Freddie, Tea With Old Ladies, and Crackens

Hallo America.

So, I left off at the promise to blog more regularly...This is awkward...I am sorry :) I have realized that I am living in Oxford, UK and there are so many things, people, and places to distract me soooooo I will do my best to blog as frequently as possible. No promises though:)

Well, as promised, Lyndi and I went to Port Meadow on Saturday. We also brought along our other halves, Shelby and Laynie. It was a beautiful day and we just walked through the meadow taking in the geese, dried up pond, cute old couples walking together, and adorable children running around. We ended up going over some bridge that we found very quaint. I'm pretty sure it was a gang's meeting place. Their sign was there.

Straight. Up. G's. I'm sure whatever gang it is is super frightening. They steal children's shoes. Can't top that.

Anyways, the four of us slipped past the gang bridge unscathed. Phew. As we were walking, we just started going towards anything that was of interest. In hindsight, this might not have been the wisest choice that we could have made because we ended up getting lost. For eight miles. E-I-G-H-T MILES. Needless to say, it was super duper fun :) No, it really was, and we saw some really great country and local life including canal boat houses, aggressive swans, adorable children, and snails. While we're on the topic of snails, can we just take a moment to realize how amazing they are? And how awesome God has to be to have cared enough to design their amazing shells for each one? Laynie and I came across Freddie. Which is what I dubbed him. He's adorable. And then we found him a friend, but his friend was shy so we left them alone. BUT Freddie was quite sociable. We had a bit of a photo shoot which you can find on FB. Here's a sneak peek.

Anyways, we found a little place in the woods to do some homework, A.K.A. "pretend to study for the allotted amount of time" and then started climbing trees. Shortly after, we decided it'd be a good idea to start maybe finding out where we were and how to get home. I asked an old lady for directions with my pack looking on and they informed me later that I was talking with a British accent the entire time. Fantastic. Anyways, we kinda found our way to Woodstock (our street) and just picked a direction on it and started walking. We eventually ran into our house which was so great because all of our feet were about to fall off. That was such an adventure and really was a lot of fun. People should try getting lost sometimes. It's liberating. And kinda scary. But mostly liberating. And fun.

Sunday, Lyndi and I went to the 6:00pm service at St. Andrews with a few of our Oxford family and it was wonderful. They had a worship team and actually sang a couple songs I knew and even a few I know from Beltway! It was pretty great.

Monday was a pretty normal day school wise, but then Lyndi, Laynie, and I went and visited Mary at her flat!! It was so much fun. She served us tea and cookies, gave us a tour of her little apartment,  showed up pictures of her attractive grandson that is a doctor and her other serious one that is on his third degree, and we just talked about random things for like 2 or 3 hours. Mary's friend Mary (I know it's confusing, try to stick with me) came as well and we talked with her. She was a bit hard of hearing, but looked really cute haha Our Mary used to teach Biology which we found out by her being super excited about Biology being Laynie's major. Soon it was time to go, so we bid her goodbye and promised we'd be back. Which we will I am sure! And we told her once we head back home to the states we will have to get her mailing address and stay in touch. She's so adorable and we love her :) 

Tuesday was a super long day like always, but we got through it. And then at 9 we had our first weekly devotional meeting thing. We all have groups and once a week we have to put on the worship/message. It was really great. At first I was a little bit tentative, but after experiencing it for the first time, I love it. All of us cram into the common room and just worship the Lord as a group, as a community, some one reads a passage from the Bible and we just unpack it, making comments, asking questions, and exploring the Word. It was just so great. A few of us stayed afterwards and Josh played the guitar and we just sang for a while. It was really cool. For those of you who are going to Oxford in the Spring and are worried about this, don't be intimidated. It's great. 

Wednesday was a normal day school wise as well, but Lyndi and I went to the market early in the morning and got our haul for the week, talked with our friend Mic the bread man (he gave us free cheesesticks), and got our weekly morning pastries from him which were delicious as always. Brady and I made supper that night of rice and chicken, threw in some sauteed veggies and tomatoes with some soy sauce and voila! Delicious AND simple. I'm kinda getting the hang of this cooking thing. And I like it:) 

Thursday we (Laynie, Lyndi, Shelby, and I) went to The Cracken's for supper!! It was so much fun. I brought them some flowers. That were fake. From the classroom above their flat. And I sprayed Lyndi's perfume on them. Don't hate, I'm a poor college student. Despite all that, the Cracken's (Don't be confused, they are the McCrackens, but I have dubbed Vic "The Cracken" and it has stuck haha his wife is Mama Cracken, or MC. His kids are Crackheads...hahahaha no, just kidding, they don't have nicknames yet) accepted my gift and fed us! We had soup, rolls, cheese, fruit, and cheesecake. It was SO good. And then we just stuck around and talked with them for like three hours haha One subject of conversation was how we (all the girls + MC) love Pride and Prejudice. MC then invited us to have a girl's hangout and we could watch the mini series of P&P together. We all agreed with her and planned it out! Shortly after that we peaced out and headed back to our house for the night. Later that night I got to skype with my favorite oldest sister, Breanna which was FANTASTIC. I miss her. But, that was really great, it made my day even better.

Friday was a little different this week because we had to have English again. Which is a little rough because it's a three hour class session. BUT it was really fun. We had to read Frankenstein (which, by the way, is NOT the name of the monster, but of the mad scientist, fun fact #1) beforehand and then we discussed it and Mary Shelley. Towards the end of the class, Dr. Winn told us to split into groups and come up with our own scary stories and then we'd tell them to the rest of the class. So, when my group came around we went all out. Caleb came up with the story all by himself which was fine we supposed and I played creepy piano music as he read it. It was great. Everyone was laughing including Dr. Winn. SCORE. hahaha Later that night a my pals (Joey, Chris, Jon, Trey, Brady, Shelby, Lyndi, and I) piled into the classroom and watched Defiance which is a great movie. That was really fun, it's like our own little movie theater (the common room was taken over by people in love with that Downton Abby show). We also were introduced to this video that has changed my life. It's the best. It only gets better after watching 12 million times. Please enjoy and then read the rest of this blog. Don't worry, I have the song.

CHANGE MY LIFE TOO. sail. i'm a link. pick me.  

After the movie, my friend Brady and I went on a walk around Oxford in the wee hours of the morning which was really strange to not see the business of St. Giles like we usually do, and a little bit creepy, but it was fun and really peaceful. Lastly, Friday was an especially great day because I got to skype with my best friend Laura Hopkins!! It was so great to talk, laugh, dance (yes, dance), and see her. We talked for a long while and we are starting our book club (yes, book club) who's only members are me and her haha We're reading The Case for Christ. PUMPED. Anyways, if you're reading this Laura, I love you very much and you brighten my day anyday I get to talk to you :) Please stay away from geese. 

Saturday was pretty lazy. The day started out with good intentions to study and do homework all day because we are swamped this week, BUT as it always is when you're with friends, we got like nothing done. With the exception of Lyndi because she locked herself in her room haha So Sunday will be homework day. For lunch, Brady, Laynie, and I went to try On the Hoof for the first time which was a success!! BUT Saturday night we had our P&P night with Mama Cracken and it was fantastic! I made cookies (which turned out well despite not having brown sugar and improvising with white sugar mixed with maple syrup) and we just watched two or three episodes in the common room. Oh and Kellie came (she's the Greek teacher and lives in house 10 and does important things like Jacque does in house 9) who is fantastic. We had a great time laughing and making comments on the show and just hanging out. For supper, Brady and I made lemon-pepper chicken and sweet potatoes which was really good. I still have to get the hand of timing the potatoes so they are ready when the chicken is, but it was okay.

 I ALSO got to talk to my Papa for about an hourish maybe on the phone which was a special treat. It was really nice to be able to let down with him about random things happening here at the house and how I'm feeling and him being all "daddy-ie" and helping me out. He's the best. He's pretty neat. He can build a barn. hahahahaha This is from the olden golden glory days. I love you dad:)

This week has been pretty full and busy, but full of laughs and super fun so I'm not complaining. We do have a whole lot of homework to do that I should probably be doing instead of blogging so... on that note, I must bid you adieu! I hope you are all doing well. I am missing you all, but am doing just fine! I love you all and I'll talk next time I blog!

Cheers from across the pond,
Mallory Jean  

Ps, upon request I must mention Laynie, Lyndi, and I's amazing dance party we had that a couple of our friends accidentally walked in on. They are resting their eyes at a nearby hospital. It all started with a whisper.