We had a fairly normal day, with Michael spending most of the day at work, and me doing some shopping and trying to do some sewing. However, I managed to short out my sewing machine.....I guess that the converter didn’t do the job completely. Anyway, I was able to buy a VERY small machine that will work just fine for these 2 months.
Tonight we met one of Michael’s colleagues at a local bistro and shared a very nice bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. We had a great time sitting outside and talking with him.
We are now packed and ready for our trip to Edinburgh tomorrow. We have been running at such a hectic pace that we are both looking forward to a 6 hour train ride.
I am not sure if we will have internet access while in Edinburgh, but will post whenever I can.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Day 5 - Sunday, April 29th
Merton Chapel interior. Day 5, Sunday, April 29th
The word for today is “contrasts”. We visited two different churches, one in the morning and one in the evening and they were so very different. The morning service was at a Charismatic Anglican Church and the evening service was a High Anglican Church associated with Merton College.
The morning service worshiped with a full band, including drums, guitars, piano and bass. The evening brought a Pipe Organ, chanting Chaplain and full choir. Dress in the AM was decidedly casual while collegiate gowns were worn by many attendees in the PM. Seats in the earlier service were chairs bolted together to form rows, while the evening had us sitting in divided high sided seats (I felt like the Queen) that lined the side walls of the sanctuary. We were given “reserved” seats as Michael was a visiting fellow of the college. After the morning service we were invited to join them for coffee, while we sipped wine after the evening gathering.
Both of the churches were similar in appearance and age, however, St. Aldates (the AM church) had taken out all of the wooden seating and put in a stage and padded chairs. They had a complete audio-visual set up including state of the art sound system, and TV monitors to allow people in all of the crannies of the building to be involved in the service. I took off my shoes because we had been standing up for a long time and found that they had heating in the flooring!!! Merton Chapel had no sound system (or heating) and was lit mostly with natural light and candle chandeliers...it was fairly hard to see by the end of the service.
There were however similarities that are found anytime that God is worshiped. The focus in each service was on God and the Bible, and each service encouraged us to apply the teachings to our daily lives.
The speaker in the morning service was a missionary from Singapore and he encouraged Christians to get out of their easy comfortable life and to make themselves uncomfortable for God. In the evening service, we had the privilege of hearing Mr. Terry Waite speak about the need for peace to reign in our world. You will probably remember that he was held hostage in Beirut from 1987 to 1991. We had the opportunity to meet him after the service and found him to be sincere, quick to laugh, and strong in his faith.
We were also introduced to the Warden (Head) of Merton College and invited to come to the fellows dinner next Sunday after the service. Although she first appeared fairly stuffy, she went out of her way to make us feel comfortable and to encourage us that we were not expected to dress as formally as the other fellows (what a relief!!!).
One funny note.....I read some information about St. Aldates church that said that, some years ago, they had discovered a cemetery on the church grounds. When they started excavating the graves (in order to renovate), they found that they were encased in lead which indicated that they held plague victims. Apparently they had to call in the Hazard materials team to clean up the property before they could begin their building.
A fun day!!!!!
Day 4 - April 28th
The word for the day is “civilized”. It is obvious that a warm Saturday afternoon is to be used for sitting outside and getting together with friends. I walked down our walking track in the afternoon and was astounded by the many, many groups of people having picnics, playing cards, sitting and reading and playing sports. There were groups of people playing “pick-up” soccer and cricket games, as well as organized groups playing cricket and tennis. There were two cricket teams out....the first was an adult team and the second was a kids team. They were so cute, all dressed in their white shirts, shorts and long socks and wearing floppy white cricket hats!!
I watched a number of groups of people punting on the small river. I had wanted to try this, but after watching them I told Michael that there was NO WAY we should do it unless we pay someone to “drive” it for us. It was obvious that the un-trained skipper is at a great disadvantage. I watched several people almost fall into the river.....all of them were slipping around on the boat decks. Also, because of the length of the boats, it is extremely hard to keep the boats going straight. Most groups spent their time trying to get the boat off of the bank or out of the trees. Once again.....fun to watch, but not to do!!!!
As I was walking around this afternoon, I kept noticing lots of people with ice cream bars that looked really good. I soon found the reason as I came up on an Ice Cream Truck. He was doing a brisk business.
When Michael and I have traveled overseas, we have found that it is harder to spend the coin money because it doesn’t have the amount written on it plainly and you don’t want to look like an idiot trying to figure out what you have in your hand. We had collected quite a pile of coins, so we decided that today was the day that we would spend it. Our first stop needed 1pound 89 pence. We stood in line and recounted it five or six times before we got to the check-out counter.
Everyone around us felt sorry for the “poor uneducated Americans”, but we were proud of our accomplishment!!!
We have been watching the local news stations and they have reported two things that we felt were amusing. The first is the escalating crime rate .....280 muggings per day in the ENTIRE United Kingdom. That seems very low to us. Also, they have been talking about the soaring temperatures during the month of April.....it has gotten as high as 22C (71 F)!!!! Once again, those are not temperatures that we would rate as SOARING.
I tried to do some clothes shopping today but then realized that those long, long lines of women were standing in line for the dressing rooms. I quickly decided that I could shop another day.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Day 3 - April 27th
We enjoyed our scones for breakfast. Michael was able to figure out the espresso maker that I brought with me and had some nice coffee for breakfast.
We both went out for a walk/run on a track that runs around Christchurch Meadow. The track goes through the meadow and by the River Cherwell, which is a tributary of the Thames River. I stopped and watched a group of students on a crew team and also enjoyed seeing 2 groups of furry goslings. The parent geese were not at all impressed with us....one even hissed at Michael!! My entertainment for the morning was smiling and making eye contact with the people that I passed and watching their discomfort that a stranger would do such a thing.
This afternoon, while Michael worked, I walked to the train station and booked our tickets for our trip to Edinburgh next Tuesday. All of the people working at the station were very patient with the foreigner and helped me to validate our train passes and reserve our seats on the train.
I also found the Oxfordshire library and was granted a library card, so I now have books to read on the train trip next week. I wanted to re-read the Harry Potter series before the new book comes out, so I am now reading “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” (the British title for the first book).
We ended the evening by watching a TV series called “Midsomer Murders”. We have been hooked on these shows for several years and are buying them on DVD as they come out, however, this was a newer episode that we hadn’t seen.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Day 1 - April 25th
The plane trip was uneventful, especially since I slept for about 4-1/2 hours of the time. I used “Will and Grace” as my sleeping pill....I tried to watch it 3 times and fell asleep every time. Never did see the end of the episode.
Day 2 - April 26th
My plane arrived about 15 minutes early and I made it through Customs without any problems....guess I don’t look like a smuggler. As I walked out, Michael waved and pointed urgently for me to hurry. The reason was that a bus for Oxford was due to leave THEN. Unfortunately, we were 3 minutes too late and had to wait for the next bus (about an hour later).
The bus trip took about 2 hours (1 of which we slept). As we were coming into Oxford we saw the “Shark in the House”. I looked it up on the internet and found out that it was a protest art that was put up in August, 1986. The man who commissioned it was an American who was studying law at Balliol College. It was erected on the 41st anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, and was supposed to symbolize “impotence, anger and desolation”. Apparently the Oxford City Council tried for years to get rid of it, but they cant find any regulations that would make it illegal.
We walked to our house which was not easy since we had HEAVY rolling suitcases and they don’t pull well on cobblestone roads. The house we are living in is called “Postmaster’s Hall” and apparently was the place where the Merton College scholars (called Postmasters) lived up until 1575. We are going to try to find out how old the original structure is. We have laughed at the house since there doesn’t appear to be a single 90 degree angle in the entire place. Sometimes it makes you a bit dizzy!! The top floor (where the bedrooms are) have low ceilings and exposed beams so we both have to be careful not to hit our heads.
We walked to the local mall and did some grocery shopping and came home and fixed a most welcomed meal. After a short nap I walked back to another store (Marks & Spencer) and bought a few other items that we had forgotten, including some fresh baked Devon Scones to have for breakfast.
By 7pm I was falling asleep as I was typing, so we went to bed and slept until 7am.
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