Day 91: 6/30/2018
Today was a good, totally fun-filled day!
The day started well with no plans except my morning online teaching, (which went really well). I woke up early but decided to stay in bed for a little longer. (This did not happen for a while and I somehow felt like I deserved it. :P) After my morning teaching, I found out that my other class was cancelled and that was when the fun began.
It was such a beautiful summer day in York, sunny with cool breeze. P’Gluay and I went out to the city center hoping to have some noodle soup at a Thai restaurant. Unfortunately, it was still closed when we arrived. Then we went to the second restaurant for fried chicken and it was also still closed. I did not stop to think for a second since we were starving before stepping into Subway right next door. The next thing I knew was that we were having the first footlong sub in the UK. It was good, especially when compared to our experiences with Subway in the US.
Then we crossed the street to the Shambles and unexpectedly found a very British open-air second-hand market right in front of us. We both walked in and found the tables lined up to display the pre-owned goods. Interestingly, the prices were not marked but instead were given to the potential buyers verbally. Walking a bit further, we found an old tiny church that was turned into a cafe serving simple dishes, tea and coffee at affordable prices. All were for fund-raising purposes not for profit.
Moving on to the Shambles Market, this was where I had the most fun. It was unusually busy like we had never seen before. There were people everywhere and most of the seats were taken. I had an amazing time people watching, visiting fruit stalls and picking local fresh cherries from the bucket. It felt incredible to see people coming out, walking by, having conversations and enjoying themselves as much as P’Gluay and I did. The market was so lively and vibrant!
Next, we went back to the famous Shambles to our destination, a fudge shop. Both P’Gluay and I had never had any fudge until today. As soon as we hit the doorstep, the powerful creamy scent of fudge hit our nose. Seriously, we were completely in awe. Not knowing what to order and how the fudge is sold, we were greeted by the friendly staff who impressed us with her customer service skills. We were intrigued by how she “introduced” us to the must-have legendary flavors and many more. (At the end, we bought 4 pieces altogether for a little over 6 pounds.) As soon as we left the shop, we opened the bag, tasted the fudge and found that it was creamy and delicious to the point where we could indulge but we were a bit worried about the sugar intake. Interestingly, each flavor was distinctive and once I had a bite, I wanted to have another. All in all, it was indulgently good.
We explored the city a bit more before heading to Waitrose for grocery shopping. Again, it was a fun day out in the City of York. Having experienced all of these today, P’Gluay and I felt in love with the city even more. At the end of the day, we regret that we did not bring any cameras with us; otherwise we were able to capture these precious first moments.
To talk a bit about work, I spent a few evening hours working on my abstract submissions to the conferences. Hopefully, there will be some good news in the near future.
Tomorrow, I will go back to the work mode and I am truly excited about it!
6/30/2018 11.52 pm.
Edited 7/1/2018 11.27 am.
