Thursday, May 6, 2010

Leaving London

I got a little behind on posting to the Blog since Brussels was a whirlwind, and we didn't have internet access at the lovely 'Green Eggs and Ham' hostel in Berlin. So I'll post some notes from the backlog. It might be a little bit of blog throw up, so maybe I'll trim down the posts.

Sunday-
Met some some interesting people in church today. I got a laugh in elders' quorom when introducing myself. "Hi, I'm Mark. I'm from Utah. I'm just visiting this week. I thought I'd visit my mission before I start a new job. I served in Mongolia... so I guess I'm taking the long route."
There were two BYU groups in church, some engineers trying to create a perpetual motion machine and some performers saving the world through music. I felt a little antimosity towards both of them for invading (admittidly hypocritical of me on at least three counts).
Anyway, I checked out the British Museum for a bit after church. Pretty awesome stuff. The Rosetta stone is pretty impressive. I also went to the Tower of London which is probably the most interesting place I visited in London. Mystery, intrigue, and at the heart of the city of London's history since at least 1066. Man, why did I never join the medivial club. I could've built my own armor by now. I wish I'd had time to spend a whole day at the tower.

At Covent Garden market I listened to some street performers, a stringed quartet and a guy playing some Jim Croce. That's the second dude I've heard playing older American music. There was a guy in the subway playing Cat Stevens' 'Wild World.' I got some ice cream on a waffle. (For no reason, other than that I thought it was going to be something compeletly different) Seating was quite limited so I asked a guy if I could sit at his table. Oh man. This guy had had about 5 too many, and I noticed it a little too late. I'm not as sharp as I used to be on the mish for detecting that.
"Are you American?"
"Yes."
"Alright! You guys are... I love Americans." A little awkward silence..."You saved our a** in WWII?" All of his friends started laughing at him.
He had a huge posse with him too, which made me a little uncomfortable about walking right away...besides the fact that he had a shaved head and was kind of big. Had this situation on my mission all the time. Walking away straight up, from a group of drunks, usually causes more of a scene than if you just let it play out a little bit. They were pretty funny. In a couple minutes we talked a little about everything, politics, religion, sports...

Top two moments from the crazy Brits:
#2
"So you're from Utah? Ah, are you a Mormon?"
"Yes."
"No way. Are you oneing me up?" (He kept saying that, and I still don't really know what it means).
He was really respectful and said he apreciated the lifestyle I tried to lead. Spoken like a true drunk man.
"Let's go Saints! Let's go Saints!" He even chanted randomly that at a few different points.

#1
A few minutes later, when we were either talking about who has the better army, or the better world cup team the big dude's wife comes and sits on my lap. Everyone looks at her wierd for a second but then just act like it's normal. I don't know what to do, so she just sits for like 2-3 minutes and my foot starts to hurt and fall asleep. Amidst the awkwardness I try to get feeling in my foot and maybe push her away. Then she puts her arms around me. Everyone is staring at me. So what am I to do? I just start giving her a big hug around the waist. Then to the big guy I say,
"This is what I do. I come to your country and I steal your women."
Two girls from the posse start cracking up. (Crap, why did I say that?) I must've looked like such an idiot. But after the awkwardness subsided a little we took a few party photos, that I'm sure they'll have no recollection of, and I headed out. Can't a guy just eat a little ice cream?

p.s. In case you were wondering the British army is 'better, pound for pound' (whatever that means in this context). As for world cup, I probably shouldn't have brought it up. All I got was "What do YOOOO know about the World Cup?" Touche. Nothing.
"Just that we're playing each other."
"ok. Who else?"
"That's it."

2 comments:

D said...

You always did have a way with drunk women.

Kellz said...

But was the ice cream/waffle good? (That's what I want to know.) Then wait till you get to get to Belgium!