Giving Thanks

We have so much to be thankful for. We went to a great Thanksgiving party at a friend's flat on Thursday night. About 15 of us piled into her small flat and shared a pot-luck style buffet of yummy food. Some faithful Amercians provided turkey, while some of the international students brought dishes from their respective countries. As a joke (and because they're all theater students), all the Americans did a short improvised play about the history of Thankgiving. We strayed pretty far from the true story by the end of it.
On Friday, we had just a few friends to our house for turkey. The best thing about hosting a turkey dinner is that you get to keep all the leftovers, so we knew we just had to have our own gathering. Good food and good company, who could ask for more? Although, we both missed our families on Thursday, it just didn't feel like Thanksgiving without them.
I started my new job this week and it went very well. There is a lot to learn, but they are pacing me so that I'm not overwhelmed. This week was mostly retail, but I start doing massage therapy next week. In the first few days I got very pampered because I had to learn all of the services by receiving them. So, I've had a couple chair massages, a make-over, a hand massage, and some aromatherapy. I love this job!
Peace,
Mandy

One Day at a Time

Hi Everyone!
Well, each day is a gift here. Andy's class schedule allows him to have differrent classes/instructors each day, so there's tons of variety in his life. Wednesdays seem to be the hardest on his body as they do acrobatics for several hours on that day. Mondays are somewhat exciting and difficult because it is the day that each small group presents the projects they worked on the previous week. He also has a "Space Lab" class on Saturdays which so far have involved a field trip around Centra London and on another day they used charcoal to draw different spacial concepts. Every once and a while he'll come home and teach me an exercise or game that they learned that day.
Just recently I had some spare time (as I am still waiting to start my new job) so I wandered around the city. I spent some time in St. Margaret's Church which is near Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. I also walked around the Picadilly and Covent Garden areas which are known for all their shops. My new favorite place in that area is a small bakery in China Town where you can get the most wonderful sweet red bean or lotus pastries. I'm hooked. I also found a great restaurant near my house with my friend Xan. We tried looking for a pub to hang out in, but they were all busy and noisy. We came across this great little cafe called "Babes and Burgers." The name is somewhat decieving. It was small and full of candlelight and we were seated in a booth right next to a classical guitarist who was just playing acoustically in a corner for the 6 or so customers there that night. They do have burgers, but they also have a lot of great healthy gourmet food that we proceeded to split as we are both on tight budgets.
Hmmm...other adventures...we both have seen a few interesting plays lately, we've been taking advantage of all the student discounts. Most of them are put on by smaller theater companies, the one we went to last night was in a pub and reminded me a lot of the Acadia cafe in Minneapolis.
I'm really surprising myself lately with my ability to stay up late. For the past three Saturday nights, we haven't gotten to bed until 3:00 or sometimes later. There have been some fun parties with Andy's classmates and we keep finding ourselves with guitars in hand and singing late into the night. We're excited to maybe have some friends over for a Thankgiving meal sometime this week. I really love hosting, especially for a small group of friends that like good food and laughter.
Andy is at a friends house today having "tea." Which does involve tea, but it also could include sandwiches, cakes, biscuits, and chocolate, along with much conversation. I love some of these British traditions!
I've included some pictures of the sights around town. One of them is of crosses with poppies on them. Here in London, they celebrated their Memorial Day two weekends ago and the lawn in front of Westminster Abbey was covered with these crosses with names or prayers written on them. There were thousands and thousands, it was amazing.
Hope all is well with each of you. Happy Thanksgiving this Thursday, we'll be missing you all.
Peace, Mandy

Internet, Yeah!

It may not be exciting news to all of you, but we're so happy to announce that we now have internet access at our home. We just got it tonight, and it's after 1:00 AM, so I'm hooked already. Hopefully this means we can keep in touch a little better and add more updates. We're on skype, so anyone and everyone is welcome to call or video-chat.
See you soon (on the internet, that is)!
-Mandy

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

“Remember, remember the fifth of November.” That is a phrase sometimes used here to describe the day that Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the parliament building but his plan was thwarted and he was executed. It is a very patriotic holiday here and resembled the 4th of July back home, except it was a lot colder (although I have some moral objections to the effigies they burn of Guy Fawkes and sometimes of the pope because it dates back to a time when the conflict was between Protestants and Catholics). We joined some of our friends at Ravenscourt Park on Saturday for the festivities and witnessed #1 the largest bonfire I have ever seen in my life (the tops of the flames reached about 100 feet (no joke), and #2 the most impressive fireworks display I have ever seen in my life (although it was a close second to Eveleth). They really love fireworks here, but nobody has a yard, so teenagers set them off in the streets (kind of scary). In fact, we hear fireworks on most weekends, not just this special occasion. London is a huge city, but we never worry about the loud bangs being gunshots, nobody carries guns here. So, along with the noise of all the buses and cars, we’re learning to tune out the sound of random fireworks.
Later that night we went to a house warming party. It was great and after most of the guests left, we pulled out the guitar and ukelele and sang songs until 4:00 AM! It was amazing because one of our new friends from India was singing these beautiful Hindi chants along with us.
We continue our spiritual quest here in London. On Sunday we tried out the Hillsong Church that meets in the Dominion Theatre. It was a lot like The Upper Room in Minneapolis. Then on Monday, we went to a meditation class. I think I’ve been tainted by church work because now I’m hyper-aware to all that goes into a worship service and it is more of a formula than an experience. But, I know that we will find a community somewhere.
Good news – I have a job offer for full-time massage starting in January. Still thinking about what to do and how to do it, but at least I’m moving forward on finding employment. In the meantime, we still like our jobs at the opera and I had a second interview tomorrow for a really great company that does homeopathic/organic products and services.
We are enjoying the company of a houseguest right now. One of the students from LISPA is still looking for a flat, so she’s crashing on our couch for a little while. Kat is from Denmark and we’ve had some great talks with her and we’re glad for the chance to get to know her well.
We pray that all of you are well and blessed.
-Mandy