Monday, July 20, 2009

London (Day By Day)

Friday, July 3 - Day 1

We arrived at Hobby Airport at 4:15. I was running late (too much partying at Tanner Manor) and felt very rushed. We ended up catching an earlier flight from Hobby to DFW. We had about a 2.5 hour lay over in Dallas. I had my last good meal at Fudruckers. It was tastilicious!

During dinner I took my Tylenol PM and took a long snooze on the flight. The airplane's television was broken, so no movie entertainment for us. Because the plane was not full, I had plenty of room to stretch out and relax. It wasn't that bad.


Saturday, July 4 - Day 2

Our plane arrived around 12:30 at the London Heathrow Airport. There were a few questions at customs, but it wasn't bad. Everything was pretty painless. Martin (from Goldhill Baptist Chruch) picked us up in the "Happy Bus", a big blue bus with a big sunshine painted on the side. After about an hour of my first scary bus ride we made it to the church for lunch and to head out to the houses. For lunch we ate Dominos pizza - it didn't really taste like Dominos and had some interesting choices for toppings.

I went to my house,The Simmons Family, and took a LONG nap. The dad, James, works at Goldhill as the Pastor of Children/Students. The mom, Helen, works as an accountant. They have the sweetest little girl, Sophie. (She made me feel right at home - it couldn't have been any better.)

That night I went to a concert at the church. It was a CD launch party for a church member. It was actually a very worshipful evening (despite the Black-Eyed-Peas song) and a good start to the trip.

Sunday, July 5 - Day 3
I didn't have to be at church until 10:45. Although it didn't feel like sleeping in physically, I did feel like I had slept in mentally. It was truly a wonderful morning of worship and prayer. A true testament that God is at work around the world. I can't explain how much I needed that time - time to worship without responsibility.

For lunch we had "Bar-B-Que" (hamburgers and sausages) with another family from the church. It was rushed, but good to enjoy the beautiful weather and meet more people.

We had our first trip to the school and a meeting before evening church (which was again an amazing time to feel God's presence). I went to bed early - to get ready for a long week ahead of me.

Monday, July 6 - Day 4
I woke up on Monday morning and plugged in my Chi. I took one swip through my hair and smelt disaster. My hair fried and the Chi turned off to never return to the livinig. Then I tried to talk and things got worse. I had lost my voice and had this horrible high pitched squeal coming from me. It made for a wonderful beginning of the week.

The weather theme for the week was cold and rainy. I wore shorts on Monday, but that was the last day I felt brave enough to do that.

The kids at the school loved learning American Sports and were very interested in getting to know us.

After working at the school we headed to Oxford. It was absolutely beautiful - we went outside of "The Great Hall", visited the pub where CS Lewis and Tolkein wrote and saw the most amazing architecture. In Oxford we also experienced punting. It was a great group bonding experience on the river. You should google it if you have never heard of it.

Tuesday, July 7 - Day 5
  • More time at the school.
  • I got my voice back, but didn't feel very good.

That night we went to "Quiz Night" at the Village Hall. My group won a quiz - not because of anything we were able to help with - thank you to the English family who helped us out.

Wednesday, July 8 - Day 6

We left early in the day for a trip to London. It was a fun day, but my feet were killing me with terrible blisters by the end.

We visited:

  • St. Paul's Cathedral (breathe taking)
  • Tower of London
  • Thames River Cruise
  • Trafalger Square
  • Leicster Square
  • TGI Fridays (YUM!)
  • Wicked (as good as it was the first time I saw it)
  • Buckingham Palace

Thursday, July 9 - Day 7

More time at the school. By this day we were able to know more of the kid's names and build more on relationships. It was good. More sports - I am still not good at it!

Thursday night I helped out with Parent Night for one of the Children's Ministry events. This was more my element. They have a large group of community families who participate in their weeknight activities. Most of the parents I visited with did not attend the church, but their kids participated in the activities. What a ministry/mission field they have. Way to go Kara and James for including parents in the programs.

After I helped at the church I went to the Youth Center to help out. This is one really cool place for local teens to hang out. There was also some good Rock Band time.

Friday, July 10 - Day 8

This was our last day with the kids. It was bittersweet. The kids were eager to know if we were coming back next year or if they could visit us in the States.

After school we played the faculty in a game of baseball and had a bar-b-que (again - hamburgers and hotdogs). Our team won - although I did not make a point I actually hit the ball every time I went up to bat. This was a miracle in itself. I was rather proud of myself.

Friday night we went to the school production of Oliver. I thought it was well done. I enjoyed it and was impressed with the talent of some of the kids.

Saturday, July 11 - Day 9

We rode the train back into London. We visited Kings Cross to see Platform 9 3/4 and St. Pancras, which has a famous wine bar (which left a lot to be desired). We then went back to London and visited several shops, The National Gallery (my favorite) and ate at the Texas Embassy.

That night we helped out with an outreach event at the church. The event was not well attended by students, but I was really glad to see the amount of church members who were there to support the event (espcially the senior adults). We had a free bar-b-que (yes - you guessed it - more hamburgers and hotdogs).

Sunday, July 12 - Day 10

Another day of good worship - a much needed ending to the week.

That afternoon we went to Windsor Castle, which I loved. In my opinion it was better than Buckingham and Kensington, which I visited on my last trip to London.

That night we had our last evening meal of pub food and good laughs with friends.

Monday, July 13 - Day 11

Time to head home!!!! Yea!!!! We were a bit delayed in our arrival back to Houston, but I was home snug in my bed (26 hours later) by 11:45 pm. I didn't sleep well, but it was so good to be home.

Robert had made me a super sweet "Welcome Home" sign and brought me a much needed Diet Coke to the airport. When we got back to Tanner Manor I found my surprise - he had cleaned out my very messy car. Too Sweet!!!!

Moving Week

The week before I left for London was beyond busy. I moved houses on Monday and Tuesday. A huge thank you to my parents, Robert, Will and Michelle. I couldn't have done it without them. With their help the move was fairly painless. I moved my bedroom furniture into the house and everything else went into storage. I have had two garage sales over the past year and I thought I had lost most of my junk, but that is not the case. I still have a lot of crap. I guess 8 complete sets of dishes (12 place setttings each), 5 different sets of chargers and 3 different sets of glasses leaves plenty of boxes to be stored away. Over the past year 90% of my stuff had remained packed up in the garage, so I think Robert was a bit surprised as we loaded up the truck.

(The Saturday night before I moved I cut a huge gash in my big toe. The cut produced enough blood to look like a crime scene. It made for an interesting evening.)

In preparation for a 10 day journey I took two of my Texas Examinations. Wednesday morning I took my Special Education (EC-12) test. It was long and tedious. My brain was completely fried by the end of the test. On Thursday morning I took the ESL test, which was not easy as well. The great news is that I passed them both with flying colors. YEA!!!!! Two more things out of the way!!!!!!

Will and Michelle had planned a July 3rd party at the house for Friday. I was very sad I was going to miss out on the party, so we partied that morning. I got up and made a yummy "cooking light" breakfast. Well...I use the term "yummy" loosely. It was actualy "esgusting" in the words of Madisyn. Robert and I got about 2 hours of swimming in before it was time to go.

With all of this going on and the busyness of the trip it was a good thing I dropped my summer school class. This has been very strange, but I am going to make it. I just have to keep finding things to do, so I don't get too bored.