I'm in England now visiting my brother in Oxford. He's busy studying for his final exams next week, and I am preparing for Japan by reviewing all the Japanese I've forgotten in the past year.
Oxford is an interesting place. A strange mix of super intelligent people, lots of tourists, and the locals of various classes. I keep hearing from Derek that England is a capitalist society on speed that exploits the people ruthlessly. I'm not able to make any claims for or against such a position, but I can say that several people throughout Derek's history have labelled him as a Marxist.
Tonight I was granted access inside the highly gaurded compound walls of St. Anthony's College for the last meeting of the Oxford Wine Tasting Society. Tonight's menu featured five sparkling wines derived from grapes from France, California, and some other places. I learned that Champagne is to be used exclusively for sparkling wines that come from French grapes, specifically those of the Champagne region. Otherwise, it is proper to call champagne sparkling wine. There are two main types of champagne, vintage and assembly presses. A vintage press indicates the sparkling wine is the product of a single type of grape from the same year, while assembly presses are sparkling wines derived from two or more types of grapes. I also learned that I would rather just drink a beer, or a nice dry merlot than experience the fizzy, soft explosion of carbonated wine.
Speaking with Derek's friends is like listening to a foreign language I can't understand even though they are speaking English. Since everyone is busy studying for the finals, and most of the people I've met are part of Derek's classes, the conversations always deal with possible exam questions. It is interesting to hear the product of two years of training about Russian foreign policy and history be hammered out in the last week of the program - Oxford is intense. Here they call it revising instead of reviewing for the test and vacuuming is called hoovering.
I can't say much about the city, other than it is small, fairly quiet and innocuous. The architecture is a little bit too gothic for my tastes, but it is still charming. Mostly when walking around on the streets I try to remember which direction to look at to check for oncoming cars.
Because the city is so small they bike alot here. The cars are also very small. I haven't seen an SUV yet. But I did see a Lotus.
They also drink alot here. Actually binge drinking is quite a serious problem in the UK, and Derek likes to point to this fact as a sign of an oppressed people. Rather than religion, it is booze that is the sigh of the oppressed. Last night we watched a tv show where an English bloke with a five-day a week cocaine habit, and drinks the equivalent of 20 glasses of wine a day, gets a type of medical make-over from a small grim-faced and loud talking female Asian doctor. She first analyzed the guy's body and determined his life expectancy if he were to maintain his current habits to be 57. Then the program showcased his transformation and at the end of 9 weeks of daily exercise, no cocaine and moderate alcohol use, his life expectancy increased to 78. In any case, it is not uncommon to see people vomiting on the streets here, and many of the Oxford students are alcoholics or on their way (or so I am told).
I'm not sure who all is going to read this, but please feel free to leave any comments. They are always nice to receive. I also hope that this blog will be interesting enough to check regularly, and I'll try my best to keep updating with pictures and events that are more intriguing than what I ate for dinner yesterday. Good night, and good luck.
