My internet is down in my flat and probably won't be fixed until Monday. Therefore I cannot blog with pictures like I was planning to. Do not be sad just look forward to that day.

Boy Story

"You've got a friend in me.
When the road looks rough ahead
And you're miles and miles
From your nice warm bed
Just remember what your old pal said
Boy, you've got a friend in me"

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to my wall. It grows bigger every week. You don't know how much you need people you love until you don't have them. So if you are my friend. Thank you. I pray that I can be as good a friend as you have been to me.

Misfortunes masked in hope

How do I begin this post? That's a great question. Yesterday was a roller coaster of everything human. I feel like I just got off the high school maturity wagon as if I had gone through every learning experience induced by four year periods. I left for London in the morning to meet Meg Kimsey and her boyfriend Andy. It was good to finally see her. We walked around tourist London, which is honestly getting more boring every time I do it. Big Ben and I are growing kind of tired of each others faces. ....punny. We did go to the Tower of London and to Tower Bridge which is not London Bridge because it is still standing. Later that day this dialogue would happen.

Steff: Why didn't you go into the Tower of London.
Mitch: Because it was ugly and depressing.
Steff: Yeah,? because it was a prison and a torture chamber.
Mitch: Oh....
England: What, like you didn't torture people for hundreds of years?

Our plane to Doublin was leaving at 8:45 so we got on the Gatwick Express. *Note to future London travelers. Gatwick is way better than both Stansted and Heathrow as it has a Krispy Cream. We got up to our check in line when this dialogue happened.

Steff: Oh hold on, I gotta get my passport out.
Mitch's guts: whooosh. *hit floor
Steff's passport: I'm present.
Mitch's passport: The heck I am.

That's right, I totally forgot my passport for my trip to Ireland. I hadn't thought about my passport in over a week. Honestly, Ireland has been its own republic since I've been born so why I never thought to bring my passport is a complete wonder. So long story long I took the train back to London and the bus pack to Canterbury and my feet back to my flat.


As I wrote this I was listening to a CD that Lauren Sampsell gave maybe four years ago. It had a hidden song on it. You know the ones that are like six minutes into the track after four minutes of silence and no joke the lyrics were as follows, "You and I don't have long, so make the most before its gone." I think I will. Thank you sad southern songwriter.

Today I was walking through town and I noticed the usual triplet of pigeons in my way. A pigeon's merit in Canterbury is probably based on how well it can dodge the people around it. Well, this pigeon was obviously not the brightest of it kind. It flew into my face. Yep. First it hovered in the air, looked at me then looked away, then flew over my head and then fell on my face. I'm not positive about the physics of the event I just know it happened..... and it was awkward and no one was there with me to laugh or cry or feel awkward. It was just a bunch of strangers who looked at me like I was annoyingly new at walking through medieval cities.
Another note. About a month ago Victor brought home a large map of the United States with details of the 2008 election printed on it. We loved it so much that it now hangs in our kitchen just to the left of the frig and to the right of a cabinet. The best parts are the daily additions to the map. Everyone who comes into our house seems to have something to say about something on the map. So I bought a big Sharpie to write things on it. I didn't write the obscene things. Those were written by my house mates.

Also, I saw this on the way home. I guess they used to hang people here. Creepy.

And, I am going to Doublin tomorrow.

So some friends decided to make me a farewell video before I left for England.
Thanks guys.........................I think.

Someone is playing Lonestar next door. It followed me all the way over here.


It's what hurts the most, ya know?

Today I sat in my new favorite cafe called Chambers. It is awesome 1 because it has free wifi and 2 because the girl who worked there remembered me from the last time I was there and 3 they serve me coffee with my initials written in chocolate. I gave Mr. Jeff Venable a tour via skype. He said I looked homeless. I looked at my picture on the screen and realized, he was right. This beard is lowering my economic status daily. Also, it's Valentine's day. More importantly this is the painting I bought in Spain. I just flattened it out enough to hang it on my wall.

I marked this section of Blue Like Jazz.

"The thing I have to work on in myself is this issue of belief. Gandhi believed Jesus when He said to turn the other check. Gandhi brought down the British Empire, deeply injured the caste system, and changed the world, Mother Teresa believed Jesus when He said everybody was priceless, even the ugly ones, the smelly ones, and Mother Teresa changed the world by showing them that a human being can be selfless. Peter finally believed the gospel after he got yelled at by Paul. Peter and Paul changed the world by starting small churches in godless towns.
Eminem believes he is a better rapper than other rappers. Profound. Let's all follow Eminem. .......... But the trouble with deep belief is that it costs something. And there is something inside me, some selfish beast of a subtle thing that doesn't like the truth at all because it carries responsibility, and if I actually believe these things I have to do something about them."

I'm not sure why I choose this selection of all the passages in the book. It surely isn't the funniest or the most thought provoking or even the most theologically questionable but it just seemed very..... very human. Something I am learning quite a lot about. I liked this book a lot more than I thought I would. Read it, and let's have coffee.

A few things

My dad totally had one of these when he was young and hip. Totally cool. MG Midget. I thought of him.
I came across this story when searching my mind today. This dialogue took place while I was washing my hands in the British Museum.

Little Kid opens bathroom door.
LITTLE KID: Daddy, there's a line outside the girls bathroom.
DAD: There usually is.
LITTLE KID: Why?
DAD: That's one of the great mysteries of life..... now wash your hands.

I enjoyed this conversation very much but not quite as much as this video of the Blair Witch Bee.


Honestly, why was there a Bee in my room... in February.

"I tell thee what, prince: a college of wit-crackers cannot flout me out of my humour."

Yesterday I went back to London. We went to Buckingham Palace. I hope I am not the first to say that Buckingham Palace was a complete buzz kill. It is like a really boring version of Congress. I ended up taking lots of pictures of the gate because it was prettier than the actual palace. However, the grounds around it are nice and are apparently the unnatural habitat of gigantic wild birds. No joke, I saw more than one pelican in a pond that was maybe 11 inches deep.
I also rode the tube around the city for the first time and I really enjoyed it. There is something about the subway that I have always associated with personal independence and sustainability. We went to the British Museum to see the Egyptian stuff and ultimately The Rosetta Stone. The Chinese New Year is today so there were huge celebrations going on in London. At the British Museum we saw a paper puppet show and a few other things. That night we went through China Town to get to our theatre and it was bumpin like it was 1999. It was really fun to me amidst the masses. We saw Spamalot from an amazingly high angle. I'm glad I got to see none the less. And I'm almost finished with Blue Like Jazz. More on that later.

"No, the world must be peopled"

Last night at Ichthus we made pancakes. English pancakes are somewhat different than American pancakes. Here, they are very flat and big and after you cook them you roll them up like a burrito. It actually makes the pancake eating process much easier. However last night I was responsible for cooking my own pancake. I put too much oil into the pan so I think I kind of fried it. When confronted about my mistake the dialogue was as follows


MITCH: It's okay it'll just turn out like funnel cake.
THE BRITS: ......................
MITCH: Okay, I guess that one didn't translate.
THE BRITS: .....................
MITCH: It's like a big donut.
THE BRITS: Oh yeah, right! That makes since.

Since I purchased my RSC: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare I have decided to title my posts with some of his more excellent quotes. Today's quote is from Much Ado About Nothing when Benedict gives a monologue on why it is reasonable to fall in love.

Today was an "I hate England day"

Remember in Mary Poppins when Michael and Jane go to the bank with thier father and the old scary man in the bank tries to convince Michael to give up his tuppence? Well that old man was a crook and now I understand why Micahel never wanted to give his money to the bank.....becuase they would never give it back. That man will most likely end up like this picture of a dead guy on a coffin I took in a cathedral. Micheal just wanted to feed the birds. What's wrong with that? Nothing! Micheal, there's nothing wrong with not giving the British bank your money, and you know why? Becuase they are rediculuosly incompetent. Without going into the whole of my banking story, I just wanted to share with you that British Banking is completely absurd and is the MOST impractical and inconvinient truth that has ever been. Basically, I cant access my acount for another week.... after a month of attempts. So today was an I hate this country day. I sang a song that was titled, England sucks cause it lost all of its colonies and America is way better.

On a much happier note, my day changed when I recieved a package from the Alwahab family. They sent me candy, peanut putter, a chocolate fish and a Wal-Mart bag. Apparently Clint told them to send me American things. It was one of the best gifts I ever got. Thank you Alwahab family, for making my day great!

Also, it was super tuesday yesterday and we can not participate in the election. We kind of like the stress free environment.

This weekend we went to Palma de Mallorca, a medium sized island just off the southern coast of Spain. If I could describe it in one term it would probably be, "The Florida of Europe." It was full of old people. I mean there was a lot of old people. It was obvious that when the Spanish retire they retire in Palma because the weather is mild and the beach in nice. They geriatrics were only surpassed in number by the Germans. I'm not kidding, there were a lot of German tourists on the island. Many of the islanders speak quite a few languages so that they are more accessible to tourists. So as we walked on the boardwalk between the beach and the shops the Spaniards stopped us to ask us questions in German. .... German. I mean really? We were IN Spain, and after six years of relentless Spanish classes I was ready to speak some serious Spanish. This didn't just happen once, it happened like 20 different times during the weekend. I eventually stopped acknowledging the German language. We were three of maybe five Americans on the island.
It was apparent that we had come during off season, but we already knew that because we only payed ten pounds for our plane tickets. The water was too cold to swim in but during the day it felt very pleasant to sit on the beach and read. One of the best parts of the trip was the bakery a block down from our hotel called the "Palmeria" They had the best pastries and the nicest ladies. We went into their shop and talked to them at least twice a day in Spanish. On our last visit they wished us good luck.
The trip itself was a roller coaster of emotion. The first day I felt the lowest I have felt since I left home. I was terribly ill with homesickness and now I believe this is the worst sickness you can have. I could not shake the feeling that I was flying further and further into oblivion away from home at a time when I wanted to be home more than ever. Through much prayer the feelings ebbed and I was able to enjoy much of the trip.
On Saturday there was a big parade in which people dressed their children up as the most absurd characters. For a while we couldn't figure out what on Earth the celebration was. Then we finally deduced that "Carnival" was the only thing a person could celebrate in early February with drag queens. That's right we saw a big one. I was trying to be discreet while taking this video so the girls are pretending to be awkward tourists.