It's been a while since I last posted so I thought I'd give it a whirl again. There have been several times in the last few days where I have thought, 'Ooh, I should blog about that' but alas, as with many things in my life, they have been left unaccomplished. I'll try to update this more often, and I ask you to have patience with my absent-mindedness when I forget.
London turned out to be wonderful, the last couple of days it was mostly cloudy with only a little rain. I ended up going to Stonehenge and Cambridge on my last couple of days in England. Stonehenge was breath-taking, simply has to be seen in person to be truly appreciated. My newly found couchsurfing friend, Aaron, and I laughed at all the people who were jumping for pictures. They'd try to get the timing right of course, but this usually took several tries and in the mean time the ones who were out of shape were having quite a difficult time continuing jumping. This doesn't mean I would've done any better mind you, I just know not to jump a lot anymore because I'll get unnecessarily winded and only have a stupid picture to show for it. I went on a 'punting' tour in Cambridge, where you sit in a canoe-like boat while a 'punter' stands on the back of the boat and propels it forward by using a wooden or metal pole. You don't go very fast, but that's really not the point of punting. He gave commentary as we went so it was interesting to hear about all the different colleges and how they came into being. Unfortunately it rained for about half the trip which made it a 'shame' as the Brits who I was sitting with kept calling it. Afterwards I went to the King's College Chapel which was quite inspiring. A ton of stained glass, and the largest vaulted fan ceiling in the world. My only real regret about Cambridge was that I wasn't able to stay longer, I had to be back in time for my couchsurfing host's evangelistic service at church.
My couchsurfing host was a devout Christian, and I was inspired to live more for Christ on a daily basis by being around him, something I hope to inspire in others as well. His church was quite interesting and definitely different from the church that I go to back home (shout out to all you Creekers, you know who you are.) They sang hymns with an organ, and not just hymns but 17th and 18th century hymns, by people such as John Wesley and Martin Luther, among many others. Some would argue that the old hymns have more depth than today's worship songs and after singing some of them, I don't necessarily agree with them. The main difference is more verses and words, but essentially a lot of the verses say the same thing, just with different words. Modern worship repeats the same words over and over again, allowing you to really concentrate on the meaning of the words and ideally enter into a more worshipful experience. Often though, the songs go on, and on, and on, as my parents used to lament after church when I was growing up. We would laugh about who counted how many times we would sing the chorus to many of the songs. Obviously you have moved past a worshipful experience at this point and are either irritated or glad to practice singing. My hats are off though to those of you who can worship for the entire time, I really wish I could but I simply can't, either because I'm just not spiritual enough or because I have adult ADHD. My psychiatrist assures me that it's simply the fact that the symptoms of bipolar and ADHD overlap, but I wonder as I often have a hard time concentrating on one thing for very long, as this blog can attest to. Now, what was I talking about again? haha
Richard was my couchsurfing host in London, and he was great. Very hospitable like all couchsurfers and opened his home to the stranger as we're commanded to do in Scripture (can I say that being a couchsurfing host is commanded by Scripture? Probably not, but I think it's safe to say in the states that Christians need to be better practioners of hospitality than most of us currently are.) He was confused at the notion of how Aaron (another couchsurfer who stayed there and also happened to be American, and taking a round the world trip, and starting in London, and from Florida, weird, but anyways) and I would use the word 'awesome' to describe seemingly ordinary things, such as public transportation. We said that was our culture, to say awesome all the time and to exaggerate in general. It makes life better, and stories way more interesting, oops, there I go exaggerating again, haha. He made us this stuff called Holix, which helped me to get to sleep since I was fighting jet lag so badly. He also made us traditional English porridge, known more commonly in the USA as oatmeal. I've never been a fan of oatmeal, and still don't like it, but I at least ate most of it as not to be rude. Richard lived with 6 others, according to him, who all came from different walks of life but shared a common faith. As those of you who know me can imagine, I loved staying there for a week as it was something that was right up my alley.
Yesterday I arrived in Amsterdam after a short 40 minute flight and was amazed at how quickly I got through security. In London it took two hours to get through security whereas in Amsterdam it only took probably less than 5 minutes. The passport control officer barely looked at me before he stamped my passport and sent me on through to get my luggage. Another thing I forgot to mention, apparently my bag doesn't count as a carry-on, d'oh! So now I have to pay those annoying checked bag fees which I've managed to avoid for the most part on my travels, usually only carrying a backpack for trips of a week or less. Admittedly, I'm a little ashamed that I couldn't fit it all into a carry-on, but in the same breath they let me use it as a carry-on from Sarasota to New York City.
Karl is my host in Amsterdam, and he's awesome! He's really funny, having what he refers to as Dutch sarcasm. I remember that a little from my time here in '07, and I remember enjoying it thoroughly then as well. I'm sleeping on an air-mattress this time around, last time in London it was an actual bed. In both places I lucked out with getting a room all to myself, which my mom will say is a very good thing since I tend to 'spread out' as she calls it. Probably each of my former roommates would say the same thing, I guess we all have our flaws :) We have talked quite a bit about politics and healthcare since I've arrived. As many of you know, I love to talk politics, although this time it's with someone I agree with, in the states it's usually with people I disagree with, which makes it a little more fun and animated. Is it really any surprise that I agree with a European on politics more than Americans in general, at least the Americans I associate with? I'll try not to dive too deeply into politics right now, as I like to save that for little bits here and there, sometimes a little more than a 'bit.' We had pizza tonight, and laughed when we were in Albert Hein (their national grocery store) and saw the difference between an 'Italian' pizza and an 'American' one. One was even called the 'Big American' as a title of the pizza, hilarious. We opted for the Italian one, probably a good choice since I need to watch my weight. Tonight he asked me who my favorite singers were and I told him Jack Johnson and Ben Harper. To this he replied, "Is Jack Johnson the one associated with the monkey movie?" "Yes, if you're referring to Curious George." haha He hadn't heard of Ben Harper so he pulled him up on a website and I've been listening to him through his great sound system ever since. Meanwhile Karl has gone to bed but the blog calls for me to stay up a little bit.
Travelling is a big part of me, and probably always will be. I love experiencing other cultures, although sometimes I do listen to my I-pod just to hear some English speaking people if nothing else. What is it about travel that lures me in like a fish attracted to worms? I think it's just the different and 'out of the ordinary' that comes with it. For whatever reason I tend to thrive in these situations where I'm dropped in a country and need to find my way around. That's one of the few things I would argue I'm decent at. For this, my life is deeply enriched. During the housing market crash I was tempted to buy a house. It was basically a decision between that and this trip, and I couldn't be happier with my decision. Who wants to take care of a house when you can travel the world for 8 months instead? :) Actually, I know quite a few people who would seemingly rather that, at least that's where their money goes if that says anything, which it usually does. Nothing wrong with owning a house, mind you, it's just not for me at this point in my life. It seems like the more stuff you have the more you have to worry about, so I like to keep it simple and have a car and relatively few other possessions when compared to most other people that I am around. It's different, I know, but it works for me and I love it.
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