writingwitherica

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A brief history of Londons Christmas traditions/ The perfect gift (week 12)

One of my favorite times of the year is Christmas time. I love learning about other peoples traditions and cultures traditions, so I really enjoyed the reading this week. Reading the history of London’s Christmas traditions was interesting and it explained where the most popular Christmas traditions came from. While reading, I was often thinking about similar traditions we have in the states but took great interest in how they differ. For example, while reading about the tradition of swimming in the serpentine it reminded me of the polar plunge that some people par- take in in the states which is when some people swim in the ocean in December, this is often used as a fundraiser for a certain cause. The tradition that struck me the most was the meat auction because I have never heard of anything like that and don’t know of anything like that at home. I found it interesting that people will send their money up to the butcher if they are in the back and hope they get the meat they auctioned for. I also enjoyed reading the short fiction story the perfect gift.  I enjoyed that it was through the statues point of view that are around London. I thought it was a clever way to talk about London and really enjoyed the story.

[writingwitherica]

Christmas Play (week 12)

Mia, James, Claire, and Luke are on their way to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park

Mia: “Come on guys, hurry up! We don’t want to be late!”

         The four friends walk hurriedly to the entrance gate to Winter Wonderland

Claire: “Hi sir, there are four of us for seven.” The man scans their tickets and all four friends say thank you as they walk in.

James: “wow! This place is insane! I can’t believe all the little log cabins are the concession stands! I already know I’m going to need a cup of hot chocolate”

Mia: “I know! I used to come here with my family every year when I was younger. My favorite part would be the donuts, so that’s a must get before we leave.”

Luke: “Mates, Look at this! They have little fires going. And MARSHMALLOWS! I think this will be our first stop. I NEED to roast a marshmallow.”

Claire: “Luke, you’re so dramatic.” She sees people huddled around the fire roasting a marshmallow “on second thought, those look really good! Let’s get some!”

         The four of them all find a place around one of the fires and are roasting their marshmallows.

Mia: “I haven’t roasted a marshmallow in so long! These taste so good!”

James: “I know! And The fire feels good. Its freezing out here!”

Mia: “Hey James, did you want to go grab that cup of hot chocolate?”

James: “Ya, sounds good. We’ll be right back”

         James and Mia go get hot chocolate while Claire and Luke sit around the fire.

Luke: “So how are you doing being away from home for the holidays? I know it must be hard.”

Claire: “I’m doing ok. Coming out and doing stuff like this helps keep me distracted from the fact that I’m not home.”

Luke: “I totally get that. What do you miss the most about not being home?”

Claire: “I miss my family a lot and I’ve been calling them and talking to them but it’s just not the same as being there with them. Where I’m from in the states, it snows a lot and we get a few feet of snow every year. I miss the snow. My brother and I get all bundled up and go sledding and build snow forts and have snowball fights. It’s something I look forward to every winter. I can’t believe I’m missing it. But I’m having the time of my life in London and these experiences have been amazing, just different from my traditions at home.”

Luke: “I can’t believe how hard it must be to be missing out on Christmas with your family this year. Is there anything we can do to make you feel a little more at home here?”

         Before Claire can answer they hear Mia yelling to them with her hot chocolate in hand

Mia: “Luke! Claire! Look! It’s snowing!”

         Luke and Claire look up to see a few tufts of snow falling from the sky

Claire: “This is all I needed”

[writingwitherica]

A Christmas Morning (personal week 12)

I wake up to the smell of cinnamon buns filling the air, persuading me to get out of bed and scurry to the kitchen. I get myself up and put my slippers on, waking up my dog at the end of my bed. “Merry Christmas Ryder! Let's go see what Santa brought you!” My dog jumps up and wags his tail, ready to open his gifts. I see my mom in the kitchen, pulling the steamy and gooey cinnamon buns out of the oven, making my mouth water. “Merry Christmas!” she says and gives me a big hug. My dad and brother also awakened by the lovely smell of hot cinnamon, enter the kitchen making their plate and giving hugs to my mom and I and pats on the head to the dogs. We all sit in the living room and put our favorite Christmas movie on and enjoy our breakfast before we open gifts. We give the dogs their gifts first and laugh as they tear and paw the wrapping paper of their new treats and toys. The warmth of the fire fills the house and the room is cozy as the cold snow falls peacefully outside. The Christmas tree is lit up with its light and our families ornaments, smelling of faint pine. This is definitely a Christmas to remember.

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Gingerbread House Competition (personal week 11)

“Ok everyone. On your mark, get set, go!” I hear my mom say to all us kids to mark the start of the gingerbread house competition. Every year, my entire family participates in an at home gingerbread house competition. We can get pretty competitive, so we break up into teams and make our own frosting and bring any decorations and candy we may need. The sound of Christmas music in the background fills the silence as people get straight to work. My parents watch contently and take picture and videos of all of us as we work and concentrate. Out of the corner pf my eye, I see my grandfather sitting and eating icing out of the bag and chuckle to myself. My brother works on his display with his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth. “Your tongues hanging out!” my younger cousin yells to my brother to throw him off his game. “It helps me concentrate!” he yells back. We all laugh and get back to work, filling our houses with any candy we can find at this point. “Times up!” my dad tells everyone. We all let out the breath we have been holding while working. Now for the judging!

[writingwitherica]

Mountain Roads (personal week 10)

One of the most freeing feelings is driving down mountain roads with the windows down. During the summer my family takes a trip to the mountains and its something I look forward to every year. Every time, my parents ask us what we want to do during the trip. I come up with something I think the whole family will enjoy already knowing what my favorite part of the trip will be. Having all the windows down in the car, good music playing, and the warm summer breeze making a mess of my hair is my favorite part of the trip every year. The smell of pine radiates in the summer air and the cool breeze coming off the water gives the wind a crispness making it even more refreshing. Driving around finding antique shops to poke around in and small family owned bakeries to stop and get a sweet treat is something I will never get tired of and look forward to every year. Every now and then we’ll pull off to the side of the road and find a new hiking trail that leads to somewhere that looks like no one has disturbed or somewhere to stop and read next to the water. It's these moments I appreciate and remember every year.

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Home Cooking (personal week 9)

I love cooking. Cooking is an outlet for me to destress. I enjoy looking for new recipes in a cookbook and on pinterest or coming up with a recipe on my own. At the end of the day, cooking is my way of clearing my head. It helps me forget for some time about the bad day that I had or it can be a celebration if I’ve had a good day. I also enjoy cooking for other people. Seeing them smile and nod their head in appreciation for a good meal fills my heart and I’m glad I can use cooking as a way to bond with other people. Experimenting with new spices, flavors, and cooking techniques makes me feel like a scientist in the kitchen hard at work. The smells that engulf the kitchen as I’m cooking makes me excited for that very first bite. The sizzling of the food in the pan are like little cheers encouraging me to keep cooking. I take my time to plate the food in an attempt to make it look like I’m serving it in a five- star restaurant. I sit with my family after we all have our full plates and enjoy a delicious home cooked meal.

[writingwitherica]

Loose Change Reading (week 11)

This week I read Loose Change by Andrea Levy. This story was really interesting. It followed a woman from London and talked about people attitudes towards other people in London. In the beginning, the woman said she knew everyone in the bathroom was a Londoner because when she asked them if they had any change for the tampon machine, they just ignored her and left the bathroom. One girl in the bathroom wasn’t from London and ended up giving her the change she needed. The Londoner takes the girl out for a cup of tea. The girl had a brother as well  and it turned out they were homeless, seeking a safer place to live in England. The Londoner then went through an internal dilemma on if and how to help this girl and her brother. She debated on if she should give them her number or a place to stay for a few nights. In the end, she didn’t give the girl any further help. How it was written, we were reading the Londoners internal conflict she was having with herself on whether or not to offer anymore help. She thought of her own child and the talks she would have with her grandmother which influenced her to make the decision she did.  

[writingwitherica]

Whitechapel Walk exercise (week 11)

Today has been a tough day. I found myself thinking of my children quite often. I miss them. After my separation from their father, I just don’t see them as much as I want to. I carried out my day to day tasks before I ended up at the local pub just down the street from the work house I’m currently staying at. At the pub, I indulged quite a bit to distract myself from todays worries. I still had my bearings and noticed a man who looked to be the same age as me sitting alone in the corner with a hat on. I saw that he had a black coat on as well and I found it odd he wasn’t mingling with the other folks at the pub, but that was really the only thought I had on the lad. I knew I had enough to drink when I was starting to stumble a bit while leaving the pub. I was on my way to meet one of my friends before heading to my lodging for the night. I met up with her to check in and she told me to go straight to my accommodation to try to get some sleep before our long day tomorrow, and I was off.

[writingwitherica]

Regents Park Walk (personal week 8)

When I get to regents park it is a crisp fall morning. Not many people were walking around yet and I was able to enjoy the walk and the soundtrack. The first part of the walk was cool and I saw different sculptures in the park. As I walked to a different part of the park, the music changed. The next part of the park I walked through was lined with plant and flowers. Gardeners were out there sprucing them up, some had earbuds in and I wondered what they were listening to as they were working. I came across a long walkway that had trees lined up on wither side of it. There were fields where I heard yelling, so I took my earbud out and noticed there was a kids football game going on. I sat and watched for a little bit before proceeding. Eventually, I was walking passed the zoo where I was able to catch a glimpse of one of the exhibits. My walk ended and I paused the soundtrack playing, feeling peaceful and fulfilled from my walk and everything I encountered on my travels.

[writingwitherica]

Subtexts and Registers Reading response (week 10)

This weeks readings were all unique and interesting to read. The first thing I read was The London Breed, which was written by Benjamin Zephaniah. The London Breed is about some ones love and hate for the city.  It talks about London as a place where people live out their dreams and that its a place where cultures can melt together and people are accepted. It also talks about London in a more negative light, mentioning the violence in the city and the danger. The second thing I read was Excerpt from a concise Chinese- English dictionary for lovers written by Xiaolu Guo. In this story, it follows a female student that just got to London from China. When she gets to London, she feels like an alien and is dealing with the culture differences. Some culture differences talked about in the story include cars and how people drive, the amount of food served during a meal, and language barriers. Something interesting is the way language is talked about at the end of the story. She talks about how in Chinese they are bosses of their language, but the English language is the boss of its speaker. The third story I read this week was Inglan is a bitch written by Linton Kwesi Johnson. The speaker in the story is living in London and came from Jamaica. The story is written using the authors register which adds more meaning and character to the story. Throughout the story, it talks about the different jobs he had while living in London and the hardships he has faced in the city.  All of these stories are written by people who feel out of place in London and who have struggled in this bog city.

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Five great poems about London/ London short fiction (week 8/9)

The London short fiction story I read was called Picking a pocket or two. In the story, the main character Cara saw squirrels going into tourists pockets and stealing their wallets and whatever else they could find. Cara confronted the squirrels and said its not right to steal from the people. The squirrels sang Cara a song about why they do this even though its wrong. Cara still didn’t like that they were stealing from people so she helped the squirrels make money by advertising a show where the squirrels would sing, dance, and do acrobatics and each ticket was 15 pounds. The Five poems about London were also good and each showed a different side of London. They also all were written using different poem formats which made them interesting to read. One poem I really enjoyed was composed upon Westminster Bridge. The poem shows the differences between the nature side of London and the more industrial side. For example part of the poem says “ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie; open unto the fields, and to the sky;”

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Tutorial exercises (weeks 8 & 9)

I found my one on one tutorial helpful. After my tutorial, I thought about new ideas that will help further my story. I was having trouble coming up with ideas for how my character would progress in my story and I feel like I left my session with a few good ideas that I can develop more. I also need to work on integrating the five senses into my story to add more detail, then re-read it and see where I can take some detail out where it gets to much. One thing I can also work on is adding dialogue to help the reader understand better what is happening in the story, and so that the reader can understand the characters more.

Something that surprised me about London was the size. I knew it was a large city when I was coming here but nothing could’ve prepared me for how big and busy this city is. When I first got to London from Boston, I was so overwhelmed with the amount of bustling people. It seemed as though everywhere I looked, something was going on. Even though London is a big city, I feel like the public transportation system is really good. Although getting the hang of the tube and buses was a challenge at first, once I got the hang of it I realized how easy it was to get around. London is also a walkable city and just by walking around, I stumbled upon things I never would’ve known was there if I didn’t walk around.

[writingwitherica]

Street Haunting/ A Martian sends a post card home (week 7)

A martian sends a postcard home is very interesting to read. It’s almost like a puzzle you have to pull apart as you read to understand what it is they are describing. For instance when they describe a phone, it took me awhile to understand fully what they were talking about because of the description of it. Also, when they are talking about a watch they say “time is tied to the wrist”. Describing things in a different way makes the reader work and really figure out what it is they are describing. In street haunting by Virginia Woolf, she also uses great description to and other literary tools to make her story. One sentence I really like is “where night is folding herself to sleep naturally.” Obviously, the night doesn’t do this, but it adds great detail to the story and creates beautiful imagery while reading. There are many other examples in the story where great detail is added including “For the eye has this strange property: it rests inly on beauty.” These added details and descriptions ad to the messages the story is conveying.

[writingwitherica]

Structure exercise (week 5)

For this activity I read I lost my memory- and fell in love with my husband for the second time. It starts with her accident that lead to her memory loss.

Waking up to a stranger everyone morning is rather unsettling. To find put he’s not a stranger and is actually my husband is just as troubling. I can’t believe this is my life sometimes. I feel guilty that I don’t recognize my husband and have to get to know him all over again. I feel guilty looking at our wedding pictures and having no memory of it whatsoever. Its like I’m looking at pictures of someone else life and not my own. Seeing him smile at the pictures and watching his eyes light up hurts me and I wish I could share these memories with him. I bet you’re wondering “what happened to her” or “why cant she remember her own husband”. I was in an accident when I was forty- four years old. My husband and I went on a kayaking trip and the current was strong and I was still a beginner. My kayak had flipped over and I ended up with a bad concussion, leaving me with memory loss. Since the accident, its been an uphill struggle getting my life back together and rediscovering who I am and how I fit into my family.

[writingwitherica]

British Library Writing Exercise (week 4)

I was wandering around a bookstore today and saw a book that looked to be hundreds of years old. The cover was old and leathery and from what I could see of the pages, they looked tarnished and dry. One thing I couldn’t help but notice was a padlock locking the front and back covers of the book together. I looked around to see if there was a key attached to the book anywhere but failed to find one. I searched on the shelf it was sitting on then looked throughout the entire bookshelf. No key was anywhere to be found. I decided to grab the book and bring it up to the front desk to ask the worker if they knew anything about the book and if there was a key to open it. “Ah, that books been in here quite a long time. When its sold, its returned almost immediately and always put right back on that same shelf. People say its haunted, that book” “Hm, do you know of any key that may open the lock?” I asked still wanting to bring the book home. “No, I don’t have a key for it. I’m sorry” “that’s alright, ill take it” I say confidently. “are you sure you want to take this book?” “Ya, I’m sure. Thank you” I reply.  The mystery of this book has drawn me in and at the moment, its all I can think about.

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Mrs. Dalloway (week 4)

This week we read part of Virginia Woolfs novel Mrs. Dalloway. The novel followed Mrs. Dalloway and some things she encountered while she was in the city. It also followed some other people in the city including Septimus and his wife. While Mrs. Dalloway was in a flower shop there was a car that backfired, which drew in everyones attention. People started speculating who could be in the nice car with the fancy curtains. People speculated that it may even be the queen. People went to Buckingham Palace to wait for the car to pull in and as they were waiting there, a plane was flying overhead and spelling letters out in the sky. This grabbed peoples attention and with everyone looking up and trying to figure out what the plane was spelling, no one noticed the car driving right past them. The story not only talks about Mrs. Dalloways experience with the car and plane, but a few other people as well. This captures a curious London and shows that people of different ages and social standing take curiosity in the same things. It also shows the different types of people living in the city and how they differ from each other. For example, the differences between Mrs. Dalloway and Septimus and his wife.

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Chinatown- week 10

One evening after a long day of exploring London, my friends and I were looking for a place to stop and get some dinner. One of the first places that popped into my head was chinatown. We saw we were about half an hour away by tube so we bolted for the closest station. It was a few stops before we got off at Leicester Square station. As soon as we got out of the station, the streets were bustling and alive with energy. People were walking all around the area, poking in and out of shops and restaurants. Some people were emerging with full plates of food and gorgeous looking desserts. The smell of fresh dumplings filled the air which resulted in my stomach letting out a large growl, but I was to mesmerized by my surroundings to listen to it. The sky above me was lit up by beautiful red lanterns that stretched across the width of the street, illuminating the ground below. We walked down the street, looking into restaurant windows and bakeries scouting out which one we would dine at. Along the way, we ran into other groups doing the same as we were, who were conversing about the different dinner and dessert options. Every restaurant was packed with people enjoying one anothers company, but not as much as the fresh plate of food that was just placed in front of them. We finally found a small restaurant that had a table for us and were ushered inside. It was nice to sit at the table and look out the window onto the street we were just roaming. Even from sitting inside, I could feel the energy that was coming from the other side of the glass cool. As soon as the food hit the table, it was gone within minutes.