London Adventures: September 5-11

Monday:  Went to the Natural History Museum with Meghan.  If you like the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum then you would like this one, too.  And I was obsessed with the Gothic architecture with gargoyles as you can tell if you've seen the pictures on Facebook.  I also wanted to laugh as I imagined how John would be geeking over all the mounted/stuffed animal specimens and wanting to hunt every single one of them.

Tuesday:   Totally worn out with all of the site-seeing, so Meghan and I both chose to be bums.  Jamie's graduation was today, but you have to be registered to attend.  We went out to eat with her and her parents and Flick (lives with Jamie and Meghan and showed up briefly this week) at Jamie's Italian (one of Jamie Oliver's restaurants).  It was really good and the cook sent my leftovers out in a very oddly shaped tin-foil wrapping.  It was like a foil ring or bag.  Pictures of that and everything else going on are up on Facebook.  I didn't end up being a bum the entire day though.  I got stir crazy by the afternoon and housing hadn't responded to my email about not being able to log into their website to accept their accommodation offer, so I went for a run.  I braved the gale force winds to run to campus and around campus once they made me go to their IT people.  It had sprinkled some earlier in the day, but hadn't really rained.  Then on the way back it POURED.  Seriously.  Like I haven't seen rain that hard in a long time.  And my jacket that I've never had water penetrate was soaked through as well as there being oceans in my shoes.  CRAZY.  Kind of fun though once you get over the initial natural instinct of "nooooo..."

Wednesday:  Walked 10-11 miles around London with Meghan.  Checked out Covent Garden, Big Ben/Parliament area again except the bridge side, the London Eye, a long walk along the river front, the Tate Modern, and the Strand.  Some things in the Tate Modern are really cool and some of it I'm not a fan of and reminded me of some interesting moments in Devine's History of Modern Art class to say the least.  It was really cool to see a lot of the stuff in person though.  Made a grilled cheese with tomato soup for dinner and boy did it hit the spot.  I'm totally craving hot things so much more here than at home.  There was a street performer in a kilt playing bagpipes on the bridge we crossed next to Big Ben.  He played Amazing Grace and it so nice to hear. 

Thursday:  Toured Buckingham Palace with Meghan, Jamie and her mom.  I really don't find the outside that impressive but inside it is amazing!  Didn't sleep well last night so I felt pretty crappy and really just wanted to crawl back into bed, but I wanted to go with the others and I had to go out to go to housing again.  And I was freezing even with a scarf on.  When that was finally through I bummed out on the couch the rest of the day.

Friday:  Meghan went with Jamie and her mom to see things that again I'm not paying for yet.  I finally almost caught up on uploading pictures to Facebook.  Then I went back to Borough Market to find that gluten free bakery vendor.  I was there earlier than we had gotten there last week, so there were more vendors still out to look through.  I had ridden the tube down, but I walked back to Camden from there, crossing the Thames on the London Bridge (which didn't fall down!).  When I got back I went for a run on the canal, which I found to be a nice break from the street because of not having to deal with intersections every few hundred feet.

Unfortunately I got back and discovered that the key to the house was not in my pocket.  There is a pouch in the lining of my running shorts where I keep my iPod, a little money, ID, and my key when I run.  I've never had anything fall out of it before and everything else was there, so I'm still at a loss as to what happened because we didn't find it when I got back into the house.

It was 6:30pm when I got back and I had just received a Facebook message from Jamie saying Meghan would be back around 10:30pm right before I had left.  So with four hours to kill I went for a walk.  Fortunately, it was a warmer day and not rainy.  Not only did I not want to sit on the stoop for four hours, I also was afraid that if I stopped moving I would get cold as the sun went down since I was in sweaty shorts and a T-shirt.  I explored a bit more of Camden and saw my first gas station since I got here.  Such a weird thing to make note of, but it was weird to me that I was surprised to see one!  I got a gingerbeer there as I was pretty wiped out from my run and needed something in my system.  Yes, the world ended.  I drank a soda.  The ginger beer is so much more yummy and spicy than our ginger ale.  I had tasted Jamie's the other day.

At 8:30 I was on the stoop with two more hours to go.  I was hoping either she would get back early or the mysterious Alice would show up.  She's one of the four girls living there and was supposedly coming that day.  One of our neighbors came outside and saw me.  He asked if I was alright and he and his wife ended up having me come in until Meghan got back.  They were really nice and, in true British fashion, served me tea and randomly had gluten free biscuits (cookies) in their cupboard!

Saturday:  Played in my first British hockey game!  We won 4-1.  Those silly Brits drink tea first thing afterwards and complain that 70 degrees is hot LOL.  They should come to preseason in Virginia.  They most certainly won't be drinking something hot after that!!!  This was the Surbiton hockey club.  They were nice, but I'm not sure that's who I'm going to stick with due to their distance from me.  I got some names of three clubs closer to my part of London to check out.  I also need to see how the UCL team is.  If anything, I can probably bank on the UCL team being much more convenient for my schedule but I haven't met them yet and I have no idea how well they play.  We'll see what happens.

Sunday:  Went back to Chiswick Baptist.  Learned my lesson about checking if there's any maintenance going on, particularly on the weekend, on the underground because I discovered on the way that the normal line that stops there wasn't running past a certain station and had to hop around a bit.  I'm glad I came back and it still amazes me how I found this church.  Proof of God's provision.  I was praying to find a good church home and bingo someone knows someone in London who recommends his church and I go and find that it isn't all crazy and postmodern.  I was nervous that I would spend a long time church shopping to find a good, living church rather than one filled with ritual and no heart or twisted by postmodernism.  So far so good at Chiswick! 

I brought my computer and a book I'm reading with the intentions of finding some wifi, catching up on the blog, looking up the hockey clubs, and just getting some chill time.  When I mentioned finding wifi Pastor Steve hooked me up with Internet at the church, so after spending some time in the sunshine (Yes, the sun came out!!) on a town green (sticking my toes into the grass and reveling at the almost nature) reading I headed back to the church and am now getting some things done with the choir practicing in the background and a cup of tea.  Right now I'm overwhelmed with the atmosphere here.  It's so refreshing to come into a place of God and just reflect and recharge after running around all week.  Honestly I see no point in looking around for another church because I feel at peace here.  So blessed to have found a good one right off the bat!

Now I'm back at the flat ready to go to bed and still feeling supercharged inside.  I just received a message from Laura about her visit to Farmville this weekend and that people were asking about me and that I've become part of Dr. Coles' former student lore.  I don't mean to sound conceited, but I mention it because it really made my day that much better and it was already a really good one!  I think it really makes missing people easier when you know that they miss you, too.  Pastor Steve talked about Philemon being a refresher of the saints at the evening service.  I want to thank Chiswick and Laura for refreshing me today :)