The Real World: Ealing Broadway

Many things have occurred since last I wrote! I am now settled, with Rachel, in our new, decidedly rough yet enjoyable, home in Ealing. Just to remind you, it’s Rachel, me, Elias, a middle-aged divorcee from Kenya (soon to return to assume his tribe’s chiefdom), Sabine, a middle-aged, single, lawyer-mother from Germany, her six-year-old son Nicholaus, and now, apparently a small family from Thailand. This weekend, we welcome a 23 year-old girl from the Czech Republic. Our fridge is getting cramped.

I can’t begin to describe the culture clashes that have occurred and are bound to occur again. Elias, as ring-leader, is intense. He adores Rachel and, to a lesser extent, me and is constantly commanding that we join him to watch TV or just chat. He’s quickly picking up the key Rachel-isms which are much more hilarious when delivered with a thick Swahili accent. Yesterday, while watching Oliver, on Fagin, “He EES raff.” Merriment is had by all. Nicholaus and I have become quick pals. I think it has something to do with the fact that I’m the only one besides his mom that he can talk readily to. Although he’s learning quickly, German is still much easier for him and, surprisingly, it’s all comin’ back to me and we’re able to communicate very easily. Today, we found that it’s very fun to speak about Elias, in German, in front of him while throwing a ball back and forth. I really need a job.

On Friday, Rach and I had a wonderful day of art. We spent a while looking at the end-of-term exhibit of the students of the Motley Theatre Design School. I was very excited to see some really cool design work and they didn’t fail to impress. The British school of design has always had a particular appeal to me. I can’t really pinpoint what it is but there’s a definite difference in the way a text is approached. It was very refreshing to look at design work from a perspective divorced of the actual performance. I was able to really concentrate on the scenery and costume. Of course, the design’s relation to the text is always important, but it was very cool to focus on one aspect. I’m very envious of what sounds, from our talks with the students, like an amazing course. After the Motley exhibit, we walked toward the National but got sidetracked by a promising-looking gallery. Feliks Topolski’s Memoir of the Century, completely dominated it’s space underneath some tube track. It was an absolutely enormous piece of art that had no definite beginning or end. It snaked through it’s vault and documented the artist’s whole life. It was really a remarkable work and is highly recommended to any visitors to London. We then sat in the courtyard of the National watching some sort of Spanish juggling band until we decided that we were going to Heaven.

Heaven was, of course, completely crazy. Rachel met many very stylized drag queens, we spent some time in the VIP lounge, Rachel was questioned about a water-pouring incident in a literal interrogation room, drinks were had and we stumbled home, on our various buses at about 4 am. Ahh.