Note: Trip Updates might be a little scattered and rushed because of the little time I have to get online. Other posts I am hoping to be more developed.

As most of you know I have made my way to England now where I will soon be starting my 6 month Bible Course at the Capernwray Torchbearers School – there is many a name by which I know this place goes by, but primarily I just like to call it Capernwray. Until the course starts on this 29th of September I will be staying with my brother Frank. This is quite exciting — not only because I get to stay with my brother whom I don’t often see for extended periods of time, though that is one of the many reasons — but because Frank is attending the University of Oxford. Quite a beautiful town here with a lot of history. The school has been here for between 1000 and 900 years. Wow. So I’ve decided while I’m here in England I would write an ongoing update of my travels and experiences every Saturday. Now, I know today is Sunday, but it is my intention to aim regularly for Saturday evening, as that will be where I have a large amount of my free time while at Capernwray. The following depiction of my first week might seem like I haven’t enjoyed myself, but let me assure you I have.

Monday
The last full day in Canada was on Monday. I spent most of the day packing up and tying up loose ends. My brother Frank and I finally found shoes to replace my year and a half old Adidas. They were a nice pair of Nikes at a really good price. We looked all over for a pair that would be both comfortable for sports and general walking and hiking around England. Then once we were finished up we went out with the rest of the family and Manuela for a communal birthday dinner — we won’t all be around for each other’s birthday — it was good. After that I was able to hang out with Manuela a while, last time until I see her until Christmas. Then I went home and packed until about 4 am – fun.

Tuesday
I woke up around 8 am Tuesday morning, and went over to City Kidz for staff prayer at 8:30, and said some good byes before making my way to the bank around 10:30 or 11 am. I exchanged my money for a good price, exciting. Went home and spent more time packing and re-packing a few things to get everything in. My suitcase fits less in it then my maximum weight, this presents a problem. Then Frank and I rushed to get ready and out the door. Our flight was to board at 5:40 pm, so we wanted to be there for 4:30 pm to leave room to get through security and have some time. By now it was about 2pm. We left so early so we could see our brother John Paul at work before we left. We did, and it was good. So Mom and Dad came with us to the airport. It seemed I fell asleep and before too long, and woke up on the way in to the parking Garage at the airport. Rushing to the front desk, it was about 4 now if memory serves correct, we learn that the flight has been delayed until 7:40… Well, that was disappointing to say the least. The worst of it was we didn’t actually start boarding until quarter after 8 pm. Not much to report on the actual plane ride, except flying Zoom has something left to be desired. Though personally, I didn’t much mind as it was my first flight. I enjoyed take off, and though it may frighten some, I found the turbulence here and there quite fun. I’ll just avoid the topic of food. They had two movies on, Pirates of the Carribean 2, and The Fantastic Four 2. Note to the wise: Don’t stay up for such movies — time would be better spent asleep as I soon learned.

Wednesday
We arrived in the Gatwick Airport around 7:15am GMT (from now on all time will be in GMT. Add 5 hours to EST). We hurried our way to customs and stood in queue for about and a half hour. Once we got up to the desk the lady seemed skeptical that I was taking a Bible Course, and would either remind me that I couldn’t get a job here, or ask me if I intended to get a job — ever minute without fail. Once we got past the customs officer we wasted no time getting our luggage, working our way through the airport and jumping on the bus into Oxford. The bus ride was quite long, and it certainly weird riding on the left side of the road. The whole ride the heat was stuck on high evidentially, I though it was the sun at the beginning. To add to the excitement a rock or something flung up at some point and shattered the outer window near the rear of the bus into small crystals. That is to say there were two layers, so there wasn’t much need to stop more than a second as it posed no risk to any of the passengers. Funny though, shards of glass did start falling out on to the Highway… I hope that wasn’t a problem. It seemed like an eternity once we got off the bus and made our way to Frank’s flat — making matters more interesting is the fact that his flat is on the fourth floor of this crazy mansion place. Fun. So we tried to continue on the whole day so that Jet Lag wouldn’t set in too much — but Frank and I broke under the pressure and had a short nap around 3 or so I believe. By short I mean about 3 hours. We had lunch with Frank’s friend, and then moved on to watch Atonement at the Cinema where we were met by a few more friends. I wish I could say it was a riveting story, but suffice to say, whether I had a 36 hour day before or not, I would have been ready to sleep by the end. It was a very good film, but I left slightly depressed. Afterward Frank and I made a beeline to Bed. Sweet sweet Sleep.

I’ll try not to bother you with too much detail anymore and continue with the highlights of the day.

Thursday
On Thursday we went punting with Frank’s friend Pierce. Punting is an interesting and relaxing sport, it’s quite like riding in a gondola in Venice except that you have a long pole instead of a paddle because it’s only done in shallow water. So you push yourself forward and steer with this huge pole. I have one or two pictures of it up, there are very many and I will be putting them up a bit later. Good fun, and the weather held out for it; quite a beautiful day. I think we watched some West Wing in the evening at some point.

Friday
Friday wasn’t very unique in any way, we made our way around the city a little bit and had some dinner and drinks with a number of Frank’s friends again. We tried to get my computer on the university WiFi, but not much luck. You have to have a special university VPN Number of some sort, and I don’t qualify. I think we were still fighting the effects of Jet Lag on Friday, and quite possibly why I can’t remember much from this day.

Saturday
We slept in Saturday, but it was worth it. We had lunch and coffee — I haven’t mentioned it much but it seems that Frank is quite addicted to coffee. Not 2 hours often go by with out getting a brew. Afterward we got Frank’s hair cut, and I tried to get wifi, not much luck. When we got home Frank wasn’t able to get on to the network, so we went to the Senior Common Room and gave it a shot. It worked, seems it happens every now and then that he has to do this to reset his account somehow. Frank called home, and I called Manuela which was nice. Then we made our way over to the Cinema again. We had made a hasty decision to see a film we had only seen the poster for: Shoot ‘Em Up… This a lesson that must be learned I suppose: look in to the movies your about to pay money to go see. I advise anyone who is interested in this movie to spend two hours of their life staring at a blank wall — for this will be a better use of time. After ward we prepared for some of Frank’s friends to come over for a little get together. Much fun in the end. We also spent some time sorting out a few photos that we thought I should upload. We found about 50 we liked before Frank made a call home (those photos have been uploaded) but I still need to make time to go through the rest.

Sunday
Sunday morning we had to get up super early (relatively) because we had been invited to be a part of the studio audience for a new show called “The Big Questions” on BBC One. It’s a debate show about philosophical questions that are topical at the time. The questions in this episode were along the following lines: “Is there such thing as justified war?”, “What is the role of atonement and should we be required to forgive?”, and “Can God take a Joke?”. Quite fascinating really, and always fun to be on T.V. — even in a foreign country. After we went to Church a few minutes away from the studio. The name escapes me at this point. Then we went and had a nap at home. After we went out for Lunch and had some pizza. Evidentially it’s uncouth to eat pizza with your hands in England. Well, after getting half way through my pizza I decided that I didn’t care, and ate it like that anyway. Soon we made our way to the only known coffee shop nearby with free WiFi. And here I sit typing away. I’m not quite sure what the rest of the week holds yet, but I’ll try and make an update on Saturday.