Superwoman: Level One

I did it! My first ever running event! It was kind of terrible but also awesome at the same time! I’m really glad that I did it! 

I was so proud of this medal! I wore it all day!
And I even put it back on after my shower just hanging out at home by myself!

See, I’m not a runner or an athletic person at all but I wanted to get in shape when I got home from my mission and running is something that I think is cool even if I never really did it myself. So I took a “jogging” class last semester. Turns out that was one of the hardest classes of the term! But I got way better at running and it feels really good to have more power in your body. 

So as I was contemplating moving to the Netherlands I started looking for things that I could do for fun here (it was my way of dealing with the uncertainty of whether I would have any friends). I discovered the Peace Run and had it on my list of things to do for awhile but wasn’t sure if I would really get around to it. Turns out I did!

I didn't realise that Ashley was there at the beginning snapping these photos!

I have only run the distance of a 5k a few times in my life but as I have a really active lifestyle now that I bike everywhere and since one of those times was in the last couple weeks I honestly didn’t think it would be that bad. 

It was actually SO HARD! Haha, I just kept telling myself, I am not going to walk. I am not going to walk. And somehow, incredibly, my will held out. I stopped for .5 seconds to get water at the halfway mark but besides that I jogged the whole time. I felt terrible as I neared the finish line. But then something really wonky happened which is that as I rounded the corner I got super fast! Like I just started booking it! 

Right before the finish line!

When I had crossed the finish line and gotten to the point that I could stop I pulled over to the side and literally (and very involuntarily) peed myself a little bit! Apparently that’s a thing! 

Luckily, my new friend here in the Netherlands, Ashley came to support me. She even brought me a flower! So that was really nice because she was able to get pictures and congratulate me afterwards. When I first finished I was like NEVER AGAIN but then I started to get that runners high/adrenaline rush that people talk about it and I was like …that was cool.

And then I walked around the Hague for a few hours with Ashley and got very tired! 

Me and Ashley and the flower she bought me!

But yeah, I’m a runner now! I just need to keep at it! But I can do it! I just ran more than 3 miles straight! And I want to keep getting better! Next step: 10K! 

It’s amazing what the human body can do- even mine! 

So proud! 

P.S. This entry wouldn't be complete without saying that I ended my amazing day by finishing my Dr. Who Marathon. I've binged watched all the modern seasons available on Netflix within the last few months. It's a bittersweet relief to be freed from the addiction! Hopefully I can use the time more productively now!

Shipping Off

Shipping off to see the Shipps that is! This weekend I took an overnight bus to and from London so that I could meet up with my sister and her family for the day! 

I wasn’t sure at first whether it would be worth it to drive like 16 hours for about 12 hours actually WITH my family but then I saw pictures of my nieces on facebook and realised that WHAT is the point of both me and my sister being in Europe if I don’t use the opportunity to become BFFs with her darling little girls? I can have a meaningful relationship with Laura over the phone but Ellie and Christine aren’t old enough for that yet and I want to be a presence in their lives. 

Also I really wanted to be with Ellie when she first saw Big Ben.

So after work on Friday I packed up and biked to Den Haag Centraal station. From there I took a train to Amsterdam and then a bus from Amsterdam all the way to London. I made friends with the bus driver who made a point of telling me that he wasn’t married and with the girls sitting behind me. One of them was Scottish and the other Croatian and they were pretty much groupies following the farewell tour of their favorite band. They were really nice and the Scottish one and I talked a lot and the Croatian one and I bonded over the fact that we both love Dr. Who (yep, brought that up). 

How does one drive to the British Isles? One might be wondering. Well, it’s pretty epic. I’ve taken the ferry before but this time when we got to Calais our bus boarded a train and then we went through a tunnel to England.

On a bus on a train in a tunnel!

Yes you read that right. I was on a bus in a train in a tunnel under the ocean IN EUROPE. That happened. 

Well, I got to London way too early for any normal person—like 6 am. It was still dark out! I was going to just hang in the train station but then someone asked me for money and I realised I probably wouldn’t get left alone. So I went to Parliament where I was meant to meet up with my sister a few hours later. I figured maybe I could watch the sunrise over this incredible landmark. But then on London Bridge this drunk guy made a point of talking with me (not a creepy drunk guy-a really dapper one). But once again it made me realise that sitting by the river on my own with my blanket (yes I was carrying a little tv blanket around London) wasn’t a good idea. 

So then I borded a bus and wandered around Camden town and maybe Oxford Street or something. Finally when Starbucks opened I went in, grabbed a drink and watched Dr. Who on the free wifi as I waited for the appointed time to meet the Shipps. 

Getting to see Laura filled a need in me I hadn’t realised had grown so huge! When I saw her I just started talking talking talking because finally I was around someone that I could be totally open and weird with! Someone that I didn’t have to have small talk with! It was great! 

Aren't they cute? They match!

At first Ellie was really shy around me but then she got over it and we had a great time looking at Big Ben, having a picnic in Hyde Park and exploring the Tower of London. After that we went to the Rain Forest Cafe for dinner. I loved being in London but more importantly I loved being with my family and getting to know my nieces (who have always lived far away from me) better. They are so adorable and so funny! 

they were more interested in the pebbles than in the changing of the gaurd

lunchtime snuggles

love her

the Tower of London residences-doesn't this just look so British!?

Saturday night the Shipps set sail and I went and found my hostel on my own. I feel like a real world traveler now that I can just do that without being freaked out of my mind! 

On Sunday my big plan was to attend the singles ward in London but that wasn’t until later in the day and on Saturday I had discovered something too good to pass up- Churchill’s War Cabinet Bunkers in Westminster near Big Ben! It was too expensive and museum-y to take little kids to so I went back on my own. 

And it was SO COOL. I loved it! I got to see where Churchill directed the war and there was even a cool little churchill museum all about his life and his speeches and his quotes and I got to talk with this adorable elderly lady who gave me her WW2 booklist and let me try on a Churchill hat replica! I also may or may not have bought a lot of Churchill/WW2 paraphernalia there….

Getting my Churchill on

After that I went to church determined to meet my husband there. As I walked up the street towards the Hyde Park chapel this incredibly handsome young man with an English accent walked up next to me and said “are you going to church?” I was like “…..yes?” totally in awe. He explained that he recognised my BYU backpack and I was like ‘my name is Jenny’ gearing up to fall in love. He was like ‘I got married a couple months ago.’ 

Uganda be kidding me! I told him congratulations. 

The bus trip back from London was good. I was able to sleep a fair amount of the journey and I even made friends with the cute Dutch girl sitting next to me! Our bus got delayed so we talked a lot and then when we boarded the ferry we found a secluded place to lie down under the stairs to nap! (It was like a refugee camp on that ferry-people were sleeping everywhere!). I’m glad I had her because she woke me up when it was time to go-somehow I was sleeping through all the noise on the boat! 

me and my new friend getting ready to sleep under the stairs

I got back to the Hague with a couple hours before work. I figured if I didn’t have time to nap I would at least have time to shower. So I got into the bathroom and then, lo and behold, the shower didn’t work. 

My kitchen floor is now all torn up and I had to take a shower at work today!

 Every day is an adventure!