Planes, Trains, and Buses

Well, it has been four days, and I now find myself in the UK. I am five hours ahead of my family and friends in the United States, but the dreaded jet lag has finally departed!

It seems like the trip has resulted in one blunder after another...the list goes like this:

• My loft is absolutely wonderful--it is furnished with two chairs, a coffee table, desk, dresser, wardrobe, bed, wicker loveseat, and wicker chair. The kitchenette came with milk, ham, cheese, butter, and bread, and all the cleaning supplies I could desire. The toilet is down a few steps from my main living space, but that is no big deal. And lastly, my shower/tub and sink are off of my room. When I first arrived, it had been a long day and I needed a shower. The water heater for the bathroom is actually in the back half of the shower, but a shower is a shower, right? Apparently not! For the life of me I could not get hot water out of the shower! I twisted and turned, lifted and lowered just about every knob in sight, but the water was always ice cold. So I turned to the tub--much easier to operate, and quite complicatedly washed myself and my hair. Upon getting out of the bath I tried the shower one more time, and realized if I had turned the water pressure up more, the heater would turn on.
• My first supper in my loft was a ham and cheese sandwich with coffee to drink. Being a newly self-declared "clean" person, I decided to wash the dishes right away. Low and behold, I snapped the handle right off the mug! Oops!
• The next morning, my first day at work, a coworker took me down the route to our bookshop. I asked her about the British way and CLC. We talked about her life and my internship. "Wait. Did you bring a lunch?" she asked. We had been walking ten minutes, and were almost to the train station. Uh...nope.
• My first day continued with introductions, a worker prayer meeting, and my first task: re-pricing! Some items needed their old price tags removed and new ones added. After working on the ground floor for a while, the store manager took me to the main office and began going over paperwork. There were agreements to sign, rules to go over, and goals to discuss. It was not too dry of material, but by the time she got to my volunteer contract, I had fallen asleep right in front of her!
• When I got back to the flat I was excited to get on my computer and tell everyone about my adventures. Unfortunately, the only wireless internet available was locked, and I did not have a password.
• My store manager, upon hearing my troubles with the internet, said she had a "doggle" or "dongle" or something like that. It is a USB stick with the internet on it. What a blessing! I put it in my computer and it worked marvelously--until I turned my computer off. When I tried to start my computer again it would not turn on! It was stuck on the loading sundial page, and no matter how many times I restarted it or left it running, it would not work!
• My store manager is really an angel in disguise. The next day at the shop she allowed me to call to get my computer fixed. Well, you know who left the installation CD in the US? Yep, me. So, over-the-phone diagnostics did not work...it was time to head to the Apple Store in downtown London.
• As I left the bookshop, it began to rain. It was not too difficult to find the Apple Store: one long bus ride, a ten minute walk, and just look for the store bursting with people who want to buy the new iPad. Luckily I had the foresight to place an appointment, which only left my wait time at 30 minutes. And, it only took about 8 minutes for the "Genius" to figure out what was wrong. When the "dongle" downloaded its software onto my computer, it loaded a slightly corrupted file. That file caused my whole computer to freak out, as it were. But now it was fixed and I could still use the internet--hurray!
• The excitement continued to build as I walked up and down the damp Oxford Circus street for about an hour, looking for the correct bus. I became so turned around, I had to call the bookshop about four times. After getting on a bus that went in the right direction, my store manager came and met me at the station. She guided me back to the store--like I said, she is an angel! (Note to self: when going on a journey, make plans on how to get back.)

My "being lost in London" story is really the best I have. And I share all these stories, not to complain, but to hopefully share in a good laugh. It has been one grand adventure after another in this land of small streets and busy people. I am daily meeting new people and learning new aspects of British culture. This is a long post, so thats all for now.