I've been finding it very difficult to find time to update this blog because we've been cramming so much into each day! There is SO much to do here, and a good chunk of it is FREE! Let's see, in just the first week, we've been on a walking tour of the neighborhood we're living in (Kensington- one of the richest in London) and a bus tour of London, we've been to Westminster Abby, St. Paul's Cathedral, the National Gallery, the Natural History Museum, three different street markets (Burough, Covent Garden and Portabello Road), and four different performances. It is all so rich in history and music and culture- and we've just barely touched the tip of the iceberg!

We got to see Stomp, which is a phenomenal group of actors/musicians who make music by playing a variety of rhythms on a huge range of "instruments" including everything from a tic tac box to a lighter to a kitchen sink to oil drums. It was just incredible! I believe they have made several movie specials (Imax, HBO, etc) which would be great to watch if anyone's interested.

For our first theatre class we saw a traditional English pantomime, or "panto," of Cinderella which was hilarious. To my confusion, this pantomime was not silent, but it had original music and speech just like a regular musical. It involved a lot of audience participation (booing and hissing at the evil characters, saying "awwww" when the main character is sad, etc) which was quite fun. The evil stepmother was played by a man in drag, a famous British actor who I believe was in The DaVinci Code, and he was just hysterical. Part of the tradition of "panto" is to bring in a big name for one of the main parts, and women played by men is also common. It was in a cute little theater, with an amazing Jamaican restaurant attached where we ate dinner.

For part of my opera workshop internship with Music Platform, I saw English Pocket Opera perform Hamlet the opera. It was the most creative use of a theater I had ever seen. We began sitting in our seats, watching the play on stage, but then for each different scene, we would move to different parts of the theater, including the back ally, the front foyer, and the bar upstairs. Eventually the audience was sitting on the stage watching the actors act in our chairs! They were incredible singers as well and I very much enjoyed it.

We had a drink last night at a pub called the Churchill, which is a quirky little place covered in potted plants on the outside, and the indoor ceilings are covered in what I think were beautiful chamber pots. In the back there is a small Thai restaurant, of all things. The drinks were good, but most of all it was fun to watch the crowds of British people. We will be returning to sample the fairly cheap delicious-looking Thai food!

Tomorrow I head off to my first opera workshop with children in a school somewhere in Tower Hamlets. I'm hoping if I leave at 7:30, I'll have enough time to get lost and still get there by 9:00!

Hope all is well on the other side of the pond.