Texas Embassy & Prime Meridian

This week we were also able to go to the Texas Embassy to celebrate Jean's birthday. Her sweet aunt and mom (who know the owners of the Embassy) made us reservations and set everything up for us. When we got there the table was decorated and ready for the birthday! It was so nice to have chips, hot sauce, and margaritas! We closed our eyes and pretended we were at home! There is also a wall in the restaurant that everyone signs there names and we of course added ours. There were also a lot of other Baylor students names from Baylor Great Brittan this summer.

Tonight in the FREEZING rain and sleet we walked up to the Prime Meridian in Greenwich. We were so glad we went at night though because there is a green light that shows in the sky representing the prime meridian. It was defiantly worth the trek up the hill to see!

While we were trying to find the meridian we ended up at a cute area where i saw this Carosel and had to take a picture of.

Thanksgiving week...

Thanksgiving in London?

Being in London over the holiday was a little weird... we were able to find a service at St. Paul's cathedral for Americans. It was really neat to see all of the people gathered together for the service even when we went in America. It did make us all a little homesick though. The ambassador spoke and there was a big flag procession which was really neat to see a lot of the people at the service we emotional which was interesting to see.

Friday was my last day of teaching at the schools here! It was bittersweet, I have really come to love the students here but I am excited about getting back to my students in America. I was able to watch a final christmas musical performance which ive been spending a lot of time on helping the teachers get it ready! Mrs. Prestwhich, the teacher i was working with, was so sweet and made a book for me with letters from each of the students thanking me and telling me how they would miss me! It was so cute.. i included a couple of pictures one is of the outside of the book and the other is one of the kids letters.

Sorry its been so long!

Well it has been awhile since my last post. We have done some fun things! Sara and Josh came into town so its been great to have some comfort of home with us. This weekend Paige went to Norway so Sara, Josh, Jean and I did some exploring on our own. Travel was stressful because there were a few tubes that are under construction London is preparing for the next Olympics so things are pretty stressful! On Friday night we had some great Chinese food at Wagamama which is a neat modern restaurant. On Saturday we went to Kinsington Palace which was the home of Diana then we went and did some shopping at Harrods! Josh really enjoyed the large crowds and shopping with 3 girls! We stopped at a beatuful park that was outside Kinsington Palace.

the second half of the tour

These are a few pictures that I took at Oxford. The first two pictures are "Harry Potter" themed. The first one is the lightning bold that inspired part of the movies and the other picture is where they filmed different parts of the movie.

The next two pictures are also at Oxford. The one on the left is one of the colleges in Oxford and the other picture is one of the dorms. We were able to go to the gift shops and get some Oxford clothing!

Over the weekend

These are some picutres from our weekend. The tour turned out to be really nice. Starting at the top are picutres of Stonehenge. It was neat to see and to hear about. After that is a picture of Big Ben which i took while we were touring parliment. The tour was amazing but we didnt get to take any picutres on the inside. We were able to see some really great things like where the queen addresses the nation and where Winston Churchill would rub his ring on the podium when he was giving speeches and would get nervous. The last picutre is a picutre of Windsor Castle where we went today. The flag on the top of the building shows if the queen is in that today or not. Luckily she was in today! but we didnt get to see her...

The fun continues....

What a week we have had! Its gone much faster because we were working in the classrooms. The schools here are so different than the ones at home. The students are very independent and learning so differently than at home. It is a lot of fun to watch the students and listen to them speak to each other. I have also picked up an English accent! You have to use the words they are familiar with so they know what your talking about (example: America- put your trash in the trash can England- put your rubbish in the bin) I also have a student who looks exactly like Jason! We also went to a Christmas tree lighting tonight in Kingston which is the bigger city close to us. Tomorrow we are touring Westminster Abbey and Parliament then off to Oxford, Stone Henge and Windsor Castle on Saturday so I will have more pictures to update!

Today was a very cold and windy day in London! It was also remebrance day for the veterans. The picture are from Wesminster Abbey. We also went to the London bridge and then to the Tower of London. We came back early then went out to dinner at Pizza Hut! It was one of the best meals weve had so far!

Rainy Day in London

These are a few of the things we saw today. We went to Harrods and had a great time shopping! I found a sushi place where its served on the conveyor belt i took a picutre but didnt eat there! Each person we talk to and tell we are from American asks us if we like Obama or not and I think Jeans picture explains that for us! The black and white picture is a picture of Harrods with all of the Christmas Lights on.

Today was a rainy day in London! We went to the aquarium and saw lots of neat things. We were also able to take a couple of good picutres of the London eye during breaks of the rain.

Picutres from the walking tour today....

These all picutres from today when we went walking all over London! I think we walked a million miles and ive got a blister already! but it was worth it! The first picutre is Big Ben, the second is the London Eye which we had high tea on today, next is a picutre i took while we were walking and last is a picture of Paige and I's tiny room!

London so far!

Well we finally made it around 7:40 London time on Thursday.This is us and all over our luggage! Jean is on the left and Paige is in the middle. The flight wasnt as bad as I thought it was going to be! So far we have done so much I dont even know where to begin. We walked all around Surbition which is the area we live on Thursday and today we walked around London. So here are some pictures from so far!