Super Quick Entry

I am using my host family's internet, so my blog entries will be rare and short when i do write. so we are almost a month into our internship here in nottingham, england. i am loving it so far! i did not know the other intern i am working with before coming here, so i was so nervous about that. i will admit that the fact that it was a guy did not help my nervous, giving my track record and recent Trevor deal. however, it has been going good so far! I think that my...realization/decision when Brent said "no" and rejected me, helped me to just let down my guard and be myself. guys are no longer guys, but people, if that makes sense.

we've been helping at the youth clubs thursdays and fridays, and going in visits with various church menbers, and of course, going to church and helping to clean the building. we have met so many people that are all inspirations in various ways and the church is so different from the one back one. i love southern hills, but the church here is small and so they are a family, the way church is supposed to be. i wish i could write a super long blog, which i might. i'll go into nottingham some time this week and find a free wi-fi place and write an entry.

anyway, i am happy, good, and have not cried and am slowly and surely growing closer to God, thinking about my future, and making plans for it, and also, loving myself and letting go of the past while still learning from it and remebering it.

i know, i am a poet :)

Nottingham: Week 1( part I)

I have been into my internship for a week as of today. To quote one of my friends from his summer blog(copy cat! lol...jk), I cannot believe I have been into my internship a week. it all started a week ago today...

This week has been a lot of work yet also a lot of fun. We have spend the majority of this week being introduced to what we will be doing this summer, with the church, and cleaning the building. cleaning the building has been fun, I am surprised to say. I have always known that I sorta enjoy doing cleaning; not daily cleaning but like cleaning a building, a room, that sorta thing. however, this first week really really confirmed it for me. most every day we were in the church building, cleaning it out from top to bottom. It was tough work; the church building hasn't been cleaned out in almost a year so there was a lot of dust and junk in there! the first building we cleaned out was the main area. I cleaned the windows! the windows were the double tall kind, and there were about 4-5 of them and they were dirty! you could see the dust in those windows! I went through so many kitchen throw away rags, and after about 5 minutes it would be covered in black dirt! it was tough and my arm was a little tired at the end, but I did it! I had to stand on a ladder to do it also, so that added to the challange because I am afraid of heights. however, it was good and It felt good to see the windows nice and clean. someone commented that the room looked brighter because we had cleaned the dirt off the windows! that was our second day here, and I really liked it.

one of the things I have really liked about this internship is that they threw us in right away, they got us involved right off the bat. our second day here, we were cleaning the building you know? we have spent most of this first week helping to clean the building, before we even went on sunday. it was nice to walk into church the first sunday we were there(2 days ago) and had already been there,cleaning, involved, for several days. we also knew some people that were there, so we were not walking into a room ful of strangers you know? they got us involved right away, and to me,that is one of the major positives for this summer.

we have not just been cleaning though. our second day we went on this "nottingham adventure" scavenger hunt type thing set up by simon(out "leader" for the summer so to speak). basically, we had a list of questions set up to guide us through the city centre(downtown in american speak). it was so much fun! we caught the bus to nottingham, which is about 5-10 minutes and then we were off! we went to nottingham castle. not inside it, but I definetly want to. there was a statue of robin hood(based on a real person by the way) and scenes from the story on these plagues things along the wall. we caught a glipmse of the inside and it was beautiful! it was so cool! we then went to the oldest pub in england(supposedly) and the to the council house(town hall, which I called it when we asked for directions and the lady sorta did not understand what i meant). the council house looked pretty cool. it is this huge open area and there was this hufe fountain in the front. so cool!

it is time for dinner, so I will sign off and in my next post I will continue.

Good-Bye Scotland

It is the first day of June. May has come and gone, and it feels like my summer is starting. My time in Scotland did not feel like "summer" but as an "in-between." a time after my semester abroad and my World Wide Witness summer. I loved Scotland, dont get me wrong. the hills, I hated with a passion, but it is a beautiful cool country and I am so glad I came. I love their culture and their traditions and their legends and myths. still, where I truly want to be is in England, and that is where I am going to be tommorow. in a way, it feels like I am going back home. maybe it is because I've lived there for months now, but England feels very familiar to me.it feels familiar and comforting to me. Scotland does not feel like that; it feels like a nice place that I really really love spending time in, but not a place that I could call home. England is a place that I can call home.

Tomorrow is June 2, and at 10:30am I take a train to Newcastle, from there a train to Derby, and then a train to Long Eaton, which is in Nottingham!!I cannot believe it is really here, that I will be there tomorrow! :O I am nervous, I will admit. it's not like I have a lot of church experience, but I am also very excited and I just cannot wait to start!