This is our room's mini Christmas tree! The staff boys found it for us a few weeks ago and we decorated it with whatever we could find and topped it with my yellow hair ribbon! =)
I’m not sure if I ever shared my Christmas plans, so here’s a quick summary: I am traveling with my roommate Karena and we are going to Paris for 12 days and staying with family friends, then to the Netherlands to visit our roommate Angelique, and then finishing in Austria, outside of Vienna to visit another roommate, Tamara! =) It will be very exciting and I can’t wait to share everything with you all.
This week has been bittersweet as we all look forward to Christmas break but also cherish our last week with our current roommates and room (as we will change after break). Also, Christmas marks the halfway point of school and I don’t want to think that we’re already halfway through!
This weekend is the school’s Christmas program. The students write, produce, and perform a program for the community each year. People come from surrounding churches and neighborhoods and we’re told it’s a tradition for many people and they come every year (so no pressure, haha). I’m in the choir and we had 3 afternoons of practices this week, with the dress rehearsal last night so the rest of the student body that is not participating could see the program since our 2 performances on Sunday and Monday nights will be full.
Last Saturday, I went to a town called Preston with my roommate Karena and our friend Erin. We walked into Carnforth, which takes about an hour and a half or so (yes, we are very much in the middle of nowhere country!).
Here's Karena and Erin as we were walking along the trail to Carnforth. It was so cold, the stream was frozen. It didn't even break when we threw big stones at it!
And we took the train from Carnforth into Preston. Karena got a much needed haircut (our main purpose for going into town) and Erin and I enjoyed shopping a bit while Karena got her hair cut and then we had dinner together in the mall (which has a very different feeling from our malls). All the stores here close incredibly early, this mall closed at 6pm on a Saturday!!
I thought the train station in Preston had great coloring, it was red and green and white, perfect for Christmas! =) It was probably the prettiest train station I've seen.
I have found England is not one for word economy. For instance, instead of having signs say "exit", they say "way out". Or instead of writing "caution" at a train stop, they write...
Mind the gap! We thought this was notable enough for us to act out. (Karena is doing "mind" and i'm doing "the gap"). =)
Here are the 3 of us: me, Erin, and Karena. Erin bought holiday crackers while in town and let Karena and me each have one. They had a paper crown and a little plastic whistle inside.
I also enjoyed going into Carnforth twice this week on the school’s free minibuses. I bought some supplies at the local grocery store, Tesco, and enjoyed perusing in the old bookshop. It is so much fun to be in, the store is full of random nooks and crannies full of books and perfect for exploring. I even discovered it had a cabinet of old sheet music that was really neat to look through.
This statue is in downtown Carnforth and is dedicated to all the soldiers lost in WW1. It is amazing that from even a very small town like Carnforth, there was a long list of names of young men lost in that war.
Last Sunday, I continued my weekly ballroom classes and taught the waltz, which people enjoyed learning. I am continually pleased with how many people show up each week, adding new recruits too. =)
I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned this either, but one of my friends here plays the piano and we enjoy singing and playing together, esp. The Phantom of the Opera. We’ve sung that most of the way through twice. =)
Each week we have a missionary hour where some mission organization comes and talks to us about their ministry. This week, we got to hear my friend Bethany’s parents speak about their mission work in Africa. They are here in England for one year, studying. It was neat to meet Bethany’s parents and hear more about what their family has been doing in Djibouti for the past 15 years.
Also, some of the missionary kids (children of missionaries) here who live in Muslim areas of the world have started a weekly informational and prayer meeting for Muslim peoples. Three of the MKs (missionary kids) told us about some of their experiences with Muslims and then we broke into small groups to pray.
Friday morning we were woken up bright and early! 4:45am to be exact! We had a fire alarm go off and then all had to line up outside the castle and stand in the freezing cold for 20 min. while they made sure everything was safe. Nothing serious happened, but we were all a lot groggier than usual at Friday breakfast!
Also on Friday morning, we had our bi-weekly seminar on evangelism. We split into groups and were given scenarios to act out of how we would talk and reach out to people in different situations. We did this partly in preparation for the 10 day outreach in the spring. I don’t have much informational at all about this event. All I know is that there is a period of 10 days during spring where groups of students are sent to all different places and work doing various sorts of ministry, and stay in local church members’ houses.
There was lot more that went on this week, but those were some of the highlights!
Lastly, today (Saturday) I chose to go on our optional Saturday event to go see a professional English football (soccer) match.
It was a good experience but I can’t say I’d rush to sign up again soon. It was very cold. I wore 4 layers on top, 2 on bottom, a hat, scarf, and gloves. Still, my toes almost went numb with cold! I was very thankful that we at least had an awning over our heads to protect us from the rain! We enjoyed trying to pick up the cheers for the local team and the home team won (no thanks to our cheering skills!). It was interesting to see how passionate people were for their teams, and it was very much a family outing too. There were lots of little boys that stood as close to the field as they were allowed so that they could throw back a ball anytime it popped over the (surprisingly very small!) barrier. It was interesting that there was no large net or anything behind the goals were the ball often flew off the field and into the stands. I almost had one hit me (we had good viewing places). =) Also, there were no seats! Only in the expensive “box” area were there seats. Everywhere else was standing room only.
Here is part of our school group demonstrating the lack of seats. =)
Another girl here named Laura taught me how to make these very cool paper stars! She said her family enjoys making a lot of them around Christmas time and use them to decorate their house. They are very simple to make, I felt like Buddy the Elf (from Will Ferrel's movie "Elf") decorating the house with snowflakes! Next, I'll just have to learn how to make a rocking horse from a TV cabinet! =)
And to top this week off, tonight we have our 2nd school Ceilidh! I am excited for that as I loved the first one.
I know our last few days here at school before break will fly by! Tomorrow and Monday evening we have the Christmas program, Tuesday we have the school formal Christmas dinner (our room is excited to dress up for that!), and Wednesday is our last full day here which I’m sure will be full of packing and cleaning. And then Thursday we are off to Paris! Whoo… what a week!
I hope everyone's lives are not too hectic as we enjoy this wonderful season of the year! Love to all,
~Sarah
P.S. I was just talking to my roommate Angelique, whom we will visit in the Netherlands. She just me that when we visit her we will hopefully get to visit Anne Frank's house and Corrie Ten Boom's house!!!! Their real houses!! I'm am so SO excited to see them! =D =D
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