Deadly Donuts and Peter Pan

My hobbies: Convincing the natives that I actually speak Spanish/Portuguese even though I have absolutely no idea what's going on.  My wakeup call for instance:

"Buenas Días!  Jibberish gobbledegook speaking speako thingo tu no understando."

"Buenas Días."

"Furthero wakeo up-o call-o Señorita somethingo somethingo."

"Sí.  Gracias."

And then they say something else, and I just keep saying "Sí.  Gracias," until it seems appropriate to say "Muchos gracias.  Adíos," and hang up.  The only time I *don't* try this?  When it involves food.  I learned my lesson after the Great Whole-Wheat Donut Debaucle of '14.  For the record, although I was hoping that perhaps "Glaseado Integral Con Amaranto" meant some sort of glazed amaretto donut, it does, in fact, mean glazed with whole wheat (er…technically the Amaranto [or Amaranth] plant is some sort of weed, and they put the ground up seeds in their whole wheat flour).  -shudders-  Never again.

CAUTION: EXTREMELY POISONOUS DONUTS

That aside, I've been getting lots of e-mails from the family, but not really sending any myself, so I thought I'd return to the good ole blog and give everybody the run-down.  I'm in Mexico City today, and seeing as (even though I am a great pretender) I don't speak Spanish, and I have no one to go with me into the city, I am simply hanging out in the hotel today, which is very nice but attached to the airport, so it's not in the best neighborhood.

Mexico City from my hotel room right now.  It's a pity because there are lots
of beautiful things to do and see here.  I'm just in the wrong spot.

My schedule for this month involved all 3-day trips, the first night in Jamaica and the second night in Mexico City.  This wouldn't be so bad, but both hotels are in lousy neighborhoods, so I haven't been able to get out and do much (read: any) exploring.  And even if I could, I'd get bored flying the same trip all month, so I traded around and managed to get myself a whole week off at my birthday (a very nice birthday, I might add.  And yes, I turned 6 this year.  So grown up.  Sniffle.)  Better still, as some of you know, I traded one of these trips to go to London a few days after my birthday.  It was absolutely fantastic and I can't wait to go back again.  I met a couple of other new hire flight attendants, Rory and Rita, on the flight there, so the three of us went out and hit the city by storm.  Although they found it a little chilly, it was actually very mild for England in January, and we had a wonderful day.  Rita was extremely camera-happy, which means I have tons of photos from our one-day visit.  We traipsed along Kensington Gardens and made a pit-stop for photos in front of Kensington Palace.  Then we continued a little more north on my personal mission to finally see the statue of Peter Pan.  Bless these girls for not minding tagging along.  But I told them the story of Peter Pan (the Rachel Krueger abridged version, of course) and of how J.M. Barrie (the author) had the statue of Peter Pan erected overnight so it would seem to the school children who passed by the next morning that it had appeared by magic.  So we were all able to fully appreciate it.

After an entire photoshoot in front of Peter Pan (which some little kids obliviously wandered into at one point, which just made it even better), we headed up to the Tube station and made our way over to Downing Street.  On the way, I told Rita the story of Paddington Bear, which she had never heard of and soon became obsessed with.  We wanted to get her a souvenir bear, but they're so expensive in the bookstores and tourist shops that we all agreed she'd be better off ordering one online sometime.

Rory, me, Peter Pan, Rita, and small adorable child with bicycle helmet.

It was Rory's first time in England, so Rita and I agreed that we had to get her the traditional photos in front of Big Ben and the London Eye and Westminster Abbey.  We wanted to do a tour of Westminster, but unfortunately the place closed to the public at 3:00 on Saturdays, so we had to satisfy ourselves with standing outside looking in.

Rita taking a photo of Rory in front of the Eye

Selfie in front of the London Eye, which I have still never ridden.
Found out you can make reservations, though, so that's the plan for next time.

Westminster looking all pretty and stuff.

Sheer beauty.  Oh look, Parliament's there, too.  (just kidding, just kidding)

By this time we were all starving, and I remembered that there were several pubs around Trafalgar Square, so I led us all up that way so we could get food (Rory and Rita had their first ever Fish & Chips, and I had Bangers & Mash with onion chutney).  Afterwards we climbed around on the lions in the Square and took still more photos.  (I nearly ran out of memory space on my phone!)

Staple London Phone Booth Photo

Snapped this gem on the walk to Trafalgar Square.

I think Rita got the better photos of Trafalgar Square
once we figured out a good setting for the night-time exposure.
But look!  ASLAN!

Basically it was an absolutely perfect day in London and I can't wait to go back.  As much as I enjoy going out on my own in some places, Rita and Rory were excellent company.

 For those of you, like my grandparents, huddled in your igloos in the -26 ℉ weather, I'll send some tropical thoughts your way:  Immediately after my London trip, I flew to Salvador, Brazil.  Where it is summer.  And hot.  So hot that when our crew van was an hour late picking us up from the airport I nearly had a heat stroke.  There was no air conditioning in the airport, and outside the air was thick with noise and dust from construction.  In my long-sleeved shirt and wool and polyester uniform, I actually had to chew a pepto bismol to keep from vomitting at one point.  I don't do heat.  I will gladly trade with any of you currently sitting in the tundra any day.

After that, though, Salvador was very nice.  The hotel wasn't anything too special, but it was all inclusive, which meant I spent my first day flopped down on the beach (slathered in SPF 70—don't worry, Mum.) watching the surfers on the water.  The Portuguese Speaker on the flight, another new hire, took me to the grocery store nearby where I got some local food, and we stopped for some coconut tapioca from a little vender like an ice cream man.  I decidedly do not like tapioca, but the bits of fresh coconut mixed in were delicious.  On day two, I got myself a hammock from the concierge, hooked it up on my balcony, and plopped my butt in there for virtually the entire day, reading Lost Lake, the newest book from my favorite author, Sarah Addison Allen.  [Bernadette, if you're reading this, don't spoil the ending for me.  I haven't finished it yet.]

Very extensive fruit variety at the breakfast buffet in Salvador.
Did anyone else have NO CLUE this is what a cashew comes from???

My butt happily planted in that hammock, wearing my diva sunglasses,
which are reserved for just such occasions.

In between all these excursions, I am still in the process of both car shopping and apartment hunting.  There have been a few hiccups, particularly with apartment hunting, but I hope to be moved in somewhere by the end of February, and I think we have been narrowing down the used cars.  I regularly feel like I am spending money I don't have, but Mum and Dad have helped me lay out a budget for the next couple of years, so as long as I stick to that pretty closely, it will all work out.

One thing is for sure: Any money I have, I will be spending on books.  If I have any left over, I'll be getting food coffee.


 (P.S. Yes, Dad, I know my little bio still says "Chicago based actress" but I am lazy and don't feel like trying to remember how to change it.  Later.)