A Quick Jaunt to Callais...

I came to the BUNAC office today in London for my orientation and discovered that I do not have the correct stamp in my passport to work in Britain for the next 6 months. This is because my flight came in through Dublin, so there is no customs between these two countries. So, I have to exit the country and re-enter in order to get the correct stamp in my passport. This made me feel very nervous and frantic at first, but BUNAC gave me this great sheet about different ways to get to Callais, France, which sounds like the easiest and cheapest way to leave the country. I take a bus down to Dover and then take a ferry across to Callais. I'll probably make a day trip of it, because it sounds like it will take about 4 1/2 hours just to get to Callais. I will have to leave pretty early in the morning to make it back at night. I hope to spend a couple of hours looking around the town as well, since I've never been to Callais before. I just hope I don't get lost and manage to figure everything out. It's so much scarier doing all of this stuff by myself.

I haven't really met anyone here yet, so I'm feeling kind of lonely. However, I am feeling more optimistic about being in London. I am going to see some of the sights today, so I'm excited about exploring the city. Plus, I have the phone number of a friend of a friend with whom to get together, so I was thinking about calling him this weekend when he's off of work. He sounds very nice. I feel like anyone right now is a lifeline. That's how desperate I am for human contact. There seems like a lot of guys in my hostel, especially on my floor. I have only seen one other girl on my floor so far, which made me feel a little nervous while taking a shower this morning. The pipes were so old, I was getting this small trickle down on my head which took forever to warm up to a lukewarm heat. I am contemplating taking a "shower" in my sink in my bedroom every other morning, because it was not a pleasant experience. At least no one else was in the showering room with me. There's three showers in there altogether, although one has the lock broken off of it, so I don't really want to use that one.

Today feels much colder and cloudier. I definitely feel as if it is autumn. BUNAC has some neat excursions that I am looking at doing. This one that sounds reallly cool at the end of September is for the weekend, and it takes us to this 14th century castle in England, where we have a dinner and get to dress up in renaissance dress which is provided for us, and we have a tour of the castle and grounds and everything. However, it costs £126, so I am not sure yet if I will be able to do it. It probably depends on if I have a job by then. If I do, I will definitely sign up for the weekend. I appreciate all of your prayers for me while I'm here!

One of these things is not like the other....

I am in London! I just arrived today after a long and gruelling time at the airport. I am feeling extremely tired right now after getting about 4 hours of sleep last night sitting partially upright in an airplane seat, but am waiting until it gets later so I can go to bed. I made it safely to my hostel, and things seem kind of strange here right now. It's as if it's familiar, with English language around and products that I am familiar with (Diet Coke with lime!), and yet, things are vastly different, too. It's as if I've wandered into a parallel universe and things don't quite fit what I am used to. For example, on the taxi ride here (in which I was merely gawking the entire time at my surroundings), there were weird signs for highways, such as the M4, and signs for something called diverted traffic????, and everyone was able to make left turns on red lights instead of right turns, and when I would look over at the other cars, I kept thinking these little kids were driving, but it was just that the steering wheel was on the opposite side of the car.

I think my hostel has an interesting mix of people. I don't think I have heard another American accent yet. There are actually a lot of cute guys wandering through here as I'm sitting here writing this, and they all look pretty European. I hope I get to meet some of the people here. Tomorrow will be a bigger day out in London since I will be going and doing things. Today, I'm merely settling in and hopefully going to sleep early tonight because I am pooped!

Prayers Answered

I don't think I mentioned this before, but they had sent back part of my GSCC application citing that the assistant dean I had endorse my application was not the "Senior representative" needed to do it (I think most people get the dean to do it,) so I sent this anxious email pleading my case about why the assistant dean was the person to have endorse it. I hadn't heard anything back from them and was about to make an appointment to go drive to Champaign in order to meet with the dean for this when I got an email back today saying it's okay, I can just go ahead and send my application back in! I am so relieved right now. Also, I put my details into this homestead group to rent a room for the first three weeks I am there, and I got back an answer saying there's a room for me at this place by the Ealing Cross tube station. I'm just trying to figure out if that is in central London, does anyone else know? I need to book someplace in central London. And I sent an email to a friend of a friend who lives in London and got back this lovely Brittish response in email form. I'm starting to feel less anxious, which is good considering I will be leaving in three weeks! Ahhhh! I am getting very excited, however, especially now that I don't have to worry about my form.

Travel

I have been busy travelling these past couple of days. I spent the weekend in Rockford and then drove down to Bloomington to be with my sister and her new baby for a couple of days. Now I am back and finalizing things up for my trip to London. I seem to keep saying that, and then new things keep popping up that I need to take care of. There's a chance that I can get a temporary job as a teacher's aid (which means I would be assigned one-on-one with some sort of child with special needs) until I can find a job as a social worker, which I am very glad for. It sounds like a subbing position here, where I call each day that I want to work in order to get my assignment. If I don't call in, I don't have to work that day. It pays about 60 pounds a day, which will help until I start making the big bucks, and if I have an interview on a certain day, I don't have to go in. I contacted the place about setting up an appointment but haven't heard back from them yet. Also, I'm getting a UK mobile soon in the mail! They're sending me one from the UK-Pro agency, so I will shortly be mailing out my new phone number to all of you so you can call me. Also, all incoming calls are free, so you can call me whenever you wish to chat. : ) Don't know how expensive it is for all of you to call me, however.

I still need to find some temporary lodgings, which is making me feel kind of anxious, so I'm going to be trying to do that today. I think I'm going to go with a room in someone's house or flat, because I'm not sure I want to share a huge hostel room with 12 other people of mixed gender when I'm all alone. I got this power point on things that are different between Brittish and American culture, and I thought one point that was interesting is British employers give you much less feedback on what kind of work you are doing unless you are doing badly. So, if they don't say anything at all you can assume you're doing an okay job. Apparently, they think we are too "flowery" in America (give out too many compliments.) Apparently fanny is a word for the female genitalia, so that could be a little embarrassing. Although, I can't remember the last time I have used the word fanny. I thought Fanny was a common English name? Those English. Other interesting English words: legless means you're drunk, an iced lolly is a popsicle, courgettes are zucchini, and sultanas are raisins. I think there might be more of a culture shock living in London than I was anticipating. I'll have some interesting stories to tell, that's for sure.