Doing Some Good...

An easy misconception about taking a big trip such as ours' is that it can often be mistaken for one long vacation or holiday. While it may seem that way, especially at the beginning, the purpose of this trip is to live life in another country. We want to experience what another culture has to offer and that can be difficult when limiting yourself to the tourist traps as they are catered to making things easy for foreigners. This, of course, doesn't mean to avoid the tourist spots all together because, let's face it, places like the London Tower are sights for that exact reason. They are meant to be seen and marveled. Avoiding Trafalgar Square is to avoid experiencing a major part of London's history. Just don't rely on tours of said places for your reaction to all that you can see while abroad.

Trafalgar Square. This place is SPECIAL.

The human mind is an incredible tool. It can process information and stimuli in a way that can be reinterpreted in endless other forms. A monolith of stone and mortar like the London Tower can be seen as a link to raw historical data or even as an abstract representation of an emotion such as pride. Crossing the modernistic twists of metal that is the Millennium Bridge can cause you to think of a specific human that engineered it or possibly conjure memories of crossing it on a previous trip with family. The fact of the matter is that we have sharpened this tool of ours to a point where it allows us to do amazing things. One of many reasons I like to experience things for myself before getting another take on it.

On the Millennium Bridge from St. Paul's Cathedral to the Tate Modern.

Vicky and I experienced a lot in these past couple of days. From gobbling down a traditional English breakfast to walking across the Thames on the Millennium Bridge. After which, we went on a crosstown trek between two British museums. The Tate Modern in the morning and the National Gallery in the evening. In between, we stopped at Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square and witnessed the fever pitch that is a living, breathing city in full bloom of a Friday night. From pints of ale in Leicester Square to pints of lager in East End, we made full use of the Tube and the double-decker night buses. We drank and danced with some locals and some not-so-locals. Saturday night, however, we cemented the fact that this is not just a vacation to us. We agreed to volunteer with the Catholic Worker.

My brother and his wife are frequent volunteers with this movement that, in a nutshell, provides meals and shelters to immigrants in search of political asylum. Some of these poor souls have been waiting to be made legal citizens for over four years. Taking a break from our whirlwind travel plans to help cook and serve meals to refugees is not something you take into account when planning a trip like this. However, for Vicky and I, when the opportunity arose, we couldn't refuse. Neither one of us are religious in any way, but one thing we do agree on is the concept of being selfless, even if it something as seemingly insignificant as introducing Mexican cuisine to a man from Burundi and seeing the wonder in his eyes at our use of such 'exotic combinations of food.'

Cookin' veggie fajitas with Spanish rice.

Complete thug cookery.

This is another great thing about opening yourself to all that surrounds you when traveling. Sure, we could have sampled another bitter or stout at another one of London's countless historical pubs on a Saturday night, but what better way to make this trip part of life instead of part of a vacation? By helping to enrich a few people's lives, we are enriching our own. We are living life. We just happen to be doing it in a place I've never been. To me, that is truly doing some good...

The view from the bottom of the Emirates Airline on the Greenwich Peninsula.