, there was an iMax type screen above us so when the actors were in the air (in harnesses) flying over the London, the screen made it feel like we were flying too! I treated Sarah to some candy for her birthday, and I sent her mom a thank you card for the opportunity to go to the play.
Us and our candy
On Sunday I woke up and started working on my Primary lesson. I finished on the tube on the way there. We tried taking the tube instead of the train which is free with our passes and gets us within a 10 minute walk. However we didn't allow quite enough time and I ended up running the last little bit with one of my professor's 11 yr old son who I think thought it was a race :) We came in during the opening song and someone was on the organ playing the top hand and some of the left. They announced for the Sacrament hymn that Melissa Alder would play the piano. I decided I will probably have to travel to church on my own, or maybe another student because I can't wait for my professor and his entire family to be ready. Only 2 kids were in the class so it was easy, but I did more crowd control than piano playing during the 3rd hour. Next week the Primary President (who does absolutely everything) will be "in the country" so me and another student who usually does nursury will do all of Primary. I'm excited - we'll probably just sing songs all of the 3rd hour :)
After dinner Sarah, Garrett and I literally ran to the London Symphony. Sarah really wanted to go to this particular performance because she had played one of the symphonies twice (Brahms's Symphony No 2) and been in the accompanying sympony for the concerto(Sibelius's Violin Concerto). She and Garrett play the violin. We had bought tickets online earlier in the week. It was incredible. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I felt like this was a part of London a lot of people in the program would miss!
Outside during intermission
Welcome to Center Court! After the mixed doubles game we discussed the possibility of "sneaking" onto Center Court. No one was brave enough to try so finally I was just like I'm going in to see! Diana followed me and we headed to the nosebleeds thinking they would be less strict up there. By the way in tennis matches spectators are only allowed to enter and exit the court when the players are switching ends of the court, so there are guards at every roped off entrance monitoring the people... and checking tickets. We timed it so perfectly! We chose an entrance with a mom and 3 kids anxiously awaiting the guard to let them in. The family wasn't holding tickets so I started to actually get some hope that we might get in. As we waited Serena Williams won her match and the chaos began of people pouring out of the stadium. We walked right in and immediately started taking pictures in case we were kicked right back out. I walked up the steps pretending to look for my "seat" and as a couple left their seats on the end, I stepped right in. I memorized the girl so that I would know if they came back. It turned out to be not a problem at all because everyone left for the break between Serena and Venus. We basked in the glory of being on Centre Court and watched Venus walk onto the field, warm-up and start playing. Since the guards don't let people in during play as soon as that happened we could sit back and relax until the next break where I would make sure the woman wasn't coming back. After the second break we decided it was time to leave, a lot of people were coming back; but we were there for about 45 minutes or so it was awesome!
Venus Williams serving
Excited!
Diana and I never found the rest of the group after that. We're not used to not having cell phones! We hadn't set a meeting spot or anything. So we headed to the shops to look at souviners. Diana is a tennis player (I liked to sit by her during the matches to ask her questions and she liked explaining the strategy of the game to me) so she was looking for a few things. I bought a t-shirt! We then watched some men's doubles for awhile then we were starving so we walked back to the train back to London. It was so much fun and getting into Center Court just made my day!
On Friday we went to Southall as a group. We had learned about the Sikh, Hindu, and Muslim culture in our Culture class on Tuesday. We started with the Sikh Guadwara (temple) which is the largest outside of India. We took off our shoes upon entering, put scarves on our head and addressed people with the proper greeting (sahts-ree-acall with your hands together and eyes lowered). We watched people give offerings before the Book (their scripture) and if we felt comfortable we could do so as well (most of us gave 50p or a pound since they were feeding us lunch). It was amazing to think about the devotion and sacrifice of these people to their religion. I had an increased interest with these cultures because I had just read Three Cups of Tea. In the basement they have a kitchen where they serve food to anyone.
Here's Sarah and I eating lunch.
Most of us did some dishes after we finished our lunch just because we had the time and to hopefully get the chance to talk to some Sikh people. I met one lady who spoke English and we talked for a bit. It was a really neat experience.
We then went to 2 different Hindu temples. Each one presented us with an offering as we left (usually a piece of fruit). Everyone was warm, friendly, and excited for us to be here learning about their culture. There was no tension that we were from America where so many people have prejudice against people from Southeastern Asia. They explained their religion with just the intention of our greater understanding. We had time to shop before dinner and a lot of girls got Henna tattoos on their hands, bought bangles (bracelets) and Indian outfits. I got a really neat bracelet and a red skirt for 2 pounds (see last picture).
We went to an Indian restaurant for dinner. Very authentic, the people had just come from Pakistan 8 years ago. They were Muslim and most people who go to this restaurant were Muslim. The food was delicious!
Saturday was the 4th of July. Caitlin, Sarah and I got up early to go to Portobello Road Market before it got crazy. We spent 4 hours there! Its huge. We stopped in middle and got crepes and rested. I bought a pink cardigan. I took a nap, did some homework, went for a run, then a group of us went out for dinner. I suggested a pub nearby, Prince Edward, that Mom and I had gone to. It was a lot of people's first time in a pub. It was fun!
Kaitlin W., me, Sarah, Rebecca, and Garret
After dinner Sarah and I headed for Kensington Gardens to see Peter Pan! Her birthday was a few weeks ago and her mom's present was to buy 2 tickets to Sarah's favorite childhood story. So she got nice tickets and invited me to come. It was in a tent with an amphitheater type style. The special effects were awesome, there was an iMax type screen above us so when the actors were in the air (in harnesses) flying over the London, the screen made it feel like we were flying too! I treated Sarah to some candy for her birthday, and I sent her mom a thank you card for the opportunity to go to the play.
Us and our candy
On Sunday I woke up and started working on my Primary lesson. I finished on the tube on the way there. We tried taking the tube instead of the train which is free with our passes and gets us within a 10 minute walk. However we didn't allow quite enough time and I ended up running the last little bit with one of my professor's 11 yr old son who I think thought it was a race :) We came in during the opening song and someone was on the organ playing the top hand and some of the left. They announced for the Sacrament hymn that Melissa Alder would play the piano. I decided I will probably have to travel to church on my own, or maybe another student because I can't wait for my professor and his entire family to be ready. Only 2 kids were in the class so it was easy, but I did more crowd control than piano playing during the 3rd hour. Next week the Primary President (who does absolutely everything) will be "in the country" so me and another student who usually does nursury will do all of Primary. I'm excited - we'll probably just sing songs all of the 3rd hour :)
After dinner Sarah, Garrett and I literally ran to the London Symphony. Sarah really wanted to go to this particular performance because she had played one of the symphonies twice (Brahms's Symphony No 2) and been in the accompanying sympony for the concerto(Sibelius's Violin Concerto). She and Garrett play the violin. We had bought tickets online earlier in the week. It was incredible. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I felt like this was a part of London a lot of people in the program would miss!
Outside during intermission
3 comments:
Fun week! What ward are you in?
Hey girl! It's fun to see your blog on all our adventures! There's still more to come! And by the way...did you know that you're the best travel buddy I've had yet?! ;)
Clappen Common ward in the Wandsworth Stake
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