I’ve been London for about a year now, and I hadn’t yet had a chance to see anything more than the outside of Shakespeares Globe Theatre. Mostly because the shows they put on are expensive, and fill up ridiculously fast. Call me a snob, but I wasn’t interested in being a groundling (the people who stand in the courtyard for a fiver, rather than sit on a bench for the duration of the play). So, when my friend Liz suggested we go, I jumped at the chance! Also, true to my snobbery, I hired a cushion and a red fleece blanket for £4 and was glad of the comfort when it started raining, and the groundling’s got all wet.

I saw Troilus and Cressida. Except, that it had a twist. The Globe Theatre was doing 37 shows of Shakespeare’s works in 37 different languages by 37 international theatre companies. Woah buddy. I saw Troilus and Cressida in Maori, so it was actually “A Toroihi Raaua Ko Kaahira”. And colour me ridiculously proud to see Maori perform on the stage of Shakespeares Globe. Ti hei mauriora!

I think that’s important to note that I don’t speak Maori. I understood about of quarter of what was being said, but that was clearly more than a fair chunk of the crowd. A Toroihi Raaua Ko Kaahira was both a bit dramatic, but also had it’s hilarious moments. There were a few jokes that I got, and you could tell who else spoke Maori because they cracked up at the same time I did (one joke in particular was after Toroihi and Kaahira had consummated their marriage, and he was all proud, and Kaahira was slightly mocking. I heard the words ‘tane’ and ‘kauri’ and it wasn’t hard to put the rest of it together. I thought it was funny, anyway).

Still, they had scene summaries up so you knew what was going on, but mostly they weren’t necessary. The acting was phenomenal, and even if you didn’t understand the words, it wasn’t hard to see the body language. It was pretty easy follow, especially because we looked up the synopsis on wiki before the show started. It was also pretty amusing to see some familiar (aka, Shortland Street) faces. I have to say, up close on stage suited them much better than anything I’ve ever seen on Shortland Street.

The best bit, though? The best bit was how the whole crowd came together to show their pride at our Maori actors being brilliant. I was surrounded by kiwi accents, and all of them, all of them were expressing pride and amazement at the close of the show. There was a closing haka by the actors, and unsurprisingly there were two haka responses from the crowd. Haka’s are amazing. They are loud, and intimidating, and an immense show of respect, really. I got a little bit teary eyed and felt a little bit homesick. Mostly pride, though. Pride that people from my heritage, with all the sterotypes and colonisation history are here, in the heart of England, on one of the most historical and amazing stages, rocking their culture like nobodies business.

It. Was. Amazing.

So yeah, Number 89 Done!

Note: Our tickets, with their amazing seats (mid gallery, part way around to the left of the stage) was £25 + booking fee. Pretty sweet, aye? The Maori shows are all done, but they’re doing other languages right up until the 9th of June, 2012. If you’re in London, check it out. Seriously, affordable and amazing theatre shows in this amazing building – you won’t find better!

We were in Italy, and the snow was distinctly average. So we took a half day, took the Gondola over to Sestriere, and spent an hour with the dogs learning to sled. Number 96 on The List.

It was ridiculous, and it was hard. There was lots more running than I thought there’d be. And steering the sled? So much more difficult than it looks. There’s a lot of balancing on one ski, and yanking the sled to where you want it to go, hoping that as the dogs pull forward your sled goes where you want it. Otherwise it all goes wrong and you’ll end up on your face. True story.

But other than that, I really enjoyed it. The dogs worked hard, and were lovely – all the ones we got were quite affectionate and happy to be petted and hang out. Once we got going, and I figured out how to best to stand on the sled it was pretty brilliant. It felt pretty amazing to be out there, having the dogs pull you along.

Honestly, it was great day, and this was definitely one of the more fun things on The List that I’ve done so far. I had a huge grin on my face the whole afternoon after – loads of fun! If you get the opportunity to give it a go, do it.

Note: We did it with Luca from Centro sleddog Sestriere. €60 per person per hour, organised through our Neilson rep. Super easy, super amazing. If you’re in Sestriere, they are to the right of the Gondola as you come out. Look for the teepee.

I wasn’t aware that there were *two* nutcrackers, but there were. We saw Matthew Bourne’s one, rather than the original. It was . . . well, fairly interesting. Different from what I expected (lots of bright, modern costumes, and fairly modern music (oh hey rock’n'roll…) – not at all the traditional ballet I had in my head). Some of it was amusing (there were some quite funny moments, two little cherubs in pj’s that give the lead a pretty dress, girls that a dressed like flamingo marshmallows, the salsa dancing allsorts characters etc etc), some of it was really not (I may have fallen asleep a little in the second Act).

In saying that, I was horribly ill, it was cold + miserable and the theatre was full of young small loud wriggling children (I should have expected this at the matinee, really). I’m pretty sure we all napped towards the end.

Not quite as life changing as I thought it would be, but I couldn’t have known that before I saw it. So yes. I went, and the ballet was (mostly) lovely.

Number 95 – Done!

So, it’s no surprise that I have thing for Invader. I’ve mentioned here a few times (like here). Generally, I have thing for street art, and I’ve loved invader well before I left NZ, before Exit through the Gift Shop came out, before I’d ever seen one of his pieces in the flesh. He’d never visited NZ before, so I’d never had the chance.

I made a point to put it on The List. I knew I was coming to London, and I knew that Invader had hit London many times. I wanted to see them!

I did. I convinced friends to look for them when we were wandering around. I easily saw 10. Since then I’ve seen many. I even occasionally spot new ones. There today when it was definitely not there yesterday. One of the great things about going out of my way to spot Invader pieces is that I’ve come to appreciate some of London’s amazing street art. Like Vhils,Stik and Roa. And they are amazing.

Made me really appreciate London’s thriving street art scene, you know?

That number 10, well, it was a pretty amazing moment. I was on a date with a Jimmy when I spotted it on Wardour St. I may have squealed, had a little squee moment, had a bit of a dance, followed quickly by a mad panic when I realised that I didn’t have either a phone or a camera. A guy sitting on the wall right next to it offered to take a photo with his very shit, very old school nokia phone. It was dark, and raining, and we all laughed a little bit at the quality. But still, I had my moment. The 10th Invader piece I’d seen, in person.

So yes. Number 114 on The List, done.

I roasted my chicken on New Years eve. I told my flatmate Duke that when we moved in that roasting a chicken was on The List and that I was going to do it! This year! Yeah!

That was in March. Cut to New Years Eve and I still hadn’t roasted a chicken. Fail. So, on the last day of 2011 I went to the supermarket, got a bunch of things that Jamie Oliver told me I’d need and got to work. It was mostly the easiest meal I’ve ever made.

Things I wasn’t so down with:
* Rubbing down the chicken. I think it was uncomfortable for both of us.
* Stuffing the cavity with herbs, and then discovering that the cavity was too small for the lemon I was meant to get in there. Awkward.
* I went on a limb and added onion + celery to the trivet. I should have known better (not a fan of either).
* Trying to figure out how to carve it. Thank goodness for you tube.
* Trying to figure out how to make gravy, and not having it thicken. The internet not so helpful here.
* The waiting. The waaaaaaaaaiting!

Things that were awesome:
* I didn’t give anyone food poisoning, yay!
* Putting something in oven + just leaving it is a pretty easy way to cook!
* The eating. The glorious glorious eating that came after, and lasted a good four days (I may have over estimated how much food two people can eat).
* Taking a mini container down to the fireworks for Duke. It made for good snacking!

So yes. Number 7. Roast a Chicken. Done!

While I was in Dahab, in Egypt, I booked a Bedouin trip into the local mountains. There was a BBQ (BEST mountain food I’d ever eaten, hands down), and we climbed the peaks and watched the stars. And we rode in on Camels.

Now, let me tell you that every rumor that you have heard about camels being grumpy is true. They are like grumpy, horrible old men that smell bad and want to be somewhere else. Anywhere else.

They don’t like being patted. They don’t like carrying people. They don’t like being told where to go, and definitely don’t like being told that they have to stop eating that garbage to walk up a hill with me on it’s back. Otherwise they were perfectly darling. Except that it was uncomfortable. Not like riding a horse at all. Their gait was strange, and watching them unfold as they stood up made them seem like Mother Nature’s transformers.

Still, I did. Consider 118 Done!

So, it’s coming to the end of 2011 and I thought that as blogging + I are on the outs at the moment (I’m just not feeling it, you know?) that I’d do one last post for the year and square everything away.

Egypt
I went. And it was delightful. There was windsurfing, and kitesurfing and paddleboarding and snorkeling. I got a tan, and spent an awful lot of time being warm. I ate an awful lot of Egyptian Food, and drank well too much Egyptian Vodka. I spent a lot of time with my cousin Morfee, and he’s brilliant to hang with. I (surprisingly) miss him now that he’s not around so much. We hung out with the Neilson crew, I spent a lot of time sunning myself in front of a bar that sat on a lagoon. I fed a ridiculous amount of stray kittens, and napped and I rode a camel.

We also did a day trip out to Cairo, where we so the pyramids, learned to say “la shukran” to all the people trying to sell me stuff. We even (though not advised by any embassy that I could find) went to Tahrir Square. It was the one place we went to where we were the only tourists. We saw a tiny part of a revolution, and it was pretty amazing. Tense, but amazing.

Whitewater Rafting
I did it. On London’s Olympic Course months and months ago now, with The Third + Fourth Quarters, with J, and with a Bunny. We got wet. We capsized. We paddled our little hearts out. There was a lot of water in the face, a lot of trying to sync our paddling with the person in front and not get caught up with the paddle of the person behind us. It was a lot of mad grinning and bumping into other rafts and I generally had an absolutely brilliant time. Apparently the park opens back up again in January, so if you are London based and get the opportunity, you should go!

Culture++; and other fun things I did
I have seen a bunch of shows in the last little while. Les Miserables, which I enjoyed quite a lot. The Phantom of the Opera, which I enjoyed less. The Phantom was quite creepy and very insecure. Sibling
graduated from university, I’m super proud of her! I’m also well annoyed that I couldn’t be there, and the other side of the world seems too far away. There was a usability conference, Liz + Rob came and stayed (and we visited Byron Burger, honestly, best mac+cheese I’d had in a long time!), there has been a bunch of design work (windsurfing brand redesigns, bio oil conversion site, b+b’s, a possible forrrst for photos) so yes, been busy.

The Dating Files of 2011
I had loads of posts for this. Loads of little moments I wanted to remember, and things I wanted to better understand. But I managed to discard the draft in which I’d stored all these moments. Fail. In the interest of keeping it short + sweet there were two Jimmy’s that I haven’t mentioned yet. One I spent a good six months trying not to fall for before his visa ran out (and was mostly successful) and the other, well, let’s just say that sleeping with that super cute Windsurfing Instructor in Egypt was probably not the cleverest idea I’ve ever had.

Anyway, as it’s the end of 2011 I’m retiring this series. Also, I’m avoiding boys and gettin into anything anyway, so it would be a pretty boring series going into 2012.

The List
I have done a bunch of things (#112 – See 10 invaders pieces in person, #118 Ride a camel) and crossed off parts of a few other ones. I’m glad that I still have The List, and that I’m still crossing things off. I feel like these deserve their own posts, and so will have them.

The Blog
While I’ll still blog about The List, I’m not really feeling blogging in general. So while I’ll still be around, and still comment and read all your blogs, I probably won’t update here is much. Maybe when inspiration strikes, but not much more. Call it a new phase?

Hope your holidays are brilliant, Merry Christmas!

elly x

I’m not an art buff, and I don’t know much about art history, either. What I knew about Monet’s Water Lillies was that he painted many gorgeous oil paintings of a water lilly pond in his garden. I loved the idea of someone exploring the same subject over and over again, and these are meant to be amazing. I knew that in Paris the Musée de l’Orangerie has on display some of the larger murals of the series. I had planned to cross this off there, in Paris.

Instead I stumbled across one rather blindly at the Tate Modern here in London. My mind was quite blown, and I hadn’t quite realised how many of these there were. In the last thirty years of his life, Monet painted approximately 250 Water Lillies paintings. And they are on display in museums all over the place.

I was shocked to come across the one that I did, and I wasn’t quite sure I was seeing what I thought I was. The little placard on the side removed any ambiguity. I sat, and I admired for a good long while. Taking the time to look, and think. To wonder.

It was a pretty profound moment for me. Sometimes I put things on The List and hope that they will be great. That I’ll get what I want out of them, hope that they will in some way enrich my life, provide perspective, and growth. Make me a better person. A more interesting person. I wasn’t sure that seeing a painting would do that, except that it did. I can’t (and won’t try) to explain how, but it did.

Number 114 on The List, done.