January 2012
8 posts
vaporetto strike
so the vaporetti (water buses) that are a main source of transportation around Venice were out of commission today because of strike action. i had read that they would operate the main services between 7am-9am and 5pm-7pm, so i thought i’d be ok to get to and from the museum (which is directly across the canal from the vaporetto stop near my flat). so i got up earlier to get to the stop by...
day 1 at museo fortuny
so this is what researching looks like…
because i’m not allowed to take pictures of the cool stuff. but they did say they could provide pictures for me of some things i’ll write about in my 4th chapter, and the head of archives told me that no one had written on these pieces before (an art historian’s dream) or exhibited them. i also met a co-curator at the museum who...
my day in pictures
i don’t have the time to narrate, but i will make an exception for the picture of the large beautiful piazza (halfway down). as i walked through this gorgeous tranquil spot a man seated on a park bench blared cher’s ‘if i could turn back time’ on his boom box.
another great day in venice.
LOTS of pictures from Venice
i (wendy) am here in venice for phd research. (yes, choosing a subject area where the resources are in venice was a conscious choice.)
i love being here in winter! compared to how crowded it was in summer, the city feels deserted (in a non-creepy way). the locals are out like normal and are much more charming when not being annoyed by barrages of tourists.
the first day i was here was the...
hello america (holiday edition) and hello britain
the last week spent in america was great. we got to see more friends and family and had a few more burritos.
here’s a photo of the new year’s eve family jam session referenced in the last post:
we made it safely back to manchester, despite the snow in DC.
wendy got to hear a favourite professor from UNC come speak in manchester and afterwards caught up with katherine and...
2.5 weeks in pictures
before we left manchester we had a couple of friends over for sugar cookie decorating- a smith family tradition. zeke went for the 12 days of christmas as his theme:
we went to london and stopped by the portobello rd market (with all of the other tourists and hugh grant fanatics) mainly so zeke could get this sandwich:
we went to see matthew bourne’s nutcracker that night. it was a...
December 2011
3 posts
market monday
the past few weeks have been quite busy as we wrap up things in manchester to spend a few weeks back in the US for christmas. tonight we went to wendy’s advisor’s house for a nice get together of american comrades. on the rainy bus ride back home we realised zeke wouldn’t get to go to the christmas markets this year because of our busy schedules. so we did the logical thing...
November 2011
5 posts
edinburgh
here are a few pictures from wendy and maria’s time in edinburgh last week. we were lucky to have great weather!
uncompleted 19th century monument to scottish soldiers based on the parthenon
dog in the window of an old scotch whisky shop
the castle
george street christmas market
Watch
Happy Thanksgiving from the Smiths! Wendy, Maria and Zeke already celebrated turkey day on Saturday, but we’re thinking of family and friends back home getting to stuff their faces and watch football all day while we went off to work. We may be jealous, but we love you all - here’s a little video recapping what went into our Thanksgiving this past weekend.
bacon, fireworks, and candy
zeke brought back tons of american treats from his recent trip to asheville. and in another instalment of hello america, dan tried a few of them:
hello america: halloween edition
then on saturday we went to platt fields park to celebrate guy fawkes day aka: bonfire night. US friends, you may know a little about this from the movie V for Vendetta. to learn more you can play this game:...
October 2011
3 posts
autumn weekends
last weekend we met up with our friend katherine to hang out in chorlton where her new apartment is. she took us to some cute shops, a candy store where we bought tons of liquorice, a vegan grocery store called unicorn, and a great pub called pi (with great pies, of course). the weather was nice enough for us to enjoy being outside, and the nice staff at pi offered to warm up and serve wendy...
a day in the life of the smiths...
this morning zeke went to work early to play football (american soccer) with the staff that play twice a week before school. then he took photographs of visiting teachers from taiwan and worked on the school’s magazine. today’s lunch was an exception, in that he didn’t eat with dan (of hello america). in the afternoon he made changes to the school’s website.
at home wendy...
Lots Happening in Manchester
Life has been crazy since we both returned from our time in the US. There’s been a new job for Zeke, teacher training for Wendy, and even a weekend visit from Zeke’s mom!
here are a few pics from the last week and half:
we had a good bye dinner, hosted by soon yi, for our friends vincent and tamanda, and their new baby who have just moved back to malawi.
last friday we were lucky...
September 2011
7 posts
back in the saddle again
with the fall semester officially started now at the university for wendy and at MGS for zeke, schedules are filling up as the days get shorter. it’s quite a change for us now that we both have jobs outside of the house and aren’t working from home (in our PJs) all day.
wendy got a tour through MGS and watched zeke play in a staff vs. parents football (soccer) match at school last...
wendy's virginia time
after sending zeke off to manchester…
i headed back to VA and spent a day with my mom running vineyard errands and having soy pumpkin lattes and pedicures.
then i spent the next day with my dad getting some family history tours through scottsburg. we met ericka at a mexican restaurant in town for dinner. there is a picture to document that dad actually did eat mexican food (a rare...
happy labor day weekend
after spending a day with zeke’s family in greenville, wendy drove to down to the beach to meet up with her mom, milt, david, and rhiannon for the holiday weekend.
from wendy:
after mexican food for dinner (yay- getting as much as we can while we’re here) we hung out and watched a little sportscenter. today has been orchestrated around the start of the college football season. so...
August 2011
15 posts
american summer
we had a nice time visiting wendy’s family in southern virginia for a couple of days and then headed back to the triangle area to have a cookout with friends, graciously hosted by cam. we had a great time visiting with lots of college friends. below see precious little lillie enjoying corn on the cob and being just like her daddy, brad.
then on saturday we drove to asheville for...
our very social week before america...
this past week, before we head to america, we’ve spent lots of time with our british friends. last sunday we went to gawsworth hall to see the venue where our friends jon and lois will be married in a few weeks (zeke is doing the photography, so he needed to scout the location). jon and lois took us on a lovely double-date there where we had a picnic in the sunshine and stayed for a big...
lions and tigers and footballers, oh my!
Sadly, Cam had to go back to America (she kept saying she didn’t want to go, though we’re pretty sure that had more to do with going back to work than her enjoying the constant rain and/or rioting of our fair city) but we had loads of fun during her visit. On Wednesday, we decided to visit the Manchester Museum and Old Trafford, home of Manchester United.
The Manchester Museum had an...
riots in manchester: yes mom(s), we are safe
cameron and wendy came back from their lovely visit to lyme park to a rioting scene in manchester. luckily zeke called them on the train and rerouted them past piccadilly gardens where some ‘incidents’ were happening.
manchester is pretty much the opposite of this scene today (below) from the lyme park gardens:
cameron is a big jane austen fan and was glad to see the place where...
cameron is here!
after a long, sleepless flight cam arrived in manchester around noon on sunday. after lunch, a nap, and meeting some of our friends at church we had a night of british immersion. below are the things we subjected cameron to on her first night here:
blackadder is an incredibly sarcastic, pun-filled british historical parody series featuring rowan atkinson (the guy who plays mr. bean), hugh laurie...
bday package
we were away leading at camp last week and had a great time. our really fun day at the beach happened to coincide with wendy’s birthday. it was almost 70F (which is warm for the UK) and didn’t rain while we played volleyball and rounders on the beach.
when we got home wendy had a package waiting for her from her mommy!
a really thoughtful and unique present was inside:
a leather...
July 2011
3 posts
summer update
since we’ve been back from venice wendy has been consumed with writing her second chapter and zeke has been quite busy as wedding season is in full swing. here is what the handsome mr. smith looks like when going off to work: (there are no pictures of mrs. smith working because grad student writing is not hot, not at all.)
what wasn’t so hot, was the cold he’s had for 2 weeks...
Venice Trip
We know it’s been a few weeks since our visit to Venice but we figured we’d post some pictures and let everyone in on what we did while we were there. (Also, if you want to see more photos just check out this Facebook album!)
Since we work from home in our sweatpants most of the time and the top temperature when we do go outside is 60 degrees at most, we finally got to pull out our...
a celebratory weekend with more 'hello america'
this weekend, through various mishaps, wendy’s deadline for her 2nd chapter was extended by 10 days! (as a friend joked, “of course you’re going to do the sensible thing and take nine days off and then get it all done on the tenth.”) that gave more time for enjoying the baby shower we hosted for our friend rose on sunday and having a couple friends over for the 4th.
rose...
June 2011
5 posts
Birthday Package!
Zeke got a birthday package from big sister Leslie that was full of fun little goodies, and he had a blast opening. Leslie likes to call Zeke “George” (hey, it’s different), so that’s who the card was made out to.
Dried Cherries!!
Could it be….???
YESS!!! It’s JERKYYYY!! (overly excited? maybe. but you can’t find spicy jerky anywhere in the UK,...
May 2011
4 posts
Lycheeeeeeeeeee!
Awesome birthday present for Zeke from our good friend Dan (star of the Hello, America videos we’ve featured on the blog): an entire case of Rubicon Lychee juice, an exotic drink that pretty much everyone else thinks is gross but Dan and Zeke both love.
Lychee: the fruit itself may look kind of gross, but the juice box is delicious!
We followed up the juice with a dinner out at...