7.24.09

So...I hope today is the 24th. I actually have no idea. haha - not having a cell phone really warps your sense of date and time. it's odd.

So we went to Cardiff Castle yesterday and it was another interesting weather day. On our way up tot eh Castle (about 15-25 minutes from our house) it started pouring. Like raining buckets and buckets. But when we came out of the Castle after our tour of the inside, it was BRIGHT and SUNNY and BEAUTIFUL. You know, sometimes I really like Wales. This is the Norman Castle Keep - it's within the Roman walls of the Castle which you can see from downtown. So yeah. Pretty cool I guess. If you like that kind of thing.

This week we also decided that we're going to see Jude Law in Hamlet! YEAH I KNOW! All of the tickets for all of the show are sold out, but they sell tickets every day at like 10AM [they only have about 30] so people line up like, freakishly early to get them. SO we're going to camp our overnight in front of the theater! Yeah! I'm really very excited. It's going to be quite the adventure.

and really - if I'm going to be like, 200 ft away from this:

worth it. hands down.

OH AND I NEED MY FLIGHT INFORMATION MOTHER!! SEND IT TO ME ASAP SO I CAN FIGURE OUT WHEN I'M COMING HOME!! lol

7.23.09

So, yesterday was out second day in London and I'm just going to report on one wuick things before I head out

Avenue. Q.

I think it was just about the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life. And I'm pretty sure that one of the more entertaining parts was hearing them trying to do American accents! One charater, Brian, had like a "brooklyn accent" which was pretty good and everyone else did really well. The only one they would slip every now and then was Princeton aka the main character. LOL It was pretty entertaining to hear him started certains phrases every now and again like a british man and then end them american-ly. Priceless.

And you know what else was priceless? Our £10 tickets. Which were in the middle of the 2nd row...of the 3rd tier. Which, while it was high up was still amazing b/c the theater was pretty small. And classically goregous. Really I was just beaming to be there.

And it took all of my power to not sing along. But I was successful! However I did mouth along at some points but since that's silent I'm going to say that that is acceptable.

ALSO this performance of Avenue Q has given me a new career path in life. Forget being an actress/teacher/makeup artist. I'm going to be....drumroll...

A BAD IDEA BEAR

That's right folks - for a limited time only I'm going to go around to the people I know and give them BAD ideas. Like - eating the ENTIRE chocolate bar in stead of just one piece "You're going to eat it all anyway, why not get a jumpstart?!" and watching a movie instead of going to bed "You can sleep in the van in the morning, so why sleep now?!"

All in all a very lucrative choice, I say.

Well...maybe not lucrative, exactly, but a heck of a lot of fun! And that's what counts in the long-run right?! WHO NEEDS MONEY!?!?!!





see - I'm good at it already :)

7.21.09

So, I'm sitting here at the Cathay's library and I thought I'd post in my blog. One of the cool things that I like about blogger as opposed to say, my email, is that it saves my work as I type it. So, if my discontented computer deecides it wants to log me off in the middle of some of my work before I can post it, it'll at least be in my drafts, which is nice.

SO, I don't know how many times I've said this because I kind of loose track of what I write in my blog vs. emails and facebook but it rains entirely too much here. Which, I wouldn't mind so much if it was warm when it rained. And the funny thing is that they guys from YSA told us that like all during the month of June it was 90 degrees and sunny almost every day. Now that's my kind of weather. ALSO we're going to London tomorrow and it's just going to be rainy all day! I'm so sad! But I'm going to try and get a ticket to see Billy Elliot so that'll be cool.

And I still haven't heard from Gary which doesn't suprise me so I won't be seeing him in London tomorrow. Unless I get a chance to get back on the internet and miraculously he's remember to message me. ha we'll see.

Speaking of which I'm not going to be able to spend as much time on here as I thought I would writing this post because this computer is encapable of having more than one browser open at a time and I only have 13 minutes left. lol Oh the joys of being behind on technology. Once again - God Bless America.

So I'm pretty much really sore today because last night at FHE (at which I'll have you know I taught the lesson...that I came up with in like 30 minutes before we left b/c I didn't realize I was going to be the one teaching) we played the box game. Which was also my idea. But I didn't think that I was going to come in 3rd place, since I'm as inflexible as I am. Apparently I'm flexible in ways I didn't understand. However I still can't touch my toes, so I don't see what difference that really makes. Anyway, the point is that I'm havingn a little bit of a difficult time walking today. Lol - but that's the price you pay for being a CHAMPION.

Tonight we're going to the Carvary before Institute which is like a buffet that only costs £3.50. Which I am definately ok with. It was a big ordeal trying to get out who's going and not and some of the girls from the Welsh house were a little upset because they couldn't come because they're having the missionaries over for dinner. Which, if you ask me is pretty cool in itself but they don't seem to view it that way.

Well I better sign off so I can look up the ticket info. Hopefully it's not going to cost me too much money but I really want to see a show on the West End while I'm here. I mean let's be honest.

<3 Loves from the Kingdom that is United!

Shens

7.20.2009

Hello faithful readers and friends!!

Hah. That was quite an interesting turn of phrase. Whatever.

So this past week we went to Stonehenge!! I know right! I licked a stone! Gross, yes but worth it. The only thing that was kind of awful was that I was wearing a skirt and so I couldn’t like, do any crazy acrobatics. Plus it was super windy so that presented a problem. Especially since I didn’t have any leggings on. I was inspired buy the song “Stonehenge” as performed by the legendary Spinal Tap on the way to the stones and so I searched for the little children of Stonehenge and danced under the pale moon. It was pretty inspirational. We were also a little let down because we were going to try and meet the High Druid Priest or whatever he’s called that we thought lived in like a trailer off to the side of the stones, but apparently he was asked to move because he was causing a ruckus. And they found people with paint hiding out in a ditch nearby. I KNOW. So that was kind of let down, but everything else was basically amazing. I still can’t believe that I went there.

That’s how I feel about a lot of the places that I keep going, actually. It’s quite surreal.

Can I also say that I miss dryers. Both for your clothes and for your hair. *sigh* Speaking of hair, I cut my bangs yesterday before church. I know! I’m a little daring sometimes. But they were seriously bugging me because they were in my face all the time. So I angled them over to the side so hopefully they’ll be a little better. I can’t really tell yet because yesterday it was super windy/rainy (shocker, I know) so they were blowing in my face anyway. Hopefully I’ll be able to find out soon. I also miss non-tempramental showers. Like, at our house you either have high water pressure and either scalding or freezing water OR low pressure and warm water. Needless to say I can't wait until I can have the best of both worlds on a continual basis. God Bless America :D

Also speaking of hair, Luc asked us yesterday during out tour of the University (which he do graciously gave) if any of us cut hair because his was too long. I said that my mother cut hair so I’ve observed and could probably manage, but I honestly don’t want him to take me up on it. Like, I’d probably do it and be terrified of screwing up his hair for a while. That could not be good. Like everyone would be asking him what happened to his head and then he’d say that he let this crazy girl from America (and BYU nonetheless) cut it and that would just ruin the rep of the program and what a disaster it would be!

Yes, I’m being slightly facetious when I say that but let’s be honest. I shouldn’t be the first person you hand scissors and trust with your hair.

Ok, so you’re all going to be so proud of what I ate when we went to Oxford. So there’s this pub called the eagle and child which is where J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis used to like hang out and eat and stuff, so when we were in Oxford we decided to eat our dinner there. We looked over the menu for a while and I decided that maybe I’d try something new and there was something on the menu titled “Gammon and Eggs” and in the description it just said “gammon steak served with two fried eggs and chips” so I figured Gammon was just an English word for a cut of steak that I didn’t know. No one in my group knew what it was later so they all thought that that was a reasonable assumption to make. So I order it and when it comes out it’s like this huge piece of Ham that’s been fried? Maybe? And like it’s pretty thick and a little crispy on the edges and like bubbly and…ugh. You know how I am with textures. So like, I saw it and I was like “I…can’t eat this” But I paid almost 6 pounds for it so I wasn’t going to waste it. I ate it with the eggs until the eggs were gone and then I couldn’t do it anymore. So a little over a half is what I ate! I know! Good for me!!

But never again. Like, never again.

Well, I’m off to read/clean/journal and try to find my wallet down at Queen Street before I head off to FHE tonight.

Loves!!
Shens

7.18.09

So, i'm sitting her ein an internet cafe in Cardiff. Whic h you would think I would be excited about. However i just happened to be at a crappy computer with a c rappy keyboard at whic h i can't upload picture sor anything. AND i get to pay for this whole lovely experience. I know, wonderful, isn't it!?

But, on the brighter side I"m pretty muc h having the time of my life. I'm constant blown away and amazed at the beauty of nature and the neauty of the past. Every c astle i see has it's own unique story and beauty I just love it.

oh, and contraty to popular belief, Ancient Roman sites are really boring. Dissappointing, I know.

I went to see Harry Potter this week and it was AMAZING! Plus, movie theaters here are way cooler than they are in the states! And tickets are cheaper! But, it was weird because half of the previews that ran in front of HP were for movies that I had already seen/were already realeased in the US. So that was sort of surreal. I don't want to bore you with my opin ion of the film, but I'll just letyou know that it was phenomenal. Sad, hilarious, light, dark and ajust really good. Oh, and Cormac McLaggen - BEAUTIFUL. That was a nice little bonus. In fact, it was so good that I may be going to see itagain this Thursday with some guys from YSA.

SPeaking of YSA here, it's awesome! It's small but everyone is really nice and super excited to have us here, so it's a blast. Once again, just another reinforcement that the church is true no matter where you go in the world, and I really love that. Speaking of YSA, I went to a dance in Reading, England last night. It was an interesting experience but I did end up having a good time, which is more than i can say for every other dance i've ever been to in my life. They only played like, tec hno remixes of R &B songs, nothing slow and no variety of musice whatsoever. it was like one, giant 4 hour long song. But, I saw Mr. Gary there and got to talk to him for a while which was unexpected and cool and I got to know Ben a little better (one of the YSA guys from here in Cardiff). HOnestly though, the 2 hour car ride there was much more fun than the dance :) I sincerely love it when that happens.

Well, I really can't stand to pay for this internet any longer and Marianne is waiting for me outside of the cafe since she finished like, 10 minutes ago. So, until then you can always check the schedule i posted here to see what i'm up to and anxiously await my next post :D lol

loves from the UK!

oh, and BTDUBS Big Macs taste just as good in this country :) thank goodness.

7.12.09

So, I'm sitting here at my program directors house trying to send an email to my mother and waiting for a picture to upload that's taking forever. So, I would try and post more than one here but obviously that's not going to happen. So there's that.

We went to this Castell today [that's the picture up there]- Castell Carreg Cennen (don't ask me to pronounce it, cause I can't lol) and it was pretty much gorgeous. It's all in ruins and I just don't know what words I can possibly use to describe the beauty of it. The best part was that there was this giant rocky crag off to the side of the Castell that overlooked the Welsh countryside and all of the rolling hills and sheep and beautiful green lushiousness of Wales. I just climbed up it and sat up there all by myself and took it the world. I felt like I had stepped into a Jane Austen novel, or rather, Wuthering Heights. Which, let me tell you if Ralph Fiennes and his dark haired beauty came staggering up the hill I would have fainted.

Anyway, it's pitch black outside and I still have to walk home so I'm going to peace out. And we're getting up dark and early tomorrow. and I have no clean clothes. Fabulous.

For My Mother

Well, the internet here at the Cathays Library is being a real pain and is taking amillion years to log me into my email server. So, I'm just going to have to post my email to her here. It's a good thing that I started writing this out in Word while I was waiting for this page to load or I may never have gotten it done. Especially since I only have 8 minutes left on my internet time. Sick, I know. Hopefully I'll go down to an internet cafe today where they only charge £1 for an hour so that's not too bad. I can get a lot done in that time if the connection is fast enough. Anways, feel free to read this post, it's just aimed at my mother since she's the one who asked me about this stuff.

Hey momma!!

I’m relly sorry that I didn’t get to email you yesterday. Actually, I have no idea if the email that I wrote and hit send actually sent to you – so here’s what I said just in case.

I got your recipe and we made it last night – it was pretty much delicious. I had to make some minor adjustments, though, because there were a few things I couldn’t find, which surprised me. Like ricotta cheese! I’m the UK you would think that they would have that – seeing as we’re closer to italy. I went to 2 different grocery stores and didn’t finding it. Finally I settled on some mascarpone (which was yummy, but a little pricey) and so that worked out. Also, they only sell parmesan in really big chunks so we didn’t want to buy and because we would never use the entire block. But, we did have some really sharp cheddar in the fridge so I just like, finely chopped it up (since we don’t have a cheese grader) and added it to the filling. Also, I couldn’t find a bag of just spinach so we had to use a bag of fresh mixed spinach salad which had watercress and something else in it that I’d never heard of. I chopped that all up and added it. Anyway – it still turned out really yummy so it’s all good I guess.

Yesterday after class we had free time so we went to downtown Cardiff (near Cardiff Castle) and looked around at all the shops and stuff. It was really cool. We went to this department store called M&S and upstairs they have like a little café/bistro thing, kind of like they do at IKEA only smaller and a little nicer. Anyway I had an egg salad sandwich with watercress on whole wheat bread and a cheese jacket potato (which is basically a baked potato with cheese all over it) anyway it was really good. Something that’s also different about being here in Europe is that they drink a lot of sparkling water. Yeah, it’s strange. I just always have to make sure that when I buy water that it’s “still” so that it’s not that weird carbonated stuff. It’s like drinking soda water.

We also went to McDonalds. And let me tell you – they are a lot nicer here than they are back home. The one we went to was 2 stories and had like plasma TVs in it and everything! They also have a different £ menu which has a crispy chicken sandwhich on it and medium fried and all of their McFlurrys, which are really yummy because they have English candy in them. I had one with these things called “smarties” in it, which are like m&ms but they aren’t really as good. Also, we went to a place called Poundland and momma – they sell giant boxes of malteasers for £1. I know. I will be bringing you back some when I come home, don’t you worry :D

We#re going to London tomrrow!! Andn seeing A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Globe! Now, this is going to sound a little ridiculous but I have a little pet peave that I need to tell someone about before I explode. Everyone here keeps calling it A Midsummers Night dream. Whhich doesn't make any sense because it's not the Midsummer's dream, it's the Night's dream. For a bunch of English majors they sure don't know the Shakespeare. *sigh* Wow, I feel much better getting that off my chest. We're leaving at like 5:30 in the mo rning though, which is going to be rough but oh well. It'll be worth it.

Well, that's all for now. If I'm able to get online at the internet cafe later maybe i'll send you an actual email. I'm also going to try and call y'all using the magic jack sometime this weekend so just be expecting to hear from me! I love you all and I'll see you in a few months!!

7.1.09

Well, I'm currently packing to head off to Wales! My plane leaves tomorrow night and I literally cannot believe that amount of things that I have left to do before I leave. I thought that I was all caught up and good and that I would be able to spend my last days or so relaxing and just spending time with the people around me. But no, once again I find myself drastically unprepared and not read to head off just yet.

You know, I really think that the Lord is funny sometimes. I never in my life have made such good friends as fast as I have in the past month here. It's bizarre. And now that I actually found people who made it bearable to be here over the summer I leaving to have another one of the most influential and exciting experiences of my life. But I guess I'll just have to keep on doing this trust in the Lord thing and have faith that it was all for something, and that these relationships aren't going to fall apart just because I'm leaving.

It feeds into one of my worst fears: being forgotten. I'm constantly terrified that the people I meet and become friends with are going to forget about me if they don't hear from or see me for extended periods of time. Like I'm simply not that memorable and once I get back they'll be like "wait, who are you?" So far that's proven not to be the case, so you would think that I would learn from that and take those examples and use them to dispel my fear, but I don't. It's one of my human faults I guess.

well, enough procrastinating. It's time for me to get pack to packing.

As the Doctor would say: "ALLONS-Y!"