Dodging Devilish Donkeys

So the last week and a half was spent without internet. That's why there wasn't a blog last week. Also, losing internet for two eventful weeks might make for a long blog. First things first: new house. Jodi and I have moved to Norwood in South London for more space and a real kitchen. We will be here until we finish our positions at IHQ in July. We could pretty easily fit 3 of our old flats into the bottom floor alone. The commute isn't as convenient but it's worth the extra effort. Before we moved, we would take an Overground train to the Tube in Whitechapel, which run every 7 minutes and 3 minutes, respectively. Now we have to bus to a National Rail train which leaves every 15-30 minutes and transports Londoners at about 241% capacity. At least, the normal train does. Jodi and I have decided to not have our faces shoved into strangers armpits every morning and take the train an hour earlier, even if it means waking up at 5 am.

On Thursday we went to Trafalgar Square for the Christmas tree lighting which was, frankly, underwhelming. Maybe I've been to Disneyland during Christmas too many times. The tree is interesting because it's a gift from Norway, which has been a tradition since WWII. Apparently the first tree was given to the UK as like a thank-you-for-helping-us-during-the-war-here's-a-tree. And they keep doing it. Touching.

Saturday was easily the most interesting day of the last fourteen- we planned to do all the things in a matter of only a few hours. The first stop was Denmark Hill to meet up with Alexa. Uneventful. We came, we saw, we gathered, we moved on to Stepney City Farm. Stepney City Farm is exactly what you pictured in your head when you first read the phrase 19 words ago. 19 if "Stepney" counts as first. Literal literary humor. Wut. ANYWAY, Stepney City Farm is a farm in the city. We weren't really sure what to expect but the Stepney Salvation Army, who was hosting the event at the farm, is known for being lively and exciting so we were optimistic. And rightly so. The people from Stepney were incredibly warm and cheerful, despite the near freezing weather and curious smells emanating from nearby pens. Our job was to lead the crowd from one area to the next and play carols with a brass band as they watched different parts of the nativity unfold right in front of them. The crowd was led by a toddler dressed as a star and carried on her dad's shoulders. Adorable.

The first few stops were not terribly exciting but it was fun running around the pens and trying to beat the crowds to the next location. The last are was just outside a donkey pen but since we couldn't fit with the crowd, they decided to put us IN the donkey pen. Now, I've never been particularly afraid of animals (much less donkeys) but just before leading us through the barrier, one of the men nearby said, "Watch out for the donkeys- they kick." Awesome. Bucking donkeys. The last thing I need for Christmas is a brass mouthpiece being kicked through my teeth by an irate beast in a country that I'm not sure cares about my insurance coverage. We started playing "As with Gladness" and the first verse progressed without any issues. The donkeys had come over to investigate but I figured they were used to people being around so they wouldn't pry too much. We started the second verse and I felt something touch me. I could see all of the band members in my peripheral vision and there was only one other creature in the pen. I pretended to play as I turned and sure enough, the larger of the two donkeys was uncomfortably close to us. I turned back around but before I could find my place I heard a terrible noise behind me that sounded a bit like an exasperated child that is too cranky to verbalize why he is making the excruciating sound he feels so obliged to exude. It wasn't a tantrum. I'm sure from outside the fence it was a cute sight: Christmas carols played by a band and a donkey walking up to them so he could sing along. From my perspective, it was a battle cry. He was ready to show this braying bunch of brass players whose territory they were invading. I may have had a panic attack. I may have involuntarily cried a little. I don't know what emotion I was feeling but I suddenly was the child incapable of understandable communication.

The song ended eventually. We moved on to the stable. The STABLE. That's where it lives. It already hated me for being near the outermost sanctum of its realm and they wanted me to trespass in its domicile?! Not only that, the entire crowd came into their fenced off field so they could join in the final carols around the donkey house. I was worried. No; I was petrified. A child was going to be bitten, kicked, trampled, and there was nothing we could do. Still they marched. Still they dredged ever closer to their impending death. But it didn't come. The donkeys were fine. We played 3 songs and all the donkeys did was play with the children and shake their long devilish heads innocently. Taunters. They knew that I knew what they were thinking. "Get the baritone player". But again, nothing really happened. We finished the last song and started dispersing and my heart started beating an its average pace again. As we were leaving the pen, however, the smaller donkey escaped. Turns out donkeys are all about companionship. I learned this quickly because as soon as the larger, eviler donkey noticed his friend was gone, he decided it was a good time to start kicking things. My favorite part, in the most sarcastic sense possible, was that Alexa and I were standing right behind him. Naturally, we screamed out of sheer panic. While my being kicked in the face by a rampant donkey makes for a good story, it didn't happen. I saw every muscle on his back tense up as he prepared for the kick but he never followed through. He simply ran around the perimeter of the fence for a while until he was safely reunited with his counterbeast. And I was several large paces away from both of them.

The new house, complete with little English car... which isn't ours, by the way.

 The Norwegian tree in Trafalgar Square.

 Stepney City Farm

Pulling his stupid innocent face again...

Busy Bees

This week has been absolutely crazy at work. Both of us have fast approaching deadlines for massive projects that are significant to Congress. Jodi's main task has been organizing the volunteers we will need and constructing a program that includes roles, project planning, and recruiting. Among a million other things. My main project this week has been organizing the performers that are coming and trying to synchronize 40 schedules across 7 venues and myriad rehearsals. It's fun. Like the stressful kind of fun. Not sarcastic.

This weekend was also packed with adventure. Or at least events. On Saturday we went to Angel with Alexa for Chipotle. Again. Burrito bowls. We then continued up the Northern Line to Camden Town, which is a lot like Pike Place or Fremont in Seattle. Or any other hipster sub-nation. I was really only looking for a new umbrella after mine was tragically retired last week but I was tempted several times by just about everything else Camden had to offer. I didn't actually need any of it and, as John Murray would likely point out, none of it was of particularly high quality. John Murray works at IHQ. He's the one that deemed us Ken and Barbie. Anyway, we had been planning to see Mockingjay in the week but hadn't yet so we bussed to the nearest cinema to watch it. Being volunteers we decided grocery snackage was a necessity. This snackage, however, spoiled our dinner appetites. Nevertheless, we went to Southbank after the movie which is the literal south bank of the Thames. There is a new Christmas village that started earlier this month that Jodi tried to convince me to go to the previous night but I convinced her it would be more fun to go with another person. Southbank was a pretty typical Christmas village aside from a Christmas tree maze, which I don't think I've ever seen before. Exciting as it was, I wasn't about to pay £4 to walk through a fake forest...

Sunday. We went to church at the usual time and did the usual things until lunch. We had lunch plans with a family from the Wood Green area that sometimes attends the corps but they weren't able to make it that morning. They were kind enough to call a taxi service for us so we wouldn't have to walk through the rain which was pretty torrential that day. The food was fantastic. They're a mix of Jamaican and Trinidadian which we learned is actually a very uncommon mix for marriages. The food was fantastic. I know I already said that. We were supposed to leave by 2:30 to go to a divisional event in Hoxton but the conversation (and dessert) were too good to leave on time. We still wanted to go to the event so we left after dessert. It took us considerably longer to get to Hoxton than we had anticipated and we ended up arriving about 20 minutes late but it was a relaxed event so it didn't seem like anyone cared. They were just happy we were there. Dinner was provided at the event but we had eaten just a couple hours earlier so we didn't actually eat anything.

Oh yeah. And we're moving to South London on Saturday. While it's nice to basically live in a hotel, it's not suitable for an extended period of time and we would like to have a proper kitchen where there's more than a microwave.

Camden.

Us in Camden.

Not Camden. As in Southbank.

An Abbey in Autumn

Autumn has been slowly but surely leaving its mark on London. The trees are turning, the temperature is decreasing, and the rain is getting more intense. I was expecting it to be colder than it is by now but we still have 4 months until Spring... The rain isn't terrible here. After living in places like Hilo and Seattle I consider myself accustomed to rain, though, so maybe it's just me. Never mind. Jodi just said she thought it would rain more too. I also haven't experienced a heavy rain since my umbrella broke yesterday so maybe my opinion will change.

This week was pretty normal. Work, some O2 visits, and then the weekend. I went to worship practice at Wood Green on Thursday and played bass with them on Sunday. That was pretty fantastic because I haven't played in months. We attempted to go shopping on Saturday but ran out of energy almost immediately and didn't actually know what we were looking for.

On Sunday we went to church as usual. This Sunday was one of the days where we have a coffee break half way through the service, which is Jodi's favorite variation of Sundays here. Going to Wood Green has been particularly nice for us because we have had free lunch with someone every week so far! The first two weeks were at the Smiths' house and then this week we went to Steve Burnett's house with Alexa. Steve is Glen's owner- the dog we watched in September. He is actually the person that suggested we try out Wood Green in the first place. After lunch he took us to Waltham Abbey which is just a few minutes from where he lives. I've found that I really enjoy cathedrals, abbeys, and old churches. They're impressively beautiful particularly because when they were built there weren't any design programs or motorized cranes. There was barely geometry. Also, Waltham Abbey is about 1100 years older than the United States of America. That's crazy.

 Orange trees!

 Waltham Abbey.

 A closer view of the end of the abbey.

St. Paul's reflected in the rain. 

Christmas, Coffee, and a Concert

We learned that Oxford Street was turning on its Christmas lights last week and thought it would be fun to go. The reason we originally found out was because someone from the Rink's Songster Brigade had posted it on Facebook so everyone knew to avoid the area and plan ahead but we turned it into a reason to visit the shopping district. Carmen, Jeremiah, Alexa, Cameron, Kersten, and Karl all went as well. While the actual lighting was underwhelming, hanging out with friends in central London is always fun. That was Thursday.

On Saturday we had a concert with the London Central Youth Chorus... also known as Central. The concert was in Hendon but we met up with friends yet again to watch the Lord Mayor's parade in Queen Victoria Street. When we went through our initial tube station we learned that our destination station was closed because there was a person on the tracks. This meant we had to get off at Moorgate and walk the rest of the way. It wasn't particularly far, but because the streets were closed there weren't any cars or people roaming around which made it fell eerily empty. The parade itself was pretty similar to American parades aside from the amount of military personnel and machinery. There were a lot of guns. They handed out everything from candy to lemons to sausages to show how much they supported the new Lord Mayor. There was one band that played on horseback which was pretty much the most impressive thing ever. The parade wasn't quite long enough to warrant going straight to Hendon for our rehearsal so we stopped at a coffee shop on the way there to kill some time. We killed a little too much, though because it started to rain torrentially and it was a 10 minute walk from there to the corps. We were prepared for rain but it was still incontrovertibly wet. After the concert we started looking for food. This always takes ages when we're in a group of 10 because we can never decide or agree on one place. Eventually, we decided on Chipotle because it's delicious and it was on the way to all of our stations.

Sunday was pretty normal. We went to Wood Green and discovered that the second Sunday of each month is done almost in a Bible Study style where everyone sits around tables and works through a passage of scripture together. After church we went to Jonny and Catherine's house again for lunch and, naturally, Monopoly. I managed to beat both Jonny and Gerard (an alleged Monopoly guru) which helped boost my Monopoly ego after painfully losing last week.

Yesterday we went grocery shopping and did laundry. In case you were wondering. Maybe we should blog biweekly.

Christmas lights in Oxford Street.

 The empty streets before the parade.

 A giant fish and a smiling European. 

The Lord Mayor. He was waving to the other side...

Skillz. 

Bashful Birthday

This weekend was my birthday weekend. Now, if you don't already know, I'm not a big fan of making a bigger deal of things that ought not to be a big deal in the first place. Birthdays fall into this category. When you're turning 7, 10, even 16, making it a big deal makes sense to me. Once you've passed 21, though, it's just a waste of energy. Moreover, it's downright embarrassing. The last thing I need is 10 people singing an overly repetitive song at me in public. And that happened.

On Friday, which was Halloween for those of you unAmericans, our department was planning to go to lunch on the roof of a nearby building because it was going to be a nice day. We probably won't get very many more of those. The fact that it was Halloween isn't really important, I just wanted to type unAmerican because it's a real word. Look it up. Anyway, Halloween is the day before my birthday so I was expecting little more than a few costumes and a sunny picnic lunch. Wrong. This is the part where I was sang to in public. Sang at in public. I tried to sing along and make it look like it was actually Jeremiah's birthday but you can't throw fake extrovertism at a real extrovert. It bounces back. We ate some random candies and baked goods we had brought to the office at varying times that week and the Hobgoods gave me a gift wrapped in Harry Potter World adverts. I don't know if that was a really well planned thematic idea or just a fluke, but I was appreciative nonetheless. The gift was a stone plaque with scripture on it and, most importantly, eagles. Birds of prey are my favorite types of animals so I thought at first that was the reason for the theme of the gift. I never actually found out otherwise so we'll say it was true. It's also the first grown-up thing I've owned. As in something that you always have and has a place in your home but it doesn't really have a funny story from college. It's a big step. The only problem is that our bags were already at the weight limit on or way over here.

On Saturday we made no plans. We had breakfast at the usual time, I played some video games, and we eventually settled on McDonald's for lunch. We were going to go shopping with some of the other Boundless 8 but I couldn't be bothered to travel AND spend money. I'm just like my dad in that aspect. I don't like spending my money in general and now it's amplified because I don't actually make money anymore. When I do buy things, however, I'm a quality over quantity guy every time. End of tangent. We decided to go to as-fancy-as-we-can-reasonably-afford dinner in Oxford Street. Our plan was to simply walk from place to place until we found a restaurant that seemed to meet our needs. We got off the tube at Oxford Circus and started the walk east. And kept walking. For a while. We made several detours off of Oxford and into alleys and around various buildings but nothing had the right balance of quality, price, and available tables. We eventually made it to Covent Garden where we ate at a quaint Italian restaurant called La Ballerina. Jodi kept saying "Happy birthday" because it was funny. Ha ha.

On Sunday we went to Wood Green again. I was in a particularly good mood because my birthday was over and I didn't have to relive the trauma of being sung at for another year. Church was different yet again than any format I've been in. We split into groups Bible Study style and talked about a specific passage within our group. There was a set of questions at the end that Jonny, one of the corps officers, then asked with a mic, bouncing from group to group for answers. It reminded me of BSF but in a slightly larger form. We went to the officers' house after church for a proper English roast dinner. We have had several of these and I love them because it's like Christmas dinner but whenever you want because Sunday. They have 2 boys, Samuel and William, who both took a liking to me because that's what young boys do for some reason. It may or may not have been because of my Minecraft knowledge. But don't tell anyone. Anyway, after lunch/dinner/tea/whathaveyou Catherine brought out a rolled pavlova, put a massive candle/firework in it, and everyone started singing. Again. This one wasn't so bad because there were only a few people singing and no strange onlookers to gawk. Also, it was pavlova. With a firework in it.

 On the roof of One New Change, which I just remembered the name of. That's St. Paul's.

Cold dinner in Covent Garden. The food wasn't cold... the night air was.

Birthday/Guy Fawkes pavlova.

Coffee Corner and a Cruise

This week was pretty normal. We are starting to get to know the menu here and so we know which days they serve things we don't like. Last Tuesday was one of those days. Jodi had some leftover pizza from Sunday so we ate that and then went to a cafe off Upper Street called Coffee Corner that we hadn't visited yet. We really only chose this place because they are known for their crepes. They also had good ratings on Yelp. True to its ratings, Coffee Corner was delightful. The coffee was surprisingly sweet, which is unusual for Europe.

Friday night was another London Central Youth Chorus rehearsal. Obligatory singing, obligatory McDonalds. The night before, Oxford Circus (the nearest tube station) was exit only and the crowds trying to get into the station anyway forced normal foot traffic off the street. That isn't related to Central rehearsal but I just remembered and wanted to let you know.

On Saturday we slept in until 8:40 which is quite an accomplishment for both of us. Usually one of us will be up by 7-7:30 and, naturally, the other person gets up too. We had a lazily slow morning and then went to the Tower of London to see the poppies which are a "100 years since WWI" memorial. They added a few every day and now the area is full of ceramic poppies. They will be taken down on November 11 and some people asked us to send photos. When we got to Tower Hill, however, there were thousands of people that had the same idea. It was a sunny Saturday so we probably should have known that it would have been inundated with tourists and locals alike, but we were on a mission. After several London shoves, some bus dodging, and a brief climb onto a half plinth, we managed to get a few photos.

On Saturday night we went to the William Booth College to have dinner with the Boundless 8 and a few friends we've made here in London. We ate a lot of pasta, played some American games, and then ate some more. On the train home there were a lot of very wound up people. Maybe they were excited for the time change. Oh yeah. The UK stop saving daylight a week before the US. Fun fact.

Jodi and I have wanted to visit some other European countries while we were over here but finding a fiscally responsible way to do so has been challenging. We set some money aside before coming so we could do something but only last week decided what it would be. We had toyed with the idea of going on a cruise a few times but there were never any that fit our schedules, budget, and wants. We kept looking, albeit half-heartedly. Eventually we found one that was perfect and decided to book it. It's a little more than we were intending to spend but when will we ever be this conveniently close to so many countries? Anyway, the cruise is one of Mediterranean nature and stops in 4 countries. After deporting from Genoa, in northern Italy, we head to Rome for a day, and then to Palermo on the island of Sicily. We then make our way to Tunis, which is the capital of Tunisia in Northern Africa. After a day at sea we head to Barcelona, Spain and then to Marseille in the South of France. On the final day we return to Genoa and fly back to London. One of our favorite parts about this timing is that we leave 3 days later for Christmas in California!

 Coffee from Coffee Corner

Tower of London. And tourists. 

Always Alliterating

Most of what I do at IHQ involves some form of video production, media management, or social media work... or some combination of them. Tomorrow the Congress Office is hosting an event we have titled "Lunch and Learn", where you lunch, learn, and share in the love of alliteration. One particular project Jodi and I worked on was a video to help rally the employees and officers of IHQ in excitement for Boundless. We recorded three things from several people: what they were excited about, the same thing said in a particular way, and then the phrase, "I am Boundless". Sweetly simple.  Anyway, some of the people we were eagerly excited to record were the General, Chief of the Staff, and their spouses. It isn't every day you get one-on-one time with the first- and second-in-command of this abundant Army. While our interactions were briefly basic, it was cool to have an actual conversation with them. Each of them is a people person so it makes conversing incredibly easy.

Our pesky pests have finally finished their tormenting tantrums. Pest control has all but obliterated what was left of their repulsed residence. We definitely didn't use the light for a few mornings but now we are pretty positive that they won't be back.

On Saturday we went to IKEA with a few friends. While we can't actually accumulate any more items (particularly furniture), we do enjoy Swedish meatballs and perusing the showrooms. We also learned that some bus routes in London don't go in a straight line but rather roam in a circle around an area. This unknown fact caused us to wait wondering why we were not getting any closer to our destination. Sometimes you should really read the map.

Sunday was our last day of our "corps tour" and where we ended our search for a church family at Wood Green. Interestingly enough, Wood Green is also where we decided to keep attending for our year here in London- at least, when we aren't out on Boundless duty. Wood Green is a contemporary corps that has integrated brass into their worship team making for a nice combination of old and new Army. There is a solid structure and core of people already but still room for us to contribute, which is one of the biggest things we looked for in a corps. Of course, we forgot to take a picture to post here.

My semi-dramatic image of our pesky pests.

Fake food... there was real lunch before.

Swedish selfie.

The Significance of Shoes

We have reached our 2 month mark of living in London. Like all time, it somehow feels like it has been a lot of time has passed and somehow no time has passed at all. That leaves us with 9 more months until Congress and a few more weeks until we’re done here. The time passes more quickly when we have more active weekends, and this past weekend was one of those. On Friday we went to a Friendship Matinee Concert a the Royal Albert Hall performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert was a tribute to John Williams so we were, naturally, stoked. They played all of the timeless classics you would want to hear at a John Williams concert from E.T. to Jurassic Park to the Star Wars theme and Imperial March. When we were walking back to the tube station, however, I realized I had left my bag under the seat and quickly doubled back to get it. I was particularly worried about leaving in a concert hall because London venue and public areas are particularly wary of bomb threats and mysterious bags left under seats. Jodi and I made it back to our seat quickly enough to retrieve my bag and a sweater that one of our colleagues had also left behind. I may have had to push some people out of my way but hey, it’s London.

On Saturday we decided to go shopping. Being volunteers, this isn’t as exciting as it used to be. Whatever non-essentials shopping we do comes out of the savings we allotted for such expenses. And it isn’t much. Anyway, we both intended to get brown shoes (because color coordination) so we set out to find some. We knew there was a Chipotle in one of the shopping districts near Highbury so we decided that would be a good place to start. After a burrito bowl and a quick discovery that we were searching in the wrong price range, we decided to go to Stratford, which is a massive mall in East London. Stratford, if you don’t know, is always crowded. Like, can’t-walk-without-bumping-into-someone-oh-my-goodness-Disneyland-isn’t-this-bad crowded. And it’s the off-season. It’s also huge. After searching a couple dozen shoe stores (and that’s not an exaggeration), some coffee, and more London shoving, we finally each found some shoes in our price range. By then we were tired of people so we headed home for a quiet night in. But we had new work shoes!

On Sunday we actually made it to Hendon. We intended to go last week but I woke up feeling ill and preferred to miss going to a corps that wasn’t expecting us over missing work. Like many of the other “big corps” in London, the building was far smaller than I was expecting. Maybe I’m just used to American real estate where we have room to build out instead of just up. Their songsters, senior band, youth band, and singing company all participated in the service and we were probably greeted by 15-20 different people over the course of the day. We told Alexa (who, along with Cameron, also came to Hendon) about our trip to Chipotle and she told us that she had been looking for one. We were definitely down to go again because Chipotle is delicious so we did. Burrito bowls. 

On Sunday night it was very cold and very rainy and very tea worthy. However, we were (much to our dismay) out of Digestives. Digestives aren’t something that helps you pass food smoothly, as I wrongly assumed. Digestives are a type of biscuit (or cookie) that pair excellently with tea and all other things British. So this was the dilemma: I wanted Digestives but the nearest shop open on a Sunday evening is a kilometer away from our flat and it was raining. Hard. After some convincing, Jodi bundled up, intentionally put on water proof shoes, and followed me to the local Waitrose. We didn’t get too wet on the way there because we managed to time our commute with the bus schedule but when we came out of the store the wait was longer than the walk so decided to tough it out. After a cold, soggy commute back to our flat we were very ready for tea and had digestives to pair with it!

This morning was interesting. I was brushing my teeth when I suddenly saw a bug flying toward me from the window. It looked like a wasp so, naturally, I ducked and spun and did a backwards summersault out of the bathroom. Maybe not quite that dramatic, but I abruptly avoided it. When I regained my bearings and looked back into the bathroom I discovered that it was indeed a wasp. I finished brushing my teeth and grabbed a shoe. I noticed it was trying to fly into the light so I turned it off. When the demon bug realized the light was gone it moved on to the next light source, which was the light over our bed in the flat. Jodi was very helpful in this ordeal. When the wasp flew into the bedroom she helpfully covered her head with the blankets screaming “Kill it! Kill it!” So I did. When I walked back into the bathroom, however, it was back. When I confusedly shouted there was another one Jodi asked if I knew for sure that the other one was dead. It was. Two wasps? What were the chances? I didn’t actually take the time to think this through because, well, there was a wasp flying around my bathroom and I wasn’t wearing very much clothing. It seemed to move every time I was within swinging distance and would have to dodge frantically, swing wildly, look for it, locate it, and then start my approach over again. After more stalking, which may or may not have been accompanied by the Jaws theme from Friday playing in my head, I finally killed it. And then two more flew in from the window. And then two more. At this point I was shaving (or at least attempting to) but wet shaving and dodging wasps at the same time is a dauntingly dangerous task. I ended up only trimming a beard-shaped stubble pattern and pursued the wasps yet again. I managed to kill 3 more (that’s Mejee 5, Wasps 0) but the last two kept hanging around the glass light fixture on the ceiling and I didn’t want to risk breaking it. We decided locking the wasps in the bathroom with the light on was the best idea for the time being. We told the manager of Highbury about the invasion and she said she would have someone look into it. I’m typing from our flat now with the bathroom door open so all is well. For now. 

 Royal Albert Hall

Chipotle!

Hendon Songsters

The aftermath

Art in Autumn

On Thursday nights after Songsters we have just a short walk to our tube station from the corps and it is normally an uneventful walk. This week however, we saw a street performer playing a tuba with flames. Yes, there were flames coming out of the tuba. There isn't really an important reason for this to be in our blog, but we have a photo so we thought we would share.

On Friday night we went out to dinner with a a new friend of ours, Steve. A few weekends ago we watched his dog while he was out of town and he wanted to take us out as a thank you. We went to a place that was just outside the main city area which was great because we also got to see a new part of London. The food was fantastic as was the company. Steve has a long history with The Salvation Army here and was able to tell us about corps near where we live that we might want to check out while living in London.

Mejee and I decided that on Saturday we should explore more of the city, specifically a few of the museums. Alexa met us at our first destination, the National Gallery. There were portraits of historic figures, landscapes and depictions of historic events. There were also a lot of elaborate gold painted frames...a lot! Next, we went to the Tate. The Tate Museum is very different from the National Gallery. The Tate is a museum of modern art created by artists from around the world. I must admit - it was my favorite out of the two. We saw everything from drawings and paintings to sculptures and artistic structures. The variety that you can see within one building is amazing. Sometimes quite abstract, but amazing. They also have a cafe and "art bar" where you could draw your own art piece. By the time we made it through all the floors and exhibits at the Tate we decided to call it a day. It was a good thing that we decided on an indoor tourist activity for the day because it rained for a majority of the day.

We had originally planned to go to a corps that we have not yet been to on Sunday, but Mejee woke up feeling quite sick so we decided that it was best to avoid sharing germs at a new corps. Over the last few weeks we have heard about so many corps that we want to check out, so hopefully next week we both will be feeling good.

It finally has begun to feel like Fall here. The temperature has dropped a bit and it has started to rain. The fun part is that now we The overground station that we wait at in the mornings to go to work has outdoor platforms which are not ideal in the rain and wind. We've learned that the key is to try to arrive at the station just a couple minutes before your train leaves so you don't have to wait in the cold too long. I'm sure this will become particularly important in the dead of winter. This is of course a perfect plan only when the trains are all on time.

The Flaming Tuba Player.

Taking Glen for a walk.

 Art at the Tate Museum.

Normal Nothing

I knew it would happen eventually. A week would pass where nothing interesting happened. This week was the first of those. Normal office work, a few site visits to the O2, and church on Sunday. This week we went to Chalk Farm and everyone there wanted to know if we knew Kevin Larsson and Duncan Sutton. Eventually the CSM was telling people he had already asked and yes, we know them. Apparently they went to Chalk Farm when they were at university. Well, that's what everyone at the corps wanted us to know. Chalk Farm has some serious history. One of the corps officers showed us the band room where they have a collection of old photos, books, and various memorabilia from the glory days of the corps. One of the most impressive items to me was a framed Order of the Founder certificate that was signed by General Evangeline Booth. Pretty cool. I'm really regretting not taking any photos now... we'll just have to go back.

On Friday (I know this isn't chronological) we went to the South London Divisional Youth Chorus rehearsal, which will have a new name soon. It's led by Nick Hampton (and Alan or Allen whom we just met) whom we met at the Regent Hall Corps and was a good way for us to meet more locals and start promoting Boundless to youths in the UKI Territory. We aren't as involved locally as some of the others but we have been able to get to know several people from what we have done. That wasn't a well-composed sentence but I'm not changing it.

The last thing I have to say is about nicknames. Somehow we have attained the nicknames "Barbie" and "Ken"... it's mostly John Murray's fault. John works in the Communications Department at IHQ so we've seen him around a lot. He's also one of very few Americans (Canadian, that is) in the building. Jeremiah attained the nickname "Congressman" from how he dressed for a video we did a couple weeks ago. It suits because he works in the Congress office. Lols.

The youth chorus. Photo credit: Suzanne

Barbie and Ken.

Faking it at Football

On Friday night we decided that instead of having our usual family dinner with our team at the boys' flat, we would all go to the traveling fun fair. Earlier in the week, Mejee and I saw a sign advertising a fair at the park up the road. We had no idea whether it would be amazing or terrible but we thought we would give it a try. After arriving and paying our £1 entrance fee we took a look around the fair and noticed the target audience was much younger than us...significantly younger! After deciding which rides we each wanted to go on, we all bought our tickets - also only £1 each. To our surprise the rides went much faster and longer than any of us expected. We drove bumper cars and went on far too many spinning rides. By the time we used all our tickets we were all feeling quite dizzy and a bit sick so we decided to call it a night.

This weekend we stayed in Beckenham so we could dog sit a dog named Glen. It was nice to stay in a house for the weekend and cook our own dinner. The only part that was not quite as nice was the commute there and back. On the weekends there is often engineering work being done on different tube lines so traveling on the weekends is usually quite the chore. We also learned this weekend that if you're traveling outside the city on weekends, the buses and tube stations don't always announce bus stops or times of train arrivals. I'm sure that people from the neighborhood are used to this but for others, like us, it proved quite challenging. Fortunately, with the help of our phones and travel apps, we got off at the right bus stop and were waiting on the correct platform when the train arrived.

We were able to go to Bromley Temple on Sunday which reminded us quite a bit of our corps at home. There are a lot of IHQ employees and officers who attend Bromley so we were able to immediately pick people out of the crowd and felt at home. We were also able to meet people after church in their coffee house which is a cool ministry of Bromley for their community during the week.

Sunday was our one-year anniversary! It's hard to believe that a year has already gone by. To celebrate, we went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant in Shoreditch. It's fun to be able to say that we spent our first anniversary in London - I certainly never would have guessed it. It might be hard to beat that next year...

Last night (Tuesday) we got to go see our first proper football match. For our American friends, I'm talking about soccer. Peter, one of our co-workers, was able to get tickets for us which apparently not everyone can do. Here you either have to be a part of a particular club or know someone that is. Despite Arsenal losing we had a lot of fun. There are a lot of cheers and chants that the crowd uses to intimidate or excite the other fans (depending on which side they're on). We didn't know any of them but we could mumble along and join in the fun. Eventually we learned the Arsenal chant but it only has one word... Arsenal!

Family Fun Fair

Emirates Stadium - Home of the Gunners

The team with Gunnersaurus

Catchphrase in Catford

We started this weekend with family dinner on Friday night at the William Booth College where the other volunteers are staying. This has been a pretty typical Friday activity since we've been here. We made breakfast for dinner which, despite having very different breakfast meats here, turned out well. On our way home there was a fox sneaking around our neighbors' garden that seemed very interested in us, for some reason. On Sunday we went to a smaller corps in Catford. We've been going to Regent Hall until the summer holiday season ended. The UK is very much like the US in that the summer months are often sparse in regards to church attendance because of summer programs, vacations, and whatever else happens in the summer here. Catford isn't exactly close to where we're staying (about 75 minutes by train, bus, and walking), but Eddie and Kathy go there and we were invited over to their place afterward for free lunch so we couldn't pass it up. The Catford Corps is indeed small but it reminded us of the Hilo Temple Corps in Hawaii, which made it feel very homey. I played in the band ,which was mostly made up of members from the Congress Team. Despite our small size we managed to play "I'll Go in the Strength of the Lord" decently, which is difficult as far as tune book songs go.

After church we went to the Hobgood's for lunch. We had a tasty combination of American and English food and then recovered with a game of Catchphrase. Spending our Sunday only doing this after a Saturday of even less activity made for a rather relaxing weekend. No cool pictures of Londony stuff, though...

Today we went to the East End of London, where the Salvation Army started. We started at the Quaker burial grounds where William Booth gave led his first meeting as the new leader of the Christian Mission. We then went to the Blind Beggar where Booth first engaged the Mission he would later turn into The Salvation Army. We went to the burial grounds first because of geographic convenience. We continued through Whitechapel and the bustling market to where there is a bust of William Booth and, a little farther, a full statue. There is also a huge mural on the side of one of the buildings with significant figures from British history like the royal family, a man that looked to me like Charles Darwin, and William Booth. We also visited a church plant of the Clapton Corps, which serves during the week as a cafe and charity shop. Our last location was Abney Park where William and Catherine Booth (along with several other well known Army leaders) are buried. The park itself is old and frankly rather creepy looking because it was privately owned by a company that eventually went bankrupt and then for some time was left without care. It's now a nature preserve but remains pretty overgrown. In a way, that fact adds to the tranquility of the cemetery and makes it feel like you're in on a secret knowing that so many important people are buried there. I only took one photo on our tour... the rest is video which will most likely be on my next video blog on savn.tv.

-Mejee

 The particularly interested fox pup. Or kit. Or cub.

 The under £1 coins which make up a shield. Just an interesting fact about the currency.

The Boundless 8 in front of William Booth's statue at Mile End.

Associates and Accidental Adventures

As promised, I will introduce the Fab 5 and Boundless 8 in this post. The Fab 5 are actual employees at IHQ that did most of the headwork for Congress so we could come in and do the fun stuff.

THE FAB 5
Lt. Colonel Eddie Hobgood is the Congress Coordinator and in charge of the department. He and his wife Kathy (the Assistant Congress Coordinator) have been at IHQ for a few years. They're very friendly and very Southern. As in Southern US, not England. Kathy has Jodi's favorite accent. They worked on Congress for a year before establishing the rest of the Fab 5. They were chosen for their roles because of their work with the Millennial Congress in Atlanta and their various events since then. They hired Robert, Peter, and Louise about a year after to help with the rapidly growing list of responsibilities.

Robert Ball is the guy everyone is happy to have on their team because he does everything no one wants to do and keeps us out of trouble. This brilliant mind focuses on legal matters, contracts, logistics, and keeping everyone on the same page both legally and mentally. He is Irish and Jodi can't really understand him.

Peter Haskew handles all things web and design. And registration. And ticketing. And customer relations. And phone calls. And the IHQ Fantasy Football League. Well, he made sure we were included in the IHQ Fantasy League. His main focus now is registration and all of the headaches that come with it so we love him.

Louise Rutterford was our main contact before we came to the UK. She is in charge of delegates and volunteers and making sure they are all cared for. She did a lot of the ground work involving our visas and is basically the reason we are able to be here legally. She loves charts and spreadsheets and is the main person Jodi will be working with this year.

THE BOUNDLESS 8
Alexa is from Portland, Oregon and is our social media guru. She's the bubbliest and arguably the loudest member of our team, which keeps us nice and vibrant.

Cameron is from Napier, New Zealand and works with Peter on registration and delegate... uh... affairs. They spend a lot of time answering emails and phone calls about registration and its complexities. Cameron is the only one that dances naturally at Hillsong services.

Carmen is from San Francisco, California. She mostly works with Robert on contracts and maps. Lots of maps. Turns out the O2 is pretty big. If you need a toilet at the O2, Carmen now knows where they are. She's easily the quietest team member.

Jeremiah is from Clearwater, Florida and has his fingers in many different pies, as Eddie would say. His biggest projects at the moment are gathering historical information for potential use in the Congress as well as putting together the film festival. He's not quite as Southern as the Hobgoods but he smiles just as much.

Kelly is from Pasadena, California and speaks 4 of the 7 languages spoken by the Boundless 8. Quickly. She handles a lot of the big writing projects and edits our writing to make them sound better. She is also very aware of culture globally, having lived in several different countries.

Suzanne is from Amsterdam in the Netherlands. She is currently working on accommodations and makes sure that there are recreational options for disabled delegates. She came a little later than the other 7 of us but as we all get to know each other we are discovering she is almost as bubbly as Alexa. Almost.

5 of the Boundless 8 with the General and his wife. The other 3 had already gone back to work...

- - -

On to our regular blogging. I decided last week that I would attend band practice at Regent Hall to keep my chops in shape for when I'm back to playing regularly. Jeremiah and I decided to meet at Oxford Circus Station on Wednesday night and go together. We arrived 20 minutes early so we could be set up with an instrument but discovered it was too early when we found the lights were all off. We waited outside for about 15 minutes and when no one else showed up, we figured band had been cancelled or something. I was told band was at 8 so when no one was there at 7:55 it seemed a bit odd. We went to Starbucks instead and then headed home. The next day, one of the corps officers from the Rink (Regent Hall's nickname- it used to be an ice skating rink) was at IHQ for an event. He asked why we weren't at band practice and I said no one else showed up last night. He responded with, "Last night? Band is on Tuesdays." Lesson learned. Not everyone has band on Wednesdays. Songsters was much more successful. We showed up on time AND on the right day.

On Saturday several of us went on an accidental adventure. We started with brunch again at the same place we went to last week. After that, we decided to go to St. Paul's Cathedral which is right next to IHQ. Jodi and I know the train route well as it is one of our options for our daily commute. On Saturdays, however, there is often service being done on tracks or trains. This Saturday was no different. We didn't think to check the TFL (Transport for London) website before traveling and thus were caught off guard when the tube stopped and the engineer said it was now going the other direction. We got on another line and made it one station away, where we discovered that line was also turning around. We were in Central London so we decided to just go up to ground level and explore. We ended up at the Tower of London which, if you don't know, isn't actually a tower. We didn't go inside because we're volunteering this entire year and it costs money, but we were able to see the poppies spread around the outer walls which represent each of the fallen soldiers from World War I. We then crossed Tower Bridge (after some selfies) to get to Borough Market which was far busier than we would have preferred. After a few samples and a lot of people dodging, we made our way back out of the market.

At this point we were all pretty tired of people so we headed to St. Paul's at last. There were far fewer tourists in the area but because of the amount of fog we decided not to go up into the cathedral, where there is supposed to be a pretty fantastic view. After relaxing in the courtyard we decided Starbucks was in order. We hopped on the number 4 bus to Highbury because I remembered seeing a fancy Starbucks when traveling on that route. Alexa wanted her first London Starbucks to be a fancy one so I figured it would be a good candidate. We got the wrong Starbucks the first time but eventually made it to the one I had seen before. We continued on the route to Highbury where we showed everyone our closet... er... our flat... and we watched British television in the lounge until around 5. We then headed back out to take a tube to Leicester Square where we met Carmen for her birthday dessert. We went to the Haagen-Dazs restaurant which only serves ice cream dishes. By the end of that there was little energy left in any of us so we all went to Covent Gardens to spend what was left of it. I learned quickly that it is not a garden. It's basically a shopping plaza. With a Moleskine store. Yes. A Moleskine STORE. Too bad I can't afford paper anymore. We went home after that.

 Tower Bridge selfie with the adventurers (Alexa, Cameron, Suzanne, Jeremiah).

Us. And the bridge.

Carmen's dessert, which was the best looking.

Pizzas, Parks, and Perfect Weather

While the breakfast served at Highbury is very good, it is the same everyday and can thusly get old. We decided to spend our Saturday morning eating brunch with our friends. We looked for places on the internet and there was a place that was both close and had positive reviews called New London Cafe. We met our friends at the Underground station and walked with them to the cafe, discovering a new charity shop along the way. The food was fantastic and they even let us pay separately! The coffee was Jodi's favorite she's had so far in England. They tend to make it more bitter here. We both had a dish called "Ooh La La", which is basically cinnamon french toast with bacon.

After breakfast, we visited the charity shop we found before and some of the others came out with some good finds. We then went to the park near our flat and played football for a while until a 5-year-old showed us up... we switched to frisbee which, honestly, wasn't much better. But it was fun nonetheless. I have wanted to visit a Haagen Dazs restaurant (yes, it exists) since discovering it on Oxford Street 3 weeks ago but we hadn't had the time or stomach capacity before. I suggested it and we all went back to the Underground station. While on the train, however, we decided breakfast was sweet and substantial enough for our appetites so we got off at King's Cross Station to go to Platform 9 3/4. If you haven't read or watched Harry Potter, you're probably wondering how that exists. And you should probably also skip to the next paragraph. We went to Platform 9 3/4 but there was a queue far longer than any of us were willing to stand in. We might go back to the photo op when tourist season is over. Instead, we just went to the gift shop and pretended we could afford Harry Potter memorabilia.

On Sunday we all decided to go to the Catford Corps to surprise the Hobgoods. Jodi and I made it to the first transfer in Peckham Rye but I misread the screen which resulted in our waiting at the wrong platform. We saw our train come and go from across the tracks and discovered to our dismay that the next one didn't leave until after the service started. We took the Overground back into London and attended Regent Hall instead. While we were there, I was invited to Band and Songsters practice, which starts back up this week. Their rehearsals are on two different nights but I don't have much else to do on week nights yet... Jodi is only joining Songsters. After church we went to the London Eye, which is a massive ferris wheel right on the edge of the Thames. I attempted to make a time lapse video of the rotations but the sun was too direct for the lighting to work. The view was spectacular, though, and we could see for miles. Makes us appreciate the clear days while we have them.

Last night we had a "family dinner", as we have come to call them, with the rest of the Boundless 8, which is what we call the 8 Congress volunteers. Alexa and Kelly made the dough from scratch, which is pretty impressive. The rest of us were responsible for bringing sauce, toppings, drinks, or dessert. We have a standard procedure now where each of us brings a part of the meal and that also distributes the cost. The pizzas turned out better than we expected, considering we hadn't really made pizzas from scratch before. Next week I'll go over each of the Boundless 8 members so you know who we're talking about when we refer to them. If you want to know now, one of the other members has already done that in her blog.

Ooh La La.

 From the London Eye.

The Boundless 8. And Timon.

Flops, Fridges, and Food Findings

Our accommodations in Highbury come with a provided dinner, which is left for us in a refrigerator outside our room. It typically appears there before we get home by some form of witchcraft we have yet to discover. On Tuesday, however, we opened the fridge after returning from IHQ to discover there wasn't any food in it. We waited for a while until we decided to ask the front desk if we had been forgotten or ignored... in a polite manner. Unfortunately, there wasn't anyone attending the front desk. We waited another 45 minutes or so and tried again to no avail. At this point we were very hungry and decided there wasn't going to be any Highbury-provided dinner so we went out to find a Thai restaurant. There is one closer than our tube station, less than a 10 minute walk. To our surprise it was also delicious! We finished our food after asking for our bill (which, heads up, you have to do here) and headed back home. Much to our dismay, we opened the closet containing our refrigerator only to find that there was a meal there waiting for us. It was probably because we were home and the witchcraft doesn't work when we are nearby. That's my theory, anyway. As tasty as it looked and smelled (Yorkshire pudding!) we simply weren't hungry. We rarely see anyone around that we could have offered the food to so we begrudgingly decided to throw it away. Neither of us are really the type to tell the concierge that we went out for Thai food and needed to find a place to throw their dinner away... We're supposed to let them know if we won't be home for dinner by 10 am. Lesson learned: good things come to those who wait. Hopefully none of the Highbury staff read our blog...

 Jodi's birthday was on Thursday so we went out with the other Volunteers on Wednesday to celebrate with dinner. Jodi didn't know it was happening. I called Highbury from IHQ because we have to let them know if we will miss dinner... I didn't want a repeat of the night before. When we got home Jodi was keen to do laundry but I kept "procrastinating" with other excuses, trying to buy time. Fortunately, someone was already using the laundry facilities (or facility; there's one washer and one dryer) so we had to wait anyway. Dinner still hadn't shown up, which wasn't a surprise to Jodi after the previous night, so I convinced Jodi we should go for a walk. While we were out, I told her we should go to a bakery (which I made up) down at King's Cross, which is only one tube stop away from us. Birthday people are supposed to bring their own pastries at work so she agreed. When we got to King's Cross, however, I lead her to another tube instead of to the way out. She started getting suspicious at this point. She figured our scheme out on the second tube ride but she was still happy to have dinner with the team in China Town. Also, Leicester Square is ridiculous at rush hour. I was almost taken out by a woman on a bike to whom traffic laws don't apply, apparently.

On Thursday, Jodi's actual birthday, we went to Simon and Rachel Gash's house for a properly cooked roast dinner. We remembered to let Highbury know in advance, too. It was nice to spend some time in a home because all of our time so far has been spent in the office, at our hotel-esque studio, or on a train. We had a fun night getting to know them and their two kids who are basically the cutest kids ever, British accent and all. We had only planned to meet up "Thursday" without thinking about the fact it was Jodi's birthday but it turned out to be a very nice birthday dinner anyway.

Some new fun facts:
There are foxes here. Like, real foxes in our driveway that stroll around the neighborhood like it's nothing. Weird. Last night we were able to see our breath for the first time and it's only August. Scarves will come in handy. If you need to do laundry here, set 3 hours aside. Their washers here are tiny. If you're going to an event in the middle of nowhere, don't show up 3 hours early. Not all of London is interesting and safe. Listerine is expensive here. If anyone is compiling care package lists, you can add a giant green Listerine bottle to it.

Jodi's birthday dinner in Chinatown.

Post-dinner exploration in the city. 

Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. 

Becoming British

This weekend we visited Hadleigh Farm which is the location of the Hadleigh Training Centre, a facility focused on teaching people with special needs how to develop work skills safely. It was originally started by William Booth back in 1891 when he basically bought the entire hillside to host his vision farm. If you have ever seen the poster and cover from "In Darkest England and the Way Out", "The Farm Colony" is Hadleigh Farm. And we've been there. End of history lesson.

In the office, we're starting to get more and more familiar with everything Boundless. We and the other Congress volunteers have also been assigned to various jobs depending on our skill sets and interests. Jodi will be working mostly with volunteer services so the congress can function with ease and with the sponsored delegates for Boundless who are coming to the event on some form of aid or scholarship-like program. I will be split between International and UK Headquarters for the most part and my duties fall mostly into programming and logistics for visiting musical groups. I will also be helping the Congress Office with any video needs for the website and marketing.

Personally, we're finally getting acclimated to the weather, time zone, jargon, and public transport system. We have umbrellas and travel cards now so we're ready for anything! There isn't much of a language barrier here but there are several words and phrases we have discovered that don't always mean the same thing. Similarly, people react differently in social situations because, believe it or not, England's culture is completely different from America's. Life is hard without a Target down the road but we've managed to find stores that sell what we need.

 Hadleigh Castle. Or what's left of it.

Most of the Congress Team, in front of William Booth's house at Hadleigh Farm.