Day Twelve and Thirteen

So I just found out that the Eagle and Child, the pub I mentioned earlier, is the place where the Inklings met every Tuesday (you know, C.S. Lewis and Tolkien and all those other Oxford dons). I thought it was just a cool pub. Regardless, we actually didn't get to eat there. It was too crowded. All the British do on Saturday nights is congregate in the pubs and get heartily drunk. Seriously, it was crazy. Most of the pubs don't even serve food on Saturdays, just beer. Oh Europe and their love for alcohol.

We ended up splitting up and our group went to the Mission. It was the exact equivalent of Chipotle...I actually felt like I was sitting in Chipotle. There is very limited seating room in any restaurant, which was why the group split, but we managed to nab a table at the Mission right as a group of people left. It was a very rude and American thing to do, but hey, we got seats.

Sunday:
Amy and I went to St. Ebbe's for church, the most reformed Anglican church in Oxford. The preaching was good. Mark Meynall, from All Soul's Church in London, spoke on Matthew 9 and how God looked right past the physical ailment to the spiritual. We had coffee afterwards, but it was so crowded in the room that only one person managed to talk to us for a few minutes. We plan on going to the student service next Sunday and are hoping to interact more with the people there.

Sunday's dinner was absolutely amazing...like Thanksgiving except I actually liked the food. We had two of the boys over, Joe and David, and next week are supposed to go to their host's for dinner (dinner=lunch, supper=dinner here). We were served turkey, stuffing, roasted potatoes, fresh corn, carrots, parsnips, and brussel sprouts (Yes I tried one, not as bad as I thought it would be). Dessert was chocolate mousse, British apple pie, and ice cream. And then of course the traditional cheese and biscuit course. I was so stuffed, but the food was excellent.

I finished my paper in the afternoon and headed over with April to where Hayley is staying to watch BBC's Pride and Prejudice with the girls. Of course we didn't get through the whole thing, but it is so much better watching it in England. We plan on finishing it up Wednesday night.

Monday:
I went shopping this morning since I had finished my assignment. I returned a cardigan from Primart and got two shirts instead and still got money back. Primark is amazingly cheap...however, they're currently in a bunch of lawsuits for illegal workers and paying their employees less than minimum wage. Yeah it's not so good.

We visited the Kilns today, C.S. Lewis' home. The guide spent about two hours giving incredible details about Lewis' life. Much of the furniture has been replaced, but they tried to set it up like he would have had it. The rooms, especially the common room where he did much reading and writing, still smelled like smoke from his pipe. We saw the pond where he did a lot of swimming and Dr. Mitchell tried to get us to take a Wildlife walk through the mud, but my shoes got covered and I gave up rather quickly. The property is tucked away in a residential area although the houses were built after the Kilns. It still houses Oxford students. In fact, there was one there as we were touring.

I had my tutorial in the afternoon at the University Club. There's a cafe area and a gymnasium downstairs. We discussed the learning theories in depth and everything I'm reading is beginning to come together. My next assignment is to reflect on all that I've learned and I'm looking forward to condensing everything and reflecting on my studies here and how it will impact my future teaching.

I love the evenings here when I don't have an assignment to work on. We spend hours at the supper table talking with Mike and Liz, covering topics such as education, gun control, and politics. It has given me such a better sense of the culture and differences between England and the U.S.

It's hard to believe this is the last full week here.

I'm sorry to hear you haven't been able to post comments. I'm enjoying reading them and laughing at the cold weather there. Mom, I thought you should know, I've worn just about every item of clothing I've brought and almost every pair of shoes. So it was worth overpacking...I'm making good use of everything.