Thanksgiving, Cookies, and Goodness

Otgo, Candy, Sarah, and Matt making lasagna.

Candy and Otgo frosting sugar cookies.

I celebrated Thanksgiving a week ago with people from my course. Matt and Abby were gracious enough to open their apartment to us for the occasion. They took care of the turkey, stuffing, vegetables, and a couple of other things, like banaffee pie. The rest of us were supposed to bring things that we liked to have for Thanksgiving. My original idea was to take pumpkin pie, but alas the British are not as big of fans of pumpkin as we are in the States, and I couldn't find canned pumpkin anywhere. I did find some expensive pumpkins at the grocery store that I wasn't about to buy. So I changed from pumpkin pie to cookies. I was a little bit disappointed because I had some other friends that wanted to try pumpkin pie and I couldn't give them any. But so goes life. And I might try again some other time. Who knows. We played charades with just about everyone and it was a lot of fun. Ruby, Sym's daughter, age 4, helped me come up with clues to put in the pot. She is a very intelligent 4 year-old. She gave me the suggestions of Doctor Who and both her and her sister for a clue. People hated me until the found out that Ruby helped and then it was the greatest thing on the planet. My team lost, but we also had a very non-theatre person with us. But he tried really hard, so we can't blame him. Later we played Trivial Pursuit. It was great, it was Team Canada, England 1, England 2, and Team USA. Abby and I came in second. We were quite proud of ourselves.

I made sugar cookies the day before with Candy, Sarah, and Otgo. We had quite the time. Cause see, I lost my recipe. I tried to remember it as best I could, but I didn't get the recipe correct. But they still tasted good. We frosted them and put some sprinkles on them too. In between batches of cookies baking I taught Candy to waltz. She loves it. She makes me dance with her just about everywhere now. But it was good. We came back to Sarah's in the evening to make lasagna with them and one of Sarah's house mates, Matt. They made a white cheese sauce for the lasagna instead of a tomato based one. It was really good, but I had a lot of trouble climbing up the hill on my way back to my room. It was seriously a brick in my stomach. I don't think that it went away for a couple of days either, it just sat there being slowly digested.

Things are going well here. We have two weeks of classes left and then Christmas break. I have so far, applied for a job that would take me through Christmas. But I, hopefully, can find one that will go all the way through break. But life is good. I am fitting very well with my Nooma family. I find myself wanting to hang out with those people more and more. My love for them grows deeper and deeper as I spend more time with them. They are a true blessing from God. I am still struggling with how I am being the salt and light of God to my course mates and my flat mates. There are times when I get very discouraged, because I feel like I am not doing enough. But I do know that God is using me, and that the things that I do and say for God are not returning to God void. They are full of God's power and might and love. I just have to keep reminding myself. So if you can continue to pray for my course mates and my flat mates, that would be wonderful. I love you all!

Casting and the Graciousness Taught Me

So this has been a not so great week. The stress level is up and so is the frustration with people. I know that I wrote yesterday that things are better, but one step into rehearsal today and I just knew that nothing had changed. Everyone still wanted power over everyone else, with some exceptions including me who just said I'm working on lines today so let me be (and amazingly enough they did). So tomorrow morning, first thing is the presentation of our scene and then life will be so much better! I'm ready for that.

We also received our parts for the play we are touring this January, Much Ado About Nothing. There are only nine of us, so we get a couple of parts each. I didn't think that Mick would cast me as Beatrice. I was kind of hoping for it, but I knew that I wasn't going to get it. So I thought that he would cast me as Don Pedro, the prince! I would have enjoyed that part a lot. As he was going through the list he said Don Pedro and then Abby. In the past I've had these weird things that I just knew when my name would be called. I knew my name would be next. And it was. I'm Claudio. Yes, I'm playing a man. Yes, he is one of the lovers in the show. Yes, I'm a bit worried about having to play a man wooing a woman, enough said.

I was a bit disappointed. But then I realized that there are lots of guys who want to have the part of Claudio. That look at that part and say "there is something there worth competing for." After that I realized how much of a wide range of emotions Claudio goes through in the play. And I am very flattered that Mick thought I am worthy of that part, that I can do it, that I am good enough to play Claudio. It is a real compliment. I am grateful for the challenge.

Sym on the other hand. Sym is not a happy woman right now. She doesn't like the way that it has been cast. And she's not afraid to tell people. It makes me think of all the times at Northwestern where the same kind of situation was potentially there, and never happened. Because at Northwestern they teach you how to be gracious, and humble when cast lists go up. That this might not be your turn, but you can rejoice with those who get their chance. I wish that spirit could abound here. But time will heal. And we move on to the next thing.

Frustration, Freedom, and Flame

So the last couple days I have spent in frustration and stress. People in my groups have been treating me like I am stupid and I don't know anything and need it explained to me in detail (or so it feels). They ignore me when it comes to leading the group. I had a hard time staying in the room toward the end of rehearsal on Monday. I think that sometimes I want things to be like they were at Northwestern where ensemble was put above everything and I worked well with everyone, where group projects were just that-run by the group. But here things are different. We don't have a common training or background. There is nothing here to draw us together except that we are in a group in the same class and the same course. Christ is not the center of what we do. Therefore my tactics and the way I interact in a group setting needs to change. And things are changing, it is just taking a little bit of time.

The same thing happened on Tuesday when we met for our final assessment project. I know that it is better for me to just keep it inside until I'm away from everyone and then vent. That is what I did. I spent last night complaining and venting to God. I'm sure that God was shaking his head like a father listening to a child that can't control their emotions, but I do know that God listened. I am grateful for that. I also asked God to help me and to not let this get in the way of what God is doing through my life to those around me that don't know him.

I woke up late this morning and was awaken also by the person downstairs listening to their music (or at least their bass) up loud. I was not a happy camper. So I thought that it was going to be a bad, grumpy, frustrating morning at my group meeting. On the way there I just listened to some music that centered me on God and prayed that it would be a good day. And it has been. The meeting this morning was wonderful and we got a lot done. And the rest of the day has been good too (I had Nooma tonight, yay!). The only thing that didn't get done was learning all my lines for my scene on Friday. But I don't really care right now. I just want to sleep through the night and not be woken by anything and rest in the peace of God. I'm so thankful that God listens to our prayers and is so approachable when it comes to venting.

One of my favorite lines of poetry goes like this "flare up like flame and make big shadows I can move in." That is the desire of my heart. I think that over the past couple of days my flames have been small, smothered by the frustration. But God allowed me to cast that frustration off and let God fan my flame so that I could "flare up". I hope that the flames will get bigger as the days go by so that God can move freely in whatever way he chooses.

Woolacombe

Kiri, Catrin, and I (l to r) sitting in the Red Barn restaurant eating rock cakes and having mocha/hot chocolate. And Woolacombe Bay with a bit of sunshine (which there wasn't a lot of).

Pronounced Wool-a-come. But I guess the b has to be in there cause it is cool that way. I don't know. I think that the English like doing things the hard way. Cause many times they don't really make sense, they just like to pretend it does. Anyway, I went to Woolacombe this weekend. It was great to get away for a while. I think that I have been letting a "goodness, I'm the only one in my course that is a Christian and the salvation of these other eight people are weighing on my shoulders" mentality to get a hold of me. Granted the weight is still there, and probably should be there to remind me, but it was getting very heavy. So it was great to get away with a bunch of other Christians.

The heavy feeling mentioned above is very real and very prevalent to me right now. A couple of weeks ago I went out with some friends and just heard a bunch of things about them that broke my heart. They are all searching for love in the wrong places. So I know what my job is this year. But I also realized that it is my responsibility, I don't have any other Christians in my course to help share the burden of reaching them. It is mine. I've never been in this situation before. I don't know how to do this. It has been six years since I've been in a 'secular' community. So part of me is foundering around wondering if I can do this. I'm not the kind of person that just goes up to a person and says "you need God." I can't do that. I don't have that in me. Like most things in my life, I have nuance to how I approach it. But I don't have time for that. The first term is almost done and I haven't accomplished much of anything.

So Woolacombe was a time for that to be released to God, to allow God to work in my heart. I know that responsibility is still there, but the worry and stress isn't quite as much as it was before. We had worship services in the evening. Mostly just allowing us to come into the presence of God. I spend the first night thinking about the above mentioned things. The second night was just a time of rejoicing. It has been a while since I just rejoiced in the Lord. I think a lot of time we spend repenting and humbling ourselves, which is needed, but then we miss our chance to glorify the Lord. I was smiling quite a bit during that. (It was also a bit awkward cause others were having a repenting and humbling time, while I was smiling-weird.) But it was good.

I also went to the beach and strolled around town. I played Dance Dance Revolution for the first time with Kiri. We had great fun. Then we watched others do and I have to say that Mike was the most entertaining. He had very jerky movements and then kind of flapped-ish his arms like a chicken. Candy did the cooking. It was yummy! I did the dishes once. It was supposed to be the boy's responsibility, but they were all off doing other things and the dishes weren't getting done when the needed to be done for dinner. So I just did it. But I like doing that. I also played Texas Hold'em poker and lost by one card. Craziness of poker. But it was great fun losing. It was a great refreshing weekend.

Flaming Barrels of Tar, continued

So one of the first adult barrels we went to was on a narrow street. My friends and I parked ourselves next to a wall with a garage door in it. I thought, this doesn't look too safe. But there were so many people trying to dictate what we did, I didn't say anything. Now when they light the barrels everyone crowds around it. The let it burn a bit, then roll it around to make sure everything inside is burning. Then the first person picks it up and runs. We were fairly close to the lighting of the barrel. The first man picked it up and ran down the street toward us. And just about three feet to my side he decided he needed to pass it off. But this was not an elegant pass in the slightest. He was wobbly on his feet and almost crashed into the wall where my friend Helena was standing two seconds earlier. But Helena can move quickly when she is in peril and was trying to dig through us and out of danger. It was quite hot, but I kept looking at the barrel cause I wanted to know where it was and which direction it was going. Well the men finally made the pass and on his way by us he said "hello!" It was a very funny moment. But so much adrenaline was flowing, it was great. I looked around to make sure everyone was okay and I see Phoebe walking out of the garage. The crowd had pressed her against the door and the latch wasn't too good, so she flew through the door and landed on her back.

Kelly was big on snaking when we went through crowds. She would call "snake", not the best idea in a crowd. Cause if I heard someone calling snake I would run in the opposite direction. But we would link hands and appease her. When we thought that the barrel was done, the one mentioned above, we started to make our way through the crowd to the next one. But we were wrong, very wrong. The barrel was not over, it was still going strong and we were heading right into the action. I was holding on to Lauren's hand and Kelly's. Lauren had made a comment to me earlier that she was always the one being pulled apart in chains like that. And a person got in between us and I couldn't go any further, and she was being pulled and we got folded up, so I let go of her hand. Cause I didn't want to cause pain. I'm pretty good at getting through a crowd and finding people. But not when there is a flaming barrel of tar flying by. Matt, Kelly, and I got separated from our group and stuck in the crowd. I felt the intense heat of the flames as it whizzed by my head. Looking back, it is pretty funny. I do believe that I was laughing and thinking it was amusing while it was happening, but Kelly wasn't she was worried that we wouldn't find them again, which is ridiculous cause we knew where we were parked. We found each other and headed to the Lady's Barrel.

We went to one of the lady's barrels. These barrels are not as big as the men's and therefore less scary in my mind. My friends Lauren and Katie were taking pictures throughout the night. We were in the middle of the street for the lady's barrel. The barrel had just passed and Katie took an awesome picture and I wanted to see it, as did some others around me. So we are looking at the picture telling Katie what a fabulous job she did when Lauren says in a very calm voice "um, guys, it's coming back, like now" We look up just in time to run out of the way and let the barrel through. Let's just say that we didn't look at pictures again for a while.

But part of the problem with the lady's barrels is that a) the ladies are shorter and b) the barrels are smaller, so it is harder to see when they are coming. You kind of have to watch the buildings around you and move when it gets within eye-shot. So yet again, we were not paying attention and we see the flames coming very close, very fast. I run to the curb where Helena is and turn around to see the barrel fly by. I realize that my right hand is not by my body. I look over and there is a guy about 19 or 20 standing there looking at me. I look down and there is my hand grabbing onto his arm for protection I guess. I look back up and quickly take my hand away. I put on a sheepish smile and say "so sorry." (The English are big on sorry.) He smiles at me like, that's okay this happens all the time, which I'm sure it doesn't he was pretty scrawny (as are most Englishmen). So I made sure I knew who I was grabbing onto from them on.

I'm not going to tell about the men running with the barrel down the hill, cause it's really not that interesting of a story. So I'll tell a bit about the bonfire and then be done with this ridiculously long entry. They have a bonfire on Guy Fawkes Night, every one does. But this was the biggest bonfire I have every been to in my life. The pile of wood was about 2 1/2 to 3 stories tall. And on top sat Guy Fawkes. They dress up and stuff a man and set him on top of the bonfire. Everyone watches and wait for Guy to light up. Which is very hard to see when a 3 story pile of wood is smoking and flaming. But he eventually caught light and everyone cheered. But the heat from that bonfire was intense! I couldn't stand it after about 15 minutes.

So that was my first Guy Fawkes Night in England. It was wonderful. I will hopefully get some pictures from Katie and Lauren soon and I'll post them for you to see. Maybe I can get a video from Katie and you can see some live action. Thanks for hanging in there with me.

Flaming Barrels of Tar

So November 5th is a very big thing here in the land of England. They usually celebrate with a bonfire and fireworks. But there is a town, a very special town where there is another tradition, a very special tradition.

The town: Ottery St. Mary's.
The tradition: flaming barrels of tar.

No one knows how this tradition got started, but it is started at the beginning of the 17th century and hasn't stopped. I have to admit that I had a blast while I was there. Ok, so on to the specifics. Men, women, and children participate in the barrels o' flames. But you can only run with the barrels if you have been born in Ottery. They start training their children to do this at a young age. I'm very sure that I saw a boy of the age of 6(ish) running with a small barrel.

Over the course of the year someone is in charge of a barrel, making sure that it cures in the right way to make great flame on November 5th. There are certain times on certain streets where a barrel is going on. There are only two barrels going on at a time in the whole town, they go about every 15 minutes.

So there is a team of people that are competing against other teams in the town. I have no idea how they keep track of who won or points, but I do know that it is bad if the barrel is dropped on the ground or goes out. Each barrel gets lit by the paraffin man, yes that is what is written on his yellow fluorescent vest, or the barrel marshal, yes that is written on an arm band (they also carry around cans of paraffin). They roll the barrel around for a bit to make sure that all of the inside is alight with flame. Then one person picks up the barrel and puts it on the nape of their neck and starts running through the streets. But these streets are English streets and therefore tiny. These streets also happen to be stuffed to the brim with people like me and my friends who go to have their lives put in danger. When one person gets too hot or tired (which happens quite often) they switch, without putting the barrel on the ground, and the next person runs. Now I know this sounds weird, cause Americans would never do anything like that (listen to the sarcasm), and it is very dangerous. But these people have been trained all their lives to do it and there are always paramedics nearby.

So boy's barrels was pretty unexciting cause they have small barrels and there are grownups there all the time with them making sure they are okay. (Although Katie and Lauren saw a little boy get burnt earlier in the day.) My favorite part was a kid whose mitt caught alight while he was carrying the barrel (the mitts are like big oven mitts covered in burlap and I'm sure treated in such a way so as not to cause harm to the hands that are clutching the flaming barrels of tar), calmly put his glove on the street and tapped at it with his foot. He didn't stomp it to get it out quickly, he tapped it.

Okay, I realize that this is getting very long, so I'll do a to be continued. Tomorrow the men's barrel that almost killed my friends and I, dodging the lady's barrel while trying to look at Katie's pictures on her camera, grabbing a hold of a strange man for protection, and men running down the hill, oh and the bonfire (so much happened tonight geeze). I'll hopefully have some pictures from Katie to put up for you too. More to come.

James Bond, Pavement, and Looking Up

I went to the new James Bond movie tonight. One of the perks of living in the UK is that I get to see the movie before it comes out in America. Bad side is that I have no one at home to talk about it for another two weeks. Ok, so when/if you see it, let me know what you think. I actually liked the theme song this time. I usually had the music that is written, but this was Jack White and Alicia Keys. Very good. Ok, that's all I'll say about that.

One thing that my friends and I have noticed about England is that walking on the pavement (sidewalk) is a huge game of chicken. There are no rules that govern the walking patterns and habits of the English. This frustrates me, a lot. For example when the width of the pavement has gone down to two people sized, and there are two people walking side by side, they don't move, I have to. Lots of times I end up passing in the street because people don't move, unless you refuse to move and look straight ahead. Then they will take a couple of small steps to one side and then make you turn sideways so that you don't collide with their shoulders or handbags. Very frustrating.

Also I have yet to see a piece of pavement that is one solid piece and non-bumpy. Everything has a crack in it or is uneven. So you constantly have to be looking down. I was taught that you look up when you are walking, it's a sign of confidence. But should I attempt to do that here I would trip, stumble into the road, and perish because a speeding car has collided with my fragile body. So I have to look down. I miss looking up. I want to look up and look into a face and smile and have them smile back. That really doesn't happen here. Maybe someday.

Halloween

So I think that this was the best Halloween I've had in my grown up life. They don't really do trick-or-treating here. It's basically an excuse to have a fancy dress party (costume party), which the English in these parts love to do. So my friends Lauren, Libby, and I went to the Cathedral for a "Haunted Walk". They told us stories of witches and ghosts and hauntings, ooh murders and prison breaks too. It was was a lot of fun. Freezing, but fun. The lady that gave us our tour was great. She was probably in her 60s and she was so into it. She would tell the stories with fervor and make big gestures, which the English don't do. She was the sweetest thing ever. We had to cross the street and she made sure we knew which way to look and that we all got across safely. She even forgot where the touching stone was. The other lady that was with us was like "it's where it has always been." Cute moment. So we all had to go back and tourch the touching stone. I would love to have a tour with her again. Maybe next year. Then my friends and I went to Pizza Express where I had one of the best pizzas ever! It was a vegetarian pizza with black olives, red peppers, asparagus, mushrooms, and artichokes. So good. Oh, and pesto. The only bad thing was that Libby is sick. She probably shouldn't have come out with us in the cold. She started to get really weak, sore, and had chills a lot. She couldn't stop shaking. She took a cab home. Lauren and I went to Harry's Bar and Grill. Two people in our course work there. Jeremy made us some Irish coffees. It was really good. Nice and hot to warm us up. Lauren and I are going to make Libby a care package tomorrow and give it to her to help her out. So besides Libby being sick it was a great Halloween.