London in winter

Despite all the complications and misunderstandings and frustrations, we finally made it to the big city. Hello London! It wasn't all that - mostly because it was freezing, the snow was so heavy we were covered head to toe in whiteness and couldn't see past our feet, the trains were delayed all the time, and we were basically stressed out trying to make it to the coach to get home in time. But other than that, it was cool to visit the capital of England and see the sights.

First stop - our hostel. After extensive online research about which hostel was the best for the lowest price without bed bugs or dirty toilets, we found this hostel by Hyde Park. It looked kind of sketchy from the outside, and we got hit on by creepy Pakistani guys, and it also looked really dirty inside, but the room itself was fine - bunk beds + sink + mirror + friendly strangers. Can't expect too much for 20 dollars a night.

Next stop: Tube station to go exploring in London!

We went to Covent Garden because we heard that's where all the shopping action was, and it was a really pretty area.

At St. Paul's Cathedral listening to awesome carolers. 

The snow and lights outside the cathedral kind of made it look like a scene out of Narnia.

Dear Mexican Food, oh how I've missed you! You were wonderfully delicious.

We caught the evening showing of Dirty Dancing: The Musical, on a whim, and got tickets to it at more than half price off. It was awesome - the dancing, the singing, everything.

The next day, we got on the Hop on, Hop off tour, with free tickets courtesy of our friends who bought 2-day tickets but were leaving and so didn't need their second day ticket. I was so glad we got those, because it made traveling around London that much easier. Plus we avoided all the train delays.

The Dorchester - a famous and expensive hotel where all the celebs stay.

Snowy park

The Marble Arch.

Oh cheap and good Primark, I will miss you.

The flags outside the apartments represent the fact that someone of importance once lived there.

These apartments reminded me of the movie 'Love Actually', one of my favorite Christmas movies.

So much ice on the ground, it was ridiculous.

Regent Street - shopping madness.

Piccadilly Circus - we didn't get to explore the area because it was too cold, so we just looked at it from the bus.

Big Ben and the House of parliament. I may not look it, but I was freezing and shivering under my 5 layers of clothes.

The London Eye - kind of looks like the Singapore Flyer - not really a big deal.

Right outside Buckingham Palace, waiting for the queen to appear, but she never did.

Buckingham Palace has its own fountain and statues. Go figure.

Statues of Aslan are everywhere! Okay, maybe not Aslan, but lions are everywhere in London.

Icy fountain.

Buckingham Palace is huge. And yes, my outfit is ridiculous. Those grey socks and Christmas mistletoe boots were bought in London because it was too cold and wet otherwise.

I love snowy parks.

Westminster Abbey - where Prince William and Kate Middleton will be married next year! It was closed when we got there, so we didn't get to go inside. Oh well.

All in all, it was a good trip and we did get to see all the major sights in London. Plus we got back to the base and didn't miss our coach, even though we were completely exhausted by the time we got back. But now I can say I've been to London!

Christmas happenings

There's been a lot of Christmas-y ongoings recently, which I love. Our team helped decorate the church in anticipation of Christmas, and now it looks awesome. I'm so proud of our efforts. Even the guys, who insisted on wrapping everything in tinsel - the speakers and the doors and the message boards.

Decorating the Christmas tree in the church hall for the sanctuary.

Untangling the decorations, which came straight from the storage room.

Decorating another Christmas tree for the lounge.

Professional Christmas tree decorators.

Our tree :)

One of the guys decided to hang a bird (which had weird red eyes) on this string of lights as a decoration, but it fell over so now it's just a creepy dead bird.

Hanging tinsel on the sign.

Decorating the church after youth group on Monday.

The girls put tinsel on my head and made me carry all that other tinsel and presents.

Some of the girls from youth group. They're awesome. I will miss them.

A group of youth called 'King's Kids' from Israel came to church to perform songs and dances.

They introduced themselves and I was surprised to find that they were all Jews, but from different countries like America, Russia, Ethiopia, and Germany, to name a few. 

This is a picture of the pretty street lights in Warwick, where I was on Friday to do 'pub ministry.'

My teammates abandoned me last weekend (the guys went to do boys club in a muslim area, and our fearless leader went off gallivanting to Nottingham to visit her cousin), so I went with my supervisor to join another team in their 'pub evangelism' --- we sang Christmas carols (about Jesus of course; no Santa songs) in three different pubs and gave out tracts with candy canes, and each one was better than the previous. I think it might have something to do with the night getting later and people getting more drunk. It was a Friday night, after all.

At the first pub, the people were middle-aged, and they mostly ignored us. At the second pub, the patrons were young, like my age, and they sang along with us for a while. At the third pub, the people were elderly, and they sang all the songs merrily with us and even requested us to sing other songs. All in all, it was a fun night.

This Sunday was our last church service at Hasbury (at least for 3 out of 5 of us on the team who are going home.) It was bittersweet. They had a special service with a dance, a song, and a drama skit from the youth group, songs and readings from the kids club, and a break dance performance from one of the boys. It was a great service, but we had to say goodbye to several people, which was sad, especially thinking about how I'll probably never see them again. Until we meet in heaven.

The girls did a great job dancing to the song 'Happy Day,' even though they were really nervous and forgot some of the moves. But they braved it through. I'm proud of them. And I'm glad they even turned up at all, because some people didn't come even though they said they would.

They did a drama skit about a photographer taking a picture of the Virgin Mary statue, but when he turns around to fiddle with his camera, shoppers come and completely change the statue, taking away the baby Jesus and putting a Santa hat, presents, tinsel, and toys in place of it. I think it was a really good reminder to us about how we shouldn't let the world commercialize Christmas, because ultimately, it is all about celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior.

My Hasbury team. We had to take pictures in the church for memory's sake. I still can't believe this was our last service. I really will miss the church and all the wonderful people there who welcomed us with open arms. The three of us who are leaving went to the evening service, and the elders of the church thanked us for serving the church, prayed for us, and blessed us. It was so sweet of them. And we gave them a present (a hanging Christmas decoration from the German market) and a card. They're such amazing people and they're really doing great things for Christ.

Manchester vs. Liverpool

We took a road trip to Manchester and Liverpool last weekend, and it was great to get out of this little town for a while and see the world. We were supposed to only go to Liverpool, but something happened at the last minute, and so we gave up our stay at the hostel in Liverpool to stay with a friend's friend in her dorm room at Manchester University instead. So the money we saved on the hostel, we spent on the train ride.

On the train to Liverpool. It was so nice and comfy. We slept all two hours.

The view outside the train. Snow was everywhere.

After taking another 45 minute train to Manchester, we arrived and went shopping.

Then we decided we needed to see some famous attractions instead of just shopping, which we could do in Birmingham. So we took the bus to Old Trafford to visit the Manchester United football club stadium.

The museum + tour cost 11 pounds (22SGD), which was kind of a rip off, but there really wasn't anything else to do. Plus, I mean, it's MAN U's stadium. Even though I don't care about football, that's still pretty cool. David Beckham was once here!

In the museum.

On the hour-long tour of the stadium. It was actually smaller than I imagined, and apparently all the seats are super expensive, except for the ones way up high. The British are really passionate about their football. One guy was like, 'we British call it 'football' because you use your foot to kick the ball. I don't understand why Americans call it soccer. Do they use their socks or something?'

We got to go into the MAN U players' lounge. It was kind of small. And we had a bunch of school kids on our tour - even they were obsessed with football.

Oh, you know... just chillin' where the players hang out. No big deal. 

Their changing room was small too. Even though they had a huge flat screen TV.

This is where the players run out from onto the field.

And that's where the home team sits to support the players on the field.

She's obsessed with MAN U, and was obviously the whole reason why we went to the stadium in the first place.

I didn't really want to spend any money at the MAN U store, but we skipped lunch and I was so hungry I had to buy something, and candy was the only food on sale there. Hence the 1 pound jelly babies.

The Old Trafford mall is supposedly one of the largest in England. It was so huge, we only went to 5 stores when we were there, which was probably 0.1% of the shops.

We had dinner at this movie theatre/bar/restaurant place back in the city.

I ordered kebabs and salad, which sounded good, but the kebabs consisted of two tiny sticks of red peppers, onions, and cheese. And the salad was a mushy mix of brinjal and corn. So not worth it.

I got to meet lots of Mauritians who attended Manchester University, and it was interesting to hear them speak Creole, because although it is supposedly similar to French, it sounded more Indian than anything. Maybe because they were all Indian. We pre-gamed at one of their friends' apartment.

Then we went to a club in the city and it was totally tame. Not at all scandalous like I expected British people to be.

The next day we took the train to Liverpool, and visited the dock there.

Then we got on the Magical Mystery Tour bus for the Beatles' tour. I'm not a huge fan, or a fan at all, but my friends were, so I just went along for fun.

We got to see famous places like Penny Lane (which was just a normal road).

And Strawberry Field.

And previous homes of several Beatles members.

That's our tour guide speaking. He was quick-witted and hilarious. And apparently he acted in some documentary about the Beatles, and he also got to hang out with Paul McCartney, who asked for his autograph because of his work on the documentary.

Our last stop on the tour was The Cavern Club, where the Beatles and other famous bands performed.

This guy was a tribute singer to the Beatles, and his voice was amazing. So was his charisma and personality.

One of the numerous Beatles store around the city.

Dinner was at - where else - Pizza Hut. Seriously. I can't wait to get home and eat cheap good food. Here, it's always either Pizza, Subway, or MacDonald's! But in honor of Sarpino's, I ate lasagna instead of pizza. And it wasn't even good.

My friend and his sister who came to visit and loves the Beatles and doesn't speak more than 10 words of English. They've NEVER been to Pizza Hut in their life. Unbelievable. I told them it wasn't that great.

Night view of the city of Liverpool. The tall thing is a ride.

Since Christmas is coming, there was an ice skating rink and carnival and all.

And of course, the official Liverpool Football Club store, where everything costs so much, it's practically daylight robbery. But I bought stuff for my brother, because that's just the good sister I am.

The Beatles are everywhere in Liverpool.

Back to the huge train station to return home.

In a way, I'm glad my team doesn't have much ministry to do. Because then we get to take road trips like this and visit different cities in England, which is way more fun.