Thursday, January 31, 2013

Keep Calm and...JK Don't I'm in London

Wednesday night was certainly an adventure. My lovely friends Megan and Caitlyn came with me to Bloomsbury Baptist Church to check out their Wednesday night "XChange" thingamajig. We didn't know what to expect, we just knew there might be dinner and definitely a Bible study involved. It was a blast! Granted, the three of us aren't the type to talk endlessly to people we've just met [shout out to Ashley, who-in a very hyped up state-showed me each and every one of her belongings within the first thirty minutes of meeting her at camp this past summer! She's so fun.], but we eased into talking with everyone and getting to know each other. The people there were all so kind and very generous, as they provided a yummy dinner of pork, veggies, rice, and curry (but not especially spicy, nothing too crazy). The 12 or so of  us enjoyed green tea ice cream, meringue, vanilla ice cream, green tea kit-kats, and whipped cream for dessert. Did it sound strange? Yes. Did the kit-kats look weird? Certainly. Was it delicious? Absolutely. Louise gave us the disclaimer that nothing about the meal was "British-esk", but she did introduce us to a "Queen approved" sweet topping (for ice cream, porridge  oatmeal, whatever) called Golden Syrup. It's totally a thing.


After cleaning up everyone went to a little side room where we had a very speedy reading and discussion on the 13th chapter of Revelation. The one thing most surprising to me proved to be how in depth the study was, and I enjoyed it immensely. It was getting on the later side, but we all went to the pub for a little bit just to hang out, and we had interesting discussion on the politics of the United Kingdom and current hot topics (such as gay marriage in the church, which coincidentally I used as a topic for an assignment earlier this week, the issues with the despicable lack of enough affordable housing in the greater London area, and other drama associated with the city life). We returned and I watched some Downton Abbey on Netflix (because all of season 3 is available here) before crashing.

This morning, Megan and I checked out a small museum at the Holocaust Exhibit and Wiener Library just a block or so away from the Pickwick. It was fascinating, sharing stories of women who helped save lives, reading on the immense sacrifices made by so many, and looking at actual documents from those times. They had cards from children lucky enough to escape and join foster families here in Britain. Additionally, apparently Bloomsbury (the area we live-especially the buildings right around our hostel!) was a sanctuary for many during that time. Here's a few pictures that Megan took:








This afternoon we toured the British Museum for my Art class. We all ended up dragging at the end because all the standing and walking began to wear on us. However, the most delightful thing ever happened: we walked into a room full of Monet's impressionist pieces. He's my favorite, and in case you have interest in what I'm interested in, Renior comes as a close second as my favorite overall painter.

Tonight, some of us went to Shakespeare's Head pub, and we were all especially excited because it was Caitlyn's first time there! It's definitely a favorite of all of us here with great prices, great food, and a great atmosphere.

Oh, and we got tickets to see Les Mis for next Thursday night!!! Super excited!!!


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