We'll take a cup o' kindness yet, for the sake of auld lang syne... (Part 1)

Wow - I can't believe it's been over a month since I last updated - sorry! Life has been fairly hectic and I've finally found some time while back at home to let you all know what has happened the past 5 weeks or so.

I left off just before thanksgiving - which was pretty amazing! The food was great, as was the company and it felt like a really special day. Getting to West Chester was easy enough, and I even had a chance to catch some of the Macy's Parade - I've put up photos on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidjohnwilson

Arriving we headed to Susan's house and after a glass of wine we tucked into dinner. The spread was massive - turkey, sweet potato mash, roast potatoes, brussel sprouts, yams (still not entirely sure what they are), stuffing, tomatoes and caesar salad! It all tasted fantastic and on commenting about this I made my first faux pas of the day - it went something like this:

Me: "Susan, the stuffing is fantastic! Do you mind if I ask what is in it?"

Susan: "David, honey, I work full-time and own a law firm; you'll have to ask the take-out menu..."

Needless to say I was a little embarrassed, and things didn't improve when I then asked about Christmas traditions:

Me: "So if you have a big turkey dinner for Thanksgiving, what do you eat for Christmas dinner?"

Susan: "We have chinese take-out... We're Jewish..."

Luckily Susan laughed off me putting my foot in it and we all headed to the banks of the Hudson to watch the sunset - simply stunning.

With Thanksgiving over I still had 3 days of vacation before lectures resumed so on the Friday I headed in to New York for "Black Friday" - the US equivalent of the Boxing Day Sales. I personally think it's a great idea - having the sales in November means that you can get some bargains for Christmas presents, instead of finding the presents at half price the day after giving them away! New York was crazily busy but I met up with Dana which was lovely and I also managed to get myself a classical guitar in the sales which was even better!

It was then back to the grindstone that is trying to get a PhD in math - not all that fun but I also made sure that even though I was working hard, I was playing hard too! The next few weeks were filled with KEEN and training - I was in New York most weekends for KEEN and then training 6 days a week - 2 days cycling, 2 days running and 2 days hitting the gym.

The fitness stuff has been really great - it has been a good stress reliever and I've been losing weight - currently I've lost 25.4lbs and only 10.6lbs to go for my target weight. I want to be a bit lighter and slimmer for the cycling season; after all, if I'm going to lug my big fat behind round a course for an hour or two, I may as well make it as light as possible!

(OK - so I lied. I didn't have time to finish this off back home so I'm back in NJ now :P)

As part of my fitness drive I've done something impulsive (and rather reckless) and signed up for my first ever triathlon! It's Olympic length (1.5km swim, 23.5mi bike, 10km run), is the New Jersey State Triathlon and at the moment I'm alternating between being really excited and really scared. It's being held on my birthday (25th July) so I reckon I've got plenty time to train(!) so hopefully I'll at least be able to finish... Those of you who have ever been swimming with me will know I've got quite a bit to work on - at the moment whenever I breathe out underwater I can't help but breathe in straight after; not so good when you're swimming in a lake! I'm going to be raising money for two charities by completing the triathlon - both close to my heart. In the US I'll be raising dollars for KEEN New York (http://www.keennewyork.org) while back home I'll be raising pounds for the MND Association who helped my granda with his, ultimately fatal, fight with this horrible disease (http://www.mndassociation.org).

To help with the fundraising I have decided to offer an incentive for people sponsoring me - if people sponsor me over a certain amount (probably £5 and $10) then they will get entered into a prize draw for some goodies! To that end I've been contacting celebrities, authors, athletes and others to get some signed stuff to giveaway. So far I've got a signed book from Terry Pratchett, signed game from PopCap Games and signed photo from Sir Steve Redgrave! If you have any ideas of people to contact (or if you know anyone who might be interested in donating personally) then please get in touch! You can either leave a comment or email me on davidjwi@math.rutgers.edu and I should get it.

Finally, the end of term came around - unfortunately bringing Finals with it. Finals sucked big time, but at the end of the day they were only for a week and although the 50min oral exam was possibly the worst exam I've ever done, I survived... And straight after my final exam on the Friday I headed into NYC for a documentary screening with Fulbright. The documentary is called "From Mambo to Hip-Hop: A South Bronx Tale" by Henri Chalfant and is a fantastic watch! It's even better when followed by a question and answer session with the director, producer and two of the people featured - absolutely fascinating stories and I learnt a lot about an area of New York I was pretty ignorant about beforehand.

That night I got back to the flat at around 3am and started to pack. At around 3.05am I realised that I really shouldn't have left packing until the night before the flight. At around 4am I hadn't really done much except move a load of stuff around my room in a vain attempt to pretend to pack. By 5am I had filled a hand luggage bag and decided this was enough effort for the night so went to sleep - only problem was I had stripped my bed to wash the bed clothes but hadn't had time resulting in me sleeping fully dressed on my lovely plastic mattress. Waking at 8am I carried on my 'packing' and by 11am I had more or less got everything I wanted to take home laid out. At 11 I headed to New Brunswick to get my hair cut so that dad wouldn't moan when I got home that I looked like a scruff, and went to meet up with Tarek for lunch - except unsurprisingly he had slept in... At about 1pm I headed back to the flat, I quickly finished packing and noticed it had started to snow - "how pretty!" I thought. By around 4pm there was a veritable blizzard outside and I decided to head to the train station an hour earlier than planned in case it got worse. Good idea. I rang for a taxi at 4 and it arrived at 4.30. By this point I was fairly peeved that it had taken so long - but bundled my bags in the boot anyway, while the blizzard tried to turn me into a pretty impressive yeti lookalike. I soon found out why the taxi was late when it took us 30 minutes to travel a usually 5 minute drive. The roads were horrific - Route 18 (a 3-lane motorway) had seen no sign of grit so we crawled at a paltry 5mph while the back end of the taxi slipped and slided its way to the train station.

Thankfully the train journey was uneventful - if only the same could have been said at the airport! It started as I queued to drop my bags off at the express check-in. I was two from the front and idly waiting for the passengers in front to get a move on when I glanced at the sign regarding what you could take in your hand luggage. I've seen this sign countless times and could pretty much recite it by heart but was nevertheless reading it to pass the time. When it came to the liquids section a sudden realisation hit me and my stomach immediately felt like it had been sucked into a black hole...

I had been Christmas shopping in New York a couple of weeks earlier and got all my family's presents so I wouldn't have the stress when I got back to the UK. For Sam, James' girlfriend, I had got a very nice Molton Brown selection box thing - with six different bubble baths, body washes, body cremes and other things I wasn't really sure what you did with (needless to say when the man in the shop asked me what I wanted in the box I told him I didn't have a clue and for him to pick out some "nice smelly stuff"). Now as I didn't really trust BA to get me and my luggage to the same destination I had decided to put all my Christmas presents in my hand luggage - including Sam's... With the sudden realisation that security would not appreciate about 1.5l of good quality bubble bath in my hand luggage I raced to the back of the line with my cases, flung them open on the floor in the middle of Newark airport and proceeded to pack my hand luggage with dirty gym kit and underwear to make space for the present in my hold luggage. The crisis averted I checked in my bags and proceeded to the departure lounge for a much needed cup of tea.

I thought that would be the end of my transport issues, however, arriving at the departure gate I noticed that my plane was already scheduled to be 30 minutes delayed - no big deal, I had experienced much worse in the past. Rather suprisingly, we all got onto the board at the scheduled time and were sat in our seats with only a 40 minute delay or so. Then the captain came on the intercom - "Excuse me, but we have a rather large amount of snow on the plane that has frozen so we will be needing to de-ice the plane before take off. This will take approximately 30 minutes after which we should be good to go." 30 minutes - again not a huge deal, so I sat patiently reading my book while a mechanised robot (looking surprisingly like a gangly version of WALL-E) sprayed the plane with industrial strength de-icer (which, for the record, smells exactly like celery..). So after a little over an hour the captain comes on the tannoy again - "Excuse me, but it appears that while waiting for our flight slot the plane has re-frozen and will need to be de-iced again. Sorry for the delay."

Now I don't know about you, but I certainly don't want to be told that the plane I'm sat in has a rather inconvenient habit of freezing when we are about to head up into the ridiculously cold air 35000ft above us. An hour later the captain comes back on the tannoy to inform us - "Once again the plane has refrozen, however I have been assured that once we are de-iced we will be able to take off immediately" - this I found out later was probably because we were one of only 6 planes to take off after 9pm from Newark - bloody snow! Finally - after nearly 3 hours sat on the plane with no entertainment or refreshments - we managed to take off and proceeded to hit some major turbulence heading through the snow clouds. Once above the cloud level it levelled off and we were served dinner.

Now I'm pretty sure turbulence has something in for me - whenever I'm on a turbulent flight the turbulence seems to subside about an hour in and then wait until I'm just about to take a bite of my scalding hot, unidentifiable-meat based flight dinner and then proceed to spend the next 30 minutes trying its best to cover my lap with beef hot pot. The bumpiness continued while we crossed Canada and Greenland (thank go I don't like drinking tea on a plane) before finally settling down while we crossed the Atlantic.

We finally touched down at Heathrow about 3 hours delayed and after another bout of security I finally boarded my Newcastle flight and was nearly home. The views were incredible as we flew up the East Coast - everything was a winter wonderland - and it was getting whiter and whiter the more north we got. Touching down in Newcastle I was greeted by big hugs from mum and dad and promptly fell asleep during the car journey home...

That's it for Part 1 - tune in to part 2 for loads of celebrations - Christmas, Hogmanay and a very special engagement!

I am thankful for...

During Thanksgiving dinner it is customary in the US to go around the table and for everyone to say what they are thankful for this year. To that end, I thought I would share what I am thankful for:

I am thankful for the support of my family during the last year. They have all been so supportive of me coming out to the States and without them I would never have got here. Mum, Dad, James, Sam, Gran and everyone else - thank you so much.

I am thankful for my friends from home. I am so glad I have managed to keep in touch with you guys. I am especially thankful for the handful of you (you know who you are!) who put up with me on Skype when I'm feeling down, homesick or just stressed out. You always know what to say to put everything in perspective and never fail to make me smile - thank you.

I am thankful for the Fulbright commission for giving me this scholarship. Without the Fulbright scholarship I doubt I would have made it across here, and with the scholarship I get to have so many amazing experiences and opportunities - it really is like no other scholarship in the world.

I am thankful for fellow Fulbrighters, both in the US and UK. I have yet to meet a Fulbrighter who I didn't get on with and wasn't an amazing and interesting person. You all make the experience that little bit more special. I will never forget Miami and hope to have many more unforgettable memories with you guys in the future.

I am thankful for KEEN. I am so glad I found KEEN, and it has really changed my life while out here. Before I started going to KEEN I was stressed, overworked and really homesick. KEEN put everything into perspective and now is an integral part of my life - I can't wait for the weekend to come around and am gutted when I can't make a session. A special thank you to Nichole and the other KEEN volunteers who have made me feel so welcome, such an important thing when I'm away from home.

I am thankful for Ms. Freedman who has so kindly invited 12 Fubrighters into her home tomorrow for a Thanksgiving feast. It is incredibly generous of her and I hope will be a special day, and an opportunity to experience this American holiday in a very traditional way.

Finally I am thankful for everyone who reads this blog or The Fulbright Report. I know I can ramble on sometimes but I'm glad I can share my experiences with you all.

Please let me know what you are thankful for by leaving a comment below, and

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Pedalling Photos, Parents & Prizes (Part III)

Its finally time for...

PART III: Prizes

First off, sorry for the delay in the final part of the post - there was a little problem named midterms and so my life has been on hold for the last week or so... Secondly, apologies for the very tenuous link between the title and content of this part - I wanted an alliterative title, and prizes was about the only thing I could come up with. Anyways, on to the post:

The rest of the week when my parents left was pretty mundane - getting back into the grad student life (i.e. lots of work and ramen, not much of anything else) until Wednesday. Wednesday started with a gym session - I'd booked a training session with a Sports Science major to set me a gym program to help me get in shape for the road racing season in Spring. I had already been for my fitness check and this session was my first run through of the program. It started off with a nice easy warm up followed by some squats and shoulder presses. Next came dead lifts. After starting with just the 45lb bar I informed Ben that it was pretty easy to do the set of 15, so he added 50lb to give me a bit of a challenge...

Now I had been stuck working at the department on my seminar talk until midnight the night before so hadn't really had dinner; by the time I had got in I really wasn't very hungry and just wanted to go to bed. I didn't really have much for breakfast either (big error...) and so wasn't feeling all that energetic and strong.

I then proceeded to force out a set of 15, during which I kind of forgot to breathe... Now you would think breathing is pretty easy to remember to do - after all we do it all the time right? Well combined with heavy weights and obstination it turns out I can forget the most basic things!

This resulted in me nearly collapsing, feeling sick, having to sit down for 5 minutes and drink lots of water. Feeling a bit better I then decided to stand up - bad idea. Suddenlymy vision went completely blurry and I sat straight back down again. It was a good 10 minutes before I felt any better and was a few days before I stopped feeling a complete and utter idiot...

With that mishap I headed to the department to give my first ever seminar talk - 80 minutes on "Amalgams and the Coset Graph". This was what I did my masters dissertation on, so it wasn't too scary and I think it was successful. Nobody fell asleep, there were only a couple of questions I couldn't answer and everyone seemed reasonably interested - not too bad for my first attempt!

I then headed to Livingston Campus armed with my camera and tripod to take the Rutgers Cyclocross Team photo. I arrived at the practice field to find... nobody. In their defence I was a few minutes early, but it was a good half hour later before everyone arrived. I finally managed to gather everyone together and started the 'photo shoot'. We started with some standard photos - the 'angry look' shot, 'nonchalently leaning on bikes' shot and the 'shouldering bikes' shot.
Earlier on someone had joked about doing a 'cage' shot against the snow barriers - with them all looking like they were trying to escape and me on the other side looking throught he cage. At the end of the 'serious' shoot I asked if they fancied doing the photo. I could kind of tell that people wanted to, so I kind of bossed everyone into going and climbing the fence. I'm pretty pleased with the end result, and it seems everyone else is too! Here's the picture:
As always, the photos are on my Flickr Page so please check them out!

Next up was the KEEN Happy Hour. This was on Thursday night and was a chance for KEEN to raise a bit of money, as well as do

some socialising/drinking. It was held at Public House in NYC (unfortunately a bar, not a good ol' pub...) and entry was $10 or a toy donation. This also got you a free raffle ticket you could place in one of the 6 prize draws - with some pretty good prizes. I arrived (having headed there straight from lectures), grabbed a beer and started talking to some of the other volunteers. It was really nice to meet these people outside of a KEEN session, and I met quite a few people who weren't regular volunteers (an

d hopefully convinced some of them to become regular volunteers!).

In the course of the evening I bought a few extra raffle tickets and put them in a few of the prize buckets. The prizes were really impressive, including tickets to a New York Yankees game, a huge stack of DVDs, a huge stack of books, some beauty vouchers, a free meal in NYC, a KEEN sports bag and much more! I put my tickets in a few of them and at 8 they were drawn. To my great surprise I won the stack of DVDs! There was a big selection with everything from the X Files to Walk the Line and one of the guys I had been talking to earlier asked me if he could borrow the X Files after I had seen

it. I told him sure, and then went back to the bar to grab another beer.

I was waiting for the barman when Nichole came up asking me about a raffle ticket number. I checked my tickets against the number and sure enough I had a match - and I had won the NY Yankees tickets! I was ridiculously pleased :) I then told Nichole to redraw the DVD's - after all, out of everyone there it wasn't really fair that I took two prizes - so she did, and in a nice coincidence the guy who wanted to borrow the X Files won them! The night ended with a goodie bag - containing everything from a Team USA Beijing Olympics towel to 3 free tickets to the Brooklyn Botanical garden!

Along with the yankees tickets my prize included two vouchers. Each of the vouchers are worth either $50 of waxing or $200 of laser hair removal for men or women in NYC. Now, I don't think I have $400 worth of hair on my body, and I certainly don't want to find out so I'm offering these vouchers up. If anyone wants these then I would be happy to give them to you. They need to be used in the next fortnight, and can't be used together, but otherwise there are no restrictions. If you want them, leave a comment and I'll get in touch. It would be nice if you would consider a small donation to KEEN for them, but don't feel obliged.

At the Happy Hour Nichole was also selling the brand new KEEN NY wristbands. They are really cool and a bargain at only $3! If you want one, leave a comment and I'll get you one from Nichole - here's a picture of one:

That Saturday was KEEN swimming - my favorite session! That week, I was first partnered with a autistic boy for the first half, and then a 5 year old girl with Spina Bifida for the second session. The first athlete was pretty interested in the water fountain at the end of the pool so we spent most of the session trying to swim under it and trying to stop it with our hands. The second athlete had no sensation below her knees so me and her other volunteer had to carry her around - this didn't stop us having a lot of fun! She had just turned 5 so had got a fake Minnie Mouse tattoo at her party so she proceeded to use this 'super hand' to either push away from the wall (when I would lift her out of the water as she 'flew through the air') or push me away (when I would go flying backwards and under water - much to her delight!).

It was a fantastic session and was followed up by some drinks at Brother Jimmys - whose slogan was "Put some South in yo' mouth"! I then got to experience some true Southern food - frickles. Now you may ask, as I did, "What on earth are frickles?" Well it turns out these are fried pickles. Yes. Pickles. Deep-fried. Needless to say they were rather unique in taste and texture and one was more than enough for me... I also got to try deep fried onions (served in a bucket!) and sweet potato fries (which were amazing!).

I then headed back to Penn Station with Nichole who was meeting some people from her old school in North Carolina - I then ended up joining them as they headed into Times Square. It turns out the two girls and teacher were here for a conference and it was great to talk to them and find out their impressions of New York. It also turned out that they (along with Nichole) were headed to see Memphis, the same musical I had seen with Mum and Dad. I therefore assured them that they would love the show - and sure enough they did!

Heading back to New Jersey, Sunday was a day of work, getting all my problem sheets done (or at least trying to!). I also decided to start getting serious about losing some weight and getting fit for the cycling. To that end I joined Daily Burn which is a website that you can track your nutrition, exercise and body measurements on. I'm really impressed, especially as it's free, and since joining I have now lost around 10lbs from my personal training assessment 3 weeks ago!

On the sports side of things, on Wednesday I finally got out on my first group ride with the Cycling team. It was a designated "fat & slow" ride for those of us who are "over insulated & speed challenged" and we did a 20mile ride at around 15mph. It was great fun and we finished by doing some sprints and chase-downs which was definitely my favorite part of the ride. It was great to really work the legs to exhaustion and a lot of fun to really push yourself to catch someone who has sprinted ahead. I then went out again on the Friday and am heading out again tomorrow so the cycling is certainly stepping up a gear! (No pun intended...)

I also went to karaoke on Thursday with some of the cycling grad students which was great fun - there is nothing better than listening to cheesy retro rock being sung by slightly drunk people. I also got given my cycling kit! Its very... erm... spandex-y but is also seriously cool - I can't wait to go out riding tomorrow so I can use it :)

This weekend I had my first experience of KEEN in the Bronx - and it was pretty awesome! I was paired with a kid with mental retardation who had never been to KEEN before. We spent the session doing a variety of things, from basketball to quoits to playing with the parachute. At the end of session we do the "proud circle" where everyone says what they did that made them feel proud during the session. It was touching when my athlete turned to me during the circle and said "can we play some more after this?" I then felt really bad when I had to tell him that he was instead going to have to go home and wait until the next session before we could play some more - he was heartbroken.

That evening I was invited to Nichole's birthday meal. I was delighted to be asked, especially as the other guests were Nichole's boyfriend and friends of hers for many years. It felt great to be included in such a close knit group and they were really welcoming.We went to a great vegetarian restaurant called Dirt Candy and the food was amazing. I had portobello mushroom mousse to start followed by grilled spicy tofu with broccolini. I swear that food could even turn my Uncle Mike into a vegetarian! Unfortunately the evening ended far too early - with me having to leave straight after the meal to make sure I got the last train home.

Finally, I had a midterm yesterday - this time in Real Analysis. I was a bit worried heading into the exam but I think it went ok. Could have gone better, could have gone worse - like pretty much every other exam I've ever taken! We broke up for Thanksgiving break today so tomorrow will be spent cycling and trying to catch up on work before heading to West Chester for Thanksgiving - but more about that in the next post!

As always, please feel free to leave comments!

Pedalling Photos, Parents & Prizes (Part II)

Now for the second installment!

PART II: Parents

Its true what they say, and there is no rest for the wicked, so after a short lie in on Monday morning I sat in lectures slightly distracted and waiting for a text which came around 3pm - Mum & Dad had landed!

Just like myself 3 months ago, Mum & Dad have never visited the States before, so we organized this trip so that they could see where I live, where I study and the country I live in. Then we were heading to the Big Apple for some shopping and sightseeing.

Due to my crummy lecture schedule I had to wait until around 7pm to see them, but they assured me they would just get settled in to the hotel, and maybe even try to sleep off some of the jet lag.

I had decided to get Mum some flowers and Dad some wine for when they arrived, a little thank you to them for visiting, so I headed to the only flower shop I know of in New Brunswick. A few minutes later I emerged with a Fall-themed arrangement and headed for the only wine and liquor store I knew of to get Dad's wine - only to find it shut... bugger...

I seemed to remember another shop the other end of town, and couldn't really give Mum a present and not Dad, so set off while texting them saying my bus had been delayed (a little white lie, but I really wanted it to be a surprise). Needless to say, the liquor store was a lot further than I remembered, and had a very limited selection of wines, but I managed to find a nice Californian Red for him to enjoy - if only I had remembered a corkscrew! As it was, it was 5 days later in NYC before we could finally open the wine - but I think me and Dad agree it was worth the wait.

So I arrived at the hotel 20 mins late with flowers and wine in hand to be greeted by such a big hug from Mum I was nearly knocked to the floor. I didn't mind in the slightest though, and sat down on the bed for a good catch up.

It was great to see them again and they presented me with a small suitcase of stuff I had asked them to bring over. In it included text books, music books, my Bose speakers, some clothes and reading books, as well as some things I wasn't expecting - my Brit's survival kit. I was ecstatic to find everything from Marmite to Bisto to Suet and, most importantly - Mum's homemade raspberry jam. It's strange how you miss little things, and I never though that I would ever miss gravy granules - but after only finding jars of ready made gravy at the local supermarket, I was ridiculously happy to get some Bisto!

We headed out to dinner and stumbled upon a fantastic restaurant called Due Mari. It specialises in Italian & fish, and it is definitely the best meal I've had in America so far - Duck Confit & Pumpkin Nudi to start followed by pan seared cod on butternut squash and brussel sprouts. Pair this with a nice New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and along with fantastic service and pretty reasonable prices made it a exceptional restaurant.

Leaving Mum & Dad I headed back to the apartment to unpack my goodies before an early night followed by lectures the following morning. That afternoon though I got to show Mum & Dad a bit of New Brunswick, the math department, Busch campus and my apartment. It was nice for them to see all the places I'm constantly babbling on to them about on Skype.

This was followed by a trip to Highland Park, dinner at a Steakhouse followed by a much needed supermarket trip. The Steakhouse was great, although neither me nor Dad were brave enough to go for the 32 oz Porterhouse, and I'm pretty sure mum would have been content with just the salad bar!

Princeton was the plan for Wednesday, and after a short train journey we arrived at a ghost town. Walking through the university we saw a grand total of 2 students and got slightly worried that there had been a mass evacuation of the area... It turns out it was their fall break during which most students leave town - so we didn't have to worry about a flu epidemix or nuclear fallout after all.

Brunch was traditional american pancakes, with maple syrup of course, and we started to explore. Princeton is a lovely town and there are some great shops - highlights include a massive book shop, homemade chocolate shop, hand-blown glass shop and the Bent Spoon - an amazing ice cream/sorbet shop that even gives G&Ds a run for their money!

That night was Due Mari again for another fantastic meal, and I briefed Mum & Dad on getting to Philly - I had lectures all day on Thursday and so I was sending them to see the Liberty Bell, reenact Rocky and try a Cheesesteak. unfortunately, I hadn't counted on the Philly train service going on strike, so I was a little surprised the next afternoon to get a text saying "we're in NYC instead!"

Meeting in NYC we headed to B&H - the biggest photography store I've ever seen - Dad has been looking at getting a wide angle lens for his SLR for quite a while now, so he was rather pleased at both getting it, and saving a good $200/300 from what he would pay in the UK.

It was a bit of a pain having to head back that night, but at 10am on Friday morning we were back on the NJ Transit heading to New York, and soon arrived at the Sofitel - our hotel for the weekend. The Sofitel was the definition of grandeur and sophistication. From the classy art deco bar to the widescreen HDTV in each room to the ridiculously comfy beds (which you could actually buy for $5000!). This hotel was pretty amazing!

The weekend flew by in a flash, but was so unforgettable. We found a Christmas market in Bryant Park, saw Times Square by night, went up the Rockerfeller center and simultaneously froze and took amazing photos, shopped on 5th Ave, went to a Broadway show, visited Ground Zero, walked down Wall St, tookt eh Staten Island ferry pas Ms Liberty herself and much more!

Highlights are definitely the Rockerfeller, Broadway and Ground Zero. I wasn't sure we were going to get Mum up the Rockerfeller (especially after she struggled with the church tower in Oxford) but she made it right up to the 69th floor, and eventually even cam outside to admire the view. I would definitely recommend heading to the top on a clear night - the views are spell binding and if you are taking a camera, remember a tripod!

Me & Jame shad been trying to get Mum & Dad tickets to a Broadway show for their Christmas box but without much success, so on Saturday morning we asked the Concierge if he could get us any. His first offer was tickets to most shows worth $100 for the paltry price of $250 each... I think not! He then mentioned that the less famous shows often sell remaining tickets on teh day of the performance, and told us that Memphis was meant to be both good, and reasonably easy to get tickets for.

Sure enough, arriving at the Shubert that afternoon we offered tickets for the top level, center and 4 rows from the front. We said yes straight away and returned at 8pm with no knowledge or expectations of the musical.

First off, let me just say that the musical was amazing - and possibly the best show I've seen on the West End or Broadway. It is in essence a love story between a black female singer trying to make it big, and a white local radio DJ trying to promote soul music during the 1950's in Memphis amid segregation and racism.

The play was at times quite shocking, and has a really unexpected ending (I won't spoil it for anyone) but it was truly the music that made the show. Between soul, RnB, rock & roll and gospel the music was stunning and the singing even more so. The leads (Montego Glover & Chad Kimball) stole the show, but that wasn't to say the rest of the cast weren't great. My two favorite songs were the 'showstoppers' - Glover's 1st act belter "Colored Women", and Kimball's 2nd act soulful "Memphis Lives in Me." I've put clips of both of these below:

The trip to Ground Zero was understandable a lot more subdued and sombre - and it really moved me. The site itself is mainly conspicuous by the absence of anything other than a construction site but the memorial center was what really brought home the scale of what happened.

It was while watching videos of survivors & relations of the dead I started to really understand the scale of this thing. This wasn't a couple of hundred people, this affected thousands upon thousands and really shocked America. Suddenly I understood the passion and patriotism Americans feel regarding the war on terror. I felt that America had lost more than just the Two Towers that day; they had been personally violated on their home soil - a horrific experience for any country. The memorial is due to be completed before I leave, and I certainly want to revisit, as the plans look like a fantastic tribute to those that lost their lives, as well as proof that America, although hurt by these events, will keep fighting and stay proud.

Oh, and I've got to say that I was a bit disappointed by the Statue of Liberty - I suppose after spending so much time in Manhattan surrounded by ridiculously tall buildings I was expecting something bigger... maybe France should offer to upgrade it?

Leaving Mum & Dad in New York was hard. I had had an amazing week and knew I was going to miss them when they went - but unfortunately life had to go back to normality, I could be on a permanent vacation (although that would be nice!). I left Mum in tears and me on the verge, and headed back on the good ol' NJ Transit (I'm getting to know those trains far to well...) to New Brunswick.

That's the end of Part II - the final installment brings us up to date - including embarassment at the Gym, more photography and my streak of luck at the KEEN fundraiser...

Pedalling Photos, Parents & Prizes! (Part I)

As I always seem to do, a short disclaimer - the next three blog posts are going to be pretty long. I was originally going to post just the one, but its kept expanding until it needed to be split. I've been writing the posts on the train to and from New York and it seems when I handwrite I tend to babble on more than when I'm directly typing in the entry.... As always, please comment: I like to hear what you think and welcome any constructive criticism. All that said - here is:

PART I: Pedalling Photography

It seems like ages since I last posted, but I've had a hectic couple of weeks, so sorry!

So much has happened that I'm going to fill you in on the main three events - the Highland Park Cyclocross race, my Mum and Dad visiting and the KEEN Happy Hour - oh, and not forgetting the great American tradition that is Hallowe'en!

So when I first turned up at the Rutgers Cycling Team welcome meeting we were warned that to get our free, snazzy, Rutgers Cycling kit we would have to volunteer at the HPCX race in November and the Rutgers Road Race in the spring. Not too bad considering we would be getting $200+ worth of kit!

I had never hear of cyclocross before coming to Rutgers and had certainly never seen a cyclocross race before, so it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I arrived at the Rutgers Student Center parking lot on a drizzly Hallowe'en afternoon.

Gradually more and more members of the cycling club arrive, introduced themselves and I promptly forgot their names (remembering names has never been my strongest suit - I only found out one of my flatmates names 7 weeks into term, and even then it was only by looking on his departmental website...). We piled into various cars, trucks and minivans and headed for Jamesberg, the site of the annual cyclocross race held by Rutgers and Highland Park Hermes.

I don't know what I was expecting, but I don't think I expected just a regular park, complete with tennis courts, play park and small forrest. This was going to be transformed in just 5 hours to a 3mile cyclocross course with everyone riding from amateurs to Olympians... yeah, right!

Well I was soon proved wrong, after 4 hours of raking leaves, staking the course and putting up multiple gazebos the course was finished and members of Rutgers and Hermes tested it out. I expected a pretty basic loop course, but I was way off mark here. The course wound about, went up and down hills, had sharp hairpins and one particularly interesting section where, in the space of 20yds it went up a hill, had 3 90° left handers, one 90° right hander and went back down the hill it started on! Mental! Clearly cyclocross wasn't as simple as I had imagined, and on the Sunday I found out this was clearly the case...

It was great to meet all the other members of the cycling team - I had only briefly met a few of them at the meeting and I got on really well with everyone - and it got me very excited about eventually racing with Rutgers.

Heading back to the apartment I had a quick shower (the course was already quite muddy) and got changed ready for the evenings Hallowe'en party. I had originally planned to go into NYC for the Hallowe'en parade with Tarek, Natalia and Berna but with an early start needed for the race on the Sunday I decided instead to head to a party held by one of the older math grad students.

To that end, I was picked up by Justin and with Shashank, Moulik, Li Zhan and Xiao Ming we headed to Sara's in Highland Park. By this time the rain was really pouring outside (not a great sign for the race...) and after getting lost and rather damp we arrived at the 'Haunted House.'

That certainly showed me how much more seriously Americans take Hallowe'en than back home. Sara had completely decorated her house with severed heads, floating ghosts, singing pumpkins and flying witches.

Sara herself was in a Jack-the-Ripper-esque costume and two of the 4th years were "Lowe Deehi" and "Heidi Lowe" forming the mathematically geeky double act of the quotient rule... If that wasn't geeky enough, Shashank had gone to a party the night before with a piece of paper with "i" written on it - it was an imaginary costume... *groan*

There were creepy snacks (including 'mud pie': chocolate pudding with jelly snakes) and an American 'Hallowe'en classic' on the TV - something involving Snoopy and Charlie Brown. However, about an hour into the party the spirits were at work and suddenly the electric went! Now the assortment of battery operated ghoulies were pretty innocuous when the lights were on, but in pitch blackness and a small amount of candlelight they took o another level. I'll happily admit that happening upon a floating head in the doorway at the toilet I nearly leapt out of my skin (luckily I managed to stifle a shout...).

It seems like electricians enjoy Hallowe'en just as much as every other American, since it was a good 90 minutes before power was restored. So we spent the time telling ghost stories/gossiping about our professors (perhaps the same thing?) around a coffee table filled with candles and fake skulls.

Unfortunately, at around half ten I had to head back to the flat. The first CX race was due to start at 8am so I had to be at Jamesberg (where the race was held) at 6.30am, meaning a 5.20am meet at the Student Center, resulting in a disgustingly early 4.30am wake up... I realise that from rowing I should be used to early mornings, but this was ridiculous - even by Boat Club standards! I had one saving grace though - American Daylight Savings Time is a week later than the UK, so although it confused me regarding time difference for a week, I have never been more grateful for an extra hours sleep...

I got picked up by Nick at 5am and started on my many cups of tea that morning. If I was going to last the day then caffeine was a definite must.

Arriving at the parking lot, team members started arriving in varying degrees of consciousness and we headed back to Hamesberg for a course check before racing started. It had been raining constantly all night, but had slowed to a small drizzle by 7am - so the ground was more than a little soft underneath. This, I was told, would make the racing a little slower but certainly more 'interesting'.

Now I had been warned that once racing started there wouldn't be too much to do as a volunteer - mainly it would be keeping an eye on the course and performing any necessary repairs when the riders crashed through the tape barriers (as I was assured they would). Because of this I had decided to bring along my DSLR - if I was going to have a load of free time I may as well take some photos.

So once racing was underway, I positioned myseld at various parts of the course and started taking pictures. And more pictures. And even more. I ended up with around 700 photos (with at least half being pretty bad) and kind of became a team photographer - taking pics of racing as well as podiums and even the BBQ guy for his website.

I've put my photos up on my Flickr Page but before you check them out I should probably explain how CX works.

CX is a unique mix: part road cycling, part off-road cycling and part cross country running. The course is a loop, generally approx. 3 miles, and the number of laps is calculated mid-race. The first two laps of your category are times and the laps are calculated to roughly equal a set time: 30mins for beginners and working up to a full hour for elite men.

The course is mainly off-road and its generally rather twisty, with a handful of sprint-worthy straights. The other distinctly CX feature is the presence of 'barriers' - a pair of them in HPCX> These are planks of wood hammered into the ground across the course, forcing the riders to dismount, shoulder their bike and jump (if they have the energy left) or stumble (generally if its the last lap) over them before remounting. This isn't the only part that riders dismount: generally when a hill is particularly steep, or a section particularly muddy, it seems beneficial to dismount and run that section, followed by a quick remount and a nice lead over your rivals.

I don't think I am quite doing CX justice here, it is something that has to be seen to be believed, but hopefully my photos give a flavour of the mud, sweat and tires involved... CX certainly looks 'fun' (read that to mean painful) and I can't wait to try it out next season. At the moment I'm going to concentrate on getting fit for road - and photography! I feel that I got a few good shots and am eager to keep up the cycling photography.

Arriving back home that night, instead of getting started on the weeks work I started uploading photos and tinkering with them - resulting in the following team collage which the team hopes to print off and hand out to sponsors - something I'm pretty chuffed about!

Thats the end of part I, but stay tuned for part II (Parents) and part III (Prizes).

KEEN - Kids Enjoy Exercise Now

I want to talk in this post about a charity I volunteered with at Oxford and which I've started volunteering at across here.

KEEN (Kids Enjoy Exercise Now) is a charity that was originally set up in Oxford over 20 years ago to encourage mentally disabled children to be physically active. It has since grown there to 3 sessions a week for children and young adults of all ages and disabilities and aims not only to get them physically active but also encourage their imagination, communication and other day-to-day skills. It has also headed across the Atlantic to the USA - more on that later...

When I arrived at Oxford 4 years ago, I joined the Oxford Origami Society, as I've always had a bit of an interest in the Japanese art of paperfolding (as a lot of mathematicians are). As part of this society, I volunteered to help out at a KEEN Oxford Zig-Zag session by teaching the younger kids how to make paper hats and boats as part of a "around the world" session. That session got me hooked - I really enjoyed it and went back the next week, then the week after that, and so on, until I was going to Zig-Zag every week. I also convinced Steph and Nicole to come along and got them hooked too.

The 'athletes' I worked with as a 'coach' had a range of disabilities - from verbal & non-verbal autism to downs syndrome to cerebal palsy - and each presented their own unique challenges to try and engage the athlete. Not only did they each present a new challenge, but each presented a new reward - you realize that little things can be big achievements. I will always remember when I was working with a non-verbal autistic athlete, who was about 10, and after not receiving much interaction for a couple of weeks, managed to get him to pretend to be a dog (we were reenacting the Wind in the Willows). Now getting a kid to bark doesn't sound like much, but this was a major step for this athlete and he looked genuinely pleased to be involved in the activity.

Unfortunately, for the next couple of years I found it harder and harder to fit in KEEN. I was rowing for my college 1st VIII meaning training 7 days a week, and also trying to get a degree (!) and so KEEN fell by the wayside. Then in my 4th year, Nicole started going back every Saturday to AllSorts, the sports session for athletes of all ages. Nicole caught the bug again and was soon selected as KEEN sports coordinator - organizing which activities would be done each week and setting up and clearing up each AllSorts session.

Now inevitably Nicole telling me all her KEEN experiences got me interested again and I started going back to AllSorts. Now I had never done an AllSorts session before and they turned out to be quite different from ZigZag! ZigZag concentrated on arts, crafts, drama and the aim was to get the athlete's imagination stimulated. On the other hand, AllSorts concentrated on 3 sports activities per session and the aim was to get the children physically active (The other session each week is GrEAT, which was for the older athletes and concentrated on social interaction by going bowling, karaoke etc). With the emphasis on sports AllSorts made a lot of the athletes quite excitable and there seemed to be a bit of a parity - usually either your athlete was really excited and the main challenge was to be careful they didn't run out the sports hall, or the athlete was difficult to engage with and the main challenge was to get them involved in the sport.

I was addicted again! I think the reason KEEN is so addictive is the little things - whether it be a child smiling or laughing, a parent being grateful for a little 'time off' or just that hint of recognition from an athlete when you return the week after and they remember you.

So I spent the rest of my final year at Oxford volunteering on any Saturday I could and then, when Saturdays became a problem due to rowing, on Friday nights. I made some great friends through the other volunteers and enjoyed 'special' sessions like an easter egg hunt and, my favorite, swimming. The swimming session was the first I had been to at Oxford and was something really special, but I'll talk more about that later.

So coming to the USA I was keen (no pun intended…) to keep up working with disabled children and so was really pleased to find KEEN New York. It turns out that Elliott Portnoy, who started up KEEN in Oxford, brought KEEN to the Washington, DC area in 1992 which then expanded to 7 US cities, including New York in 2008.

I got in touch with Nichole, who runs the New York program, before coming across here, and went to my first session a few weeks ago - a sports session held in Manhattan. KEEN runs a sports session every fortnight in Manhattan as well as a swim session in Manhattan and sports session in the Bronx, both once monthly.

Arriving at the sports hall I noticed people there to volunteer from all ages, though mainly people around my age. We had a briefing by Nichole about safety guidelines etc (mainly the same as the UK) before being assigned athletes. I got paired with an athlete with autism who is non-verbal. He finds it very difficult to communicate and his vocabulary was mainly 'food' and 'steak' - he obviously has an expensive appetite! After a brief difficulty getting him to leave his mum we started the session. He went straight for the slide, which he enjoyed for a good 15 minutes before deciding that he wanted to sit on the ping pong table - even if someone else was playing on it!

After convincing him it wasn't a great idea to stop someone else's game he decided to head downstairs. Now KEEN mainly consists of the sports activities, but athletes can do arts & crafts downstairs for some of the session if they want to. Normally my athlete doesn't have any interest in the craft session but for some reason he really wanted to get involved this week. We sat him down and handed him some paper and crayons and he started drawing circles. He then got some glue and glued on some bobble-fluffy-things before starting the next one. He got very interested in this which was great, and then he started telling us what colours he was using - a real surprise after only hearing 'food' and 'steak' all session! I found out his favorite colour was definitely green (and don't try to take the green crayon off him!) but he also pointed out blue, yellow and red.

This tied in nicely with, once we left the craft section,the parachute upstairs. It seems to be a universal activity across both sides of the atlantic, and one all athletes enjoy. Basically, the athletes get under a big colorful parachute, then the volunteers waft it up and down. The sensory stimulation really seems to bring some children out of their shell and you get lots of giggling athletes (a good thing!). My athlete headed under and, after getting a little scared, I joined him to calm him down a little. He then proceeded to point out the green, blue, yellow and red sections of colour on the parachute.

Then it was nearing the end of the session so we did something we didn't do back in Oxford but I thought was really nice. Everyone sat in a circle and we went round so that each athlete/volunteer could explain what they had done that session, and then receive a round of applause. It was great to see the kids so proud of what they had done - and I felt proud for myself and my athlete when I described the arts and crafts and sports we had done. Next up, a few athletes did a small show of little red riding hood and then we finished with a race. Back in Oxford, every session finished with a rendition of the Hokey Cokey, whereas in KEEN NY it was a race along the hall with athletes and coaches. What was particularly nice was that quite a few parents had already arrived, so my athlete's mum got to see him race, and his look of joy when he realized his mum was watching was truly heartwarming.

Just like Oxford, the session was finished with the coaches heading for a drink together which was a great chance to get to know some of them. It turns out a lot were there through a scheme called New York Carers - something I don't know too much about but seems to be an online database of charities which need volunteers. It seems a really great idea and covers everything from KEEN to dog walking for rescue shelters to serving at soup kitchens.

I then headed last week to the monthly swim session held in Manhattan and I was really excited! Like I mentioned before, I had attended a swim session in Oxford and they are truly unique sessions. The NY session was two 45min sections with different athletes in each one. There is something about the water that brings out something in the athletes - some who have minimal communication are suddenly laughing and giggling, and quiet athletes can become quite talkative. I think one of the best things is to see the athletes who are in wheelchairs (through cerebal palsy, spina bifida etc) get into the water. All athletes get floats and the wheelchair athletes get lifted into the pool using a chair lift and suddenly they are off trying to get to the other end of the pool!

As I arrived, I got into the lift with an athlete (in a wheelchair) and parents and started up a conversation asking the athlete if they were looking forward to the session. To this, the athlete just grinned and then the mother explained that they only told the athlete he was going swimming as they arrived at the building - if they tell him earlier he doesn't sleep and even finds it hard to eat because he gets so excited! I think this shows how important this session is for the athletes - its something that they would struggle to do in a communal pool so being able to do it in such a safe environment is fantastic for them.

I was partnered with the same athlete as the week before and it was nice to notice him recognize me when he arrived. We were straight in the pool and he headed for the deep end… Obviously we want to keep all athletes in the shallower end so I went off after him and guided him back to the correct end. I then had a really fun 45 minutes while we played water polo with some other athletes, played with some floats and investigated the water fountain at the end of the pool. He also pointed out colours of all the floats we used - another really pleasing moment.

After getting him out the pool and sending him off with his mum we started the second session. My athlete hadn't arrived yet so I waited at the end of the pool without he other free coaches. Maybe I'm still slightly traumatized from my school days but I felt like we were being picked for teams and, inevitably, my athlete didn't turn up so I headed to the pool and went round helping anyone and everyone. This was really nice getting to interact with all the athletes as well as watching the coaches interact. There was a really nice idea by one coach who had a little girl where he gave her a ring float which she used as a "steering wheel" to direct where he would take her. This really brought her out of her shell and got her interacting a lot more - I'll have to try that myself next time!

As always, the session unfortunately had to come to an end so we headed to a bar before I went to meet my Fulbright friends for a nice night out. Midterm revision meant I had to miss this weeks sports session and I can't make next week with my parents being here (although maybe they would enjoy it?) so my next session is in two weeks - another swimming session! If anyone fancies coming along, please get in touch with me or Nichole (through the KEEN New York Website ) - you won't regret it. I hope I've managed to convey how rewarding it is and hope that some of you might get a chance to join in sometime soon! KEEN is something that I'm coming to realize is really important to me and I hope to do it the whole time I'm here so if you ever fancy it then drop me a line...

Later days

David

NOTE: As with my disclaimer to the right of the page, the views expressed in this blog are entirely my own and may not represent the opinions of KEEN Oxford or KEEN New York .

It's Broadway!

Just a quick post this time to talk about my first ever Broadway experience...

So, the story starts 2 months ago, when at the International Orientation at Rutgers we had the chance to buy a Broadway Ticket for the Lion King or Billy Elliot. As luck, or rather lack of luck, would have it - me, Vukosi and Simon just missed out on the tickets - by about 3 people… Considering there were a good one or two hundred tickets it was *really* annoying that we missed out.

However, a couple of weeks ago it was announced that anyone that didn't get a ticket in the orientation would have a chance to get another ticket, this time to the Lion King or Mamma Mia. Needless to say, I didn't particularly want to see Mamma Mia, but I've always wanted to see the Lion King so thought this would be my chance. This time I made sure that I was one of the first in line and got my ticket for $25. Now to put this in perspective, the ticket included transport both to New York and back which would usually cost $17, so the actual ticket for the show cost me a grand total of $8 ≈ £5. NOw in the West End if you're really lucky you can get tickets to shows for £15, but on Broadway the cheapest Lion King tickets are $60 - So I saved at least £30!

So that's how I ended up on a coach last night with Tarek, Simon, Berna, Natalia and other international students. I've never experienced going to New York by road and, to be honest, I don't really fancy doing it again! The roads were crazily busy, before we were even halfway there we were gridlocked and it continued all the way to Broadway.

We got dropped out straight outside the Minskoff Theatre - the home of the Lion King on Broadway. Now most theaters in the West End I've been to are decorated to match the show - the Phantom of the Opera was like a Parisian opera house, Wicked had everything green, but they were nothing compared to this! There were full scale costumes, a mask that must have been at least 20ft tall, and everything was gold or orange.

We headed into the theatre and were shown to our seats. We may have been in the 2nd last row on the upper level, but we were smack-bang centre and had a perfect view. The seats were a lot bigger and comfier than on West End, and the leg room was amazing! The theatre was huge, and on each side of the stage, where the boxes are usually, there were two booths where the percussionists were, which was really cool as throughout the night you could see them play bongos, djembes, gongs and everything else in between.

Before we knew it, the lights dimmed, the curtain lifted, and the first sounds of 'Circle of Life' started…

I can't begin to describe what the experience was like - it really is something that has to be seen to be believed. The costumes were amazing - they captured the essence of the animals perfectly, and were ingenious. 'Elephants' and 'rhinos' walked through the aisles, 'birds' flew above our heads and 'gazelles' leaped all over the stage. The staging was incredible, with had the stage tilting, staircases emerging from the floor, people 'swinging from the trees' and the canyon scene was one of the best things I've ever seen in a theater. When the scenery first appeared for it, I was a bit disappointed - it looked like 3 MDF wedge cut outs with a box in front. I couldn't really see how this was going to replicated a stampede, but then suddenly wildebeest appeared *everywhere*. It was stunning, and that's all I can say to describe it.

The characters were all really well developed, Timon and Pumbaa were hilarious, Scar was fantastically devilish, and the adult Simba, adult Nala and Rafiki had stunning voices. I suppose I shouldn't expect otherwise from a Broadway show, but every single person was a fantastic singer as well as dancer, gymnast and puppeteer. I did feel kind of sorry for the people who were dressed as grass - seems like a bit of a crap part, but I suppose if you're in a Broadway show you can't complain! The music was also fantastic. The original soundtrack to the film was pretty damn good, and the new songs fitted in well and really fleshed out the storyline.

To try and demonstrate what it's like, here's a clip of the 'circle of life' scene from their performance at the Tony Awards… (so add to this a revolving staircase rising from the floor and half the stage rising up and you're getting close to what it was like last night):



I'm not even going to attempt to carry on articulating my night - needless to say it was amazing, and one I will definitely remember and gladly repeat! I'll try and post another update soon - I'm going to write one on KEEN, the charity I'm volunteering at in New York, but I've got a midterm coming up so it depends how much I can pry myself away from revision...

Later Days