Of Cornwall

I figured I better update you about my trip to Cornwall before I embark on my trip to Prague this weekend. It will save me from having to write too much next week.

Cornwall was amazing. I wish I was able to download some pictures to put here so you could see just how beautiful it was. Going to Cornwall made me realize this is why I came here, this is what I came to do, and it made everything else, every little frustration and difficulty, seem worth it for just a little while. We rented a car and drove down on Friday night to Newquay and basically crashed. Then Saturday, it was pretty nice, so we went to the beach and got in the ocean. The water was so cold my bones ached, and my whole body went numb. Sounds lovely, right? Then we went back to the hotel and swam in the indoor swimming pool (much warmer than the ocean) and went in the sauna. We kind of hung around Newquay that night.

The next day we got back in our car (a silver Peugeot, yeah French-made cars) and drove around Cornwall exploring. We saw Penzance (Pirates of Penzance anyone?), Land's End (the western-most part of Britain) and St. Ives (another coastal town--very picturesque). It was a good trip in all, but quite exhausting to return to work Monday.

Tonight I attended a home group as part of my church (it's like a bible study). It was a relief. Everyone was pretty much in their twenties, and it was a mix of singles and married, and everyone seemed very nice and interested in what I was doing there. It had a bit of a rocky start, after I FINALLY caught the bus out to Harbourne to where I thought it was, I discovered they were actually meeting at a different house that evening. I totally embarrassed myself by crying in front of the man who let me into his house, and I went into their loo while he called over to his wife to see if someone could come and pick me up. He was very nice about it all. Someone did come and get me, and then I had a great time and felt a little less alone, and someone drove me home as well (although where we were meeting at turned out to be about a five minute walk from my current residence). We'll see if some sort of friendship will develop with anyone. I'm sure it will take time. But at least I know where we'll be meeting next week.

You Know You're Homesick When....

I went to this place at the city center today after work called Selfridges, which is a department store which also sells food. Well, this place offers some American food items that you can't get at normal grocery stores that I have been missing. They had Quaker instant oatmeal which I have really been wanting, and I ended up spending 6 pounds ($12) on this pack of 10 packets of instant oatmeal. Way too much, I know, but I wanted it.

I have really not been liking my work. It's all child protection and dealing with child abuse and adoption, so you get a lot of angry parents. It's very stressful. It's probably the worst social work job there could possibly be, but the pay is so good. I just hope I can stick it out the six months I'm supposed to be here. It's only been two weeks and I already want to quit.

Today I got to go to another office for some training in the initial referal process, and I got this really cute guy to show me how it's done. He was from Wales, and his name is Gareth. How much more Welsh can you get? I guess there are some perks to this job. Everyone in the office kept commenting on my accent and how much they loved it. It was so weird. I've gotten that a lot over here, actually, people telling me I have a "lovely" accent. Today, this one guy I was working on a protection order with kept making me pronounce "Birmingham" because I guess I pronounce it different than everyone else.

Tomorrow I'll be driving down to Newquay in Cornwall, and it can't come too soon. I need a break.

Jolly Ole England

I have finished the first week of my job! It really went by fast. It's been good to get into a routine. It is definitely making time go by faster. I still have a hard time believing I am in England. It seems very surreal sometimes. Today, I went into the city centre with my two American friends who are placed at my same social services through the same job-placement agency, and we were running errands (getting bus passes, duvet covers, etc.), and it just seemed so common place that I almost forgot where I was for the moment. I guess life is still life no matter where you are, even though it varies a bit from place to place. I suppose that there is a universality to the world that even different cultures and languages cannot erase.

I have some travel opportunities coming up with my two friends. We are hopefully going to Cornwall next weekend, we're going to rent a car and I'm going to drive since I'm 25! I'm really excited about driving over here, actually, although it will be interesting trying to drive on the left side of the road. And roundabouts are quite scary, actually. I know that Chevy Chase's European Vacation is a bit exaggerated (them going around and around the same roundabout for hours), but it is scary to go across lanes and get the hang of them. Once we get out of the city, however, I'm confident it will be fine. We're going to rent a GPS system, too, in case we get lost.

Then, the weekend after that we're going to take off from work a couple hours early and fly to Prague! We found some cheap tickets/hotel combination so we'll go Friday and come back Monday. Then, the weekend after that we are flying to Dublin. We got a fantastic deal on that, flight and hotel for the whole weekend is costing 110 pounds. So, we just have to pay now for food and entertainment. I get my first paycheck this Wednesday, and I'm very excited about that! And I get paid every week, so I'll have plenty of money for travel. I've really been wanting to go shopping. I almost bought a pair of black, skinny pants today, actually, but decided to wait until I have acumulated a little more money, especially because I have to pay for first months rent this week plus a first month's rent deposit (which I'll get back when I move out.) Yes, I've found a little studio apartment to move into that is in a good location, so I'm excited about that. Things are starting to look up, but I still miss my friends and family at home.

People at work have been really nice to me. That has been my biggest experiences with British people so far. It takes a bit of concentrating to figure out what's going on most times. One interesting thing, instead of asking you how you are doing, they say, "Are you alright?" It threw me off guard at first because I thought, what's wrong with me that they keep asking me if I'm okay? Even though I know what it means now, it still catches me off guard.

Differences

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a few days. I always feel like I have so much to say while wandering around the city, but now that I have a computer in front of me, I can't think of what to write. Things are definitely very different here in Great Britain, and I'm having more of an adjustment issue than I was anticipating. First off, I am having extreme problems finding a good church where I can meet people my own age. I went to this church on Sunday that I found on the internet, and it was one of the only churches that actually had an internet website, so that's why I chose it. I went there and there were only 8 people for the service. The preacher was a woman (which I didn't really have a problem with, I don't necessarily believe that women shouldn't be preachers), but she didn't give a sermon based on biblical scripture. She more talked about why it wasn't good to be certain things, and gave examples about this person so and so who was having a hard time and then came to God and God took care of them. It was rather dry really. Now I've been in contact with this missionary couple who I got their name from somebody at my old church, and they recommended several good churches from London, but did not know any in Birmingham. However, the man did say he would try to contact people to see if he could hear of any good recommendations. I am really praying that God will help me find a good church there. I don't care if it's small so long as I can feel as if I belong.

Other differences between England and U.S.:

1. The bathrooms are extremely hard to find, and once you do find them after looking for a half hour, you invariably have to pay to use them.
2. People don't make eye contact. Ever.
3. No one says hello to one another on the streets.
4. They don't believe in using paper towels to wipe hands after washing, apparently, since there are only dryers in bathrooms.
5. Pedestrians do NOT have the right away when crossing streets unless you specifically have the little walking man signaling you to go. (I almost was run over several times while shopping yesterday. I learned this the hard way.)

I could go on, but I am about to run out of time on this computer, so I have to run!

News, news!

I feel like I have been having so many thoughts running around my head for this blog that I don't know where to begin. I have been running around London like crazy, but mostly without an agenda. I've just been wandering from one place to another because I can't make up my mind about where to go and what to do, and I haven't been wanting to spend much money.

Let me start with Thursday. I went to Hyde Park for awhile because it actually was a nice day, warm and sunny. I sat on this bench looking out at the water, and this guy close to my age sat down at the end of the bench. After answering my phone from this lady with UK-Pro, he asked me if I was an American, and a conversation was struck up. We talked for a good hour and a half, at which point he asked me if I wanted to get a cup of coffee with him. His name was Jhonny and he was 28 years old and from Ecuador, and very good-looking. I said okay at first, because I was flattered that he wanted to talk to me some more, but we wandered around for a good half an hour looking for a cafe and not finding one, and then I started feeling kind of weird. I didn't know what his intentions were, and being a female all alone in this city, I was feeling rather vulnerable. I also do not have a high opinion of men, feeling that they are all out to pretty much take advantage of whatever girl they can. I was feeling like there was no one there to protect me but myself, so I made up some excuse about an appointment and left him with no contact number. I don't know if that was right, but it made me feel safer. It was good to talk with someone, however.

After leaving him, I went to the wonderful world of Harrod's and wandered around for a bit. Friday was my trip to Calais and it was long and boring because I could not take time out to actually look at anything because I had to make it back to my hostel at the end of the day. HOwever, I did get the right stamp, so my objective was accomplished.

Today, I went to Westminster Abbey, but after discovering it took £10.00 for entrance, I started wandering down towards Victoria Station, looking in some stores along the way. I regrouped at lunchtime and decided to head up towards Leicester Square and Charring Cross Road, so I walked up a long way and ended up stopping for awhile in a Borders I found. Then, I wandered over to Oxford Street where I found the best shopping in the world, and happily looked in all sorts of stores such as Urban Outfitters, Marks and Spencers, H & M, GAP, French Connection, United Colors of Benetton, and more stores that I cannot remember the names for. There's this really cool new store I've discovered called Monsoon, but I can't afford anything there yet. Someday.

I have an interview for a job on Tuesday! I'm really excited about that, and I have the phone numbers for two girls from UK-Pro placed there to call and ask about the interview and everything, so I'm going to do that tomorrow or Monday. I have an appointment with a bank on Monday to set up a bank account, and then I am pretty much all set to work!