Last Day

Today was my last full day in England. I sent Matt and Abby off to a football game and went shopping on Oxford and Regent Streets. I think the introvert in me was dying for some time by myself, and the selfish independent part of me was definetly glad to not have to worry about anyone but me. Shopping was okay. I only bought gifts for Abby and me to take back to friends and family because I know where to get all of the same things I found here for less back home. I really did enjoy looking at all of the fancy window displays, though.

While I was shopping, I realized how much I missed my mom. I don't think I ever go shopping without her unless I am with someone else. If I don't take her with me, I spend the entire time I am shopping on the phone with her. She would have loved the clothes and the window displays and it would have been nice to share that time with her and get excited about things with her.

This evening, I met Abby at St. Paul's and we went to the Evensong service there. I really enjoyed it. It was a choral service and the choir was fantastic. The sermon was also very good, and I was so happy to hear the gospel preached to all of the tourists who were only there so they could see the cathedral for free. I can't remember the exact texts, but they were from Isaiah and Matthew. What struck me was the priest's comment that while we are concerned about the horrible things going on in the world, we must first look to our own hearts to see the healing begin. Each of our hearts is a battleground, a Darful, an Iraq, or a Babylon. We each have something in us that has taken us captive and Jesus came to earth and became a man in order to free us from that battle and bring us peace.

I think this was my favorite part of the trip. I loved participating in the beautiful service in that beautiful cathedral. I was not able to take any pictures, but there were the most beautiful mosaics all over the ceiling and on the sides of the dome. I will look online later for pictures to post here. I was very happy to go to church since we didn't go last Sunday and because we won't get to go tomorrow. I was and still am sad that I am missing the first Sunday of Advent.

I am off to get ready for the trip home tomorrow. See everyone soon.

P.S.

I found out for sure this evening that I definetly have a job when I get home! Praise the Lord! I am officially an employee of the State of California.

I Love Holland!

Yes, I said Holland.

Abby and I went to Amsterdam for Thanksgiving! We flew over in the morning (it took longer to get to the airport than to fly to Amsterdam), and spend the afternoon and evening with the Wearons, the family that has hosted us now in both countries. It was very nice to meet them, they are wonderful people.

In Amsterdam, we took a boat trip around the city, walked through the city center, went to a mueseum in the Church in the Attic, a secret Catholic church from the 17th century, and visited the Christian bookstore, which operates a coffee shop (one that sells coffee) at the edge of the Red Light District.

The Wearons took us shopping and to dinner in Leiden, a university town outside Amsterdam. It was really cute there, and there was good shopping, but I couldn't buy anything because I didn't have room in the small bag I brought with me to take anything back to England. We spent the night at Carol and Phil's home in Voorschoten and saw that town in the morning, and then we came back to London. I really wish we could have spent more time in Holland. I like it much better than England. Abby likes England better.

When we got back today we saw St. Paul's Cathedral, which was beautiful. There weren't any pigeons, but we kept singing the "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins anyway. And we took pictures of ourselves sitting on the steps. Then we walked through Harrod's a bit, but we didn't stay long. I really have a hard time shopping in places where I would't buy the clothes, even if I could afford them. Everything was beautiful, but I don't think I could sleep at night if I spent that much money on clothing.

One more day left in England... Abby and Matt are going to a football game, and I am going shopping on Oxford street.

Parliament

Well, we missed Question Time because apparently the question Tony Blair at a different time than everyone else. No Tony Blair for us. We probably wouldn't have gotten in anyway because there was a lobby today (kind of like a formal protest) and the lines to get in were very long. We did get to watch the debate in the House of Commons, which was almost my favorite part of the trip so far. I am glad Abby and I both like that sort of thing. They were debating foreign policy, so it was quite interesting and I actually know and care about what they were discussing. It is amazing how many problems there are in the world and how wrapped up the US and the UK are in all of them. I might have some more thoughts on foreign policy later.

Otherwise, we walked around the buliding, went to Westminster Abbey, where were weren't allowed in, and walked to Buckingham Palace. We got a late start and are calling it quits early today because we are tired and we want to have energy for tomorrow.

Running Around London

We have been enjoying ourselves so far in London. Matt has been very good to us and showed us around on Sunday. We didn't end up doing much, we just got lunch at a local pub, went to the store and got railway tickets for the week.

On Monday, we ventured out on the very complicated railway system and saw the British Museum. It is amazing how much they have plundered the rest of the world of ancient artifacts and brought them all here. We decided that in many cases it might have been for the best because most of what they left behind has been lost. In the afternoon we went to Covent Garden market, Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, and shopped around Picadilly Circus. This really isn't the kind of shopping I like to do because it is geared toward tourists and people who want to spend ungodly amounts of money on stuff they can get back home. And really so far, I haven't seen much I couldn't get in California. So mostly I have been looking and window shopping. I like just walking around and looking at things in town anyway. The pictures will come when I get home. Mostly we ran around in the rain, got our bearings and saw a lot of the city. I ended the day with a horrible migraine and all of my medication back at home.

Today we walked around the Tower of London, which was very important to Abby. We decided against going inside because it was so expensive, so we walked around the tower and across Tower Bridge. We had lunch next to the river, then we took a train back to the West End, where we bought tickets for tonight's show of Les Miserables (!), walked around the theater district for a while and had a pint at a pub.

This afternoon, we came back to the house in the suburbs early so we could get ready for the show. Getting to the show proved to be quite the adventure. We didn't have much time and had planned on taking the 6:00 train back into the city so we could grab something to eat before the 7:30 show, but the 6:00 train was cancelled and the next train was delayed until 6:30. We really weren't worried about making the show in time because the train was supposed to be an express, but the train kept randomly stopping where there were no stations. When we finally got into the city at 7:05, we had to run to catch the underground, finding along the way that the entry from the train station was closed and being forced to go out to the street and then go back down to the underground. We got down there, realized that the line we needed didn't connect at that train station, and quickly had to come up with an alternate route, which was fortunately not a problem since we had walked all over that area earlier that day. When we reached the street, we had to run several blocks to the theater, and we barely made it for the opening of the show. This ordeal was complicated by the fact that I was wearing heels and Abby has terrible blisters from walking around so much, so her feet hurt.

Les Mis was wonderful. The actors who played Jean Valjean and Javert were phenomenal, we had decent seats, and it was a generally nice time. Neither of us had ever seen the show before, and we enjoyed it. However, the show ended at 10:15 and the last train back out to the suburbs left the station at about 10:50. Needless to say, our trip back to the train station was a repeat of our trip to the theater including all of the running and pain in Abby's feet. I kept telling here she would laugh about the whole ordeal later, but she didn't appreciate that at the time. Honestly, I am thankful for her patience with me when I was concerned about making it to the theater on time, and for trying so hard to keep up with me the whole time we were walking quickly or running. Fortunately we got to the station a little early and were able to get something to eat before heading out of the city. There was a rude French couple sitting across from us on the train who were talking about us and according to Abby, objected to the way we looked and the fact that we were eating. (Honestly, as far as dress is concerned, that woman had no room to talk.)

I am off to bed. Tomorrow, we are going to try and make it to Question Time at Parliament, and we have something special planned for Thursday...

On the Other Side of the World

I am on the other side of the world...how strange is that? Abby and I arrived in London last night. It was a really good thing that Matt, the guy we are staying with, came to get us at the airport because half the trains in town were out of operation last night and we had to walk and change trains a lot and eventually take a cab to get to his house. I was glad, though, because we got to see quite a bit of the city. We are going to have so much fun!

Today we are going to brunch eventually, somewhere where they have TV screens because Matt is a football freak, and then I think we are going to church this evening.

I (probably) have a job!

I have tentatively been offered a job! I was so happy I cried, which should't suprise most people who know me. There are still some issues regarding eligibility to work out, so I am trying not to get too excited yet, but I think I will be crushed if things go badly.

In the meantime, Abby and I are leaving for London tomorrow afternoon! I am very excited and running around like crazy to get things together. I should know about the job for sure when I get back, and then the celebration will begin...

I am Happy

That is all I have to say. I am happy even though I am tired and I am still working in the restaurant and I don't know where my life is going. I have mostly learned my lesson for now and I am happy. The funny thing is that I think I always equated being happy with having the things I want, and there are so many things I really want that I don't have. These are good things to have, but I am learning that I don't need them.

Lessons in Bureaucracy: do not mess with the Department of Social Services

Well, my last interview went relatively well. It could have gone better if they had supplied better information about the nature of the position I was applying for, but now God has room to work. If it happens, it will be because of Him.

So this morning at the crack of 8:30 I get a call from the CCC telling me that they are trying to verify my eligibility for the position because I applied for it without being invited to do so, and that I have been placed on the State's inactive list because of my responses or lack thereof to other government departments. This woman was asking me to call the State Personel Board and fix that and to call the Department of Social Services who took this action against me and ask them to remove the waivers they have placed in my file. What a pain.

First, I call the SPB and get a lecture from that woman about not responding to job notices. She is horrified that I had not responded to one and that I had responded negatively to another. Now, I know I did mark the box in at least one notice that says:
"No - I am not interested in being considered for this position but wish to remain on active status for future employment vacancies," but I did not respond negatively in any other way. It is true that I have not responded to every inquiry I have received because I literally have gotten up to six inquiries a day since I took the test many weeks ago. Apparently I have to respond to ALL of them in order to remain in good standing with the State. That is a full-time job in itself.

After the kind SPB lady places my name back on the active list even though I have not yet sent in the appropriate letter, I call the Department of Social Services. That kind lady informed me that they actively place waivers on anyone's record if they do not respond and anysort of negative response will cause them to place a waiver on my record. Basically, I have to respond positively to every inquiry I receive or I could knock myself out of eligibility for any job in any state department. The form I received does not tell me this. I also suspect that I would have received a waiver from them if I had responded, been called for an interview and expressed my disinterest at that time. Lesson: no one gets away with rejecting the Department of Social Services. (I wonder if someone might come after me for this rant against them.) For a department that is supposedly so inefficient, they are certainly good at efficiently making my life difficult.

>Fortunately I think all of the other government departments are not as proactive about doing this because I have gotten at least two notices a day from the Department of Corrections and have yet to have any action taken against me (knock on wood).

>As far as I know, all is well with my eligibility status now, so I have made it through one hoop. The next hoop is that they have to make sure I am "reachable" for this postion because I did not score in the top rank on the SSA test. That means that they run a search offer the job to a number of people and see if anyone "better" wants the job first. The hoops keep on coming...

Finally

In all the excitement of the weekend, I forgot to mention that I had a job interview on Tuesday. The interview was for a position in the Department of Justice. Now, I have applied for several jobs with the DoJ, and for some reason, I assumed it was for one certain job that I applied for recently rather than one of the other positions that I applied for quite a while ago that I had written off because I am sure I didn't put enough postage on the envelopes.

Anyway, I was rather perplexed that the interview was in the main office of the Attorney General rather than in the office I would be working at, but I figured I was meeting with HR people or something. Needless to say, I had prepared to interview for the wrong position in the wrong department and needed to immediately be ready to sell a different set of skills than I had prepared for. I think the interview went rather well, all things considered, but under the circumstances, I don't think they will offer me the job.

Today I got a call from a woman with the California Conservation Corps asking me to come in for an interview for a postion I applied for at least six weeks ago. So I have gotten more job interviews in the last week than I have in the last eighteen months. I am not sure about this job. I would like the work much better than the job at the attorney general's office, but I really want to work at the Department of Justice. In the meantime, I am going to have to pray and trust that God will lead me to the best job for me regardless of what I think.

That is the update. It looks like I am on my way to becoming a government bureaucrat.