tea-mania

So yesterday as I'm on my knees pulling weeds from between the cobblestones outside the chapel, I realized that I really am in the English countryside. Daang. It is all that Jane Austen said it would be.

Here is yesterday's schedule, to better explain what the days will be like here:
Breakfast at 8am which consists of Wheat-a-somethings and toast. And of course hot tea.
At 9:30 it is morning chores. Kendra (from Canada) and I cleaned all five bathrooms in the manor yesterday and I leanred the mind-blowing fact that newspaper can be used as papertowels to wash down mirrors. Crazy I know. I got excited when it actually worked, and I don't think I will ever use paper towels again. Recycling can be fun, Abby.
At 11am there is tea time which Kendra and I prepared. Tea time is when everyone in the house congregates in the kitchen for thirty minutes to take a break from chores/studying.
Then it is back to chores and lunch at 1:30. Lunch is formal. We are split up into two groups, so it is about 12 people. We have lunch in one of the workers' apartments and there is always a lunch discussion. Anyone at the table can ask a question and then the whole table discusses what they think. Ryan, one of the workers who is my age, from Memphis, asked yesterday - What does it mean to be awed, and what awes you? I wish I could say more about that but I only have the internet for 15 more minutes.
I had a 30 minute break after lunch and Ryan and I played soccer, or football here, with Andrew Fellow's son whose name I still can't remember. The USA won the world cup.
Study time from 3-6pm. Tea time no. 2 in between. I listened to two lectures from the library during my study time. Dinner at 6:30 in Marta's apartment on the top floor of the manor. Cheese and brocolli soup. Then a lecture at 8 by Andrew which was really just a discussion of community and what it really is - since it is such a buzzword right now in churches. Then hangout. Then bed.

It is freezing here. Of course most people here think it is warm and they are wearing sandals. But I am all about the scarves and socks and layers. I seem to have forgotten that they don't have central heating in England. We did light a fire last night in the living room though, and Chris and I hovered around it - he's from Southern California so he is equally cold.

When I walked in the door for the first time Tuesday I met 5 people before I made it to the staircase. And within an hour we were all sitting together laughing and talking like we have always known each other. Which is crazy because it is never like that for me. There is so much tea I think I might go crazy. Tea with every meal and two tea breaks...and they conder why the British have bad teeth. But anyway, I think I was made for this place. Conversations here are...wonderful. I sat across the table from Kat yesterday (we both had a mug of tea in out hands) and she told me about her life and the struggle she has had in the last year. And L'abri is really going to be a shelter for her this summer. I wish I could stay and watch her. After telling me this horrible story about a disease she has been struggling with and how she will be on medication all of her life, she looked at me and said, "But it is good because I wouldn't talk to God otherwise." And that is it - it has only been a day and I'm already in love with the people around me. This is still going to be really hard. Especially if it stays this cold. But this place is rich. That's the only way I can describe it. I know it sounds weird. But it is rich with conversation. Rich with interesting, beautiful people- many of which aren't Christians, which to me is much better. Rich with questions. No question is not worth asking. I was made for this place.