Easter and Royal Happenings

Word Comparison:
British: chunter.  American: mutter/complain.
Example: What's that ol' nutter chuntering on about now?
British: whinge.  American: whine.
Kids are excellent whingers, teens are expected to decrease their whinging as they mature, and adults that whinge are called Whinge Buckets!

At the beginning of April, our parish had it's annual Week of Prayer, which involves 4 prayer times each day for a week (9am, 1pm, 5pm, 8pm) with each session lasting about 20 minutes.  This year's Week of Prayer was fantastic!  It was a great way to join together with God and one another outside of the normal Sunday morning service.  Everyday there were different members attending, and it was excellent to pray with one another.  The Edge youth group fell on the 8pm slot on Friday, and we joined in!  It's so refreshing to hear young people pray :)

At a ministry team meeting, the ministry team was given the opportunity to speak during the Good Friday Service, and I did a short reflection on the thief on the cross next to Christ.  I was so nervous but it went well!  I have been given the opportunity to give a sermon in July, and I thought this would be good practice for that.

For Easter, I was invited to have lunch with Colin and Ann Jones, an elderly couple in the village, and met their family that came to visit from around the country.  It was very fun, with a lovely Sunday roast and a beautiful walk in the countryside afterwards.  The day after Easter, the Butlers brought be to a Colchester United football game!  It was so good to see a professional soccer game, and to experience English football with the Butlers and the Sheils :)

And of course, I can't forget the royal wedding!  It fell a day after my 23rd birthday which was the same day as my buddy sister, Becky's, 13th birthday, and two days after my buddy dad, Dominic's, birthday!  The Sheils threw a royal wedding viewing party and luncheon afterwards, and we celebrated English style!  Also that morning, the Sheils took me to stroke and feed a baby lamb called Burt.  He was adorable and so cute and I almost died with happiness!

The next day, I took Becky and Lawrence into London for Becky's birthday.  We went to Westminster Abbey and Buckingham palace and Docklands Museum and the Natural History Museum and Hamley's Top Shop and had lunch at my friend Edwin's flat.  It was a stunning day!

Our next big program with the Edge youth group is our weekend away at St Mark's College up near Saffron Walden, which should be great!  My goal for the youth that weekend is really to bond as a family, a support group, which will bring them into a closer relationship with God. We're planning up a storm! Keep us in your prayers, please!

Farewell :)

March Updates

British: knackered
American: exhausted
This is such a descriptive word, because you simply can't say the word 'knackered' without feeling the full weight of it.  A few hours digging in the garden, an evening with the youth group at Solid Remix, an afternoon of football with the boys, and you will be completely knackered.

British: plonk
American: cheap wine
Example:  Some people take the ferry to France because there's no tax on alcohol, so they can get good French wine at plonk prices.
Save that bottle of plonk for the next time we need cooking wine.

Hey!  It's been a bit since I've last posted, so I thought I'd run through the most significant things that have happened since my last post, after the TFG conference in Wales.

First things first: My CRB check came through!  Which means I can now work in both Primary School in the villages (Boxted and Langham Primary).  Now, I volunteer at Langham Primary on Wednesdays and Fridays, and at Boxted Primary on Mondays and Thursdays, during lunch time and at break afterwards.  I spoke with the head teacher of Boxted Prim and she asked about anything else I'd like to do with the school or ways I'd like to work with the kids, so I might start tutoring as well :) Very exciting!

Solid Remix:  We took the Edge youth group to Chelmsford Cathedral for Solid Remix, an event for all the CofE youth groups in the Chelmsford diocese.  It was sooo much fun!  Solid Remix had a bunch of different activity stations, like music circles, relay races, a bouncy castle, art projects, etc.  There was also a time of worship and a sermon in the middle of the program, while we were eating dinner.  All in all, it was brilliant!

Connect Contemporary Worship:  We had our first Connect Contemporary Worship on 6th March!  Connect worship is something that's been in the making for about 5 months now.  When I first got to England, the kids were really interested in going to the local contemporary worship service in Colchester called St Johns, and we went about every other week for months.  This is something the youth were really passionate about, so we organized a contemporary service created and run by the youth and their families!  We now have a worship band, and our service centered around connecting with God.  It seemed to go really well, and our next service is 16th May!

That's all for now!  Travel light :)

TFG Big Conference in Wales

Here's a short story about Wales I wrote as part of a creative writing/art exercise the YAGMs did at the TFG Big Conference in Wales.

"Mmmmm, fresh morning-frost grass!  My favourite.  Just a slight silver frosting on top of the mountain.  Not that warm, mushy afternoon grass or grass that's covered so deeply in snow that I can't even get to it!"
Tammy the sheep was happily munching on a patch next to her best friend, Eva.  Tammy loved being around Eva; she has such a calming presence, and Tammy didn't get into trouble nearly as often when Eva was there.  She made sure that they only went down to the stream for water at least 30 minutes before the herd moved on, so they were never left behind.  Also, Eva was considered one of the 'cool' lambs in the herd, which meant Tammy wasn't picked on near as much when she was in Eva's vicinity.  However, Malfoy the sheep, the biggest bully in the herd, was heading their way right now!  Tammy started to tense up, just as the sight of him trotting towards them.
"Hiya Eva, you're a wee star, hen!" said Malfoy.
"Hello, Malfoy.  You alright?" asked Eva.
Tammy the sheep tried to slowly inch away from the two, trying to get away from Malfoy the bully.
"Where do you think you're going there, Tammy?" asked Malfoy, a sneer forming on his lips.
"No, I... I'm not going..." muttered Tammy.
"HOLY CRAP!"
All of the sudden, a human started running down the mountainside at them.  Tammy freaked out, let out  couple of stray bleats, and ran away from the crazy human being running straight towards them, shouting some crazy human gibberish:
"Let me pet you, sheep!!!"

Peek back at December!

If this is your first time reading my blog, please take a second to see what I'm doing this year!

I haven't updated my blog in far too long; sorry guys! Here's a few quick snapshots of my last month, and other videos that I've taken and wanted to show you, but my internet connection at the cottage is far too slow for me to upload them. Here in Krakow, however, the connection is very fast!

New Years Eve celebration in Market Square of Krakow, Poland with my friends Virginia and Anne!

State of the roads after a "big" snow in Essex- 6 inches :)

My host family took my friend Kathleen and I to see the British Military Tournament in London! Here's a band "battle" between two regimental bands :)

More to come later :)

Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Night

If you're reading my blog for the first time, please click here to read what I'm doing this year!

Word comparison:

English: pudding. American: dessert.

The first time I heard this used- Kids: "Mum, what's for pudding?" Me: "Huh???"  Used in exactly the same way we'd use dessert.

English: ladybird. American: ladybug.

They come in flocks in Essex, and love windowsills. I think ladybird sounds prettier!

The past two weeks have been pretty low key for the most part- PPB with Tim, dinner at the Bulls, dinner at the Sheils, the Point youth club, the Edge youth group, Boxted Methodist Silver Band, meeting with my supervisor Denise. There were a few differences, though!

Beautiful sunset, often seen here in Essex

On Tuesday of last week, I met with David Morell, who will be my (for lack of a better term) "professional coach" for the year, helping me develop time management skills, how to deal with certain situations that arise, etc. I'm very excited about the prospect of becoming more professional! I think it's something I could greatly benefit from. Also, he took me out for a pub lunch, which was nice! He asked me to keep track of how I spend my days for the next 4 weeks, and then at our next meeting we'll be going over my time management. Fun/scary! :)

Natty being silly :)

That evening, I went over to the Butlers house for supper. I love this family. They are nothing short of entertaining, they've done/seen it all, and they're super nice!

Peter, saluting with a silly hat on

Ben and I at a post-Halloween Game Night

Peter plays guitar and really knows how to cook, Vicki-Jo is a fantastic gardener and makes really tasty pudding, Ben is perpetually amusing and will be a famous actor, Natty will some day be leader of the world, they used to lead contemporary worship, they are funny, we have great conversation, I could go on... Love this family. I'm taking them back to America with me.

Also, I was invited for supper by Penny Carmichael! Her grandson was visiting the village from Uni in London, and he had great conversation, especially about Harry Potter ^_^ Hopefully more people will invite me over for supper? :D

Beautiful fireworks for Bonfire Night!

Friday, November 5th, was Guy Fawkes Day/ Bonfire Night! This consisted of a village fair at Langham Community Hall on Saturday evening, with food stands, a bar area for drinks, a sparklers station, fun games stations, teacups ride, and a bouncy castle (I forget the American word for it) which I helped the Bulls run! It was tons of fun. There was a big bonfire going on the back part of the field, and 

Starting to read treble clef a little better! Just gotta practice practice practice. 

Getting on with my Bible reading- one of my goals for the year is to read through the whole Bible. So far, I've read Genesis and Exodus, and am starting Job. 

The days are getting much shorter here... the sun started to set around 4pm, and it is pitch black now at 4:50pm! Craziness. It's hard to tell by the weather since it hasn't gotten to cold here yet, but by the light, you can definitely tell that England is further away from the equator. 

My hair and nails grow faster here... Kathleen pointed this out, and it's true! It's probably because my diet is so different here; we only eat organic and natural food. It's not even by choice, really, it's what they sell at the stores, it's what is produced here! Pretty cool. But very weird that my new hair cut has already grown out and that I have to clip my nails so often!

Alice and Pippa are giving me short piano lessons, and I love it!!! I've always wanted to learn how to play piano, and they're good teachers. So far I've learned two songs, Chinese Chopsticks and the accompaniment for Heart and Soul.
I love England!

Autumn Half Term, Part 2

If this is the first time you're reading my blog, click here to see what I'm doing this year!

Word comparison:
English: cinemas. American: movies.
Instead of seeing a movie at the movie theater, you'd go see a film at the cinemas.
English: advert. American: any form of advertisement.
The US would use ads, commercials, and movie previews to describe different forms of advertisement, but Brits just use the term "advert" for all three.

Okay, here's part 2 of my half term adventures!

On Tuesday, I had a day off to relax and do laundry and read. It was nice and calming ^_^ I also got a chance to talk to some friends about travel plans, and unfortunately wasn't able to visit my friend Virginia in Switzerland! So instead, I talked to Sophie, Roger and Patsy-Ann's daughter, to see if I could stay in her and Daniel's flat in London with them for a few days! Also, I talked to Kathleen about coming to see her for the weekend and staying in Sunningdale with her! So plans were made :)



On Wednesday, I headed out to London! I walked around a bit, did some sightseeing like walking through Regent's Park, and got Indian food for dinner. I have totally missed Peshwari Naan! Actually, though, I messed up travel arrangements a bit, and I didn't tell Sophie that I was arriving that evening, because she was out the whole night! Luckily, Dan (her brother) was in the flat and was able to meet me in Liverpool Street station to walk me to the flat. I felt so bad that I didn't make it clear what day I was arriving, but they took it with a lot of grace! :) Also, I did the washing up for them the next morning to try and make up for it :D

On Thursday, I spent the day wandering around, seeing different sights I had wanted to see. I went to St Paul's Cathedral, walked across the Millenium Bridge (the one in Harry Potter that they fly over at night on broomstick! Also the one that muggles were walking on when the death eaters destroyed it.) It was so exciting. I must've looked really goofy as well, with a huge grin plastered across my face, taking a bunch of pictures. I also walked to London Bridge and Tower Bridge, as well as walking to and seeing inside of Westminster Abbey. I got a lot of exercise from walking everywhere that day. I kinda wonder how many miles I walked!

On Friday, I took met Kathleen at Waterloo! It was good seeing her again, and it totally felt like more than a week since we'd last met :) We made our way to Westminister Abbey to go to what we thought was a free concert in the abbey, but turned out to be a midday worship, which was quite lovely. The only weird part was people were touring the abbey around us and kinda watching us during worship lol. We then made our way to the Tate Modern Art Museum and saw the different exhibits shown. I was supper excited to see some cubist work from George Braque! And some pretty sweet Picasso pictures as well. It still surprises me how graffic some of his material is, though! Also, free entrance into public museums is one of the most awesome things about London!
Afterwards, we went across Millenium Bridge again! Whoot! We were searching for Thai or Indian food, but came across an old pub that Kathleen had recognized from one of her guide books... Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, one of the oldest pubs in England, rebuilt in 1667! AH!!! It was so cool and mideval, since they kept the original interior and decor instead of adapting a new look, which most pubs do to stay in business. They've kept their authenticity, and they had the best sticky toffee pudding EVER! Afetrward, we went back to the flat to collect my stuff, and then made our way back to Waterloo and caught the train to Sunningdale. We walked to Kathleen's house, and settled in with a cup of tea, then went to an Italian restaurant for supper. The risotto I ordered was fantastic! And Kathleen's calzone was so big lol. Then, we went back home and played Taboo and Bananagrams. Definitely going to have to buy that game before I go back to the States!

On Saturday, Kathleen and I caught the bus to Windsor Castle! It was GORGEOUS! The whole park and village are just naturally beautiful, and the castle itself, seated on top of a big hill overlooking the village, was just perfect. They gave us free audio guides with our tickets (Kathleen's was free since she has an Advantage Card for living in the area) and it was really neat to see where the royal family live! St George's chapel was also extremely beautiful. After we toured the grounds, we went to a local pub and got some Thai food, and an autumn beer festival was happening there! We are really lucky! We looked around the shops and got some "cream tea" which turned out to be green tea! Apparently our American accents are not very clear :)

We then caught the bus home, and went to Kathleen's church so she could practice piano for service the next day. She is soooo good at piano, and she taught me home to play the background part of Heart and Soul!!!  Absolutely loved it, even though I was rubbish at playing piano and kept messing up. It was really fun! I've practiced it since, and I really love it. Also, we played a bit of the 12 Days of Christmas, my favourite Christmas song! I had such a good time. Then we went home, I met Kathleen's housemate Fliss who just got engaged! We made supper, which was spaghetti hoops (spaghetti-o's) and cheesy bread, followed by fruit and yoghurt for pudding. Then Kathleen and I had some girl time, which consisted of more Taboo and Bananagrams, drinking tea, watching Josh Groban on youtube, and talking about boys. Yup, we're cool :D


Sunday, I had to catch the train/tube/train/bus/taxi back to Boxted. Boo! It was a brilliant half term though, and I can't wait til the next one!

Also, please tell me what you think of this blog by clicking one of the boxes below! Cheers!

Autumn Half Term, Part 1

If you're visiting my blog for the first time, click here to see what I'm doing this year!

Word Comparison:
English: rubber. American: eraser.
The first time a child asked me for a rubber, I almost had a heart attack!
English: pants. American: underwear
Don't compliment people's pants. They'll either laugh at you or think you're incredibly rude.

Sorry, I'm a bit behind on my blogging; so much has been happening! My apologies about the length of this blog.

Colchester Castle

Two Wednesdays ago was rehearsal for Boxted Methodist Silver Band. Finally beginning to read treble clef! (a little bit) There is actually a song we played that I could read the whole piece of music except for one phrase! WOOT!
Thursday, I met with Colchester Youth Outreach (CYO) in the morning for a prayer and planning meeting. They're a great bunch of people :) We talked about the possibility of me going into one of the secondary schools this year to work with the kids! We'll see how this pans out. Thursday evening was the Point youth club, and we made paper mache globes and talked about creation!

On Friday, we had the Edge youth group, and we had a lovely evening of worship and prayer. We sang some of the songs we are considering using for our contemporary worship after the new year, to get a feel for the songs we'll be playing soon :) We also took turns reading prayers and scripture, and doing activities in between! We did stone washing, where you write your sins/fears on stones with chalk pastels then wash them off, symbolically washing your sins away! This is an idea that Heidi suggested and we did during worship at our last TFG conference, and I decided to use it with my kids :) Also, we did watercolour psalms, where we read a psalm and painted our interpretation onto watercolour paper. The pictures that came out of this were absolutely beautiful, and many of the kids gave me their paintings! I will have such a beautifully decorated room by the end of the year :D

Kathleen and I pointing to the Roman tiles

On Saturday, Kathleen came to visit me! :D :D :D We cooked lunch together, then went into Colchester and walked around the town! Colchester is the oldest recorded town in all of the UK, and has a big stone wall surrounding the town, though it's crumbling. The wall was rebuilt sometime this millenium, but still has red Roman tiles from the original wall which was built around 0 AD! When Jesus walked the earth! Gah :D We also went to Colchester Castle, and saw some pieces of the oldest mosaic in the UK!

The Inn at Stratford St Mary

Afterwards, we looked around the shops in the town, including a music store where I bought tuba sheet music! and a charity shop (like a thrift store in America, but smaller, better organised, with better things) Kathleen and I both got new jackets for under 10 quid! We then went to Dedham for cream tea! Dedham's Essex Rose tea shop definitely has the best cream tea, which Kathleen confirmed. We drove down to the river, and saw a bunch of mallard ducks as well as a swan sitting in the middle of a car park! Swans are so mean weird. I then gave Kathleen a little tour of our two villages! I think she enjoyed the sprawling English countryside.



When we got home, Kathleen asked to play the tuba! :D :D :D Girl after my own heart. It's hard to explain how to play the tuba, and even if you can explain it, it's hard to do something you've never done before! It was totally fun though, and Kathleen did a great job! She even played different octaves, and I helped her play a Bb major scale! She's a true musician :) Patsy-Ann made us supper when we got home, and then we had a game tournament! We played mastermind, boggle, some pig game, and an intense game of Checkers! Luckily, Kathleen got impatient and I won! She's a better checkers player than I am, so I was very excited to win ^_^

On Sunday, I took Kathleen to church! I was happy that she got to meet my church family :) When I introduced her to Rev Tim, he immediately recognized her, because she had been initially placed in my placement, but had to be moved because Langham and Boxted weren't sure they could take on another volunteer this year! Once they did solidify the need for a volunteer, they were given me. Poor guys :P

Canoeing! Kathleen, Becky, and Lawrence

We went to my buddy family, the Sheils, for Sunday dinner afterwards. We had a bite to eat, and then since it was Lawrence's birthday, I took Kathleen, Becky, and Lawrence to the river for CANOEING! We had soooo much fun!! I was a little worried at first because Lawrence was talking about flipping the canoe and going for a swim, but he stayed still the whole time! And no one seemed to like it much when I rocked the canoe... I thought it was fun! XD

Patsy-Ann helped us strap the canoe onto the roof of her car, and we went to Stratford St Mary and canoed to Dedham, then turned around and came back. I sat in the back and steered, Kathleen was in the front paddling, and the kids sat in the middle and behaved well ^_^

Swans closing in, Cygnets behind them

We passed a bunch of fishermen, and also some swans and cygnets (baby swans). If cygnets are around, swans get very territorial and will attack you. We came very close to this happening...  I steered us to the other side of the river, but the swans came over and ruffled up their feathers and came less than a foot from the back of the boat where I was sitting. It freaked me out! Luckily, we got the heck out of dodge and when we passed the second time, they were gone. Thankfully! Near the end, Kathleen and Becky switched and Becky got a turn to paddle!

Having a blast canoeing!

After canoeing, we went back home and had Sunday roast at the Sheils, and it was soooo good! Kathleen doesn't have a buddy family in her placement and I think we need to sort one out for her. I have no idea where I'd be without mine! After dinner, Kathleen headed back home. Totally wish she could've stayed longer, but I'm so glad she visited and can't wait til she visits next :)

Linda feeding an eager goat, Lawrence taking a photo

On Monday, the Sheils took me to Jimmie's Farm which was ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!! We got to see and pet a bunch of different animals like pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, emus, turkeys, peacocks, rabbits, hamsters, etc.

Becky and Dominic on our nature walk

We also went into a butterfly garden, we went on a nature walk, got food, looked at the farm shop, and Becky and Lawrence got wax hands made. It was such a great afternoon!

Then in the evening, the Sheils took me to see Despicable Me in Colchester with the Butlers! It was a pretty cute movie. I still cannot wait til Harry Potter comes out, though :)

Afterwards, we went back to the Sheils for a casserole dinner! Linda makes the best beef. Seriously. Sooo tasty.

Afterward supper, we played charades which was brilliant! The kids were so silly acting out their parts, but the adults were a whole other form of hilarity. Seriously, they were just... indescribably funny. It was spectacular getting the families together for supper, such a fun bonding experience!

Honestly, after a brilliant prayer service with the kids at youth group on Friday night, shopping, exploring and tea with Kathleen on Saturday, canoeing and Sunday roast with Kathleen and the Sheils on Sunday, and Jimmie's Farm, Despicable Me, supper and charades with the Sheils and Butlers on Monday, it was like the best 4 days ever! I don't know if I could have had a better time. I hope everyone can experience such joy from work and friendship as I have :D