OUR MEMORIES DEPEND ON A FAULTY CAMERA IN MY MIND

2006-12-17T09:18:00.000-08:00

I've been bumming around this old town for way too long
My time in Russia is coming to an end here in a few days, and i think it would be a good time to look back and reflect on what this experience has been to me. I have to say that its taken me a FULL 4 months to understand and appriciate the Russian culture. Let me just say that if I never smile and give you blank stares all the time when I get back, don't take it personal.
So, We finished teaching on Wednesday and our Spectacle was on Thursday. All in all things went pretty smooth. Although, I'm now sitting in my apartment wondering why they waited 5 full days after teaching ended to send us home...I'm just want to be home if I'm not teaching because although Russia is fun, I see no purpose in being here if I don't get to teach. I've seen everything I want to see in St. Pete and now I'm in a waiting period. Although, i did find out that there is a TOPSHOP (Megan will be so excited to hear this) like 10 minutes away. I was flabbergasted because I didn't even think russia believed in TOPSHOPs.
The best part about this "waiting period" is that everyday someone has to say "Seriously you guys, we only have 3 days left...weird!" and I say "Yes we do have 3 days left...wow" and then the next day " seriously you guys,....." you get the picture...i'm going to give a dirty look to the next person who states the obvious and then pretends that they're sad about it considering people have been saying this for the last month! Words of the week: WEIRD and SERIOUSLY
Anyway, today was our last sunday in our ward and it was sad. We' have a couple close friends in the ward and it wasn't so fun saying goodbye. If I've learned one thing this year is that goodbyes are just a part of life, and they are never fun. I'm a better person from knowing the members in the St. Petersburg ward and will never forget all the things we've experienced together. HAHA also half the missionaries in our ward are going home within the next 6 months so in case I don't make any friends at utah state...I will have a heap of returned missionaries to hang out with. YAHOO...
What else did I do this week...Oh, I went to the Banya again! Randi and Amanda needed an experienced patron to be their escourt, so of course I volunteered. It is so funny. This time there were two factors that made it even better...1. Anya (sveta brought her and she was so funny) 2. HONEY ( We rubbed it on our faces and arms and it was awesome). We also went our last excursion with our dearest Sveta this weekend. She brought us to the real blockade museum ( Randi and I went to the wrong one) and then to the largest cemetary in the world. This was one of the things that made Russians in general make more sense to me. It was a really cool day.
Well, I think this may be the last blog i will be posting becasue after I go home....unfortunately my traveling days will have to be over for a while(Unless anyone is willing to make an anonomus deposit into my banking account) . Thank you to all who actaully read my humble little blog.
Baca!

2006-12-09T00:11:00.000-08:00

RUSSIAN BANYA CRAZINESS
Oh my goodness, I had a true Russian experience last night called the Russian Banya. It all begins with you walking into a normal Sauna. Just a hot room that makes you sweat and that was it. Then sveta led us to "the balcony" which was just a room with open windows that cooled you off. Then back into the Sauna we went to sweat our brains out. Little did we know that we had just experienced the lightest of the whole Banya experience. After a few times in the sauna and out on the balcony we are led into this large wooden room that is very hot and humid and there are nude russians everywhere. Us frightened little Americans are holding tightly to our sheets that are wrapped around us and are slightly disturbed. Although the Russians did not appriciate our modesty they accepted us and even beat a few of us.
In a russian banya you get a bundle of birch branches, dip them in cold water and wip your friend. It's supposed to cleanse you of all the impurities in your body and refresh you. It actually felt kind of good. Then after our first session in the banya I come out and this unclothed russian forces me to jump in this pool of FREEZING cold water and jump around for a minute. After that my heartrate went up and stayed up for about 45 minutes. It was a little intense. Then we would go back in the banya and beat each other. I can truely say that I have experienced Russia in full now, and i will definatly never forget that little experience.

2006-12-05T12:18:00.000-08:00

Novgorod

gggggggg
So, we took another little road trip to "the oldest city in Russia" which happens to be about 3 hours outside of St. Pete. Obviously this town is called Novgorod which actually means "new city" in Russian, so that doesn't make much sense does it? Ok so we went with some friends from the ward and it was a party. I don't think everyone else appriciated it as much as I did. I am a sucker for a really old church with awesome domes, and there were like 80 in this little town. So many awesome pictures. We walked around the town for a while and then we went to a monastery and a monk hated us girls because he thought we were trying to break into the monk quarters and "NO FEMALES ARE ALLOWED". Then we visited an outdoor museum of wooden churches...Kizhi was way better but it was ok. So that's pretty much it. Other then that, this week has been registering for classes, getting used to russian time again, thinking about how we only have 5 more teaching days ;( , and just seeing the city more. Randi and I went to the Russian museum and Peter and Paul Fortress so we have been busy heeding the wise words of Lev. Oh, and we went to the Hermitage again today. We have a busy one week and 6 days left here in Russia and although I am excited to go home and sleep in my bed again, I can see myself thinking back on this time and saying "If only life could be like it was when I lived in Russia". So I'm trying to make the most of the little time I have left here.

2006-11-24T14:10:00.000-08:00

I flew half way around the world for this, so i thought it was a good idea to post a blog about it...
ok so I'm back in utah..well not for long, I leave in the morning back to St. Pete. But it's been a fun week here in utah. Carolyn and Gabe tied the knot and are now in jackson hole...which is a slight relief because although I'm happy that they love each other so much, I couldn't watch their PDA for another minute. So the wedding turned out beautiful and taught me a few things...like how to be a better dancer. Windsheild wipers, Knees.

Even though I love America more then anything, I have been having Baby russian withdrawals and i'm excited to get back and finish out the semester. This is a short blog but I don't have much time left in utah and I need to make the most of my day. And I need to practice my dance

2006-11-11T09:28:00.000-08:00

"The Hardest Part is Yet To Come"

LONG VACATION
So,after months of looking forward to getting out of russia for 3 seconds, our long vacation came!
We left at midnight on the 3rd and made our way to the bus station. Kristin and I had taken some intense cough syrup that my mom sent me so we didn't really know what was going on but that was one blissful night. The tour we were on was actually a russian tour so we couldn 't understand anything that our tour guide, Vladimeer, said. He did however speak a bit of english which is a blessing because we would have been lost day one. After a night on the bus, we arrived in Helsinki. We visited the big white cathedral, a monument built for a famous finnish composer, and a church made out of boulders..imagine that. Then we had some free time and we just walked around and shopped. That night we met our group back at the bus and drove to Turku. Turku is a city about 3 hours west of Helsinki and it was such a fun drive. It was snowing like crazy and the finnish landscapes are freaking amazing. So we got to Turku, took a little look around and got on our cruise ship bound for Stockholm.

After a good nights sleep we arrived in Stockholm early. Stockholm has some wonderfully wonderful arcitecture my friend. The First day consisted of us being sucked into souvenir shops...and thats about it. We probably spent 5 hours just looking at souvenirs. The Second day we went on a little tour of the city on a boat and there was some CRAZY french men that kept distracting me. I also strayed from the group a bit and went to the National Museum and got a little lesson on swedish history and got to participate in my favorite thing ever which is Art pondering. The rest of the night consisted of meeting our tour bus and getting on yet another cruise ship bound back to Helsinki.

I don't know why but I always seem to find something in Helsinki that keeps me entertained and thrills to the point where I am obsessed with Helsinki. Some of the people in our group might not agree but that's just because they didn't go "moose huntin'" with Randi and I. We decided that stickin' around the city was getting old so we went to our old friend bus station and jumped on some random bus (Bus 106) and ended up in the "wilderness". It had been snowing really hard all day so everything was covered with whiteness and it was so fun. Randi kept falling on the ice though so that a party. We then got back on the bus and went to the shore of some lake. I'm never let down by things in Finland and i wasn't let down there either. So, our tour bus left us in Helsinki and they proceeded back to St. Pete (with one lady that was very happy that she had 2 seets to herself). That night we got on a very shaky boat headed to Tallinn, Estonia. It took about 3 hours to get there and until we discovered that you could go on top, the ride was very sickening.

When we got into Tallinn we checked into our hotel and went to bed. We stayed in Tallinn 3 full days and it was really neat. Tallinn is an extremely old city in a very old country that has a lot of really cool history. While we were there we attended the Estonian History Museum and learned all about the awesomeness of this freaking accient city. Randi and I took a trip to the ZOO. It was a party mostly because of the seals and the chimps that flew into the window. We also did a lot of simple sight seeing by foot. They have a palace and parks and sea shores that kept us busy for a lot of the time and I appriciated having some quiet time in such a beautiful place.

2006-10-28T00:56:00.000-07:00

"What the Helsinki ?!"
So, for our 2nd long weekend we headed up north to the land of the Fins. Let me tell you that Finland was unreal. The second we crossed the border from Russia to Finland I could all of a sudden feel my life getting one million times better. Everything is clean and beautiful and all the people are wonderful AND THEY ALL SPEAK ENGLISH. We hitched a ride to Finland with a couple from our ward, Brian and Christine. From the previous experieces with brian, we already knew he could talk you to death, but we knew nothing of his wife. Basically she turned out to be the craziest/funniest person on this earth and I'm glad we invited ourselves in their car because now we have our adoptive mother who buys us too much finnish candy and just about anything else we want. I'm so glad we are not fat Americans. On the way to Helsinki we stopped in a small town named...well I forgot the name...something like rampinlaantii or tarinlaaanitteee. We stepped out of the car and made eye contact with the H & M and the rest is history.
The soul purpose of going to Finland was to attend the Helsinki temple dedication...And we did. They had a fireside slash "cultural event" on saturday full of crazy european dancers doing their thang. I had a slight distraction whilst at this "cultural event" so I probably coudln't focus on what the crap these dancers where trying to show but that is not their faults. SO much anxiety slash apostisizing. I heart life. SO after that little event we went down to the beautiful city center in Helsinki and checked out all the awesomeness that is Helsinki. It was amazing...we didn't feel like our lives were in jepardy even once...and it was like 11:00 pm. No strange plastered men even approached us at all. Like we didn't even SEE one. Heaven in real and it is in Finland.
The next day we got up so incredibly early and went to the temple. We got to see the prophet cement the corner stone in and it was way cool. We then got to go inside and see the temple get dedicated...in russian. Mission accomplished (No pun intended). I have to say that it was a very successful weekend. Not only did we get to experience like 309.78 awesome things, but we got to hang out in a place that is dangerously similar to America. They even have Dr. Pepper and I think I overdosed. So anyways, we loved Finland and we can't wait to go back for our long vacation in a week!!!!!!!!

2006-10-17T02:30:00.000-07:00

KIZHI/ PETROSOVODSK AWESOMENESS!
Hello to all! I don't have much time for this but I just have to say that I have been to the coolest place ever. Last thursday night, kristin, amanda, cavan, A.j. and I took off on our beloved sleeping train 8 hours north of st. pete to a town called Petrozovodsk. The town itself wasn't anything special but we decided to take a little trip to the island right off petro called kizhi. This tiny island is known for it's 16th century church made of wood. it's doesn't sound that special but it was. The island was so quiet and nice and beautiful. it was what I like to call "a feast for the senses" -Rita Francos Aunt (4th grade). So it was a whole lotta fun! After the long weekend we felt like we hadn't taught forever and it was fun to see the kids again! I might have gone on a shopping spree and that is was the following pics are. MOM: This is the pic of the "father frost" I got you! and I aslo have a pic of my collection of matroyska dolls and so on and so forth! Also last week I had a sleep over with one of the girls in my group and i was only slightly tramatized. Russians are intresting people but I really like it! Thanks randi/ lev. Also we fed the missionaries last sunday and it was a party!

2006-10-09T05:17:00.000-07:00

"AMBER IS THE COLOR OF YOUR ENERGY"
Russia does in fact have one beautiful town : PUSHKIN!
So Pushkin is a smaller town about and hour outside of St. peter. It's most famous for it's palaces! With Svieta as our tour guide we set out to find all the awesomeness that pushkind had to offer. One of the most famous palaces in russia is Catherines palace ( I think that's what it is called). If that name doesn't ring a bell then maybe THE AMBER ROOM does. I didn't know what it was either so don't feel bad.

Mostly it this room made completely of amber. It's really cool but I was more impressed with the other rooms in the palace. Originally This palace was almost completely ruined in WW 2 but has been "restored", along with just about everything else in Russia...we decided. After that we went to another palace of a Russian Czar ( I foget his name...maybe nicolas...anastcia's dad whoever that is). It had so many original artifacts that the lady in our tour group almost had 5 heart attacks. Randy even spotted an origonal telephone from the times of the revolution. AMAZING. So to sum up Pushkin, it rocked and i wish it wasn't so far away because as you can see from the pics it's very beautiful. Along with pics of Pushkin I'm including other glamorous shots of my city...even though they aren't exactly everywhere..they do exist I guess.

2006-09-28T01:02:00.000-07:00

"AMY ! LOOOOK!"
(My level ones favorite phrase)
Hello to all! So, i've decided to dedicate this post to my level one class. I have kids ages 5-8 and at first I was a little "not so in love" with them. I think i've finally grasped onto what the older kids are like and what they appriciate. i.e. glitter posters. And if you were wondering who this beautiful little kid is....His name is sasha...and he is the favorite student....don't tell. Like I said before, I might have to bring him home with me! We have all sorts of adventures together even though some of the teachers have to throw pens at little klim and make him cry. He deserves every pen he gets stuck in his head. Sunny and Danny are brother and sister and danny is always smacking sunny and I have to get all mad and defend poor little sunny. She's so cute too. Nastia and anya are the strangest little girls. When they don't know how to say something in English they break out in sherades (spelling?). And they make all sorts of funny noises to go along with the already strange actions. Last but not least, there is Masha and Klim. They are my "trouble" children. They can not sit still or stop cursing for longer then 2 seconds or else life is over. I love them but they test my patience. And when my patience runs out...I call "kristina"...Mwahahahahah. Feel the wrath of the head teacher!

2006-09-23T01:22:00.000-07:00

CORRECTION: In my last posting I said that I was going to be going to norway...not anymore. Freakin ILP has let me down. GRRRRRRRR I beat up casey.

2006-09-18T10:48:00.000-07:00

"St. PETERSBURG IS GLOOMY...St. PETERSBURG IS BLEAK. MY UNDERWEAR GOT FROZEN STANDING HERE ALL WEEK"

CAVAN LOVES HIMSELF
Hi, it's me, Amy!

I use big words all of a sudden, like anthropology! Or clandestine!

I want to talk about life. Specifically, my life, because I'm mostly interested in me.

I think Alaska is the most beautiful place in the whooooooooole world, and if I ever meet an Eskimo or a lumberjack or a guy named Steve who wants to live forever in an igloo using only a stick and a computer with wireless Internet, I would be, like, waaaaay down with that.

So anyway, I have this wild hot crush on Cavan, but that's not saying much, because everybody in the who' worl' think he's the slice o' cheese on mah Big Mac!

Big Macs, though, are pretty hard to find here in Russia. Why? I dunno, maybe Russians can't eat meat. Once I heard of a plant that eats meat, so if plants can do it, why can't Russians? I mean, how hard is it to just put it in your mouth, chew and swallow?

Anyway, I hear some people banging on the door, I'm gonna go open it without checking who they are first.

Bai baby!

AMY LOVES HERSELF
Здравствуйте! Я люблю Аляску! So much speaking russian. Just so you know I totally wrote that whole last section if you had ANY question. So, I've officially sucked at updating my blog lately and I've decided to repent of that sin so hopefully I have one or two peeps who will actually read and appriciate this dang blog. So Russia....so much fun! We've been doing all sorts of Russian things like eating borsch, swearing, smoking, and wearing a ridiculous about of dead animal skins when we get cold. Poor animals. Just to let you all know more in depth about my teaching: Monday through Thursday I teach my little babies either in the morning (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) or in the evening (Tuesday and Thursday). Then, on Wednesday evening I teach the Level one group in the elementary form. Unfortunately they are a little crazy and to top it all off Sasha, the cutest little boy EVER never even comes to my class. I have to sneak in the monday class taught by Amanda to even see my little Sasha love. He gave me a popsicle puppet slash token of his love for me. He is adorable. I take him to America with me. Along with Svieta. She is one of our coordinators that takes us all around St. Pete and cooks us yummy Russian gourmets. She officially has captured the heart of every ILP teacher here.
Oh Oh! Guess where I will be going in November? Freakin the Fjords in Freaking Norway. So much can't wait. So Saturday we took an outting with Svieta to Peterhof which is the upgraded version of Versaille. OH THE GOLD FOUNTAINS! OH THE TJ MCCLOUD! ALL THE MELTING! CAVANS HEART IS IN A PUDDLE ON THE GROUND. Also, we have put into effect a new tradition that no one has ever thought of. It's called "tea time". I'm not a fan of tea so i go for the hot chocolate. Except the Russians don't believe in normal H.C. So you have to fill up half your freaking cup to get enough flavoring in the cup. But it's worth it. We have intellectual conversations about eastern europeon history and eye shadow brushes.
"Stick it to the man"
My weekly form of "sticking it to the man" is not going to Moscow! All the loser teachers have decided to take the longest train ride ever 9 hours south to smelly Moscow. Note to Whom it may concern: DON'T ATTEND MOSCOW.
I will be soaking up my awesomeness in st. pete all by myself. I will be buying a huge winter coat and other things to keep me warm during the freaking freezing winter of the far north! So much no "ice cream melting".

2006-09-14T03:50:00.000-07:00

I'm in st. petersburg today..." it smells like a airport runway. Jet Fuel stenches in the cabin and lights flickering at random."

I know this picture is side ways....
As of right now...I don't have much time but I'm proud that i could finally get a post in. Russia is a party. More specifically St. Pete is a party. My babies are adorable and I'm in love. Russia definately is a little crazy but that's ok because it's fine. We've been attending a russian class in hopes to learn russian but it's not so much working. Hopefully i get to blog more but I have a lot to do so don't worry. in fact I don't even have to make this picture face the right direction but this computer is in russian so I can't understand how to edit. This other picture is with the "security gaurd" at our primary school. His names serioulsy is "Bub". He's so funny.

2006-07-21T15:37:00.000-07:00

"The waters warm and children swim, we frolicked about in our summer skin. I don't recall a single care. Just greenery and humid air ."
Ok, so I've once again failed at keeping this thing updated but I don't really think it matters right now because no one will look at this until i go to Russia anyway. But I thought just so you have something interesting to look at when someone does in fact decide to look at this, I'll tell you about my crazy summer thus far.

ROAD TRIP
First, Cat, Lee and I decided it would be best if we took a week long road trip to St. George and Vegas. I don't care how many times I've been on that trip, it never gets old and it's always more fun then you can ever imagine. This pic is us just laying out in the 3 trillion degree weather. While in St. george we spent most of our time at this very location just soaking up the sun. We were also about ten feet to the left inside of a pool. We made up such games as "fake your friends out" and "glamorous hair toss to get it out of our eyes". We also tried to teach Leandra how to do a hand stand in the pool because apparently her childhood was ruined by not being exposed to them in Altimont. She didn't exactly get it but she did make her own move up called "the TIMBER". Talent!

So Vegas! What didn't we do in vegas? Ok, so mostly we spent hours upon hours in Sephora obsessing over eye shadows, and make up applicators. We are the biggest idiots! So, what do you think we did after that? We headed over to the Mac counter and got a make over and bought more idiot make up! its' fine, we just love our twinx/ expensive pink. In between our make up spree we saw some "Li Li's" at the MGM GRAND, Met some boyf's who bought us everything we've ever wanted, and Rita Rudner kept popping up and giving up clues on how to save Vegas. We finished off our night by doing a concert in the rain with Celine. it was so emotional. Ok we didn't, we mostly just met up with an old buck friend at the Billagio and watched those freaking fountains that I dream about on a daily basis! If you're slightly lost by this entry, don't be alarmed, it is in a secret code that only Cat, Lee and I understand! I LOVE CHEESECAKE FACTORY AND MORMON WAITERS!

BEAR LAKE
Next in line, two days after I got back from our road trip, my fam and I went up to Bear Lake and hung with some old friends. We Jet skiied, Sailed, tubed, and just enjoyed the company!

CANCUN: LAND OF THE SNAKES!
My first experience in Mexico was very good one! We went down there for my dad's business convention thing which means we had to sit through countless boring business dinners but it was worth it because we had a party every other moment.

One day we went to "the island of the women" and swam with an awesome dolphin. Although we took part in the greatest tourist trap known to man kind, we did have a lot of fun with zeus! He even kissed me(zeus is the dolphin). ha good joke amy. Another day we went and saw a mayan temple called Tulum. It was quite the place and next to it was the coolest beach ever. Anyways, one experience I will not soon forget is the shopping in Mexico. We went to a little outdoor market place and they were all yelling at us to come into their shops and we were like "we don't want cigars or Tecquilla". The Mexicans had some names for us as we would walk by. Mine was "pocahautas" and my siters was "Pepsi". Seeing as I was in pig tail braids and my sister was in a pepsi shirt it made sense but it was funny. ok not really but whatever. out of our shopping experience we did get some awesome Mexican bowels, a bag and some awesome jewelary! VIVA LA MEXICO!

FINALLY...HAWAII

So this is where I am right now! I'm here for two weeks just relaxing and enjoying the scenery. On the way here however, my sister and I did make a pit stop at a sun glasses kiosk and bought ourselves some Maui Jim sunglasses. I have to say that they make this island more beautiful then it's ever been. Greens are Greener, blues are bluer and everything is so clear. Did I have a life before these sunglasses? I forget! Go get yourself some! NOW!
So we've just been sitting at the beach for about a week straight and i don't see anything wrong with it. Although, we have been working in my grandpa's tropical yard slash wild pig infrest jungle also and that is some hard times my friend. So much sweat and humidity! I'll let you know how the rest of the trip turns out in my next entry! ALOHA OE!

2006-06-23T17:32:00.000-07:00

"He went to Paris Looking for answers To questions that bothered him so"
well, I failed at getting this updated in time and now that I was in paris over a week ago this may not be as detailed as it could be. oh well, I've been busy so lay off.
In this pic we are just being hunchbacks that all. Savy gave it her best shot but she's just too cute to look as monstrous as meg and I. Paris was an intresting place. We met all kinds of weird people. I'm happy to report that the French are suprisingly nicer then one would think. We only got a couple cups thrown at our group of loud Americans. Anyway, we had a lot of fun seeing Norte' Dame, The Eiffel Tower, The Arch de Triumph, The Louvre, and some other awesome places. We ate way too many pastries and banana/nutella crepes. So much goodness.
So we learned some very extensive French FYI. Just the essentials:
I Love You(because we were in Paris)- Je Temme
I don't speak french - No parle francais
Cheese Omlet- Omelet du Fromage

So there ya go. If you ever go to France, just remember those terms and you'll be good. oh and you should know that the French men "lived up to their reputaion". They were BEAUTIFUL!

2006-06-11T12:02:00.000-07:00

"Ya Alright?"
So, for our last full day in London, Megan and I decided to visit the London Dungeon. On one hand it was a cheesy haunted house type deal, but on the other hand they gave a lot of the creepy history behind the city. i.e. The plague, Jack the Ripper, The great fire of London. Scary stuff. The workers were obsessed with axing us "ya alright?". In case you don't know, in England that is an expression they use when greeting someone. But they don't expect an answer....it's like hello. We were really confused about life.

2006-06-09T13:55:00.000-07:00

"This won't be the last from me, its just the start"
After our final project presentations, we all went to the park for a little family outing. There was a thrilling game of "kick the can" going on, some unforturate tumbling, a little singing/guitar playing, and as for me, I went on a walk around the pond. Parks in England are cool because like the whole city goes to them and just chills and sleeps and hangs out. Makes for some good moments for people watching.

2006-06-09T08:50:00.000-07:00

bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
"No longer easy on the eyes But these wrinkles masterfully disguise The youthful boy below"
Our night of performances was indeed sucessful. We watched a ghetto-licious version of Romeo and Juliett, A musical romantic murder mystery, A short play called "where's George" and of course our Tragic Pyramus and Thisby play. The picture above is us with Kristin who played a forgetful old lady in "where's george" and below is just a group photo after we were done. yeah for us!

2006-06-09T08:37:00.000-07:00

"SHE WOO-ED HIM WITH HER HEIGHT!"

Megans always telling me how i don't seem like i'm as tall as i say I am. So i decided that it was best if i proved to her that i am a lurp. Right here we are in Hyde park obviously at the fountians. Sorry I'm just a moster megan. You loose. Note to self: don't go bare foot anywhere in london. and be glamorous whenever possible!

2006-06-08T06:02:00.000-07:00

"I would go out tonight, but I haven't got a stitch to wear. It's nuts that it's crucial that someone so handsome should care."
I just liked this picture. We were once again at warwick castle and when I axed if we could put the hats on, the tour guide guy started talking to us about time travel and the amazing technology that my camera had. "Here in 1760, we don't have this high technology" he would say. We didn't really know what to say but laugh. He loved his job.

2006-06-08T05:42:00.000-07:00

kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
"Passing through unconscious states, when I awoke, I was on the highway"
Last night, we went and saw A Mid Summers Night Dream at this little outdoor theater. This pic doesn't show it very well but it was all green and lit up with little lights. I couldn't help but think how awesome England is because everywhere you go it's beautiful and green and wonderfully decorated in one fashion or another. The play, by the way, was actually really good. We laughed really hard and we got to see the scene that we will be acting out for our final project tonight. I got a lot of inspiration for my character The Wall. ;)

2006-06-06T17:01:00.000-07:00

"There's guards at the on-ramps, armed to the teeth. And you may case the grounds from the cascades to puget sound, but you are not permitted to leave"
So this first picture is us in front of the Warwick castle. I have to hurry and make fun of megan and I because this is us sincerely trying to have a normal smile. it's been a while since we've posed for a "normal" picture. The girls we are with are old experts though so they make up for our lack of glamour. Hey, is that baby and bean? Hi Baby! This castle was really fun because they had fake people posed all over the castle. We had a lot of fun with those darn wax people!

Even though these people seem very realistic.. they are actually wax. They are our new boyfriends and they were fighting for our love. Sorry to say but mine pumbeled his A.

2006-06-06T13:30:00.000-07:00

"HEY GIRL, YOU'VE GOT A SMART WAY ABOUT YOU."
While we were in Stratford, we visited Shakespeares mothers house (and his cousin's house, grandma's house, sister's house, daughter's house and his dog's house) jk. And at this particular house there was a falconry. I guess it was a regular practice back in shakeshaft's time, so they have them all over England. And the fire burning my new found admiration for owls was fed. haha. I just love this little guy. Even though I look like death is upon me in this picture i really was quite thrilled. Random fact that I learned while on the longest lamest tours through 390.983 houses... "Board" meeting? "Board" Game? Room and "Board?" where does this word BOARD come from. Well back in the day, a "board" was actually a table. so interpret that as you will. hmm. Intresting huh?

This is us just being swans in stratford. I guess we loves birds. and I guess megan loves swans.

2006-06-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

"I LOVE TO SEE THE TEMPLE, I'M GOING THERE SOMEDAY!"
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Today we took a journey to see the London Temple. We had to take a train and a minibus to get there but it was worth the pain. Ok, so this temple isn't much of a looker but it had really pretty grounds. We took a few stroles around and decided that the events that "took place in Palmira" actually took place here. It's in the foot notes. JST. Anyways, I had an alone moment and took a strole through one of the forests and it was the best thing i've ever done for myself. It was just me, my ipod playing kenny, and complete bliss. That's all I need.

2006-06-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

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"IN THIS SAME INTERLUDE IT DOTH BEFALL
THAT I, ONE SNOUT BY NAME, PRESENT A WALL;
AND SUCH A WALL AS I WOULD HAVE YOU THINK
THAT HAD IN IT A CRANNIED HOLE OR CHINK"
So...for our final project in our shakespeare class, we have to perform a scene from one of the plays that we've been studying. We chose a scene from A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. In this exciting scene i get to play a wall. If that isn't exciting enough for you, i also get to play a moon. Yuck it up. As for this picture, we just had an emo moment while walking around the temple grounds. I guess my heart in an empty room.

2006-06-04T04:02:00.000-07:00

"JUST LIVING LIFE THE ONLY WAY I KNOW HOW"
Here I am just hanging out in dartmore living it up.

This is just us gathered around the campfire to hear ghost stories and eat nasty s'mores (england just doesn't believe in normal marshmallows). There are some good stories to be told about this part of england. Mostly headless men running around.. that's all though.

2006-06-04T03:22:00.000-07:00

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"I DON'T KNOW MUCH, BUT I KNOW WE WILL BE HAPPY AS A 1950'S TV FAMILY...EXCEPT TIMES INFINTIY."
So we took a little trip to a town called Dartmore. In case you're wondering if there were wild ponies running everywhere, there was! Serious. Ponies. Of course dartmore had more than ponies..it had a few ghosts, a tire swing, baily and jade (2 dogs), and probably the most beautiful scenrey in the whole freaking world. I was obsessed with this place because I felt like Anne of Avonli frolicking through the Moor. But watch out for the tar pits because they'll get ya. This whole blog sounds like a joke but everything is truthfully true. Even the wild ponies. We stayed at this little lodging place with cottage style bunk houses and it was awesome. Everyone should experience the glory that is Dartmore.

2006-05-31T03:39:00.000-07:00

"PLEASE LEAVE ALL OVER COATS, CANES AND TOP HATS WITH THE DOOR MAN. FROM THAT MOMENT YOU'LL BE OUT OF PLACE AND UNDERDRESSED."
This is just us at buckingham palace living it up. If you've never been here then you need to go sometime in your life because there is the most awesome statue across the street. this is a boring blog but i have to go!

2006-05-30T15:07:00.000-07:00

"I was waiting for a crosstown train in the London undergroud, when it struck me.."
Mostly we take the tube every freaking where. Here we happen to be on our way to a play at Shakespheare's Globe. Back to the tube subject. We personally have taken a liking to circle line. it's clean and nice and I forget my umbrella on it a lot. Also, it's one of those situations that if you miss your stop, you can just keep going and eventually you will pass by it again. Laziness is our cup of tea. I HEART THE TEXAS SISTERS!

2006-05-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

"I dunno where my soul is...I dunno where my home is"
On one of our day trips, we went to leeds castle and there was an aviary there and we made so many friends with the birds. I've decided that there is nothing cooler then an owl. NOTHING! Leeds castle was a party and we got lost in a maze and went into a grotto and took a funky bus. It was a party! This other pic is us when we finally got out of that darn maze that took us a million years to get out of. I hate things like mazes. There is no fun in them.

2006-05-30T14:23:00.000-07:00

NNNNNNNNNNNNN
*Hello, my name is Amy Montoya, you killed my Father, prepare to die!
Well this is mostly just the beginning of my scrumchulesent blog. I love to blog. Who here loves the word blog? Yes please. So this pic is taken in front of the White Cliffs of Dover ...A.K.A...The cliffs that wesely from Princess Bride climbed because he's really heroic. Megan and I are pretty much the most heroic people I know. Sorry that you can't actually see those darn cliffs but our faces are more important anyway! HMMM. Mostly this place was awesome though and we saw an awesome castle and just lived the dream. We also got to go through tunnels that were built into the cliffs during WWII. Megan had 45.77 panic attacks. It was pretty cool!