Well, it has been a rather eventful past week (in all the right ways too!)

But first, the most exciting news... there are more pictures up! They go along with my post about the next four days of my travels before starting at Roehampton. The link is: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=qyghf15.dq6cwbt&x=1&y=-zcwwa0

Now with that out of the way, here's my week in recap:
I basically has a ‘reading week’ this past week in some of my classes which is equivalent to Thanksgiving break so I took advantage of it and had some fun around London!
Monday after a class I still had I went to Southwark Cathedral and listened to some amazing organ music. It’s very interesting, since most of the church/cathedrals in central London are around businesses it is hard for them to get any kind of congregation because no one wants to travel into the city to go to church on Sunday morning. To compensate many church put on things during the week to get people in church, one of the coolest things is many churches put on weekly organ recitals! Anyways, I actually got there really late but was able to hear about 20 minutes of powerfully loud organ music. After that I decided to go to the Tate Modern (a free modern art museum) and read one of the books I have for my Bible class. It was very relaxing and quite cool to people watch as well; artists can be funny people sometimes! Thus far it was a pretty calm, overcast day, but as soon as I tried to leave it was raining sideways, crazy! I then went into Putney and did a little grocery shopping and exploring. As I was heading back to school to meet Sierra however I actually ran into her on the bus, it’s really random how often that can happen in a city as big as London. Sierra and I then went to a newcomers dessert and tea at my church pastor’s house. We had scrumptious homemade éclairs and had a wonderful time learning a bit more about the church. It was funny how many times I wanted to ask questions but I refrained because I really wanted everyone to get a chance to ask more simple questions instead of me diving right into deep theological ones. I will have to meet with a leader at some point and see what I can learn. There was actually a decent amount of talk about Disneyland which made me really miss it and made me want to go there so bad! One of the ladies there was gracious enough to offer us a ride home, it was only the second time I have ridden in a car in London.
Tuesday brought about another trip to another cathedral for more organ music! This was a much smaller church and the organ filled the room quite well. I decided that I would go to the Tate Britain (classic art) afterward and do more reading. However, I got really sidetracked while riding the bus because it seemed like there were an awful lot of British flags up all over the place for some reason. I got off the bus where the changing of the horse guard usually took place and then walked around for a bit and through St James Park (the park that separates Buckingham Palace from the changing of the horse guard) which was so beautiful! There is so much wildlife in that little park it’s insane. There is a beautiful pond in the park which is home to all sorts of ducks, birds, and swans; as well as tons (did you know that England spells tons differently? It is spelled tonnes) of squirrels in all the trees throughout the park. I headed towards Buckingham palace and came out on the Mall (their main road to the palace) and found the streets lined with the British flag. Finally the curiosity got the best of me and I asked a nearby constable what was going on. I came to learn that the King and Queen of Norway had arrived that morning in horse drawn carriages during a small parade. Evidently things are still done very traditionally here and when royalty arrives the Queen will put on a dinner for her guests the first night and then the next night they return the favor. After I had figured out what was happening around there I decided to head towards the Tate Britain once again. After going too far on the bus and getting a little turned around I arrived. Unlike the Tate Modern I had not really been through the Tate Britain so I spent the next few hours making my way through there. Finally, I got tired (I did a substantial amount of walking that day) and headed back home. I did some laundry and a little internet catching up and that’s pretty much it.
I suppose you can pick up on the recurring theme here and guess that I went to hear another organ recital. I was quite puzzled though when I arrive, the church was totally locked up and no one was around anywhere! Finally about a minute before the recital was scheduled to start an older woman came up to the church with some groceries and she told me that someone would be coming to play in a few minutes. I was essentially the only person in the massive cathedral and I have to be honest, it was a little creepy. The organist showed up and was excited that someone had come to hear him play. I was given a short verbal introduction to the first piece and then he disappeared to go play. It was an enjoyable recital and I wish that I had a list of the pieces that he played but I will survive with just the memories I then came back to school and got ready to go to Barbican Hall to hear the LSO Chamber Orchestra. Sierra and I got dressed up and had a great evening with gorgeous music. I have to tell you that I am in love with Tchaikovsky’s compositions, oh my goodness, if you can go and listen to a recording of Souvenir de Florence and you will understand and be enlightened! Afterward we went to Garfunkel’s and had a wonderful traditional dessert, blackberry and apple crumble with ice cream on top….mmmmm, so good. On our way back to the Tube we were stopped by a motor cop and we say a bunch of flashing lights coming down the street. It was the King and Queen of Norway!!! I actually saw a real, honest to God King and Queen, isn’t that amazing? That pretty much made our night complete, it was a little dampened when a million Chelsea football fans got on the tube and were really rowdy (we found out later that they lost).
Thursday I actually broke the trend and went to class and then some internet research. I came back to my room with semi-honest intentions of doing some sort of work but instead I read the first half of the Last Battle in the Chronicles of Narnia series. I don’t know if you all have read that series or not but I can tell you I was NOT expecting the Last Battle to be anything like what it turned out to be. Narnia basically gets taken over and all of it gets destroyed, I was crushed. I had leave so I ended up putting the book down right when the King finds out that Cair Paravel had been taken over and almost everyone was dead. I was down hearted but cheered up a bit when I met the girls (minus Jamye who was with her BF in Ireland, yea I’m not jealous…) to go to the place where my parent’s stayed while they were here to listen to some jazz. It was a very enjoyable evening and I had a great time talking with the people that were there. There were actually a lot more people there than the last time and we had a guest appearance by the session drummer of Elton John and another studio musician. They were both really cool people and everyone had a wonderful time. I also picked up some stuff that my parents had left for me (including some cash! Yippie... thanks mom and dad!) I then came home and was determined to finish the Last Battle that night because I wanted things to get better. Well, finally at 2:45am I finished after several shed tears and lots of things to think about. The last two chapters mostly made up for the rest of the book and the way that Lewis tied things together I though was rather ingenious, creative, and most importantly thought provoking. One of the things that struck me the most was how Lewis spoke about people getting into the ‘real’ Narnia, it didn’t necessarily have to do with serving Aslan alone; instead, it had to do with the person’s motives. If some was completely devoted to serving another “God” and they were doing it honestly and truly seeking after the truth then they too were able to get to the ‘real’ Narnia. Along those same lines, anyone who served Aslan but wasn’t truly honest about their loyalty to him then they were blinded from seeing Narnia for what it really was. I drifted off to sleep longing after Narnia and wishing that there were more stories to read.
Friday morning was kind of gloomy and depressing, there was no sunshine and it was drizzling. Sierra and I had decided the night before that we were going to go watch the changing of the guard, well, sort of watch it. What we did was way better! We went and watch the guard’s band warm up to Indiana Jones and Star Wars. It was really cool, and really funny to see royally dressed guards practicing to John William’s compositions. We then moved over closer the Mall where the horses guard that had just gotten off duty came up the road to go home. In reality we didn’t see any actual changing but we got to see what they all look like in formation (which I’ve heard is the cool thing to see anyways). Sierra and I then took a walk through St James park (we both love that park so much) and were bombarded with wildlife. I have never seen so many squirrels, ducks, and swans up close. And, there were Pelicans there too! They were actually very strange looking and about 3 inches away from us, it was crazy! We saw lots of gorgeous back swans including a little family of baby swans with their mom and dad. Sierra and I decided that we were going to attempt to tackle Harrods so we walk there and had some lunch along the way in Green Park. Sierra was totally convinced that it was “just down the street” but she was very wrong and we walked for a really long time. As we were walking along we saw a bunch of older people with cameras and camcorders taking pictures of the really old school double- decker public buses that you got on and off from the back of the bus. We asked someone what they were doing and we found out that it was the last day that those buses would ever be used; they were used everyday for over 50 years! Basically, Sierra and I supposed that all the older people were probably around when those buses first came into use and now were paying their respects at their departure. It was quite touching. I year and a half later, we arrived at Harrods where we were greeted by protester outside who wanted everyone to boycott Harrods because they used real fur for some of their products. We went in anyways and made our way through 3 ½ of the seven stories of the store. It was insane, everything was so expensive, and nice, and posh, and sickening… seriously, I wanted to vomit. They have ½ a floor that was a grocery store but it looked like a department store, ridiculous. Sierra and I got a little taste of home by having a Krispie Kreme doughnut and then we got out of there. At this point I was a little irritated partially because of the feeling I got being in Harrods and also because my feet were tired. I basically spent the rest of my evening in my room relaxing and reading my Bible. I tried to go to the library to update my blog but was interrupted partway through because the stupid fire alarm went off, it’s 10pm and the library’s closed, but still the fire alarm goes off… grr. I went to bed relatively early because the next day was going to start early and be very busy!
Saturday I went to Canterbury with my Biola classmates and tutor. We rode a chartered bus and Sierra and I had a great game of rummy on the way there. We arrived and were introduced to our guide who showed us around the remains of St. Augustine’s (not the one who wrote the confessions but the one who brought Christianity to England) Abby. It was a rather chilly and overcast day and I was really tired but it was enjoyable for the most part. We then went to St. Martin’s church which is the oldest know church in England that is still in operation today (over 1400 years and still going!). There was a beautiful cemetery that I really enjoyed walking through and taking pictures. Sarah, you are having an effect on me… I took lots of pictures for you. We were then released for lunch in the central part of Canterbury and then we met back up to go inside the Canterbury Cathedral. Half of the group had a different guide for this part and I was quite glad that I was a part of that group. He told us a bunch of history and took us all over the cathedral, it was semi difficult to hear him at times because there was a choir and band practicing for some even later that night, but I of course didn’t mind that at all. It was the first cathedral since I have been in England that has allowed me to take pictures inside; I definitely got a little trigger happy. We rode back home and Sierra and I continued our riveting Rummy game and then we had dinner at Annie’s place with her Dad who was visiting. That night I was able to go the library and not be interrupted by the fire alarm which allowed me to get the pictures up that you can now see. I also got to talk to Paul on Skype for a while which was very encouraging and quite funny near the end because my body and brain basically shut down and couldn’t function anymore because I was so tired. I happily returned to my room and even more happily set my clock back an hour for Day Light Savings and enjoyed a restful sleep.
Sunday I went to church with Sierra and was pretty convicted by the sermon about remembering the poor. The focus of the sermon was on Galatians 2:10 when Paul and Barnabus are about to head out on the first missionary journey and they were reminded by the other church members to remember the poor. I have a really hard time doing this partly out of fear, I want to go and buy someone a meal so they don’t spend the money on something else but I don’t want to put myself in that kind of situation alone. Also, I am very skeptical and wonder when I pass a homeless person if they really are poor or if that are just a scam. I really need to pray more about it and see what God wants me to do in this situation. After the service there was a gathering for the students to have free lunch. We went over to a really cool girl’s house and we sat and ate and talked for several hours about politics and the economy, and sports and other fun stuff. Sierra and I headed out and I went into town to hear another organ recital, one at Westminster cathedral and then one in Westminster Abby. When I arrive at the cathedral I found out that a little while after the recital (which was very short and not very exciting) that there was going to be an international mass. I thought to myself, ‘how many times in your life are you going to run into something like this?’ I decided to stick around and I was very pleased that I did because it was a wonderful experience even though I got lost several times (during recitations that I didn’t know) and didn’t agree with some of the things that happened. The mass was broken down into different parts and each part was spoken in a different language. It was also really cool to see so many different kinds of people, many of them dressed in their countries native attire, come together and worship God as one body; that is what the holy catholic Church is supposed to be about. I headed back home, I missed the other recital because I went to the mass, and decided I should write another blog entry (the one that you are reading) and let you all know how things are going over here.
Now for a totally different topic: I have been seriously considering the possibility of living here for longer than these short three months I am experiencing now. Before anyone starts to freak out and ask a bunch of questions let me just say that I have no idea when, where, how, how long, and all those other factors that play into this kind of decision, all I can tell you is why. After getting over all of the many issues I had building up since I had arrived I decided that I really needed to get over it all and find the joys of being here. Once I decided to change my attitude I have seen just how amazing and unique this place really is. First, there is so much history here, I walk down the street and all around me are buildings that have been here for hundreds of years and are still being used today. I also love how history is mixed with the world today. Skyscrapers are built around cathedrals and palaces, the royal guard is present as well as the New Scotland Yard and other police forces, and sculptures of great war heroes line the streets next to modern art sculptures. This past week I have been really hit with what a beautiful place London is, especially the parks, I’m a sucker for them especially this time of year when all the trees are different colors and the grass is green, all of the wildlife everywhere and horseback riding. Basically, I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. Academically England is near the top, their style of teaching is very informative and your education is what you put into it. If I really wanted to be ambitious I could try and get into one of the colleges at Cambridge or Oxford, but I think that might be a little over the top for me, particularly financially! All of this to say, I would really appreciate your prayers and advice in all of this; and possibly more importantly your patience as I try and feel out these options. I pray that you all are having a wonderful time whatever you are up to and I will try and post more pictures of other stuff soon. Thanks for taking the time to check up on me!
Lots-o-love and a Happy Halloween!