Ireland!

Hi MOM!
So I haven't written on this blog in a while, on account of how I have been giving verbal accounts over the phone. And the internet is really slow roundabouts here. But here is what happened over the weekend in the green land of Ireland.
On Thursday we left on our plane, courtesy of Ryanair, for the low low price of about 40 pounds a ticket. Really cheap, right? Right. Except the wind was so bad that the plane was delayed for a bit, and we had to wait in the terminal for what would have seemed to be an inordinate amount of time had I not bought a magazine. It was very entertaining. When we got to Ireland, we checked into our hostel and then took a bus to the theatre that was showing Jekyll and Hyde: The Musical. I really liked the musical, surprisingly. The music was really good; I want the soundtrack. And it covered some really dark themes, and had a love triangle between a scientist who turned into a homicidal maniac, a prostitute, and a blonde soprano. Intrigued? I thought so.
We went to bed after that, except we couldn’t completely shut the window and it was rather chilly that night. The next night we figured it out so we were much warmer. Sleeping with strangers in the room is rather strange. Rebecca told me it would be smart to put all my valuables in my pillowcase, as it is more difficult to rob someone that way. So my camera, passport and wallet all made my pillow more lumpy than usual, but I felt reasonably secure. Plus there were 7 of us to only 3 of them, so that was good.
Anyway, after getting ready in the dark on Friday, we went down to the kitchen to get a delicious meal of toast and hot chocolate. It was remarkably unfilling. Then we went off to our Wild Wicklow Tour, a bus tour of the Irish countryside. Our tour guide was Steven, a rather cute Irish man who had us sing Irish ballads on the ride. He said we were his favorite group because we sang so well. We went to the Irish Sea first. I stuck my hand in, so I could say I had. Now I’ve been in 3 oceans! (Pacific, Atlantic, Irish Sea, for those of you who were keeping score). I didn’t get in, unlike the incredibly buff old guys that were full on swimming laps in the freezing water. I think they’re crazy, but maybe a brisk swim keeps you young. Steven said that was the trick to eternal youth.
After that he took us to a store to take a rest stop and have some coffee. I only did one, and also bought a book entitled 101 Things to Do Before You’re Old and Boring. I plan on doing all of them, and am very excited to be young and exciting. Then we went on to the hill above the Guinness Lake. Guinness Lake, owned by the family of Arthur Guinness, the creator of Guinness beer, the most popular alcohol in Ireland, is shaped like a pint. A Guinness a day keeps the doctor away. Guinness is healthy because it is made from the local water, which is iron-rich. The iron gives the beer both the dark oaky color and the claim to health. The hill at the top of the lake was the windiest place I’ve ever been in my entire life. We were fighting to stay still. Everyone else fought the cold through a shot of whiskey, but we Mormon girls had to resist.
Then we went through the bogs, which have bog bodies in them. I learned this on Saturday, when we went to the National Museum of Archaeology and History. Bog bodies are bodies of enemies of the Irish. They were put in the bogs because there’s no oxygen down there and their souls wouldn’t be able to escape. They weighted down the bodies and it’s thanks to this barbarism that we have some perfectly preserved bodies. Since the bog has no oxygen, fragile materials like hair, skin, fingernails, and clothing are all undestroyed. One guy I saw had an odd hairstyle, but you could see that his hair and beard were brownish red, like the Irish of today! There was one guy who was nothing but a torso with arms, and his hands were remarkably lifelike. I couldn’t bring myself to look at the part where his trunk was separated from his posterior, but the fingernails fascinated me. They were human once. This was one body that had a potential story behind him. He had very little damage to his hands, as though he were a nobleman or even royalty. He was brutally murdered, perhaps to prevent him from taking power or to prevent him from keeping it. The person who buried him in the bog could have been trying to cover up his crime. Crazy.
Anyway, we didn’t do much after the tour; we got dinner and helped Danielle make her Young Women lesson for Sunday. It was hilarious, a dating lesson. Those are always the best. On Saturday we split up. I went with the group that saw The Book of Kells, one of the oldest Christian books in European history. It was written and decorated around 800 AD. The decorations were so ornate and beautiful, and obviously time consuming. Then I saw St. Patrick’s Cathedral, it was covered in scaffolding.
Then we walked lost for about an hour and a half in cold rain and wind (I had given up using my umbrella at this point, it kept turning inside out) until we finally found Kilmainham Gaol (pronounced kill-MAIN-hum JAIL). I’m really enjoying my caramel candy corn, by the way. Every once in a while I get one that tastes like butter, which is weird, but on the whole I like them. Anyway, we finally made it to Killmainham after asking 1) a student who didn’t know anything 2) a really old guy who kind of led us around in a creepy way 3) an attractive postman who seemed to want to talk to us longer but by that time we were grumpy. Our backpacks were heavy. So we made it to Kilmainham and it was awesome. Michael would have really liked it. Abbie too. There were two parts to the jail; the old part and the new part. They were all part of an 18th century prison reform trend, revolving around the idea that prisoners needed to be silently secluded from one another to properly repent and become proper members of society. The prison was mainly overcrowded during the potato famine, and then was a political prison for the other half, so the jail, like most jails, failed largely in its aims. There was one room that’s apparently really famous and has been in lots of films, but I didn’t recognize any of the ones she said so I’d have to research. To move on,
Then we went to the Museum and I saw the bog bodies. After that we only had a little time for some last minute souvenir-shopping, and we caught a bus to our plane to a train home. It’s lovely being back home.

scotland!

the tower of london and shakespeare

Dear Mom,
Friday was a very exciting day. We went to the Tower of London in the morning, which is chock full of history and mystery. For example, there's the Bloody Tower, where King Richard III murdered (supposedly) his two nephews to keep them from getting the throne. Actually there's a lot of debate on the subject, but Shakespeare wrote a play where he did it, and Shakespeare's a pretty smart guy, so I'm siding with him. I did take a stand; there was a little voting button in the exhibit and I voted that Richard III did it. I made the count like 12,341. It was an exciting moment. The Tower is where many of England's most famous executions happened. Anne Boleyn was beheaded by a sword instead of on a chopping block. Lady Jane Grey (a 17 year old with a claim to Bloody Mary's throne), was executed so her supporters wouldn't try to make her queen. All she wanted to do was get married and have babies.
The Tower is also where the CROWN JEWELS are kept. I saw Queen Victoria's mini-crown in person. It is encrusted in diamonds. I also saw various Georges' crowns and William and Mary's scepters... They were all so beautiful the jewels looked fake. I bought a charm of Victoria's crown because it was cheapest. And on one scepter was the biggest diamond I have ever seen. Other than the Hope diamond, but I saw that ten years ago and I remember being disappointed that it wasn't bigger. In any case, the Crown Jewels are amazing.

continued

Hi MOM!
So I may have cut that blog post off about mid-sentence. Sorry about that, I accidentally typed Ctrl P instead of whatever I was trying to do. So the other day we went to Oxford on a day trip and it was so much fun. It made me want to go to Oxford for grad school. We'll see, England is really expensive. Anyway, we had about five hours to explore the town (there is no campus really, just an assortment of ancient college buildings scattered throughout the city). We went to Magdalen College (pronounced MAH-duh-lin, according to Dr. Paul, the English like to confuse us. Leicester, for example is pronounced Lester. You can tell who are the foreigners on the Underground by their inability to pronounce Leicester Square, a tube stop quite close to the Centre).
Anyway, we took some great pictures proving that we were there but right now my camera is on the floor and my bed is about five feet up, it's a feat getting up and down. Although Brother Shuler (the caretaker for the Centre; his wife takes care of our food) did fix my ladder, and I don't have to use a chair to get up and down anymore. Yay!
Then we went punting, which is basically getting in a gondola/canoe boat and hiring a boy with a very long stick to pole down the river. Our guide's name was Humphrey. We had lot's of fun going down the river, maybe the best idea we had all day.
Then we went to the Oxford official shop where I bought college paraphanalia for my siblings and myself. Michael's is extra cool. He will love it. I bought Abbie two things to make up for it. My bank account is really looking bare because of all the spending. I've already used over $500... in three weeks. I'm going to budget more, I can't live like this, it's too irresponsible. Sorry.
Anyway, after that we went to the pub called the Eagle and Child, where J.R.R. Tolkein and C.S. Lewis used to swap stories over a pint (they both went to Oxford) and I bought a bowl of chips (french fries). The barman flirted with us for a bit, which was nice, since we only have the one boy. Only a British man can call someone "my dear" without it sounding creepy or affected. He had a mohawk though, which was odd.
After that we raced over to Christ Church, the official cathedral for the college, and listened to the Evensong service, which is an Anglicized version of Catholic prayer services. There was a choir of boys and men that sang the high and low parts. They sang the Psalms and also from the Book of Common Prayer. It was really interesting and reverential, but not at all informative. It makes me wonder how Anglicans actually learn anything about the Bible.
So all in all it was a lovely day, and I didn't even talk about the morning (we went to Blenheim Palace, where Winston Churchill was born. The grounds were beautiful and so was the inside). I have pictures though and will post them on facebook just as soon as I learn to levitate my camera.
Love you much
Cheers, (the customary goodbye for Britishers. also means thanks.)
Lindsay

The weekend:

Dear Mom,
So I already told Michael and Abbie a lot of this, but you very kindly let me talk to them for a bit so I'll recap for you. This weekend I've done so much!
It all started with Thursday (the real beginning of the weekend here in London). I randomly overheard a conversation between a girl named Sam and Dr. Benfell about going to the opera; she wanted to go but no one wanted to go with her. So I decided that that would be a pleasant way to spend an evening, and we went. We got first row seats in the first balcony for only 10 quid (pounds/ $20) so we could see inside the orchestra pit and everything. The only problem was that they were limited leg room seats, so we had to come up with some creative sitting techniques (crossing legs, slouching, knees up on the ledge). But I've decided that while opera obviously requires a lot of skill, it is too long for me to sit through. I did enjoy it though.
The next night, I went to a performance of Chekhov's Ivanov, which was incredible! It had an all-star cast, too. I bought the playbill so I would remember. To start: Fanny from Mansfield Park, the lady with the prominent profile in The Forsyte Saga, the drunk first mate from

The Globe, ice cream, and other adventures

Dear Mom,
I'm so glad I got a hold of you today and that I got to talk to Abbie and Michael. I really miss you all and wish you were here with me, because England is waaay more fun than California. Well, the other day (Monday) the whole Centre went to the Globe Theatre, which is a replica of what we think Shakespeare's theatre looked like. We got to sit on the benches and look out at the thrusted stage (that means there is audience on three sides of the stage, not the picture frame kind we are used to). It's all made of wood, so it smells really good. But the people that built it had to get special permission from the city to give it a thatched roof like the original because thatching is flammable. Incredibly so. Actually, it's how the first Globe burned down. Somebody didn't clean out a cannon properly and it lit the roof on fire. Nowadays there are no cannons and plenty of fire exits, so we weren't in any danger.
On Wednesday we actually went to a play in the Globe. It was A Midsummer Night's Dream, which we actually saw in Tahoe, too, I recognized a lot of the scenes and things from then. Except I actually saw the end this time because I wasn't asleep. It was really good though. The part with the Mechanicals and the play within a play was really funny. At one point the man who plays the moon stalks off the stage because the duke has insulted his acting. And the Wall sounds like a fourth grader who had to memorize his lines. It's really funny. After the play a bunch of us went to Westminster Abbey, which was incredible. It was full of monuments to dead people and it had the coffin of Elizabeth II. I stood next to one of the most powerful women in the world! Well, her remains, but still. She once lived. All the kings and queens were crowned in Westminster Abbey, and a good number of them are buried there. There's a shrine to Edward the Confessor, who lived in the 1100s. The Abbey is so old!
Today I only had one class (yay!) and then a bunch of us went to St. Bartholomew's church. It is the oldest church in London, and has beautiful medieval arches and is all dark and mysterious. They still have weddings there, but you have to be a member of the parish or one of your parents has to have been married there. There's a wedding tomorrow that I may go to. Or I may see a matinee of something or go the London Museum, which is an assignment.
I rode home on the tube by myself the first time today. We had a class assignment to go to a crime fiction discussion by three popular authors. One of them was Anne Perry, who wrote one of the books for our mystery class. She was well-informed and interesting. And I found out that when she was 13 she and her friend actually killed her friend's mom. So it's ironic that she writes mystery novels today. Then again, this is all hearsay, and Perry actually converted to the Church about 40 years ago, so she must be all right now or she'd be excommunicated. Drama, though. And it was really interesting listening to how much they know about mysteries. All three of the ladies say that they create their plots by imagining what would cause someone to commit a murder, then work backwards and stick in clues like flags. One said she was kind of embarassed to admit that's how she wrote, and then Perry said she didn't know there was any other way. So I need to think of some conceivable reason someone would take another's life. I can imagine reasons real people would kill each other, but it's hard to imagine imaginary people and give them thoughts and feelings etc. But the authors all say that they base a lot of characters off people they know. And who would I insult by making them the murderer? It's a gherkin (pickle in British).
So I've been having a wonderful time and will try to put pictures here now for those who don't have facebook. But really they should just get facebook because I'll put far more pictures on that.
Love from
Lindsay

Dear Mom,

Dear Mom,
So i've decided that i will write this as letters to you, and other people can eavesdrop. i don't like writing a blog, i like emailing, but i'm assuming other people want to know what i'm doing, so here goes. (ps. i also hate capitalization, that's why God invented word processing).
this last week we went to the cornish coast, devon etc. it's west. we stayed in hostels most of the time, but also the ymca one night. it was really clean and nice, but i got the bottom bunk both nights so i couldn't sit up all the way. but the breakfasts were really fun, we had full on english breakfasts most days. there was ham and beans and eggs and toast and cooked tomatoes and cereal and milk and juice. everything was good but the tomatoes.
the first day we went out to stourhead, the place where Elizabeth Bennet gets proposed to in the new Pride and Prejudice. i have great pictures... i'll put them on facebook later. all the pictures look like paintings, it was so beautiful. the next day we went to the cornish coast. the water was beautiful. i got stung by stinging nettles, which is, surprisingly, a plant. it feels like a thousand tiny beestings and it doesn't go away for hours. but that didn't make the beach any less awesome. we also went to an amazing castle called St. Michael's Mount. It's connected to land during low tide and you have to get there by a boat during high tide. we managed to walk both ways, but i kind of wanted to boat... or swim.
the last day we went to exeter cathedral, which was gorgeous. we spent most of the day driving home in a bus. our driver's name was tony, he was really cool. he told us what fly tipping means (dumping litter) and why the cabs are all black (in mourning for Prince Albert). and when some kid threw a rubber frog at the bus when we were in central london, he totally got out and chased the kids down. it was awesome.
church is interesting. they spread us all out into about 15 wards. i'm in the peckham ward with two other girls. it takes about 40 minutes to get there by the underground. i got put into nursery, which was surprising to say the least, but i think i'm going to like it. there are two other ladies in with me, and we're going to rotate going to classes so we don't completely miss out on gospel doctrine, which i already miss. i feel like i'm just babysitting for two hours, which is true i guess. but they're really sweet. this one little boy named cj who i thought was a girl because he had a ponytail but he was really a boy, kept giving me hugs, and he doesn't even know me. during drawing time i drew a picture of some of the kids, and cj wanted to draw on my picture, so i let him, even though my pictures were really good and he scribbles. ps. talking to missionaries is awkward in every country. there are about 4 sets of missionaries in our ward, not counting the couple missionaries. and they all seem to come from idaho. weird, huh?
so today i had a super fun day. we went on a tour of the globe theatre, a replica of Shakespeare's theatre. it's all made of wood and plaster, so it smells really good. and it's the only building in london to have a thatched roof, which is highly flammable. london has a problem with fires. it's burned down several times. then we went to westminster abbey, where i saw Queen Elizabeth I's tomb. i was inches from Queen Elizabeth's body. the lady who defeated the spanish armada and maintained peace in england for over fifty years. her tomb was fantastic. the whole abbey is covered in monuments to dead rich people and the monarchs. there was a shrine to edward the confessor, who died in the 12th century. that's almost a thousand years ago. the british have such a tradition, it's breathtaking. there are cloisters that have wall paintings that go back to the middle ages. and we were there for the minute of prayer that they have every hour; westminster is england's oldest working church. it was so cool.
then we came home for dinner and went to primark, which is this incredible english department store. it's like a classy walmart that only sells clothes. the clothes are really really cute and i bought four tops and wish i hadn't brought so many clothes with me. thanks for supporting my frivolousness, it's incorrigible, i know, but the styles here are so different from the states, and so attractive. the sizes here are different too. i'm a 12 in the states but a 16 here, which is confusing. but luckily everyone here is so stick thin there are always things in my size, which is a pleasant change of pace. in shoes, on the other hand, i'm a 9 instead of an 11, and there seems to be a much bigger selection of larger sized shoes. woohoo! but they're also expensive, 25 pounds ($50)... so i don't know if i should. if they're comfortable, maybe... basically i need to budget, since i'm going to two or three plays every week plus buying souvenirs and presents, which are really fun to shop for! i love trying to figure out what part of england would appeal to michael or abbie (don't tell them what i got them).
i'm having an amazing time here, and will keep up this blog so you can hear how i'm doing. i'll buy a phone card tomorrow when Ashley and i go buy some yarn. we want to be like those old ladies that knit on the tube, like Miss Marple!
love ya tons
lindsay

dreary dentist days

As the most insignificant member of Dr. William J. Black, DDS's dental squad, I salute the tooth. Thank you, tooth, in all your enamelly splendor, for breaking down and getting cavities. Thank you for having flaws in your seemingly perfect design, so that you can undergo costly maintenance and repair. In short, thank you for writing my paycheck.