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!