Reflection

Long ago I promised one last post. I thought I would write it much sooner, but it's taken me a while to digest my trip and to reflect on it with an objective eye. My overall impressions have changed a bit from when I first returned. Initially, I just felt tired, jet lagged, and there were parts of the trip that did not live up to my expectations. Now, as I think back, those same impressions are still valid, but I have a more complete overall impression. I've been telling everyone that I was so glad that I went, but I mean it more now. I've concluded that I want to go back, but this time with a spouse, other family member, or best friend. For me, something isn't experienced unless it's done with someone you love. I also think I would have spent more money. I was so concerned about not spending money that I actually saved money by going to Europe! I calculated that if I would have been home, I would have spent more money because of food, gas, etc. Most of what I bought was for other people; I kind of forgot to buy things for me!

Some of the things that stand out to me now, 5 weeks later, are seeing the Globe, the Rosetta Stone, the castle and the Roman aqueducts. Before the trip I spoke Spanish to myself all the time. Since I got back I've barely spoken a word! I think I needed a big Spanish break! It did help me realize that it takes 10 times more effort to learn Spanish here than it would be to learn it there. I've also realized that I don't want to go back to Europe unless I can spend at least a few weeks there. I now know that jet lag is a horrible, terrible experience for me and I need a good 4 days to recover to the point where I can get out of bed and stop throwing up! I've realized how much I love American culture, not just because it's better than anyone else's, but because it's mine. I like the feeling of being comfortable with knowing social mores, and I've never before felt like I fit in so much with people here. It took going to a different country to realize I'm more like other Americans than I thought. If I go again, I will be sure to take a better camera. I've gotten a lot of complements on my pictures, which is very kind of everyone, but I don't feel like I came back with tons of amazing shots like I thought I might. My little point and shoot camera just didn't cut it!

Here are some things I miss about Europe:

- Being around so many international speakers...so many ESL students!
- Digestives! (without chocolate, which is realize is not the popular kind) Yum!!
- All the walking (most of the time)
- Being in such an academic environment
- Seeing more and more places where movies were filmed!
- British accents
- Spain's low humidity levels!
- Spain's subway system


Thanks for taking the time to read all these blogs. I wrote them for me and for you. It was an adventure, although, if I do go back someday, I hope to have an entirely different one!

Back in London

Last night I took the metro to the royal palace, but found out when I got there that the signs all over Madrid were wrong, and that it wasn't really free that day. Very disappointed, but oh well. At least I got to see the outside. Right now I'm sitting in the lobby of an airport hotel in London. We had to fly through London to get home, and it was a lot cheaper if we spent the night here. So....here I am. Very tired and ready to go home and dreading having to get up at 5 am to catch my very long flight tomorrow. Today was spent flying from Madrid to London. It went ok, but I'm so tired! The rest of my time in Spain went well. I was very tired of speaking Spanish, but it was really good for me. The person sitting next to me on the plane today was an American from Chicago who had just taught a year of ESL there. I got the name of the organization who hired her. Seems like an awesome opportunity. I eat McDonalds for dinner tonight since it was the cheapest thing around. Tasted pretty much the same, but the fries were skinnier and less salty. Anyway, I guess this will be my last post from Europe. I honestly didn't have many expectations before I came, and it's hard to process the experience while I'm still here. When I get home I'll post one last conclusion for the trip as a whole. I can't to see you or speak to you when I get home. Soon!

More stuff from Spain

Don't have much time, but here's a little bit of an update. I went to church yesterday. Enjoyed singing in Spanish, but was quite lost during the sermon! After church there was a pot luck. I was determined to speak a bunch of Spanish, but then met an American from Holland, MI! We talked a mile a minute all afternoon. Great to connect with an American. The food was amazing; paella, bread, fruit, the works. Oooops. Just ran out of time. More to come about my shopping experience today.

Sweating in Spain

Sorry this is going to be so long, but this is probably my only shot at the internet before I’m back in the States. I’m going to attempt to put up some pictures on facebook; I think most anyone reading this is my facebook friend, so I won’t bother putting up too many here. One of the first things I discovered was that the keyboards are different here. The letters are in the same place, but all of the punctuation marks are in different places, and it really slows you down when you can’t find a comma! I’ve never been so happy to have the internet back! It’s only been 5 days, but so much as happened that it’s hard to be away for so long. I’ve realized how spoiled I am in the States with regards to Internet (and a lot of other things). I don’t have internet in my apartment in GR, but I can drive or walk the half mile to work and use it there, or walk the half mile to the library in the other direction. Here, I’m in the middle of the suburbs and there isn’t a library or internet café to be found. I can take the subway for an hour to get to downtown, but I haven’t tried that on my own. I’m over at an American’s home for dinner, and they graciously allowed me to use their wifi, which the Spaniards pronounce wee fee.

I’ve been in Spain less than a week, but I already have developed a sort of pattern. Everyone wakes up around 9; I wake up much earlier because I don’t sleep that late in the States, but mostly because my bedroom faces east and I wake up with the sun every morning (there are no shades or curtains on my window). My room is in the basement, thank goodness, because it’s the coolest room in the house. Actually, my “bedroom” is the wine cellar with a bed in it! Kind of ironic, since I don’t drink! It’s been over 100 every day and we don’t have air conditioning. Dad, you wouldn’t last 5 minutes in Spain! The humidity isn’t too bad, but 105 is hot not matter what way you look at it when you don’t have any relief from the heat. I have my own half bath next to my bedroom, which is a nice change from Oxford. My favorite part of the bathroom is the F and C on the knobs for Fria and Caliente (cold and hot).

Everyone lulls around till about ten when we eat breakfast. I can’t figure out if this is the only meal for breakfast, or just this family’s favorite, but they eat toasted Spanish bread with jam, and they dunk it in their tea. The bread here is very hard on the outside and very soft and light on the inside. It’s eaten at every meal. After breakfast everyone goes their separate ways until around noon when everyone goes swimming (there’s a pool in the back yard) until 3:30 or so when we eat “lunch.” I quickly learned to eat a large snack around noon or I don’t make it till lunch! Lunch is the big meal of the day. So far we’ve had meatballs, breaded chicken, spaghetti, etc. Except for salad (with green olives, tuna, LOTS of dressing, onions, tomatoes) they don’t eat any vegetables and they fry everything! They are constantly telling me to eat more, and I have to politely refuse 3 or 4 times a meal. After lunch everyone takes a siesta if they so desire, and then it’s back to the pool at 6 or so until 10 or sometimes later when it’s time for dinner. It’s so hard for me to eat a meal so late at night, but it can’t be helped, so I eat. Of course, we are staying with a retired couple, so if you’re an adult and work, your day wouldn’t look quite like this, but in general, the culture is waaaaay more laid back then I’m used to. Time has no meaning, which of course drives me nuts!!! Two of my days were spent babysitting, and I’ll babysit another half a day on my last day here.

I quickly realized that I don’t really speak Spanish! However, I am grateful for my dictator of a Spanish teacher, Mr. Perez, because without him I would be in a much worse place. I do remember a substantial amount of Spanish, but 3 years of high school Spanish does not cut it here! When someone speaks just to me, slowly, and uses hand gestures, I can usually get the main idea, but when everyone is talking a mile a minute to each other I usually tune them out because I can’t follow a thing. It’s kind of boring at meals to sit around for an hour and not be part of the conversation. It’s certainly been good for me, however, for a number of reasons. First, my Spanish is getting better after only one week. I can’t imagine how helpful it would be to spend a lot more time here; I can see how much easier it is to learn a language in the environment. Secondly, I’ve got a new appreciation for ESL students. I’ve never spent so much time in a place where I feel so out of place and am so confused! I’ve learned a lot about the Spanish culture. As I said in my last post, they are blunt!!! Not mean, per say, but will tell you like it is, and don’t really have much tact. It’s not necessary to thank people when they do something for you; it’s considered strange, because they assume that they are supposed to do things for their guests. It’s just totally unnecessary to show appreciation for certain things, and much to my mother’s dismay, I’m sure, I don’t have to write a thank you note! I’ve learned you can’t be barefoot inside the house, and that Spaniards dress very formally when they are out and about, but dress very immodestly at the pool or beach! I feel like a prude in my one piece bathing suit. Every woman wears a bikini from babies to grandmas, regardless of whether you have the body for it or not. Much to my father’s dismay, it’s considered a bit rude to put your hands/arms/elbows in your lap at the table; they are to be left on the table.

I’ve only left the house twice since I got here. The first time was to go to La Plaza Major (The Big Plaza), in the center of Madrid. We took the Metro, or subway. It makes Chicago’s EL look like nothing, but I must say that the EL is much easier to understand and use! We didn’t have much time in the Plaza, but I got the main idea. There are tons of souvenir shops, and I picked up a few postcards. In the center of the square there are lots of people trying to earn money by various means; music, balloon animals, costumes, etc. Everything is really expensive in Spain, so I’ve quickly realized that I won’t be buying much while I’m here. I was dying of thirst, so I bought a bottle of water for 1.70, which equals about 3 US dollars. I try to take water with me everywhere because you sweat so much in this heat. I can drink a whole bottle of water and still be thirsty. A few days I’ve not drank enough and have become very dehydrated.

My other time I’ve left the house was to go to Segovia, which is about an hour and a half by car. We first stopped by the church and burial ground of Franco, a famous and terrible Spanish dictator. There was a civil war in Spain in the 30’s and he won and took over until he died in the 70’s. The monument is beautiful; the cross above the church can be seen for miles, since it’s on the side of a mountain. I wasn’t able to take pictures inside the church, but it was very simplistic after seeing St. Paul’s Cathedral! There was an incredible view from the church steps, so I took a bunch of pictures. We then headed to Segovia. We found a place to eat lunch, and I decided to have Paella, Spain’s most famous dish. You are first served drinks (I had something similar to Sprite, but better, actually), and some really delicious bread that reminds me of American hard roles that you’d get at any restaurant. After that course you are serviced the second course, Paella, which is yellow rice with various kinds of meat cooked with the rice. I ate it all except for the some of the shellfish. Then you are served the third course; I had pork kabobs and fries. Then you are served dessert. Each of these courses was like an entire meal for me! It’s hard not to eat it though, because it’s good and because it’s so expensive. My meal was about 12 Euros, which would be about 18 dollars. And that was the cheapest place we found by far!!!!

After lunch we walked to a castle, which was the inspiration for Cinderella’s castle at Disney Land. It was incredible, and for the first time since I got to Europe, this establishment didn’t mind letting me take pictures. I’ve been frustrated in the past to pay money for something and nothing to show for it. I like to take something tangible away from an experience. The view from the top was amazing and I took lots of pictures there too. My favorite thing, funny enough, was the moat around the castle. It was sooooo deep; probably 3 or 4 stories. I had no idea it would be so deep! I took a picture of it, but it doesn’t do it justice because you can barely see the bottom. After the castle I bought a few postcards and we headed back to the car for the drive home.

We leave on Wednesday, but have to fly back to England for a day. We’ll arrive in the afternoon to Heathrow, will stay in a hotel and get up really early on Thursday to fly home. If all goes well I should arrive in GR mid afternoon. I’m really glad that our flight takes place in one day and that it isn’t another overnight flight. I’m hoping that my jet lag won’t be so bad; it took 4 days before I didn’t feel terribly ill after we arrived in Oxford. I’ve had a great trip, but I can’t wait for the little things that I miss, like being in the same time zone as my friends and family, the dark curtains on my bedroom window, my roommate’s cats, TV in English, air conditioning, internet, pickles, peanut butter, vegetables (that one’s for you, Mom), being able to make change quickly at the store without having to turn all the coins over to read how much they are worth, my church, and being able to walk barefoot inside!

Estoy en España!

I don´t have much time, but here are the basics. We left yesterday for the bus station, but underestimated how long it would take us to walk there, and had to run the last few blocks with all our suitcases and two little boys. I was DRIPPING in sweat when we got on the bus; thank goodness for air conditioning! The bus ride was fine, as was navigating the airport. We had two hours to kill and then got on the plane. We sat on the runway for almost an hour and then left for our 2 hours flight. As soon as we walked off the plane in Spain a man asked to see our passports. He briefly glanced at them and immediately stamped them without even asking a question! We didn´t wait one minute to go through ¨customs!¨ By this time, however it was 11 pm and we were getting tired. We met up with the family we are staying with and we loaded into the car and headed to our home for 9 days. It was 1 am by the time I got to bed and I was soooo tired! Unfortunately, my window is under a street lamp, and I only got about four hours of sleep last night. I kind of feel jet lagged again! This morning we all got up late and had breakfast at 10am, which is normal for Spaniards. We went for a swim, and now it´s 2:30 and we haven´t had lunch yet! I won´t have much internet, as far as I know, so i won´t be able to put up pictures or give updates very often, but I´ll do my best. Here are some of my first impressions of Spain:

It´s mentally exhausting to try to understand all the Spanish! Because I don´t have much of an accent, everyone thinks I speak better than I do!

It took me a while to figure out how to the flush the toilet: you pull up on a little round knob

I swam in the cleanest pool I´ve ever been in and dried off in about 30 seconds in the arid, 95 degreed weather.

I love the mountains!!!

I miss air conditioning!!!!

Spainards are blunt.

London!

We left to catch our bus at 7:15am. We made it to the bus stop ok, but when we arrived, I realized that I was a pound short for the bus and they almost left without me! They wouldn't even let my friends off the bus to join me in catching the next one. Finally, they were so annoyed with me they just let me on without the extra pound. The hour and 45 minute bus ride was uneventful. When we arrived we took a while to orient ourselves (thank you Diane, for that map!!!), and we were on our way to Westminster Abbey. I didn't go in because I didn't want to pay the 12 pounds, and also I knew there would be a lot of walking that day and wanted to save my legs. I took a bunch of pictures of the outside and went and found a Starbucks and read a book.

I met back up with my friends and we headed towards (or so we thought) the Globe theatre. We got a bit lost (although we followed a sign that we think was bumped to point in the wrong direction), but with the help of a posted city map, we eventually found it. I wanted to go inside so badly, but it was right before a matinee (Romeo and Juliet), so I didn't. It's still pretty cheap to see a play there; between 5 and 27 pounds! We then walked to St. Paul's Cathedral, which of course was amazing. I was distraught over not being able to take pictures. I had to restrain myself! I won't even try to describe it, because I won't be able to do it justice! We climbed up a few hundred stairs around and around and around, and fiiiianly made it to an observation deck where we were allowed to take pictures of the city.

We made our way to the British museum, and this was about the time where my legs gave out. I begged to stop a minute, and since we were lost anyway, we stopped on a curb to orient ourselves once again. We found our route and set out again, only to get loster (yes, that is a word). We had to ask 2 people where it was before we eventually found it; ironic since it's one of the biggest structures in the city! The museum was huge!!!! We spent two hours there but could have spent days and days! It was the biggest museum I've ever seen, and frankly it was a bit overwhelming. We were sooooo tired at this point that we just rushed through it, seeing a few things of interest. I loved seeing the Rosetta stone, but unfortunately so did about 20 other people at every moment, and I never really got a good look at it. I also loved seeing the Chinese pottery (shout out to Cindy and TJ!) and the Samurai armour and swords.

After the museum we stopped at another Starbucks to load up on caffine for our long walk back to the bus. At this point it started to sprinkle, but it really wasn't too bad. It helped us walk faster, and we found our stop without any problems. The bus arrived, but after some people got off, the bus driver (rather rudely), told us we couldn't get ON the bus there and to do across the street. We had no idea what he was talking about, but we just started walking, hoping to find another bus stop. We walk and walked and walked and couldn't figure out what to do. We asked 2 or 3 people, all of whom sent us in different directions. Part of the problem was that we needed to take something called the Oxford Tube, but the Londoners were confusing it with the underground, also called the Tube. Anyway, we eventually did go into the underground and asked someone who gave us slightly better instructions. We were still looking all over for this magical bus stop when finally, a man out of nowhere asked us where we were trying to go. We told him, and he pointed behind us and said, "right there." I don't remember our reactions exactly, but we all thought about hugging him. I think in reality we just screamed a bunch of thank yous and ran to the stop (a bus was there and about to leave), and got on! We giggled out of relief for about 5 minutes. I took a million pictures out the window (as usual). We were stuck in traffic for about 45 minutes, but I didn't really care; I was just thrilled to have found the bus after over an hour of looking for it.

We calculated that we walked over 8 miles, and that doesn't account for getting lost three times and all the walking inside of buildings. Great, exhausting day! Pictures to come; time to leave for church.

Stonehenge and Bath

Elizabeth and me!

The bath where you throw in coins and make a wish

The Great Bath

I spent yesterday (Saturday), traveling to Stonehenge and Bath. I wasn't that excited about Stonehenge except for the fact that it was a famous place, and now I can say that I've been there. It didn't cost me anything to get "in," although you can see it from the road, so thank goodness I didn't pay to see a big pile of rocks! There was a ton of traffic on the way there, so by the time we got there, we only had about 20 minutes to walk around it and take pictures. There was an audio commentary to listen to, but I didn't really have time to listen to most of it. I did learn that 1/3 of each rock is below ground, that the rocks have been moved a few times over the past 5 thousand years, and that they are set up in such a way that the sun shines through each arch during the corresponding month. So, on June first, it shines through number 2 (or something like that), but in July, it shines through arch 3. It is almost the summer solstice, and on that day the sun shines in a particularly famous way and makes a beam of light shine on some important rock in the formation. So....there were people starting to camp out for the big event.

Bath was pretty cool. We got to tour the Roman baths. It was so dark underground that it was hard to see anything or take good pictures. The Great Bath outside was the easiest to see. The water was a terrible murky green color, and it looked putrid. For 50p (50 pence), you can taste the water! No thanks!

Then I walked over to the Jane Austen Museum in town. It cost money to go inside, and it was only a museum about that time period, and didn't have any of her personal belongings, so I figured it wasn't worth it. I did spend some time in the gift shop, however, and enjoyed looking at all the objects you can buy that says, "I love Mr. Darcy," I bought a few postcards, one with Colin Firth on it; a replica of the drawing that Elizabeth sees in Pemberly and has to admit out loud that he is handsome.

It was a long day with tons of walking and 4 hours on a bus, but overall I really enjoyed it. Today I'm going to a different, more contemporary church. More to come!

My first celebrity sighting in England!

So, I was walking down the street on my way to an Evensong (formal chapel service), and I stop at a light. I then hear someone talking behind me and realize that I recognize her voice!!! I turned around, and there was Susan from Narnia!! I did a double take, and then felt bad that I was sort of staring, so I made an effort not to look at her. We both crossed the street and were walking side by side for a block or two before she crossed the street! So cool! Turns out she is a student at one of the colleges here in Oxford.

Evensong at New College (the college we are working with) was amazing. It was being tapped today for BBC radio, so everything was particularly formal today. They have a very famous boys choir, and they were AMAZING! I wish could have taken pictures of the chapel itself because it was one of the most incredible rooms I've ever seen. I might be able to go back later and take pictures.

I hit a wall

This is Christ church, which actually is a University.

So, I guess I knew ahead of time that his would happen, but I didn't really think it would happen so fast! I hit a wall. The thrills of a new country have faded and I'm starting to miss the good old US of A! My sound machine died last night (which I CANNOT sleep without, so I'm very tired. I'm not used to being around children 24/7, so their charm has worn off. I'm tired of taking baths, eating strange food, not having access to American TV, having to grocery shop every single day and walking absolutely everywhere. I'm feeling a little better now, but it was kind of a rough morning! I think it was a momentary lapse/breakdown, and hopefully my frustrations will continue to fade.

I went to my first ESL class today. I didn't do much "teaching," but basically observed other students teaching. I'll do more next week. It went better than I thought it would. 3 hours is a really long time for beginner students, but they hung in there.

Church in England

Yesterday I did some shopping at a famous book store in town, Blackwell, and did some more grocery shopping. I have to get used to shopping every other day for groceries. Nothing is in bulk; they don't even offer gallons of milk. Everything has to be carried the 3/4 of a mile back to our flat. I saw someone today load their groceries in a rolling suitcase. I might try that next.

I haven't bought much yet, but I found a sweatshirt on clerance for 3 pounds that I liked. It's a great color and it fit me really well. I didn't pay much attention to the wording until I got home and realized it said "New York City" on it. Sigh....I swear I'm actually in England. I did not secretly go to New York this summer instead.

We went to church this morning. The service was similar, but with some obvious differences. First, children are given musical instruments to "play" during the singing, but really, it's just loud noise when they are all shaking tamborines and banging drums! The songs were familiar, but most of them were sung to different tunes. The funniest thing was when we sang a song put to the tune of "The bare necessities" from The Jungle Book. It was really cute but hard not to laugh! After the service everyone hung out and ate digestive buiscuts (a BIG thing around here), and of course drank tea. They also served a weak lemonade that they called squash. Then everyone rode their bike home from church. We of course, just have to walk everywhere.

Everyone else is taking a nap now. I'm tired, but I won't sleep tonight if I try to rest now. I should be doing my homework! I have two classes soon after I get home, and I'm trying to get started with my reading ahead of time.

First real day out and about

Yesterday I spent the entire day inside the flat, and I babysat the boys for the first time. Today we went to the Museum of Natural History. I love that museums around here are free. There were thousands of stuffed animals and bones. I took a few pictures and put them on facebook. The Internet is so bad here that I'm not going to take the time to put them both places. I think anyone reading this is friends on facebook too, so you can see the majority of pictures there. Some of the highlights at the museum were the T-rex, an ostrich, and a dodo bird skeleton. I also experienced my first public toilet, as they call it. It was free, which was nice, and it's more like a room than a stall like we have here. You have to hold the handle down to make it flush, and when you think you have enough water in the bowl you let go. It seems potentially disastrous! They also had a room full of artifacts from all over the world; tons of pottery, musical instruments, etc. They also had shrunken heads, which made me think of Harry Potter (a true fan knows why). There were cases of torture devises and the skulls of those who had been tortured. Lovely. Truly lovely. They had costumes from all over the world, including Eskimos, native Americans, etc. There were lots of things you could touch, including a whale's jaw bone, a stuffed cheetah, a stuffed pony, stuff owls and polished rocks of all shapes and sizes. I was amazed at the size of alligators and sea turtles; I don't think I've ever seen either up close. I'm slowly starting to learn my way around town, and I think pretty soon I'll venture out on my own and spend time taking pictures.

First trip out

I walked to a mall yesterday, located almost a mile from my flat. It was very small compared to a US mall; perhaps 20 stores, but it had a variety of things, including their version of a department stores and the grocery store! I'm quickly learning that you can't buy much at one time because you have to carry everything with you! This was true when I was in Chicago, but I never had to buy all my groceries there. I saw my first red telephone booth, and I wanted very much to get my picture taken in it, but it was very crowded on that side of the street. I'm very reluctant to look like a tourist; I want to blend in, but maybe that's just impossible. The family that I'm with speak Spanish all the time, so maybe people will think we're from Spain.

The grocery store was VERY crowded!! It was hard to navigate and try to figure out the best deals. One interesting thing is that you can buy milk in boxes over here, and because of the way it's pasteurized, you don't have to refrigerate it until you open it! I wish we had that in the States so I could stock up when it's one sale! I made the mistake of not paying any attention to the different coins here, so when I had to pay I looked like an idiot, staring at each coin trying to give the cashier exact change. After I paid the cashier tried to tell me something, and for the life of me I couldn't understand a thing she was saying! I asked her to repeat twice, but she eventually gave up. Apparently I'm supposed to bag my own groceries, but since I couldn't understand her see just bagged them herself.

The public library is right next to the mall, but we didn't go in because we were carrying a lot of heavy bags all the way back to the flat. I'm very excited to tour New College, the school we are working with, but I'm not sure when that will happen. On Saturday we get to tour a castle that's right in the middle of downtown Oxford.

No London or top sheet

Sorry some of these are sideways....still getting the hang of this, and it takes about 5 minutes to download each picture, so when I get back in the State's maybe I'll fix it. Anyway, here is my strange shower contraption that doesn't work very well!

My room.

View from my bedroom window

Another view from my window.

Ok....so here's the full story. We got to the airport in GR just fine, but when we were going through security I realized I accidentally packed a shampoo bottle in my carry on, so I went back to the ticket counter, they found my bag, and I slipped it in. I had to go through security again, but I made it in plenty of time to get on the plane. That short plane ride was really fun. It was the first time the boys had flown and it was great to experience it through their eyes. When we got to Detroit we found our next gate and discovered they were going to board us a full hour and 15 minutes early, but that we were going to leave 20 minutes late because of strong tail winds. So, we sat on the plane for over an hour before we left. When we got in the air we discovered that our individual tvs did not work, and we were sooo sad! Eventually they did get them to work some of the time. We were served dinner a few hours into the flight. I'm so impatient when I eat and I was starving, so I foolishly took a huge bite of potato and burned the roof of my mouth. It was hard to eat anything else the whole flight. About half way through the flight, when we were out in the middle of the ocean, we suddenly turned around and started heading back the other direction! We eventually found out that a man on the plane had a medical emergency, and Newfoundland was a little closer than London. So...we flew 2 hours in the wrong direction. We sat on the ground for an hour and a half and then flew 4 and a half hours to London. Around the time we were in Newfoundland I started to feel very sick, so I was pretty frustrated that we were going to be on the plane 5 hours longer than planned. My seat was broken so it wouldn't tilt back, and I was terribly uncomfortable. I didn't sleep a wink all night! We fiiiiiinally arrived in London and had to take two trains and a bus to get to Oxford. I developed very strong nausea on the bus ride that has not gone away, 20 hours later. I hardly slept at all last night because I felt so sick. Today was our only day to go to London, but unfortunately, everyone went without me. The trip hasn't all been bad; I'm still somewhat excited to be here. All I can think about is how sick I feel and worry I'll never feel normal again, but I'm hoping and praying I can get over this jet lag soon. I'm on antibiotics for the infection I had for a week before I got here. I still feel very sick from that, but hopefully that will go away too! Sorry for the length and the not so great report. I'm sure I'll have better things to say about jolly old England when I don't feel like throwing up!

It's been interesting to experience all the differences here in the small things. My shower was a bit of a disaster; I didn't get the hang of it right away and made Lake Erie on the bathroom floor. Apparently they don't use top sheets in England, so it was strange to sleep with just a comforter. I like my room, but I couldn't get my converter to work, so I couldn't plug in my noise machine and I could hear every little creak and moan of the building, so today I'm getting batteries for it. I've tried to download some pictures, and I'll try again now, but my Internet here isn't the best.

I'm on a bus on my way to Oxford!

So....I just typed up this huge description of my trip here and it deleted....twice! So.... I'm giving up for now since this isn't a good connection. The short version is that it was really rough...huge delays, I was sick, etc. I'm thrilled to be here, however, and am trying to soak it all in. Lots more details to come.

Almost there!

I'm so excited I can barely stand it! I leave Monday, June 8th at 3:00 from the GR airport, then fly to Detroit. I have a couple hour layover and then head straight for the UK. I'll arrive in Oxford about 10 am or so on Tuesday. My Skype name is sharon_keegan, so add me to your contacts so we can talk while I'm there! I'm planning on taking a webcam with me, so we can even video skype! My packing is nearly done; I've been collecting things for weeks now. I'm trying hard to only take one suitcase because I'll be partially responsible for taking care of two little boys. Their mom will be with us, but I want to have one hand free at all times! Today is my last day of work until Aug. 17. I can't say I'm too upset about that, but it does mean finances will be tight this summer. Thank goodness for my savings account!

On a side note, my church has this cool program where people can provide goods and physical help to others in the church that have needs. I've been dying to learn how to play the violin for years, and a month or so ago I put out the word that I wanted one. Someone has responded and is giving me her violin! I won't get it until Sunday afternoon, so I'll only have one day before I leave to get started. I think it will help me when I'm on my way home from Europe, to have something at home waiting for me to tackle. I like projects and having goals. Anyway, I guess that is all for now. I imagine my next post will be from Oxford in my dorm room!

Less than a month!

T minus 27 days until I leave! I think I've gathered everything I need and it's all I can do not to pack my suitcase now! Time has dragged these past few weeks as things have slowed down a lot at work, and I'm sure it will only get worse. I'm trying to enjoy every day, but it's hard for me to be content sometimes!

My boss went to Oxford last year with a group of students and took a bunch of pictures for me so I could see where I was going to live. The top two pictures are of buildings near my dorm. The kitchen picture is the kitchen in my apartment. Notice the cute little washer and the very small fridge! I'll have my own bedroom and I'll have to share a bathroom with the boys I'm babysitting. That will be a new experience for me!! The college we are teaching at is called New College, which is a little misleading since it's been around for hundreds of years! Hugh Grant and Kate Beckinsale both graduated from New College! If you want to see an aerial shot of where I'm going to live, go to http://maps.google.com/ and type in "Venneit Close, Oxford," then select "satellite". My bedroom window looks out over the Thames!

I'm going to Europe this summer!

I am planning on going with my boss and his family to Europe this summer for two weeks. The main purpose of our trip will be to teach ESL and train missionaries how to teach ESL. Our first three weeks will be spent in Oxford. I'm so excited to spend time in such an historic city, but to be honest, I'm almost as excited about getting to eat in the dining room where Harry Potter is filmed as I am about anything else! We will be teaching ESL classes to Oxford international students. It may seem strange that Oxford would have Americans come over to teach English, but apparently an American dialect is more favorable for Asians....so....Oxford has to pay us to teach them! I will be babysitting my boss' kids while he and his wife teaches.

Our second two weeks will be spent in Madrid. My main job in Spain will be to babysit my boss' kids while he and his wife lead ESL training workshops for missionaries, but that's only for two days. The rest of the time will be more like a vacation. I wish I could sit in on the workshops, but I don't think I'll mind while I'm watching the boys poolside in the backyard of the huge house were are staying in!

We don't leave until June, but I'm so excited about going that I couldn't wait to get this blog up and going, even though I don't have a thing to say yet! I did want to have this up and running with an address before I left. I'll have wireless in Europe, so I'll be adding frequent notes and pictures. I suppose that is all for now!