Day 11 1/21/12

1/21/12 Day 11

Woke up around 9am took a shower and got dressed. Took a bus to Church street to go to this little bakery to pick up some cookies because today I was getting the chance to visit my cousins! I had never met them before and was a little nervous about it but I was not freaking out. Surprisingly I was not even worried about traveling by myself. After I picked up the cookies, I traveled back to the flatts sat down for a bit to finish getting ready and all my stuff together. At around 11:30ish am I traveled to the tube station got off at Paddington to find out that the circle line was closed all weekend. So, I hoped on bus 27 and rode it to knotting hill. It really was not that bad and I am glad I got on the right bus. I got off at my stop and attempted to read the directions I wrote down from mapquest. Turns out that the directions made things a little more complicated then it needed to be and thankfully there were some nice people to help me on my way. Oh, did I mention it started raining? Because it was. Not long after I finally found their home. It was in an apartment building, which was when the address started to make more sense to me. I took the elevator to the 5^th floor and saw my cousin Ralph standing at the door. I walked into the room and saw Mary as well, his wife and my grandpa’s cousin. Hung up my jacket and umbrella and we went into the living room to talk a little bit. I basically told them a little about me and my family and what I am doing here in London. My cousin Ralph and I had a long discussion about James I because I mentioned how we had to look up a person and talk about them for class. I learned quite a bit a stuff about him that I did not realize but it was all good. The lunch Mary made was amazing! First we started off with some fruit (yay healthy stuff), then some salad and some chicken and then for the main course was some mushrooms (fried I think), with some tiny potatoes. It was really good! Lastly we had for desert a brownie type pie I think. It was chocolately and delicious so I didn’t care what it was, it was so good especially topped off with some whip cream. I felt like I was at a five star restaurant with a homey interior and the best part was that it was free! After that we went back to the living room and I was showing them some pictures of the family (I wish I brought family photo albums with me! But thank God for facebook!). Then I found out Ralph had been working on a family tree and he made a copy for me. Its 9 pages long! I even helped give him some more information about the family to add to the tree. I enjoyed that. Then I went on facebook to go find them some good pictures of my mom and sister who they have yet to meet. I was so shocked to see the aol format I use to have back in the 90’s. I had no idea it was still being used! Soon after all of that I said my goodbyes and Ralph walked me to the bus stop to show me which bus to take back. Turns out bus 31 goes from knotting hill straight to Kilburn park road tube station. It was perfect and it was really cool getting to travel from the bus on that route. After that I got back and just chilled for a bit. Later that night me, Jordan, Michelle and Shelby went to the Queens Arm to get a pizza and some drinks. I never knew how good cider could be! Then before heading back we went to the convienant store to pick up a few more things. I personally didn’t get any more drinks but some more laundry detergent. Then we walked back to the flatt and relaxed with the other flat mates and it was quite the evening. It’s great that we all get a long pretty well and can have a few drinks with eachother and be adults about it while still having some fun. Remember we are in London so the drinking age is 18 and over so we are legal and NOT breaking any laws.