goin' to the chapel . . .

I miss the days of having a church building two minutes away.  Today our journey out to the Mitcham Ward took two hours (we were half an hour late to church, so we barely caught the end of the first speaker's talk.  And when you're like the only white people in the entire ward it's kind of obvious that you're late).  Things are a little . . . different . . . here.  For example, the lady behind us burped so loud that it made me jump right in the middle of sacrament meeting.  And then in primary we talked about the Word of Wisdom and told the kids that we don't drink alcohol and the first counselor in the bishopric raised his hand and said, "I drank once."  Well thanks for that, Brother What's-Your-Name.  But overall things went pretty well.  I had to teach the four through seven year olds and it wasn't terrible.  I think that they understood what I was trying to teach them (even though one of them said, "Why can't we just play games like the Sunbeams instead of also doing that boring part where you talk?" I am the best teacher ever.  And in my defense they seemed to have fun for the most part and even told me that I could teach again next week).  I was also informed by one of the kids that some people have "white mums" and when I said that yes, my mom is white, she said, "Well that's because you're white!" So I'm just glad she clarified that for me.  

do you hear the people sing?

The best thing about London has to be all the amazing cultural and historical significance here.  Yesterday we were able to visit St. Paul's, which is probably one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to.  They don't allow pictures inside so I can't really convey the beauty of this place, but you can look at pictures and take a virtual tour here.  Our guide allowed us to cheat a little and take a picture of one of the staircases.  It's amazing because the stairs actually support each other - the entire staircase is held because the individual steps hold one another.  The railing is purely ornamental.

And if you want to make a day the best day ever, you decide last minute to go to a production of Les Miserables.  It turns out that tickets to shows in London are pretty affordable, especially if you go last minute, so you can end up paying 26 pounds for decent seats.  This production was life changing.  Honestly, it was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.  The actors and actresses were amazing, and "Bring Him Home" left everyone speechless.  This was my second time seeing Les Mis, but I was still in awe by the end of the show.

trafalgar square, piccadilly, & covent gardens

Today I woke up at 5:00 and couldn't fall back asleep, so I got up and got ready.  It turns out that the guys had been awake since 4:00, so we went to breakfast.  Favorite story of the day:

While we were walking around trying to find something to eat for breakfast, we saw a couple riding their bikes and holding hands and we just thought it was kind of cute but mostly cheesy.  They stopped right in front of us, got off their bikes, and started to kiss each other goodbye (key word being started).  After about 10 seconds the guy flung his bike down - loudly and dramatically - and pulled her in closer.  I didn't know if I should laugh or just cover my eyes, so we walked away really quickly.  I thought the French were supposed to be the passionate ones?

There are tons of breakfast places in London, but none of them were open except McDonald's (and when we walked by later - around 9 - they still weren't open), so the first meal I bought here was a Sausage McMuffin.  It tasted the same as it would in the United States, but they did have some weird things on the menu (like a "Bacon Roll," which is a bun with canadian bacon and ketchup . . .) 

Later in the day we went on a walk and saw some of the sights in London.

Covent Gardens

Statue of the inventor of Sunday School

The National Gallery and Saint-Martin-in-the-Fields

Trafalgar Square (I look scary in this picture but I loved this area)

Eating chicken schwarmas for lunch

Trafalgar Square was amazing.  The architecture is beautiful and there are statues everywhere.  After we saw it we went out for lunch.  We decided to be brave and try Lebanese food.  It wasn't bad, but it turns out that here they charge you to sit down inside instead of "take away" (take out).  The menu on the outside of the restaurant was a take away menu and it said the food was about five pounds, but once you sit down inside they give you a different menu, so my little tiny lunch ended up being about nine pounds.  At least now we can say that we've tried overpriced Lebanese food.  After lunch, we went to the National Gallery of Art.  They have paintings by famous artists like Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Degas . . . it was really amazing to see paintings I've studied before in my classes.

Our wards were assigned today and I'm going to the Mitcham Ward with two other girls.  I think I'll miss being able to drive for 30 seconds to get to my church building.  Here, I have to catch the tube in order to catch a train in order to catch a tram and then after that walk for a while.  The directions say that the ward meets in the back of what looks like an old house.  Hopefully the area isn't just a neighborhood of old houses because they didn't give us an address.  I won't wear my high heels just in case.

And most importantly . . . 

Someone is turning 13 today! Happy birthday Rachael. I'm sorry I can't be there, but I hope you have a great first day of being a teenager.