Thursday, July 26, 2007

One Down One to Go!!!












Hello there everyone,

Well my first year is done and man what a great experience it was. To celebrate Mandy and I are packing up and going to Italy for a week. (I am sure picture will be coming soon) I am still processing all I learned this year. I am looking forward to this summer to relax and let it all soak in.

Here are some pictures for you,
I think it is from bottom to top.

First is Jeff: we went on a brewery tour at Fullers Brewery, and had a great time. I highly recommend it to you if you are in the neighbor hood. It was 6 pounds each and at the end of the tour you get to have a quarter pint of every beer they make, and a full pint of your favorite. Which adds up to about 4.5 pints, or nine cans of beer, plus it's English beer so it packs a little punch. So after wards we decided to go back to ours and have some dinner and a beer or two, and Mandy gave Jeff a hair cut. It was a very fun night, but for some reason the next day I was very thirsty for water.

Second is Mandy: This is her massage room at her new salon in Islington, which is a part of London. It has been great for me to see Mandy thrive in massage. It really suits who she is. After many months of working Aveda retail the salon is open and Mandy's spirit is really blossoming. Even tough we came over here for me to go to school it is so exciting to see all the ways Mandy is growing and changing too.

E's B-day: A group of us went and celebrated our friend Elisabeth's birthday in Hyde park. E is a Lispa student and wonderfully kind person. We had a really nice afternoon.

Next is my good friend Soren: Soren was on kitchen cleaning duty when we moved to our new flat. He is from Switzerland, the country where OCD is encouraged, so he is very thorough when it comes to, well everything. It was a good move two of our friends let us use them and their cars and we had it done in no time. It is amazing the amount of stuff you can collect in 10 months. We are still settling into our new flat Soren and I painted the living room the other day and now that I am done with school I have been working my way through the boxes in the closet. Mandy and I love our new place. It is in a very vibrant part of London and it is about 30 min from anywhere. Oh and the best part is the water pressure is incredible!!!!

Rague and Poker night: My friend Arnaldo is from Venice and all year he has been bragging about how great his pasta is. (I think it's an Italian thing, cause I alway brag about my Jello) So one night I had a couple of guys over to play Texas Hold'em and he cooked up some Rague y Penne. It was really good. Arnaldo is who we are staying with in Venice. He have a boat and is going to take us around the canals which is very exciting! It is nice of him to do all this after I took all his money that night.

Next is a picture of my extremely attractive wife... that one speaks for it self.

After that is people rehearsing the 20 movements at school. The 20 Movements are the last thing we did at school this year. Basically it is 20 different mimed movements that help the actor work on physical control and stage presence. They are to actors what singing scales would be to a singer. Some of the movements are: climbing the wall, turning the stick, ice skating, rowing, etc..... So threw out the year we learn the movements and for our final critique you have to link the movements together and perform them for the teachers and all the other students, and afterwards (like every time we perform) the teachers tell you what didn't work. I went on the last day so Mandy could come watch and really learned a ton watching everyone else that week while I was working on my own and thinking about where I was and what I wanted to do. I really enjoyed the exercise.

The last three are of the graduation party for the second years. Each person was asked to bring a dish from their home country, so the kitchen table was full of great food from around the world. My good friend Ryan and I made 3 kinds of Jello: Lemon and orange with carrots and cellory, blackcurrant Jello shoots, and raspberry jello with grapes and blueberries. We all hung out ate and had one of the most touching graduations I have ever seen. It was a beautiful day.

Well I am going to sign off there, I have to tie up some loose ends and head down the road. I hope you are all doing well. I miss you very much.

Peace.

Andy