Day 113: Preston Temple

Elena, Jess, Daniel, and Luke
Two Best Friends
The Preston Temple (I love the perfect trees!)

22 Decembre 2009 (Day 113)

All of us children slept in today while mama and papa went to the temple. I woke up before the other kids so I had a lovely breakfast to myself listening to music, talking to friends from Utah (no idea why they were up at 3am their time). I had some wicked white hot chocolate, clementines, and toast with blueberry jam and apricot jam. Commando Fernando came and picked up Isabel and I and we all went to do baptisms together at the temple. It felt so much like home to be there (especially the ride there with all the snow). It was a really quiet day at the temple, but it was nice. The workers talked to us a lot. One of them was telling us about her perfect granddaughter, lol. We each got to do twenty names. Their font area was gorgeous! There isn’t the glass around the font so it is just the marble with lights acting like stars above. It is really nice. Apparently President Hinckley served in Preston, so he has a soft spot for the area and took particular attention in the building of this temple. They have one of the few fonts that has 12 full-bodied oxen.

After the temple we came home and played in the snow! Isabel made a lovely snow woman and we all made snow angels. Jess was there and Luke came over. We had a snowball fight and slid on the ice in the road. We got cold so we came inside and played Twister. That didn’t last very long so then we decided to watch Ten Things I Hate About You and eat chocolate and Doritos for lunch (yes, I am terribly healthy here. :P ). Luke the Puke was trying to be a flirt even though he has a girlfriend from Colombia. Who is a single 30-year-old mother. Anywho, Izy got upset sometime and has been shut up for most of the day since. When the parents came home they got mad at Elena because Izy was upset and I got in the middle of a little bit of it and it has just been terribly awkward. They were all yelling at each other in Spanish with me, Luke, and Jess just sitting in the living room having no idea what was going on.

All the friends stayed over for tomato soup, hamburgers and fries. Izy and Elena started laughing which led to crying from laughing then really crying at the dinner table. I have never seen anyone eat a hamburger with tears running down their face. But anyway, after dinner we cleaned up and then I taught Elena some songs on the guitar. We had a lot of fun playing around.

I talked to my family on google chat for a wee while. The family was having a big fight downstairs, so Daniel came up and talked with me online. We had fun talking to them. Afterwards Dan and I had milk and peanut butter cookies and then a teeth brushing party.

My life is average: I’ve been using the girls lotion, only to realize today that it is body wash.

Day 112: Snog Me Senseless

Snog Me Senseless! I really should have bought them, just for the container.
Chorley!
The Fam: Commando Fernando, Isabel, Elena, Daniel, Ines, and Adrian the snowman by day, missionary by night

21 Decembre 2009 (Day 112)
I’ve been dreaming of a white Christmas and I am getting it! It snowed a lot (for England). Therefore after breakfast (I had toast, clementines, and hot cocoa. Daniel had cake and juice.) Daniel, the parents, and I went out to play in the snow. We had snowball fights and made a swell snowman. He had olive eyes and a carrot nose. Elena, Izzie, and I met up with Jess (Elena’s friend) and Joanna (Isabel’s) to do some Christmas shopping in Chorley. We went to a bunch of different stores and checked out different odds and ends. We got hot cocoa that cost an arm and a leg (like 4 US dollars) but it was well good. It was really cold and slushy so we just meandered into different stores until it was time for dentist appointments. My favorite thing that I found were “snog me senseless mints.” Elena and Jess found some pants that they BOTH fit into and we found glasses that looked well good on us. I also love all the cards here. They are all adorable and have them for everything. Christmas cards for: couples, boyfriends, nieces, daughters, sons, girlfriends, grandparents, etc. and they are all super cute.
All 4 people were done in 30 minutes. Here the dentist doesn’t take x-rays or clean your teeth. He just looks at them (which is probably why the English are known for having terrible teeth). We came home and had jacket potatoes. This is an English baked potato that you can have with things like: cheese, cottage cheese, tuna fish and mayo, pinto beans, olives, beef. They were quite good actually.
Afterwards we had a really nice FHE about Christmas. Daniel and I made peanut butter chocolate rice krispies with M&Ms (called Smarties) on top. They are okay, but not as good as scotcheroos. I’ve been looking up helpx places to stay in February and paying attention to 5% of Titanic, which the girls are watching.

Day 111: It's A Wonderful Life

20 Decembre 2009 (Day 111)
It has been snowing a lot for England today! It is so great. We woke up and all went to church. We had a really nice lesson about Joseph Smith in Relief Society. You could feel the spirit really strongly, especially when we were singing the closing hymn, Praise to The Man. Sunday School was by far my favorite. The Primary children put on a nativity program for all of us with costumes and songs. It was fantastic. Daniel sand He Sent His Son as a solo and did really well.
The infamous Sam Ward and his and Isabel’s friend, Luke (the duke of puke), sat by us during sacrament meeting. Luke kept on looking at me, so I winked at him, lol. This apparently got me in trouble because he texted Isabel, “Your friend is fit (British for hot). Ask her if she wants to use the gift of tongues with me.” That was terrible! Luckily Elena said that he is like that with everyone. We had some nice talks about the true meaning of Christmas and stories. We stayed and talked a little bit after church with some ward members.
We had a little snow ball fight (little being pretty much I was the only one throwing snowballs). Sam came for dinner today so we watched Elf (again) while dinner was being prepared. It sure smelled yummy, which it was. We had some pork and potatoes with bread (they don’t really eat vegetables here). We played What If which was really fun. We played some card game after that until everyone got too upset and then we moved on to having dessert, Diam cake! After that lovely dessert we moved on to playing the chimes again. That didn’t last long because the girls were hyper and being sassy to their mum. We then watched The Snowman and It’s A Wonderful Life. The older I get the more I enjoy that film, but not enough to make me cry. We all snuggled on the couch and gave hand massages and did hair. Sam and Isabel did some real snuggling and hand holding though.
After we wrote the Elder some letters with Milky gel pens. Isabel and Elena started writing on each other’s faces and snorting from laughing. Quite the night!

Day 110: ChristmasChurch Party

19 decembre 2009 (Day 110)
It snowed again today. The flakes were so tiny and cute! Today was a pretty mellow day. I had hot chocolate and toast for breakfast and then spent most of the morning trying to get pictures of Ireland up on Facebook. I made peanut butter cookies for everyone (they are a favorite in this house) because they asked me to. They really liked them and we took them to the ward party as well later. We had tuna sandwiches for lunch and then Daniel and I watched Elf while the parents went out to pick up Elena from work and Isabel from the wedding she went to. Daniel and I had fun watching Elf because it made us laugh so much. I didn’t realize how funny that movie was.
We all sang Christmas carols on our way to the ward Christmas party. It was pretty small but it was still fun. We played musical chairs, Father Christmas came, we played some pass the object games and then ate dinner. I was kind of disappointed that they didn’t have lots of stuff, nor “English” stuff, but it was alright. After dinner we had dancing. We did a line dance and I danced with Elena which was fun. There were little kids dancing and older people. The cutest old lady fell while she was dancing! I felt so badly. They had lots of little cute kids there that were fun to dance with and talk to. There was a cute Scotsman who sadly is married. He served a mission in Russia and his brother is marrying Alison Bean, a girl from my high school. The world just keeps getting smaller!
They sang Spanish carols on the way back and then we watched their stake roadshow and ate the French cheese that Isabel brought back. It is kind of weird having Isabel here now, she doesn’t really want to hang out with me much. Elena and I sang a great duo of “Baby It’s Cold Outside.” I love that song (possibly because it reminds me of my roommates that I miss).

Day 109: Hello England

18 decembre 2009 (Day 109)
This morning I woke up around 8am and did my yoga and scripture reading. My hip adductors are still a little sore from my wild hike in Ireland. Hopefully my Christmas break from running (I didn’t bring my shoes because I highly doubted that I would go) will give them ample break to repair.
I ate breakfast with Ines (mother) and Fernando (father). La tostada (toast) and cereal! I am working on learning some Spanish while I am here. After breakfast we went out and did some shopping. Ines and Fernando are really funny. They are one of those couples that one gets mad and the other laughs and that is how they show their affection. Ines was quite mad at Fernando because he poked a hole in a package that she was sending to her son on a mission. Fernando was just laughing. We listened to some great older Christmas music and went into Preston. It is a pretty big city and quite quaint. We went to Toys ‘R Us and Borders. The Borders here is going out of business so everything was really inexpensive. I bought some cards and a little how to learn Italian book. Afterwards we went to Subway and got lunch.
After a turkey sandwich, a cookie, and lemon-lime water we went and picked up Daniel from school. Daniel is 8-years-old and sometimes a little quiet, but he is a really nice cute kid. I taught him how to play the bingo car game and we played that while we went to a couple of grocery stores. We bought pizza for dinner and made that after all of our shopping. We had a lovely (all food is ‘lovely’ or ’nice’ here) salad with it and some root beer, which half of them hate because it tastes like a certain medicine here.
Ines and Fernando had choir practice, so Daniel and I stayed home and watched his favorite movie, Transformers, with popcorn and some of his favorite gummy candy. Elena (16) and her friend Jessica wrapped presents instead of watching the movie with us. Daniel fell asleep during the movie (he’s been sick). After the movie all the girls played Christmas songs with chimes. It was a lot of fun and Fernando played with us once he came back from teaching with the missionaries. After playing Elena and I (Jessica had to go home) had her parents tell us about how they got married. You see, Ines has her heart set on Isabel, her oldest daughter marrying her oldest son’s best friend who is leaving on a mission soon. They both like each other but Isabel doesn’t want to wait for him. It will be fun to see them together. After our lovely story we all went to bed.

Day 108: The Isles of Ireland

17 Decembre 2009 (Day 108)
I met up with the girls for breakfast (luckily I went into the same wash room, I had left my contact solution!) and we had our yummy free breakfast. Bread and jam (we didn’t see the toasters until it was too late; the jam was already on the bread), museli with milk, orange juice, and wheatabix (they are like wheaties in a square that you smash up and add milk and sugar). The girls decided their feet hurt so they weren’t going to come to Howth with me. Howth is a small fisherman’s town about 30 minutes outside of Dublin. I bought a sandwich and fruit and found the train station and went to Howth. On the way I saw a rainbow! It was so cool seeing a rainbow (I actually saw two) in Ireland! It got greener and greener the further out of Dublin we got. Howth is a great fisherman’s town. Being there made me better understand the genetic build of Irish people, as well as their food. It was gorgeous. I took a long walk along the cliffs and looked at the Eye of Ireland (an island) and the waves. It rained a little and was windy, but it was nothing bad. When I was about half-way the trail started getting REALLY muddy. My toes are actually still wet from it. The trail was muddy enough that I decided to cut through the pasture-like cliff side and go down to the path I came up on. It was quite the adventure through the pokeys and almost falling!
I made it down without further incident and walked along the wharf. I found a nice restaurant called Ivan’s so I bought some Fish Chowder in a sourdough bowl. It was very delicious and much better than clam chowder. I took the train back into Dublin and walked back to the hostel going by some other popular monuments that I hadn’t seen (all in all, I didn’t get to see much of Dublin). It started raining with the occasional sleet, so it wasn’t very good for sightseeing. I did go see the outside of St. Patrick’s Cathedral again in the light though (it cost 5 euros to go in). I got my bag (the girls had stored it in their locker for me so I didn’t have to take it around since I had already checked out) and went to catch the bus. Now I am sitting in the airport about to board the flight for England!
The flight went well. I ate my chicken sandwich, Irish potato chips (much better than French potato chips), and apple while everyone was standing in line waiting to board (is your seat really that important for a forty minute flight?!). We took off late because it started to hail/sleet so they de-iced the wings. I mostly read on the flight and it wasn’t until we were getting off that the charming cute young businessman who was across the aisle asked me if my shoes were Brooks. This of course led to a running conversation seeing as I am a runner and he does triathlons. We talked all the way to the exit and then my dear bosom Brooks friend left. I was so sad, I was sitting by someone who could have been the perfect husband and I didn’t know until too late. Oh well. Lucky dog is going biking in Wales tomorrow because there are more hills there and it is his day off.
I barely missed the train to go to Chorley by about two minutes (I didn’t know which train to get on so I had to wait in line to ask). It was alright though seeing as the next train was in 30 minutes. I had a nice train ride of about an hour, during which I put my pictures on my laptop. Isabel’s mother came and picked me up at the airport and drove me home. There was snow! It was so great because it really made it feel like Christmas driving in the little town and seeing Christmas lights on houses and snow. The family is super nice. They offered me cookies and cupcakes and hot chocolate (which I refused, how odd for me) and I stayed up a little bit with the parents talking and then we watched the tv for long enough to see that there wasn’t anything good on.
I’m sleeping in Elana’s room. It is a really cute room with pink walls, a light hardwood floor and two twin sized beds with the cutest bedding. It is fun to see her room and all her treasures!

Day 107: Off to Ireland

16 Decembre 2009 (Day 107)

Today I left for Ireland! I woke up, got ready, and made sure that I turned off my lights this time. I was really nervous about going by myself, but I made it all right. On the flight I met a cute two year old named Matthew he speaks French and Irish English. He kept on turning to me, making faces or saying, “Boo!” By the end of the flight he wanted me to hold him and not his mom. I’m sure his mother didn’t mind too much that I held him while she got everything together. He was quite attached to me, so it was sad to see him go.

I made it through customs without a problem and I was in Dublin! I took the 16A bus to my awesomely fabulous Avalon House Hostel in the heart of Dublin. This cute little old lady was crossing the street in front of our double decker bus and we totally ALMOST hit her. It was really close. She was just totally oblivious to the bus, and bless the driver’s heart, he didn’t even honk at her. But we on the top were worried that we might have hit her! I was greeted by a long haired Napoleon Dynamite-esque Frenchie who really liked me because he could speak French to me. He even gave me two suckers when I checked in (he didn’t give the other girls anything). It only cost 8 euros to stay there for the night and it was really nice! I met two non-denominal Christian girls from England (Joanna) and Washington who had met in Hawaii doing missionary work for their church. They were both really nice and I went around with them. They got soup and The Bald Barrista, the café in front of the hostel and I got some hot cocoa. Afterwards we walked around to St. Patrick’s cathedral, which has been added onto since the 11^th century and where Jonathon Swift gave sermons. They still have his pew. I also went and saw Trinity College and saw a glimpse of Christ’s Church, but it was quite dark by the time we got out site seeing. We still went down one of the main streets though and went in to some of the shops to look around. I found some pretty awesome and awful things, including 30 euro gloves that were made of nothing special.

I asked the awesome French receptionist where to go for dinner and he recommended a great place that we went to, The Sheeben Chic. It was this Irish Pub/restaurant that has live music every night and a really cool feel. All the chairs are miss-matched and the décor was really neat. They had paintings on the ceiling, mirrors, and really cool mini antique chandeliers. I got the traditional Irish Stew with potatoes, carrots, barley, and lamb. It was served on a deep plate without much broth, but it was really good. The potatoes were divine! Ireland really does have great potatoes. I decided to splurge and get dessert so I tried the Pannacotta. It was stewed rhubarb with a really nice crème brulee-esque crème/pudding. It was pretty nice, though it left an odd after-feel in my mouth. One of our waiters was really attractive, so he got nicknamed the ‘husband’ he bought Joanna a drink after they kind of forgot about her hamburger.

The two girlies were pooped after dinner so we went back to the hostel. On the way back we stopped in a grocery store and Joanna the Brit told us about all the different candies. I got a *****TRIFLE, like they talk about in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. It is rose flavored gumminess coated in chocolate. It was alright, but it is weird tasting things that are rose flavored. I got some gum (it is a lot cheaper in Ireland) and a candy bar that Joanna recommended. We went back to the hostel and I got my bag out of my locker and went to ask for something and my French friend was there. He was playing the guitar and we talked about that for a little bit and then he let me play (after he gave me more candy, twice). I played the one song I still do remember, Viva La Vida. He liked it so much he had me teach it to him. Then he played “Nantes” by Beiruit and taught me how to play it on the guitar and then had me play it with the song blasting around midnight. He told me to go back where I got dinner to listen to his friends play in an awesome band, but by the time I got there they had finished playing so I just went back and went to bed. I didn’t sleep very well because there were people outside shouting and being noisy and they didn’t stop until about 4am and I woke up at 7am.

The Avalon Hostel is really cool. For the 14-bunk mixed sex spacious rooms it is only 10 euros a night. It comes with bedding, a free breakfast, free Irish dancing lessons Tuesday and Thursday nights, free wi-fi, computer access, lockers for rent (1 euro a day), a kitchen, instruments you can borrow to play, you can get a free nights stay if you perform at the café, free showers, and a stellar atmosphere. I really wanted to hang out more at the hostel. It was also awesomely eco-friendly. They solar-panel heat the water, recycle, and do a whole bunch of other things to be eco-awesome. The people in Dublin are super nice. I have had multiple people stop and ask me where I am trying to get to and then they give directions. I love their accents!