(Warning: this is a long one.)
Hello, my friends! It has been a while…and I've loads to tell! Since coming to the discovery (in a recent post) that I really like Cork a lot, and will be sad to leave, I have left it several times, for trips to Edinburgh, London, and L’Abri in Greatham, England.
On the weekend of Halloween, I braved Ryanair alone on a Friday night to see my Dad in Edinburgh. We met at the airport, took a taxi to our hotel right off the High Street, and had a very late dinner at a delicious Indian place around the corner. Nothing like garlic naan and Indian beer with your Dad at midnight in Scotland! (Well, I must confess that I still don’t like beer…but it’s fun to say.) He then presented me with two big bags of candy corn Mom had sent me!! On Saturday we visited the Edinburgh Castle, saw the crown jewels (called the Honours of Scotland), had a very pubby lunch (more beer! Aah!), and hiked the steep, windy climb to Arthur’s Seat, where you can see the whole city. That evening, after stuffing our faces with candy corn for a couple of hours in the hotel room (okay, that was just me), Dad and I visited The Elephant House, where J.K. Rowling wrote much of the first Harry Potter books. Sunday morning, after some fluffy, crumbly, buttery breakfast scones, we headed to a service at St. Giles Cathedral, full of old, beautiful liturgy (lately I just like liturgy better and better!). My flight back into Dublin that evening was delayed three hours, giving me the opportunity to spend one more night at Abbey Court Hostel (where we had orientation), and to meet a church group from Florida there, before taking the bus to Cork in the morning, still full of candy corn.
The next weekend saw me getting up before 6 on Friday morning to meet my friends Marie and Jake for a trip to London! It was, from start to finish, a magical weekend, filled with laughter, singing, chocolate digestives, and walking walking walking. We got lost essentially right outside our hostel, in the rain, for about an hour, but it was worth it when we finally found our way inside…Friends was on the lounge TV! And the first big highlight of the weekend was that evening…we went to see the musical Wicked!! It was amazing by intermission, and by the final curtain, we just couldn’t stop singing. I might even have cried (surprise!).
We spent most of Saturday on the Tube…well, only sort of. (Shout-out to Jake for always knowing where to go!) At breakfast at the hostel, we made a new friend in Kyle, a musician from South Africa visiting for the week. He joined us in touring the city that day. Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben (AAH BIG BENßJake’s reaction), Covent Garden, Platform 9 ¾ (!!), and my personal favorite, Camden Market. That night we headed out again to see some Guy Fawkes Day fireworks (it was the 6th of November by this point, but apparently they remember that pretty well too), prefaced by a bonfire roughly the size of a water tower (I was quite warm, 30 feet away). Another highlight, quite literally. ;)
Sunday was our busiest day yet, beginning with a bit of the Natural History Museum (free! Dinosaurs!), a service in St. Paul’s, the Tower, the London Bridge, the Globe Theatre, Millennium Bridge (Death Eaters?), the National Gallery, and Hamleys, the most awesome toy store ever. We finished our time in London with an organ recital at Westminster Abbey, and yummy Italian for dinner. Then off to spend the night at the Stansted Airport, before our 6am flight…but we found some new German friends to hang out with while we couldn’t sleep.
After those two wonderful, but tiring, trips, I was a bit less than ready to leave again for my scheduled to visit to L’Abri the next Thursday afternoon. But I made it there, with some help from kind Brits concerning the National Rail system. I’m not going to explain L’Abri here, other than describing my time there; for more information, check out http://www.labri.org/. Anyway, I arrived on Thursday evening to what is known as “The Manor House” in Greatham, Hampshire. The big old house (mostly from the 19th century, but with the original bits from the 1600s) was almost empty—Thursday is everyone’s day off. But I met a group of students, also just arrived for the weekend, doing a program in Christian Apologetics at Oxford (while you’re at it, check OCCA out, too: http://www.theocca.org/), and had a mini-tour with them. All weekend after, everyone who met me thought I went to Oxford! (I enjoyed this.)
One of the big blessings of the weekend was the library, the couch in the library, and the seemingly unlimited time I had to sit and read on the couch in the library. I hadn’t read all day since I was about 16…what a lovely feeling! I also greatly appreciated the tea breaks…tea is taken very seriously at English L’Abri. I drank five cups each day. Also, I met lots of wonderful people from all over the world…there was always fun to be had at meals and tea breaks, and at the pub playing UNO on Saturday night…
Probably the greatest blessing of the weekend, though, was a constant reminder of God’s presence and power. The first night I arrived, I was inundated with amazing stories from the folks on the OCCA program of how God had provided for them to get to Oxford (think, planes turned around!). All day Friday I read about the beginnings of L’Abri in Switzerland in the 1950s, and how God’s hand was guiding the Schaeffers even through the many troubles they went through during its inception. Moreover, God’s presence is very real at L’Abri, from the peaceful atmosphere during study hours to the kids playing football outside. Much, much prayer goes on behind the scenes there, and God has really blessed it richly. If you’re ever in the area, check it out! I’m going back.
And now, this weekend, I’m in Cork! It’s wonderful to be home, to not be travelling. Last night I went out to the GPO (general post office), where my church, Calvary Cork, was handing out free tea and coffee and chatting with passersby, and then had a slice of America at Eddie Rockets after. Now I’m sitting at the Haven, a local Christian bookstore/coffee shop/meeting place, as I write this, but I’m about to head to the market to pick up sweet potatoes and apples for Thanksgiving dinner with the roomies this evening. I’ve been trying not to eat much all day in preparation. J Those Irish won’t be able to move after this dinner!
God is good.
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