Minding the Gap: A Reflection on London

My, my how time flies. I remember when I first got to London, I didn't know what to think. I just adapted, and hoped for the best. It was a rough first few weeks, I cried myself to sleep because I missed home and my friends, but now...even five days later I can't help but feel nostalgiac.

Finding out what I miss is a process. I've been journaling about my spiritual growth in and since England, and I have learned so much but from very unexpected ways. First of all, from my good friend, Faith, I have learned a great deal. She showed me so much about living an authentic Christian life, and shared her views on everything from education to politics to views on the Church. We hung out so much that we were practically inseperable. I think we both learned a lot from each other. I think I will miss hanging out with her and playing songs on the guitar with her the most. But Im thankful for those times.

I learned so much from the people at Glorious Undead Church in Camden. From Heather, who led Girls Group, I learned so much about the peace of Jesus. She had so much peace from God that it overwhelmed the room of her amazing apartment. From Paula I learned about the beauty and joy of Christ, and her childlike faith and grace. She was just so much fun to be around cause she would listen and speak encouragement. Kari...I still want to know how to really pronounce your name!! I think I learned so, so much from our talk at the cafe you took me to. I wonder who found the note I left for you at the other McDonalds I thought we were meeting at? Anyhoo, I learned so much about myself by listening to you. You have no idea how it impacted me. I will post a blog about this later, hopefully (I say that, but I really will this time!).

Ok, ok, enough sappiness-- lets bust out the happiness! Lol! Here are some things I find interesting about the culture and some words/quirks we are not used to here across the Pond:

Brits drink their tea with milk. Like all the time. Michael form GU once called it "muddy Thames water"

A lot of people may be married but may not wear their rings. They also call each other "partner", rather. Is it because many people just choose to live together without going through the legal process of marriage nowadays? We talked to some girls from Paris about this one night.

"Pudding" over there is usually like bread. Everyone on Sundays gets a traditional Sunday Roast at a Pub, and they come with steak-and-kidney pudding. In fact, I had some instant pudding mix from America and gave it to my friend Heather and it seemed like it was something totally new to her!

Everyone takes some sort of public transportation via a ticket or an Oyster card. There are the busses (double decker of course!) and then the Tube; the London Underground. Like the Metro at NYC.

Buskers are people who play music and do tricks on the street or at the Tube. They are actually liscenced to do so; they have to ask the station and show them their ID's and they play there for a set amount of time and when people walk by, they put a few pence in their cases.

A Telly is a TV.

 Its pronounced, "toh-mah-tow", not "tom-ay-toe".

There was a court case deciding if Jaffa Cakes were a biscuit or a cookie. Why? Because one would be taxed, the other one wouldn't!

courtesy of Google. Orange-flavored cookies

They measure everything in Celcius. And that makes baking fun. Then they use the metric system as well and I just end up giving up with the conversions. Plus, they measure weight in "stones", which is 14 pounds. If you weigh 10 Stone, thats 140 lbs.

Pounds can also be called "quid". Such as, "I have 5 quid on me for lunch".

Pizza there is so different. Its European and you can eat a whole pizza yourself cause the crust is thin.

Tax is included on pretty much everything already. Its called VAT, so you get what the price tag says. That money you pay thats included also goes towards funding things like the NHS, which offers free/socialized medicine.

You can walk almost anywhere! There are parks every 28 feet or so, and there are so many flowers! Snowdrops and Daffodils litter the streets instead of, well, litter. They keep things really clean over there.

Those red telephone booths are not there for practicality. They are kept to trap tourists and then they eat them!...ok kidding. But they really do have some gross ads in them posted up all the time. Its just plain wrong.

Don't do the London Eye. Its a real tourist trap and apparently not worth the money.

Best places to get groceries? Try Tesco's, Sainsburry's and Waitrose. I like shopping at Waitrose the most, which is like a Target/HEB of food mainly. Sainsburry's is like Walmart in that it has a load more random things. Tesco's is a convenience store.

I think London also has socialized sandwiches. Every store has the same boxed, gnarly sandwiches. You get over them pretty quick but are convenient for a quick bite.

Well, that's all for now, folks! I could go on and on, but those are some interesting facts about London that I have discovered while abroad. I hope you find this useful! Cheers! *This means  'thank you' in a way. Everyone says that. No one says 'pip pip cheerio' unless they are joking. Also, don't flash the peace sign backwards. Thats bad. Over and out!

Your world traveler,
Diana

Blog-sized Tour of the UK

Hello! Welcome! It has been a while, hasn't it?

For the past 10 days or so, my commrades and I have been wandering the UK (mostly Scottland, Northern Wales, and the Lake District) in search of adventure. Ok, Ok, it was kind of planned for us, but we totally had some adventures anyway! I'll give a brief description of what we did each day. This might have to be in parts, so hold tight! There may have to be another post covering the tour, but worry not. I will provide pictures, so its not quite like that awesome Brit-Lit textbook or Balfour Declaration book for class. Ahem.

Day One we scored a trip to Stratford on Avon, the site of Shakepeare's birth and final resting place, at Trinity Church. He grew up on Mary Arden's farm, which we also ended up seeing because it was totally functional and period-maintained. There was a lovely woman who nominated me to hold Izzy, a heart-faced barn owl, for her birds of prey illustration. What I found most amazing about this bird was that she said Izzy could hear the heartbeat of a mouse 20 feet away, let alone every one of our heartbeats in the area. I can't even begin to imagine what life would be like if I had that kind of hearing. The farm was very nice and peaceful, and we explored many aspects of the farm life and saw the animals and met people in their own period pieces as well.

This is a rare English Barn Owl



Peek-A-Boo! From the staircase

Surprise, it's Narnia! Ruins of Kenliworth Castle

That night we also went out to a really neat little restaurant called Avon Spice, where we ate curry, etc... from Bangladesh and India! They also gave us something that looked like a crispy tortilla, with plenty of spicy and subtle topings. Because they liked us so much, they gave us a shot of something I assumed to be like Bangladeshi hot-chocolate on the house! Faith tried it first, and right then I knew something was up. Megan did not want to drink it; it turned out to be Bailey's chocolate drink or something, and boy did it burn!! I think its the strongest thing I've ever tasted, besides the Malta from Haiti and the Stoney from Uganda. Haw haw, a cultural experience. We ended up going with the group to see "Twelfth Night", which is one of Shakepeare's most beloved/loveable plays IMHO. I read this in Brit Lit class and loved it-- seeing it played out on stage really made it come to life though! Here are some pictures from the earlier excursion to Trinity Church. Very worth seeing.

Trinity Church

Me and Sadia, kneeling to pray. We are right in front of Shakespeare's grave.

For those of you who don't know the story, its a fantastical tale of shipwrecks and misplaced identities. I would say its the same plot as "She's the Man" (with similar character names as well! Curious...), but I recommend seeing this or reading it if you can. Viola is the main girl, who is found after a shipwreck, and she assumes the identity of her twin brother, whom she believed was dead. And as she works for Count Orsino, Lady Olivia falls madly in love with Viola...because she believes she is a man! Things get really chaotic and funny for many of the characters in the mean time, as a rather pompous character, Malvolio, recieves the torture of having dressed in yellow-stockings and cross-garters in front of the woman he is trying to impress, much to her chagrin and disgust. Provides much to laugh about, from the audience's standpoint. I almost died laughing, and so did Faith and Megan apparently. I wonder if I was the only one who squirmed, though?

Next day was great; I tried the full English Breakfast with Black Pudding, which (surprise!) is not pudding. Its a patty made with pig's blood, that's all I will say. But I tried two bites of it for good measure, so next time I could have a good answer for the question, "what's the weirdest thing you've eaten?" By the way, the best answer I've heard to that was a Missionary to China said he tried ant and wasp larvae. Certainly weird, for sure. Anyways, since it was Saturday, we were heading toward York. Our first stop was in an amazing town called Stamford, where we got out and had lunch at a really cute cafe: paninis ("toasties") and then we caved and I bought us some truffles. They were quite memorable! Ginger was the best, then there was a pinkish-sweet one that was aromatic like a rose. I think we tried a keylime one that was green, and then a cherry one that once you take a bite out of it, its all or nothing. I got the short end of the stick and had cherry juice spilled on my hands, table, and trousers. Hehe, just a day in the life.

Best part of Stamford was going through this secret alley that lead us to a C-A-R-N-I-V-A-L!!! Woohoo! Faith and I browsed through all the games and epic foods (they had donuts and other funnel-cake like things), and then we decided to go for it. We did the biggest ride there! It terrified me but Faith was very supportive, so we both made it through. Stamford looks very different when you're upside-down twirling 50 feet above the lake. To settle our stomachs, we took a stroll down to the lake to sit under a willow tree and chat with a few other friends from the trip. Very nice. Sadly I don't believe I took pictures of this! Woe is me! Woe is you!

Once we arrived in York, we had a nice dinner of stir-fry. Well, at least Dr. Tucker and I did. Everyone else pretty much got mac-and-cheese, which reminded me of Panera Bread's classic dish. We were a little puzzled at the serving sizes, and expected dessert, but they told us later that what we had was a healthy serving size. My American stomach tried to hide in shame, but obviously we were all just as embarassed.  The night before, we had stayed at this other bed-and-breakfast that served us brownies with a raspberry sauce. A few of our group left before dessert, and I had to fetch them. Alas, we went to bed with high hopes for another English Breakfast. By the way, their idea of an English Breakfast often includes Egg (fried or sunny-side-up), bacon (of sorts), porridge, tomato, beans, and some sort of sausage or "pudding".

I'll skip the fluff: we went on a ghost tour in York. Our guide was crazy-awesome. He looked like Edgar Allen Poe crossed with the guy who plays the kid's stepdad in the first Santa Clause movie with Tim Allen. So like an emo psychiatrist sort of fellow. He held a cane and he held our attention...just enough to frighten us at his "YELP", and send our hearts racing. A popular discussion that night was if we believed in ghosts at all. I still have no real conclusion, because I've heard so many stories, but I think its more of a spirit-related thing, and we just decided to enjoy the tour for what it was. Pretty much after that, Megan decided to take us with her to a club to go dancing, finally. Club Salvation: site of the craziest night of my life. Sort of. It was my first time to do anything of the sort, and there were people dancing (?) and drinking and I felt very uncomfortable at first. I wore a cardigan and had Faith french-braid my hair in pigtails, so it was obvious I didn't come to fit in, so to speak. Apparently I captured a lot of attention, though, because many boys kept wanting to dance with me. One guy seemed just as uncomfortable and sympathised with me, but we never said much. We left to go to the other part of the club's deal and met some guys from a Rugby team, who promptly let us into their dancing group and made sure to paint our faces with ceremonial white-out. Glory. They got a bit obnoxios so we went upstairs and had blast-from-the-past music from the 90's and 80's! I warmed up a bit, then, and could dance in a pretty normal way because I was with Faith and Megan. Carson came along to make sure we were okay, and poor guy got his credit card stolen! We got back at about 4 am, all danced out and ready for sleep.

Okays! So this is where my first Coach Tour Blog ends, so you can go back to your regularly scheduled program of whatever it is you do. Believe me, you will want to know what happened the rest of the trip, so stay tunes, folks!

Cheers, my dears!
Diana

Eat, Pray, Run

Sorry Faith, I think I'm going to go ahead and use this title...:-)  But anyways, sorry to disappoint, but i won't have any/many pictures in this post. You know what they say, a thousand words makes a picture! I think...

Now, back to our regularly scheduled (?) blog post:

Okay, so its been a while since we last ran. Since my last post I have not once stepped into my athletic gear. We have seen the signs. Felt the urges to go running...but ah...the Haagen Daz ice cream. Good thing its all natural! Yeah, I know, its terrible... terrible that we couldn't share with you guys! Literally, tonight at Phantom of the Opera, we caved in and got this three-pound tub of Cookie-N-Creme. Oh, before you judge, though, I meant it cost three pounds, and was no larger than the circumference of a monocle and about the length of a film canister. It was still worth it, because you just can't beat quality! Now, if only there were a good way to beat the calories...

Russel Square sure looks beautiful, especially when people remember to clean up all the horsey-poo! I wish I was kidding: today there was a nice mound of it at the mouth of the exit to the park. Needless to say, we were perturbed. I never doubt the valid statement that London is magical (and mysterious), but I was worried that we had traveled back in time to the land of horse-and-buggy! But, that's not why we didn't run. Sleep: lack of sleep, to be precise. When people stay up until 3 am banging around the bathrooms and people outside commence construction at 7 am, you begin to realize just how valuable this commodity is! I begin to wonder if it is indeed prudent to purchase ear-muffler thingies, as my dear, slightly-more-hassled friend.

However, we must move on! To the updates! It has indeed been a mellow week, aside from unusual amounts of homework. Islam class presents us with TWO essays due, and there are also TWO books to read for Dicken's class. We must commence with the book Our Mutual Friend, and grin, bear it... oh, I'm so tempted to say burn it, but I musn't (how horribly improper would that be!). But, alas, today's class was interesting. We went to the British Museum to participate in the Hajj Exhibit: It was a walk through Mecca, a walk through time. I learned so much about the pilgrimage to Mecca and how there was a man who never converted to Islam but participated anyways, as well as the first British Woman Moslem convert. We were not allowed to take pictures, sadly, but everything there was beautiful. *(I started writing this post Wednesday, BTW)

Speaking of time travelling, I shall recap from Sunday onward! Tally Ho!

Faith and I high-taled it to the British Library to get there early enough to find a spot to sit and simultaneously obtain a power source for our laptops. We stayed there a good, long while, and got a lot done! I think. I mean, it was good bonding, and we read for Islam, and figured out the next steps for next semester. God is just so good. I think we must have gone to Camden after that, to go to church at GU. What was awesome was that we finally met the family that Faith's friends told her about! These people were sort of the reason why we knew about GU, so it was cool to meet them in person. AND! Andy played guitar, beautiful worship songs, of course, but we were inside of the actual St. Martin's sanctuary, if you will. The acoustics were marvelous and we nearly cried at this one song, something like "At the foot of the Cross" by OnehundredHours band. All together I think we had about 14 or so people, which was a very large service to us! I just love the Church! As we walked back to our hostel we could not help but notice someone we knew... Dr. Hooten practically screamed when she saw Faith! It was an incredible reunion. I was so happy inside, to see my dear friend so happy. Of course, I was super excited to see her as well!

Monday proved to be interesting.  We had British Life and Culture at the British Museum, and it was interesting. I really don't actually remember much of what we looked at. Huh. So apparently it was not  the most memorable of our trips, but we certainly learned our lesson to not get separated. We turned our backs one second and then all of a sudden it was just Faith and I, and a few of our other professors visiting the program, and we took about 15 minutes trying to find them again. But, it was all okay. Then, I made a spontaneous descision: what was a girl to do with her free time?

I got a haircut. Yeah, two inches, British-style, lop it all off in one go, add some "fringe" (bangs) and make it "graduation" style. The guy who cut my hair was from Hong Kong, and his hairstyle was totally epic. If I were a guy I might do what he did: shave all the hair on both sides and have longish, feathery hair swoop down over one eye. Really London-y.

Tuesday: Super cool day, I got up early and went to Kew Gardens with the Biological Science-y class that usually has one person in it besides the teacher. We tried to keep up, but got distracted at the sensory garden which had many plants that smelled like vanilla when you passed them collectively. Mmm! We saw flowers like Birds of Paradise, Orchids, Snowdrops and more! I mean, the sky out was dreary (and apparently a few centuries ago this same sky would actually be considered "sunny" because back then the air was made of foggy-pollution), and not many flowers were in bloom. Alas, we will have to go back on a better day. What reeeaaaalllly made it fun was being with my best mates Faith and Carson, and we took the most goof-ball-like pictures ever! If you want to see pictures, link to her blog, here: http://london21calling.blogspot.com/
I brought my camera but forgot to charge it, so it died after 3 pictures... none of them were any good, anyways. BUT! Major hilights:

1). I saw my first ever Canadian Goose! How cool! Honk Honk!
2.) Carson taught us the magic of "Flapjacks". If you think that means pancakes, you are wrong, unfortunately. Its more like a naked Reeses cup made with super healthy granola. Amazing.
 3.) I got to see my friend totally leap into this Zen garden like a ninja-- and then we saw the sign: "Do not walk in gravel". Lol oops!

I guess this post is just getting long and boring now so Ill give a few short other recaps:
1.) Tuesday I kind of had a little meltdown at lunch, but God has given me such a faithful friend. We hung out and went to Covent Garden for a bit of girl time. I came back and had coffee with my friend Carson, and it was really fun, and I tried something called a "caramel macchiato". I am not a big coffee fan, so Im just learning the lingo, k?
2.) WE SAW PHANTOM OF THE OPERA!! Soooooo gooood! I was mezmerised by it all.  The opening scenes were electrifying! The singing, the staging, the lighting, the suspense!! So breathtaking... and it was acclimated by watching the expressions of Faith and some others, who were bursting out of their seats with excitement! Wowie-zowie, what a show! Needless to say, those lyrics still ring in our heads... In sleep he sang to me, in dreams he came...
3.) Wednesday night we saw "Hay Fever", which was a delightful comedy about this eccentric family who ends up scaring away the first guests they have had in a long while. I loved it, absolutely, and the stage was probably my favorite so far! Atmosphere is everything!
4.) After that... these 4 guys we saw sitting ahead of us in the theatre came up to us and asked us if we wanted to hang out. So some friends and I got to talk with these rich preppy boys from Boston, and it ended up being quite fun because it was nice to get away from the big group for a baby-bit.
5.) For Theatre class we had this amazing set designer come in and talk to us about what he did, which was fabulous, and he also knew the girl who designed all 900 costumes for "Phantom" and did it in 8 weeks flat! How crazy!
6.) Finished "Catching Fire"! FINALLY! I mean, I loved it, but I tooootallly called the ending. Still... maybe I will read the last one, haha. It really was not as bad as I thought it would be. I recommend reading them!

Thursday's update will be good too. Today was Dickens' class, and we had a quiz, and all got A's because it was 5 questions that we went over together anyway. Love our teacher. He let us have a 15 minute break to go get Starbucks too! Of course, not liking coffee, I got a banana and a bottled drink instead!  Today I wore my cool thrift-store skirt and shirt and braided pigtails. Apparently I looked like Dorothy today, haha, which was fine, because I have always been a fan of dressing up. I spent most of today skyping with family and figuring out crazy Paris train tickets. Its still not working out yet. But everything is going to be okay! I mean, someone gave me banana bread today, how could things not be okay after that ? :-) Tomorrow we go to Greenwich! And Im about to fall over in tirednesss.....sss...zzzzzz...

Over and out, Cubscout!
Cheers, my dears:
Diana

Squash and Camden Jungle

Happy Saturday! I have decided I utterly delight in posting! And I use too many exclamation points!

What a week-- I remember last Sunday playing Hackey-Sack (also known as "Swoosh") in Bloomsbury park with Manuel, an amazing guy who is from Colombia and works here at the Pickwick, and Carson Wheat, a really cool man of God whom Iv'e gotten the pleasure of knowing through Faith and Caleb. We all get along pretty well. I can see how many of the different personality types are clicking together (maybe I should have been an anthropologist?), and it makes me smile. God is so good that He never leaves anyone alone! To me, it is refreshing to have all sorts of people making connections with each other, sharpening each other's destinies one way or another.

Ahem. As I totally digressed from the point of playing Hackey Sack, I will continue. Right before we all played a few  rounds together, I had gone earlier to the park by myself to practice (sp?) and had sat down to take a break and read "Catching Fire". Some couple sat down beside me and I would have just continued reading had a man not come up to us, asking for directions to a hospital. At least, thats what I thought he was saying-- he held out his arm and showed us a large gash, saying he cut it while riding his bike. What astounded me was how the man next to me responded! He had no compassion and sent him away, saying he had no money. He noticed my concern and turned to me, saying he had seen that very man a year ago with the same story! That sparked an entire conversation about how some people are truly homeless and have no real way to survive other than by trying new schemes. The man said that they usually stay in one spot, for tourists, and they always get money that way. I got to share about doing a poverty simulation at my Uni (this is how they say University, they abbreviate it) and how it changed me. I also got to mention that Jesus had compassion on everyone and got to know them. I told them that I knew if Jesus did it, I wanted to, and that He inspired me to really care about them by asking their names, sometimes, and remembering to pray for them as I continued to walk the busy streets full of people who had no time for them...



The London Coloseum Opera House!

Anyway, that was a significant moment. The rest of the week was great! Some hilights included having JTAP on monday night, seeing an opera by Hoffman, I believe... yes, "Tales of Hoffman", which was a series of 3 short operas and all dealt with strange lovers and the like. One was a doll, one was a ghost, and the last one was a face-stealing stripper. Not your typical TBC show. But, I liked it (it was surprisingly in English!) and I loved that they had subtitles.

Carson, Faith and I all decided to up and go to Primrose Hill, allegedly the highest spot to see London from! It was at a beautiful park, and we went at night randomly (Saturday or Sunday methinks...) and also just decided to roam the streets of Camden. So glad we all went; I found out there was a cool deal on Wednesday to buy a burger and get one free for your best mate! Faith and I went back Wednesday and did it! She got a wild west burger and I stuck to good ole' chicken burger. Good stuff. Although her burger was slightly waaayy too cooked! You must ask to have your meat slightly mooing, haha.

Carson, Faith and I at Hoffman's Opera

On the way back from Primrose Hill

Wednesday night brought some amazing memories with some of the girls from our church! Heather and Kari, if you're reading this, you are such sweethearts and are so dear to me, and Im so thankful for yall in my life! Always praying for you!
It was our first time in a real British home! Sorry, you really have no idea how exciting that is until you get to go out of your hostel you've been cooped up in for weeks...ahhh! After Faith and I studied at the British Library for like 4 hours, we went over to Heather's and brought offerings of Chex Mix (tm) from America!! We tried "Squash" which is actually a drink mix you put in water, like Crystal Light only better! And then she offered us Hot Cross Buns! For real, they are an Easter tradition, thus the cross at the center of the bun, which is curiously like a fruitcake. Alas we ate them before I could get a picture...maybe soon.

Basically we had "Girl's group" at Heather's, where we talked for about an hour and then prayed for one another. I just so happened to have bought a bunch of crafty supplies that day, so we drew and colored pictures together, and then had a big prayer time. I will never forget Kari's sweet prayer, especially about the "Waffles" and Jesus taking us shopping for clothing for our inside and out... I was touched. She even let me and Faith and Kari borrow some cool books from her ecclectic library. Apparently there's a shortage of good, American Christian literature in the UK, so she gladly shared from her stash. Also, I started to draw a memoir of London in the other book I got for 99p. Here  is a pic:

Thursday I decided to tag along with the Rock N Roll and Music Appreciation class. They were taking a field trip to see the London Asian Music Exhibit and then toured this amazing school of R&R-making history! Some of the Alum went on to bigger things, such as Radio Head, &c. No big deal ;-). Our tour guide, Les, wrote a song apparently a big-name band ripped off because he did not do the copyrights right. The Asian music place had so many wild instruments on display that we could hear played and demonstrated, and there was a really high-end machine that made music to fit the mood of a certain season (which you could set yourself) whenever you danced around! Then a little "guru" box taught Heather Bullock and Caleb Cruce how to sing... this was amazing and funny and awkward at the same time. By the time we went to sit down for our last session, we got to fall asleep in a good sort of way! The music was very Eastern and thus, meditative. I loved it. Faith and I are thinking how great yoga sounds right about now.

Class all this week was really funny, because we ended up going to Lincoln's Inn like 3 times, all in different classes! Not that I minded-- it was beautiful and breath-taking! There's a certain someone who thought the teacher said "to be a Barista, you would have to train at one of the Inns of Court!" Thats funny, in the US you can just get a job at Starbucks and poof, you're a barista! Apparently this, ahem, person couldn't understand her slight accent. "Barrister". I think. Okay, so there's so many pics of this place you'll just have to view them on Facebook!

Friday was our class' day trip to see King Henry VIII's palace. Going there, we had the prior conception that he was just a man eager to sleep around with many women and that because of this it was the basis for our churches to-day, which was upsetting. If you are confused I can explain later, but anyway, the point is that we saw he was not the kind of man we thought he was. He was athletic and ambitious and loved all of his wives... as the rhyme goes, "divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived". This shows the line of the 8 women was married to, and indeed reveals how the nex one came about. Regardless, the castle was brilliant, to say the least! A marvel of gothic architecture with Tudor chimneys and rooms lavishly laden with paintings and wooden closets by Cardinal Wolsey that would send Christopher Wren's stomach churning... Such lovely gardens too!

Tudor Palace walls with a 24-hour clock and lunar calendar!

Now, it is Saturday, and you have come to the last story on this blog post (again, Im long winded in weekly updates, so bear with me!). Waking up, knowing our tickets to Paris were paid for, I went to have breakfast and spent a bit of time with Jesus. I always, always wish I had more time with Him! So, after starting the day off right, Courtney Officer and I went off to see the Camden Market! We had also planned on going to the V&A Museum, but that did not happen-- there was just so much in Camden! It was literally a jungle of clothes, people, food, and trash. Mainly people and food, though. Our first market we met a young woman who not only sold us cute bargain jewelry, but told us all about her life and longing to go somewhere hot. Ahem, Texas. We ended up scavenging through piles and racks of vintage clothing, this time not getting pick-pocketed!
Best part of the Camden trip:
1.) We tried not only a fried Oreo, but a Fried Snickers and ROLOs as well!
2.) So we got our feet tickled soft with these crazy sucker fish which have enzymes that break away dead skin and leave you silky smooth. Freaked out yet? Only 5 Pounds, go for it!
3.) Saw some deadly-cool indie bands playing live. Ryan O'Reilly band, FTW!
4.) I got a pocketwatch for a good friend of mine and decided now was the time to buy earrings.

Later tonight I got back to the hostel; but I didn't stay there long! Carson, Caleb, Faith and I all decided to go get some authentic Lebanese food! Well... we had one setback. Faith commented on Carson's new fedora hat and said he looked "hipster". He threw it above the door, expecting it to come down through the hole. Nope! After fruitless efforts of chairs and broom handles, Faith used her secret skills to hoist me up onto the ledge, and she and Caleb helped me get all the way up there to where the dust monsters live. I retrieved the hat and prolly now have contracted a severe case of the dust bunnies. Onward, to the restaurant! Faith tried Lamb meat and Baklava for the first time, and I got a schwarma...mmmm! After dinner we headed back to change into shorts to do a quick Tae-Kwon-do lesson in Russel Square garden with Caleb as our teacher. Also, we brought the guitar and sang some Death Cab for Cutie lyrics and then worshipped. The best. To end a perfect day, we watched a British comedy/horror called "Shaun of the Dead". So funny! I think I love British humor because Im secretly a Brit inside. Shh don't tell. I was a bit more worried at my reactions to laugh as opposed to scream at some parts. Am I really becoming that open here in the UK?

Cheers, my dears!
Diana





“Social Mediaism”

Fast Food, High Fashion, and Social Media (The Three Main food groups consumerists fall for and feed themselves)

“Love without courage and wisdom is sentimentality, as with the ordinary church member.  Courage without love and wisdom is foolhardiness, as with the ordinary soldier. Wisdom without love and courage is cowardice, as with the ordinary intellectual. But the one who has love, courage, and wisdom moves the world.”

--Ammon Hennacy, a Catholic activist 1893-1970

My thoughts are everywhere concerning my, um, concerns. Courage and the concept of being courageous in spirit has always been hard for me to understand, so here I am processing it.  I’m a HUGE Harry Potter fan (I promise you, it’s okay to be a Christian and read it) and it has always been symbolic to me; very religious, even.  When I first came to London all I could think about was seeing all the great Harry Potter things to do, so what did I do first but go on to find a website to get sorted! I tried several different quizzes and answered honestly (but most of the questions were highly suspicious, asking “what is your favorite color” like that would affect the destiny of your sorting) and pretty much every answer was the same: “Hufflepuff”.  I couldn’t get over it!  I ran it over in my mind—Hufflepuffs are loyal and good friends (*note that of course I believe that these are indeed accurate and that they are not defining of your true character) and are generally nice. I’m apparently “nice”.  This, actually, is a label I resent because I don’t care much for being known as someone who is “nice”, but would rather live for Jesus and have the world know that.  Anyway, I truly thought for a while it was because I lacked courage enough to be kicked out of Gryffindor (who are also described as loyal friends). Being “sorted” like that made me realize a few things.

1) You pretty much decide who you are: even if a sorting hat, or a person, or the world decides to “sort” you, only you and God know how much personality you really do have! He puts those qualities in you for His glory, and He gives more! His spiritual gifts and fruit of the Spirit are much more desirable.

2.)Why miss out on what you think you don’t have when you can just pray to God for REAL courage?  He chooses the weak things of the world to shame the wise (1 Corinthians) and His “foolishness” is far greater than the “wisest” of men!  I do not want to be “wise” or “courageous” or “loving” in the world’s self-puffing-up sense.  Only Jesus matters.

3.) Nothing is new under the sun, thank you Ecclesiastes!  People will always want to feel part of a group and share things in common.  It just so happens that the world warps everything so you feel left out if you don’t get in with what you think you want.  You know?

My identity is rooted in Christ!  I am radically transformed by Him!  I am moving from glory to glory, and even though now I see in part, one day I shall see face-to-face the true glory of my Father. I must immerse myself in Him and His truth over me daily; I miss a day with Him and I am utterly weak and defenseless—two days and I am capable of any sin!  O how I need my savior!  I’ve been feeling that tug of war lately, and I know in my spirit I must do what I cannot allow my flesh to do, and do in the Spirit what the flesh is so against.

Now. Onto the "Social Media" business.

Lately I’ve noticed a deluge of posts on Facebook concerning a certain “Joseph Koney” of the LRA (Lords’ Resistance Army) and how people are spreading the desire to make him famous to make him get caught.  This is my response to the media, and why I think it is possibly being used to exploit it, rather than alleviate a cause that seems good, perhaps beneficial.

A little history about this man is that he was the top-gun leader in the LRA in Uganda about 7-8 years back , where he gathered an army of innocent children, killed their siblings and parents in front of them, made them slaves, and brain washed them into killing and recruiting others for an endless walk of torture.  These kids would never have normal lives—they could never cry for fear of being killed.  All of this and more is demonstrated in the "Invisible Children"’s campaign, which is when I first heard of it a few years back in high school.  I knew Joseph Koney was bad news and must be stopped.  My question is why is this just now becoming popular?  While I see the sentiments are that people want to use the social media to alert everyone about Koney and his nasty, immoral deeds, I cannot help but wonder about the ulterior propaganda sported in this Facebook fad.

That’s just the thing—social justice is social justice, and it’s not a “fad”.  Is it not dangerous to advocate something you know nothing about by just jumping on the bandwagon of responses, post and re-posts?  Look at you, how amazing you are, for hitting the “like” button on “ending poverty”. Argh this sounds so callous, but I am really, truly passionate about social justice and I can’t stand the way social media is making it out to be! Sure, its great that the social media can be used to spread good causes, &c., but think of how it has become nothing more than a fad that makes you feel good for liking it.   When the media and networking can be a good thing I seriously doubt Koney is going to be running away to America, looking for a nice home to step into, only to have the door slammed in his face because you saw a YouTube video about him.

“Without vision, the people perish.”  That’s what I’ve heard from my pastor, Jimmy Seibert, who lives in such a radical way his heart breaks for the neighborhood he lives in and moved to that specific spot in Waco in order to love the homeless better by walking with them.  This is the kind of radical love we need, not some video-posting fad. But, I digress. I’m reading three books simultaneously: “The Church Can Change the World” by Jimmy Seibert, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” by Suzanne Collins, and “The Irresistible Revolution” by Shane Claiborne.  So there’s a few “revolutions” going on within the leaves of these pages, but each book has adequate comment on society. I truly cannot begin to compare them all, for each is very different, but I see irony in the sense that Jimmy and Shane’s books reflect the everyday battles we real people face and how to be a radical believer, whilst in Collins’ book, the main character is leading a revolution of sorts but the cause is vain. There is no kingdom for which she fights for (I found it incredible that even their wedding scene never describes going to a church or being married by a pastor/priest), yet I see the longing and the hopelessness of the world. “Even the rocks will cry out" (Luke 19:40)

Speaking of which, the real news is that there has been another earthquake in Haiti. Haiti and Japan are both so susceptible to Earthquakes, and my heart breaks for both! Japan has always been on my heart since God laid it on my heart and I wanted to be a missionary there, and Haiti has been on my heart since my very good friend and teacher shared with me her passion and vision for the country and people. I ended up going on a mission trip there soon after and fell utterly in love with all of the people and their homes. Lord please do what only you can do, heal their ground and their people, and bring true hope that rebuilds more foundations and leads people to you. Amen. No doubt my really good friend, Faith, will share her thoughts on this soon, as I may do in another post.

 It is already tomorrow, thanks to the 24-hour system. Buenas Noches, mi amigos!

Grace to Change

"Grace changes us and change is painful." --Flannery O'Connor

There have been many changes I've noticed that have been stretching me, growing me as a person and as a Christian. I noticed it today, after taking my first cathartic run here at Bloomsbury Park. In the rain. So it's double cathartic, in a sense! (It means to cleanse, purge, purify, by the way.) Being washed by the water is a great thing; we all need a retreat, all alone, with God. It really cleans your mind and gives you room to breathe. I think I may form a habit of it...although I think I have become literally allergic to running, since when I do my legs get red and tingly and itchy. Faith suggested I was possibly allergic to any physical activity. Ha ha. At any rate I have found that being around water in general has a real, cleansing effect. You may notice how you get suddenly more pensive, or inspired as you sit by the lake and think. How taking a shower clears more than just the soap off your head. There's so much power in water, and i think its because God made us to need His true, ultimate cleansing. Now, onto business:

One thing I noticed about this semester that it made me grow more studious and academic. I have never been so motivated to study before! Maybe because I have so much work and I do not want to give my British professors a new reason to not take Americans seriously. My weekly workload includes reading fifty bajillion pages of a Dickens novel (this week it has been me trying to finish 500 pages of 'Bleak House'), reading a whole bunch more for Islam class, typing notes for British Life and Culture and also Theatre class. I feel bad for a few of my friends that have not only Islam and Dickens, but Archaeology of the Near East as well. They do 2 powerpoint presentations a week! So crazy, God bless them!

I notice that I am such a clutz around here-- I tripped four times last night just walking around normally. I am also quite ditzy, but I already knew that. It has always been my ultimate battle to know where I am going and how to get there, reading maps, taking buses, scouting for the right tube stop, &c. I just dont understand how some people can instantly know where they are going; it takes me a while to comprehend things. So basically, my world is being stretched by facing my fears of navigation, and I am learning other basic things about life that I feel silly for not knowing. But I know that when I get back to the States, I will definately be more alert and aware and if Im lucky, I won't get lost more than once! So there.

Another thing is that the culture here is so, so diverse, it is the "biggest melting pot I have ever seen!". I told that to my British friend Robert from the GU church tonight as we were walking to eat dinner together at Nando's (a truly amazing chicken place that is actually spicy). The church here is brilliant. People here smoke, cuss, crossdress, play hardcore metal music, and get vulnerable. Definately not your typical "Southern Baptist" church. But that's why I love it. People are so real, and they genuinely love Jesus! Being opened to these kinds of people shows me more of heaven. My perspectives are changing, and its a good thing. I wonder what people back home would do if I lit up a cigarette or I slipped the "s" word. I mean, thats the norm here, but its definately not over there. Obviously I don't think I would do any of that, but it gets you wondering if people are as real as they act. Not saying thats the case, of course, and Im not advocating that it is okay, it is just a cultural nuance. Life as we know it.

Spiritual growth...now there's a tough case. God's grace is sufficient for me, even when I fail. Some days I feel so strongly about getting up early and reading my Bible and spending time with Him, and other days (like Saturday) I just sort of retreated into my own world. But that ultimately damages a person more. I know I can only find solace in the strong arms of my Daddy in heaven. It has definately been loads of spiritual warfare. Depression, negativity, loneliness...it all creeps in. Slowly you become numb to your surroundings. You treat other people like they were as common as the pidgeons in the parks and tube stations, to quote my friend Faith. Is it all the cigarette smoke people exhale that makes people so blind to noticing others? People can be so cold.

Spiritual numbness is one major thing that's been happening to me, at least I think that's what you call it. Back home in the Bible Belt, on a Christian Campus, being around your very dearest friends from Church week after week...you don't really notice what you've got until you're gone to another world without that. Despite there being 19+ students here on the trip, we are still not quite what you'd call a "community". We have started a sort-of-lifegroup called "JTAP", short for "Jesus Totally Awesome Party", which is the hilight of many people's week! I have not always been praying for it as much as I should be. My prayer skills are being tested; my faith is being tested. Will I share Jesus with this person even if they make fun of me, blow me off, or walk away?

I think there's just a lot of pressure I put on myself to uphold JTAP and do everything the way we did it back home. But that's not what needs to happen. We are a community--a church. I have some great, great friends helping out with JTAP, and I know I should be better about planning it and asking others to help out. Many times I have felt like we should cancel; I think Im just intimidated about this next session we're about to have. Its a teaching about the Holy Spirit and how to be filled with Him. Whats scary is that I feel like Im going to have to show people you don't have to be "super spiritual" or whatever to hear His voice. A lot of people are intimidated by that, and so I feel that same pressure, and I get scared....but Oh, Jesus, you are so much greater than all of this! Let my own plans come to ruin so you may have your glory! The Holy Spirit is so powerful and already moving, can do anything and has already breathed LIFE into us! Im so thankful to be adopted into His loving family. By His grace, I am saved.

Floorcakes and Hot Cross Puns

There are so many things to do in London, so little time to do them!
I keep telling myself to make a schedule from Google Calendars, but my internet connection up in my room on the fourth floor is no good. It is still not any easier to trek up there all the time-- its a good workout though, and I am sure that when I get back to the US I could jog up any flight of stairs as easily as if I was an ice skater scaling a downhill slope. Okay, that may be taking it too far, but Im a dreamer, remember?
Basically there's a "Bucket List" I keep making when I have a chance. My timeless ones include the following:

Go to the Harry Potter Warner Bros. Museum and Studio Tour (note that this is the first on the list)
See my friends in Sheffield
Go to Paris or Barcelona (I think I am actually going to Paris for real!)
Charles Dickens Theme Park
Sherlock Holmes Museum
Eat real pancakes *harder than you think! Its all crepes here
Go to Camden Market again (I was almost pick-pocketed las time!)
See Cecil Court bookshops
Eat Ice cream
Make delicious Sopapilla Cheesecake recipe with friends
Jog in the park... more than once
Get a phone (I lost mine three weeks ago. Way to go)
 London Eye
See Les Miserables
Eat Sushi
Discover something new

You can see how the list could keep growing. In fact I just now found out they have a Dickens Theme Park! How odd, right? I must inform our Dickens professor... Okay! Now onto what's been going on for real!

This past week has been incredible for me: one main lilight for me was getting to know Faith, a sweet-hearted girl with an amazing story of her passion for Haiti and a deep, unrestrained love for Jesus. She may read this and think I'm romanticizing it, but I can't help but see the amazingness of God in her and it is so very encouraging just to be with her!

We started out going to GU Church together (Glorious Undead for those who missed the last blog ;-0) with Caleb, another good guy we have been getting to know on this trip.  But for a few weeks I had been feeling lost and homesick and very much out of place on this trip. Everyone had their circle of friends, and people they always did stuff with. Not bad, except it is just hard when you're on the outside looking in, and you're feeling like you are left on your own in a foreign country.

What really brought us together was Dicken's class, in my eyes. In one of our class conversations she mentioned something that really struck me, and I was determined to find out more about her. We started talking a bit everywhere we went, such as on a bus, at a restaraunt (I finally spelled it right, Lindsay!), &c.
It was not until I tagged along with her, Rachel, Jackie, and Heather on a grocery trip to Waitrose that we finally got some real hang out time! We started cooking together and it was so fun! Its just way better to have someone to share things with...food, life, music, taste in clothing...
Basically we just have a lot of fun together! I am so, so thankful for the gift of Faith as my friend.

The past few days were quite interesting. Faith and I were actually doing a full-day fast together, and we drank so much water! What was great, though, was getting to pray and worship together in the morning and afternoon.We went to St. Paul's Cathedral; this made my day. It was so beautiful! Christopher Wren was the architect, of course, as he is famous for many of the buildings here from the 17th Century after the Great Fire of london in 1666. He initially built a model of St. Paul's cathedral with a modern style, which many did not like, so he built another. This model was the traditional Gothic style which he abhored, so he compromised: he revealed the version we have today once he was done. Lo and behold, he combined the two models! It is abso-lutely gorgeous!!

ST. Paul's Church...breathtaking

I loved walking through the cathedral here; it was so much more light and open. Not as cluttered, dark, or gothic as Westminster Abbey and the like. Apparently Chris Wren had a penchant for light, and therefore there was a lack of stained glass, but that did not matter. We ended up climbing the two hundred shallow steps to the "Whispering Gallery" where we could turn to the wall, whisper, and have your friend right across the dome hear you! Alas we had no way to go up to the other two galleries: they were closed.

Tuesday brought about interesting events. First of all, Faith and I broke the fast with a breakfast of crepes and eggs! It was fun because Faith was not only an excellent cook with the crepes, but she was an entertainer too-- she forgot to put the lid on when she shook the batter in the cup and we suddenly found ourselves with 5 crepes and a floor-cake. Fun indeed, she will not forget that, haha! The night before, we had all discussed the play we were scheduled to see "Tis Pity She's a Wh*re", which was writen in the 1600's and it was very gorey apparently. We freaked each other out as we discovered more and more what the content was.... in the end, after a whole lot of thought, prayer, complaints, tears, and discussions...I ended up going. It was not as bad as I thought; there was a lot of scantily-cladness going on, and gore near the middle and end (well I covered my eyes!), but the acting, story, and choreograhy was great!!

Me and Ethan reading lines from "Tis Pity She's a Wh*re" in class

Faith and I on the bus to meet our demise...

 Earlier we had Theatre class which prepared us for the play, and honestly I don't think I would have gone had we not discussed it. It was a spiritual battle and a moral one at that; but I think I made the right descision to go because I now know what other people think of when they see something "good" in the world's eyes. If I had not gone I would not have been able to tell people in generations of London-goers to come if it was worth it or not to see. Indeed, some people stayed behind without seeing it, and I don not blame them, but I do not believe it was so bad as to say no one should ever see it. Okay. Enough of beating a broken drum, let's move on to interesting things, like giant crepes.

Faith helping me eat a Jumbo Crepe from My old Dutch

Wednesday was Islam and the West class, which was probably the looooongest class Iv'e been in so far. Its interesting, but it was just a long lecture. Faith and I promptly went to the British Library to study for four hours...fun. Bleh! Reading took a lot longer, we had a hard time concentrating, but we ended up going to check out My Old Dutch, an amazing pancake house! Thats still a loose term here: its a jumbo crepe! Since it was the last day of my 30 day fast, it was hard to resist the ice cream they put on the side of my fruity crepe (I asked for cream and they thought I said Ice cream!!), but I did it. Now, we are sitting in the Common Room after class for Dickens has long passed. We talked about iced tea, country dancing, and poptarts in class, as well as Bleak house.



Study break and muffin at the British Library



Thursday night we went to see WICKED!!! It was the best! Of course it was: it was unanimous that it was one of the best musicals we have ever seen! So much depth and plot, and the costumes and wigs and backgrounds were incredible. When Glinda sang "Popular" she of course pronounced it like a Brit and it just sounded funny to us. "Populah".



Megan, Faith and I (and Lindsay photobombing) at the Apollo Theater to see Wicked



So as you can see, we had a full week! I will post soon about our adventures in Oxford, because there's a whole lot to talk about! So!

Until the butter flies,

Diana