Happy St. George's Day! And happy birthday, William!

Friday was St. George's Day. St. George is the patron saint of England; I believe he slayed a dragon, I'm not sure what else he did. The flag of England in theory should be shown on St. George's Day, which is a white flag with a red cross (NOT to be confused with the British flag, the Union Jack we're familiar with). The people of England, with their huge amount of English pride, do basically nothing for their official holiday.
BUT, the good news is that scholars believe that William Shakespeare was born and died on that same day, April 23rd. That means that literary and theatrical nerds from all over the world travel to Shakespeare's hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon to celebrate. Our program had the wonderful chance to participate in this pilgrimage.
Once we got to Stratford-upon-Avon on Friday, we almost immediately visited Shakespeare's grave, his birthplace, and the house he was living in when he died. The grave was, well, a grave. Really, I've never understood the big deal about seeing graves. The birthplace was fun to visit; in honor of Shakespeare's birthday photography was allowed in the house and there was mead tasting in the garden (I kind of liked mead, by the way). I almost couldn't tear myself away from the giftshop! The last house was kind of boring; the garden is getting torn apart right now because archeologists are digging it up to find Shakespeare relics, and the house didn't have much to see.
After our museum visits, Katy, Whitney, Sarah, and I happened upon a souvenir shop which was selling cheap St. George's Day items. We couldn't help but get in the spirit- each of us got a little English flag to wave. It got better, though. When we went to a pub for dinner, we discovered a collection of St. George's Day English flag crowns- like Burger King crowns, only selling ale instead of burgers. Katy bravely asked the bartender if we could have some. Apparently the bartender was a little puzzled, but they let us take them. We spent the majority of the remainder of our time in Stratford-upon-Avon with crowns on our heads and little flags waving.
That night we watched a performance of King Lear by the Royal Shakespeare Company. All I can say is, wow. It was intense, to say the least. A tragedy with themes of the Apocalypse and betrayal and insanity, it was incredibly well done but also very hard to watch.
We all spent the night in various Bed & Breakfasts (sooooo nice after our hostel experiences!). The next day we hurried off to Anne Hathaway's house (the house where Shakespeare's wife lived before she married). It was very lovely, had beautiful gardens and another all-too-tempting gift shop. After we finished, we went to the parade. Every year they hold a parade with important town officials, various schools, boy scouts, girl guides, drama groups, and other random people. The parade ends at Shakespeare's grave, by which everyone lays down flowers. It was a lot of fun, and an older couple in the parade gave Katy and I sprigs of rosemary when they saw our English spirit (rosemary is traditionally worn on that day to symbolize remembrance). I decided that when I have kids I want to dress up in Elizabethan clothes with my husband and my little kids and take part in the parade. You would agree with me if you saw how adorable the kids were!
Probably the other best part of the day was our ferry ride. For 50 pence (roughly 75 cents) we got take about a 5-minute ferry ride across the river. For the celebration, a Royal Shakespeare Company actor rode on the boat and recited a sonnet to us. So lovely! There were also actors roaming the town and randomly acting scenes from A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was always fun when we stumbled upon a fight scene.
On the train ride home we had one more adventure. It just so happened that we were sharing our train car with two of the actors from King Lear! One of them, Kathryn Hunter, played a really, really great fool, and she's also been in some films (like Harry Potter). We were able to get their autographs and talk to them for a short time. The play was so good, we were slightly starstruck by our run-in.
My weekend was so much fun! I still can hardly believe I had the opportunity to do all of this. I am so blessed. :)

The Lion King

So Katy and I got the chance to see The Lion King musical on the West End last night. Because of the lovely practice of student concession prices, we got £53 seats in the front row of the first balcony for £21! Such a great view, it was fantastic. I was excited to see the play, but it moved me in a way I wasn't expecting. At the introduction, with incredible, massive puppets making it up the aisles, ensemble members singing African lyrics from boxes on either side of us, the music from the orchestra coming from below- something about it really affected me. Perhaps it's the Xhosa that they use, or the South African cast members, I don't know, but as the musical began I was hit by it- this is Africa! That essence, that indescribable feeling that is Africa, they got it right! I was moved to tears, and I wasn't even completely sure why. I lived for three weeks in Capetown, in Manenberg, not "real Africa" (that's how I had reasoned with myself for the past 8 months). But no, I realized that it was still Africa, and, even though it wasn't as strong as others had it, I had the Africa effect. The Lion King, in its amazing capturing of Africa, brought me to tears.
The musical itself was fantastic. Definitely not perfect, I had some problems with the production, but it was very good. It felt like African folklore (only more entertaining than the folklore I read in my mythology class last fall), on an epic scale. So much fun! I love how God keeps on giving me great tickets to great theatre. :)
(Here's a link if you'd like to watch some clips from the musical: http://www2.disney.co.uk/MusicalTheatre/TheLionKing/home/index.jsp)

Theatre, Inklings, Bookstore Hopping, and a Garden Proposal

"It will be said on that day, 'Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, that He might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for Him; let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation.'" (Isaiah 25:9)
My life seems to be in a period of waiting right now. There's not much else I can do.
But, the good news is that I'm waiting in London, so at least I'm not bored. Here are some of the latest highlights:

*In the last week I saw the musical Wicked and the play The 39 Steps, both absolutely fantastic! I think Wicked has become one of my all-time favorites now. Amazing how God can teach you things through secular theatre. The 39 Steps was a comedy based off of a play which was also a Hitchock film. It consisted of 4 actors playing at least 139 different characters, showing a LOT of great movement. Katy and I also witnessed some stag and hen parties the night we saw The 39 Steps. Apparently Saturday night is the night to look ridiculous.
*I got to go to Oxford last weekend with my school! It was so beautiful there. While there I ate at The Eagle and Child, the pub where C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and other Inklings often visited. I was simply ecstatic, I could hardly contain myself!
*I went bookstore hopping last Thursday with Katy. I held first editions of Lewis and Tolkien books, among others. At one point I found a first edition of Till We Have Faces, and I just couldn't put it down. I carried it around the store until I finally forced myself to leave. If I had had my debit card with me, and if I didn't have Katy holding me back, I may have done something desperate, like actually buy it! Who cares that it's 125 pounds . . .
*I visited Kew Gardens with Katy and Whitney yesterday. It was beautiful weather, and the gardens were gorgeous. We had a lot of fun taking pictures and spotting random wildlife like squirrels and peacocks. I met a cute little British toddler who showed me around his "house" (a man-made cave sort of thing that's supposed to show you what a badger den is like), and I also proposed to Whitney (she said yes, but later we called it off, we weren't ready for that step just yet [actually one of our photo shoots started looking like an engagement shoot, and the rest you can figure out for yourself]). 'Twas quite fun.

Okay, it's 12:30 a.m. Tomorrow I'm going to the Globe Theatre to celebrate Shakespeare's birthday with some free events, and I probably should do some homework. That darn homework.
Less than a month and I'll be back home.

I am dark, but lovely.

I've been struggling lately. I miss home, I miss my family, and every moment God's bringing up more nasty control that He wants out of me. I'm realizing yet again that God doesn't want good behavior. He's way more interested in me having a healed heart that is devoted to Him, and the healing process often looks ugly and makes a good Christian look pretty dark.
I have a little book called Daily Light. It has for every day a morning and evening reading which consists of one theme verse, then multiple verses to go along with the first one. The verses are taken from completely different parts of the Bible, yet they flow together quite beautifully. Today's was so perfect and so poetic, I had to share.

I am dark, but lovely.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. ~ "Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you," says the Lord GOD.
I am a sinful man, O LORD! ~ Behold, you are fair, my love! Behold, you are fair!
"I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." ~ You are all fair, my love, and there is no spot in you.
I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. ~ Be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.
I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells. ~ You are complete in Him. ~ Perfect in Christ Jesus.
You were washed, . . . you were sanctified, . . . you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. ~ That you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

(Song of Sol. 1:5; Ps. 51:5; Ezek. 16:14; Luke 5:8; Song of Sol. 4:1; Job 42:6; Song of Sol. 4:7l Rom. 7:21; Matt. 9:2; Rom. 7:18; Col. 1:28; 1 Cor. 6:11; 1 Pet. 2:9)

Lonely

And now is the time when I finally crack.
All I want is one person who's on the same page as me, one person who can identify at all and who isn't an ocean and a continent away.
I want a church family in the same time zone as me.
I don't know if I just made the wrong decision for a church to choose, or if I'm not supposed to get plugged into anything, but it just doesn't seem to be working.
What I wouldn't give for a hug.
Whatever happens, I don't want any cliche answers like "You're not alone, God is with you," or "Just spend some time with the Lord," or "Enjoy London, you'll be back home before you know it." I'm sick of that.
I miss my home.

Mid-term Break, Part 2: Ireland

Ireland made me appreciate London- a lot!
First of all, we had to take a bus to Stanstead Airport (it's about an hour outside of Central London) and spend the night there at the airport before our plane left the next morning. It was an adventure- one I hope I never have to repeat. It's not easy sleeping on a cold airport floor, no matter how many dozens of other people are also sprawled out around you. After getting a couple hours of sleep here and there, we got onto our RyanAir flight. I think Whitney said it best- it's a cartoon flight. Everything is blue and gaudy yellow, and not-too-subtle commercials play over the plane's speakers every few minutes of the hour-long flight. It's the cheapest you can get, and it's not too hard to figure out why. We did make it through with our ONE bag (no handbags or cameras or anything else are allowed to be carried outside of your one carry-on, and they will charge you 35 pounds if you don't abide by the rules), and we made it safely to Ireland.
I was told that Ireland never snowed. As our flight landed in Dublin, heavy snow was blocking most of our view. It wasn't sticking, just enough to make it wet and cold outside. Welcome to Eire? We did end up having pretty much every kind of weather possible (except for natural disasters, thankfully)- snow, rain, hail, pouring rain, drizzle, cloudy weather, and SUN! Yes, it was sunny for most of Wednesday and Thursday, which I believe was a direct miracle from God. Thank You, Lord! Ireland is much more beautiful when you're not wet.
After landing we took the bus to Abigail's hostel. The bad news was that the hostel just wasn't the best- no baking sheets when we wanted to cook chicken nuggets (we now know that you can use a dinner plate in the oven), nothing to do in the lounge, a complicated security system which kept the key from us, and nice but unapproachable staff. The good news was that our hostel was very clean, had a free luggage room, ensuite bathrooms, and, best of all, free tea at all times (kind of a standard hostel thing, but incredibly appreciated nonetheless).
It didn't take us long wandering the streets of Dublin to realize the biggest problem with the city: it's expensive! I've heard London is the most expensive city on Earth, but now I'm pretty sure Dublin is. We looked around and visited a couple of museums, but we didn't get too much done that first day before we made our way back to our hostel to take a much needed 3-hour nap.
On Tuesday I got to visit the Book of Kells at Trinity College. It's an old, very important illustrated manuscript of the Bible (I suggest looking it up for yourself). Not only did I get to see extremely old manuscripts, but the exhibit also included the Old Library, where other old and valuable books are preserved. The library is magnificent, like the library of my dreams. I'm not sure how to explain it all, but I think that this visit affected me somehow. It's like I remembered what I want to do with my life, one of the things that makes me excited and overjoyed. It gave me some sort of direction.
On Thursday we went to Bray, a small bay town about an hour from Dublin on the overground system. It was beautiful, more like the countryside Ireland I wanted to see. We went for a long walk along the waterfront and on the hill, saw swans, had ice cream, and discovered the Town Hall which was turned into a McDonald's. A more pleasant Ireland than Dublin, it was.
Thursday night we went to a bar where we saw traditional Irish musicians and dancers. It was probably my favorite part of the trip! It was all fantastic (Bulmer's cider is now one of my favorite drinks). The flutist that night had played in the Lord of the Rings, which made me very excited. :D And one of the songs they sang was from P.S. I Love You (the song the guy in the bar sings when she's out drinking). It was a great night!
The rest of the trip was kind of dull. We didn't think when we booked tickets that that Friday was Good Friday- in a Catholic country no less! So, since all the pubs and most of the museums were closed, we did a little shopping and then spent a good 5 or so hours waiting in the lounge until we could leave for our plane back. I think we probably had 10 cups of tea between us.
Our flight back was uneventful, but we did get to take the night bus to bring us back home around 2:30 a.m. Another experience! (night buses are generally known for being a little sketch . . . safe, but usually have a few drunk people going home from partying)
All in all, Ireland was an experience. I'm glad I did it. The countryside was beautiful, the Book of Kells exhibit was great, and the music and dancing was a lot of fun. The whole thing was a character-building experience, to say the least. It was good, but I am SO thankful for London now! Praise God that I can be back at my home, sweet home!