Shake, Rattle, and Roll

So last night I stayed up kinda late watching "Little Women". Around 12:30 I turned it off since my eyelids were getting heavy and there was still about 30-45 minutes left in the movie. I turned on my Matt Redman CD and fell asleep soon after. But just as I had fallen to sleep I was awoken by a loud rumble and my bed and entire room swaying.

My first thought was it was an earthquake. But I'm in England...not California. England doesn't have earthquakes, so I quickly dispelled that theory. But I couldn't come up with another reasonable explanation. I was pretty scared, I think mostly because I didn't know what had happened. I spent a few minutes searching the internet for an explanation and after coming up empty-handed, fell back asleep.

Waking this morning, I checked the news, still hoping to find an explanation. And sure enough I found it:

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- An earthquake shook Britain early Wednesday, causing damage to buildings and leaving at least one person injured.

This image provided by the British Geological Survey shows the seismogram registering the earthquake at Market Rasen, England on Wednesday.

The British Geological Survey put the preliminary magnitude for the earthquake at 5.3, according to the British Press Association.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake measured 4.7.

Emergency services across England received calls following the incident, many from people who woke up to find their homes shaking.

Ambulance officials said a man from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, required hospital treatment after a chimney collapsed and fell into his bedroom.

The quake struck at around 0100 GMT and was centered about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of London, the British Geological Survey said.

Julian Bukits, of the organization, called it the most powerful quake in Britain since a 5.4 quake hit North Wales in 1984.

"This was a very large earthquake in UK terms," he told The Associated Press. "This one has been felt throughout the whole of England and southern Scotland."

"It felt pretty scary," Haydn Jones of Nottingham, who lives in a third-floor apartment, told CNN. He said he had lived abroad in Japan and knew immediately what it was, but felt that a lot of those in England "didn't really know what was going on." Watch images of the damage caused by the quake »

Jones likened the feeling to "someone very big and angry jumping on the ceiling below you, rather than the floor."

He believed the shaking lasted about 10 seconds, but said, "time sort of stands still for you."

Earthquakes frequently hit Britain -- between 200 and 300 annually, according to the British Geological Survey, although most have a magnitude of less than 2.

Earthquakes with a magnitude of 4.0 to 4.9 hit mainland Britain about once every two years and strike beneath the North Sea about once per year.

Britain's strongest recorded quake was the North Sea quake of June 7, 1931, with a magnitude of 6.1. It was felt across the British isles and in northwestern Germany. The quake killed one person.

The most powerful onshore quakes occurred on July 19, 1984, in north Wales (magnitude 5.1) and on April 2, 1990, along the Welsh border with England (5.1 magnitude.)

A 4.6 magnitude quake in Colchester on April 22, 1884, was Britain's most damaging earthquake, knocking spires from churches and masonry from roofs. Turrets and parapets also fell, and brick walls and chimneys collapsed. Two people were killed.

haha

I decided to make a list of some of the best questions I've been asked since I've been in England. Here we go!
*"Do you know Pastor Bob? He moved to Texas from England."
*"Are you Mexican?"
*"Do you all drink tequila?"
*"Are you close to Brazil?"
*"Are you close to the equator?"
*"Is New Mexico an American state?"
*"Roadrunners are real birds?"
*"Are Lutherans even Christians?"

Hope you enjoyed as much as I have!

Dreaming Upside Down

Yesterday I spent a great day with Naomi in Manchester. Naomi is 18 and the daughter of half the management team of GNFC, Hazel and Roger. She is fantastic and has grown to be one of my favorite people in Buxton.
In Manchester I was once again confronted with globalization. And although there definitely are some comforts of seeing Pizza Hut, Urban Outfitters, Gap, and Super Cuts it doesn't seem quite right. It feels awkward and out of place. And I suppose that's because it is out of place. Naomi introduced me to Shared Earth. It is a fairtrade store just down the street from the Manchester train station. Fairtrade and organic products are one of my new favorite things that I've discovered while being in England. The treasures I found in Shared Earth were so much cooler than what I found in Primark or H&M. They were so much cooler than what you can find in Old Navy or Gap. But where did I choose to spend more money? Primark, not the fairtrade store. But why? It's cheaper of course. But why can't globalization be turned upside down to have the treasures from Shared Earth all over the world for easy acquiring?
And then today I remembered a poem that was read to us at our orientation in Chicago back in August.
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"Dreaming Upside Down"
By: Tom Peterson

I dreamed the other night that all the maps in the world had been turned upside down. Library atlases, roadmaps of Cincinnati, wall-sized maps in the war rooms of the great nations, even antique maps with such inscriptions as "Here be Dragons" were flipped over. What had been north was now south, east was west. Like a glob of melting vanilla ice cream, Antarctica now capped schoolroom globes.

In my dream, a cloud of anxieties closed around me. The United States was now at the bottom. Would we have to stand upside-down, causing the blood to rush to our heads? Would we need suction-cup shoes to stay on the planet, and would autumn leaves fall up? No, I remembered, an apple once bopped Newton on the head - no need to worry about these things.

Other things troubled me more. Now that we're at the bottom, would our resources and labor be exploited by the new top? Would African, Asian, and Latin American nations structure world trade to their advantage?

Would my neighbors and I have two-dollars-a-day seasonal jobs on peach and strawberry plantations? Would the women and children work from dusk to dawn to scratch survival from the earth of California and Virginia? Would the fruit we picked be shipped from New Orleans and New York for children in Thailand and Ethiopia to hurriedly eat with their cereal so they wouldn't miss the school bus? Would our children, then, spend the morning, not in school, but fetching water two miles away and the afternoon gathering wood for heating and cooking? Would a small ruling class in this country send their daughters and sons to universities in Cairo and Buenos Aires?

Would our economy be dependant upon the goodwill and whims of, say, Brazil? Would Brazil send war planes and guns to Washington, D.C. to assure our willingness to pick apples and tobacco for export while our children went hungry? Would Brazil and Vietnam fight their wars with our sons in our country? Would we consider revolution?

If we did revolt, would the Filippino government plot to put their favorite U.S. general in power, and then uphold him with military aid?

Would we work in sweatshops manufacturing radios for the Chinese? Would our oil be shipped in tankers to Southeast Asia to run their cars, air-conditioning and microwave ovens while most of our towns didn¹t even have electricity?

Would top of the world religious leaders call us stubborn pagans upon whom God¹s judgement had fallen, causing our misery? Would they proclaim from opulent pulpits that if we simply turned to God, our needs would be met?

In my dream, I saw child crying in Calcutta. Her parents wouldn't buy her any more video games until her birthday. I saw her mother drive to the supermarket and load her cart with frozen and junk food, vegetables, cheese, meat, and women's magazines.

I also saw a mother in Houston baking bread in an earthen oven. She had been crying because there were no more beans for her family. One of her children listlessly watched her. He was a blond boy, about six years old. He slowly turned his empty, haunting gaze toward me.

At that point I awoke with a gasp. I saw I was in my own bed, in my own house. It was just a bad dream. I drifted back to sleep, thinking, "It¹s all right, I'm still on top."

Thank God!

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Youth Weekend

The weekend before my vacation to Amsterdam was the retreat for the youth group I work with on Friday nights. It was such a great time but left me completely 'knackered'! We had about 12 youth aging from 11-18. We spent two nights at the Champion House in Edale. The Champion House is a Christian retreat center and Edale is a small village about 15 miles from Buxton. It is in the middle of the Peak District and just gorgeous.
The topic of the weekend was the Fruits of the Spirit. The kids engaged in a lot of good conversation. Check out this video we watched through out the weekend. I think it actually did help all of us remember the Fruits of the Spirit a little more!

Saturday we walked through the Peak District to Castleton and had lunch there and walked back. The weather couldn't have been better and I was so thankful for the blue skies and sunshine. It had been too long since I'd seen either one of them. I was very happy to be outside and able to fully enjoy the good weather. I was so entertained with the sheep carelessly grazing in the grass and kept taking pictures of them, which in return kept the youth group entertained with me. "Don't you have sheep in the US?" they would ask. "Well yes, but not in the desert." I would reply. I also had to remind them that I wasn't a circus act that they could have me repeat things simply for their enjoyment. But it was so much fun. They love asking me questions about America and return love teaching me about England. It works out pretty well!

Amsterdam Photos

If you would like to see my photos from Amsterdam visit:

http://nmsu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036650&l=335e4&id=49000108

Amsterdam!

Last week I joined two fellow YAGMs in Amsterdam for a short ‘holiday’. It was a much needed break from Charis House, Buxton and England. We had so much fun being silly and goofing off.
I arrived Monday evening to gorgeous weather. We had dinner that night at an Irish pub and then spent the rest of the night sharing stories and catching up with each other. We discovered the I AMsterdam card—a discount card that gets you free transportation, free entrance to museums, and other discounts through out the city for 48 hours. This card cost about $60 and turned out to be worth every penny. Our other penny-saving technique was making a sandwich from the breakfast buffet at our hostel in the morning and packing it in our bags to eat while touring.
Tuesday morning we started our marathon sight-seeing with our free boat cruise through the canals of Amsterdam. The weather couldn’t have been better and it was such a fun way to see the city. Our next stop was the Stedelijk Musuem. This is a modern art museum that sounds great in the tour books, but turned out to be fairly disappointing. It once again confirmed that I don’t appreciate or understand modern art. But have no fear, we managed to keep ourselves entertained by being completely silly and taking ridiculous pictures. Our next stop was the Anne Frank House. It was simply amazing being in her house. So moving and powerful; just walking around brought me to tears. I’m sure it will be one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Seeing the bookcase, hearing the floor creak, looking out the windows, climbing the stairs, and seeing her magazine clippings she used to decorate her room—although all so simple independently were so emotional and powerful. Outside the Anne Frank House we met three sisters about 60-70 from California and the DC area. We chatted with them for a few minutes. They were in Amsterdam for a few days and then going on safari in Tanzania—so cool!!! I want to be a cool old lady like that!
Afterwards we walked across the canal to the Tulip Museum. It wasn’t so much as a flower shop with the history of tulips in the basement. But it was fun, and smelled terrific! Our final tourist stop for the day was the Neuwe Kerk (New Church) to see the exhibit of “Hidden Afghanistan”. It was the history of Afghanistan, the tribes that have lived there and the treasures they’ve left behind and the struggle to preserve them from the Taliban and others. It was very interesting.
Although the city is large, it is easily walkable and the architecture is beautiful. I discovered (with Kelly and Lindsey’s help) chocolate covered waffles that you can buy from street vendors. Very yummy!
Wednesday morning we started the day at the Rembrandt House. I was so intrigued to see that he had Gila monsters and armadillos in his art supply room. How on earth did he acquire those?!?! It was also great to see the powders that he would use to mix his paints. It made his paintings seem so much more impressive knowing that he couldn’t just squeeze his desired color out of a tube from Hobby Lobby. Following that we went to the Van Gogh Museum. It was fantastical! Once again I must say that I love art museums (but not so much modern art museums!). This was my second favorite part of Amsterdam. His paintings are so beautiful. I think the Almond Branches with Blossoms is my favorite Van Gogh piece, which I learned was painted as a gift for his nephew at his birth. Next we went to the Rijksmuseum, which commemorates the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century. They had a giant doll house which was the highlight of the museum for me. It was about 6 feet tall, 4 feet wide, and encased in tortoiseshell. The owner paid as much for the dollhouse as a modest real house would have cost. There were also several Rembrandt pieces including “The Night Watch”. Our last museum of the day was the FOAM museum. It is a modern photography museum. Once again reaffirming how much I don’t get modern art! How is a picture of a decomposing body in a forest art?!?!
Thursday was our traveling day, returning to Buxton about 11pm. I had a lovely Valentine’s dinner with Lindsey. We sat on the floor of the Euston train station in London eating sandwiches and waiting for our trains home. But there is no other way I would have rather spent Valentine’s in England than with friends.