Gratitude 42

When I remember where I am... :)


Crazy couple of days. Went to Szeged today to straigten out my whole passport ordeal...finally an official Hungarian resident...but of course I have to leave in a few weeks. Promise to fix this into a real post as soon as I can. For now, I must get some sleep...full day of classes tomorrow and then our Hungarian-American Thanksgiving dinner! :)

A Kecskeméti hétvege...

Gratitude 41

I am thankful for conversations with Chadwick! :) He makes me smile! (I miss that man! It's just not the same without him!) I got to talk to him through instant messaging and then for a little while on the phone last night!!!


It's been a Kecskeméti weekend. Very laid back and a little lacking on the productivity scale, but it's been good. I needed just a weekend in Kecskemét.

Yesterday, I awoke a little earlier than I would have liked, especially since I didn't go to bed till after 1am. (My body never seems to like to let me sleep in...guess that's a good thing in some aspects.) I spent an hour and a half writing postcards...lots of postcards...and then hopped off to post them before the post office closed. Gallavanted around town a bit but justed ended up getting grumpy. As I walked out of the last store, though, to head back to the Institute, there were snowflakes swirling in the air!!! :) Yay! Still no real snow, but that's a start. Back at the Institute, Wendy and Hilary were so funny...they ran outside, Hilary still in her pjs and were jumping around and shouting. The porter thought we were all crazy...then we told her it was snowing, and her face lit up, too.

The rest of the day was very unproductive. Feel a little guilty about that but not as much as I probably should be. I did practice a little piano and some of the piano stuff for solfege and also worked on memorizing a Kodály piece for voice. I am not great at memorizing, but I am finding it is far more difficult when you are trying to figure out/learn the language, too! I really like the language, but it is very difficult. (Although János tells me, "Oh, it's not difficult. Very simple," every time he tries to explain something in Hungarian to me...yeah, simple because you speak it as a mother tongue. You know, I am so amazed by the fact that people...especially the teachers here...can speak 3, 4, 5, some even 6 languages! That is just incredible! And they can switch between them with the blink of an eye. I wish I could do that! But that is a qualm I have with the American education system that I don't really want to go into.) I must have sat there for two hours looking at this piece...and it is only three strophic verses...I ended up flipping through my dictionary to find a word-for-word literal translation, and that helped a lot...building my Hungarian vocabulary, too. However, I awoke this morning with it going through my head...I think I may have got it...or am very close. :)

In the evening, as with many evening, especially weekends, a bunch of us sat chatting around for a couple of hours in the dining room. We have some of the weirdest conversations, though. Adds to the list of very memorable moments of life at the Institute! haha!

This morning I awoke, again, early and with memories of crazy dreams I'd had. (I have the weirdest dreams! I don't always remember them, but the ones I do are always so strange!) Sun-Xing and I went to the open market. Oh, the adventures at the open market! It is very cold out today but nothing too horrible, and she looked at me and said, "Is that the coat you are wearing?!" I had on my winter pea coat...she had a "marshmallow" coat (you know...those puffy winter coats). I just laughed. She cracks me up. This is the snow...or rather "wanna-be" snow...we found when we walked out of the Institute:

It's practically just a bit of frost! And this is the snow Mom sent me from home:



I showed that picture to Wendy and Hilary, and their eyes got really big!



The open market is always an experience. It's fun. However, I don't particularly enjoy walking past the dead pigs and what not. Yuck!

I saw Poinsettas for Christmas already! :) This place is great for practicing Hungarian. We met this one man that we were buying veggies off of. He was so funny. I had to ask him to repeat the price like five times before I got it. He was like, "Nincs problemo." I said, "Bocsánat! Most tanulok magyarul. Csak kicsit." (translation: "Sorry, I am now studying Hungarian. Just a little." He was impressed that we were even studying and trying to speak the language. (Spending a few months in a culture, you start to pick things up eventually! I find it hard to believe that some people spend years in a foreign place and never learn any of the language. How can you not when everyone around you is speaking it?) Turns out he spoke some English, so the next ten minutes were him quizzing us on how much we needed to pay and how much change he was giving us back. haha! That's really why we go to the market...to learn Hungarian. haha! :)

I really need to accomplish some work today, though. (Although it is already nearly 1pm and still haven't touched anything.) I made mashed potatoes today, though! Yum! Very exciting! However, it kind of makes me homesick for Thanksgiving. (My grandma promised me a turkey for Christmas, though!) It's this Thursday, and there aren't any plans yet...

Gratitude 40

Anna Netrebko's new album which has been on constant play on my computer and my ipod the past few days. :)

So...I am most definitely much closer to Switzerland than if I were in the States, so I am wondering...where on earth are the Ricola throat drops in this country?! My search this morning while I was out to pick up a few things yielded no findings. :(

Continuing my update...as promised! :)

Today has been very exhausting, and my attempt to play piano tonight are not getting very far, so I decided I'd finish catching up on my posts before a shower and bed. I think I will accomplish far more productive work after a good night's sleep.

Picking up where I left off...

After my lesson on Saturday morning, I headed off to Budapest to meet my friend Noémi's cousins/family. Before I left the states, she had arranged for me to meet them some weekend while I was here. Her cousin Mercedész is about 19 I believe, and she met me when I got off the train. We went to lunch at a Turkish restaurant and then visited Margitsziget (Margaret Island in the middle of the Danube), the Castle District (one of my favorites of Budapest! but there are also so many favorites I have!), and Mátyás Church. In the early evening, we headed to her hom in Erd, a suburb of Budapest. Her mom had homemade goulash for us, and I got to meet her family. They were all so nice! Mercedész speaks English very well and so do her older brothers. The rest of the family are learning, so we were mixing languages. My comprehension of Hungarian is...well, not so much, but we made it work. I helped them practice English, and they helped me practice some Hungarian. The little boys loved to say my name for some reason, too.

Sunday morning, Mercedész took me to an English and Hungarian church service in Budapest. (I'm not exactly sure where...I probably could not find it again on my own.) The pastor was American, hence the English and Hungarian. It was very interesting to see. The worship songs were in Hungarian and occasionally sung a second time in English, and there was a translator for his sermon. He was very animated, and I realized how oddly I kind of miss American humor. (I also oddly...and randomly...miss my pair of sweatpants.) There is humor here, of course, but it can be a little different. I have found that "our" humor isn't always understood. I think Americans just full of constant snappy comments (kind of like Gilmore Girls if you've ever seen that). I am realizing as I try that to explain this idea is kind of confusing, so I'll just leave it at that.

Budapest

Parliament in Budapest

We returned to her home for a Sunday lunch. Her mom and little brothers made a great Hungarian meal. And then in the afternoon, it was time for me to head back to Kecskemét. It was nice to meet them, and I hope we can stay in contact. Mercedész said she'd like to meet up with me when I am in Budapest for a visit to the Christmas markets, so that shall be fun.

Noémi's cousins and aunt and uncle

Mátyás Church

After my weekend away, I had lots of work to catch up on...including learning a very difficult Mozart aria that János has been after me about.

Tuesday was stressful. Solfege didn't go the grandest, and it didn't help that I had not prepare as much as I should have. My lesson with János was a half hour of me "composing" Mozart and Sun-Xing on the piano "composing" Mozart in another way, so altogether, we were far from Mozart's composititon. I love coloratura, and it is meant for my voice. However, learning it is another story. It takes me far too long to really "get" it. I was getting so tense and frustrated. At one point János was standing next to me trying to help me "organize" the run we were working on, and I think he thought I was going to cry, so he put his hand on my shoulder, looked at me, and said, "Samantha! RELAX! Nothing wrong! You have to learn how to learn it, too." Argh! I should have had it learned by then!

I did not have piano with Orsolya thankfully because I switched times with someone, so now I have it Wednesday mornings. It had to be done...Orsolya was very disappointed with me in my lesson last week.

Before conducting, I was able to catch Zoltán to talk with him about conducting, something I should have done long ago. That class has been a struggle, and I was in the middle of the ocean and needed to find my way back to shore. Talking with him really helped. Especially after my experience in class on Friday, I was a ball of nerves when it came to conducting. Friday certainly was not his fault but my own for not knowing the piece well enough. He explained some musical things to me and made it a little clearer for me. (I also learned that my thoughts that he was at his wits end with me was a complete creation of my own imagination. Good to know I guess.) Near the end of class, he leaned over to me and asked if I wanted to give it another try. Somehow, from our conversation, I had calmed down and was completely collected as I conducted the "choir." In turn, I was able to respond to all of his directions without hesitation. :)

Wednesday, my lesson with Orsolya was a little better. For some reason, my fingers always fumble all over the piano the first time I play something in there. It's quite ridiculous. Needless to say, she was, again, very disappointed with me. However, I asked to play it again, and it got better. I fumbled again in my Bach piece, but she was apparently very pleased with my musicality, so it made everything better I guess.

Emma and I went to the market after my lesson and then goofed off around stores in town. The rest of the day was spent finishing all of my folk music analyses! Yay! Now, I just have to learn and memorize all twenty with solfa and text. Oh boy! I get to do that, too, with about twenty melodies each for Hungarian music literature and general music literature. Fun times! haha!

In the evening I went to yoga, a much-deserved reward for hard work all day. However, because I went, I was not exactly prepared for my voice lesson today.

Today started out in a not so great fashion, as I awoke 15 minutes before class started. Ugh! And I had gone through such trouble to set my alarm early, so I could review some solfege in the morning. Grand! As I skittered down the hall 15 minutes late for class, I ran into János as he came in, and he just gave me a funny look before laughing. Crazy man!

Solfege went quite well. Progress is showing little by little. I think Klára was quite pleases as well. Methodology, too, went fine. We are learning how to teach songs by rote, which is very useful for me in a studio setting. Chamber music with Roland was another story. I kind of got scolded, but it was deserved. I guess that is what I get for having neglected doing what I should have for the lesson. I know it is my responsibility, and I accept the task and will fix my blunders. (I think "A csitari hegyek alatt" by Kodály needs to top my to-do list for this weekend!)

My voice lesson was okay. I know I sang way too much today, so I was not as fresh of voice as would have been best. Nem baj. What's done is done. I spent the time before my lesson looking at the Mozart aria because it desperately needed it, but it would probably have been most wise to be quiet during that hour. My lesson was more like 45-50 minutes today even though it is only supposed to be 30-minute sessions, but I was the last lesson of the day today. No complaining, but I am slightly vocally fatigued simply because I did sing an awful lot today. All will be fine, though.

Last week, I asked him if we could work with/on my high notes a little more because they went into hiding for awhile. Since then, he's been I suppose "testing" my limits because this was the scenario today:

Me: (after doing a series of ascending staccato vocalises) How high was that might I ask?
János: Why? Well, there was a D-flat or a D or an E.
Me: Not bad.
J: (completely nonchalantly) Well, that was only an F, and then after that F-sharp. No worries. The last one was just a G.

Me: A 'G'!!! That's pretty high!

J: Yes, it is. I was just curious.

He is so ridiculous! Just curious! haha! Oh goodness! My high notes are really coming, though. In the Mozart piece he said that interestingly enough the high D definitely wasn't the problem, even though it was my biggest "fright." Overall, we accomplished some good things today, but I kept missing "the [vocal] point." (Again, "the point" is never literally defined.) Before I left, we were talking, and I convinced him to tell me his running snail joke. hahaha! Brilliant! I think it is one of the most hilarious things...umm...ever! That definitely made my day! (Gratitude 38)

(I get to live beside this! Gratitude 39)

Kettö héttel ezelött?!?!

Unbelievably, it has been two weeks since I last posted. What has actually happened in those two weeks, I am not really quite certain. Life has been extremely busy with no time to even think about blogging. (However, I do need to catch up, so that I have some type of journaling to look back on from this adventure.) I barely talked with my family, either. I kept telling my mom I'd call tomorrow...for about a week. Sorry for that! So...I am going to try to use super-speed to catch up as I really ought to be using this time for studying, but I may have to finish over the weekend.

Blasting back to the past...

The rest of the week since my last post, I am pretty sure was similar in story to all the others I have written about. Apparently, nothing too eventful happened, as nothing very vividly sticks out in my mind. Agi had us watch the Hungarian movie Kontrol on Thursday evening. It took place in the Metro and was rather violent but had some quite hilarious parts. (Before I left my lesson to go watch it, János was trying to tell me about a part but was laughing so much he could barely speak. I had never seen him do that before! And he was right...the part he was describing was hilarious.) However, when it was through, I was scared to ever ride the Metro again for fear of someone jumping out of the shadows and throwing me on the tracks in front of the train. BUT...I faced my fears, and on Saturday when I was in Budapest I did ride on the Metro...constantly peaking over my shoulder.

Budapest :)

We had a visitor from Denmark, Mirjam, for two weeks, so I went with her to Budapest that Saturday. I ended up being like a tour guide oddly...even though I had only been there are few times before. I had my little map and transport tickets and was speaking Hungarian. (Katrin, I felt like you! hehe!) I was so excited that I was actually able to use some Hungarian. I have managed to pick up quite a bit of vocabulary over the past couple of months. It is amazing what being "thrown" into a culture can do for your language skills! (That, I think I shall call Gratitude 33!) I got our train tickets entirely in Hungarian! and was asking directions and where things were in a store, ordering our food, etc...all in Hungarian! :) That was fun! Many times, though, I'd ask in Hungarian, and they'd reply, "Do you speak English?" Argh! Nem, speak Hungarian to me! It's the only way I'll learn! We met so many nice people, though. Some Americans that used to live in Ohio...such a small big world we live in! And...in a music shop, we met a man who was a student at the Kodály Institute in 1982. He was from Canada and is teaching in Romania now and is good friends with Orsolya. How crazy!

What on earth could this pretty building be? Yes, it is the train station, designed by Eiffel, himself.

Gratitude 34...train stations/the ability to hop on a train and be somewhere so simply (because stations in itself...who really likes to wait around in any station or airport...not I!). Plus, it's fun.

Of course, from the inside, you'd never know that is what the outside looks like!

Állomás! Állomás! Budapesten! Kecskeméten! (Yes, that is really what the man through the speaker says...well, there is more to it than that, but I have no idea what it is...all gibberish.)

Monday (Nov. 3), I went to a concert at the Katona Jozsef Szinház, which is behind the Institute, with Wendy, Mirjam, Jong-sup, and Christa to see János sing. Much of the Institute faculty was, of course, there as well. Such a lovely little theatre! I did not enjoy the sopranos at all, but the mezzo was fantastic, as was János, and the tenor was pretty good as well. The first half was the Kecskeméti Symphony. That was neat, too.


Tuesday, we had Mexican night at the Institute...one of our many "cultural bonding" experiences. The food was delicious. Caitlin eats Mexican all the time at home, and here it is fairly rare, so we decided to chip in and get the ingredients if she cooked. Such fun!


Hungarian adventure of the week:
I had to set up a Hungarian bank account about a month ago for my residency permit (which I still don't have...but that's another story entirely!), and about a week after we had set it up, I received some letter from the bank. It was all in Hungarian. I had no idea what it said, but it looked just like an advertisement, so I threw it away. Little did I know that it actually was telling me how to get my bank card. Oops! So, I got up early one morning and tottered my way to the bank ready to take on the task of figuring this out. I got a number...pretty sure...no, I know I hit the button that said "Lost Card"...I waited...and waited some more. Then, when they finally called my number I prayed that I would get an understanding teller. I lucked out. The lady was super nice! And made sure that I could see what was being done, so that I understood everything. Such nice people there are in Hungary!



Okay...fast-forwarding through time...


Thursday (Nov. 13), I had the best chamber music lesson I have had with Roland. We worked on a Hungarian folk song I am doing, A csitari hegyek alatt. Lovely piece. :) It went quite well...for the first time. (Rhythmically, it is a challenge, as well as high...and the fact that I do not speak the language!) The part that made my day the most was that as we left, instead of saying "Jó napot" like should be said to our "elders," we said "Csokolome" to Roland, which literally means "I kiss your hand." It is very old Hungarian and was/is used only by older men to greet women, as they used to be greeted by kissing their hand. We all had a good laugh! haha! (Around the Institute, some of us get a kick out of saying it to each other, but I am not sure anyone was ever daring enough to say it to a professor...it is all very informal here, though...every professor/teacher here goes by their first name, no mr.'s or mrs.'s)


Friday was...thankfully Friday. Conducting was pretty much the worst experience of my life! Oh, it was awful! I was pretty much told to sit back down and do it again on Tuesday. Ugh! I somehow managed not to cry. After class, Zoltán was all worried he'd hurt me and asked if I was okay. Yes, he upset me, but it was more on my own fault than any his. He had every right to criticize my work. Honesty isn't always easy, and the truth can hurt sometimes, but we cannot move forward without knowing what to correct.


After choir, I went out for a bit because I knew I needed to step away for a little time. I also really needed some laundry detergent...and I ended up impulse buying a new cute black purse. So worth it! And I am so glad I did. It was time for a new purse. Plus, it's really cute. For dinner, I ended up going out with Emma, Wendy, and Hilary, and then we goofed off after dinner. We had a good time. Unfortunately, though, I ended up spending even more money...I found a cute blue sweater on sale...again, an impulse buy, but a very good one! So pretty! (Gratitude 35...impulse buys that turn into the best of purchases!)


Saturday morning, I had a make-up lesson with János from the previous week. 10:30am voice lesson? Ugh. But I had no choice, as I was going to Budapest in the afternoon. So...I got my butt out of bed at 7:30am, got a nice long shower, made sure my things were ready for Budapest, went to the open market for some honey. (Gratitude 36...the most amazing honey I have ever had in my life! Finom!) It was a lovely morning, too. On the way to the market, I was standing at the crosswalk with an old man, so I decided to say "Jó reggelt" ("Good morning"). He gave me the weirdest look. I was just confused. Just trying to be friendly. When I got to my lesson, I said to János, "Nekem van egy kerdes..." ("I have a question...") His reply: "Just one question?!" Well, it is never one question with me, of course! Anyway, I asked him if Hungarian greet random people on the street...apparently not. I think I gave him a good laugh, though...I seem to give him his daily dose of laughing. So, that moment on the street, I must have had a huge "AMERICAN!" sign flashing above my head...yet, they all seem to think I speak Hungarian. haha! Oh well!


The lesson...the most incredible voice lesson of my life! No, it was nowhere near perfect. There were many mistakes. The sounds were not always the most brilliant. However, in a sense, it was perfect. In a new way. Perhaps the secret is that perfection is in imperfection. Nem tudom. I don't know. And probably never shall. However, me finding satisfaction in something that isn't perfect...now, that is progress for a perfectionist like me! (And that shall be Gratitude 37) But really, it was a fabulous lesson...and at 10:30am!! We really accomplished great things. My coloratura is getting better. Despite my "stubborn-ness," it is for my voice. I really do love it, but the "getting" it part is what is the most frustrating. Oh, I have so many frustrations! János sees my frustrations every day, and he has been so understanding. He reminded me that finding the answers is never easy, but it is very important that I do not give up. (Actually, I am not sure the concept of "giving up" even exists in my vocabulary...I am too stubborn I think!) We all have things we must work through, and he remembers from his own experiences of learning going through the frustrations I am. It was good to be reminded. :)





***Stay tuned for the rest of my updates coming soon! I promise!***

Gratitude 32

Yesterday, I received my first "Hungarian" hug. (This may sound absurd, but Hungarians don't really seem to be much for hugs.) When I went to my piano lesson, Orsolya was ecstatic, having just completed a very successful presentation for the conclusion of her doctoral studies, and she embraced me as I walked in the room.

*****

Today, the United States...and the world...sees the first African-American President. Today is a huge day in the young history of our nation. I admit I am not the most "pro-American" U.S. citizen, but it is my homeland and what happens affects my life, too, whether I am abroad or at home.

No, I did not stay up all night just to see the election. (I might be crazy, but I'm not insane!) The final polls closed as morning came on this side of the world, but those over here are happy to see the change that can be made. Until living over here, we...I...never realized just how much power and pull the United States has on the world. Our decisions affect the entire planet. The consequences of our actions as a nation reverberate through every nation. Yet, we don't see this, or if we do, we ignore it. May the coming days, months, years bring positive change and brighter days to this world.

*****

This week back to classes has been a jump right back into work. Thankfully, Monday was a light day, so it gave a little more recuperation from travels and return to neglected work. I was (still am) quite behind on Solfege. However, class yesterday was not too awful. Klára was quite understanding because of our travels, but in my eyes, that is no excuse for not completing our work. There really is no excuse. I feel awful when I am not prepared as I should be. You can only look forward and change how something to come will turn out. What's done is done. The past cannot be changed.

János was not here yesterday, so I did not have my lesson. Although I desperately need lessons, it was probably for the best. It also relaxed me a bit from trying to get everything done Monday evening and gave me more time to do the things I could more properly.

Orsolya was very strict in my piano lesson, but it is only for the best. She's helping me tremendously in my piano skills, which will only better my musicianship and vocal music, too. I must learn to relax. I just get so tense when I play for fear of clanking wrong notes, and in turn, I end up hitting more wrong notes. (The same goes for voice with János!)

Because my piano lesson began fifteen minutes late, it ended fifteen minutes late, which meant I was nearly twenty minutes late for conducting! Oops! Zoltán didn't say anything and by the end of the lesson, had forgotten. I think for one of the first times, he didn't have to pull out his patience card with me. (Probably because I didn't have to conduct...which would have been a disaster as I shamefully had only looked at the piece two hours earlier...for about twenty minutes.)

After classes, I still had lots of homework and practice to be done, but I decided to relax a bit first. Normally, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I just have a bowl of quick-make soup and bread rather than actually cooking. I was going to do just that, but then decided that I had to have zucchini (which I rarely eat at home...even though there's always an overabundance), which meant that I had to go to the supermarket to get it. So I went. (It gets dark at 4:30pm now. Ugh!) And of course, I walked in for only zucchini and walked out having spent $10. How does that always happen? Then, I had to cook it, so what was going to be a quick but leisurely dinner turned into a two-hour escapade. Brilliant! I am so ridiculous! However, I amazingly still accomplished quite a bit last night.

This morning I didn't wake till after 10am, and it is now nearly noon...I really need to start getting some work done today! I shall leave you with this adorable photo of my nephew sent to me the other day. How precious! :)

Return to Hungary

Gratitude 31

I am thankful clean clothes after living from a small bag for ten days!

Saturday afternoon, I arrived back in Hungary. Through my time of traveling, I received THREE stamps in my passport!!! :) Including a Hungarian one! (Yes, believe it or not, I actually had to go through customs when I entered Hungary...as opposed to getting my bags and walking out the door when I arrived from the States...weird as that was.)

It was nice to be "home." I love Hungary. I have grown rather fond of it here. It is a lovely gem too easily forgotten/overlooked. However, it is also a much different life/world than the rest of Europe. It was also a little difficult to remember there is a language barrier that you have to be patient and work to understand and be understood. I was still on lazy-brain English and got a little irritated with the lady at the airport when I was trying to figure out how to get to the train platform. I don't know why, but for some reason...and we are all guilty of doing this at some point...we think that if we say the same thing slower...and sometimes louder...they'll understand us...even if they don't speak English. I don't know why. It's rather absurd, but somehow we actually think that works. I am still working to switch back to Hungarian. I still find it completely amazing that people like my teachers here speak English as a second...or even third or fourth...language and can switch between them at a blink of an eye.

Anyhow, I did eventually make it to the train platform and almost got on the wrong train. I, again, fooled people that I could speak Hungarian. I don't know how I do that. All I ever actually say is "nem," "igen," and "köszönöm." The airport shuttle driver looked at me startled when I asked him a question in English. "Beszélsz magyarul?!" He had apparently assumed that I spoke Hungarian because I had answered him in Hungarian (my answer was "igen") at the airport. It's kind of funny. I guess it's a compliment, too, but it doesn't always help with communication...the problem is you still have to understand what they say back to you...in Hungarian. I'm working on it.

Back in Kecskemét, I found a letter from my friend Noémi. :) And it was time for a shower and to do laundry! I love clean things! And then they smell so nice, too. :) At night, Tom and Yolanda had a little Halloween party at their flat. Those of us that were back went and ate junk food and shared stories of our travels.

Sunday, I went to Budapest with Christa (the student I go to yoga with) and her husband Vincent. We went to the opera house to see Beethoven's Fidelio. Well, I can say the music was lovely as expected. As for the rest...I have decided that I possibly may need to get a red dress for my recital in March...but I don't think I can ever look at the color green the same again. (It was a modern staging...they had some good ideas but went about them in entirely the wrong way...and that is all I shall say.)

Now, I am incredibly behind on sleep and practice. I am fighting with the faces of Stress and Anxiety right now and trying to win. I have SOOOO much to do (and of course, I am blogging right now and should be practicing...). I terribly neglected things while I was away...especially the most desperately needed nurturing of solfege. So I am breathing right now. I'll get it, and everything will be okay. I just need to stay relaxed and pace myself...no anxious flurries allowed!

My holiday (part 5)

Gratitude 30

I am thankful for the beautiful weather while I was in England. Surprisingly, it barely rained. It was lovely. Cold, but lovely.

Thursday was just a lazy day in the English countryside. Sophie and I made "candy corn," or attempted to at least. THe baking part was quite interesting but good fun. It came out sort of the texture of candy corn but was more like a toffee to taste. I may have to play with it with Becca over Christmas. I bet she'd enjoy that!

In the evening, Sophie and I joined a couple of her friends for drinks in a pub in Epsom. It was a cute little place. There, we had Früli, which is a strawberry beer. :)

Friday, we went to London one last time. She decided to leave early, so I stuck around town on my own for a bit. I gave St. Paul's a visit. :) It is beautiful! I did not go in because the queue was to the street and even the student price was quite steep. It was so amazing just to see it, though. (I sat on the steps like in Mary Poppins, too! hehe!)

After wandering around the area around St. Paul's for a bit, I hopped on the "tube" (aka underground) to catch a look at the Tower of London and Tower Bridge as the sun was setting. Then, I decided it wise to head towards a train station and head back even though I would have loved to stay longer.

For supper, Sophie's family and I went to an Indian restaurant for some curry. (For some reason, the British are obsessed with Indian food.) It was my first time having real Indian. It's good but not my favorite by any means.

We watched a bit of British telly before bed, and in the morning it was time for me to bid a farewell to my lovely England (for this year, anyhow!).

My holiday (part 4)

Gratitude 29

"'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will make you fishers of men.'

At once, they left their nets and followed Him." -Matthew 4:18-20

I am thankful for this verse that was framed on the dresser in the room I stayed in at Sophie's. I saw every time I was in the room. After all these years, I think the meaning of this verse has finally been revealed to me.

On Wednesday, London saw its first October snow since 1934! I always had the impression that the whole country glistened in white all winter, but they tell me that they get very little snow and never normally before April. I guess I fell under the Dickens charm like the rest of America!

I also venturede into London on my won. I love that "town!" It is just an amazing place. I went to Westminster Cathedral. It was stunning! There happened to be a mass while I was there, so I went but was not impressed with it at all.

I walked towards Buckingham Palace. I was a little bummed I could not find a guard that was close enough to get a picture with. (Most people know that I am kind of obsessed with...well, London...but the guards...I actually kind of feel bad for them...they look so board...and random people are constantly taking pictures of them. Poor guys!) It was lovely, though. I met a British family then meandered through St. James Park towards Parliament Square. Vienna has green, but only in London do you find parks like that. So picturesque. Love it! As I walked towards finding Parliament, there was this police brigade guarding someone. Oh, such a hullabaloo! It makes me giggle!

So Big Ben...this was the first time I was really able to see it. So many say it is nothing spectacular, but they are full of nonsense! It's incredible! :) I found Westminster Abbey and was going to go in, but it was really expensive, so I contented myself with the outside of it. Next, I made my way to Trafalger Square and intended to go through Leicester Square subsequently, but I guess I side-stepped a little. I somehow went right around it and got to Covent Garden. It was fine because I was going there anyway. (There's a Build-a-Bear there and had to pick up a few requested items for my little sister.) I wandered around there for awhile. It is a nice little place.

When I returned to Ashtead (where Sophie lives), it was dark, and I had absolutely no clue where I was going. I luckily met a nice old man who pointed me in the right direction. I love the British! hehe!

On a last note, London is loaded with business men in suits...pinstripe seems to be largely popular. It's just like my Papa always says about getting on a train, reading the paper, and being in the city for work. They really do do that. I'd love to work in London someday. NOT as a business woman...as a musician of course. Maybe someday, I'll be singing at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. Who knows!