"life has given me obstacles. still i bite my tongue, say 'it's wonderful"

i hope you high schooler kiddos have had a wonderful start to the school year. i won't be starting for two more weeks but i'm a little anxious all ready. i hope they won't make us play get-to-know-you games like in high school,  why is it important that if a movie was made of my life, i'd want meryl streep to play me? yes. that was always my answer.

first of all, i realized that maybe i speak of people on this blog & a few of you don't know who they are. clarification time. 

i'm staying with audrey. her daughter is emma. her other daughter is sarah. sarah's husband is andy. their kids are ewan & aiden.

yesterday we went to sarah's house. audrey took ewan to football training {known to you as soccer practice} & i stayed to play with aiden while andy & sarah went out. those kids are seriously so cute. we watched the toothfairy. you know that ridiculous movie with dwayne "the rock" johnson? his career is really going places, you see. this morning, we went to aiden's football match. let's just say they didn't win. but it was good character building.

then this afternoon, audrey & i went to the town of clitheroe. 

home of clitheroe castle, built in 1186/ 

& now,  assorted pictures from the day, because i know you like pictures.

in the castle, they had this really eerie music playing. it was terrific. the view was absolutely amazing. from the castle, the whole town & surrounding countryside was visible. & audrey bought me a coffee. 

the end. 

actually not the end yet.

i must share with you some vocabulary.

trolley: shopping cart

brolly: umbrella

handbag: purse

fringe: bangs

car park: parking lot

bonnet: hood {of a car}

boot: trunk

that's  all i can think of now. i'm learning so much. i told audrey that my accent makes me feel like a black sheep & sometimes i get self-conscious when i'm talking to people. but apparently she loves it. american accents are a novelty over here because being american is cool & exotic. who knew? 

andy refers to me as 'america' or 'the yank'. yep, that's me. sometimes is think people can tell that i'm a foreigner. then i realize, they're only staring at me because i'm staring at them. speaking of which, camera straps are so helpful in taking creep photos. it just happens to be hanging around your neck & your finger happens to be on the shutter button...

that's how i got a picture of this ginger. this is really cropped.
he's not really looking at me. i was being really casual...

these guys looked like mormons. it made me miss my mormon friends.

now the end. 

no. not.

i didn't write any emotional stuff. & i know you like that even better than pictures. 

but really. one thing. i don't know where she got this but audrey read me something earlier that really got me thinking. it was something like, "praise instead of panic, & worship instead of worry & some other words..." whoa, buddy. it's not even a bad situation that i'm in, just a difficult one. i should thank God for the blessing of this adventure instead of allowing myself to continue to constantly question why i ever came here. okay, that wasn't so emotional. thanks for sticking with me. i'll go cry myself to sleep now... just kidding. maybe.
the end. for real.

except for this picture of me & my creeping camera.