Rule Britannia: June 1-7

Wow. I think this little experiment proves once more that I suck at blogging. Somehow I cannot manage to write up my experiences on any kind of regular basis…unless I have nothing to write about. I only wrote a couple of posts from St. Petersburg in 2008, but when I was sitting on my arse* and unemployed I managed to post regularly. I guess there's a lot to catch up on now since I haven't really posted since May. Shall we try this in weekly chunks?

Friday, June 1 - Thursday, June 7

I didn't really have any plans Friday night, so I just went to the Vic. Wasn't too bad a plan as I did actually meet up with people I know. Ended up eating pizza at a Chilean dance party, where only a handful of us didn't speak Spanish. However, I keep winding up at people's houses at the end of the night with no idea where I really am and have to rely on friends to get me back to familiar territory. It's pretty difficult to get lost in Stanley, what with the hill on one side and the water on the other, but I'm sure I could manage it if anyone could.

Saturday was Steve's birthday, to which I was lucky enough to be invited because I needed a place to sit on my first Steak Night at the Vic. Festivities began with cocktails and nibblies at the Waterfront, one of the nicest places to stay in Stanley. It was really fun and the food was fantastic. Seriously. Such good food. Of course, from there we went to the Vic for a round, Deano's for dancing, and then back to someone's apartment. This seems to be the pattern for Stanley.

Photo borrowed from my friend Fernanda. I ganked it from Facebook because I think my face perfectly captures just how excited I was about the food at Steve's birthday.

On Monday, Falkland Islanders celebrated Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee with a massive bonfire on the beach. The bonfire was one of many beacons lit around the world, but I'm not sure how many others had snow. Someone had a smart idea and ran a shuttle from the jetty out to Surf Bay, so a group of us bundled up and boarded the first one to leave. However, whoever set up the bonfire was not quite as thoughtful as they had failed to take the tide into account. When we arrived at the beach, the bar tent was flooding. Of course, this did not discourage anyone from buying drinks. This all just felt completely insane when I realized that I was at a bonfire on the beach in June and it was snowing. With no Health and Safety to interfere, people quickly began to ignore the flimsy tape barrier delineating the "safe" distance from the bonfire. Hey, it was cold and the fire was warm. This was also the first time I got to see the mysterious garment known as the "boiler suit." It's not really mysterious, I just hadn't heard the phrase before. It's essentially a snowsuit available for an array of different temperatures and many people wear them for work here. I haven't tried one on, but  they do look quite cozy. By the time we left, the bonfire had shrunk from a tower of pallets to a glowing pile of splinters. But, of course, the night can't end there! A bunch of us went back to Debs' house for more drinks and some very tasty leftovers.

Congratulations, Your Majesty! Now you just have to hold on until September 10, 2015 and you'll beat Victoria's record.

I spent Wednesday actually doing some work for the museum as that night we opened a new exhibition in the center of town for the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War. I spent most of the day at the hall, hanging up text, images, and artifacts. It was all hands on deck and we finished the exhibition with barely enough time for everyone to go home and make ourselves presentable. A bunch of people braved the falling snow to see the exhibit and enjoy free drinks, including the governor. Apparently there was some problem with the post as not everyone got their invitations, requiring the museum to smooth a few hurt egos. I followed up the exhibit opening with that wonderful weekly tradition - Steak Night! However, Christine declared that it was also Bailey's night and that it could not end at the Vic. Therefore, I visited the Globe Tavern for the first time. Now, I had actually heard of the Globe before I ever came to the Falklands. Professor Milliorn gave me a copy of a really really terrible documentary film about an Argentine who visited Stanley with the intent of retaking the Islands by impregnating as many women as possible, eventually transforming the population from British to Argentine. Yeah, it was so bad that I couldn't get through the whole thing, but I'll probably try again when I get home just to see familiar places. The film is rather aptly titled "F*ckland" and the Globe is one of the places the Argentine frequents looking for women. In any case, we were still out after the Globe closed at which point I joined Christine for a glass of Hazelnut Bailey's. Yummy!

The first section of the Falklands 30 exhibition at St. Mary's Hall.

It's probably best that the museum didn’t have much time for me this week as I doubt I woke up at a reasonable hour the next day. The biggest occurance was probably when I cut all my hair off with a pair of scissors I found in the kitchen. Whoops. It started with me just wanting to have bangs again, but once I finished that I took a look in the mirror and thought "F*ck it, it's all going." Fortunately, I already had plans to see people that night. Christine braved an honest-to-god blizzard to pick me up for curry night at Ruth's. We couldn't see a damn thing. I tried to walk back after dinner, but the storm was still too bad for me to walk the couple of blocks back to my house. I got another ride from Christine, who was also kind enough to clean up my rather rough haircut. Oh, and don't worry, none of us died going out in the storm. Just another crazy night in the Falklands.

New hair! After Christine cleaned it up for me.

*yeah, my vocabulary is a bit British at the moment.Some of it's intentional just to make myself understood (ordering fillet instead of filet) and sometimes it just happens. This time, I honestly typed arse instead of ass without realizing. It probably also doesn't help that I have Microsoft Word currently set to "English (United Kingdom)" for transcription purposes.