Saints, Meadows, and Meats

Meat at the market

Christ Church meadow

My saint icon

Meal of steak, swordfish, and chips

The entrance to one of the St. Patrick's day pubs

Thursday in class we did something exceptionally cool. Francesca Shakespeare, an artist, came to our class to teach us how to paint Byzantine icons. We started out from scratch with wooden boards, and then we covered them with wet plaster. While we waited for them to dry, we made paint out of mineral powders, vinegar, and egg yoke. I painted Frideswide--patron saint of Oxford. Francesca even gave us gold leaf to put on the halos of our saints. Since we do so much work with our brains here, it was totally fun to be able to use my hands and some creativity.

Friday was a day off. To relax, I went out to Christ Church meadow where we had an assigned walk to do for our Walking for Fitness class. Despite the cold, it was a beautiful walk down the Thames next to all the houseboats and ducks. We actually saw a  very strange bird out there that had the body of a pigeon, the legs of a duck, and the walk of a chicken, but it was blue, red, and yellow. I've never seen anything quite like it before. Strange bird. After our walk, we went to the covered market where they were selling octopus legs, lambs liver, duck kidneys, and other seemingly inedible foods. It was kind of creepy to be honest. Thankfully, we went to the grocery store afterwards to get some Katie foods, and for dinner we made swordfish steak, beef steaks, and chips. It was yummy! Our after dinner entertainment consisted of a game of Oxford Edition Monopoly, and then we watched the movie, The Oxford Murders. I fell asleep in the movie, so I'll have to finish it later, but it was cool to see places around town where the movie was filmed.

Saturday was St. Patrick's day! Even though we are in England, this holiday is still celebrated to its full potential. An Irish pub, O'Neil's, was packed to the brim when we walked by it. People walked around in green costumes with flags on their backs and Guiness hats on their heads. The pubs even advertised various green drink specials, and they played Irish music some places. Randomly, the huge St. Patrick's day parade in London is celebrated the day after, so we are headed to London for parades and festivals in the morning. I'll let you know how it goes!