Neolithic Wanderings

And now for the weekend's events!

Last Thursday, my flatmates and I booked a day trip for Saturday with Anderson Tours to Bath and Stonehenge for £42 (I found a £3 off coupon online!). Saturday came around, and we were fortunate because of all the stops where the coach picked up people, ours was the last. So, we boarded the coach at 9 AM instead of 7:30 AM like some folks.

Anyways, off we went to Stonehenge. Yes, the Stonehenge, as my brother asked. After about a 1.5 hour drive, we arrived in the middle of a grassy, sheep-sprinkled area and were greeted by huge stones set upright in the earth....ringed by a crowd of picture-snapping tourists. We made our way through the throngs and caught a few of our own pictures only to realize that we were walking in the beetle haven of England. Seriously, those bugs were everywhere. And landed everywhere. Gross. Not surprisingly, I high-tailed it outta there just as fast as possible! I would have liked more time to appreciate the monument, but the bugs were a much more pressing concern. Obviously. :)

I've been reading my British history book on long tube rides, especially down to the Globe Theatre, and it tells me that Stonehenge was an amalgamation of a few types of monuments made by the Neolithic peoples, who came before the Bronze Age ones. I've learned quite a bit just in a few pages, but I won't bore you with the details.

Alrighty, finished with Stonehenge and off to Bath. I didn't know much about Bath before arriving, but after touring for a few hours, I was thoroughly impressed. When the Romans occupied Britain, they built a bath house and temple around and on the only warm water natural spring located in Great Britain. Over time, the area was used for varied purposes including a king's bath in the Medieval Times as well as a posh vacation spot in the early 1800s. We toured the area that held the original temple and the bath. In fact, I walked on the original structure laid by the Romans almost 2000 years ago. Various parts of the temple survived and were on display in the nearby museum. The temple was dedicated to Minerva Sol, a combined deity of Roman and native English gods. I've got quite a few neat picture of the original decorations and stones.

I also paid 50p (50 pence or $1) to have a glass of the bath's water which is supposedly high in minerals. Blegh. It was warm and rather metallic tasting. Maneeza, one of my flatmates, and I went together to get some, and we both managed to finish an entire glass. Crazy.

After finishing the Bath tour, we decided to grab some lunch since it was about 2:30 PM (my meals do not tend to be at terribly regular times). And, oh my goodness, we found the cheapest place EVER. Just £3 bought me a steak Cornish pasty, a flapjack bar (blondie), and a can of Fanta. Back in London, or at nearly every cafe, such a meal would require at least double that. Best £3 I've spent thus far on the trip. Also, don't try to do the conversion on prices. It gets depressing very quickly...so I don't eat out a lot.

The coach (not bus, here it's a 'coach') ride back was about 2.5 hours, and I had earlier decided not to bring my history book. Not terribly smart. Ah well, I got in a little nap.

On Sunday, I was able to go to a morning service for the first time since being here. I've started attending Bethesda Baptist Church, and while it's a small congregation the people are like a big family, one that has welcomed me. Their makeup is kind of interesting-- at least half, probably more, are from the Philippines. Over time, I think a core group related to one another attracted other Filipinos in London. After church, they were having a lunch to celebrate June birthdays, so we all went upstairs and had some wonderful roasted chicken, bacon alfredo pasta, salad, and some type of really good egg desert with fruit. I got to chat with a young woman who had been teaching in London for about five years at a Montessori elementary school and over the course of our conversation, she asked to take me to one of the big parks of London and show me around before she left for a visit to the Philippines in late July. The pastor's wife, Elna, also spoke to me about their recent camping trip to Wales and said she'd tell me about their next trip. Hopefully we'll get to go!

As I remarked earlier, the church is conservative, as are most of England. The Bible readings are all done in the King James Version, and we sang a few hymns before the pastor spoke (for 1 hour, solid). I really do think there's something to be said about using hymns instead of constantly clamoring for 'praise music' as my generation does (which has it's own place). Church is not meant to entertain you; it's a way to gather with Christians and praise and learn about God. The pastor spoke for an hour straight, and while I had to work pretty hard to stay focused the entire time, there was much to be gained by staying with him. His style of Biblical analysis is something I've never encountered. I'm not sure if his style is unique to this country or not, but in comparison to what I've grown up with, it's a bit different. While a pastor at home might take a few verses from a single chapter, expound on them, and provide some auxilary support with other verses, the pastor at Bethesda took three entire chapters from Mark and showed how they all interlinked to display the sovereignty of Christ. His approach is definitely Bible-based but from a different angle-- almost like a literary analysis. It was neat to look at the Sunday School stories I've known all my life from a new vantage point.

After finishing up a delightful fellowship, I returned back to the flat and rested until about 5 PM when four of us took off for the Globe Theatre again, this time to see King Lear. Again, the presentation was very good, but because I haven't read the play I couldn't follow along with what was happening very well. Plus, I didn't have a wall to lean on this time. :) But hey, £5 for a ticket? I'm in!

I know, I know, I still don't have flat pictures up. They're on their way....at some point. I'll write more tomorrow about my upcoming internship and how my class is going. Oh! And I posted my address below, but if you'd like me to send you anything while I'm over here (postcard, letter, etc.), be sure to leave your address in the comments section or email/facebook me. Thanks!

And here's a link for my Stonehenge and Bath pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2069302&l=dda81&id=36107967