i'm a scholar

Oh, you know me. I've just been hanging out here in Grasmere, touring Dove Cottage and working with 200-year old manuscripts and books by people like Coleridge and Wordsworth and Shelley for eight hours. Jealous? (Probably not). But it was cool. Just trust me. More details to come (possibly) -- but probably not because most of you wouldn't be that interested anyway. If you care at all, I'd be happy to tell you about it when I'm not so tired.

preston

Today we sat on the bus (a lot) and I was mad at myself (a lot) because I forgot my camera for the trip that will probably have the greatest picture-taking opportunities ever.  Dang.  So instead you get some not so lovely Instagram pictures that don't do anything justice.  But oh well.  On our way to the Lake District, we stopped in Preston.  There we had a tour from the MTC President and his wife (she's President Hinckley's daughter and the aunt of one of the girls in our group).  It was great -- even the part where a billion missionaries were staring out the window at our bus and holding up "We Love You!" signs since apparently three weeks is just long enough to make them desperate.  But I digress.

This is an obelisk at the square where the first missionaries in England, including Heber C. Kimball, would stand and preach to the crowds.  

This is the River Ribble, where thousands of converts were baptized.

Between 4,000 and 6,000 curious people gathered here on July 30, 1837 to watch missionaries perform the first baptisms in Preston.

This is 15 Wadham Road, the apartment where President Hinckley was living when he received the famous "forget yourself and go to work" letter from his father. His daughter, Sister Walker, told us the story and was very emotional about it. It was amazing.

And here is the Preston England temple. So great! After we arrived in Ambleside and checked into our hostel, half of the group (including me) headed up to Grasmere to William Wordsworth's house, Dove Cottage, where we had a candlelight dinner with his traditional family recipes. It was so great. And the Lake District is incredible. No wonder he wrote such amazing poetry here.

just another manic sunday

Just in case you're wondering why I can't remember anyone's name in my ward:

Today was a little bit crazy.  We showed up to church in time for me to play the piano for the choir to sing (who's ever heard of a choir singing prelude for ward conference?)  That went okay, so I figured everything would run smoothly.  One speaker before the choir was set to sing again, the primary president pulled us out of sacrament and told us that the primary kids were supposed to sing at the end of sacrament meeting.  This was news to everyone, since we hadn't practiced a single song and had no idea that was happening.  So the choir director was freaking out because apparently singing at ward conference is a big deal here and she said she needed us, and in the mean time we were trying to help the kids learn two songs about mothers.  We managed to get back right as the choir was standing up to sing, so we ran up there and joined in.  Then at the end of the meeting I had to play the two primary songs (which I obviously hadn't practiced before).  But overall, things were okay.

Then we got to primary, where I was supposed to do sharing time.  Sacrament meeting was long though so instead we decided to just break for classes.  The primary president said that I was doing CTR, so I told her that the week before she'd told me that I wasn't teaching a primary class anymore and instead I was doing sharing time.  She insisted that she hadn't said that (luckily the other two BYU girls here with me backed me up), but in the end I had to make up a lesson -- an hour-long lesson.  Let's just say it was a long day.  But luckily I only have two more weeks of teaching primary left!  (I feel kind of bad saying that but honestly, I need a break).  Tomorrow we're heading to the Lake District and then later in the week Scotland, so I may or may not have internet for a while.  If I do have internet, I'll blog.  If not, I'll catch up later.  Pip pip, cheerio, see ya later.

happy st. patty's

Since today was St. Patrick's Day, I obviously decided to go to Camden Market and get a burrito.  This is my happy face because I haven't had a burrito in forever.  It's a good thing we didn't take a picture after I took a bite because the only thing burrito-ish about that burrito was that it had a tortilla around it. England fails at making good burritos (and I had such high hopes, since one of the guys making it looked Asian and the other looked Indian). I just noticed that I also look Asian in this picture. Squinty eyes . . .

Then we decided to be adventurous and try a deep-fried candy bar.  The woman who served us was convinced that Americans deep-fry everything (according to her, we even deep-fry hamburgers).  We told her that we actually don't really fry very much and she was shocked.  It's a good thing that this deep-fried candy bar was just okay and I won't be craving them any time in the near future because I don't even want to know how many calories it was.  I shared it with Abby so that makes it acceptable, right?

And then just for good measure, we decided to act a little Irish and go to a pub.  It was decorated all in green and everything.  This old man really didn't want his picture taken.  I didn't want to tell him that I actually could care less whether or not he was in the picture because I was afraid I might hurt his feelings.  There are no pictures of me because I was too busy scarfing down bangers and mash to pose for a picture.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

today i...

• Slept in late (through breakfast, actually)
• Rode the DLR (train) to Canary Wharf
• And ate a REAL AMERICAN MILKSHAKE.  That's right, a shake with ice cream in it instead of just milk!  Oh how I love you, Fenton's.

bookworm

During the summer, I plan to read. I love books in any form -- novels, short stories, picture books, short books, long books, new books, old books . . . You get the point.  While I've been in London, I've had the opportunity to take English classes that focus more on reading than writing, which is really refreshing.  Some of the books are "classics" -- Sense and Sensibility and A Tale of Two Cities, for example -- while others are more contemporary, like White Teeth.  Some have really touched me, like A Tale of Two Cities did. Other books are examinations of modern society that basically are really weird.

Today was sunny and beautiful and I walked to the bookstore with one of my friends and we spent about an hour and a half there, looking at all the books and talking about what we've read and we want to read.  I didn't buy anything, but it was nice to look.  And of course, I haven't been able to resist purchasing a few books here, although I've definitely limited myself to things I couldn't just walk to Barnes and Noble and purchase.  They're not really the type of books I was talking about before -- they don't tell a story or anything.  Basically they're just pretty and I love them.  I'm proud of my finds -- the first one is a Victorian flower book.  Anyone who knows me probably knows that I'm a little bit obsessed with flowers (especially John, who's so good at making sure that flowers and I cross paths often.  Sorry I can't love something cheaper!) :) I don't actually know what I'm going to do with it, but it was so pretty and it looks kind of vintage-y and I couldn't resist.  The second one is a fold-out, pop-out book of famous London landmarks (if it can actually be called a book.  I'm technically not sure what it is).  They're both interesting and I couldn't walk away without buying them.

Hopefully I can avoid book sellers from now on (especially at Camden Market, where they have entire stores dedicated to vintage books -- they're so beautiful!  Every time I walk by I imagine having shelves and shelves of old leather books . . .  I need to stop).  I can't wait for summer so I'll hopefully have a little more time to read.

"There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates' loot on Treasure Island."

--Walt Disney.  What a smart guy.

on a wednesday

Here are some really terrible pictures from today because I made a goal to try to blog every day until I go home.  Nothing too exciting.  There's a woman from my friend Christi's home stake here and she invited Christi to come eat lunch at her house (and somehow I snagged an invitation too).  It was great -- pasta, muffins, American accents . . .  Then after we walked through St. James's Park (S'n-James, as they pronounce it here) and stopped by Buckingham Palace.  We went to Lion King that night and it was INCREDIBLE.  All the costumes were amazing.  Imagine a man with stilts on his arms and legs and a giant giraffe head on top of his and you might begin to understand.  Spectacular.  I loved every second of it.