I'm sorry I haven't written in so long! I don't really have an excuse aside from general laziness... Anyway, Thursday I didn't do too much. One of my friend's parents ordered a cake for the first day of school. But she didn't get around to picking it up and giving it out until Thursday. We had it at the Winston House before the Politics class. That night we (Heather and I) watched You've Got Mail. That was a lot of fun!
Friday I stayed at home while some friends (Laura, Mary, and Heather) went to Notting Hill and shopped some. I was waiting for some friends from camp but they found out too late that the tickets they needed would be waaaay too expensive. So, I decided to get some groceries that I needed and a blanket. I searched for so long to find a simple blanket...apparently they prefer duvets here... But I was finally successful in finding a nice fleece blanket that will (hopefully) match my stuff at home. I was pretty disappointed that my friends from camp couldln't come, but I guess that's how things go sometimes. That night we (Laura, Heather, Mary, Katherine, Katlin, and I) went to a free concert (music class requirement again) at the National Portrait Gallery. It was a good concert and it was in interesting venue to have it in.
On Saturday we (Laura, Heather, Mary, David and I) went to Hampstead Heath. It's a large heath right on the edge of London. We finally rode in a double-decker bus, since the line (the subway line, that is) that we would have taken was shut down for the morning. It was a lot of fun to ride in the top and look down on everything. On the north end of the heath there is a large house that is called the Kentwood House. It has a ton of paintings put there by someone who bought the house solely to display his collection of paintings and books, etc. It was very impressive and very quiet as those sorts of houses are apt to be. Sadly, I had the hiccups almost the entire time... And David continued to give me funny looks every time I hiccuped which made me laugh and then I would do a sort of laugh/hiccup/laugh... David also brought a friend (Shannon) with him who is also studying abroad in London. She was a lot of fun and very sweet. I think we'll be hanging out with her again. After Hampstead Heath we (David, Shannon, Heather, Laura, Patrick, Chris, Mary, and I) went to visit Andrew in the hospital. Andrew had a blister on his toe that popped and got infected. He had to be hospitalized because the infection got so bad. He is still in the hospital, hopefully for the last night. They are hoping to discharge him tomorrow at some point, tomorrow being Monday.
Today we (Laura and I) went to church at the Every Nations church with David again. It was good again and again we were invited to have lunch, but once again we had to decline. Laura was going to meet her aunt, who lives in London and David is sick and wasn't feeling up to it. After that I made a quick pasta dish for myself to use up the alfredo sauce (I made some from scratch yesterday!!) and then I proceeded to break my glasses while making another batch of congo bars. I also talked to my twin, which made me very happy! :-) It was so nice to talk to her again. I also got to talk to Mama (yay!!!) and get an update on a little of what's going on at home. We also got the glasses stuff worked out. Then I went to watch a movie with Dr. Oehler and his wife and Laura, Chris, David, Heather, and Mary. We watched The Wind That Shakes The Barley.... That was a horribly depressing and violent and gory movie... I would not, could not recommend it... Then, because it was so depressing, we (Laura, Mary, Heather, and I) watched Bridget Jones' Diary to end the day on a slightly happier note.
Tomorrow (again, Monday) we (Laura, Heather, Mary, David, and I) are going to go to Canterbury and explore it all day long. :-) That should be fun!
Prayer requests: That David would recover quickly from his cold. And that Andrew's infection would heal quickly and that he would be discharged tomorrow. I have been rather tired and blue this week. I don't know why, but you could pray for that as well. Thank you!!!!
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Tuesday and Wednesday
I foresee Tuesdays and Wednesdays providing little material for a blog... I had class both days. Tuesday I had 'The Active Art of Listening and Public Performance in London' and the 'History of Science in London'. Wednesday I had 'Shakespeare and Drama' and 'World War II'. We went to a free concert for the second half of our music class. It was several pieces by Haydn and Mendelssohn. I enjoyed it.
Other than that I did not do too much aside from read more Bleak House and cook congo bars. For anyone who doesn't know what those are, they are essentially chocolate chip cookies in bar form. They are *amazing*! I couldn't find semi-sweet chocolate chips so I had to use milk chocolate chips...I like the semi-sweet ones better... I'll have to look around and see if I can't find them elsewhere... :-) I am really enjoying cooking in our kitchen! Also, since I didn't buy much of the same stuff at home, like potatoes, rice, meat, and other foods, I can't compare the prices which probably lends a lot to me staying sane. :-)
Prayer Requests: Creecy heard back and heard that the surgery went well. Thank you, God! I have had a three day migraine and I'm not really sure why. :-/ I think that's all. Thank you so much!!
Other than that I did not do too much aside from read more Bleak House and cook congo bars. For anyone who doesn't know what those are, they are essentially chocolate chip cookies in bar form. They are *amazing*! I couldn't find semi-sweet chocolate chips so I had to use milk chocolate chips...I like the semi-sweet ones better... I'll have to look around and see if I can't find them elsewhere... :-) I am really enjoying cooking in our kitchen! Also, since I didn't buy much of the same stuff at home, like potatoes, rice, meat, and other foods, I can't compare the prices which probably lends a lot to me staying sane. :-)
Prayer Requests: Creecy heard back and heard that the surgery went well. Thank you, God! I have had a three day migraine and I'm not really sure why. :-/ I think that's all. Thank you so much!!
Pictures from Stonehenge, Salisbury, and Bath
Here are some pictures from our trip on Monday!
This is me at Stonehenge! The wind blew all the time...
Here is another picture of some of the rocks. You can see a small bulge on top of the tallest rock; that was a woodworking method they used to make the rocks on top stay up. They pounded a hole the same size and shape as the bulge in the rock that went on top to make it stay.
This is Salisbury Cathedral. You can see the scaffolding on the sides. They are working on a 29 year project to renovate it. They started in 1986 and are planning to be done by 2015.
These are two Cedars of Lebanon that were planted in the cloister in Salisbury Cathedral a long time ago. It was amazing to get to see two of them up close! The Bible talks about Cedars of Lebanon a lot and it was neat to get to see some!
Here are some of the shops around Salisbury. They look so typically English. Many of them, like many in London, have not changed very much since they were built.
Here is a view of Bath from our bus. It's not a very good picture, but the best one I could get. Bath is very large and sprawls over several hills and down into the valleys between. It's also a very pretty town. Sometime in the next couple of months, I am going to go back and explore it more. The river that runs through the middle is beautiful! I want to wander up and down that as well.
This is me at Stonehenge! The wind blew all the time...
Here is another picture of some of the rocks. You can see a small bulge on top of the tallest rock; that was a woodworking method they used to make the rocks on top stay up. They pounded a hole the same size and shape as the bulge in the rock that went on top to make it stay.
This is Salisbury Cathedral. You can see the scaffolding on the sides. They are working on a 29 year project to renovate it. They started in 1986 and are planning to be done by 2015.
These are two Cedars of Lebanon that were planted in the cloister in Salisbury Cathedral a long time ago. It was amazing to get to see two of them up close! The Bible talks about Cedars of Lebanon a lot and it was neat to get to see some!
Here are some of the shops around Salisbury. They look so typically English. Many of them, like many in London, have not changed very much since they were built.
Here is a view of Bath from our bus. It's not a very good picture, but the best one I could get. Bath is very large and sprawls over several hills and down into the valleys between. It's also a very pretty town. Sometime in the next couple of months, I am going to go back and explore it more. The river that runs through the middle is beautiful! I want to wander up and down that as well.
Stonehenge, Salisbury and Bath
Monday we all met at the Winston House at 7:30 to go to Stonehenge, Salisbury, and Bath. It was pouring down rain, our first day of rain! It was really pouring and some of the people in the program were afraid that it was normal English rain but our professor assured us that it normally did not rain this hard. Our bus driver showed up about 45 minutes late... But no one seemed to mind once we were on our way. It took a while to get out of the London traffic, but once we were out of it, we set a good pace.
The highways here look pretty similar to the highways in America, lined with trees and guard rails. But there were two noticeable differences: we were driving on the left hand side and the trees were different from the ones in America. I don't know if many people in my program noticed the second difference, but I enjoyed looking at the different trees. There was a type of white barked birch and there were some trees whose branches spread out flat making distinct layers. I wish I could have gotten some pictures of them, but I'm sure I'll have an opportunity at some point.
The first place we went was Stonehenge. It was really neat to see it in person. Sadly, they have it roped off so people cannot walk among the rocks, but can only stand at a distance and look. This was because people had been vandalizing the rocks and chipping off pieces of the rocks for keepsakes. It was very interesting to hear about the history of the rocks. A lot of the group was disappointed because they had imagined a grander looking site. I was a bit disappointed at first, but it was amazing to hear about the history, where the rocks had come from, and how they thought that the people had brought them over. The wind blew really hard and constantly up on that hill. I am really glad that I got a chance to see it!
Then we headed to Salisbury to see the cathedral. The Salisbury Cathedral was so beautiful! We got a small tour of it. In the Chapter Room, there was an amazing relief of Genesis and Exodus all the way around the circular room. In that room was also one of the original copies of the Magna Carta! It was really interesting to look at the document and be able to discern differnet words and phrases. It was written in Latin and it was written in very tiny handwriting to be able to cramp it all onto on side of the vellum. There was also an illustrated Bible in the Chapter Room!! I looked at that one for a while. It was amazing to be able to see those documents that had been written so long ago but had made such an impact on both England and the world. After the tour that we had lunch in Salisbury.
Then we headed to Bath. We had to go up and around hills or perhaps they were small mountains... I'm not really sure. But it was beautiful! We passed several towns that were down in valleys below us. Being able to look down on the towns and farms that we past was wonderful! They were so beautiful! Sadly, we got to Bath right after the Roman Baths had closed. We still stayed in Bath for a little while. I wandered into Bath Abbey and looked around there for a while and then wandered up one of the hills a little ways, looking at the shops. But I didn't get to see as much as I wanted to. I would like to go back there at some point to see the Roman baths and to wander around a town that I have read so much about.
It was a great day! It was so nice to get out of London and to see some of the countryside and some other towns. I love London, but I love the country as well, so it was nice to finally get to see some of that! :-)
On Friday, some of my friends from camp, Lyndsay and Jemima will be coming to visit me!! I am really excited about that because I've been missing my friends from camp since camp has ended. They will be staying around here through Sunday and then Lyndsay has to head back to school and Jemima is staying with her for her visit to England.
Prayer requests: Tracy's (my roommate) sister has had a minor aneurysm and will be having surgery soon. Also, another girl in my program, Creecy's mom has cancer (I'm not sure what kind) and just had surgery. So you can be praying for both of them. I don't think either Creecy or Tracy are Christians. You can pray for me in knowing how to support them. Thank you so much!!
The highways here look pretty similar to the highways in America, lined with trees and guard rails. But there were two noticeable differences: we were driving on the left hand side and the trees were different from the ones in America. I don't know if many people in my program noticed the second difference, but I enjoyed looking at the different trees. There was a type of white barked birch and there were some trees whose branches spread out flat making distinct layers. I wish I could have gotten some pictures of them, but I'm sure I'll have an opportunity at some point.
The first place we went was Stonehenge. It was really neat to see it in person. Sadly, they have it roped off so people cannot walk among the rocks, but can only stand at a distance and look. This was because people had been vandalizing the rocks and chipping off pieces of the rocks for keepsakes. It was very interesting to hear about the history of the rocks. A lot of the group was disappointed because they had imagined a grander looking site. I was a bit disappointed at first, but it was amazing to hear about the history, where the rocks had come from, and how they thought that the people had brought them over. The wind blew really hard and constantly up on that hill. I am really glad that I got a chance to see it!
Then we headed to Salisbury to see the cathedral. The Salisbury Cathedral was so beautiful! We got a small tour of it. In the Chapter Room, there was an amazing relief of Genesis and Exodus all the way around the circular room. In that room was also one of the original copies of the Magna Carta! It was really interesting to look at the document and be able to discern differnet words and phrases. It was written in Latin and it was written in very tiny handwriting to be able to cramp it all onto on side of the vellum. There was also an illustrated Bible in the Chapter Room!! I looked at that one for a while. It was amazing to be able to see those documents that had been written so long ago but had made such an impact on both England and the world. After the tour that we had lunch in Salisbury.
Then we headed to Bath. We had to go up and around hills or perhaps they were small mountains... I'm not really sure. But it was beautiful! We passed several towns that were down in valleys below us. Being able to look down on the towns and farms that we past was wonderful! They were so beautiful! Sadly, we got to Bath right after the Roman Baths had closed. We still stayed in Bath for a little while. I wandered into Bath Abbey and looked around there for a while and then wandered up one of the hills a little ways, looking at the shops. But I didn't get to see as much as I wanted to. I would like to go back there at some point to see the Roman baths and to wander around a town that I have read so much about.
It was a great day! It was so nice to get out of London and to see some of the countryside and some other towns. I love London, but I love the country as well, so it was nice to finally get to see some of that! :-)
On Friday, some of my friends from camp, Lyndsay and Jemima will be coming to visit me!! I am really excited about that because I've been missing my friends from camp since camp has ended. They will be staying around here through Sunday and then Lyndsay has to head back to school and Jemima is staying with her for her visit to England.
Prayer requests: Tracy's (my roommate) sister has had a minor aneurysm and will be having surgery soon. Also, another girl in my program, Creecy's mom has cancer (I'm not sure what kind) and just had surgery. So you can be praying for both of them. I don't think either Creecy or Tracy are Christians. You can pray for me in knowing how to support them. Thank you so much!!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Church!
Well, today Laura and I went with David to the Every Nations church here in London. I really enjoyed it. I knew a lot of the songs and it felt familiar. Also, when David and Laura were getting tea and coffee and I was waiting for them, someone just walked up and introduced themselves and started talking to me and introduced me to some other people who also talked with me. It was really nice. That's one of the first times that has happened to me when visiting a new place. It really left me with a very favorable impression of the church.
Then we came back and I made a pasta dish for lunch. I think I am doing a better job of making pasta dishes now, after having some practice. It is still a sort of haphazard throwing together of ingredients, but I have a better idea of what will taste good together. It's also really funny because my flatmates have started asking me for advice on cooking different things. A lot of it is what seems to me really basic stuff like cooking rice, pasta noodles, and eggs. But I enjoy giving them advice. It makes me feel very accomplished. :-)
Then tonight, we (Laura, David, Andrew, and I) went to church at All Souls. It was pretty pale in comparison to Every Nation. The preacher was very good, but the music was lacking in a big way. I think part of it was that I didn't know the songs, but they were really lacking in any kind of feeling. It felt like they were just singing because they had to. That was a bit disappointing. But afterwards we went to a coffeehouse for the college students and I met a bunch of college kids and I can't remember half their names... And so the search for a church continues. They are both good churches in their own right.
Well, tomorrow we go to Stonehenge, Bath, and Salisbury. I'm sure I will have plenty to write and plenty of pictures to show! :-)
Prayer requests: Safe travel tomorrow. I've also been pretty tired recently, so getting good rest would be another. Thank you for praying for me!!
Then we came back and I made a pasta dish for lunch. I think I am doing a better job of making pasta dishes now, after having some practice. It is still a sort of haphazard throwing together of ingredients, but I have a better idea of what will taste good together. It's also really funny because my flatmates have started asking me for advice on cooking different things. A lot of it is what seems to me really basic stuff like cooking rice, pasta noodles, and eggs. But I enjoy giving them advice. It makes me feel very accomplished. :-)
Then tonight, we (Laura, David, Andrew, and I) went to church at All Souls. It was pretty pale in comparison to Every Nation. The preacher was very good, but the music was lacking in a big way. I think part of it was that I didn't know the songs, but they were really lacking in any kind of feeling. It felt like they were just singing because they had to. That was a bit disappointing. But afterwards we went to a coffeehouse for the college students and I met a bunch of college kids and I can't remember half their names... And so the search for a church continues. They are both good churches in their own right.
Well, tomorrow we go to Stonehenge, Bath, and Salisbury. I'm sure I will have plenty to write and plenty of pictures to show! :-)
Prayer requests: Safe travel tomorrow. I've also been pretty tired recently, so getting good rest would be another. Thank you for praying for me!!
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Thursday morning we (Heather, Laura, Mary, and I) went to the National Gallery and wandered around looking at the paintings from 1700-1900 for a couple of hours. The Gallery is so huge that they have a map of the building and they have divided up their collection of paintings into different time periods with certain artists in different rooms. The rooms are huge and have paintings everywhere. It was great to see them! I really enjoyed looking the art. I just looked briefly at Monet's work. I am saving that up for a treat later on in the semester. :-) After that, they had class so we all headed back to Bloomsbury and I went and got some groceries (surprise, surprise).
That night we all met up at the Winston House to hear a friend of Dr. Oehler's talk to us about Stonehenge, Bath, and Salisbury. It was interesting to hear about the history that they have constructed about Stonehenge from looking at all the things buried around it. It looks like an amazing sight. I'll be excited to see it on Monday. He talked to us about Bath as well and about the Roman baths that were there. He told us about how the Romans heated their floors (I wish I had heated floors...) and about how they used a natural hot spring to fill the baths.
Friday (Heather, Mary, Laura, and I) went to a cello concert at the Royal Academy of Music. It was an interesting concert using a lot of modern technology and pre-recorded sound. I didn't really like it. But I guess it is good to be exposed to different types of music. Then afterwards, we sort of split up and I was going to head straight back but then decided that since I was so close to Regent's Park, I might as well wander around in there. And I am so glad I did!! It is beautiful there! I went and sat in Queen Mary's Rose Garden for a while and looked at the birds there that I had never seen before. Then I wandered by a pond with lots of ducks and what looked like some type of black swan. It was so quiet, it was hard to believe I was in the middle of the city. There weren't many people there; enough that it wasn't deserted, but not too many. After that, I headed back and grabbed a couple things from Tesco. Then, after Mary, Laura, and Heather got back we all headed over to the Winston House and watched the first half of Braveheart with Chris and David. It was an interesting movie. Very sad.
Then, at 7, we (Heather, Mary, Laura, and I) went to another concert, only this one was a choral concert by the BBC Singers. They were recording the performance to play on the radio on Halloween. It was a great performance! I really enjoyed that one. They sang 2 of what they called "Plainsong" processing in and out. They were beautiful and reminded me of monks singing. The whole concert was unaccompanied by any instruments. It was beautiful. It was really nice. Afterwards we went out to eat at a rather nice Italian restaurant. It was a lot of fun.
Today, we went to a football match! It was really neat! It was a small stadium, kind of like Cameron Indoor Stadium, but without a roof. The home team, Queen's Park Rangers, were not expected to win; apparently they aren't that good. But we actually scored and it ended up as a draw at 1-1. It was a lot of fun to watch and fun to hear the crowd. After the game, we (Heather, Mary, Laura, Chris, David, and I) decided to watch the rest of Braveheart after we all went back and got some dinner. We just finished it a little while ago; the ending is so sad... Not really what I was expecting. I was expecting justice to win out in the end. That's how it is supposed to end. Isn't it interesting that it is written onto our hearts that justice and mercy HAVE to win in the end? "He has also set eternity in the hearts of men." (Ecc. 3:11, NIV)
Prayer requests: Still searching for a quiet time and place. We are traveling to Stonehenge, Bath, and Salisbury on Monday, so prayer for safe travels. Thank you for your prayers!!! :-)
That night we all met up at the Winston House to hear a friend of Dr. Oehler's talk to us about Stonehenge, Bath, and Salisbury. It was interesting to hear about the history that they have constructed about Stonehenge from looking at all the things buried around it. It looks like an amazing sight. I'll be excited to see it on Monday. He talked to us about Bath as well and about the Roman baths that were there. He told us about how the Romans heated their floors (I wish I had heated floors...) and about how they used a natural hot spring to fill the baths.
Friday (Heather, Mary, Laura, and I) went to a cello concert at the Royal Academy of Music. It was an interesting concert using a lot of modern technology and pre-recorded sound. I didn't really like it. But I guess it is good to be exposed to different types of music. Then afterwards, we sort of split up and I was going to head straight back but then decided that since I was so close to Regent's Park, I might as well wander around in there. And I am so glad I did!! It is beautiful there! I went and sat in Queen Mary's Rose Garden for a while and looked at the birds there that I had never seen before. Then I wandered by a pond with lots of ducks and what looked like some type of black swan. It was so quiet, it was hard to believe I was in the middle of the city. There weren't many people there; enough that it wasn't deserted, but not too many. After that, I headed back and grabbed a couple things from Tesco. Then, after Mary, Laura, and Heather got back we all headed over to the Winston House and watched the first half of Braveheart with Chris and David. It was an interesting movie. Very sad.
Then, at 7, we (Heather, Mary, Laura, and I) went to another concert, only this one was a choral concert by the BBC Singers. They were recording the performance to play on the radio on Halloween. It was a great performance! I really enjoyed that one. They sang 2 of what they called "Plainsong" processing in and out. They were beautiful and reminded me of monks singing. The whole concert was unaccompanied by any instruments. It was beautiful. It was really nice. Afterwards we went out to eat at a rather nice Italian restaurant. It was a lot of fun.
Today, we went to a football match! It was really neat! It was a small stadium, kind of like Cameron Indoor Stadium, but without a roof. The home team, Queen's Park Rangers, were not expected to win; apparently they aren't that good. But we actually scored and it ended up as a draw at 1-1. It was a lot of fun to watch and fun to hear the crowd. After the game, we (Heather, Mary, Laura, Chris, David, and I) decided to watch the rest of Braveheart after we all went back and got some dinner. We just finished it a little while ago; the ending is so sad... Not really what I was expecting. I was expecting justice to win out in the end. That's how it is supposed to end. Isn't it interesting that it is written onto our hearts that justice and mercy HAVE to win in the end? "He has also set eternity in the hearts of men." (Ecc. 3:11, NIV)
Prayer requests: Still searching for a quiet time and place. We are traveling to Stonehenge, Bath, and Salisbury on Monday, so prayer for safe travels. Thank you for your prayers!!! :-)
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Monday we didn't do much of anything. Most of us went to a free concert at the Royal College of Music. It was the opening of their term-long series. It was given by the faculty. There was a quartet that played some pieces from Hyden and then a septet played some pieces from Beethoven. I enjoyed it a lot better than the last concert we went to. After that I went grocery shopping... I feel like I go shopping every other day! But apparently that is normal here. I heard from a friend that it is normal for people here to have tiny fridges and to go shopping most days. I mean, it makes sense because it means that all your food is fresher, but it is rather tedious...
Tuesday we had music class and then science class. After that, I had a quick dinner and then we all headed off to see A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Richmond Theatre. It was a very interesting performance of Shakespeare. It was set in India and they had acrobats that came in on ropes and long reels of cloth. Apparently this is a highly controversial, but it was also a lot of fun. The only thing that I didn't really like was the fact that half the time, they lapsed back into Indian or Sri Lankan. That seemed to take away from the play and even though I had read the play, I was still confused at some points. But overall, I really liked the interpretation.
Today, we had a make up World War II class since we haven't had one yet and couldn't have one at the normal time today since we had a dinner to go to. But our professor is a really funny guy and I think it will be a lot of fun as well as educational. Then we had a quick tour of the British Museum and learned a lot about where it came from and how they got a lot of their collection. It was really interesting. After that we had our Shakespeare class and had a really interesting discussion about the play we saw last night. It was a fun discussion.
Then I went shopping...of course. And after that I got ready for dinner. Tonight we had dinner with the Winstons who gave a lot of money for our building, both to buy it and to re-do the interior. They were such nice people! We also had the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at UNC there. It was a nice dinner and I enjoyed talking to the Winstons and the dean's wife. They were so nice.
I didn't realize how much I missed southern friendliness. Here, when you go to the grocery store or when you go to a pub for lunch, you don't get the same kind of service as in America. In the US, people are told to be nice and to be welcoming and say stuff like "Have a nice day!" and things like that. I didn't realize how much of a difference it makes. But once I got here I realized how different it is. Here, people just do their job. They don't really make any effort to smile or talk to you much. I am not trying to say it's not friendly, it's just very different after growing up in the South for so long. I think I have adjusted to it, but it was really nice to talk to such nice southern people again. :-)
Prayer requests: I am still trying to find a regular time and place to have my quiet time each day. Tracy is much better, still a little sick, but getting better. I am getting more confident in getting around the city by myself so I might try to take a trip to the Aquarium or the London Zoo or Hyde Park soon. :-) The weather just got a little colder and it started raining tonight, but it is supposed to be nice this weekend. So, a praise that it's been so nice and seems to be staying nice for a while yet.
Tuesday we had music class and then science class. After that, I had a quick dinner and then we all headed off to see A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Richmond Theatre. It was a very interesting performance of Shakespeare. It was set in India and they had acrobats that came in on ropes and long reels of cloth. Apparently this is a highly controversial, but it was also a lot of fun. The only thing that I didn't really like was the fact that half the time, they lapsed back into Indian or Sri Lankan. That seemed to take away from the play and even though I had read the play, I was still confused at some points. But overall, I really liked the interpretation.
Today, we had a make up World War II class since we haven't had one yet and couldn't have one at the normal time today since we had a dinner to go to. But our professor is a really funny guy and I think it will be a lot of fun as well as educational. Then we had a quick tour of the British Museum and learned a lot about where it came from and how they got a lot of their collection. It was really interesting. After that we had our Shakespeare class and had a really interesting discussion about the play we saw last night. It was a fun discussion.
Then I went shopping...of course. And after that I got ready for dinner. Tonight we had dinner with the Winstons who gave a lot of money for our building, both to buy it and to re-do the interior. They were such nice people! We also had the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at UNC there. It was a nice dinner and I enjoyed talking to the Winstons and the dean's wife. They were so nice.
I didn't realize how much I missed southern friendliness. Here, when you go to the grocery store or when you go to a pub for lunch, you don't get the same kind of service as in America. In the US, people are told to be nice and to be welcoming and say stuff like "Have a nice day!" and things like that. I didn't realize how much of a difference it makes. But once I got here I realized how different it is. Here, people just do their job. They don't really make any effort to smile or talk to you much. I am not trying to say it's not friendly, it's just very different after growing up in the South for so long. I think I have adjusted to it, but it was really nice to talk to such nice southern people again. :-)
Prayer requests: I am still trying to find a regular time and place to have my quiet time each day. Tracy is much better, still a little sick, but getting better. I am getting more confident in getting around the city by myself so I might try to take a trip to the Aquarium or the London Zoo or Hyde Park soon. :-) The weather just got a little colder and it started raining tonight, but it is supposed to be nice this weekend. So, a praise that it's been so nice and seems to be staying nice for a while yet.
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