hcuS 'n' trA 'n' syalP

This week has been quite busy and, strangely enough, productive! I can't believe that it's already Friday.

The first highlight of the week was a trip to the Soane Museum near Holborn/Bloomsbury. Soane was an architect and built his house on Lincoln's Inn Fields square. He constructed it quite differently from the usual terraced-house style-- adding windows places where there usually wouldn't be any, buying three lots and using the middle one and the back halves of the side ones to build his house, then selling off the two side front lots to other people, using a lot of colored glass to change the mood of the rooms. The whole place is chock-a-block with Tudor and Elizabethan-age rubble from building sites on which he worked. There are tons of ancient Grecian and Roman casts of statues and figurines (he wasn't rich enough for the real thing). There was a huge collection of Hogarth paintings. He has all sorts of surprises everywhere in his architecture and in the layout of the house-- praising his own talents, building parts of the house like little models for churches or buildings. He lived at the house for a while, but at the end of his life changed the design to that of a museum. Very unusual.

We attended a play this week in the West End at the Donmar Warehouse-- a performance space that is very well known for putting on good contemporary theatrical productions. We saw Red. It was about an artist and his apprentice and their growth and interaction together. It was good-- there is one scene where they both furiously paint a canvas red, and they both get covered in paint. It's really interesting. But in all, I think I liked last week's play better.

Last night, I went with the students to trivia night at the pub around the corner from our house. We were one of 12 teams. We did really well on general knowledge questions-- anything that didn't have to do with British pop culture, politics, etc., and we managed not to be the last place team at the end of round one. Round two was like Final Jeopardy-- points are wagered by each team, and the game is won or lost according to which questions you get. We were lucky and got two pretty easy questions, which meant that we ended up with 220 points and 3rd place! Pity we didn't get a prize...

Today I took the students to a Persian restaurant, which was really good. I had a lamb stew with spinach and sour Persian plumbs (really nice, a little sweet). The students who went with me had lamb stew with sun dried limes and split peas as well as lamb kebabs, both of which were really good.

MCAT studying is going well this week. I am doing a bit better on the practice tests than I was last week, which is good. I've been eating more this week and took my triathlon training a down a notch. As a result, I am feeling much better than I did last week physically.

This weekend promises to be fun. More studying, some cooking, and a birthday party.