This day began as all do: the sun rose, the first few chords of Amazing Grace summoned me from my dreams, I made myself presentable to the world, breakfasted, and took my magic carpet to Lowri's preschool to learn some Welsh. NBD.
Class today focused on a review of all the present tense things we are able to say and ask to ourselves, you, You, we, he, she, and them. We then dove into the more prying questions of life, like 'where were you?' and 'why were you not here?' among other really parental-like questions. Past tense has a lot of really interesting rules, depending on what words you include, like 'were' verses 'did.' I'm a little slower at remembering the differing rules for these, but fear not, slow and steady wins the race, and I definitely am both slow and relatively steady.
Abbey and I walked to the Llyfergell in the Hays during our lunch hour to see if my copy of Sherlock had been sent in yet. The lady who was helping us said that it had come in that day. With tremendous enthusiasm, as is really only right and proper to exhibit when great things happen, Abbey and I beamed and squealed at how close we were to watching Sherlock!! So you can only imagine how big of a chunk of paradise fell from heaven and smashed all over everywhere when the lady handed me the case for the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes movie, with my last name taped to the top. I asked her about it and it turns out that the guy we had worked with last week had ordered the wrong movie. I asked if they still didn't have a copy of the first season and she hunted around for a little bit. A little more subdued now, Abbey and I kept our fingers crossed. But, gentle reader, I was touched at how kind the people upstairs are in such insignificant little parts of life. The lady came back to the desk with a gorgeous case in her hands; it was indeed the first season!!! The game, dear Abbey, is on!
After checking it out and storing it in my backpack, we walked outside where we ran into Miya. We were all supposed to meet up at the Millennium Center opera house in Cardiff bay for class, so we all started on the long walk there. It was about three miles away, so it was a great time to chat amongst the three of us. Things definitely got a lot more exciting when the heavy clouds above us began the heaviest downpour I've seen yet here, and it stuck around for the last quarter mile we had between us and the opera house. Fortunately, the people upstairs had put into my head the idea that it would be a good idea to bring my rain coat. I call it a rain coat, but its more like a rain tent or group rain coat, as about three of me could fit snugly inside. Fortunately, since I was down to just me inside, walking around was a breeze and conversation was simple.
When we got to the opera house, we stood underneath a small covered area by the front doors to drip off for a while. It was kinda cool, standing three inches from the torrent where I could watch Cardiff get a shower while I now stood protected from it. We hadn't been standing there more than a few moments before we heard a small tap on the window just behind us. When we turned around, we saw a very dry and ever-goofy Josie and Theresa lounging on the pleather couches inside. They motioned for us to come inside, which we did. I discovered as I shed my tent that my upper half (minus a good bit of hair) was completely dry, though my pants were completely soaked. I held my coat up by the hood and had a ton of fun walking it around E.T. style while it dried, including during part of our tour of the opera house.
What? It simply had to be done.
What was especially funny was watching Abbey dry off. She often wears this leather pair of boots around, which she wears so well. We learned on this day that any artificial dye that gives these boots their orange-brownish color comes off with water and drips out onto marble floors in a yellow-orange-ish colored puddle. I'll leave such a scenario to your imagination, gentle reader. Before our tour guide had finished with his opening statements and description of the foyer, Abby had to go outside and literally pour out some of the water in her boots before she rejoined us.
The opera house was kinda cool. Coming from the deJong ooncert hall, I often am surpried at how small these major production stages are, but I suppose the people like it better this way.
The tour was really cool. We got to go into the costume rooms, where we found a lovely gold dress that had been used in the Queens jubilee not too long ago. The dress was crazy shimmery, and when our guide passed it around, we found that it weighed about 35 pounds, super weird for a halter top dress! We then learned that it was so shimmery because it had been completely covered in thousands of tiny beads made of glass, so you could still see the gold fabric through them. He said all the costumes were available to be tried on, though not many people could wear the glass dress because the neck strap was way too small. Fortunately, Abbey and I both have pretty slim necks, so we actually got to wear the heavy thing over our almost dry clothes.
We saw some of the art exhibits they had there on the walls. I, being the art snob I guess I am, kind of turned my nose up to the star piece: a few shoddy plywood shelves up on the white walls with a few small hunks of cut wool placed on an edge here and there.
The main stage was really cool. Like I said, the stage width was surprisingly small, but it was the second deepest stage floor in all Britain. There was a gigantic metal Welsh Dragon that hung along the back wall that was really cool. When we stood on the edge of the stage, I was blown away at how amazing the acoustics were. As our tour guide spoke, I could hear his words carrying through to every spot in the giant room. He said that the whole place had been specially designed so that when the folding chairs are up, the wood bottom that comes up has 121 1cm holes drilled into it. Apparently, these holes absorb exactly the same amount of size that an average-sized adult would absorb if they were sitting in that chair. This makes sound checks and rehearsals as accurate as performing for a full audience. Cool huh? We couldn't pass up an opportunity like this to sing our songs, so we let the grand Millennium Center opera house have us, the BYU Wales 2013 program, at our soggy but enthusiastic best.
After our tour was through, an hour later than anyone expected, we were given some 2 for 1 coffee or tea tickets by our guide. We decided to check if hot chocolate counted in this, and were delighted when we learned it did. Not more than ten minutes later, we were all sitting round the opera house cafe, with a cup and saucer of crazy chocalety hot chocolate.
The rain had stopped once we were ready to go. I walked a few miles with Theresa and Josie as far as Queens street before we split ways. They were ready to go home, but I needed to get some of my American cash exchanged, so I found a map of the arcades and located a Marks and Spencer. Within a few minutes, I walked into the giant store and made my way up to the top floor. I got most of my cash exchanged, almost gasping as I was handed back a little more than half the number of pounds I had traded in for dollars.
Now that I was alone, I went about happily at my leisure. I got to take my time looking through the final clearance sale racks of business dresses and dress pants. The prices really were incredible for such high end clothes, like around ten pounds, but everything there was way too big for me. Which is probably a really good thing.
The weather had cleared up really fast. It was now bright, sunny, and warm, so I decided to take an hour to walk home. I took some time strolling around the old campus grounds and surrounding parks. It kills me at how huge all these trees are everywhere; the only place where I've seen small trees are along the walks of the Hays. And it's just green and black everywhere. Everywhere.
So an hour later, I walked back into my home (with a new door actually! We have a sturdy white door that seals AND locks now!!), took a shower, and put on some comfy shorts and a casual t-shirt for the afternoon.
Calysta had told us at the opera house that our next door fish and chips shop would be closing for a month within the next few days, so when our tummys began to rumble, I put on a pair of jeans and went next door to Punjjabi's to get some dinner for me and Theresa, who had given me her order on my way out the door.
It's never crowded over there, which makes it pretty nice. I grabbed our usual orders of chips and curry with salt and vinegar and then went back home. Once back in comfortable clothes, I had dinner with Theresa and we talked about our new internet problem.
Our mifi device we bought a while ago only had 10GB of data on it, and we being avid web surfing fans, were really starting to run low on data. Theresa and Josie had gone to a 3 store nearby to top it off, but it wasn't working for some reason, so we were internet-less. That's actually a surprisingly nasty feeling. Really, no bueno. I mean, dim da.
So I decided to do some writing as I sat there in the sun on our soft couch, surrounded by my friends. I knew I should probably be updating my travel blog since I've been a week behind for a long time now, but I decided to write in my personal journal instead. And I'm very happy that I did.
Connor contacted Miya and told her he wanted to come by again if we weren't doing anything, so we invited him to our first ever Sherlock phenomenon. Most of us had seen it, but Miya and Abbey were brand new to the show, and I was more than a little excited to introduce them. Funny enough though, when Connor came by, Josie, Abbey and I were two floors up talking, so everyone from our house and a few people from the other house actually watched the whole first episode. We came down just as it ended and everyone was leaving. So the three of us just started it again.
I love giving people back rubs during movies, so I rubbed Josie's back and shoulders for most of the movie. Abbey fell asleep after about two thirds of the way through, so that was kind of a bummer, since we wanted to see what she thought of the ending. Oh well, that just means we have to watch it again later. :)
When my arms died out, I made the mistake of laying down on the couch, where I soon fell asleep.
I vaguely remember waking up enough to watch Josie leave the room, and Abbey waking up. I checked my watch: it was about midnight, so I had slept for about an hour and a half. Then I crashed again. The next thing I knew, Abbey was gently waking me up, saying that she was getting off her computer now and going up to bed. I checked my watch again: it was 2am.
So, feeling both exhausted and well rested all at once (strange, i know) I went up to bed, read some scriptures, thanked Heavenly Father for all He did for me that day, and then went right to sleep.
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