Spain: The Best and Worst of It

So, in order to quickly update y'all and give you a taste of my real blog entries to come about my past two weeks in Spain, I made a couple of lists of the best and worst things I experienced there. I tried to put them in numerical order, but it was really hard... so the numbers don't quite adequately reflect their rankings.

In Avila on our last night

Top 10 Best Things About My Spanish Experience
10. The bullfight: although the death of 6 innocent bulls is hardly my favorite thing, the whole thing is a strange experience that, overall, I enjoyed, though I never want to go to one again.
9. There were so many pastries of all kinds, sweet and savory, and gelato was delicious and just about on every corner.
8. The bike tour we took in Barcelona was absolutely awesome despite my lack of dexterity on a bicycle.
7. Not having to resort to my backup raspberry flapjack as a fill-in meal.
6. Climbing the ruins of the wall in Girona with Katherine and Rebekah while eating the best gelato I’ve ever had… as the clouds started to sprinkle rain on us.
5. All the little curly-haired, blonde kids speaking Spanish (and even the ones who weren’t blonde and curly-haired… but they were the cutest).
4. Seeing The Garden of Earthly Delights triptych painting by Bosch in the Prado.
3. Wandering around and up in the bizarre Sagrada Familia (Temple of the Sacred Family by Gaudi).
2. The olive tree groves that we drove through for over an hour while traveling from Granada to Toledo and Getafe.
1. The last night… fireworks in Avila.

Cigarette butts and graffiti

Top (Bottom) 10 Worst Things About My Spanish Experience
10. Having 4 hours to spare in Barcelona at night when all there really is to do is eat and drink.
9. Getting lost by myself in Granada (but hey, I look at the bright side sometimes: I stumbled upon a grocery store and bought Nutella with a Spanish cartoon on the jar!)
8. Many of the streets and sidewalks are cobbled, which looks cool but is killer on the ankles; plus, you can't tell where the sidewalk ends and where the street begins so you’re always dodging cars.
7. Creepy Spanish guys in the hotel who whistle at you and then knock on the door.
6. Well, this is only a bad thing for technical reasons, and if you don't speak any form of Spanish, or at least, in my case, have trouble understanding Castilian Spanish: the fact that most people don't speak (much) English.
5. There is graffiti on almost every wall unless it's some sort of monument or semi-important building.
4. People smoke cigarettes and cigars like chimneys, slowly killing themselves and everyone else.
3. One word and place: Toledo.
2. Spanish shops keep rather random hours.
1. Having to watch your bag constantly because of pickpockets.

Part 3: Edinburgh, Scotland [cont'd]

And the saga continues...

Saturday, September 20, 2008

This is definitely Scotland.

This morning we got up at 8 AM and got ready and went to the dining hall for breakfast. Toast, cereal & milk, tea/juice/coffee, just like at the Dublin hostel. Then we checked out and hopped on the 9:44 city bus to the city. We were the only ones on the top level (most city buses there I think are double deckers) so I busted out my phone and we listened to a few Chris Tomlin songs. Once at city centre, we headed to the National Gallery of Scotland. IT was free (at least, everything except the Impressionism Exhibition was). In the first area we explored, there were a lot of drawings, some paintings and photographs. There was this one photo that was actually like 40 slivers of photographs put together, because it was a scene that was photographed over a period of a year and each slice was taken at the same time of day and month so that it looked like the scene was actually vertical chunks with different season. It was called "Rhythm of the Twelvemonth" and it was by Stephen Lawson. I loved it! First of all, it was an amazing idea. Secondly, it was well done. Lastly, the scene itself was beautiful... Clouds, trees, hills. After this are we went to a higher floor that had many rooms of just paintings and sculptures. It took quite a while to get through it all, but it was worth it. There was this gorgeous oil painting (most of them were oil) of a boy in the dark blowing on a piece of lit coal. It looked so real because the boy was in darkness but you could make out his outline, and also the burning coal in front of him lit up his face with a brilliant glow, a warm and bright orange-yellow. Another one of my favorites was of the Last Supper. Jesus and eleven of the disciples were in a circle, sitting or lying down, and Judas was walking out of the room with his front in the darkness. Everyone besides him just looked so comfortable to be with Jesus... It was just really beautiful and I think it was an interesting interpretation of that event. Everyone looked like each other's best friend. I think Jesus wants us to feel that intimate with Him and with each other as a church.

The Royal Mile


The door to the toilet... obviously

Next we walked along the Royal Mile and turns out there are a lot of tourist shops on this street. We arranged a meeting place for 1:30, which was just half an hour (not everyone wanted to look at the same places). Once we'd met back up, we went down some stairs into this little cafe. There was only one lady working there and the ground floor was full (well, there were only about 6 seats in there anyway) so we went upstairs, which was where the toilet was. I only mention this because the door to it was really neat... It had the word "toilet" painted on it in like 15 different languages and colors. The place where we ate was just a little coffee table and a couch and loveseat... This upstairs portion of the cafe was actually part of another shop, we think, because behind one of the couches was a big piece of fabric and we could hear music and people from behind it. I ate a panini with cheese and tomato and a light salad. While we were waiting for our food, David played this game with us that he read about in the Encyclopedia of Immaturity (it was randomly in the National Gallery gift shop). I don't think the game ended up like it was supposed to, haha. Well, we were in a cute little place to rest. We paid downstairs, and by the counter they had a fridge with drinks in it. I saw this can of something I'd seen a couple other places in Scotland called IRN-BRU... I thought it was some kind of beer or alcoholic drink, but I was curious, so I picked it up and read the ingredients. It was just some kind of soda! The can said that it was an original Scottish drink, and I asked the lady at the counter what she thought of it and she'd never actually tried it but said that people were crazy about it there and that it wasn't available anywhere else (but much to my delight, I've found it several places in Oxford... It's becoming more popular). I just had to try it! OF COURSE. I was so excited. I popped it open, and this orange scent came wafting out, so I thought it was going to be like orange soda back home. I took a drink, and it was more like one of those orange Smarties candies, the ones rolled in the plastic... SO GOOD. I loved it and was so glad I had gotten it.

Silly Scottie

Just part of the big "hill" once we got to a higher vantage point

We kept moving on down the Royal Mile towards the palace. On the way, we noticed a couple of Christmas shops (weird). In a window of a whisky shop there was a little Scottie dog, just sitting there watching everyone pass by on the street. We saw a fudge shop called Jim Garrahy's Fudge Kitchen that had a sign over the door advertising free samples. We went in ad tried the German chocolate swirl and it was really good. It was like vanilla and chocolate together. I thought it was kind of strange that there was even such a thing as vanilla-flavored fudge. We got there right before the man in the back came out with a fresh, warm sample of the double chocolate fudge, which was even better. We decided to all chip in and buy a hunk of the first kind to share. Then we continued down the street. We passed Scottish Parliament (the new one). It was a really modern-looking building, which was in such contrast to most of the other buildings in town. We could see this huge, HUGE hill/plateau just a few hundred yards down the road that Parliament was on, but we couldn't go climb it because we weren't sure we'd have enough time to do that and also see the memorial up on the hill before we needed to catch the bus to the airport (much to David's disappointment). Okay, well, it turns out that you had to pay to get into the palace, and we didn't feel like dishing out any more money, so we just walked on and looked for the way to get up to the monuments. These were the pillars we saw off in the distance when we were up at the castle. We found a path that led up and Holly was sure it'd get us there sooner or later, and we grudgingly ascended after her. We ran into some people walking down and they said we were going the right way. So we walked up and up... We got great views of the big green hill and that side of the city, constantly changing since we kept getting higher and higher. We eventually reached the top. It wasn't all that high but it was probably the highest we'd been since the castle, and plus, this offered a 360-degree view. There was the pillar monument, which we never found out its purpose while we were there. Google informs me, however, that it was supposed to be a memorial to the Scots who died in the Napoleonic Wars, but it was never finished because many who promised to help fund it did not pay. It's called the National Monument, by the way, and this hill we were on was Calton Hill. Another monument was the Nelson Monument, which is the shape of an upturned telescope. The city observatory was also up there but it was closed for refurnishing. The other monument was the Dugald Stewart Monument; Stewart was a Scottish philosopher. We stayed up there for a little over an hour, just taking photos, talking, and resting. Then we wanted to go see St. Mary's Cathedral (or what we thought was St. Mary's) because it looked cool from up there where we were, so we walked down into the city. We were in the "New Town" part for the first time, and there was this huge, ugly black "monstrosity" (as Holly put it) of a shopping mall that we walked by. We got to St. Mary's, but it was not the cool building we thought it was. Christ went across the street to check out what the cool building was. It turned out to be some other cathedral, like St. Peter-St. Paul Cathedral or something. While he'd been gone, we were all just sitting on St. Mary's steps, and down to our right just on the sidewalk was a small group of adults, and two of the guys appeared to be in an argument. I'm pretty sure they were drunk. But there was this woman between them trying to prevent them from punching each other. We couldn't really tell whether they were serious of not, but as soon as Chris came back we left. As we were walking I took pictures of the cigarette boxes people had littered on the ground, because there were very large, varied, and blunt warnings about the harmful effects of smoking. I love how they're so honest, but it's sad that so many people still do it. At this point we didn't really have anything else in mind to do and it was only a little after 5, and we only had to catch the bus around 7 to be at the airport at a good time. So we just kind of wandered downtown. We thought we might stop by the Edinburgh Dungeon because just the name itself sounds cool .well, we walked into this place we thought was it and it seemed just like a cheesy goth gift shop. We found out that the whole big deal was just a silly ride and that the last one was at 5 anyway. We walked toward the other part of downtown to see what this one tower memorial was. It wasn't really that interesting. Mary got coffee, and then we had nothing to do.

The National Monument at the top of Calton Hill

Just hanging out and resting

We simply walked to the bridge where our bus was going to pick us up. We'd bought open return tickets when we rode into the city so we were able to go on any of the buses, and they came really often, like less than 10 minutes apart. There was one when we got there but we decided to just wait for the next one so we wouldn't have to rush on. The next one came about 2 minutes later. We got on, said goodbye to the city. At the airport we decided to eat after security, since it seemed that at the Dublin and Gatwick airports there were better options afterward. We asked a shopkeeper if there were any restaurants after security, to be sure, and they said yes. So we went through. To our dismay, there was actually only a bar and a Costa Coffee. At least the Costa Coffee had cafe sandwiches. And... IRN-BRU!!! That made up for the lack of restaurants, in my eyes anyway. So we ate. We saw on the screen before we even checked in that our flight was delayed half an hour, which would give us 10 minutes from the time it landed to the time our bus left for Oxford. Well, it got delayed even more. We most certainly weren't going to catch our bus, and we thought the next one was at 3 AM... So we were pretty bummed, but at least our tickets would still be good because they were valid 24 hours after the return departure time. Well, while we were waiting in the airport before the flight, David and Chris got into this debate involving movies, music, lyrics, and relationships. It continued on the plane, as far as I could tell. Mary, Holly, and I just talked about guys, TV, and health. I saw on the TV that was playing that there were bombings in Pakistan. Once the plane arrived, we got on. The pilot explained the reason for the delay, but all I can remember about it is that the plane that was supposed to have flown us wasn't able to for some reason, so this plane came even though it was supposed to be in Barcelona. The free magazine in the pocket in front of us was pretty interesting, since it had a lot about cities in Greece, and I'm going there for Thanksgiving break. I sat by Mary and we talked a bit about Greece and about how tired we were. This flight was the longest of all the weekend's flights at about an hour and forty-five minutes-ish. By this time we just wanted to get home, you know. We got to the airport in London and David was convinced that we were going to be able to catch our 11:15 bus... It was 11:10 when we landed. Mary and I were like, there is no way we'll catch it and there is no way we're running through the airport to try to catch it. We all just walked fast and got to where the bus should have been at about 11:18. we were upset, so we went back inside to try to ask an employee if they knew anything about when the next one was. No one knew (well, we were only able to find one who wasn't helping anyone at the moment), so we just walked through the terminal following signs to where the local bus info was, hoping there'd be something about our coach there. We fortunately found the schedule, and fortunately (even more so) the next bus was only at 1, not 3 like we'd thought. So we figure that's not a bad wait. Mary's stomach wasn't feeling well, so she found some Sprite. We just hung out in the middle there for a while Chris looked at the exchange rates, or at least we thought he was. Next thing we know, we're turning around and he's nowhere to be seen. We decided that David will walk around for a few minutes to try to find him while we girls stay by the vending machine. About 5 seconds later (David's only walked about 30 feet), we see Chris turning the wrong corner away from us, and then we all catch up with him. We went out by where we need to exit for the bus (but still inside) and sat on these chairs. Chris went downstairs to the bathroom and David and the rest of us started talking about what he and Chris were talking about. It was all very interesting and got even better when Chris got back. Soon it was almost 1 so we went outside and the bus was there. We were doing fine until the bus driver got to Chris. He said his ticket said that he was to depart at 03:15, not 23.15 like ours, so he couldn't get on this bus because it was before his confirmed boarding time unless he paid £22. he's the driver, what he says goes, is basically the way he put it. We were like, "No, his ticket says 23:15, it's just creased right on the '2' so it's really faint," but he wouldn't hear it. We didn't want to pay so we decided we'd just wait 'til the next one at 3. we got off, went back inside. But David still wanted to go back and argue about it. We didn't go back until Mary had figured out that it wouldn't work if we just did it the way the driver said to because of a date and time conflict. So we went back and she was able to (thankfully) explain to him calmly how and why he was wrong. He realized he'd made a mistake and let us all on. We went towards the back. Everyone was on the right of the aisle except for me so I wasn't able to join their continuing conversation. It was all good though because I needed to catch up on journaling. I did, and eventually I started to feel nauseous, partly from writing in a moving vehicle (especially at the back of it) and partly because the strong cleaning scent wafting from the bathroom behind me was so overwhelming. I had to stop writing and just listen to music because I didn't want to have to be rushing to the bathroom if I needed to vomit. We finally got to the Oxford bus station at about 3ish, and since it's in the city centre we had a nice brisk walk of about 20 minutes back to our houses - we walked fast so that we would warm up, because it was cold!! There were SO many people out that late at night! It was so shocking. I noticed that there were plenty of those cigarette boxes with the warnings on them lying on the ground. I also saw an IRN-BRU can on the sidewalk! I was sooooo extremely excited, you don't even know. It gave me hope! Haha. Eventually we got to our road, and ended our journey with a prayer of praise. I went right to bed. Fell asleep right away.

One of the many... but this was my favorite

The most amazing thing that God taught me was how big His love is. I got to Dublin and realized how absolutely huge it was and how many people lived there, and God loves them all enough to die to possibly have a right relationship with them. Then I got to Edinburgh, which seemed even bigger, and realized the same thing. And these were only two cities out of the entire world! And if He loves them there, and there, and here, then he is everywhere and His love is everywhere, too. It brings me yet again to Psalm 139: "Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me..." and I definitely felt Him with me that weekend. He's definitely opened my eyes and shown Himself to me.

That's the end... but tomorrow (a.k.a. today, since it's about 1:30 AM on Thursday right now) we go to Spain! We'll be there for two weeks. :) wish me luck.

Part 2: Edinburgh, Scotland

Continuing our story...

Friday, September 19, 2008

The view of city centre from the hill that leads to the castle

The cannons in the castle

This day started off at 3:05 AM, when we woke up in order to have time to get ready and eat before we walked to the bus stop for the Air Coach bus that left at 4:30 (our flight was at 6:30... never again, never again will I do this). Mary had brought bread, peanut butter, and apples so that's what we ate (interesting eating that at 3:30 AM...). We walked down O'Connell Street to the bus stop and said goodbye to Dublin... I was sad that we were leaving because it was such a great time... I could have totally spent more time in the museums and libraries and also would have just loved to stay in Ireland to travel out to the country. But anyhow, we got to our bus stop about half an hour early - talk about time padding! About 5-10 minutes later, a taxi van pulled up and the driver asked if we wanted to get a ride with him for the same price as the bus. So we decided to do it because there seemed to be no reason not to. Oh man. This bald, earringed taxi driver was wild. He drove so fast and I think he almost ran red lights at least three times and almost rear-ended other vehicles, one of them being a bus, twice. It was really scary and I kind of thought we might die (meanwhile David is enjoying it as if it were a roller coaster)... but alas; we made it to the airport. We checked in, went to our gate, and just waited until we got to board. One funny thing about these Ryanair flights is that you have to get on and off the planes with a staircase, so it makes you feel Presidential. The flight was only about 50 minutes long, but for some reason we sat on the runway for half an hour before we took off. I slept for the whole flight. When we got to the airport in Edinburgh, Scotland, we needed to find a way to the city centre so that we could have something to do before we were allowed to check in at the hostel at 2. We were all so tired and crabby that this experience felt long and difficult. We couldn't seem to make sense of the bus routes because there wasn't one labeled "City Centre." So after much confusion, argumentativeness, map consultation, and bad ideas, we finally settled on an open return for this one coach that stopped right in the city centre. It took a little over half an hour to get to the city. The first thing we did when we got off the bus was walk up these hilly streets towards Edinburgh Castle. It was a tough walk, having had little sleep, but it was also quite refreshing. We got our first glimpse of downtown from a higher vantage point. It seemed very developed and bigger than Dublin, or at least, with bigger buildings... Or maybe they were just more numerous. This castle is a huge, stone building, or actually, several buildings surrounded and atop a wall. There were cannon replicas and a couple museums (we went into one). There were signs along the way that told about each spot. Really there was so much to see and we were running on so little sleep that I wonder how much of it we actually took in - or at least, how much I took in. The view of the city from up there was amazing. There was this monument with columns off in the distance that looked interesting and we decided we'd go see it the next day. There was a tall, spindly, slightly creepy black pointy tower that we were unsure of. Anyway, the castle was pretty cool, but I would have liked all the history and reading more if I had had more than 3 and a half hours of sleep. We saw the crown jewels which was pretty neat. Of course, nothing compared to any of the old manuscripts we saw at Chester Beatty, but it was still a neat experience.

Mmm... HAGGIS

At the bottom of the castle there was this cafe that gave free samples of haggis - it was called the Haggis Cafe. We tried it and it was SO good. It tasted familiar but I couldn't quite place it. We decided to eat there and I ordered the haggis neeps and tatties lunch. Neeps ended up being these cantaloupe-looking chunks of something that I later discovered were turnips. The tatties were like mashed potatoes and gravy, only different (okay, so that's not very helpful of a description, but I really don't know how else to describe it). Those were both just "okay" - not really good or really bad. The haggis was delicious, although admittedly overwhelming due to the fact that when we sampled it, it was a small portion spread over a small chunk of bread, and the meal was just a large amount of it piled on the plate next to the neeps and tatties. So, after lunch we walked around town trying to find the right bus stop to get to the hostel, according to their directions. The city bus was supposed to leave from Hanover Street but we couldn't figure out where or something (it seems like a dumb reason now), so we just chose the other of the three optional methods of transport - the shuttle. The Globetrotter Inn (our hostel) has its own shuttle that runs between the city and the hostel. We had to wait for almost 40 minutes because it only arrives and leaves on the hour. This hostel was big... And far from the city centre, about half an hour northwest. It was right by the river (not sure which one). Our room was a lot nicer than the one in Dublin... There were little lights inside each bunk and curtains that went in front of the opening for more privacy. Mary and I took a shower (which was a better move compared to taking on at the Dublin hostel - which we didn't do - because that one only had two showers on the floor we were on and the doors were nearly clear.) and the rest of our group started their nap. We took a much-needed nap as well. We were only planning on sleeping until 5:30 but ended up resting for an extra hour because we were so tired. We needed this for sure. Hahaha.

Waiting for the shuttle to our hostel

Stealth shot of the dad teaching his daughter to ride a bike by the river

The river behind our hostel

We walked down behind the hostel to the river. It was so pretty with the clouds and everything. These 5 young girls, probably in middle school, said hi to us as we went down the back steps and said they loved Americans, and they came down to the river with us for a few minutes. We just chatted about where we were from. It was funny how they'd heard of Alaska (David), Texas (Mary), and California (me), but not Colorado (Holly) or North Carolina (Chris) (and it was also funny that I just realized then that each of us was from a different state). They said that Edinburgh was boring and we just laughed and figured that they were just so used to it that they took it for granted. We walked along the pathway along the river for about half an hour. There were a lot people with their dogs. There was even one man with his dog in the shallows. We saw this person with a whole group of dogs up on the hill. We also saw this man and a girl we assumed was his daughter teaching her to ride a bike with training wheels. We thought she might have been adopted from another country because of how he was talking to her; she seemed a little old for the tone of loving simple instruction he gave her. We were walking down to this little village of Cramond where the desk worker at the hostel said there was a good pub. We got there and checked the prices, but it was like £9 and that was quite a bit more than were willing to spend for a meal. So we kept walking until we got to a bus stop at the beginning of the street we were on and asked a woman where the nearest restaurants were. She told us a mile either way, so we kept going to the left. We walked and walked and walked... We were getting nowhere and it was dark and we didn't know where we were (fortunately we knew how to get back to where we were... But we needed food for dinner). We kept going, sometimes with the aid of the street lights and sometimes not... Because there were portions of the road without them. We passed this field with sheep. It was funny because they stared at us as we passed. Some even stood up attentively at our sudden appearance. We walked more after this until we got to this little town. We found the only open eater, a take-away fast food place with fish, chips, pasta, pizza, and savory pies and decided to get food from there. We ate it on a bench across the street from a random Blockbuster... The bench surprisingly fit all 5 of us on it. We ate and talked about stuff like the teenagers that began to pop out of nowhere and this was like 9:30 PM already. They're intimidating! I think it's because of how snobby they seem, and also the reputation the UK has with underage drinking... Plus, they usually seem a bit obnoxious. Anyway, we knew there had to be a faster way to get back to the hostel rather than to retrace our hour-long journey, but we didn't know how. We figured that since we basically did a huge sideways U-turn to get to that town, we could just cut through the U on a street. David and Holly went into the Blockbuster to ask if they knew and they didn't really and just told us to go basically the same way we'd come. We looked for the 42 bus that we know goes to the hostel but it didn't have a stop near us. So... We walked back the way we came! Yup, it took about an hour again. Actually, the first time it might have taken a little longer than an hour because we were walking slower. We just went to bed when we got back to the hostel. We were pretty excited that our hostel was a little bit in the more nature-y side of Edinburgh, even though it was inconveniently far from the city centre. But it kind of eliminated a journey out into the country that we wanted to make, which was good, financially.

The sheep that stared us down as we walked by their field

So... I'll post the end of the journey either tonight or tomorrow before we leave for Spain...
:)

Part 1: Dublin, Ireland

It's been forever since I've written! Ever since we got back from our Dublin/Edinburgh trip, everyday has been jam packed with class and homework... Now I finally have a break to give an update on my first travel break. :) It's chock-full of details, mostly for my own sake, so I'll remember everything, and I hope they don't bog you down. I hope you enjoy what you can.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

At Gatwick Airport: Chris, Holly, David, me, Mary

The journey started at a little after 11 AM, when Mary, Holly, Chris, David, and I headed off across town for the bus station. Fortunately, we got there plenty early, early enough to figure out that the confirmation email we got was all we needed for our ticket, early enough for David to stop at the open market for a few apples, and early enough for Mary to stop in Caffe Nero for a much-needed coffee and a new experience: Italian cake. (It was fruity and chocolaty... almost like a muffin, but more dense.) Our coach arrived and we prayed before getting on, asking God for unity and safe travels. The group who was going to Prague was also on this same coach to London Gatwick Airport, so we sat with them. After a couple hours, we arrived at the airport and couldn't check in yet because it was too early, so we wandered around to check the place out. This was the biggest little airport I could have imagined. There were a ton of stores and all the computers with Internet access made me feel like people either can't get away from it or that people spend a lot of time in that airport. Anyway, we spent time in a Burger King because the only other real option was a Caffe Nero or some bar. I had the unfortunate experience of opening up a tabloid and seeing a horribly disturbing image, and I made sure none of the rest of the group saw it. Makes me wonder if that sort of thing is in every "newspaper" around here, but I'm not about to go leafing through every paper to find out. UGH. Moving right along (wow, at this rate, my post is going to be a novel and y'all are just going to quit reading it before we even get out of the country), after we finally checked in, we went through security (of course), which is strange at Gatwick because you do shoes completely separately from everything else, in a different x-ray machine down the hall from the initial checkpoint. Once we'd gotten into the terminal, the screen told us to wait for our gate number, so we did... pretty soon it got to about 5 minutes until the boarding time stamped on our tickets, and we got worried because we still didn't know where our gate was and all terminals took at least 10 minutes to walk to, according to the signs. We asked one of the people at the desks and, funny thing, the time on the ticket is when they post up the gates on the screen. Horribly inconvenient, but I guess it works. What I want to know, then, is how everybody else from our flight happened to have already made themselves at home in the gate area by the time we walked into the gate. Oh, well. This flight was quick and easy... 90 minutes. And then we were in Dublin!

Our awesome hostel!

From the airport, we took a bus to the city centre. This was a pretty big city, at least compared to Oxford The main street was called O'Connell Street, and our hostel, Litton Lane Hostel, was located on a lane that was just off a street just off O'Connell. When we turned onto the lane that our hostel was on, we were a little apprehensive; it looked a little shady. Once we got in, however, all things were great. The receptionist was really kind and helpful and made sure we all got in the same room. We learned that this hostel was actually former recording studios for artists such as U2 and Sinead O'Connor. I thought that was pretty cool. Once we took a look around the place (our room, the bathrooms, the common room, the kitchen), we wandered out to look for some place to eat. We had passed this divinely-scented pizza place on the way towards the hostel, and then we had to pass it again as we went out towards town. Fortunately, the hostel was in a great location: about a 2 minute walk from the main street. Unfortunately, everybody seems to smoke cigarettes there, so wherever you walk it feels like you're walking in a smoke shop, trying to breathe. At least, that's how it was at night... it seemed to not be so bad during the day. Anyway, we wandered around for a bit, noting that there were a huge McDonald's and Burger King and instantly pushing those out of the picture as options. Eventually we decided on this little pizza joint called PaPa Pizza (okay, so this was traditional either, but it looked good... and it was delicious). O'Connell Street has a few of these really weird lit-up walking clothed stick figures... I don't know how else to describe them. They appear to be completely pointless except for decoration, but they made us laugh anyway. We went back to the hostel after dinner to plan the next day. We planned in the dining area by the kitchen, and David played a game of chess with a man from Poland who barely spoke English. It was really cool. Mostly, Mary, Holly, and I planned the trip... the guys just played chess and drank soda (Chris). haha :)

Thursday, September 18, 2008

The kind old Irishman helping Mary find the National Museum on the map


Christ Church Cathedral from one angle

The morning started off with the free cereal, toast, and coffee provided by the hostel, and then we were off to Trinity College Library to see the Book of Kells. Basically, it's this intricately decorated book of the four Gospels that was mainly for ornamental purposes rather than daily reading. The library had tons of displays on how it was made, who copied it, who decorated it, the stuff it was made of, and finally, the book itself. It was amazing to see how much effort and time was put into it... I never would have spent that much time or care copying something out. Unfortunately, most of this day was spent in museums or libraries, so photography was prohibited. Upstairs was the huge and tall old library. The books were SO old. The "old book smell" was almost overwhelming. I thought it was funny how the shelves had rolling ladders attached to them to get to the highest books. They were just like the ones in movies. After a look around the giftshop, we left Trinity and tried to find the National Museum... somehow got turned around and couldn't quite figure it out, even with a map. We ended up talking to this old man on the street and he gave us directions. I loved his voice. I think that if for some reason, I could only hear everybody in one accent for the rest of my life, I'd choose the Irish accent... it's so rich and rolling. Once we finally got to the museum, we got to see the gazillion old artifacts relating to Ireland's history, including Viking times. There was also a random room with Egyptian stuff, and Chris wasn't too pleased with that because it was out of place. I think the coolest thing in the whole place would have to be this huge log boat made out of an oak tree trunk. It must have been around 50 feet long. After the museum, we were hungry, so we wandered over to the pedestrian streets to look for a place for lunch. There were several street performers: a silent clown who hit passers-by on the head with a foam hammer; a silver guy trying to be a statue; an older couple playing the keyboard and saxophone; five or so people playing string instruments. We eventually found a place called Bewley's Cafe. We were seated upstairs, kind of in an alcove, alone. I ordered a Buffalo Mozzarella Ciabatta - surprisingly, and sadly I might add, there was no meant in it. It was cheese, tomato, greens ("rocket"), and basil pesto on ciabatta bread. Very good, even though it didn't have mean like I'd hoped. It was served with these chips that were really tasty - they were on the verge of even being sweet. There was also a small salad with honey mustard dressing (I didn't really like it because of the dressing). Once we'd finished eating we had to pay, and since it was all on one bill there was some hassle trying to figure out who owed who what (not to mention the fact that, although worth more to the dollar than pounds, euros are still not all that close to dollars... so we lamented the fact that we can't get away from expensive meals).

Enjoying our meals at Bewley's Cafe.

Dublin Castle is surprisingly colorful. It reminded me of a fairy tale.

The Chester Beatty Library was next on our list, but we found Dublin Castle first. We didnt' go in, but we took pictures of the outside of it and the big round lawn with designs moved in it. The library ended up being right next to that. This was probably the best place we'd been to so far that day. It had a bunch of manuscripts on the first floor of Chinese stories, written and illustrated on scrolls. They were so beautiful, colorful and detailed. There were also samples of Indian, Arabic, and Egyptian writings. There was a piece of this Egyptian scroll that was part of a larger scroll that had about 70% of all known Egyptian love poetry written on it. Upstairs was the best part though. I spent a lot of time looking at and reading about Eastern religions and their texts and a few artifacts (Buddhism, Daoism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Janism). It was so interesting to learn all about them because, although I knew basics about a few of them, I definitely had never learned that much, and it was cool to learn about all their similarities and differences. Besides, I had never even heard of Janism before, so that was completely new. Then I spent a little time in the Islam section but I had recently learned a lot about Islam (thank you Rebekah, Provider of Everything You Wanted to Know About Islam, According to Wikipedia), so I moved on pretty quickly to what I found to be the best and most exciting part: the Christianity section. We saw pieces of the Bible written in common Greek on papyrus... one tiny piece of John was dated 15o-200 A.D.!!! It was so amazing that it was still around, even if it was only like 2 inches by 1 inch big. I don't know where the rest of it was, though, or if it was still surviving or not. There were larger pieces of other books, like Deuteronomy, Genesis, Acts, Philippians, Galatians, Romans. Most of those ones were dated 200 A.D. But really... that's SO OLD! I still can't get over it. We were talking about them afterwards and were wondering if they were written at about the time that the apostles' grandchildren (if they had children, and their children had children) or great-grandchildren or something... and if they could have had a chance to read them and ask their parents about them... "Dad, is that really what Jesus said?" "Yes, He did. Talk to Grandpa Peter for further details." 'Twas fun to think about... but really, it was mind-boggling to think of how soon after Jesus' life and death they were written. I know there are other manuscripts that were written even earlier than these, but it was amazing that we got the chance to look at and think about these. AMAZING.

Liffey Bridge

After this strange experience, we walked over to Christ Church Cathedral and decided that we didn't want to pay 6 euro for admission, so we decided to just come back for the Evensong service at 6 PM and explore St. Patrick's Cathedral in the meantime. St. Patrick's had massive scaffolding because the were restoring part of it, but most of it was normal. I don't think it was as beautiful inside as Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford - the stained glass windows didn't even begin to compare - but it was still pretty. We spent a while in there and then debated on whether or not to find dinner or ice cream or something to munch on. Instead, we stopped in at a little convenience store and a couple people in our group got something. I didn't get anything because I was low on cash and didn't want to use my card. After that little pit stop, we walked back to Christ Church and waited about 15 minutes outside. To be honest, the exterior of that church is a little intimidating... not exactly welcoming. But it was beautiful nonetheless, in its own way. Inside was pretty much like the other cathedrals we've seen. I'd never been in one for a service before, though. We got a program/bulletin/order of worship (I don't know what it would be called, but it had everything that was said/happening written on it). There was a lot of sitting down and standing up throughout the service. It was beautiful though. The choir was an absolute joy to listen to. The whole thing was only about 45 minutes long. After it, we had nothing else planned, so we wandered back towards the hostel. We crossed this old bridge, the Liffey (Ha'penny) Bridge that was built in 1816. It's this big wrought-iron thing over the Liffey River, one of several bridges over it. We walked along the boardwalk, found an ATM, then went to a grocery store to pick up a couple of cans of chili to eat with the rice Holly had brought (we were trying to save money, if you couldn't tell, haha). Then we went to a couple of tourist shops, stopped by a place for Mary to get her Irish coffee, and then went back to the hostel kitchen to eat our rice and chili. Our dessert was random Cadbury chocolate candies from the vending machine. My favorite was called Moro. It was chocolate-coated chocolaty crunch/smoothness...? with caramel. It's really hard to describe, but it was SO GOOD. Everybody else seemed to really like it as well. I looked it up online when I got back in Oxford and apparently they only produce and sell them in Ireland... although there seems to be a version of it in New Zealand. Either way, I have been searching for them here in Oxford with no luck, so I doubt we'll have them in the States. Sad day! :( Oh well. So anyway, from our hostel room we could hear the music from the pub next door... it would have been annoying if it was Irish people singing their drinking songs (which sounds kind of weird, but it's really cool to hear).

Okay, so I realize that was actually only one whole day of travels... but I'm going to break this trip up into more than one post so that at least there's something up while I gather enough energy to finish it off. The journey continues... next time I post. :)

Early September

Okay, I'm going to be honest here: I really do not feel like blogging right now. However, seeing as I'm about to be out in Ireland and Scotland in a couple days, I decided I just need to sit down and overview a few recent things before I come back and need to write about that trip. So here it goes...

I was quite pleased when the St Giles Fair came into town last week, especially since I was missing the West Texas Fair (ahh fond memories of last year...). I didn't ride anything (the only ride I wanted to ride on was 5 pounds - that's almost $10!), but I did buy some delicious fudge, rhubarb and custard candies (I had no idea what they were either; they're really good though!), and ate half of Anne's YUMMY chocolate and strawberry crepe. It was really neat seeing the contrast between the old buildings and the new fair equipment. The fair took up all of St Giles Street, which is huge, and it stopped traffic and everything. It smelled so good: you'd walk five feet and be smelling donuts (which they had a lot of... it seemed to be their version of funnel cake, hah), then you'd walk another five feet and smell meat, then another five feet and the scent of sweets would engulf you.

Last Friday our C.S. Lewis class walked down to Magdalen College and wandered around the grounds for a while. It's amazing to me how all these buildings can be so intricate. I wonder why people would have taken so much time and care just for a building. However, I do like them a LOT more than any modern building. The other day I was walking down a street with newer buildings and it just felt wrong... it didn't feel "Oxfordian." It did make me feel more like I was back home though... which was good and also not good.

Okay, so like the past two days we've been having amazing weather; meaning, in the 70s and sunny. So a group of us decided to go to the Botanic Gardens (partly because it's for a class and partly because we couldn't pass up the opportunity to be outside). At the garden, there were different little houses, each with a different type of climate and the plants that grew in that climate. I was excited to see a Venus flytrap, because I think they're cute. Also, out on the grounds, we saw J.R.R. Tolkien's favorite tree... which is kind of random (that he even had a favorite tree there) but really awesome. It was this huge old tree and quite majestic. I have a picture down below.

I have this song stuck in my head from church yesterday... at St Aldates, they seem to have this practice (at least, the two times I've been there) of getting all the children up in the front with the band to sing a song or two and perform the motions that go along with the song. So, they sang this song yesterday that went something like this: "My God is big, my God is great, my God is fab and He's my mate..." I don't remember the rest of it, but that part just keeps playing over and over in my head. I think it's really funny that they'd call God "fab," first of all, and then "mate"... I felt a little strange singing it because I don't think I've ever really thought of God that way before... I mean, He's my friend, but I wouldn't necessarily characterize Him as "fab" (whatever that means --- I associate it with phrases such as "Fab Four/Five" or other silly monickers preteen girls give their group of friends). I dunno, maybe it's just that connotation of the word that makes me feel funny about that song. I am, however, realizing that God is in control, even here. Psalm 139 (my favorite Psalm) reminds me that He never leaves, even while I'm thinking that He's not here, even while I'm having trouble finding Him, even while I keep focusing on myself. I guess it's just been a little difficult to find time and place to really get into the Word and to pray deeply like I used to. I feel like I've been disrupted. I really miss the Quiet Place - that was my favorite place to pray. Even though we do have amazing places outdoors here, such as University Parks, I sometimes just want to be completely alone, without any distractions.

Alright, so that wasn't too bad. I took 43 minutes to type/think this up. :) The next time I post it will be about Dublin/Edinburgh! Be ready! haha

peace

This Is Actually An Assignment, But I Am Posting It As An Entry (ignore the citations)

Before Saturday, I had never thought “strolling across the countryside” (Bailey) to be a definition for a particular activity. Although I had read that “rambling” was the action in question, the idea served only as a label in my mind of an English trademark. After Saturday’s ramble, however, the words were brought to life, and I realize that the reason for the origin of the delight makes sense. Bailey tells us that rambling birthed from workers in industrial cities who sought a “perfect recreational antidote” to their bleak working conditions. Even though I have not been in harsh working conditions, this weekend’s walk surely did some good to my own mind and body; I can hardly imagine how the original ramblers felt at their escape.

The first leg of our journey was from the town of Dorchester to Little Wittenham. We walked through some kind of garden, where a man was tending the plants. The flowers there were beautiful. I had never before seen a sunflower as big as my face! We then walked “around” a field with huge, cylindrical bales of hay. The path we followed made it so that, being behind the rest of our group, I was able to see the single-file line we made. I found it quite humorous, actually, because it reminded me of a chain gang, only we were doing this for enjoyment (and we weren’t actually chained together). I wondered if the English ever ramble with this many people at once or if they keep it down to a smaller number. Personally, looking back on the entire experience, I would have rather rambled alone. I find it more difficult to enjoy the outdoors purely for its sake when I’m with others. Maybe it has something to do with nature’s special sacred silence, which is not really silent at all.

All the while, we were walking through green. The intensity of the greenness everywhere, topped off with the rolling clouds, formed a sandwich, with us in the middle. We crossed the Little Wittenham Footbridge and soon we were at a field. There were a few people there walking with their dogs, and one man was even jogging with his canine. I noticed a single wooden bench facing the area from whence we had come and realized that we had gradually climbed above much of the land of the surrounding area without even knowing it, due to the slight slope. The bench symbolized, to me, the English people’s love of nature. It said that, although they love walking out in the open, they also love to just sit and meditate on it, soaking it all in. This love brings them to advocate and participate in conservation institutions, such as the ones Pickle writes about in his paper. I am thankful for their efforts and appreciate their tenderness towards God’s creation. I can only hope and pray that they hear Him declaring His glory through it like I can.

I think the hardest part of the entire journey was from this field area up a ridiculously steep hill to one of the Wittenham Clumps. After an agonizing half an hour (okay, it was a lot shorter than that), we were at the top, and were rewarded with a delicious view of the Oxfordshire area. I say “delicious” because I felt like I was eating a Thanksgiving meal with my eyes: the differing shades of green and yellow fields, the varying textures of the land and vegetation, the hydrating splotches of water, the power plant (which was like an unexpected and more than unwelcome splinter of bone in the turkey). Reluctantly, we descended this miniature mountain and slid down its side, on to the last leg of our journey.

In this last segment of the ramble, we specifically employed the footpaths that were created as a response to the Battle of Kinder Scout (Pickle). Our jaunt along the Thames wasn’t hindered a bit by the fact that it sprinkled; in fact, it is partly because of this afternoon ramble that I no longer view rain as interference. I have been learning in our less than two weeks in the country that rain and gloom is an intrinsic attribute of English weather, and I am starting to embrace that difference between here and home. We passed fields of wheat and fields of cow patties, as well as people boating along the river. We came across a WWII pillbox, from which I ran because a big, furry, yellow and grey spider had found its way onto my leg as I was about to go inside. This made me question whether or not spiders are included in the British’s love of nature.

After feeling overwhelmingly lost simply because we missed the sign that led us in the direction of the correct footpath, we eventually found our way to Shillingford, where we caught the bus back to Oxford. After a day of natural cleansing, I can see why Rhondra Brandrick would create a counseling program based in the outdoors (Pickle). The movement works the body, the senses work the body and mind, and all together, they work the soul.

Finally Here

Oxford is amazing. I still can't believe I'm here.

I can't even begin to describe the beauty of this city. The cobbled streets. The old, tall, brick houses. Port Meadow, which is land that has never been ploughed on. The cars that are smaller than the beasts we use in the US. The huge, ornately-designed churches that loom at every other corner. The bell that sounds every hour from the church down the street from us. The clouds that came in heavily today and are now releasing water upon us. The beautiful University Parks, with their many grasses strewn with napping bodies. The paths that go around Christ Church Meadow and run alongside the Rivers Cherwell and Thames. The little boy in the window in the house across the street, who was waving to us yesterday. St. Aldates church, where I attended service this morning, and all their children who understand that Jesus is the Good Shepherd who takes very good care of us. My fellow classmates.

I am eager to discover more to be thankful for.

Start the Countdown: 10...

Ten more days until I leave the country for the first time and possibly have everything I've ever known blown out of the water. I am so ready. Except I should probably finish packing and get to Abilene. :)

This past week has been a struggle: my last week of work, getting my portfolio done, getting everything together, making sure I haven't forgotten to buy anything I need... not to mention I have barely even taken time to get in the Word. I'm drained. But this last week at home will go quickly... and I need to try to pack in as much family time as I can get.

I'm still sad that I'll only get to see my friends from school for a few days until I have to leave again... but at least I'll get to see them at all!

30 Days

I'm really excited now! I think finishing the majority of my portfolio has helped a bit, but also it's sinking in a bit more that I'm actually leaving. It's like an "I can see the light at the end of the tunnel" sort of thing. I still have quite a bit more things to do before I'm completely ready, but that's alright... I am greatly encouraged by the fact that I only have to work for a few more weeks (a couple days ago I was working in the fitting room the whole day and we were having this huge sale and if you have ever been in that position before, you know how I felt). I finally feel at peace with going to Oxford. Before a couple weeks ago, I still didn't know if God wanted me to go or not, which is my fault because I never asked Him in the first place. But over the last couple weeks, He has directed me to certain pieces of His word and to certain people that have led me to believe that He really does want me to go.

Procrastination or Something Else?

I still haven't really started preparing to leave yet and I've only got 50 days left here in the States. I think I'm hesitant to start because it will make it seem more real that I'm leaving. As you might be able to tell, there has been a slight change of emotions on my part. I am beginning to miss my friends from school so much that I would almost rather be going back to ACU for the semester than to Oxford.