Lots and lots...

So much has happened since my last post, and I don't know where to begin. Today I think I'll update you on the little goings-on starting with the end of last week, and then tomorrow and Tuesday, I'll attempt to post about Stonehenge and Bath. We went on our rescheduled tour of those two places yesterday, but I haven't had a chance to mess with all 180 pictures we took. Once I have a few edited, I'll get them up here along with the stories they tell. It was a really educational and fun trip...(Also, quick sidenote, most of the pictures for this post are ones I found online. I couldn't really take them myself for these particular anecdotes. But, I promise that all the pictures of Bath and Stonehenge will be from my camera!)

That little preview aside, I guess I'll start with Thursday. Before I posted about Lexi, I had a morning tea with Paola!!! Remember her? She is my friend/new grandma from the international tea last month. She got back from her trip to Palermo, Italy, and invited me to her home. She is just about the most hospitable person ever. I rode my bike to her adorable townhouse, which is only about 15 minutes from our flat. Her front door is awesome; it's original to the structure, which was built in 1901. That's at least 110 years old! In relation to most buildings around Cambridge, that is laughably young, but I just thought about my parent's house in Broken Arrow. It's only like 3 years old.

This is probably really stalker-ish of me, but this is the street view of her house from Google Maps. As you can see, it is a very nice residence. It was a couple stories, quite narrow but surprisingly deep, with beautiful gardens in the back.

She showed me around her gardens, and she picked out a nice vase for the flowers I had brought her as a thank you gift. I was a little worried thinking, "What if she is allergic to flowers, and I bring her some, and she is too nice to get rid of them, and then she goes into anaphalactic shock or something?" I was really relieved when I saw her massive gardens. No allergies. She does have mild asthma though, which is weird, because I do too. Just one of the many things Paola and I have in common.

Anyway, she made me some scrumptious breakfast tea and stuffed me full of biscuits. We sat around and talked about movies, how I'm adjusting to Cambridge, etc. She showed me pictures on her iMac (I'm telling you, this lady is up to date with technology) of her Palermo trip and of her family. She told me more stories of the places she has lived and showed me the awesome antique maps that she has lining her stairway of all of those places. India, Senegal, Sweden, Italy, England. It's an impressive display. (I am a sucker for antique maps, and I will definitely be purchasing one here before we move to Texas.) She entranced me with the story of a Bosnian refugee that lived in the upstairs of her house because she was an indirect friend of her son's Iranian friend. She made me tear up as she showed me the letters she had written to her mother when she was away at school around the time she was 16 or 18. She didn't know her mother had kept them all until she came across the box as she was cleaning out her mother's home when she died. Paola also had me wiping away tears that were streaming uncontrollably down my face as she told me of one of her friends whose son had just passed away. Her friend is 81 years old, and her son was 58. He had been born with cerebral palsy, and his mother had cared for him his whole life - almost 6 decades! Paola handed me a tissue, apologizing for making me sad, and said, "You cry so easily!" Haha. If only she knew. I was already emotional about my childhood pet being put to sleep, and then this woman has to go and tell me the world's most touching and inspiring stories. If she would just stick to mundane topics like the weather, she'd never get a sniffle out of me... Well, probably not. I am a bawl bag, so I'm sure I could find something related to weather that would leave me sobbing. I rode my bike home (in the pouring rain) so grateful for those two hours of kindness. I invited Paola to our place next time. I informed her that I didn't know how to host a proper English tea, but I would do my best to whip up some funfetti cookies! I'm already looking forward to it.

That was Thursday. Then came Friday, which was unremarkable for the most part. One highlight was that I finally finished reading The Help. I know, I'm a little behind the bandwagon on this one. I saw the movie months ago when it initially came out. If you haven't read or seen it, you should. Such a feel-good and inspirational story. It shocks me that our country was ever so divided on something as inconsequential as skin color, but this book takes a good honest look at that time. I'm so thankful that my generation doesn't know those particular injustices firsthand, although there are plenty of other problems, but I find that era of our history fascinating. Maybe that's why I like the television series Mad Men as well.

Friday night, Matthew and I were invited to a Diwali celebration at the graduate housing complex across the street. (In all honesty, I'm ignorant as to what Diwali actually celebrates.) We were under the impression that there would be curry galore and entertainment, including Bollywood-type dancing. This was what I had envisioned:

Turns out, my expectations were a little off. I was offered a red dot for my forehead; in other words, a nice girl from Dallas wanted to smudge her lipstick on my face. I politely declined. We were unaware that we had not gotten in on some secret order of Indian food, and thus would be excluded from consuming whatever small amount of food would be arriving. I heard upbeat Bollywood music but did not see anyone dancing. So, Matthew and I gave each other the glance that says, "I'm ready to leave if you are because I feel so awkward and don't know what excuse to use to get out of here." So, I said something to the group of people around us about how we had leftovers at home that we could eat and maybe we would come back when they started the movie that was rumored to begin after the food arrived. Don't get me wrong - everyone we met was really friendly, but once we got home, we stayed there. We shared an oven-baked frozen pizza, and I crocheted a scarf for Milosh. At least we had tried to be cultured.

Milosh is kind of a long story, but the abbreviated version is this: Alberto and Magda have an ongoing joke with Matthew that Milosh is their pet goat. For Matt's birthday, they surprised him with this cute little stuffed "Milosh." He has now become part of the family and can be found helping Matt with homework, eating my gardenia plant, etc. (Note: my plant is still ALIVE!!! No blossoms, but still, it has lasted longer than anticipated. Matt claims it is fake.)

That pretty much brings me to Saturday morning when we left at the crack of dawn (again) to catch our tour bus to Stonehenge and Bath. It was an especially foggy morning, and I felt like we were riding our bikes into a scary Halloween movie or something. It was simultaneously eerie and beautiful.

We didn't have time to pull over so I could take pictures, but this is basically what our morning looked like. Half of me was thinking that Freddie Kruger would hop out from behind a corner at any moment, and the other half of me could hear the piano and strings of the Pride & Prejudice soundtrack playing.

 Luckily, there were no bus breakdowns, and we met up with our group right on schedule.

This is what the Mercedes minibus looked like. High class 16 passenger van. It was apparently rented because the broken down bus had yet to be "mended," according to our tour guide, who was also named Matt. 

Hopped on the bus, which was my first car ride in over a month, and sat behind a couple from Boston. Yay for Americans! I slept most of the way to our first destination, Stonehenge, but opened my eyes long enough to see some magnificent fall foliage. I guess the trees in Cambridge are just a little slow getting into the fall festive mood, but once we got out of town and on the motorway, we got some spectacular scenery. Best way to describe it would be that it reminded me of the hilliness of Arkansas with the greenery of New Hampshire.

Our drive made me recall this picture I took one fall in Stillwater. You know when the leaves are so fiery that the bark is a dark charcoal color, almost like it got burnt? That's my favorite. Contrast those colors against the darkest gray-blue of a sky right before a storm, and I'm in heaven. Gorgeous.

Also in the few minutes that I was not dead to the world and leaning back with my mouth wide open, I saw some fun road signs. They are a little different than those in the U.S. I dare say that people follow them better here because I haven't really noticed any bad drivers.

No, we did not drive through a war zone. However, we did drive through a portion of the Salisbury plain, which is where military training takes place. No tanks spotted crossing, but we did see some pheasant hunters shoot down some birds literally ten feet from the edge of the road. Did not feel safe knowing bullets were flying so nearby.

Give Way = Yield, same shaped sign with more extensive wordage.

And finally, among the thousands of sheep dotting the countryside on our road trip was a lone English gent. He was trekking through his pasture, decked out in riding cap, galoshes, and smart knickers. He looked very similar to this picture I found on the internet when I typed in "English country gent."

Love it when Google knows exactly what I'm looking for.

Well, apparently more than just a few little goings-on have been going on. I did not intend for that post to be so lengthy. Thanks for making it through. Like I said, you really have a treat coming your way tomorrow and Tuesday. I'll post some real life pictures from our visits to Stonehenge and the city of Bath. Until then, I'd just like to throw a shout out to my 8-0 Cowboys!!! Whoo hoo! Also, congrats you Thetas at OSU for finally doing well in the homecoming house deck competition. My best to you all!!!