First of all, I have to say that everyone who has warned me about the dismal British weather has been completely wrong. I have not yet walked to work in the rain, and it is November 18th and the sun is actually warm today. 2 Saturdays ago, I was walking outside in London all day and I was perfectly warm in a sweater. I think I have probably just jinxed myself by saying all of this, but it has been absolutely glorious fall – much better than the ones I’m used to back home. That’s why I’m telling everyone to come visit (apart from the obvious fact that I am here).
Like I said, I was in London last Saturday (Nov 12) with lovely Ashley. It was a perfect day of absolutely nothing. We literally just walked, ate and had Starbucks (twice). We took a 9am coach and arrived at London Victoria just before 11am. We got out of the station and immediately bee-lined to the Starbucks. I should probably just mention that I am in complete withdrawal (which is probably a good thing). I am used to having Starbucks almost every day back home (it helps that there are about 20 shops across the city). In Portsmouth, there is ONE! And it is 30 minutes from where I live, so I NEVER get to have Starbucks. ANYWAYS – with coffee cups in hand, we set off for Covent Garden. I’ve never been before, and it is a wonderful (yet expensive) market. Hat shops, paintings, photos, jewellery, scarves, wooden pens, tea etc. It has so many cool things (Robyn LeBlanc, you would go crazy!). And everything was decorated for Christmas! Down to the live reindeer and the ‘little person’ dressed as a Christmas elf... please see my pictures... because I’m not kidding.
From Covent Garden we walked all the way down the Strand until we reached the Thames, which we walked along until we were back in Westminster, ducking into Whitehall Gardens along the way. We walked back up into Trafalgar Square, cutting across St. James’ park and had lunch at Prezzo (with an incredibly rude waitress). After lunch, we walked some more. We crossed over to the South side of the river and walked back down the river and met up with a friend at Starbucks (yay!). And then we continued walking... through the medieval section past the Globe until we found a little Greek restaurant for dinner right across from St. Paul’s. It was gorgeous! And after dinner, we walked back over the Millennium Bridge and then headed back to the coach station to head home on the 8:30pm coach. I was absolutely exhausted, but it was lovely.
This last week at work went relatively smoothly. Gabriela, my Swiss roommate, went back home on Saturday (Nov 19), so Patricia (my Peruvian roommate), Gabriela and I went to the pub for a drink the night before. We had a lovely time, and we came home to INSANE amounts of food. It was Oscar’s 17th birthday, so there was enough food to feed a regiment. It was great!
On Saturday (the 19th), I went back to London by myself for a few hours to try and get the last of my Christmas shopping done (which I did!). On that note, I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone. I have been here for just under 3 months! That must be a good sign – time flies when you’re having fun and all. I am so excited for Christmas. I have a list of all the Christmas baking I have to do, I am lining up Christmas dinners to go to, carol services, and the lovely Sarah Spender gave me a little nativity set to put up in my room. I love love love Christmas!! I still can’t really believe that I won’t be home this year for Christmas. Part of me thinks that Christmas will come and go and I will be excited for the ‘real’ Christmas to start – the Christmas I am used to. But either way, I am still very excited. My plan right now is to stay in Portsmouth until after Christmas Day, and then go away for a few days and come back in time for New Year’s Eve. I think that the lead up to Christmas is the best part and I know enough people in the city that I want to stay here with them. At this point, I am trying to decide where I should go between Christmas and New Year’s. I was originally thinking of somewhere like Italy or Greece, but there isn’t enough time to do it properly. So I am leaning towards France at this point – if you have any ideas, do let me know! And of course I intend to ring in the New Year with the English people that I love. It’s funny – at the beginning of 2011 I didn’t have an inkling that I would be moving to England. And now as I think about ringing in 2012, I don’t really have an inkling about what I’ll be doing once I get back to Canada. It still seems so far away, but time has absolutely sped past and before I know it, I’ll be on a plane home.
So I guess I could use LOTS of prayer that the Lord will begin to make clear to me the next step in my life. There is a fine line between living in the moment and looking forward to the future – somehow I need to learn how to do both. So prayers for guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Love you all! I’d like to say that I’ll start blogging regularly, but let’s be honest....
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