Quarter of a century, castle ruins and a leg break

20/5 - I'm now 25.

Yesterday was my birthday, and if I'm honest, it was the first time in years I've actually enjoyed my birthday. I celebrated modestly with family and friends, and at one point took a note out of Chinese culture by buying drinks for my family. It was special. It was in another country, surrounded by family and friends like Danny, Tim and Anna. But I also deeply appreciated the fact Tim and Danny actually took the time to wrap a present and a birthday card, even though it was a 4-pack of Estrella Damm beer. Somehow I'm not surprised, from what I know of my friends.

We took a trip to Corfe Castle today by bus. My parents sat in the front seats of the second story so they could get more comfortable with driving on the left side of the road. There's lot's to study, like the way the lane lines are marked and how traffic moves on a roundabout. I think they're getting more comfortable with the idea of driving.

Picture taken with an old iPhone 4s. It's amazing how good the picture quality is with this phone. And again, I can see this from my bedroom window in Corfe House.

I went to Corfe Castle in January with some friends, but we never stepped foot inside the castle grounds because we didn't want to pay to see rubble. But today I did see everything, and it was really cool. There's very few places within the ruins you can't go, and like Stonehenge, there's something about the ruins of a thousand-year-old castle, surrounded by gently rolling English-countryside hills, that leaves you rooted to the spot, picturing how it once was. We then had lunch in the shadow of the castle, which consisted of Clotted Cream Teas and fish and chips. Having a cream tea is probably the most British thing you can do, but everyone was wondering why there was no cream in the tea.

Psssh...Americans.

I've explained it here a couple of months ago. Cream teas consist of tea and scones or biscuits, and you're supposed to add generous amounts of clotted cream and jam to the biscuits. For the fish and chips, what they thought was guacamole was actually mushy peas. I have to remind myself to keep patient in the face of so many questions from my family about details of what, where, how and why. I know all of this stuff, but my family is completely new to this.

But the family thoroughly enjoyed themselves in Corfe Castle, and the fact those fish and chips were the best they've had is the added bonus.

I got my rugby uniform for the tournament this weekend. It's so tight it's painted onto me. I guess that's how it's supposed to be. But I'm feeling a bit anxious. It's the same feeling I get when I have an oral presentation or when we had a football game. I know I'm going to get torn up, but then again, so are the rest of my teammates. But on the other hand, it'll be a blast. I think rugby is super fun.

22/5 - The family went to Bath yesterday, and I hear they loved it. I can understand why; Bath is a beautiful city in the hills where there are natural hot springs. My mom loved it so much she wanted to stay a second day.

I stayed in Poole because I still have plenty of reading for school and some essays to start; I thought it would also be good for them to find their own way around. After doing some of that, Tim and I visited our friend Djamila (Jah-mee-lah) in Poole Hospital. She'll spend the next two weeks there after she broke her leg skateboarding. It was one of those freak accidents where she wasn't going fast or crashed very hard. Her foot ended up backwards and a bone poking out of the skin near her ankle. She'll need surgery and won't be able to walk on her own until the end of summer.

However, this break came at the worst time for Djamila. She can't complete her exams, it's going to drive an incredibly active person like her insane being immobilized for this long, and her plans to live and work in San Francisco, CA this summer are null and void now. I told her I know the feeling of being this close to moving to San Francisco for a job, only to have the rug unexpectedly pulled out from under you. She's worried about having full function of her leg in the future, but I told her it would be no problem; people have come back from much worse.

This story illustrates the positives and negatives of the NHS in England (National Health Service). First, it took more than an hour for an ambulance to pick her up (she was at Slades Farm, near Talbot Campus), and that was because the first two called to get her were diverted to pick up people with a heart attack. That's fair enough, but more than an hour is a long time to wait. But you're covered with the NHS. Since taxes pay for it, you don't have to worry about funds if you badly break your leg like you would in America. And since the UK is part of the European Union, if you get hurt in another EU country, you don't have to worry about medical costs either. It's a good system.

It goes to show that some random accident can wipe out your plans in an instant. That's life. Djamila will come back stronger than ever, and this just means there's something much better waiting for her. As for me, knock on wood; let's get through the summer scuff-free.