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!