Leather Binding

Why the protestants took a while to do some missioning

2010-08-08T20:37:00.002+01:00

Hello again!
This is my last paper. It's due 5 PM tomorrow, 11 PM your time if you are in Texas. If you have a hankering to do some editin', I would greatly appreciate some hacking of a paragraph or two. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Prompt: Why didn’t European Protestants engage in serious missionary activity before the early 1800s? Explain your answer.
The European Protestant churches did not engage in any serious missionary activity because the Reformation had left the church and state trying to figure out political problems. Calvinist Presbyteries wanted to be separate from state. Catholic and protestant princes were divided in the Holy Roman Empire. The Anabaptists were generally shunned from general population. English Puritans pushed for reform and eventually civil war. All of these different problems and issues contributed to the delay of Protestant missions.
Calvinist presbyteries wanted to be separate from the city councils of the city. However, Calvin had an unusually large influence over the city council of Geneva. Michael Servetus was burned for heresy by the city council. Many missions, such as the Portuguese, were sponsored by the state. Since the church and state were separate, there was no possibility of a state-sponsored mission. The Presbyteries were still getting organized and precedents were being set. Missions would have to wait a while.
The Catholic and Lutheran princes did not get along in the Holy Roman Empire. Charles V was busy trying to hold the empire, and the Catholic princes and the Schmalkaldic League became divided. They decided to coexist in the Peace of Augsburg, but this division took away from the strength of the Empire. They would not be able to join together to send out missions if they did not agree with each other religiously. Also, Luther called for the churches to give their land to the princes. This took away from Church wealth and ability to send out missionaries.
The Anabaptists had a hard enough time trying not to be expelled from society. They were Pacifist, and leaders frowned upon having members of the community that did want to fight, swear an oath, or participate in the community life. Also, the Muenster incident put a black mark on the Anabaptist community. It had been a bloody massacre that destroyed the chance for Anabaptists to really flower without any condescension from others. This black mark and expelling from society definitely took the focus off of missions.
The Church of England was having political problems. Bloody Mary definitely put a halt on any protestant movement with all of her executions. But even after that things got complicated. The English Puritans pushed for reform in the church, and then they got angry about taxes. They started the Civil War and chopped off Charles I’s head. Oliver Cromwell was anything but an improvement. By the time Charles II was reunited with his crown, the church and the country were much too shaken to send out any missions quite yet.
After the Reformation, Protestants were having too much trouble at home to send out missions quite yet. The Calvinists wanted separation from state, but in reality Calvin still wanted control over the state. The Catholic princes and the Schmalkaldic League efforts in the Holy Roman Empire did not exactly combine efforts to send out missions, they were too worried about fighting each other. Not many countries wanted to have the Anabaptists and the Muenster incident was a black mark. The Civil War in England caused much instability. Overall, the Protestants would not send out missionaries for a while because the Reformation had unsettled their governments and stability.

Oxford Christians Paper

2010-08-08T17:30:00.006+01:00

Same thing. If you like editing, could you just look at a paragraph and rip it to shreds? I would greatly appreciate it. I can also email it to you if you would like to access it in Word form.
Prompt:
This essay should explore a common theme or problem across three of the works (by three different writers) we have read. Your approach can be from any angle, but you must cite textual evidence in MLA style to support your argument. No outside sources are to be used. Make sure you have a clear thesis, coherent body paragraphs with integrity, and a thoughtful conclusion that summarizes your argument but that also engages in a bit of speculation. See the prompt for your Inklings essay for the format. Your essay should be 8-10 pages in length.

Dorothy Sayer’s play-cycle, The Man Born to be King, C. S. Lewis’s book, The Screwtape Letters, and J. R. R. Tolkien’s essay, “On Fairy Stories” contrast what humans perceive as reality with reality itself. Sayers points out that art must be good in order for it to reveal anything good. At first glance, the Gospels appear to contradict one another, but in reality, the differences add to the truth. Mary, John, and Thomas do not recognize Jesus at first, but when he speaks each person’s name, he or she recognizes him. Uncle Screwtape presents his client with “real life,” and the client forsakes the truth for this lie and is thus damned. Screwtape tells Wormwood to encourage his client to pray to falsehood and idols instead of God. However, Screwtape reveals the real pleasure and love that is involved in a relationship with God. Tolkien contrasts the false “real life” by presenting the reality of fairy stories. All three works contrast what humans perceive as reality with the stuff that is real.
Sayer’s play-cycle, The Man Born to be King, demonstrates how what seems to be contradiction is actually truth and how people mistake the reality of Jesus for falseness. For instance, the difference in the order of teachings in between each Gospel may seem to be a contradiction. Sayers argues, however, that they “turn out not to be contradictory at all, but merely supplementary” (Sayers 29). The different Gospels merely fill in each other’s gaps and alter the order slightly. Jesus would have probably told his parables and sermons multiple times, tweaking them on each occasion, so any minor difference in between each gospel merely supplements the truth of the others (26). “The divergences appear very great on first sight” in the story of the Resurrection, but in fact, every event in each gospel only adds to the story of the others (29). What appears to be a contradiction is rather adding to the truth and reality of the Resurrection.
No one recognizes the resurrected Jesus upon first sight. Not until Jesus calls out his or her name does the person recognize who Jesus is. They do not see the massive reality before them until they have proof. Mary thinks that Jesus is just a gardener. When Jesus yells, “Mary!” she calls out in reply, “(with a wild cry) Rabboni!” (326). She does not recognize him until he calls her name. She is unable to recognize truth until truth calls out to her. When Jesus appears to the disciples, John replies to Jesus that they “thought you were a ghost” (332). They mistook reality for something that is not real. John recognizes Jesus when Jesus yells out John’s name “(a little reproachfully)” (332). John does not see the truth until Jesus calls out his name. Thomas thinks that “seeing’s believing,” when in reality “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (334). Thomas recognizes Jesus, but not until Jesus calls him to feel his hands and side. All three of these characters do not recognize truth for what it is until Jesus reveals it to them explicitly.
In C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, Uncle Screwtape tells Wormwood to present a false “real life,” to feed the patient false prayer and false modesty, and to avoid Pleasure because that may lead to God in its reality. Screwtape tells Wormwood to deceive his client by making him think that the mundane around him is “real life.” Screwtape gives an example of how he prevents another patient’s salvation by showing him that “whatever odd ideas might come into a man’s head when he was shut up alone with his books, a healthy dose of ‘real life’ (by which he meant the bus and the newsboy) was enough to show him that all ‘that sort of thing’ just couldn’t be true” (Lewis 3). In reality, ‘all that sort of thing’ is exactly what is true, and the ‘real life’ is only a shadow of reality. But Screwtape manages to deceive his patient into thinking the opposite. Screwtape warns Wormwood, “If he must dabble in science, keep him on economics and sociology; don’t let him get away from that invaluable ‘real life’” (4). Screwtape knows that if he feeds the patient lies, then he will not recognize truth.
Screwtape tells Wormwood to encourage his client to mistake the reality of God through false prayer and false humility. He tells Wormwood, “. . . you must keep him praying to it – to the thing that he has made, not to the Person who has made him” (18). This “it” is a false construct or idol that the patient creates in his head. As he prays to “it,” he is not praying to God, and through this confusion he grows further away from God. The patient thinks that God’s Will is “the conscious fume and fret of resolutions and clenched teeth,” but God knows His Will is “the Heart” (18).
The gap between what the patient perceives as truth and what God actually is keeps the patient away from God, thus achieving Wormwood’s goal. Wormwood tries to “Fix in his mind the idea that humility consists in trying to believe those talents to be less valuable than he believes them to be” by Screwtape’s orders (70). Defining something given by God as lowly or invaluable perverts its true nature and draws the patient further away from God.
Although Screwtape tells Wormwood to pervert his client’s perception of reality, Screwtape knows that real Pleasure can lead to God. He admonishes Wormwood, “How can you have failed to see that a real pleasure was the last thing ought to have let him meet?” (64). Screwtape sees the dangers of the gifts of God. He acknowledges, “The characteristic of Pains and Pleasures is that they are unmistakably real, and therefore, as far as they go, give the man who feels them a touchstone of reality” (64). He recognizes that the powerful reality of Pleasure may lead the patient to recognize the reality of joy around him, and thus lead him to God. Screwtape commits heresy in Hell for stating the truth about Pleasure, but this statement he reveals what reality is. Screwtape fears that the patient will not take the bait of “real life,” but in fact stumble upon reality if he participates in real Pleasure.
Tolkien contrasts the falseness of what many think of as “real life” with the reality of fairy stories. He declaims “real life” by saying, “The notion that motor-cars are more ‘alive’ than, say, centaurs or dragons is curious; that they are more ‘real’ than, say, horses is pathetically absurd” (Tolkien 21). For him, industrialization perverts the reality of God. He disdains a clerk of Oxenford when he declares that the clerk “‘welcomed’ the proximity of mass-production robot factories, and the roar of self-obstructive mechanical traffic, because it brought his university into ‘contact with real life’” (20). Tolkien says this “real life” “‘is the sign of a biological inferiority, of an insufficient or false reaction to environment.’” (21). This clerk is an example of someone who mistakes the mechanical world around him for reality and truth. His deception obstructs his vision.
Tolkien contrasts this obstructed view of “real life” with a presentation of how fairy stories show reality. Tolkien feels that “The maddest castle that ever came out of a giant's bag in a wild Gaelic story is not only much less ugly than a robot-factory, it is also (to use a very modern phrase) ‘in a very real sense’ a great deal more real” (Tolkien 21). Fairy stories depict more of reality than industrialization or falsehoods. He shows how religion can be reached through fairy stories because “Something really ‘higher’ is occasionally glimpsed in mythology. . .” (Tolkien 9). Fairy stories and whatever forms they come in - mythology, gospel, or just a good story - show readers a higher truth and how to perceive reality as it is.
These three Oxford Christians contrast reality and human’s mistaken perception of reality. Sayers first points out that art has to be good and true, and then she shows how what humans perceive to be contradiction in the Gospels actually build on each other and present a greater truth. People mistake the presence of the resurrected Jesus for falseness until Jesus calls out their name and proves his reality. Screwtape in The Screwtape Letters steers his patient away from the truth by presenting a false “real life.” He shows Wormwood how to encourage the patient to pray to something other than God and to show false humility. Both draw the patient further away from God. However, Screwtape does present what reality is through his depiction of Pleasure and its dangers. Tolkien contrasts the false “real life” of the world with the reality shown through fairy tales in his essay, “On Fairy Tales.” All three of these works highlight the difference in between reality and the false perception that humanity has of the world. These three Oxford Christians share a similar view on reality and its imitators because their shared reality is God.

Second of the Papers: 20 Things

2010-08-08T10:06:00.007+01:00

Hello again!
This is extra credit for Christian Heritage. We were supposed to find 20 things during our travels that have something to do with Church history and write a paragraph on each. Again, if you like editing, feel free to direct my attention to a mistake. I may add pictures if I have time or I get bored of writing my Oxford Christians paper.

1) Each Anglican Church we entered had a lectern in the shape of an eagle. An eagle is a sign of truth, plus the bible was supposed to be opened on wings of eagles. The eagle was a Celtic sign before the Roman Catholic Church. The use of it in English churches shows that they used native pagan superstition and belief in order to convert the natives.

2) At St. Doulagh’s, a Celtic cross marked the boundary of the church. This was common practice, since it was there before there was any formal structure or building. This shows how in the beginning, a holy place could just be around holy water rather than a building. The place of worship was there before the church. This shows how they felt tied with the land and the holy water as a place of worship for centuries, not just focusing on a building where everyone comes to for commerce.
3) The leper’s window in St. Doulagh’s shows how from an early time, the church was a place that reached out to all people, even lepers. It marks a precedence for many other leper’s windows and eventually leper missions. The church from the very beginning worked to help the sick.

4) The Gothic architecture in Christ Church Cathedral is supposed to draw the viewer’s eye to God. It shows the change in the church how it began to focus more on the mysticism in the service and the distance each person had from the priest and God.
5) The rude screen in Christ Church Cathedral was to guard the Eucharist from the people. This again marked separation from the people to sacraments. The reformation took most of these down, but it still stands in Christ Church Cathedral.
6) The stained glass windows in Christ Church were built in order to tell the story of the gospel to the illiterate. This shows how the church sought to teach the people of the church what they believed. Also, it shows how many illiterate people were in the church and why many never could read scripture. They could not understand Latin mass, so their only education may have been their visual stimuli.

7) At St. Martin’s, the oldest part was built for Queen Bertha, the Christian wife of King Ethelbert. This inspired Pope Gregory to send Augustine of Canterbury to England. Without Queen Bertha, Christianity in England would have been extremely different, and not nearly as Roman.
8) On some of the newer stained glass in Canterbury Cathedral, there is a red keyhole shaped like a swastika. It represents the freedom from death camps after the Holocaust. Such small imagery shows how the church continues to make great statements through stained glass.

9) Wreaths of red paper poppies are laid on the monuments of WW1 and WW2 veterans in Westminster Abbey. I love how they still respect this tradition to pay respect to the veterans. The poppy is chosen because they bloom in one of the bloodiest battlefields in World War I, Flander’s Field. It also shows how intimately tied the Anglican church is with the war and the politics of Britain. Beautiful red paper poppies frame the grave of the unknown soldier in Westminster Abbey. The Church of England is much more intertwined with England, and thus, they pay more respect to their soldiers.
10) Behind the main part of St. Paul’s Cathedral is an entire area dedicated “To the American dead of the Second World War from the people of Britain.” I felt my heart just drop it was so moving. Yet again, the Anglican Church seems to be very in tune with the affects of both world wars because they practically wiped out an entire generation of men from England.
11) In the cathedral at Christ Church, Oxford, there is a skull with wings up in the right hand corner of the center of the cathedral. Earlier peoples would have been able to understand the symbolism very easily. This showed how symbolism of pictorial images was more poignant than words to a community of believers that could not read. The church catered to their needs, and they would not need to be able to read the Latin inscription underneath. Today it continues to be a symbol of good luck as motorcycle riders bear it on their backs to wish happy journeys.
12) St. Doulagh’s has a murder hole in its stairwell. This shows how early Celtic churches had to defend themselves. Vikings had no problem with sacking churches. It showed how the church had to defend itself just like every other institution in those times.
13) There is a special bench for the royalty to sit on in Christ Church Cathedral. The church very early on knew what they had to do in order to appease the royalty. There was no equality in seating like we typically think we might have today. However, Baptist churches seemed to have assigned seating, so there is not much we can judge. But it does show that those who had the money and status could get a better spot in the Cathedral and in fact had their own insignia on their bench.

14) Strongbow’s tomb, or at least his effigy lies in the nave of Christ Church Cathedral. It was said that agreements made by his effigy would be binding contracts. Much of the business of Dublin was conducted in the knave during the week. This shows how the church was not just the religious center but also the economic center of medieval cities.
15) At St. Augustine’s abbey, there were a few stone towers that seemed completely out of place. They are perhaps Anglo-Saxon remnants of a temple to their God. This shows how often times the church was built on previous worship sites in order to stamp out other religions. Perhaps they may consider the site holy or something.
16) In St. Martin’s, a spring constantly runs out from the bottom of the foundation. This is where Queen Bertha originally worshipped. Her chapel was built here because the springs were already considered sacred as a place of worship for a fertility goddess. Interestingly enough, this spring runs all the way to the site of St. Augustine’s Abbey. It shows how early Christianity was intrinsically mixed with other ancient religions in the area. Both considered the sites holy and continued the tradition of worshipping there.

17) In one of the stained glass windows for St. Frideswide in the cathedral in Christ Church, Oxford, there is a Thomas Crapper toilet in the background along with a china cabinet, both entirely out of their time. This shows how the stained glass makers either had a sense of humor, or the invention of the Crapper toilet was something to be advertised even in the church. The church wasn’t entirely serious. They had a bit of humor.
18) John and Charles Wesley are buried in the cathedral in Christ Church, Oxford. This reveals that the church still was very proud to bury very famous alumni even if they broke off from the Church of England. They are not entirely stubborn, even if the Church of England refused to send out any Methodist pastors to Methodist congregations in colonies.

19) There is an Impressionistic statue of Mary Magdalen and Jesus in Magdalen College, Oxford. Dr. Hanks found this interesting because Magdalen College has not been a Christian university for years and years. This shows a vestige of their earlier Christian affiliation shining through, despite agnosticism pervading the intellectual community in Britain.
20) In room 30 of the Ashmolean museum is a huge collection of icons and other items from the Byzantine church. An icon of Mary and Jesus is a very flat, unrealistic image with golden halos. These images were not supposed to draw attention to themselves but rather to move the viewer and remind them of the story of the birth of Jesus. They weren’t necessarily worshipping the image, but worshipping what the image led them directly to: God.

First of the papers: Church Experience

2010-08-08T10:04:00.004+01:00

Hello!
This is due 5 PM tomorrow, AKA 11 PM central time. If you have a second, please take a peek at one of the paragraphs and tear it to tiny pieces. If you just love editing more than turkish delight, I can email you an attachment with the word document.
Prompt:
Attend a regular worship service in Britain of a denomination which you have never visited before. Write 3-4 pages analyzing your experience. Write on the following three areas in your paper:

1. Before you attend the service, think about what will take place. What do you expect to see, hear, do? How do you feel about attending the service?

2. Describe the service itself. Who participated, what did they do, how were you treated by the church members?

3. Evaluate the service. Was it a time of worship for the participants, for you? What did you learn from your visit about yourself and how people worship within the Christian tradition?

Before I attended the Sung Eucharist at Christ Cathedral, I expected many candles and rituals. The liturgy would be strict, and the congregants would wear solemn expressions, following everything right to a T. I expected to flounder amidst a sea of talented believers who all knew how to flip to the right page in the Book of Common Prayer, hymnal, and bible in time. I would struggle not to make a fool of myself, only to end up completely lost and by myself. Heathen Baptist that I am, they would not allow me to receive the Eucharist. All would frown, and all the people would sit silently in austere worship. I expected to be in a far corner hidden from all. I would not be able to see any of the service as my Baptist upbringing taught me always to find a back row where I could slip out just in case I needed to go to the bathroom in a hurry. The choir would sing dirges and melodies that ended in much too many “Amen”s. All of the parishioners would be dressed up in pressed suits or designer dresses or flowery hats usually reserved for tea at the Eastgate Hotel. They would dismiss my sundress as both immodest and frumpy. In short, I came in expecting to have to lower myself in comparison to each important Oxford type around me.
I was not sure where to sit when I came in, and one of the ushers showed me up to the top row in the back choir. It was all much more intimate than I expected. I accidentally sat in one of the deacon’s seats. She made a motion, I ran away, and then she motioned for me to sit next to her. She was dressed in the fancy robes and stole, so she obviously knew what was going on. I knew when to kneel and stand and sit with her lovely guidance. She gave me the green booklet that had the entire service of the Sung Eucharist printed inside. It was much easier to find the pages I was supposed to flip to because it was all in order in a friendly booklet. Even the color green was nice and welcoming.
The second time I went, an American woman gave the welcome. I know that the Anglican Church is not sexist or anything, but I still did not expect for a woman – let alone an American – to start off the service. I thought that all Brits would be very posh and condescending towards us stupid Americans. She did a lovely job and I thoroughly enjoyed her eloquent prose. We heard the choir sing in Latin, which was pleasant to listen to. The counterpoint was delicious, and the choir sang much better than I expected. The third time I went, the choir was just eight men in blue stoles. I sat right next to them, and I saw all of their cues and chatter about what they were going to sing next. Even though there were only eight men, they filled the entire cathedral with heavenly music. They sang some of their songs in English, a surprise to me expecting more Latin.
The sermon was not what I expected either. The priest was hilarious. He made a comparison about how all the different denominations are just like coffee. It used to be just black or white coffee but now when you enter Starbucks, you have to decide: tall, grande, venti, latte, mocha, espresso, cream, iced, hot, caffeinated, no fun; he went through the entire list. I never expected for the entire cathedral to be lit up with laughter, but he made every corner reverberate. The British are just naturally funnier than Americans, and I am glad that he utilized his natural homeland’s natural gift to bring joy into the usually somber cathedral.
Everyone shook my hand with a gracious smile during the passing of the peace. It was just like any other greeting I have had in church, except for the Trinity Lutherans who take ten minutes to greet everyone in the church. They were quite kind and welcoming to my intrusive presence. Many of the congregants were actually wearing jeans. I only saw one hat woman.
I was allowed to take the Eucharist. I was sick the first time I went, so I did intinction instead of drinking, but I assume all was well because the priest did not yell at me. The wafer was translucent and melted on my tongue. I guess that Anglican doctrine includes transubstantiation, and chewing the wafer would be crunching Jesus’s bone with my molars.
The service seemed to be a time of worship for the participants. I enjoyed watching the older women as they kneeled down to pray. Their knees were frail, but they still wanted to show their piety to God. It was moving to see how personal they made their worship in what I thought could be an impersonal setting. The first time I went, I was a bit sick, so I spent most of the time feeling sorry for myself, and even took a short nap against the side of the pew during the sermon. The second time I went, I got a better feeling for the service and I was able to soak in God more while listening to the choir. The third time I went was just a joy. I watched each and every person and loved how everyone had a different way of worshiping. I noticed that the choir was made up of real people and how much they enjoyed the music. I began to enjoy the service more and thank God for such a place of beauty and fellowship.
I learned why I like liturgical and traditional services so much. The form is so pure that it allows God to shine through more easily without having to worry about the mechanics. I enjoy Bach and hymns more than praise music. There was some similarity in the readings with their church and my home church, Dayspring Baptist. I see the similar roots in tradition although both of our churches came to it through entirely different paths. Finding this point of similarity with the Anglican Church helps me understand it more. My expectations were shattered by experience. After this worship experience, I would like to visit other denominations and perhaps other religions in order to find common ground with other peoples and understand more.

Travel

2010-08-08T00:44:00.003+01:00

This morning, Brooke and I bought some scarfs and had a little picnic while waiting for our 12:52 train back to Oxford. We found a bench and could see the whole city out before us beyond a hill of grass and some trees. I had bought some sparkling grape juice, and carrots and humus as a snack. I felt pretty cool. We people watched and listened to the lone bagpipe at the edge of the park. One dad was trying to teach his little son to play cricket. It was pretty adorable. A huge clan came to out left and settled in those park benches. They had a huge picnic divvied out in ziploc boxes. The older women were wearing scarves around their head, and I couldn't understand what they were saying, but it seemed like a classic good old family time in the park.

We then got on our train back to Edinburgh and settled in some nice first class seats. They have little grocery stores in the train stations. So I got some shrimp with tartar sauce, fruit, and Turkish Delights for under five pounds. Mmmm, I love eating on the train. I just looked out the window for most of the trip, just enjoying the Scottish countryside. I felt like it was a proper goodbye.
When I got back to Christ Church, I just got a Pret a Manger sandwich and have been studying/reading in my room since then. Four papers and two finals on Monday, so probably no blog post tomorrow.
I forget that I actually have class. This whole trip seems like it has come out of a literary dreamworld. But the greatest part about traveling is coming home. Hmm, I'm glad I'm ready though. It would be very painful to leave my heart here. Horcruxes are typically frowned upon in our Christian society.

A preliminary look at bagpipes

2010-08-06T18:59:00.005+01:00

Argh! I was just going to the kitchen to get my sandwich out the fridge. I sat down to eat it, and looking down from the window, the pipes and drums academy from New Jersey starts piping up a tune and marching around. Oh yeah! I thought tonight was just going to be an evening of writing by myself and a lovely video chat later on, but I have my own personal concert to serenade me Hmmm. Life is good.
Today was great. Breakfast was huge and amazing. Deliciously delicate croissants. And danishes, eggs, tomatoes, tea, pancakes... Okay, I didn't have all that. Just the croissant, danish, eggs, and tea. Breakfast is my favorite meal.
We held class about "new religious movements" aka cults in the cafeteria. Not quite as delicious as croissants.

Then, Dr. Hanks, Brooke, Caleb, Jaclyn and I took a cab into town. We first bought some tickets. So, the Fringe Festival is going on and a barrage of fully dressed up actors line the street forcing adverts upon all of us unsuspecting tourists. I learned only to accept the ones that came with Jelly Bellies. We bought some tickets for the afternoon, and then found the Elephant House. Oh golly-gee-wiz! It was great. I had a spinach cheesy thing, some sore of cheesecake thing, and peppermint tea.
I grabbed a napkin and started writing on it, just about how Harry Potter influenced my life and how the Elephant House may have influenced Harry Potter. It felt pretty surreal, even if the illegible green words on that napkin don't make much sense afterwards.
We then went to Edinburgh Castle. Oh, it was so cool. It looked like a snail. We found a canon, climbed on top, and looked out over the city. A photographer came up and took our picture (which we didn't buy, but we didn't feel bad because we told him we probably weren't going to buy it), and afterwards he told us about his favorite parts of the castle, like the stone of destiny and the dungeons of horrific tales of death and torture. I always like those. We traipsed about and managed to get through the frankly disappointing crown jewels in only 10 minutes although the sign says 27. Let's just say that Jaclyn knows how to slip through a queu... er... crowd. Ahem. We may have cutted.
But that was because we had a play to go see! I accidentally looked at the wrong address, so by the time we got there, I realized I had steered us wrong. That's why I normally take the back seat in directions. But, we hailed a taxi, and he got us to our play just in time. We walked in after some confusion of which room it was about thirty seconds before the play started. Dr. Hanks saved us three spots in the front row. The play was "Wonderland." It was quite wonderful. It started off with Charles Dodgson playing adventures in Wonderland with what appeared to be Alice. But then it turned out to be... Oh, I can't spoil it for you.
It was the world premiere! The Fringe festival is just too neat.
Dr. Hanks bought us ice cream afterwards. I got a knickerbocker glory as a testament to Dudley Dursley. Dr. Hanks recited a poem and had us act out the animal characters in the middle of the restaurant. A Scotsmen drinking some mead directly across from us watched with great interest. I played a pig and a turkey.
We then dispersed, and I read some Terry Pratchett in the bookstore for a few hours before catching a taxi back to the dorm where my blog post begins.

Train

2010-08-05T12:20:00.003+01:00

Hello!
I am currently on a Virgin train. I know I have said I love trains before, but now I really love them. A nice scottish man gave me two cups of tea, 2 things of lemonade, a cupcake, a banana, and a sandwich to come late. We just had class on The Great Divorce. Oh, I just got my sandwich, and Jenny got another cupcake. We can look out over the greenest hills on earth and see sheep and black spotted cows. Purple heather lines the edge up next to the train. The divisions between each plot of land are either old stone walls or stone walls with green stuff entirely covering them. It's everything I have ever hope for. We still have two hours left. I think I may just have to ride the train for fun and not actually go anywhere once I get into Scotland. Or walk or something.
Did I say free internet on the train?
Oh! I just got a view of more hills beyond a village. Hmmm... Lake District.
Eek! I just wanted to tell you how happy I am to be on this train right now, and perhaps give you a little taste of my experience.
This has only ever existed in books before. I may be in a dream (inception much), because this has only been literary in my mind before.

Rain and museum and books

2010-08-04T16:14:00.004+01:00

After class, I had a missions: get a reservation on the train tomorrow and print out my paper before Oxford Christians.
I started out by walking vaguely towards the train station, relying on signs to lead me. I have never walked there myself. I'm notoriously bad about waiting until other people go and following them. My favorite crepe stand just happened to be on the way, and I got a slightly more healthy crepe with cheese and spinach. Oh, it was divine. Best lunch ever. Whoever said that the Brits had bad food have not been to creperies on the street where the cooks are French. The lady who made my crepe poured it on as if it were the easiest thing in the world. She slapped at it with a brush to put on butter and tossed the cheese as she were just another goddess making it rain, like she had been doing so since the beginning of time. She had a casual frown and her long blonde hair was loosely tied at the base of her neck. I envy her skill and lazy grace.
I eventually made it to the train station and got my reservation more easily than I thought. I felt so proud of myself, sort of functioning in the real world by myself. I waited in a queue and got 'er dun. You better watch out, because I may be becoming a functioning member of society.
On the way back, it started to pour. I walked about 200 yards and then I realized I had an umbrella. Oh frabjous day! I had not used my umbrella on this trip thus far. I walked a bit further and somehow got distracted by my mission by a department store. I just had to go in. It was dry in there and I could see an escalator. I planned to just ride the escalator, but it took me up to the lingerie department where they actually sell 32 A's. When I found something that fit, I thanked the lady that was helping me saying that you just can't find anything smaller than 34B in the states. She laughed, and I said it was probably because we Americans are fat. She turned a bright red and laughed and said she was glad I had said it and not she. The checkout lady was very interested in me since she has relatives in New York and Milwaukee. I wonder, do they realize that saying, "Oh! I have relatives in New York!" to a Texan is almost like saying (distance wise) "Do you know my friends in Spain?" to an Italian?
Nonetheless, she was very sweet. As soon as people see my driver's license, they always warm up to me more. People were right when they told me that Brits like Texans more than Americans!
Anywho, I put my backpack on my frontside with my sweater over it because the rain was getting worse and I had my laptop with me. Masquerading as one expecting, I thrust my umbrella back into the growing storm and went on to find my flash drive waiting for me in Boots. I got to go up another escalator! So much fun.
On the way back to Christ Church, I full-throatedly sang "I'm singing in the rain!" All the tourists were hiding in corners and shops, and the streets were free for me to dance and skip around. I love rain. I also love being able to walk without being constantly forced off of the sidewalk. Most of the people hiding under the bus stops just stared at me, probably thinking "Crazy Amerian!" But I'm okay with that.
A couple was trying to get into Tom Gate when I arrived, but the porter was adamantly prohibiting their entrance. He looked at me for a moment, and I held up one finger to ask him to wait, and I dug into my bag and pulled out my nametag, which is my golden ticket to get into Oxford if I don't know the porter. He smiled, and waved me through, and I raised my umbrella up so it would go over the couples' heads and I continued to skip and sing right through the quad into the stewards office where she printed off my paper off of my new flash drive.
Missions accomplished!
In class, Dr. Hanks labeled me the devil's advocate and used me often in his discussion of Screwtape Letters. He asked Lauren why I liked to argue with people and eventually got them to say that I was trying to figure out the truth. I think Lauren said at first that I liked to hear other people's opinions but more importantly tell everyone my opinion... Oh, she knows me too well. I have a bad habit of approaching people after class if I disagree with something they said in class and "discussing" their ideas with them until I feel like I have adequately harassed them. I do hope I still have friends by the end of the trip...

Anyways, after class, Julie the grad student and I went to the Ashmoleon museum. How come the Chinese were so much more civilized than the Anglos in 1600 BC? They already had writing and brass stuff! I'm constantly amazed. I took lots of pictures for Christian Heritage in the Constantinople and Byzantium church room. You are going down, extra credit!
We then went to Blackwell's. 5 floors of books. I bought four books. I thought I was done buying stuff, but alas, Julie and Blackwell's persuaded me.
And now I am here, telling you about my day thus far. Tomorrow we go to Edinburgh! That means five hours of TRAIN. Oh yeah. Uh-huh. I've got it.
Internet is still down, so no pictures, but we should be able to get internet in the hotel tomorrow, so I will try my best to tell you everything pictorially tomorrow. Oh family and friends, I do miss you so. But I get to see most of you next week. We should all just come here together and have a party.

Short post again, internet still to come

2010-08-03T21:05:00.002+01:00

Hello!
Today was nice and relaxing. After class, I just walked around Oxford, bought a meat pie, and got all those last iconic gifts I needed to get from Oxford. I went to the post office and claimed a ton of stuff on customs, so now I don't have worry about as much stuff in the airport. Mom and Dad, the package may beat me by a day. Feel free to open it and look at all the goodies. I couldn't possibly have fit everything in my luggage on the way back. I had been a light packer and only had a carry-on as my check-on baggage. I didn't realize that the big suitcase even existed. Everyone was impressed and perhaps a bit perplexed. I bought more clothes than I brought here...
Anyways, I practiced my violin in my room for a good bit. That felt nice. The windows and mirror are perfect for practicing and I feel like the room was built for me. I went to the JCR to see if I could get wifi, but alas no. I have 200 pictures itching to get online. Dinner was lovely, I got to talk with Dr. Hanks, Dr. Rosenbaum, and Julie again.
People are waiting on the computers again. Have a wonderful day, everyone!

magdalen, coffee shop, and midsummer night's dream

2010-08-02T21:02:00.005+01:00

Hello!
Sorry, the internet is down so I only have a short time on the computer in the JCR, and no pictures.

However, today we got to go to Magdalen College, pronounced "Maudlin." It was absolutely beautiful. The gardens had every type of flower I could ever imagine, and we got to walk along Addison's Walk, where the critical conversation between Lewis and Tolkien took place that led Lewis to becoming a Christian. We held class for Oxford Christians on the bridge in front of Deer Park. Deer park is aptly named, because we saw about 40 deer right in front of our eyes, munching and nursing and frolicking away. It was lovely. We discussed inclusivism, one of my favorite topics. I'm inclusivist, many in our class weren't, and one didn't think that Lewis was. But come on! Emeth the Calormorene got to go to the real Narnia even though he worshiped Tash because his worship was done in love.
I got to sit in the same spot where Lewis worshiped every day. Teehee!
We went to a little coffee shop in the market and I got some hot tea with Jaclyn, Caleb, and Sam. One of the customers in there had been going there since 1972, and it was still the exact same according to him. Old movie posters plastered every inch of the ceiling. I feel like a cooler person now that I have been in there.

After dinner, Christine played piano for us in the Music Room on a baby grand Steinway. She did a lovely job. Then, we sang 4 hymns: one I didn't know, Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, and Lord of the Dance. I felt like a little kid and I had a huge smile on my face. Everyone sang with all their hearts.

Yesterday, we saw a wonderful production of Midsummer Night's Dream in the Bodleian Library's courtyard. I laughed every single ridiculous laugh I had as loud as I ever thought I could. You would have been embarrassed to be with me. Helena slowly warmed up to the guys she thought were mocking her after she saw that Hermia was jealous. Everyone was in classic 20s costumes, and Puck wore sparkly black hot shorts, garters, a black vest, and a black fedora in classic Chicago style. At first I didn't get it, but then I thought she was hilarious and perfect for her role. She sang all of the poetry stuff when she put the flowers on each person's eye with great bravada and lots of vibrato.
Well, people are waiting on the computers, so I will talk to y'all later. Buh-bye!

Happy birthday HP and JK Rowling!

2010-07-31T22:12:00.009+01:00

Hello,
Have I told you that I love trains? I love trains. I read all but the last 10 pages of the Last Battle on the train today, and it was perfect. I didn't feel a jerk bringing me to the new Narnia. Which is probably best for now. I'm not quite ready to die. But it still was the perfect place to read that specific book.

Brooke and I first went to Platform 9 and 3/4. Just letting you know, Platform 9 and 3/4 is not anywhere in between platforms 9 and 10. It's in the very back corner in the 1-8 platforms section. There was a big group of girls from somewhere like Romania in front of us. You could tell they were having a blast. A man wearing a Hogwarts sweater would give everyone the official robe to wear and hawthorn wand to wield while pushing the cart through the wall to catch the Hogwarts Express. The official dude was having so much fun. We told him how exciting it was to be there on Harry Potter's birthday, and then Brooke and I launched into a full-throated rendition of a Happy Birthday tune to Harry Potter and J. K. Rowling. Sadly, none of the tourists spoke English, or at least none of them sang Obnoxious American. But they did laugh and took pictures. Our voices resounded at their fullest volume, and I am satisfied.

We then went to go see if the Globe Theater had any groundling tickets left for Henry VIII. They did not, but that did mean we got to walk across the Millennium Bridge again. Yet another tribute to our great hero, Mr. Potter.
We went to Leicester Square to see if there were any half-price tickets for Chicago after that. Something new I learned, Leicester is pronounced, "Lester," not "Like Esther." I love the silent "ice." Chicago started out with scantily clad women dancing around the stage, and continued to be consisting mainly of scantily clad women in fishnet tights and various versions of lingerie. I think we saw a sign that said "family friendly." But it was quite fun. My favorite character was Amos. All the other characters ask the band for exit music when they leave, and then dance out to the music. Amos sings a son about how he is cellophane and no one sees him. ;( When he asks for exit music later on, the band doesn't start up, but he just says, "Okay," and walks out.
He got the biggest applause at the end.
The tube on the way back was loads of fun. We sat in one spot on the train, and different vignettes would pour in at each stop and spill out at the next. We saw the most adorable family that spoke in some really cool language, and the little boy would go up to his sister and lightly kiss her on the arm. It was adorable.
They spilled out, and the next was an entire cricket team from India. All of their luggage spilled over at the slightest jiggle of the train. Sitting amongst them, looking like a bright flower out of place was a blonde girl in her twenties in a short sun dress with pockets. When she got up for the next stop, the coach yelled at all the teammates to pick their stuff up and move out of the way for her.
One guy asked us if we knew which Circle train we were on. We just knew it was going to Paddington, so he was probably going to have to get off the next one to switch to the Hammersmith line. We sort of helped someone that had a British accent! Okay, so Brooke helped him. But nevertheless, we as American tourists held our own.

We ate dinner in the train station. One restaurant was on the second level, but there were menus on the first floor and an escalator that specifically went up to that restaurant. The escalator screamed "We will feed you, and you don't have to walk around for a short while. Step on the escalator. Escalator's are fun." So, we listened to the escalator and let it take us to a wonderful world where they gave me a ginormous cup of tea.

We read on the train ride back. Getting back to Christ Church felt almost like coming home. I even got to video chat with Daniel when I got back to my room, which was lovely. But it's not quite going back home. It was more of a reflection of real home, like how the earlier Narnia was just a reflection of the real Narnia. The best part of traveling is coming home again. The subtitle to the Hobbit is "There and Back again." I'm happy to be here, but I'll also be happy to come home. I miss all of you back home.
So, trains are one of the "in-between places" like the wood in between the worlds Magician's Nephew. And in Inception. And in the 7th Harry Potter with Harry going back to King's Cross. Even Platform 9 3/4 is in between platforms 9 and 10 in the book.
I love the in-between places. I love enjoying the journey. Mr. Hollis used to tell us that if we were looking forward to Fridays when it was Monday, we were wishing we would die 5 days sooner. I like that thought. So, our lives are journeys, but if we can enjoy the in-between places, we can discover joy in a whole new part of life. I like where I am in my point of uncertainty of what I want to do with my life. I can enjoy school and each class and professor and new person I meet for their own value, not where those experiences and people will get me.
One last thought that Brooke told me about on the train: HP 7. Snape looks into Harry's green eyes before he dies. Green is the color of Lily's eyes. Question: what color are Beatrice's eyes in Dante? Dante looks into Beatrice's GREEN eyes before he can go up into the rose thing in Paradiso.
ARGH! Mind blown. Okay, I'm not sure if this was J. K. Rowling's intention, but you have to admit it's pretty freaking awesome. No wonder she always made such a big deal about Harry having his mother's green eyes in the earlier books! Oh, HP, you constantly renew my fascination.

Bath

2010-07-30T23:54:00.008+01:00

Hello!
Today, Brooke and I went to Bath.
I got a nutella and banana and a little extra sugar crepe on the way to the train station. I tried eating it while walking, but I got chocolate all over my face. As soon as I sat down in the train station, I just went Fantastic Mr. Fox all over that thing. So delicious! I got chocolate all over my hands and face and thoroughly enjoyed licking it all off. Sorry, Mom.
The first thing in Bath that we did was the Georgian House. All of the guides were so nice. There was a different guide in each room that knew thousands of facts and details about upper class life in the 1770s. Apparently, families would just take 6 month vacations in Bath and leave all of their children who weren't at a marriageable age with the servants at home. In the kitchen, they would have a turnspit dog that ran in a hamster wheel above the fire to turn the spit to cook meat. They were a bit like wiener dogs, but they are extinct now. I wonder why... They had hot coals at the back of their feet in the wheel at first to train them.
The servants weren't allowed to make the tea because it was so expensive and the lady of the house wouldn't trust them. However, they could take the tea leaves after they were used and either drink them themselves or sell them to a used tea leaf dealer who would disguise them as new tea leaves. Thank God for food standards. Or not God. But I thank whomever who did that.
The guide in the lady's bedroom told us that she met her husband in the Assembly Rooms. (Notice that? Lady's room? Husbands and wives in the upper class didn't sleep together. They just had 16 kids magically.) She thought he was an absolute bore when she first met him. Since it was in the 60s, he had longer hair than she did, and frankly she was a bit disgusted. But somehow they got married and they have been happily together for 40 years. Brooke and I whisper-screamed in the stairs afterwards, "Mr. Darcy!"
In Jane Austen times, girls used the muslin dresses to their advantage. They would wet the material slightly before they went out dancing on the floor in order to show off their figures. Remember, knickers or any sort of underwear were considered improper at this time. Who ever thought that we dress racily today? Those girls were skanks. There was also an entire language with fans.
Some of my favorites:

Touching tip with finger - I wish to speak to you
Open wide - Wait for me
Presenting a number of sticks fan part open - At what hour?
Drawing through the hand - I hate you

These girls had an entire semaphore thing going on. It's almost as good as ants flirting with their antennae.

Next, we went to the fashion museum. And we tried on corsets and hoop skirts. No wonder they had such good posture. Corsets had whale bone in them.
Outside of the Assembly Rooms was a wedding with firemen. They had such a good time taking pictures on top of the firetruck. The bride's name was Arwen. Brooke and I had a small LoTR freak out. Dr. Hanks calls her Eowyn.

Next, Jane Austen exhibit thing. After the tour guide gave his schpeel, a 8 year old boy went right up to him and asked him how he knew all that stuff. We all laughed and the tour guide responded that he had studied a lot. Outside, a man dressed to the T in period introduced himself to me as Mr. Bingley and asked if my name was Jane. When I responded no, he said it was a pity that he could not marry me. He had the biggest smile on his ruddy face. Now I know what ruddy means. He was just the perfect gentleman and so believable as his character. Good job, Mr. Bingley.

My favorite part of today was having afternoon tea in the Pump Room over the Roman Baths. It was super high class and fancy. We got the Traditional High Tea. It was a lot of food, but we were determined to finish it. So, so delicious. We drank 4 pots of tea. There was a piano trio playing the entire time directly in front of us. They were actually good! They played Bach stuff and the general stuff that takes up time but not chops, but it was still extremely lovely and I had a huge smile on my face the whole time. The violinist had three rings on two fingers on her left hand. I never understood rings, especially while playing violin. But she still had perfectly good technique!

We then went to the Bath Abbey and participated in the Evensong service. There was a choir wearing blue robes from some church out of town. There were about 6 kids in front that got a bit antsy. They all exited in military fashion, doing a little twirl at the turn. The kids had a lot of fun with that. A little old lady stayed until everyone left so she could begin a slow mosey out of the sanctuary, not in military style.

Next, the Roman Baths. I love the mix of eras. The springs have been a worship spot for 7000 years (give or take a few millennia), the bath part was Roman, the columns and most of the structure was from the 1700s, and most of the museum was fairly recent. Some of it had just been excavated in the 70s.
Romans would write curses on pewter and throw them into the baths. Most of them were just complaints about how they had lost a robe at the baths.
We then headed home. We met some Texans in the train station who had apparently seen us wandering around Bath because of my distinctive pink peonies. They said they were going to a nice Italian restaurant. We saw where they went, but we went to a pizza place across the street in order to appear less stalkerish. The pizza was lovely and I tried a third a glass of white wine with it. I made lots and lots of faces. I should not drink wine at all in public places where it would be offensive to make faces. Don't worry, parents, I still have not had a full drink since I've been here. I just have never had wine with a meal before, and I can't legally have that experience in Texas yet. If you read this and think it's detrimental to my possible future success at getting a job, tell me and I'll take it down, but it looks pretty harmless to me right now.
Brooke and I left the peonies outside Maddee's door and a postcard sending our regards.
I am happy with today's proceedings. Bath isn't nearly as touristy as I thought it would be. Or maybe Brooke is just an amazing tour guide. Everything was just perfect.

Distraction

2010-07-29T21:45:00.003+01:00

Hello,
Today was just nice and relaxing. Religion, Dr. Beck explained the difference between gargoyles and grotesques to me after class and how stonemasons just have a great sense of humor. Maddee and I went to lunch afterwords and got these delicious crescents at a place built in 1250.
Oh yeah. Just eating lunch in a place that was built just barely within the past millennium. What the heck, England? You're just so cool and casual about your awesome oldness. Anything past 1800 is considered "modern" where anything over 50 years old in Texas has a historical landmark. I still can't wrap my head around it all.
Then I practiced/got distracted by the internet for the entire afternoon in my room. I wrote some postcards while sitting in my window seat. I watched all the tourists go by and got a bit distracted. There were four little kids who were playing on the grass, just general frolicking. One girl in pink, about 8, showed off some awesome cartwheels. I know I have never been able to do cartwheels. My very few gymnastics lessons consisted of teachers being impressed by my lack of agility, and then teaching me to do somersaults. Thus, I was very pleased to see a 5 year old boy show off his somersaults. He started while she was doing her cartwheels, but she did not fulfill the duty of traveling. That little boy somersaulted across the entire quad after all his siblings and parents had already left. He was determined. When he got to the gravelly part, he just flailed his arms and legs to get to the next grass section as quickly as possible, and then proceeded to gleefully somersault like Link across Hyrule. I like that kid.

Before dinner I went to the ice cream place across the street and drank some tea while finishing The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I sat at the bar looking over the street and just laid my head down as close to the book as possible so I could curl up in joy when Lucy and Susan romped around Narnia with the resurrected Aslan. I don't care if Tolkien thought it was too allegorical. I like it and it makes me curl up and start giggling in public places. End of story.
I got to watch all the people go by. My favorite was a professor wearing circular coke bottle glasses, a straw hat, a suit, and a polka dot bowtie, riding a bicycle. I had always wished that people like this existed, but for some reason I expected that these marvelous works of art only exist in the realm with talking animals and elves, not actual Oxford.
Then, dinner. There were several crashes for some reason. I think there were some new workers. Lauren firmly believes in Sasquatches, but not Yeti, and thinks that the existence of Sasquatches makes far more sense than how the internet works.
After dinner, Sam played guitar in the stairwell and did a great job. We get to hear Christine play piano on Monday night! I love this extended talent show after dinner thing we have going on. I feel like there should always be some casual music after dinner. I love this group of people.
Marilynn asked me if I would go over to the Oxford Experience party and play at the director's house. One of the tutors was in a fit of laughter looking over at us, so I could see that probably wasn't going to work, even if it did sound like fun. But it was still very sweet of Marilynn to invite me. I introduced her to a good portion of our group, and we all agreed that we love old people.
Well, oh gracious world, thank you for listening to my story for the day. Tomorrow, Brooke and I and maybe Maddee depending on how she is feeling go to Bath. I'm super excited! We get to see Jane Austen stuff.
I don't feel like I'm in a place that really exists. Watching Inception while I was here blew my mind because I already felt like I was in a dream.

Creation

2010-07-29T00:48:00.007+01:00

We met a Texan at breakfast this morning! He asked us about Ken Starr and how we felt about him.
In Oxford Christians today, Dr. Hanks had us all sing "our note" as loud as we could, and we could change it around just for funsies. I had fun being the one ruining the whole thing with sevenths and ninths and just plain out of tune notes. Yes, I played the part of Melchior. Brooke did a lit bit of opera on top. Dr. Hanks motioned everyone to be piano and brought her out and we all started laughing. But his point was about human subcreation and how every thought we have and every sentence we form is creating something. We argued about whether all music or art is heavenly or not. It was just a fascinating class, and we all continued the discussion throughout the afternoon. I love discussing that sort of thing.
I personally believe that you can see a bit of God or heaven in all music, no matter what circumstance inspired it or how dirty and horrific the lyrics are. Even if it isn't "great" music, it wouldn't be played if it didn't bring at least one person joy or comfort and out of a bad moment. The inspiration doesn't really matter. It's all about how a person perceives the music and how awesome it is that a person could even create music in the first place or how people can play it and somehow communicate such raw ideas through their hands or voices. If you disagree with me or don't understand what I'm saying, please email me or comment, and I would love to continue the discussion.

We then went to the Kilns and had a tour of Lewis's home. You have no idea how much I spazzed out. We got to feed the ducks that Lewis and Tolkien fed. We got to enter Narnia and Middle Earth. Agh! I might just go back tomorrow and just spend the whole day in those woods that Lewis walked through to work and with Warner and everyone...

Oh, it was just great. We'll all have to go sometime. You can actually stay in his house! It still functions, and students can live there and go to Oxford. I would love to die there. The house is so rambling and has so many bay windows and flowers...
I'm completely incoherent, I apologize, but I just had one of those life moments today. Our group apparently seemed very interested, because Dr. Hanks said that the tour guide gave us the longest and best tour he has ever given that Dr. Hanks has ever had in the Kilns throughout all the years he has visited. The tour guide shook my hand and asked for name.
I knew it pays to take notes and look interested.
Okay, just a couple of stories.

Old Tom was their cat. He was a mouser, but he had lost all his teeth. The cook wanted to put him to sleep, but Lewis was fond of the old guy. Lewis had the cook buy fresh fish for the cat every other day. Once when Lewis and Tolkien were walking, Old Tom crossed in front of them. Lewis stopped, took of his hat, and did a little bow saying "That's the old pensioner."
Puddleglum in the Silver Chair was based off of their gardner. Lewis was a bit obsessed about stuff not changing, especially nature. In order to cut a limb off of the tree, he had to wait until Lewis took a nap, and then he would cover it with mud to cover up his destructive pruning.
The gardner was also paranoid that the Germans would attack Oxford and built them a bomb shelter in the woods.
Joy Davidman used to take out her shotgun and shoot animals in the garden.
They all smoked so much that one of the layers of paint was entirely yellow with tobacco.

The original Eagle and Child sign looks like this, and they have it in the garage-converted-to-library now. Someone bought it for 10 pounds when they were replacing it. Remind you of a certain eagle and wizard and hobbit?
When we came into the kitchen, Debbie gave us delicious cookies, warm out of the oven. You could see a wild garden with orchids and roses out of the shutter windows from the kitchen.
I was just home! When I find my notes, I'll tell you more.
We went to see C. S. Lewis's grave and his parish church afterwards. He actually went to church with the butchers and shop owners like he writes in the Screwtape Letters. Oh my dear Wormwood...
I felt as though I saw my entire childhood coming alive in front of me. This is one happy little girl!

After we got back and had dinner, we went to the Eagle and Child. Jaclyn read some of her poetry she had written and Caleb read a short story called "The Monster." There we were, hearing new work they had just written, discussing it afterwards. That's what it's about. Creation.

Inklings Walk

2010-07-27T21:04:00.005+01:00

After religion, I got to talk to Dr. Hanks a bit at tea. We talked about inert ideas of faith as children and how those ideas fall down at the first sign of trouble. I told him I thought my faith was a bit wishy-washy, and he reassured me that thinking about intellectually was what Jesus asked since he added "and with all your mind" to the whole "love the Lord" verse. That was very reassuring. Sometimes I need to hear someone encourage me where I'm at rather than telling me at the end of a discussion that I'll eventually come to the "right" conclusion.
After tea, I started on my Inklings journey. All of the pictures are on facebook, and I posted most of what I did on the pictures, so you can check those out if you want nitty gritty details.
Here is an excerpt from my Oxford Christians Journal. I'm turning this next bit in for a grade, so if you see any errors or you would like to pick at a point, feel free to comment and destroy it.

I am currently sitting in the White Horse, eating fish and chips and reading The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. It is easy to imagine the Inklings meeting here. It must have been quite crowded. Perhaps they would have sat up on the second level in the corner. There are two older men with beer sitting there right now, discussing something in low heavy voices not in English. I feel as if it must be something very important. I am almost glad that I cannot understand what they are saying, or else it would destroy my imagination of what serious and heavy topics they discuss. The Pevensies were sent out to the countryside because of the war. The Inklings were sent out of the Eagle and Child because of the war. So, the war very much affected every aspect of Lewis’s life. They must have felt a bit more cramped here than in their normal haunt. Still, the atmosphere is set for inspiration and discussion of very important things, and I am sure they still enjoyed every moment of conversation and last drop of beer. I talked with a man at the bar, and he said the last time he had been there was forty years ago. I asked him if anything had changed. He said nothing, except the prices were higher and the food was better. It was apparently just “pub grub” before. Poor Inklings having nothing good to eat there and a beer shortage to limit the loosening of the tongue.

I have relocated to King Arm’s pub. The bartender laughed at me when I asked him if I could buy any beer glasses. I just got some tea, and now I am people watching. It is much more spacious and well-lit here. This probably didn’t cramp their style quite as much, but probably didn’t inspire as deep of conversation here. It reminds me much more of the frivolity of hobbits, singing and dancing and enjoying their drink. Tolkien had to imagine such happy beings in a place like this.

I am now sitting on a little park on a bench in University College. I can see how Lewis could imagine the four Pevensies running away from the busy Mcready and finding themselves suddenly in a world of peace and nature like Narnia. The High is full of cars that threaten to knock over pedestrians and give certain death to animals. But as soon as you pass through the magical gates of University College along Logic Lane, silence pervades the atmosphere, and a little bench pops up, inviting you to sit underneath the bulbous tree with fungi and knots everywhere. I feel like I must be breaking some rule sitting here, but no one has caught me yet. Lewis loved University College, and it’s obvious why. It’s a perfect oasis in the midst of chaos.

End of journal.
After the Great Hall dinner, I got to play in the stairwell where Harry Potter was filmed. I played the allemande and its double of Bach's first partita. It was super fun. The acoustics sounded great, rebounding everywhere and making me feel less scared. Our whole Baylor group and some of the Oxford Experience people stopped on the stairs stopped and watched and applauded. One of the Oxford Experience group people asked if I had been hired to play for them. I forgot about the whole getting paid thing.
I then did laundry, and definitely forgot about it entirely until an hour ago. But that means I got to put on hot pajamas out of the dryer. Best feeling ever, hands down. It's being hugged all over by something warm.
My foot's asleep. Perhaps it's trying to tell me I should go to sleep.

Tea and Spades

2010-07-26T23:57:00.006+01:00

Hello!
So, I changed the design to another template to show how I like looking at rain through a window a lot. But I just used the template. Me and super creative web design have just never really explored our relationship to any great extent. I also enabled comments so anybody can comment, not just people who have fancy google accounts. I like hearing from friends and family, so feel free to spam me if thy wish.
Today was lovely.

I had my midterm and studied for it a bit last minute out on the side of Tom Quad. Just warning you, it's illegal to sit on the East side of the quad. Apparently, if tourists see you sitting there, they will swarm and all sit down, and by the expression of the man who told me thus, they will actually rip your flesh and bones apart and make a nice picnic of you. So, no East side, because that's the only side tourists are allowed to be on. We can just make them jealous by sitting on the North, South, and West sides by just looking cool, being all scholarly. I kind of love being able to not be a tourist. Hmmm. Oh, silly Americans. Hehe, that's fun to say.
Midterm was all right. I completely made up the third paragraph of my essay, but that's what the third paragraph is always for in my book: balogna sandwiches.
Then, I went to study in a little corner of the JCR. There are window seats everywhere. It kind of makes my day to sit in a window and drink tea.
Next, I prepared to take the Inklings walk and called Brooke to see if she would like to join. She was apparently in class. Oops. I called out to Lauren who had her window open if she would like to join me. She informed me that we had class in an hour. Somehow I had entirely forgotten that class was on Monday/Thursday, not Tuesday/Thursday. I am very glad that I called out to Lauren, or else I would have been a very confused little girl walking around the streets of Oxford, just reading some Narnia in random pubs. Inklings walk is tomorrow.

Class was great! We just met in the JCR. I definitely said some thing that were completely off and Dr. Hanks just looked at me with gyrating eyebrows and his book covering the rest of his expression like in Home Improvement. He told me to read the part of Jesus in Dorothy Sayer's play. I had gotten a bit bored because everyone was doing normal voices, so I did a nice silly voice for the part of Jesus, and many cried out blasphemy, so I had to tone it down a bit... I am used to reading stuff like Plato and Shakespeare for Great Texts out loud with Andrew and Rachel and we get super bored super fast, so every voice must be entirely different and annoying enough to keep us awake. Apparently, Jesus is supposed to be more blasé...
After that, Maddee and I had tea in my room until dinner. We had a lovely 3 hour girl talk about everything, giggling and telling each other everything that popped into our heads. I hadn't had an unrestrained heart-to-heart over tea in a while, and I definitely needed it. Hmmm. I feel much better now. I had forgotten that tea is not only for personal relaxation, but it is meant for conversation and providing an arena to get to know someone new or old. I had meant to be productive this afternoon, but I think it was worth it. Maddee, if you read this, I think you're a great person. Maddee likes jazz dance, ultimate frisbee, reading, and is just a really cool person to talk with. You should meet her.

Then dinner. We had fowl. I love dinner in the Great Hall, but every night is a struggle for water. The glasses are tiny. All the Oxford Experience people are drinking wine, but we have no alcohol, so the water is our staple liquid. But there is only one pitcher per 6 or 8 people, and we Texans get thirsty. And since the tables are extra long, it's hard to get the attention of the server. I wish I could just get up myself and bring back 2 big pitchers of ice water and pour everyone a nice glass like I do at home. One thing I look forward to in Texas is a huge cup of Bush's sweet tea. Big is important. Ice important. Lots of sugar is important.
After dinner, the Morris Men danced yet again. They apparently dance every Monday night for the sake of the Oxford Experience group.

Then I came back to my room, practiced for a little bit, and then Jaclyn knocked on my door. We played spades with Caleb and his cousin up in Jaclyn's room, and even though Julie and I lost, it was a nice fair game where we discussed identity, faith crisis, and what is important in our lives. Jaclyn's light was broken, so deep discussion was requisite.
It's been a good day. I may have relaxed a bit more than I expected, but every moment was valuable in itself. I had been kind of recluse except for the traveling part. I think that's the first time I have actually had someone in my room... I am used to having girls in my room for tea at least a few times a week in my dorm. It's good to be restored to normality.

Living today

2010-07-26T01:16:00.001+01:00

Hello!
Today I went to the Anglican service in the Christ Church Cathedral. There was an American woman helping with the service. It was pretty awesome, just not what I was expecting in an Anglican church in Oxford. I forget that Anglicans are not sexist.
We went to lunch at EAT. There were pomegranates in my fruit cup! They have these little places where you can get a sandwich in a box for pretty cheap, like Pret A Manger, and it's surprisingly delicious.

I then went shopping, got a little black dress and a fun red dress with buttons. I tried on my dresses in the men's room because there were not enough women's rooms.
Then I got freesias for two pounds on the street. I talked with the guy who was selling them for a while. Apparently, most florists in England get their flowers from Holland, so it's fairly legit. He has always wanted to go to America and likes skyscrapers more than castles. I begged to differ. Darren is about 40ish or something, and he gave me a kiss on the cheek as he shook my hand. Question: is that socially norm for England? I thought that was a French or Spanish thing, but I hadn't encountered that here yet.
When I got back to the porter's lounge to ask for some laundry detergent, I ended up talking to the Porter's for a while. They were shocked that I had gone to Wales and had just gone to the Dr. Who exhibit. The idea of Baylor confounded them, they wondered if we would go around trying to convert them. I assured that I wouldn't, but who knows if someone on the trip approached them. One of the guys asked names so he could find them and have a good argument.
I then headed back to my room, studied, practiced, and had lots of tea.
Dinner was quite nice. I got to sit next to Mrs. Dr. Hanks. We talked about how she has gone through multiple careers, and each experience compounded. So, I don't have to figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life right now. :) I like that.
There is a new group on campus, and they are all clergy with clerical collars. They took up two big tables, so I'm sure that I'll get to have lots of fun conversations at breakfast!
I got back, and we group studied in Becca's room for the midterm, and then I got to videochat with Daniel.
It has been quite a lovely Sunday. No pictures today. I've just been living for the day, no touring.

Dr. Who

2010-07-24T19:41:00.000+01:00

I have locked myself in my room tonight so I will practice for auditions and study for my mid-term, but that doesn't mean I can't take a blog break.
We went to Wales today. Brooke, Maddee, and I got on the train at 7:37 this morning. I accidentally dropped my chocolate croissant on the ground right before I got on the train, but I was hungry, so I ate that thing. I'm not dead or anything telling like that. I have decided I would like to travel by first class train with a view of English countryside everywhere. I would love to travel to Baylor by train, to Austin by train, to Dallas by train, all with a view of English sheep and free tea and biscuits in my tummy. And biscuits that are actually cookies. Not the biscuity kind of biscuits.

We eventually got to Cardiff. We got lost, and headed the entirely opposite direction of that which we intended. However, this let us see some pretty nifty parts of the city. It's so clean! There were street cleaners everywhere to make sure it was so. There were flower trees. I know, you may be thinking of a tree with blossoms or something like that. No. A metal tree with scores of huge arrangements of flowers hanging down from the "branches." The UK just has flowers everywhere. You can buy flowers at every gas station, train station, tube station, and street corner. Sorry, I know you were hoping for a nice tricolon with a repetition of station, but there are just that many flower stands that I can't contain in it in grammatical parallelism.
There was a little girl playing an accordion. Not extremely well, and she only used the piano looking part, but she did let us know when we had walked full circle. Welsh kids may be more adorable than British kids. There was a carousel in the middle of the street, and only one little girl was riding with her parents watching. She was in one of the tea cups, and was spinning herself as fast as she possibly could, wildly giggling like a super villain who had just formulated her plan. That tea cup could be her vehicle of destruction of the world.
We walked by a hair salon. A lady came out of it with her white hair perfectly poised for stardom. I complimented it as she walked past it. She laughed and told me in her really cool accent that she hadn't gotten it done today, laughed again and walked on.
We eventually found the tourist information center. They found out the directions while I bought sheep poo paper. I'm just not very good with directions, so my plan on this trip so far has been to stick with people who know how to figure it out, entertain them with my wit, and perhaps they'll let me stay.
You have got to know that Cardiff smells wonderfully. We saw seagulls and felt the tiniest drops of rain every so often, but the temperature never got outside of a perfect breeze that freshened our touristy legs.

We got on a bus and went to the Dr. Who exhibit. I was giving Maddee a massage as she sat in front of me. Some random dude sat next to her, and I accidentally brushed him with my massaging hands. I got a weird look.
Dr. Who was pretty sweet. So, I don't really know much about Dr. Who, by the way. I have seen about 4 or 5 episodes each with different group settings. But it was still really freaking sweet looking. There were strobe lights and projections of the tv episode that each nick nack or outfit was from. The BBC may not be so great with special effects, but all of the costumes were super neat and told a story of their own.
I got a few gifts on the way out for my friends that have let me know that they are hardcore Dr. Who fans. I think my pile and my presence somehow made the checkout lady think I was a super hardcore fan. She took about five minutes to launch into a discussion about the differences between the 10th and 11th doctor, and how Matt's character seemed more disjointed because of the conflicting inner inspiration and outer instructions from the director. I did a lot of nodding and agreeing, trying to see how far I could go. I had only seen one of the three episodes she asked if I had seen, but it didn't seem to phase her at all. Thank you, Webbons, for letting me watch the one about Venice and vampires while I stayed at your house.
So, trip to Wales was a success. We then ate at a Mexican restaurant across the parking lot because we couldn't figure out how to get across the street. I got quesadillas, but they had potatoes and saffron in them. Super weird. But that's what I get for going to a Mexican restaurant in Wales.
When we walked back into Christ Church, the bells were ringing like in the wedding in the Sound of Music and the little boy has the time of his life jumping up and down on the ropes. You guessed right! There was a wedding. And a high class one. Every woman over the age of forty wore ridiculously huge hats. And the groom wore a kilt. Hence, it was classy.

Windsor, Abbey Road, Sherlock Holmes, club

2010-07-24T00:04:00.001+01:00

Today was unexpected.

After class, Lauren asked me if I would like to go see Windsor Castle. I agreed readily, and 11 of us piled onto a train to Windsor. We met an older British couple on the train who were apart of a Railway Club. They go every Friday night to watch films about trains and take preserved steam trains around the country. Next year is a locomotive convention in Paris.
Windsor was pretty cool looking. We didn't pay to go in however, since our BH passes didn't work and it cost 14.50 pounds. I suggested Legoland, which our BH passes did cover, but no one was interested... Oh well. Legoland will happen!

We then took the train to London and finished up our touristy things to do. We took pictures walking across Abbey Road. We went to the Sherlock Holmes museum. We went to the Beatles London store. Christine, Alyssa, and I went to Herrod's (spelling) which was crazy expensive and frankly frightened me. We then went to H&M. Much cheaper and more welcoming.
In the train station on the way back to Oxford, a community band started playing in the middle of the station. They gave a whole concert. Everyone waiting for his train stopped and watched for most of the concert. Everyone applauded and cheered after each song. I felt like I was a part of some greater moment that ripped out of mundanity and let us peer into beauty in the moments of just waiting.

We took the train back Oxford. The sunset was perfect. I wrote postcards as I sat in first class, drinking free tea with milk. I like trains. A lady who was just a bundle of joy in a small package from Dublin helped us find our way back to Christ Church. I never met anyone so enthusiastic with directions before; she even walked with us half the way. Thank you random Irish lady. Your "th" sounds are absolutely adorable.
When we got back to Christ Church, Jaclyn invited us to go to a club with a group. It was actually quite a bit of fun. I got to show off all my nerdy moves like the grocery shopping, and the sign language bird from napoleon dynamite. We left a bit early. No drinks, don't worry, Mom.

Inception, master's garden, rain from window, and practicing

2010-07-23T00:58:00.001+01:00

We just saw Inception. Gargh. Blagh! I loved it, but the ending made me leap forward and audibly groan. I had to make a little tome with my ticket to play with to keep myself sane during the movie. I just a long bath with rubber duckies and religion reading for tomorrow's class. How could that possibly be a dream someone would make up for me?
Today was wonderful. I woke up and shuffled down to the Great Hall for breakfast and ate with Marilynn and her husband. I had cereal and tea. I skipped the eggs and black pudding and bacon part (the bacon is like slabs of ham, I haven't quite gotten used to the lack of grease, and I still don't want to know what's in black pudding.)

I then went to the Master's garden and reskimmed everything for religion and started studying for the midterm which I thought was tomorrow, but that's on Monday. It was still a lovely morning in the Master's garden. I could watch the sun rise through the clouds over Merton College from my little bench. I relocated near the Jabberwocky tree, and then I ventured into a little alcove where colorful weeds escaped from every crack in the stone. I felt like I was in my own personal paradise, created especially to let little girls know that they were home. I got a bit distracted and took pictures of all the flowers.
I then headed to class, and took notes on my laptop. She took notes on her laptop when she had a guest professor come in, so I assume that's all right. I had never done such a thing before, but my handwriting is horrible, and it's much easier to search through notes with ctrl f than hurting my eyes trying to look for a word amongst my scribbles. Also, the click of the keys is quite satisfying. This blogging has been an utter joy to see white space fill up with the click clack by my fingertips. And there are actually a few people reading this, unlike my illegible diaries and notes that I don't even read. I'll have to see if I can get a scratch-n-sniff sticker on my laptop that smells like old book. Then it would just be perfect, even if Mom would be allergic to the scent. I mean that as a joke. No scratch-n-sniff stickers for me. That's just for blondes at the bottom of a pool to make them drown. Blondes, that's a joke, too. It's just the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of scratch-n-sniff.
Right. Then, I printed off some music for our little concert in the afternoon.

And I got a fresh waffle off the street next to the ice cream shop. The guy selling waffles apparently used to coach football. It took me just a second longer than it should have for me to realize he wasn't talking about American football.
Then, lunch in my window sill with nutella waffle, milk, and tea. Perfect lunch. Nutella comes in glass jars here!

I read Dorothy Sayers for Oxford Christians as I drank my tea and looked out the window. I drew the curtain around me so I felt like I was in my own bird's nest up in the corner overlooking the quad and the tourists walking around below. Thunder cracked. Tourists screamed. Rain poured. Tourists hid. I bundled up with a blanket and watched the proceedings with great interest, safely in my own window seat with a blanket and a cup of tea. I like watching rain. I felt like I was Jane Eyre, hiding in between the window and the deep maroon curtains, watching the gray rain pour against the glass, enthralled in a book. Okay, so mine was a play, and hers was a picture book about birds, but I still felt one with the great literary character.
I then went to Oxford Christians. We read some portions of the Man Born to Be King out loud. I played the whiny Ephraim and had a little too much fun with it.
Next, I practiced a bit. I met Marilynn and her friends, Tony and Karen by the music room. It was locked, so we talked about great topics like war, death, and sexism for about 10 minutes until one of us realized that there was no one in the room. We got Peter to open it up for us. They have a Steinway and a harpsichord in there! It was great fun. I played Bach Partita III Rondo, a bit more of Lalo before I forgot it again, and the rest of Ashokan Farewell. They were very gracious. I really just like playing with or for people or just by myself.
Apparently everyone in the quad could hear me practicing today... Oops. I was wondering why Andrew was waving at me. They were all just sitting there on the steps watching. I had just put my music in one of the panes of the window and played looking out, and they can see and hear me, too....
Oh well.
Dinner was delicious. I got to eat with Dr. and Mrs. Hanks, Christine, Brooke, and Chelsea.
It was lovely.

Embarrassing

2010-07-21T16:17:00.000+01:00

I still feel very, very tiny.
I met Marilynn, a grandmother, with the Oxford Experience group this morning during breakfast who apparently loves the violin. I asked if she would like to hear me play, and we made a date to meet at 3 in the afternoon and then we would find a spot from there.
I arrive at 3 spot on with jeans and a t-shirt on, and she and her husband are waiting for me. Peter the director of the Oxford Experience said that I could play in the Cathedral in a little side room. He said there was a German film crew, but not to worry, they were only recording visual. He then told me a very sweet story about a brass quartet that were in informal jeans, tshirts, and silly hats, and rather boozed up, but when they started playing, the whole quad of uniformed students stopped their snickering and became quiet. Don't worry, that wasn't to happen to me.
We walk across the quad, and one of Marilynn's friends saw us and joined us. Peter escorts us, and the two sweet ladies at the front handing out brochures direct me over to the lectern that I could use as a music stand. It was off in the side, but hardly a little room. Tourists were all around and it was a very exposed spot. I unpack, already committed, and just a little bit excited about getting to play in Christ Church Cathedral. Bach is perfect for that, right? I only had music for Partita 1 allemande, which was a bit rough, but I had nothing else and my memory is famous for giving out. I had accidentally grabbed the wrong part. Dr. Eka made me a part that had combined the allemande and the double so you could see how they both had the same chord progression. So I had to skip around and turn some more pages, but no big deal.
They look at me, and make motions for me to play. Some tourists start sitting in the 10 rows of chairs in front of me.
So begins. Did I tell you that it's really hard to play double stops of the first line of Bach's 1st partita allemande in tune? Did I tell you that it's especially hard to play any of the double stops in tune if you haven't warmed up?
Anyways, what I had thought would just be playing for one lady in her room turned out to be me royally butchering Bach in God's and a bunch of tourists' ears and faces. I could hear every out of tune chord echoing to the very edges of a very large cathedral. Hundreds of tourists could hear, and would wander near to see what was creating the mess.
So, the awkward page turn in the middle of some weird V chord, waiting to resolve. As soon as I reach my hand forward, a very angry looking woman in maroon robes rushes up to me and gives me the look of the ages. "Were you booked? What are you doing? Did you know that there is a film crew shooting at this very moment?" I apologized and said I had been told they were only shooting visual, she exploded, "No! They recording audio!"
So, my butchering of Bach is now on some German film. Poor Bach.
Anyways, we were shooed out, and our little party relocated to Karen's rooms.
They really knew violin music. I played through my Bach allemande and double slightly more in tune. They asked for more, so I played the first page of Wienowski, until I hit the fingered octaves that I hadn't gotten yet. Then I played the first page of Lalo until my memory gave out. Still asking for more, I played a random hymn that I don't even remember the name of, but it was under my fingers. They were very sweet, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, but I was frankly just out of music. My memory is the size of a teaspoon, especially in front of people, and I had left my huge binder of all the stuff I had played with at home. Karen asked if I had played Mozart 4 and 5, Rick asked if I knew Sibelius or Mendelssohn. This was an educated crowd in Oxford. Marilynn's father had apparently been a violinist in Russia and had been asked to join St. Petersburg's conservatory before the war. I played a little bit of Ashokan farewell and finished with "I come to the garden," but I have never felt so empty of music before. I'm playing for them again tomorrow at 4:30 in the music room, and they have invited their friends already. I did enjoy it, but what am I going to play? Shall I IMSLP it up and come up with a program or something?
Phew. I'm used to Katie who just gives me the hymn book and sings alto along with me. They were extremely kind and sweet, and I thoroughly enjoyed their company, but I'm still shaking from the woman in maroon robes chasing me down.
Well, tomorrow I'm actually booked, so no Catface McCormick giving me stern looks and twitching her wand hopefully. Or German film crews.
I still can't believe I got to play in there, even if only for a minute and badly. And I do like getting to know people outside of the Baylor in Oxford group. Good experience, just shaky.

Shorter than Stonehenge

2010-07-20T23:51:00.000+01:00

Stonehenge: Cool. Rocks. Old.
Train: Awesome. Very British lady across from us really likes to walk.
Dinner: STEAK.

2010-07-20T01:01:00.000+01:00

Hello world!

Today we had class outside in the afternoon with a picnic. So, we actually held class about the Return of the King in the same gardens that Tolkien may have been pondering about the same things we discussed. We all got sandwiches and had a lovely picnic. Dr. Hanks gave us Turkish Delights for dessert, in true Inklings style. I actually felt prepared for class today. When he asked if LoTR was written just for men or for both, I frantically nodded it was written for women as well. I hugged my knees and raved for a short bit about Faramir and Eowyn and the relationships throughout the trilogy. Mmmmm... it's just so juicy. I totally had forgotten about all the romantic scenes and when Faramir and Eowyn kiss on top of the wall for everyone to see, hair tangling in the wind. Corny, but oh-so-satisfying.

Anywho, we went out later on and read on the same garden after class. We met a woman from the Netherlands who was apart of the Oxford Experience group. She was taking an Introduction to Classical Music class. She had the most beautiful way of putting everything, describing how she had never thought that music had the same structure of poetry and where the phrases led. I wish I could remember exactly what she said, but in that moment in the gardens, it felt like she was speaking the greatest truth I had ever beheld.
Jaclyn, Caleb, and I went over to the other end and read the first play of Dorothy Sayer's "The Man Born to be King" aloud in all the voices and actions. I got up and ran around when Proclus was supposed to leave and all that sort of thing. It was delightful. We were reading her radio play aloud in the very gardens where she may have done the same thing, pondering her thoughts aloud and discussing with others.
I then met a very soft cat, and she chilled with me a bit, delighting in the attention and petting I gave her.
Dinner in the Great Hall was great. We talked with a professor from California whose first name was Judith. She went to Baylor and was tagging along in order to do some research at the Bodlein Library. How I would love to be able to go in there and smell some manuscripts. It's crazy how much stuff they have. Anywho, she told us about some shootings in the 1890's in downtown Waco, and the feud in the 50s between the religion and theater departments and how a relief in the side of the Tidwell building has Jesus reaching out to the Lost Lamb, or where the theater director's office used to be. Ironically, that theater building was torn down and is now the office of the University Chaplain.

We then watched some great, hilarious, fake, ceremonial dancing. They were some funny dudes.

Then, the Eagle and Child, or as it is more affectionately known, the Bird and the Baby.
I got tea, don't worry parents. We played spades and discussed a bit more of LoTR that we didn't cover in class. I felt like I was drinking tea and playing Spades with Lewis and Tolkien themselves.
When we got back, we read the other Dorothy Sayers play aloud up in Jaclyn's room. 6 people made the voices a bit easier, but by the time I was supposed to be Judas Iscariot, my voice kept slipping into different characters and Jenny remarked that he had developed multiple personalities.
Anyways, it's been wonderful. I even got to practice in between breaks, and no one has complained yet. Tomorrow is Stonehenge

The rest of nothing day

2010-07-17T22:52:00.000+01:00

Hello!
I spent the rest of the afternoon reading in my window, and then outside in Tom Quad on the stone, watching hundreds of visitors, and scores of graduates looking even more official in comparison with their robes and fancily dressed girlfriends. I even saw some wedding pictures, and then the couple proceeded to drive out in a rolls royce out in the middle of the quad.
Agh. Crazy Oxford graduates with their rolls royces. The mom was hilarious, following them at every angle, trying to get as many pictures as possible. I had the perfect vantage point. I lied stomach down on a stone with my sweater underneath my elbows and my picnic dress with cabbages on. LoTR was perfect, since I was just getting to all the sunny happy parts, and the sun was warming my back. I had forgotten how incredibly sweet was the budding of Faramir's and Eowyn's romance. I felt so girly, savoring every detail, and smiling when their hands clasped without either of them knowing.
I mean, the war parts are great, but I'm a girl, and I had always been very sympathetic to Eowyn's plight of being the little sister who is told to stay at home.
mmmmm.
Anyways, I did laundry. Then, I went to town in order to find a place to read, but I found a Levi's. I walked up to the workers and told them that I had never found a pair of jeans that fit right and I was absolutely clueless to how sizes and styles worked. Some guy put me in the dressing room and handed me jeans one at a time, and I think I tried on ten pairs of jeans that all sort of fit, but only one pair hit the spot right on. He looked at every pair and helped me figure it all out. I didn't have to do a thing! That's the way to shop. Even one pair I wasn't sure about, he quickly told me that it would never work and I had to try something else. Most o the time they lie. I asked them afterwards, but apparently, he used to work there and was just visiting, but since it was a busy season and he liked helping people, he just hopped in and started handing people jeans. He really works at a restaurant down the street.
No matter who he was, he found me some jeans that work and I thank him for finding me the one pair of jeans that fit, and they were half off, too.
And I bought a little sweater so I could wear my cabbage dress to Harry Potter hall.
Dinner was delicious.
Chocolate tart with a anglaise cream sauce thingy.
Then, practicing violin for the first time in a long while. It felt good. I just stuck my music inside the window, and looked out over the square, and then stuck the music in the side of the mirror for gritty technical work.
A nice long bath in a raised bathtub with both hot and cold taps and LoTR in my hands once again.
This is the life.
I think someone up there thought of all the material things in life that I loved and put them all in one day and place for me. Someone has got to be looking out for me. The people are great, but I miss y'all, too. We should all come together sometime and have dinner in the Great Hall together. I'm not sure if you can do that, but if you can, family reunion 2040 is planned.

My new room!

2010-07-17T11:47:00.000+01:00

I am so happy.
This room is great. Sonto was very sweet and Jaclyn let me stay on her couch last night so I could stay in this stairwell. I think I got the best room in Christ Church. I have a couch, two chairs, a desk, fridge, three bookshelves, a wardrobe, two window seats with a beautiful view of Peckwater Quad, a perfect bed, a board filled with all my memorabilia, a sink, and all of my friends in the rooms to the side, up, and down. Life can't get much better. I also have the closest room to the toilet. Kaching!
I just wanted to say that I am very, very happy in this moment. I needed a day just to chill in a beautiful room to myself. Sonto talked with me all this morning, and she gave Jaclyn and I life lessons about love, divorce, taking care of yourself, just everything. She apparently only has 2 kids, the third one was a miscarriage, but you can tell that she still considers it her child. Her husband is still in South Africa. She always wanted to go to the UK, Hollywood, and Texas, and now she gets to be in the UK, fulfilling her dreams. She is just fascinating. I told her she must visit me if she comes to Texas.
She said she fought for me because she saw that I was already friends with the girls around room 8. Also, it's the biggest room in the stairwell. I didn't even ask, but she fought for me.
She told us that she is our mother and our scout, not our maid. She wants us to be healthy, and that is why she cleans. She brags that she has the shiniest stairwell in all of the quad, and we can check it out if we really want to compare.
Oh, frabjous day, callooh, callay!