Are you a professional bubble blower?

     The last post I wrote was written half heartedly because I was quite distracted.  But in a good way because I was talking to my parents!!!  So I will start by explaining the title to my blog because it really should be with the last blog time wise.  London is one of the greatest places to people watch, there are so many interesting characters here and they're so wonderful to observe and experience.  On the tube on the way to the Imperial War Museum Andreas and I were sitting across from each other and the guy next to me, about our age, turns to me and asks "are you a professional bubble blower?"  and proceeds to flirt with me for quite some time.  Later on he asks where we're from and we say Orange County and he says "NO WAY!  I should have guessed because you're both wearing orange!!!"  WHAT?!  So this is hilarious to Andreas and I because, well, for obvious reasons, but also because we were both wearing scarves with orange in them... both of which we bought IN LONDON.  Andreas, being the charmer that he is, secretly took a picture to remind him of this happy occasion.

     Anyways, friday night we went to a little comedy club to see what London comedy shows are like.  It was in the basement of this pub and it was a lot of fun because they did what's called a "gong show" which is where, in this case, you hold up little red cards and if 4 of the 6 are up at the same time this music plays and the person is finished.  If they last 8 minutes they move into the finals.  Anyways, there were some good and some bad but very entertaining overall.  The other reason we were there is for Chris because eventually he is going to perform some of his stand up material while we're here!  I think he might go back to this place and do it next month, so exciting!  So after that we came back to Wood Green (where I live) and everybody brought their comforters and pillows into my room and Andreas, Chris, Paul, Liz and I had a sleepover and watched Love Actually.

     All weekend there have been events going on for the Chinese New Year so Saturday we went to Trafalgar Square to walk around and see all the decorations and what not.  We apparently missed a pretty good firework show Sunday night but oh well!  So we walked around and then ate at Wok in a Box for some excellent chinese food.  Jenni and I spent a bit of time in Soho looking in the vintage shops and ended up at this amazing cupcake place that is comparable to Sprinkles at home (but in my opinion way better!).  Later that night we went to a club called 4th floor and had an excellent night dancing.  I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before or not, but here the all night Taqueria is replaced by an all night Kebab shop on every corner so usually if we're out late we're hungry by the time we get home so we go get Kebabs (or in my case, hummus and pita).  So on this particular night we decide to engage in Kebauchery and get the usual and take it back to our kitchens. (Paul is going to kill me for telling this story)  He goes in to go to the bathroom and somehow drops his meat and chips/fries into the toilet.  Such a dork!  It was absolutely hilarious.

     Sunday was a lazy day and most of us did laundry... BORING!  But it was nice to relax, read a bit and then Chris, Paul, Jenni and I headed to a church called Holy Trinity, which was recommended to me by a guy I met and was absolutely amazing.  The church is right by Harrods as well as the Victoria and Albert Museum so I think next week (or rather the week after because this week I'll be in Barcelona!) we're going to go early and walk around a bit.  I'm really excited that we found a place and that so many people here are willing to go with Chris and I, it makes me feel far less alone in that respect.  Chris, Jenni, Erica and I are going to try and make the trip as often as possible, though it's not close.  I'm really happy though because I think it is very much worth the trek, it's a contemporary service but has a lot of tradition incorporated and there are a lot of ways that I can get involved.  I figure since I can't work that getting involved in a ministry of some sort is a great way to meet locals, fill time, and do (much more importantly) something worthwhile (especially once school is out and I'm still here).  One thing I thought was really great was a huge emphasis on prayer, I'm not sure if they do certain things every week or not since I've only been once but they prayed very specifically for certain things.  This week marks the half term (hence reading week and Barcelona) so they prayed for the students and teachers.  Not only that, but they had a moment when the whole congregation was asked to pray specifically and out loud so the whole church was filled with words of prayer.  At the end they do a sort of alter call for anyone who needs prayer and the same type of thing happened where the whole church is full of the sounds of prayer and it was a really great feeling.

   Today was a wonderful day, I got up early, very well rested and went for a nice long run and then Liz and I headed to Oxford Circus to walk around a bit before going to Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum!  I've never been to a wax museum so taking silly pictures with wax statues was quite amusing to me.  The only picture of Liz and I together (we manned each other's cameras all day) is this one of us with the Oceans 11 set, my cards beat George's.  After that we went to Nando's for some of the best chicken EVER.  Chicken pita, medium with a slice of pineapple and spicy rice! Delicious! (can you tell I'm sick of eating cheerios, oatmeal and peanut butter toast!?)      Now that we're done planning Barcelona (flights and accommodations for less that $200!) we're on to planning our big trip to Greece over spring break, I am SO excited for this trip!  We plan on spending some time in Athens and then island hopping a bit so I am going to book a day full of diving!  AH!!!  More info to come on that one of course.  Love you and miss you all!!