Madame Butterfly, Mosque, WALES

Just a quick sidenote: the UK has disgusting chip flavors.

So this last week has been CRAZY busy. We still have to do our normal homework load, but we still have events planned daily, and are out of town most of this month. But this last week we went to an incredibly famous and influential mosque in our neighborhood. Unfortunately, I do not recall the name, and none of my friends even mentioned it in their blogs, or I would tell you. Our little guide talked to us for about four hours, and I could barely hear him so it was kinda boring (shh, don't tell anyone.) But when I could hear him, he was either talking about random movies he has seen lately, telling us he's not a terrorist, or trying to convert us. Um... But the actual mosque was way cool. We got to see them all go up and pray at the specific time, and we were all wearing head-coverings. It's a cool place to visit, just don't ask for a tour-guide....

The next night we went to Madame Butterfly. I had never been to a live opera (or really any opera) before, so it was a neat experience. Our seats were not the best (aka the worst seats in the house, and super-super-super far away, so we couldn't see anything) but the top of the set looked really neat. Haha, ok, we could see the people, they just looked as small as little potato bugs. I'm sure if we had been closer, we would have been able to see their faces, and then read their lips so we could tell what they were saying. ...Ok, so it wasn't the greatest, but it was still fun!

And the next day, we left for WALES!

The first day, we were on the bus for probably 11 hours. Part of it was spent on a "Church History" tour, with our favorite guide Peter Fagg. Yep, that's really his last name. He had the bus driver take us in really huge circles, leading us to multiple old churches where "Brigham once preached" etc. But it was actually really neat to see the Benbow farm, and the small pond there where so many saints were baptized. And we saw the local parish where they would have originally gone to church.

Adam, now I know why you couldn't live in Ephraim your Freshman year of college. The Benbow Farm now has a chicken barn where they raise 2-3,000 chickens. It smelled absolutely horrific. Haha, ask Mom how I described it to her on the phone; it's not quite appropriate to list on the w.w.w... But it was sure pretty..

But there was one really REALLY cool stop. We went to the top of the Herefordshire Beacon, where Brigham used to go to think clearly, and overlooked the area. It was gorgeous. But the best part was the wind. I've never been anywhere so windy in my life! It was so much fun playing and taking pictures in the wind!!! Highlight of the day, hands down.

Then we went to the Cotswalds to stay for the night. Other than the overpriced pubs for dinner and the pubic hairs in our crusty sheets at our hostels, it was swell. It was just funny because none of us had any idea where we were, and there was only one tiny street. And they had us in the top floor of the hostel, so we all hit our head every time we walked into the room. There were weird substances on the walls, strange things hanging in the bunk beds, something growing in the shower, and the mirror was cloudier than dirty dish-water at a homeless shelter. I won't lie, I was a little grossed out, but I was fine. The other girls, however, obviously didn't have any older brothers and didn't go camping much as children; they couldn't handle it. It was so funny to watch them try to put their crunchy sheets on their tiny beds with only their two fingers pinched as far away from them as humanly possible!

The next day we went to Tintern abbey and saw the pretty ruins. The roof had disappeared, but most of the ruins were very well kept and most of the walls were still there! It was sprinkling rain so we weren't galavanting around as we often would, but it was still stunning. The beat part was chatting with our professors.

Then we went to the "big pit" in Wales. It's a historic coal mine in Wales. We went down 300 meters into the ground down the main shaft in a lift that dropped us down at two meters a Second. We were even equipped with little white helmet with lights on them. They used to keep horses there and they warned us about rats and taught us all about the mines. Our guide, Robert, was the funniest Welsh guy ever, and had us laughing the whole time. He somehow got us to sing the national anthem on the shaft on our way back up. So so fun! And we ate food at the canteen and at mining food. And he had us all turn off our lights and it was totally pitch black. I couldn't even see my hand an inch from my face!! I've always wanted to be in pitch black like that. Now I wanna go to a cave or something!!!

To finish that night, we went to Cardiff. We got to stay in a hotel that night! It may have been bare, but we loved it! We went to the Cardiff Bay that night and got to walk around the pier. We just HAD to go on the merry-go-round! Then we went to Wagamamas for dinner. I can't wait to take my parents there when they come in town because it was excellent Japanese food. And of course, we completed the evening with hours of conversation and laughter in Liz's room. Oh, I love roadtrips!

Our last day in Wales, we got to explore Cardiff. We started by walking by the Cardiff Castle, then all around the historic streets of the area. There was a huge rugby game that day against Ireland, so there were huge festivities in the streets; everyone was wearing either their red or their green. It was so much fun! Don't worry, I got a Welsh Love Spoon. 

And then we went to the Cardiff Museum, which was more like a petting zoo. We walked around and saw how the buildings and farms used to be, back in the day. The best part was the baby lambs everywhere! My friend Ashley kept saying "I love EWE" and pointing to us. It was so precious!

Then, we were back off to London and 27 Palace Court.

Oh, and these two foreign guys tried to hit on Kinsey and I that night on our run. We were just running back from the Marble Arch, and two guys stopped us and invited us to come back to their hotel room and have a drink with them. Here's how the conversation went.-French guy: Hey girls, I know you are both very healthy and fit and are on a run, but you should come with us to our hotel and have drinks with us.(we look at each other, and have no response) so his friend continues
-Belgium guy: Yes, we will buy you five beers each. It will be fun. We're staying right around the corner. (and he points)
-Kinsey: but we're all sweaty.(I'm just laughing my head off because that's the worst excuse ever in this situation)
-French guy: It's ok. You can be sweaty and have a drink with us.
-Kinsey: where are you two from?-French guy: Paris.
-Carly: Ooh, Bonjour!

hahahahahahaha too funny. Two girls running at 11:30 in London on a Saturday night? They must have thought we weren't out partying because we were lonely and depressed and couldn't find men or something. We told them we were busy, so they invited us for the next night. Finally, we just let them tell us how to find their room just in case we "changed our minds." Haha, not going to happen, but it was funny anyhow.

Here's a picture of my Primary here in London. I got to teach 11 of them this week. Crazy!!