Misc.

It's been a month since I last posted. Tons of stuff has happened. Here it is in a nutshell.

1. Mom came to visit me for 2 weeks. We hung out in Swansea where it rained. We went to Scotland the weekend of the Glasgow bombing & it rained. We went back to Swansea where it rained. We went to London, managed to find sunshine, watch/work the Tour de France & go to 2 shows - Phantom & Wicked.

2. Mom flew home on Monday. Flight out of Atlanta was delayed. She was flying into Lexington so she could go to Jr. League. Cynda, being the wonderful friend that she is, picked mom up at the LEX airport & got her to the horse show in time. Yay Cynda. Oh, find out Kelsey is engaged (not sure if it actually happened on that day, but anyway ...)

3. I flew home Thursday. Bethany, being a great AOII sister, picked me up in Cincy & drove me to Lex. We met up with Amanda, Deb, Cynda, her friend Matt, & my mom for dinner at Cheapside. Then we went to the horse show. Amanda & Deb met up with us at the horse show. By 9pm, we were at McCarthy's, making friends with the bartenders. Jason Moeller, TU friend from Louisville, came up for fun times. (Say hi to Jimmy for us the next time you go.) Saw Jody Mitchell at Redmon's as well as some other TU people.

4. Got up kinda early. BLo & I go to Transy - see John Thompson & some profs. Go to lunch at Flag Fork Herb Garden (delicious!) with mom, Cynda, & Katie McBride. Go back to Transy to hang out with people in Old Morrison (i.e. Jayme Gower, Natasa Pajic, Deana Ison & whoever else we could find).

5. Saturday, go to Joseph Beth. Bad idea. I bought 67 books (all classics thank you). Briarpatch for dinner!

6. Breakfast at Windy Hollow on Sunday!

7. Working at OCHS all week. Bath & Body Works calls me to get on the schedule.
8. Riding lesson on Wed. Hahah ... very funny ... very sore. And dinner at Granma's.

9. Cynda interviews at OCHS on Friday for a job. Keeping fingers crossed she gets it.

10. Horse show on Saturday! I catch ride Lenore's Royal Amber (aka Happy) & win the equitation class! Completely surprised. Had teachers come to cheer - Joan Perry, Ann Flaherty, Nancy Bradley, & Jennifer Schultz

11. Cynda called back for another interview on Monday. Will know Friday if she is hired.

12. Movies with Joan & Mom (Hairspray - fabulous)

13. Make plans for Nashville road trip.

14. Cynda gets job at OCHS on Friday. She calls me at 8am, waking me up. She's in Lex. I'm in OBKY. I take the task of finding her a place to move in to on Sunday. Solution: Jeff Danhauer's house that is using as storage.

15. Drive to Bowling Green Friday night to meet Amanda. Then drive down to Nashville. Stay at Sarah & Lance's. Sarah makes us dinner. Lance was messy (spaghetti sauce & Lance don't mix well) :-) Meet Sadie the puppy.

16. Awake to construction on the apartment. Apparently the landlord is re-siding all the buildings. We were the lucky early Sat. morning choice. Brian calls at 930am saying he's 30 minutes from Nashville. We think about getting out of bed. Eventually make it to the hotel by 1015 so we can take one car to the theatre to see the play Mary Jo has been working on. Go to the play. Go to lunch with Mary Jo & Adam. Go to mall to find shorts for Brian (love Amanda's employee discount at Macy's). Check in to hotel. Veg on couch until 7pm. Try Brian & Clint's homemade alcohol. Try Scotch whisky. Dinner! (Delicious!) Pool/hot tub. Showers. Alcohol - Irish Moonshine best mixed with Coke. 2 glasses are plenty. Bed by midnight. Theory we will be hung over after 2 glasses. Mary Jo texts - Adam proposed!

17. Sunday morning - no hangover! Breakfast at 10am. Check out by 1100. Amanda & me back in Bowling Green by 1245. See Daniel, as he is car sitting my truck. Owensboro by 2pm. Go to Cynda's new place & start cleaning/moving/arranging.

Plans for the next 2 weeks that I am home?
1. Dissertation work!
2. Helping Cynda move (house & classroom) & lesson plan & destress
3. BOAT!
4. Pack for Germany, eventually .......

20 days later ...

OK, Brian, this one's for you. ;-)

Brian was kind enough to send me a comment on my last blog to say that I needed to update since it has been almost 20 days since I last posted.

I have been busy with the dissertation. Spending hours in the library, often from 9am-8pm working on the essays & reading. My brain feels like it is about to explode with all the info! I need to write one more essay before July 3 because I have to email it to my professor that day! It's on "Otherness" (i.e. race & homosexuality) in Wilkie Collins.

I did get my results for this past year yesterday. I passed Part One with distinction, which means my average is a 70 or higher. I was quite excited!

Mom came in yesterday. I got up at 5am & took a 5.5 hour bus ride to pick her up in London. Then got BACK on the bus for another 5.5 hour bus ride back to Swansea. I think we got in about 5pm, caught the bus to the Student Village, & then back in town to stop by Zoe's house (I had stayed at her house the night before since she lives in town & had left some things) & then headed to the grocery. Finally saw Freddy & his friend Johannes. Johannes drove up from Germany on Sunday. They're piling all of Freddy's stuff (& my duffle bag) in the car & driving back to Germany on Friday.

Sunday night I went out with the work group. Was certainly an interesting evening. I think I got home about 3am that night. Luckily one of the guys gave me a ride home so I wouldn't have to pay for a taxi.

My last night at the hotel is Friday (woohoo)! I'm very excited about it. I worked Tuesday night. It was SO slow that one of the chefs made me dinner!

Mom & I leave for Scotland Saturday at 3am. We have to catch a bus to Bristol & then fly out of Bristol to Edinburgh where we pick up the car. We're staying at Barony Castle, which is owned by the hotel company I work for, so I get staff rate. We'll get back from Scotland on Tuesday & then catch a train to London on Friday. The Tour de France begins Saturday. I'm working Sunday in the Westminster area, so if you watch the Tour, you may see me!

I fly home on the 12th. I'm hoping it will be nice & warm on the 10th or 11th so I can go to the beach!!! I still haven't made it there yet. All this rain ...

Nothing else exciting has happened. Went sopping today. Bought a dress & shoes & another duffle (rolling one) to carry stuff home.

I'll try to post after we get back from Scotland. Then I'll at least have some photos to post as well. I'm anxious to get home (& to work on the sports program for OCHS).

For those of you reading this in the Lexington area, I'm having a "Stay Awake" get-together at McCarthy's on July 12th after I fly in. I think we're meeting around 9pm. I created an event on Facebook, but I wasn't sure who all was actually around. So if you are, feel free to come by. We'll be there 'til 11pm (or at least that's my goal).

Pontypool, Wales

On Wednesday & Thursday of this week, I got to go home with Zoe to meet her family & have some real home-cooked meals. We were supposed to drive, but Zoe's car is officially dead. We took the bus instead, arriving in Newport. From Newport, we took another bus to Pontypool. On that ride, I had my first introduction to Welsh gypsies. Nothing like the ones I have seen before! Arriving in Pontypool, Zoe & I caught another bus so we wouldn't have to walk up this gigantic mountain (she calls it a small hill) to her house. Instead, the bus took us halfway up & we only had to walk a short distance uphill. Zoe's house is adorable. It has a huge garden/backyard where her mom grows vegetables, plums (they have so many they can't give them all away), & apples (well, maybe 1 or 2 a year). They also have a pool, which we sorta laid by on Wednesday but Thursday was overcast & cold, so no tanning/burning that day.

Mrs. Kear made Sunday lunch for us, which is a rather big meal. We had chicken, gravy & stuffing, new potatoes, roast potatoes, veges (carrots, brocolli, cauliflower, cabbage), cranberry sauce, yorkshire puddings, parsnips, & cheese grits (which I brought). For dessert, we had derby pie & chess pie that I also made. (I told Zoe I would make traditional southern American food if I came with her.)

I met her sister Abby & her 2 kids - Dylan (6) & Poppy (2). Abby took us shopping on Thursday to Cwmbran. I also met Elaine, Zoe's sister-in-law & Geraint (15) & Becky (12). Jason, Zoe's brother was in London working.

On Thursday we went shopping. Then Liam, a friend of Zoe's, came over & hung out for a bit. For dinner that night, we had chicken curry & chicken soup from the leftovers. It was really yummy though the curry was a tad spicy! Zoe's dad drove us back to Newport to catch the bus back to Swansea. We got into Swansea around 9:30 & I was home by 10:30.

It was certainly nice to get away from Swansea & the housemates ... and even nicer to have a home cooked meal where I didn't have to cook or do the dishes!

Gower Horse Back Riding

Monday I convinced Lucy & Zoe to go horseback riding on the Gower. The Gower is considered the most beautiful part of Wales. So for 35quid a piece, we saddled up & off we went with our guide & 2 other ladies. Now, I'm an experienced horse rider. Lucy's been on a horse once & Zoe had never. By the end of the ride, we were all trotting & cantering. I was quite impressed! Needless to say, we were all VERY sore the next day (including me) & VERY sun burnt (we didn't even think of sunscreen)!

Our ponies

Lucy & Zoe waiting, not so patiently

Oxwich Bay

Lucy eating her chicken salad sandwich that didn't exactly fair very well in my pack ... cantering & food don't mix well.

Zoe

Gypsy ate through the branch he was tied to & decided to find greener pastures.

Georgie, my horse with the "sensitive mouth" (whatever)

Lucy on Smith (left) & Zoe on Lane

The chestnut on the far left is laughing at us!

A Visit to Pembroke Castle & Tenby

Last weekend, I was up and at school by 8:45am. Quite impressive for a Saturday, I must say. The TravelShop has organized an outing to Tenby, Wales, which is a nice beach town in West Wales. Our first stop would be Pembroke Castle, which, like most castles, sits on a ledge overlooking a river. Our guide was amazing - told us all sorts of uses for urine (great heated projectile, bleacher for hair & clothes, kills lice ...) & showed how Hollywood movies are incorrect in their portrayal of castles & fights in the towers (all castle tower staircases are built clockwise & all people are right-handed at this time. Therefore, you cannot run up the stairs, fighting left-handed because the left-hand side was considered evil & children were forced to be right-handed growing up). We saw the room where Henry VII was born as well.

The layout of the castle

The keep, with a 5 story tower!

Tower where Henry VII was born.

Our next stop was a short 20 minute drive. Tenby is a really beautiful town, but the trip would have been even better had the sun been shining!

Defending the tower!

Some Canadian students on our trip who decided to scale the rock ... as the tide was coming in!