Saturday 29 May 2010

How did I have so much time before?

I haven't posted in so long! Bundles of things have happened in the past week. I have had incredible experiences and seen a heap of stuff! I am wondering how in the weeks earlier I had so much time to do fancy blog post. I am feeling now the pressure of time crunching in on me to accomplish all that I have dreamed of while I am here and to also update my blog properly so that everyone is well informed on my jocular life. Because I know you will all be so sad if I even as so much miss one amusing detail.
As of right now this is the only picture I have from Scotland. My camera is dead but soon after it charges I will post more photos from my BEAUTIFUL weekend in Scotland. It was such a great time. We had amazing weather, a beautiful hotel out in the countryside, and a lovely beach day. I could tell story after story and most likely I will when I put more pictures up! Kelsey and I did have the opportunity to spread the Gospel though! Giving away a Book Of Mormon (thanks Gavin for lending that to me, I owe you) was such an exhilarating feeling to know that if nothing else we at least planted a little seed inside this mans heart.
After Scotland we had a few days here in London town. On Monday night we were all sitting in the bedroom laughing as usual when I laughed a little to hard and fell back and hit my head on the side of the metal bed. I blacked out, and fell to the other side and hit my head on the dresser... fun times. I got a little concussion and spent the next 14 hours throwing up anything that touched my tongue.

Between my blurry, double vision and dizzy head ache I was a mess! Quite comical and pretty sure this is something that would only happen to me! On Wednesday we went to Stratford-upon-avon. The place of shakespeare's birth and childhood. We also went to a castle. When we got to the castle I was so dizzy they got me a wheel chair. Ha, I used it for about five minutes then decided I felt so stupid that I would rather walk in circles then use the special chair!
Well, I have a ton of stuff to say but I am going to wait until I have my pictures on my computer!
Love you all
em

Wednesday 19 May 2010

The Simple Things


I feel like my last two blog post have been super long and way intense! I was thinking earlier today of all the simple things I love about London. I love the guitar/singers in the tube station, I love walking miles a day, I love the clouds, the culture, my friends here, the beautiful churches all the history and I am even learning to love the people. They aren't incredibly outgoing, loud people but they have a sweetness about them. I love all the shopping, markets, fruit stands, cobble stone roads, the pretty doors and so much more. The only thing I am really not getting used to is the amount of pigeons. I think I will forever and always hate them. Here is just some random fun pictures from my journey thus far.

More pictures, less writing... my kind of blog, to bad I have a lot to say

The abridged version of my first day in Paris!
An adventure to say the least. We arrived at the Eurostar station fifteen minutes prior to the trains departure thinking we were just doing great. Wrong, we were supposed to be there a minimum of thirty minutes before the train derails. Luckily we were able to rush through customs and literally sprint to the doors of our box cart, which happen to be the very, very first doors of the mile long train.
On the train we looked at the map and found the road our hotel was on! Ru de la tour was highlighted in pretty purple. Kelsey and I figured out every subway stop and switch we had to take to arrive to our much awaited hotel in the shortest amount of time possible! Having it all written down and color coded we were on our way! Everything was running smoothly, the fact that we got on the tube going the wrong way and had to go in a big circle didn't even bother us one bit because we were so excited, and just happy to be on the right tube at all!
We made it! After switching from french train to french train not understanding one single thing Kelsey and I were so proud that we had finally found Ru De La Tour. Next step, find hotel! We didn't think it would be that hard of a task, hotels are usually pretty big and stick out like sore thumbs when they are the only one around. Walking the cobble stone road up and down and back up and down again we began to feel a little defeated. Our efforts of arriving promptly weren't going quite as planned! We stopped at a boutique and asked the lady if she could help. Seeing the address she was able to just point and mumble in french. Off we went, arriving at the exact address of the hotel we were a little puzzled, it was a car insurance place and a spa, we thought maybe the hotel was on top of the spa... it wasn't. Walking, walking, walking we did, all over this city just out side main streets of paris. Asking anyone who looked safe for direction, we didn't feel comfortable asking just any old man for direction in fear that he would see our address and then come kill us in the night. Finding a hotel (that wasn't ours) was such a relief! Someone had to speak english inside. Kelsey and I went in and explained what we were trying to find. He was very concerned and asked us if we had a map, of course we did, we had more then we could count. He looks at my highlighted route and says "you see where you are here", "yes" I replied in hopes he would say something like, just turn left you silly girl. Instead he decided to point to the complete other side of the map and inform me that "I needed to get off at Torcy, and then it is somewhere over there", he wiggled is finger off the map. Off the map, literally, we were off the map! Kelsey and I had to have a laughing moment. How could we not find humor in this situation. We decided our only option was to try and find this hotel since we had already payed for it. Let me take a moment to explain how we got so off course. We had a map of paris and a few small cities surrounding it, when we found the road that our hotel was on we just assumed it was the right Ru De La Tour, it would be the same as someone in Arizona going to stay in phoenix and having a map of phoenix and scottsdale, finding say Bell Road on the map then finding out the hotel they booked was actually in Mesa on Bell Road, why would they have a map of Mesa with them when they are staying in Phoenix. (this is all just so you can figure out how this happened)
Once again the mapping out begins. Tube stations are distinguished, the switches that need to me made are precise. We went and told the other 2 we were with what happened and our plan to trek across the country. Lugging our luggage through numerous stations, overcoming the language barrier and braving the cold, rainy wind we made it to our final stop, Torcy.
Where the hell are we is the only thing I could think when I stepped off the pee infused tube. The station its self was a horrifying mess even compared to the nasty ones we had just left behind in Paris. We tried exiting the station only to be unsuccessful. We were so far out of the city that our tube passes were in a different jurisdiction. There were swarms of white tank top, gold chain, tattooed, colored men going in and out of the station. (I like to be accurate in my descriptions but I feel like I am am precisely accurate here I will sound like a racist) They could clearly see that we were stuck, helpless and lost. One of them came up behind me and told me to fallow him, I know, I know it sounds horrifyingly scary, and partly it was but he really was just helping us get out of the station. He kindly swiped some magic pass that opened the handicap gate and aloud us small white children to pass through with ease.

The search begins. Our map only had a sliver of Torcy's outskirts printed on it so we did have somewhat of an idea as to where were were. A lady on the bus tried to explain what direction we needed to head. She was difficult to decipher and all Kelsey and I could gather from her broken english was that we needed to go left from the station. And that we did, into this vast unknown land of slums and ghettos. Our search for direction began with a man who worked at some sort of electronic store. The short walk from the station to the store should have been a giant indicator that we were 1. in the wrong spot 2. we were not safe 3. we should just run for our lives. I have never seen so many scary things in my life. The electronic man wasn't sure exactly but he thought it was to the left, or right, or maybe behind us... We fallowed his vague direction blindly seeing it was the only thing we had to go off of.
Wondering in what we thought was the right direction, there was a constant prayer in all of our hearts (I am just assuming that there was one in everyones heart because there was one in mine). For me it wasn't even a prayer that we would find our hotel, just a prayer that we might stay safe and keep our chins up as our journey grew long. It had been hours since we first started the search, it was cold, rainy and our bags were weighing us down. None the less we pressed forward with faith trusting that in due time we would find our hotel and reach safety.
Hour passed, the acceptable people to talk to grew far and few between. The looks and vibes thrown at us from gang members and crack heads were less then appealing. The homeless and drug addicted that lay on the street became more frequent and the inner city grew closer to our feet.
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This picture might look pretty but don't be fooled, it is a giant trap of rape and death. Each person we spoke with kept mentioning water and some sort of bridge or under/overpass we needed to cross. The only thing we could find that was remotely similar to their description was a freeway underpass slash drug dealing alley. Don't even worry though we conquered that alley like champs. Only to find our selves walking onto the onramp of a freeway. Oops! Rushing across the freeway to somewhat of a safe zone we found yet another not ours hotel. You had to ring a bell just to get into the lobby. The hotel concierge wasn't as well versed in the english language as the last. After much explaining she finally understood what were asking her for. A sweet glimmer of hope, we were close! She informed us that we were very close, so close we couldn't take a taxi. Great music to our ears quickly turned in to the repetitive sound of the death march in our hearts. Her directions, though written down and seemingly clear took us further and further into the far outskirts of this already far away city.

Zig zagging through and through we pushed onward. Some let the obstacles of the day bring their spirits down while others knew their was only one thing to do; suck it up, put a smile on and figure out what to do next. we tried and tried and tried again and again to find this mysterious hotel. It was getting late which brought more cold and rain and the much dreaded darkness of night.
Mister Bed City - Torcy Photo
Enter Hotel Mr. Bed, located conveniently next to an orphanage and some other sad and scary buildings. We entered our third hotel in desperation. They spoke even less english then before but were still willing to try and help. Kelsey and i bought there expensive internet, 15 minutes for 6 euro. We didn't have much of an option. Making the decision that even if we had found our hotel the thought of coming back into this part of the world so late at night, or any time for that matter was not okay. Hotel scrapped. All this work not done in vain but in learning. It taught me a great deal about traveling, and also about my self, how I handle strange and tiring situations.

We looked up hotels near the Eiffel Tower, there were plenty. Safety and location far out weighed the daunting price tag that came along with a hotel in the inner parts of parts of paris.
Back to the tube station we went. We had to purchase tickets to get back into it though because we didn't have our nice gang member friend to save our lives. Of course we all bought the wrong non refundable ticket because everything was in french. So after two tries of ticket buying the excursion began, the mapping and highlighting routes was never ending. Our spirits were full of hope, knowing we were on our way back to safety was all we needed to hear. Even if we didn't know where we would go once we got there.
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Safety at last. Not the pictures above, those are of Torcy. But in this story, finally we made it to safety. Who would have ever thought I would be referring to the heart of Paris as safety? We entered one of the hotel options we had written down, they quickly turned us away because there were four of us and they would only allow three to a room. Fine by us, we are good walkers and had no problem walking to the next hotel and devising a plan to get all four of us in one room. Gavin and I pretended to be brother and sister as we left kelsey and lindsey outside the hotel. This made it easy to request two beds instead of one. They only had one night open and we needed two. It was going to be okay though. I knew in my heart that everything would work out fine, that my dad would take care of me and make sure I was safe. We booked our one night, two twin bed room and gallivanted off to the eiffel tower to watch the glimmering lights. It melted so much stress to see the tower twinkle. We returned with Kelsey and Lindsey entering one by one and Gavin and I fallowing a few moments behind, so sneaky we are! I headed to the lobby and purchased more expensive internet. I had to get ahold of my dad. I sent him a frantic e-mail on a dumb french keyboard and tried briefly explaining the course of events and pleaded with him for any sort of help or assistance he could give. Sorry that e-mail was so scary dad! I then headed to the pay phone to make a collect call and tell him to check his e-mail. No hope, not one single person I called accepted my charges! And trust me, I called all of you. Nearly every single person in my phone was called multiple times, I just needed them to tell my dad to check his e-mail. It was the only thing that started to bring me down, hearing a loved ones voice say "hello", then listening to the click of the other line when the automated woman started talking. I put five of my hard earned euro into the pay phone in hopes that my dad would magically answer. Hearing his voice mail brought tears to my eyes after a long stressful day, all I wanted was to hear his voice and listen to him as he reassured me that he was proud of me and loved me for trying. I wanted him to tell me what action to take next. To help me decide what to do for the next day. I left him a teary voice mail of words I can't remember and headed to sleep. Waking up early that next morning I felt so bad trying to make another collect phone call home. I knew it was late at night and my family would be sleeping. I dialed anyway and clenched the phone tightly as I heard two rings. Shelleys sweet voice came on the phone and again tears were brought to my eyes. Tears of exhaustion. I had been so strong all day pushing forward and doing all I could to keep a positive outlook on a seemingly gloomy situation. Shelley accepted all charges (thank you shelley) and my dad came on the line. Hearing his voice was being fed for the first time in three days. I was so happy to know that he was taking care of me. Not that I ever doubted that he would, he loves me and always wants me to be safe and have the best. My Dad booked us an amazing hotel room at the Hilton, everyone was thrilled, more than thrilled, I can not even think of a word to describe the amount of joy we all felt. The Hilton staff to amazing care of us, everything from that moment forward was perfect. My trip in Paris was amazing, I loved every single moment and appreciated all that I saw. I am so grateful for my parents for helping me when I could not longer help my self. I am grateful they raised me to be strong and to be directive, to make the most of every moment and always have a smile on my face. I am also blessed that they raised me to always have faith in the Lord and never give up my trust in him, he will always lead us to safety.
Well, there you have it, my real first day in Paris experience. Use your imagination to picture me, a little white, blonde American lost in the land of these people and places!
the end
:)

Tuesday 18 May 2010

Going backwards....

All my pictures are out of order (and I am to lazy to try and arrange them), so this blog is going to be a little all over the place. I promise you will live though, it is going to be okay and you will still enjoy it!
Kelsey and I went to the London Tower, which is commonly mistaken for the London Bridge. The London Bridge (yes there is one in Arizona) is actually just an average looking overpass. The London Tower (easily confused with the Tower of London) is a bridge that looks like it came out of an old Disney Movie. It was such a beautiful day, the view from the top of the bridge was breath taking at dusk. We had to ask about 9 people to take our picture because they were all half retarded.
If you were going to take a photo for someone standing on a bridge what do you think they would want in the background, A: the building to the side, B:the trees on the other side C: just zoomed in so it is only their faces or D: the water and the view? Ya D, you would think that was a pretty obvious request, it sure wasn't.
These elephants are everywhere! I think they have over 10,000 of them through out the city! Crazy! There are some that are really beautiful, others that are weird and some that are just down right ugly. I thought this little polka dot one was extra cute.

Yesterday was some day of recognition for Norway, Kelsey and I found it absolutely necessary to dress up and go celebrate with the norwegian people! We went to the most lagit club I have ever been to! Ir was called The Zoo. It was crazy for a Monday night, so much fun!
These are some cute boys from Spain we met at the Zoo. They loved us, actually every single person in that club loved us!

We also met the tallest man in London (or so he says) when we were walking to the bridge. They have the London Dungeon, it is like a haunted house year round. How funny!

We did everything you could ever think of to do in Paris.
What a beautiful day! Look how fun all those people laying on the lawn look! You can hardly see us standing on the steps! We climbed all those steps with all our luggage (this was on our way to the train station) I think there was like 7,000 steps, not joking!

We had a picnic in the park facing the Eiffel Tour! Can you say amazing!! This man laid down next to us and literally just stared at us for nearly 2 hours. I don't even know how I was able to snap this shot when he looked away for 2 seconds!
These french people were so funny. They were blaring Michael Jackson! Doing every dance move and singing every word. I don't think they had any idea what they were actually saying though. We filmed them for over 20 minutes. It was so funny, I laughed so hard.
We LOVE carbs!!!!

I know, this is just a little bit gross and totally random! I wish this picture better showed just how big that blister was! That my friends is my pinky toe. The blister was honestly 3/4 of my toe. GROSS!
This is us picnicking in front of the Eiffel Tour. (And for the recored on all our maps and hand outs they spell tower 'tour', so it isn't that I can't spell, it is that I am being french)

Gavin fake proposed to Lindsey when we got to the top. I took a million pictures. People were clapping and cheering and congratulating them, I was so embarrassed!
One of the many breath taking views from the top!
I was so nervous when we first went up. I relaxed after a few minutes though and had a great time! Everyone needs to do this in their lifetime!
This was taken at Arc De Triomphe, you can't really tell though because some people just don't have natural picture taking skills.

I am so obsessed with the boat tour of paris. It was so romantic. I can see why it is the city of Love. It was beautiful!
Here we are! It got pretty chilly on the boat at night!

Yep, there I am! I had to pinch my self every few minutes and remind my self that I was in freaking Paris! I tried to take in every moment, appreciate everything, learn as much and have as much fun as I possibly could! I think I accomplished my goals well!
At the Louvre! My jaw was dropped to the floor for hours that day. I was in awe at all the incredible history that is there. Did you know the Louvre used to be a prison, a library and a stock exchange place? Learned that from the commentary on the bus! Love it!
I wish you could tell how cool this egyptian stone really is!
Smallest painting in the world. Is that why the Mona Lisa is famous? Or is it famous for having the most glass and barricades around it? Just kidding! It really is beautiful!
Seriously how lucky am I? I saw so many amazing things! Things people learn about in text books and dream of seeing! I feel so blessed and so grateful for all the experiences I have had!

We loved walking the streets of paris, so many picture opportunities! Thanks Gavin for taking so many pictures of us girls! Wish you could have been in more of them!
The famous Notre Dame! So stunning. The had a bread festival going on in a ten outside the church! It was extra crowded and extra fun!
We were so lucky! The second night we were there they were having a huge party across from the Eiffel Tower! It was a bunch if semi-famous french people singing. The people were freaking out, they loved it so much! I think we enjoyed it just as much even though we couldn't understand one word! We had a great time watching everyone and dancing along to the music. We were trying to ask a group of girls what the festival was for. They spoke very little english though and had a hart time explaining. What we got out of the conversation was that it was a festival for scouts in the suburbs. Ha! That couldn't have been the truth though. They were cute and tried really hard to explain it. I guess we will never know!
I tried to take a picture to show how many people were there. It was insane! You would have thought the Beatles and Elvis had come and done a performance together there were so many people! There were some crazies there for sure! We saw a man literally peeing on a tree in front of thousands of people. Yes we took a picture and you can see his stream ever so clear. I think that might be a bit inappropriate to put up though!
Oh, boy do we love crepes or what! They are just so amazingly perfect in every way. I think I am going to stop eating bread and just put everything inside a crepe! They are fabulous.

Yep, there I am! Not a whole lot to say! You can take an underground tunnel to get to it look around. You can also pay to go up to the top for a few euro. I have no idea how people drive around this thing though. Every taxi driver we had that had to take us passed here (our hotel was just down the street) was so crazy! I have no idea how we made it alive every time!

Oh what a wonderful weekend in the city of love!
After a rough first day (to put it lightly) in Paris seeing the Eiffel Tour all light up and sparkling melted any and every stress away.
Thanks to my amazing dad we were able to have not just a safe hotel, but an incredibly beautiful hotel to come home to after a long day of fun. We could actually see the Eiffel Tour from our window! How exciting is that!
This obviously isn't the view, just a picture I took!
Any one who has been to Paris I am sure you can relate to this story! Standing in line to go up to the top this gypsy came up to me and asked me to give her money. She handed me a tattered paper that said something about her mom blowing up and her dad being in captivity and how she had herpes or something totally stupid and made up. When I told her I was really sorry I didn't have any money she persisted so hard. She stood inches away from my face begging me for money. I had already given a few Euro to her gypsy clan and was sick of their lies and tricks. I continued to say ' no thank you, I'm sorry', after a while she stood almost nose to nose with me and said, 'F you' then pointed her finger at me and cursed me in some gypsy language and walked away. Seriously, SERIOUSLY! SO STUPID! Another short gypsy story, it was early in the morning and I was sitting on the curb waiting for our awesome bus to come when one of them came up to me. She said 'english, english, french'? I just stared at her with the blankest look I could find, she kept repeating 'english' I said no, and she was so confused, I just stared at her and said 'um... espanol, hola' she was so, so confused. She also cursed me in some freakish gypsy language and walked away. It made me and my team laugh pretty hard after she walked away.


We loved the red bus tour of the city! It had fabulous commentary and took the stress out of finding everything, it was like having a personal driver only better! Plus we didn't have to walk as much as we would have had to otherwise! When we first got on there wasn't any seats by each other so I sat next to an asian man. He was quite and didn't say anything to me until we were driving a long and WHACK a tree comes and hits him in the face! I tried so so hard not to laugh in his face. It really looked like it hurt. The poor little asian mans eye was cut, it looked like a rug burn on his cheek and little blood spots around his eye. He wasn't very happy.