Day 80, 27 March: A Norwich Tuesday with Katya

Norfolk Terrace, Day 80. A Norwich Tuesday with Katya

       After a refreshing non-morning of sleeping in, I took an hour to begin the slightly nerve-wracking revision of my two essays, worth 50% of each class, with two days to spare before the midnight online-submission deadline. Katya then informed me that Marie, Marie’s future roommate, Jen, and Steff were about to trek around the lake. I joined, glad for a break, and we ended up at the horse stables and feed the ponies, which is an activity I had yet to do on UEA campus.

      We pulled branches from trees, and slowly but surely the ponies (not horses) came to us and unsheathed their teeth to chomp on the fiber-clad sticks. Then came the bunnies, which are Katya’s favourite rodent. Yes, they were adorable, but Katya was much more adorable as she gleefully tried to capture a picture of a bunny in the sunlight (since then bunnies mainly hid in the shade). Afterwards, the walk took us around a beautiful loop within the lake loop, one I’ve never been on before. The murky pond water clashed with the beautiful blue sky reflected in its glassy surface. It was a beautiful day—one I finally enjoyed outside and I have Katya to thank for it, and my flatmates.

      Upon return, Katya suggested we have a picnic, and though I knew I had 35 minutes before class, we made peanut butter and jam sandwiches (jelly not a British thing, I guess) and fetched apples and chips and walked through the kitchen window out onto the terrace under the afternoon sun. 15-minute picnic, still worth it.

Feeding the Ponies

      My penultimate creative writing class was disorienting at first, me feeling bad for having to leave Katya in the piano practice rooms and also making myself late. Writing in a bad mood doesn’t work for me, so the very act of writing the beginning of a short story in medias res forced me into productive creativity. My first line was the same I wrote at the London hotel on Sunday evening, when I was looking at the desk in front of me at the time: ‘The pearls were still on the dresser.’

      Afterwards, Katya and I played in the practice room for a little bit, then bought an onion and headed back to cook a brilliant pasta (and microwave pizza) for dinner. Tonight we danced at the LCR. I introduced Katya to the wonderfulness of cider, the blackcurrant one called ‘Snakebite’, and I must say, the empty blank in my dancing nights at clubs was finally filled by Katya. And I loved it.

Fashion Disasters!

      Oh yeah, the theme of the night was 'fashion disasters'. While Katya had a side ponytail and pink top, I definitely wore her panda vest (vest = American tank top) and received compliments on it from an Aussie guy twice at the LCR. As for Katya, while I drank water from the fountain near the bar, it took about five seconds for a guy to come up and ask if she was single. I’d say we tie for being hit on, but that might be just me. We walked back after a fun night, enchanted.

Overlooking the Lake and Norfolk Terrace

[Temporary note: Due to finite amount of time with Katya, most of this week’s blog will be written at a later date.]