A Life Worth Living

you know you've been a nomad way too often when you have absolutely no idea where you are after waking up from a nap.

in the state of semi-consciousness, my brain struggled to register just where I was sleeping. I fought to open my eyes to find out and when I did, I still had no idea where I was. My mind said Germany, yet I was dreaming of my friends in Australia. A friend from Germany suddenly appeared in my dream, but yet my mind told me I had to go home from London.

I was dreaming of the Tower Bridge, of my friends from all over the world, of strange unknown places but yet, I had no idea where I was. I fought to wake up, yet I couldn't and I honestly had no idea where I was.

It was only after about 10 minutes of dreaming, wondering and struggling, did I manage to successfully pry my eyes open, have it stay open and then finally realise I was in England.

I really need to find a place to grow roots in soon.

on another note...went off to Hampton Court Palace yesterday with Glauber (my accidental housemate from Brazil. None of us even actually belong in the house, but I was at least visiting friends who lived in the house. He was...well...I'm not entirely sure how he is even connected to the house, seeing that his friend who lives in the house also does not belong in the house. There are currently 10 people living in a house I swear is meant for 4, and it is great fun, although I have to say I am grateful I no longer have to sleep in the living room.) and we had a real great time. Of course, in typical English style, the trains were delayed on our way to Hampton, and what would have been a 1.5 hours ride turned into a 3 hour nightmare.

The palace was absolutely magnificent and what honestly took our breaths away were the gardens. Very similar to that in Versailles, which was no wonder since William III built Hampton Court after being inspired by Versailles. There were mushroom shaped trees and Hershey's Kisses bushes all around the gardens, beautiful fountains and lakes that seem to stretch on forever, brilliantly coloured flowers and a maze we got lost in for about half an hour.

The interior of the palace looked perfectly well-maintained and it stirred in me a certain awe to know that I was in the very same palace Edward I was born in, where Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and Mary lived in, and where A Midsummer's Night Dream was staged in front of Shakespeare himself.

We came so close to attending a Sunday service in Chapel Royal - the same Chapel a huge majority of English kings worshipped in, but unfortunately they were only resuming services next Sunday. We strolled through the dark corridors where sunlight never shone because it was meant only for servants, housing the wine cellar and kitchens. We attended a mini-concert performed by musicians dressed in period costumes, using medieval instruments.

We stood amazed by the beautiful floor to ceiling paintings and tapestries of various religious motifs as well as Greek gods (how these two differing beliefs were reconciled I would like to know). We experienced the richness of the place with its gold-plated and silver crockery, the magnificant four-postered beds that enables one to shut out the world (there was even a travelling bed, and I'm not talking about sleeping bags. This was a proper four-postered bed with mattress. How it was considered a travelling bed, I have no idea. Try travelling with that on the plane.) We even had lunch in the beautiful sunshine in a garden I'm sure many courtiers have strolled in.

It was a glorious day-out filled with much beauty, as well as an enormous amount of time spent on the wonderful English "I'm sorry to announce, but the 1127 Southwest Train to London Waterloo has been delayed" trains.

And I believe it will also be the day that Glauber will recall as the one where a strange Singaporean girl first walked him to death and then starved him to the point of unconsciousness - upon arriving at Hampton at 2pm, we only sat down for a brief 15 minutes for lunch, which consisted of two jelly sandwiches.

Judging by the fact that he is currently unconscious on the couch next to me tells me that he hasn't quite recovered from his trauma...