Actually in England

We are now officially in England, and are having quite a time adjusting (see exhibit A pictured left). It rained the day we got here...no, rain isn't the right word. It felt more like the earth had reached its saturation point and started trying to send the water back to the heavens and the heavens didn't want it so the only place for it to go was into every article of clothing KaT and I were wearing. It wasn't necessarily hard rain, it was just all the time rain that came at us from every direction. It wouldn't have been quite as bad if all of our bags had arrived with us. But, alas, it was not so, and so I was without waterproof shoes or a raincoat until late in the evening on day two. KaT fared better than I did with her umbrella until a bus came by and splashed her from head to toe with muddy street water.

It also wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't insisted on making the most of our time and money by walking from our hotel to Buckingham Palace. I wasn't a total monster to my wife, we went by Harrod's on the way. It turned out to be a longer walk than I expected, and I thought I could figure out a shortcut on the way back. I refused to believe we were lost when the road along which we walked stopped being the road along which we had been walking. I refused again when I saw a sign that said "City of Westminster" (for those of you who know London, we were trying to get back to Earl's Court). However, when I came to the intersection of Chesham Place and Chesham Place, I was forced to admit defeat. We got directions and eventually made it back in one piece. As I type this now, I am still listening to my sweatshirt drip in the shower three days later.

So the first day was a wash in more ways than one. However, day two was a shining success. It was dry, and we even saw the sun every now and then. Because we knew it was supposed to rain today (our third day in London), which turned out to be spot on, we chose to do our outdoor sightseeing when we could stay dry. We saw Picadilly Circus (aptly named), Trafalgar Square, St. James Park, Parliament and Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, London Bridge (underwhelming is an overstatement), Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, Shakespeare's Globe and Borough Market. That evening, we saw them all again from the London Eye. It was a glorious day and, despite the rain today, so was the next. I even got a little teary-eyed as I took in all the sights I had waited my whole life to see. We spent a great deal of time today in the British Museum, which houses the Sutton Hoo burial artifacts of an Anglo-Saxon king. Many believe the king was Readwald, who protected the exiled prince Edwin from the usurper Ethelfrith. A little esoteric, yes, but it is a story that has become very special to me. I find this to be a magical place, haunted by a time the world would do well to remember.

For those of you who are a little queasy with the seriousness in the close of the last paragraph, I will end with a little more humour (haha, "mour") for you. Things we've learned so far:
1) You can drink in public in this wonderful country. In fact, the guy's exact words were "you can vomit in the bloody street."
2) In lieu of subtitles, many television shows in the UK superimpose a person in the bottom right corner of the screen to sign for their hearing-impaired viewers.
3) Starbucks bathrooms and Asian tourists (the ones with with a leader holding a flag) are the same regardless of the continent.
4) In our experience so far all of the stereotypes about British food are pretty accurate. KaTrina's stomach tried to give her first bite of bangers and mash back to her mouth. Her exact words were, "It tastes the way dirty diapers smell." Yay for meat pies in pubs, because we would be starving without them!

Please pray for our safe travel to York tomorrow as I will be trying my hand at drive on the right side of the car and left side of the road. Also, we are anxious about finding jobs and whatever furnishings we may need that aren't provided in our flat. We know that God will provide and ask that he will help us in our unbelief. God bless and thank you all for your prayers and well wishes.