Thursday, November 3, 2011

Lessons from London

First off, I want to thank everyone who prayed and supported me through the last couple of days. I am so glad to finally be back in Huelva, Spain! I missed two days of work (six hours) which I will be trying to make up over the next week or so probably. I am going to talk to my coordinator about it tomorrow-- I need to go to Sevilla one day, probably a Monday, to apply for a new passport.

1. In England, there doesn't seem to be a variety of pronounciations for the letter "a." What I man by this is it always makes the "ah" sound and doesn't seem to make the sound as in apple. (Of course if you speak English in most places but the USA, you are probably thinking, "What are you talking about?"

2. It is nice to be back in a country where they drive on the right side of the road. This is partially a joke. I bolded the word right because it can be read in two different ways. They really do drive on the left side of the road in England. Most places in the world drive on the right so it seems wierd to drive on the left. Which brings me to the second meaning: correct. (I was very glad at crosswalks in London, "Look Left," or "Loook Right," were painted on the sidewalks.

3. "Chips are french fries and "Crisps" are potato chips. "Fizzy drink" is a soda. I new when I went that the English would be different. But even so, within the same area there seemed to be different accents. Some people spoke with thick British accents and I could barely understand. Others had just a hint of an accent.

4. You don't miss what you aren't looking for. I don't really know when I lost my passport. I have my theories as to what happen but can't prove any of them unless the passport is found and I find out where it was found. Are sheep like goats--will they eat anything and everything? (One possible location was in a sheep grazing pasture.)

5. Squirrels are more evil in London than at ASU. They are more rare I guess, but still. I was walking in Westminster and met some people walking the opposite direction who had stopped. I didn't realize why at first, but then I noticed they were looking at a huge squirrel. I slowly continued walking and it was confused so I stopped. I think three or four groups of people ended up stopping. Eventually we walked out on the road to avoid it's wrath.

6. The guards at Buckingham don't always wear red coats. I made it for the changing of the guards on Sunday and they were wearing gray.

When I look back and reflect on the time I spent in England it really was pretty great up until I returned to my hotel Monday night. Hopefully down the road I will be able to have positive memories. For anyone thinking of going there, unless you want to tour a lot of stuff in London, I would recommend Salsbury. I spent a day there and really enjoyed it. The Stonehenge Tour Bus cost 18 pounds and included hop-on/hop-off service, fast entry into Stonehenge, entry into Old Serum (ruins the first Salisbury), and a history lesson along the drive.

As they say in England: Cheers!

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