Monday 22 July 2013

Tablet GIVEAWAY

Hi,
As part of my job I'm doing a facebook giveaway of a 7" Android tablet. Its very  handy, handbag sized and I love the operating system (I personally have an Android tablet and it is great)
If you could, please enter..all you have to do is like the company page and share the picture here 
I promise I'll update this blog more in the near future, but Hillsong Conference Europe is this week, hence I'm working/interning/serving/volunteering, every single day.

I appreciate you all.

Monday 15 July 2013

Tell the world I'm coming home

On the Saturday we were rather wiped out as following our day in London we'd had Youth Encounter, which was mental as per and also quite late. So we decided to stick around Surrey. We went for a walk by the Thames and ended up at Hampton Court Palace gardens (I couldn't afford entry :()
 The English Garden is full of roses which were beautiful.


 Oh look; there's the Palace in the background. I told Karli some of the stories of it, from memory, as when I was much younger we had a season ticket and went at least 30 times.

 The pergola is usually prettier, I blamed the poor weather up to this point for the lack of blooms.
 We then headed to Bushy Park for a walk. It started to rain so we took shelter under a large tree, it was actually really enjoyable.
 The next day was Sunday so I spent the whole day in church, Karli came for the 6pm service, and spent the rest of the day inside Hampton Court Palace. 
I managed to fall at church quite badly though, and was later to discover that I'd burst the liquid capsule under my patella..so the next day we couldn't do as much as I'd wanted to. We headed to China Town as Karli had missed having legit Asian food (it's pretty terrible in Edinburgh in general, which is surprising as there's so many international students). We also checked out Covent Garden where we picked up these gorgeous macaroons from Laduree. I personally prefer the ones I bought in Brighton last year though. Definitely heading back there.
I had to leave Karli to get the train to Victoria for her coach as I was in so much pain I thought I'd be sick, so hobbled (literally) off to the hospital.
Not the best end.

Saturday 13 July 2013

The first time ever I saw your face

The first time I went to Brick Lane was when I was preparing for my GCSE art project on street art. Since then I've loved all forms of it. Brick Lane has some truly outstanding pieces.

 Some of it is slightly crepy.
 Or cute.






I feel there's not that much that to add to this. Its just so incredible.

Friday 12 July 2013

I like it in the city when the air is so thick and opaque

Next we headed East. I love Brick Lane, its one of my favourite places due to its culture clash. One end is totally Bangladeshi where we shared a curry + paratha (Indian food is not so common in the US hence why we decided to stop for some). Then the other end is totally hipster. We stumbled upon a secret sample sale, a vintage fashion market (underground may I add) and the most independent coffee shops in one strip I have ever seen. Along the way we saw the most incredible street art.


 So so intricate and clever.




 I thought this was cool. We love anti-slavery campaigns. Speaking of which have you guys heard of A21? They work to free victims of modern day slavery  (human trafficking) of which there are around 27 million peeople trapped within today...greater than any other time in history (yes, even when slavery was legal, there were less slaves!)


Thursday 11 July 2013

A sweet escape, my hiding place

I think these next few pictures speak for themselves. I wish I had more money, then I'd have sampled like everything.
 This guy was so careful in pouring out his bruschetta topping, it was almost an art.
 These funny chaps were at the end of the food stalls.



 Ahhh YUM!
 Then we stumbled across a Beano exhibition. SO RANDOM, SO FUN.
 Notice my glasses as Gnasher's face..I'm such a joker.
 Karli didn't quite get it, but its such a traditional British experience I couldn't let her miss out.
 Apparently Dennis the Menace is blonde in the US...who knew?

This was the 'Tree House'...apparently no adults allowed, but I'm 20, that doesn't really count does it? 

 Obviously, I had to add my name to the graffiti. I tried to be creative & failed. Naomi it was.
 We played ping pong for a while. I'm better than I expected.


And here's some cheeky birds to leave you with.

Next stop; East London.

Wednesday 10 July 2013

And everyday I'm learning about you the things that no one else sees

In my last post I mentioned how Karli wanted to see street art. Here's some great examples. I don't know who this artist is, but these pieces are magnificently huge.

 The next thing we stumbled across were these bizarre creations.
 It was fun to describe these British-isms to my American friend. The fact that we do such things just for fun I think was slightly absurd to her. I guess it stems from the American stereotype of Brits as uptight/conservative..which I guess we are in some senses, yet our humour is deep routed as a nation, although slightly dry and self-deprecating, very amusing.
Things you'd hear around your neighbourhood. A lot of them you're more likely to hear in the North/Midlands (where I grew up) which was fun to see. Maybe that's part of the point though, to get Londoners to have a slightly greater neighbour-mentality.


 Loved that the Festival of Neighbourhood incorporated the nations. This piece had a poem playing inside of it, read by the school children who did the painting/design. It was slightly creepy, but very fun.
 Next we spied the South Bank Street Food Market. YUM.
 They were growing strawberries on the steps. So very quaint.
 Of course we had to sample the free food.

More to come...