Around the neighborhood

Sunday and I got up very late for church, but with enough time to look like I hadn't just fallen out of bed. I really liked Portuguese church, despite not understanding much of what was being said.

Afterwards, the rain finally stopped. And I thanked the heavens for deliverance. Outside, I finally got down the street to the Royal Albert Hall to take photos before heading to the Victoria and Albert Museum.

After two hours in there with only the Medieval and Renaissance sections completed I was kicked out at closing time. Wandering back to Hyde Park, I wandered more and finally returned to the flats in time for the fireside. Tomorrow night we are seeing The King's Speech.

Ikea World

Back in the flat after another two busy days and I feel the need to mention that the flat I live in is straight out of an Ikea catalog. Not the über-cute rooms in an Ikea catalog either. The spare minimalist aesthetic which is clean-cut and seems to resist any attempts to try to impose personality on it. Despite this fact, it is fun to live with so many girls.

Outside the flat, right across the street is Hyde Park, and I have only walked through it once. As soon as it stops raining for a bit, I do want to explore. But the cold rain seems to have an evil desire to kill whatever exploring impulses I have. I have persevered though and yesterday went to go see Westminister when we had a brief moment of sun. We didn't have time to do the Westminster Abbey tour, but I'm hoping to soon. We did sit in St. Margaret's Church and it was quite nice. After that we took the tube to King's Cross and went up to the train station. After mistakenly exploring St. Pancras (which was the train station used in the Harry Potter films) and taking many pictures, we discovered the sign that said "Platform 9 3/4." That being accomplished, we returned to the flat for a meeting.

This meeting was to received our church assignments for the time we would be in London. I was assigned to a Brazilian Portuguese-speaking ward. I speak German, a little French, and a little Chinese. The other three girls assigned to the same ward all have some Spanish knowledge. The only word I remember from when Mario and Will first came from Brazil is "Venha aqui" (Come here). I'm a bit worried since I may just be smiling alot at people and speaking in broken French. I really am going to have to pray before going.

Well, after this we went to "Noises Off" - one of the funniest plays in all time, in my humble opinion. It was great, despite our nosebleed seats. This beautiful play was succeeded the next day by Noël Coward's "Hay Fever" starring Lindsay Duncan and Jeremy Northam. Having been a fan of Jeremy Northam all of my life, it was great to see him act on stage and he was surprisingly funny in hos role as a diplomat. But on the whole, I thought "Noises Off" was funnier.

I also did get to a museum this morning, though I still have many many left to visit. I went to the Natural History Museum and got to explore something indoors. The mammals exhibit was excellent, though the dinosaurs were not nearly as good as the ones I saw in New York last week at the American Museum of Natural History. But I did get to see another blue whale replica, and will try to communicate without language skills tomorrow morning. I also got to go to dinner and hang out with friends tonight as a time to just get out.

Monet and Sweeney

I have been known to cry at Monets, and today was no different. It began with Wheatstacks in the Minneapolis Institute of Art and since then Impressionists have evolved into an ecstatic experience. I have always uncovered as much about my relationship with God and the universe in Church. Today, I went through the National Gallery's Impressionist section and Pissarro and Monet taught me more about myself than I have learned in a while. After a few hours of art, I felt emotionally drained and somehow lifted up in a way. But enough of the art euphoria. Just looking at lumps of paint that have created an image from the mind of a man. These men might have died, but their thoughts and images live on as they will forever. Even the pictures that were destroyed are never fully lost, but will live in the mind of an artist, in the memories and thoughts that can never be destroyed. But even after we are able to express all the beauty of thoughts in words, what are they all but gifts from God. What can I do then but then try to improve everything I write, draw, think, or say to make it beautiful for Him.

Well, those were some of my random thoughts before going to Trafalgar Square then seeing Sweeney Todd with Imelda Staunton and Michael Ball. It was a beautiful production and the odd thing was is that I imagined myself sitting next to someone I knew who wasn't there. Andrea was on one side, but the empty seat on the other, I would sometimes turn to wanting to share, but no one was there even though it seemed like they were. My mind does some of the strangest most beautiful things.

First day in London

Rain might often slow things down but when there is the whiff of exploring a new city, new dreamed-of museums and monuments, and seeing what can only be seen in photos rain is ignored and suffered through. I have been going strong since 5:30 am London time. It is now 00:22 of the next day. But what a day! The horrid part was finished quickly with moving my full 80 L backpack, rolling carry-on, and shoulder bag from Northfields to just south of Hyde Park in the rain. About a mile of walking in the rain was slow torture. Then I sat outside for 30 minutes waiting for someone with keys. But after that it was much better. By noon I had unpacked and completely organized my things and purchased groceries. After that there was only the British Museum! The first of many trips. Then a quick stop at Westminster for some very wet pictures and back to the flat before the theatre. Traveling Light at the National is what we saw but we intended to see Noises Off at the old Vic. We did some quick walking after getting off at the wrong station a ways away. But apparently they moved it to another theatre near where we first were but the National was close. I also got turned around on a station going to the British Museum. Traveling Light was about the beginning of Jewish Cinema and the first man who made a cinematic montage. A play about Russian Jews and film? Sounds about my cup of tea! It was nice with a bit schmaltz. But to top it all off I finished with some great fish and chips (fish were top notch and chips were decent). This in addition to the two large samosas for lunch, two Clif Bars for breakfast, two Belgian Waffles, and lots of candy at the National completed a day of British eating. Not too much different from Iceland. Maybe I just usually eat European type foods anyway. I really found food so easily unlike many other people. Anyway, about to collapse before another day.

After traveling for many days I finally arrived in London with an aching sore body and feet (I was carrying my bag backpack for a while). It was a fabulous trip despite any complaints I might have had. I got to go to New York and freaking Iceland. But enough about that. I am in a hostel and can hear BBC through the wall. Everyone listens to it here! I won;t just be one of a crazy minority, and if I am it will be because I am American and Americans are crazy. I wandered around Reykjavik and spent three whole hours at a spa either in the geothermal lagoon, sauna, or steam room. My foot (the one with stitches just out) did not like it, but who cares! Anyway six hours of sleeping will now commence with the tube running in the background (I love traffic noises to get me to sleep).

Packing is something that I try not to think about but just do, like a packing robot. But as I was rummaging through and recategorizing everything I owned yesterday, I was shocked out of my robotic state. I found a ziplock bag of pills. Thinking back I remembered I put this bag together as a prop for a play two years ago, but the sudden sight of it reminded me by of the play but of when I was younger and used to take all these pills. I had hung onto them, especially the psychotropic meds, in case I fell back into old habits, old insanities, and old illnesses. I don't like to think and remember all the past horrors. Selective amnesia is the best way to describe how I look at the past. I try to remember the good parts without accessing all the cruelties, craziness, and confusion that was my life for so many years. Packing strips away that selective amnesia. As I get out everything from corners of closets and behind books on shelves, I run into remnants that I have saved from my past. I chose to keep all these things because they meant something an remind me of times and places that meant things, but now they sometimes jar. In the bag of pills are antibiotics and some other medical drugs but also antidepressants and anti-psychotic drugs that were the only drugs that could make me sleep for a year. I would stay up all night because I couldn't sleep. The antidepressants were pills I took twice a day for many years and seem as familiar as my own skin. I could probably draw them in my sleep. But it has been many years since I needed these drugs and even felt afraid that maybe one day I would fall back into horror that I try to never remember. I don't read my journals from when I was sick and I thought these drugs were gone long ago. But as shocking as they were they are a past that will always be as much a part of me as all the good memories. My past is mine and is in my hair, my heartbeats, my walk, my voice, my mind. So, though I will never take those drugs again either for help or for fun, they are a part of me and put them in a box.

Blue Whale

When I was much younger and lived in New Jersey, one of my favorite places to go was the room with sea life dioramas and a replica of a Blue Whale hanging from the ceiling in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. This may seem a strange choice but I would have dreams about whales. I would be swimming in blue-blue water of a deep ocean without having problems breathing underwater and suddenly a grey wall would come up on the side of me. Slowly I drifted away and I would slowly translate the wall that took up my line of sight into a whale. I used to be very scared of deep water, especially looking down into progressively darker and darker water that continued seemingly forever. I never remember looking down into the depths of the ocean in my dream. I remember the water getting darker when the whale blocked out so much sunlight from my perspective, but then as I moved away the sun came out and this whale became not only a creature enormously large, but also surpassingly beautiful and peaceful. I am going back to the American Museum of Natural History to visit for a few hours on Monday and while I want to see the dinosaurs, I really want to see the whale. After moving away from New Jersey, I would dream about the whale and it replaced the greatness of my dream whale. But I haven't seen this whale in years and I will be seeing it in two days. I doubt it will even come close to the dream whale in the museum that has haunted my dreams. It will be nowhere near the wall of whale that brought so much peace. But what will it be like?

But for real . . .

I am going to start posting on my blog again for real. But don't believe me. You've all seen my lack of dedication in the past and how all my good intentions turn into time spent sleeping. But I am going to try this time.
This is my last week in Provo, Utah and it's raining. Surrounded by boxes in my room, I need to finish packing and writing a paper, but even better would be writing this blog post before I venture out to explore the world. And I am going to explore the world. I will be in London Spring term for Theatre Study Abroad for six weeks. All the shows and museums I'm going to see may be enough to stand up and dance a jig about, but there's more. Ekitzel is flying out from Shenzhen after the Study Abroad is over and we are going to explore Europe, Russia, and eventually wind our way to China. She is flying in on June 5th and we are spending until the 12th in London, at which time we will become increasingly bored (probably not) and will rent a car to drive to Edinburgh and then up to Orkney Island. I'm not sure if you have even seen Simon Schama's History of Britain, but if you haven't and you have 18 hours, you should. One of the first places Simon goes is Skara Brae, an ancient Neolithic village. It is older than Stonehenge! And it isn't a Henge! Anyway, we are going to see that then driving back down through Glasgow so we can return the car. Then it is off to Paris for 5 days where we will begin to speak with each other in German! Okay, maybe not. But we will eat a ton of great bread and cheese.
You are probably thinking that this sounds amazing, but I have yet to tell you about the train to Switzerland, hiking around Luzern, the overnight train from Zurich to Amsterdam, the Van Gogh Museum, Brussels and then following the Tour de France from Liege (home of great waffles) to Bolongue-sur-Mer, Berlin, Prague, Krakow, Moscow, St. Petersburg, taking the Trans-Siberian railway from Ufa to Irkutsk, seeing Lake Baikal, hiking around it, taking a boat onto it, and then finally taking the Trans-Siberian from Irkutsk to Beijing.
That's about it. Then I have to fly back to Utah, course marshal the Tour of Utah for a week, then move all my boxes to St. Louis. No biggie.
So, I'm packing all these things I own and won't see until September, and I'm really questioning whether I need them all. But these shoes I will need. They are the ones I will be walking the world with before it happens. They probably won't look so good when I get back.