Football, Tour, Church, everyday life?

Old stuff

Old carving

"Pssst, Sally...I'm not sure if sitting here is the best plan for crowd control..."

Mmmmmmm. LD.

So many things to write down. I’ll pick a few. Then probably write more after.

Last week was good. I really do like it here. A bit of sadness because my flatmate Hannah, has decided to take a year off to travel, so she moved out yesterday. I liked her a lot so I was bummed she left. Mystery flatmate moves in today or tomorrow.

I’ve talked to so many people from home this week, it’s been nice. I don’t feel homesick, but I can tell when I’m missing people, because all I do for a few days is stay at home on my computer. It was really great to be skyped from pancake breakfast though, and I got to talk to Mel, AND I’ve talked to my family a ton. Sometimes I get kind of frustrated at Skype, but then I think about that I could be talking via letters so…yay Skype!

Let’s see. Last Monday I went to club called Cruise with the other Americans, (and ended up seeing a bunch of people there anyway). It was pricey, but also crazy. Every floor plays a different type of music, from like 90’s to hip-hop, to pop. One of my friends knew a guy so we all got in as VIP’s. That was fun.

I met some kids at the CU the next night. I was really tired and kind of fighting a cold, so I was sort of out of it. We (meaning the Americans) all caught the same cold, apparently it’s called “fresher’s flu”, but hopefully it’s done now.

On Saturday Morgan, Melissa and I went to Liverpool again to go to an Everton game. Liverpool has two teams, Liverpool and Everton. Liverpool is the more popular one, but Everton is cheaper and apparently more family friendly (which I take to mean people of more ages can teach me to swear). It was so. much. fun. All three of us loved it. We got within a mile of the stadium and decided to get out of the (verrry expensive) taxi and walk. Thousands of people were pouring in. These stadiums are all old and interesting to me. We found the side we were sitting on, walked through this super narrow door and hallway and then found our seats. We were on the fifth row on the penalty kick line. It was so close to the field. I could smell the players. Landon Donavon, who will be captain of the US team for this summer’s world cup, is currently on loan to Everton, and he was like 10 feet away from me. Gahhhhh… and Fellaini, who’s super young and from Morocco and does all sorts of fun plays also started. I take back anything I said about soccer being boring. In person, those 45 minute halves FLY by.

I haven’t even talked about the fans. The stadium, which is always sold out it seems, is one body, one person, one spirit. Everyone is silent together, stands together, swears together, sings together, and yells together. I know you’re probably thinking, “Oh that’s just like American Pro_____” No. It’s not. It’s utter unity for 90 minutes. Ha, and the poor ref’s and officials. It’s utter unity against them more than anything else. Anytime the crowd gets rowdy, as in the other team is touching the ball, one guard goes to stand in front of the ENTIRE section. I can just see that meeting,

“Yes, Ron, um you take section 52. Make sure they don’t get too riled up, and if they charge the field, just stand in their way.”

“But sir, there are over 400 in my section…”

“Well we’ll give you a shiny yellow jacket of course.”

I should mention, after some conversation with some people at home that Everton is in the premier league. Here’s their website: http://www.evertonfc.com/home/

Everton lost 1-2, but it was okay.

We decided that we each had super power, and mine was hailing taxis. Melissa’s was talking to officials calmly in bad situations. This was discovered when on the train ride back Morgan put her feet on the seat. A man in a bright yellow jacket came by and asked to see her ticket and then began what seemed like an arrest or ticket. We all started freaking out when he pointed to these little (like two inches by two inches) yellow signs behind and in front of us that said NO FEET ON THE SEAT-YOU WILL BE SUBJECT TO ARREST-FELONY-HELP PROTECT AGAINST BAD HYGIENE AND DAMAGE. The guy was really nice, but I still was upset, Morgan was obviously upset, and Melissa was calm. Since when have English people cared about hygiene or dirty seats?? End of story, she got off with a warning, but never again will we put our feet up. I also obey crosswalk signs now too. I will NOT be deported for something like that. Or in general.

Sunday I went to church, and then went over to a couple’s house with about twenty other people. It was nice to hang out with families. The group was really diverse in age, jobs, and nationality. I was talking with one of the elders, and he gave me something to think about. He said “we don’t get to pick our biological brothers and sisters, so why we ever think or would want to pick our Christian family is beyond me.”

Today I went with Melissa and a guy from our church who, with his family, has sort of adopted us for our time here, around Chester and told us things about the history of Chester. I can’t even begin to write everything down, but here are a few things. Mendelssohn and Handel and Bach all three spent time or lived here. Messiah was first test run here. At least four saints come from Chester, or were beatified because of experiences in Chester. In Canterbury Tales, the Miller was based off the Miller of Dee, who lived in Chester. The club I talked about earlier stands on what used to be fields where John Wesley preached to about six thousand people most days from 4 am to 6 am. Below a bunch of stores, like Claire's and Spudz-U-Like, are Roman ruins, mostly of their indoor heating and bathing systems. The first racecourse in the UK is in Chester. There are Norman and Saxon arches everywhere.

The plague hit Chester quite badly, but above various houses where the plague passed over, Bible verses are carved. Many houses, that are now stores, have secret passage ways and hiding spots for religious leaders of whichever religious sect was being prosecuted at the time. These are called priest holes, and there’s usually some sort of one way viewing system out of them so they knew when it was safe to come out. When criminals of the state or traitors were drawn and quartered, parts of them were always sent to Chester. King Charles spent his last free days in Chester, which was a huge Royalist stronghold in the Civil War. Matthew Henry’s biblical commentaries were written when he lived here. There are all sorts of naughty carvings from the end of the Tudor time through the Puritan times. People felt the best way to poke fun at strictness was bawdy carvings on the underside of chairs, beams, porches, etc. The Cathedral is stunning, and has everything from Roman ruins to Norman arches to contemporary stain glass art. King Edgar the Peaceful, King of Mercia, and eventually all of England was crowned here, (and in Bath, but it’s disputed which one was first). All the water in Chester is from the River Dee, 3 miles north of here. The best doughnuts in the world are under the second most photographed clock in all of the UK, which is on the Roman wall, but is a dedication to Queen Victoria.

So there you have it. I now have the Dee in my veins and Chester in my heart.

POST SCRIPT:

I thought of more things.

I appreciate the legal system here. Apart from silly seat/feet laws, they have good ideas. For example:

If you are pregnant and you cannot find a toilet, instead of illegally peeing on the street, you may pee in a police officer’s hat.

If you are Welsh and inside the city walls after Sun down, you may be shot dead with a bow and arrow. Don’t feel bad for the Welsh. They’ve caused a lot of trouble over the years.

I also forgot about accents. Apparently on television and in the movies, the only accents they ever use are super posh London/Oxford ones. Now you know. That bad accent you’re impersonating isn’t even inclusive. I started telling my friend Ben the other day that I now could identify the difference between Welsh, Northern, Southern, Scottish, and Irish accents. He asked me where I thought he was from. I said London. I guess I meant Northern Wales.

On the bright side, the UK has heard my pleas about the leggings-as-pants issue and has offered up a compromise. Jeggings. They are called this because they look like jeans, but are actually leggings. Thanks European fashion, I knew you could be accommodating.