Mormons, Canoes, and Mr. Darcy

England is like a magnet for me. Case in point: the second weekend of October I traveled with my friend Ashley to a Young Single Adult Conference in Yorkshire! 

I met Ashley at church. We both go to the English ward and are the only young, unmarried women there. So of course we bonded. She got her masters in the UK and so she knows the Mormon scene there and invited me to go with her to what is called the Huddersfield Young Single Adult Convention. Mormon boys? England? A girl friend? She didn’t have to ask me twice. I really didn’t know what to expect but since it sounded like a combination of all my favourite things it would have been irresponsible to sit it out!

So I took work off on that Friday and got an early morning train to the Amsterdam airport. Our plane was pretty tiny:

propeller plane!

When we got to Manchester we hung out at the airport for a little while waiting for Ashley’s friend Megan to pick us up. Megan is another American who is getting her PHD in England. She’s been there so long that she actually has an english accent! And a car! I’m a bit jealous of her life. 

Joining another two people’s friendship could have been super awkward but they were really welcoming and it didn’t take long for me to feel really comfortable around them. We had some time to kill before the conference really started so we went to a charity shop in downtown Huddersfield and it was EPIC. I was able to find an entire outfit there; a crazy hat, a yellow coat and a red necklace. I wore it the next day of course!

True Fashion

After that we went to Nando’s, a portugese restaurant, which is apparently an essential part of being a Mormon in England. Then we just relaxed at out hotel before the dance.

The dance was roller skating themed. I was pretty exited about roller skating and didn’t think it would be too hard. However, I fell flat on my back. It was like a banana peel slip in a slap-stick comedy. Ashley almost landed on me. I got the wind knocked out of me and, though I tried to continue, my heart just wasn’t really in skating after that. I met some cool people though. One guy that I talked to came back out of nowhere later in the night and gave me a piece of candy. I was like, “What’s this?” and he said “just turn it over.” So I did and it was a conversation heart candy thing that said “Dream girl” on it. I was like, ‘oh boy’ and gave him a thumbs up or something, not knowing what to do. 

Flattering but uncomfortable. 

The next day we slept in a little bit and got to the conference in time for the service project. The project was a bit of a cop-out this year but I still had fun just being around my new friends— Ashley had introduced me to these AWESOME Scottish girls the night before and they were hilarious. After lunch everyone split up for activities. Our activity was canoeing. Oh my gosh, it was such a good choice! The highlight of my weekend! First of all, we got to drive through picturesque Yorkshire. And then there were only like 10 of us so we actually got to talk to each other rather than just being stuck with people we already knew. Since the weather is getting cold, they gave us wetsuits. I have to say, it takes some courage to wear a wetsuit in public, but I did it! I shared a canoe with this guy named Josh who also likes to travel so we bonded over that. Some of the others were having a lot of trouble with their canoes and had to be rescued. This entailed switching canoes so that I was with one of the guys who ran the place and canoeing back to shore to get the small motorised raft boat. I had a little bit too much fun with that— I stood on the front as we raced way too fast through the water towards the canoe in distress with my hair blowing out behind me. Afterwards Ashley was like, “who are you?” haha. 

The Gang

Only one of us had appropriate footwear. Also isn't my nail polish pretty?

Ashley, Me, Meghan

rocking the boots with wetsuits look

We learned from our lake guides that there were some cool ruins nearby. So before we went back to the church we all went and explored that. It was a beautiful lookout point of the lake as well as an old crumbling castle/watchtower. I climbed all over feeling like a little kid again. I just love that there were no ropes like “don’t go here” anywhere. It was all free game.

I think I was on the other side of the moat

Somehow we started doing exercises...? I think I was making fun of the way I danced the night before

Walking off into the sunset

After that we had dinner and there was another dance- Harry Potter themed. I had thought that I would just put a lot of random eccentric stuff on and dress up as ‘a witch pretending to be a muggle’ but we didn’t have time. And that was fine. We had fun dancing and talking and I got to meet more people. 

Sunday was the last day of the conference. First we had sacrament meeting. The impromptu choir was incredible. Ashley explained to me that, while Mormons in general are known to be good singers, it’s especially true of British Mormons. Seriously it was so funny how good they were. And I don’t usually get worked up about listening to choir music. But I was like #whoa. 

There was a sort of picnic lunch after sacrament meeting. Since we weren't in a hurry we just hung out and talked to people for awhile and even did some little sing-alongs around the piano (again, so Mormon, haha). 

We had an awkward amount of time left over after that before we needed to go to the airport so at the last minute we decided to go to Lymehouse. This is a beautiful old manor house where the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice was filmed. It was so worth it! By this time me and Megan and Ashley were just besties and we had so much fun just exploring and joking together.

Side note: one of the best aspects of that weekend was the fact that Ashley and Megan thought I was so funny. Like, I would say vaguely eccentric things and they’d be like, “stop! I’m putting that quote on twitter!” I was like… “well, ok then.” It’s nice to have my genius appreciated every once in awhile ;) 

So here are some pictures of our time with Mr. Darcy: 

This was in the gift shop.
You know, I actually got broken up with in the process of a BBC Pride and Prejudice marathon?
I've made peace now. 

Home Sweet Home!

Fall Leaves

Beautiful landscape

having fun with my little photo shoot

candid that I like

getting funky

getting up and personal funky

collecting leaves like Gollum

I love leaves so much

Happy Autumn! 

Flippin ma hare -cause that's what you do when you live in an English Manor home

Oh, but how I love England. And this trip was a great reminder that ‘London’ does not equal ‘England.’ Even though I visited London earlier this year, it didn’t matter. The rustic quaintness of Yorkshire makes it a totally different place. Love. Love. Love.

Tour de Den Haag

Well friends, October was a CRAZY month! I think every weekend but one, I visited another country! The Netherlands, England, France, and Norway all in one month! Not too shabby, eh? Well, with all the out and about I had a hard time getting to this blog. But don’t worry! I took some good notes to remind myself of the important details! 

I will start out with that first weekend of October. I will call it: Tour de Den Haag. The tour guide was, of course, the one and only Sameer Ahmad; Cycling extarordinaire and former resident of the Hague for about 4 years. 

So the gist of this weekend it is that I had been planning on going somewhere else on that first Saturday of October but one of the girl’s I was supposed to go with didn’t feel well. So it fell through. Which turned out to be perfect because that was the weekend that Sameer came back to visit from his new job in Vienna! I had lots of fun hanging out with him. With all the new friends and places and people around me it was nice to spend some time with someone who knew me well. 

First, on Friday night there was a birthday party that a lot of the interns went to. Even though I hadn’t been in a good mood earlier in the day and wasn’t sure if I would go, I’m glad that I did! People were really fun and I had a great time. I even tried muscles for the first time! 

Muscles just look like little lungs...

They weren't my favourite.

As the night progressed people got a little rambunctious and started saying ignorant things about my religion (can’t remember how that came up). Anyway, while that was pretty annoying (why do people only want to talk about it when they’re drunk?) I could see the humour. For one thing, one of my fellow interns joined the conversation a little late and was like, “YOU’RE MORMON?!??” looking at me so alarmed as if I had just told her that …. I’m struggling to think of an appropriate comparison. As if I had just told her that I was a polygamist? Maybe that’s really what she thought had just happened. 

this pretty much summarises my reaction to the 'YOU'RE MORMON?!?' comment

Anyway, she regained her composure and said, “you’re my favourite Mormon that I’ve ever met” or something like that. I’m not really sure how much of a compliment that was but I could tell she was trying. Sometimes it’s nice to surprise people by my religion so that they 1.) don’t pre-judge me and 2.) when they find out realise that Mormons are pretty normal. 

So yeah. That was a notable thing about that night. I talked with Jaime and Sameer for the most part and it was great. 

Saturday was great! I slept in and then met up with Sameer for a bike ride. Sameer is the king of cycling in the Netherlands and he has a favourite place in the middle of nowhere along the beach that he calls “Sameer Spot.” He was shocked that he hadn’t taken me there yet so we biked for awhile through a park in the Hague and along the dune area and over to the beach.

It was fantastic and very empowering! When I first got here, I wouldn’t have been able to bike that long. But now I’m a cycling mar-chine ;). Really though, I hardly got tired and the weather was beautiful and the beach was fantastic. Here are some pictures: 

Scheveningen Beach

Typical Travel selfie

Horseback riding on the beach!...one day...

The Famous "Sameer Spot"! 

Oh yeah! I'm a cyclist now!

I did my own thing that afternoon but then that night I met up with Sameer and another friend, Miriam, from OPCW. We went and saw The Intern and then got deserts at a restaurant near Parliament. Overall a great weekend. And a great reminder that the Hague is incredible! 

The Curious Case of the Stolen Bicycle

When I first got to Holland, my friend and all-around-life-support, Sameer borrowed a bike from a friend for me. I used that bike about 3 times because it wasn’t very good and as soon as my roommate left for Spain I started borrowing hers. She was supposed to be back in a couple weeks…but that has turned into a couple months and now and I’m pretty attached to that bike (and I know that she doesn’t mind me using it). 

Well, when my sister came to visit I stored the Sameer-bike at Den Haag Central Station thinking that when I finally met up with the man whose bike it was, it wouldn’t be too difficult to pick it up from there. 

Well, about a week later when I checked on it …. the bike wasn’t there. 

THE BIKE WASN’T THERE!

This is what the bike rack looks like and this is about where I parked my bike
(photo curtesy of google images)

This was, understandably very alarming to Sameer. I went back to look with more time on my hands to prowl up and down the lanes of bikes outside the station. Nothing. Sameer had to tell his friend who was not happy. At all. 

BUT MIRACLES HAPPEN.

I happened to tell one of my intern friends about the incident. I showed him the place where I had parked the bike and he suggested that maybe the authorities had taken it because it sounded like I had parked illegally. He said to just talk to the transit people because they keep bikes that they confiscate and have a whole system. 

This lit a spark of hope inside me.

I looked online and discovered the Bike Depot. It’s incredible. A true public service. They have profile after profile of bikes that the police have picked up with a small description of the bike as well as a picture of it. After some clicking and searching and revising my search terms I found what could only be the bike.

Yes I parked it there like a crazy person. But look at the above picture! I thought it was normal! 

I called and left a message. I think I even emailed. It was too late to go get it on the Saturday when I found it. So I waited for Monday morning and ventured out to the South of the Hague to reclaim my borrowed treasure. I got lost of course. It wasn’t the best part of town and I had never been there before. 

I eventually found the place and discovered that there are adults in Holland who don’t speak English! This made things interesting but it all worked out. Upon leaving I found myself in the outskirts of The Hague with two borrowed bicycles. And I was running late for work. 

I walked the two bikes awkwardly down the road. I’ve seen people ride one bike while guiding the other with their hand. I tried that for approximately .3 seconds and then gave up. I wasn’t about to leave my newly reclaimed bike on the street somewhere in that sketchy neighbourhood—but it was a much less usable bike than my normal one! And I was so late! 

Well, I made my pilgrimage to the nearest McDonald’s and took my chances locking up my nicer bike there. I took a few pictures to remind myself where it was. And then I headed off on the little rescued red bike. It’s short, it doesn’t have breaks, the bell doesn’t work and I basically made myself very sweaty huffing all the way to work. 

Morning commuters at the bike rack

Thank goodness for the landmark of McDonalds!

Luckily, the OPCW has a garage where you can park bikes and no one cares if you leave them there for a little while. I took the tram home that day after work, walked back to McDonalds to pick up the first bike and then rode that home (it was like a logic puzzle getting all the bikes and myself where we needed to be!) 

When Sameer came back in town he asked me to leave the bike at a fitness center. So I rode the bike there last week after work and then jogged/walked back to the OPCW to pick up the other bike. Again, so many logistics involved when you lead a car-less life! 

My victory picture of the bike reclaimed and waiting outside the fitness centre!

I enjoyed my jog (let's be honest largely walk) back to work.

I just love the everyday architecture here.

I bike past this place often. It's on my way from work to the city centre!

Beautiful woods on the way back to work. Autumn is here!

And there is the OPCW. The excuse for all my adventures. 

Anyway, as The Netherlands are a dedicated cycling country and as cycling is probably the biggest cultural experience that I am having here it seemed worth sharing: that one time when I lost someone else’s bike, but then found it again and bailed it out of bike prison. 

The End. 

Adventures in the Low Countries!

Well, just a little update on my travels!

Last Saturday I went to Antwerp, Belgium with some of my fellow interns for the day! I wasn't sure how it would go because I didn't really know the people that I was going with very well, but it ended up being so fun! There is a new intern at OPCW who lives with her boyfriend in Antwerp so they met up with us and gave us a tour which was so kind of them and really added to the experience! But it's crazy that she lives there! She has to commute like 2 hours EACH WAY to get to work every day!

Anyway, Antwerp is a beautiful city with a cool history (which involves a myth of cutting off the hand of a giant which is why they now have chocolate hands for sale there!). The food there was wonderful and the weather was fantastic. We saw great architecture and I ate a chocolate truffle (hello, had to have some Belgian chocolate!) AND I had a belgian waffle with speculoos and chocolate on it. SO. Good.

The famous Antwerp train station. It's beautiful in there.

Because no European city is complete without a horse-drawn carriage
 over cobblestones being tailed by a car. 

I may be a little too excited about this waffle.
It looks like my jaw has come unhinged!

Inside the historic train station. Take a look at the tall figure on the left

It is a stand up of a Scottsman selling gin or something

Isn't the architecture great?

Statue of the giant slayer (the one who cut off the hand)

Bridge!

Castle!

Water! Friends! 

This Friday I went with some interns to a festival in Leiden. It was pretty epic! So apparently its this annual huge party commemorating a long time ago when basically not everyone died in this siege of the city by the Spanish. It lasts two days and they have amusement park rides and games and food trucks and lots of live music! It was so fun! It got a little bit less fun into the evening when some drunk teenagers next to us started hitting on my friend and then started breaking glass bottles and trying to get in a fight with our guy friend. At that point we walked away. And I didn't like the smell of smoke and pot everywhere. But other than that it was fantastic! I went on these two rides with my friend Jaime. They were legit rides, not like, backyard of the school fair rides. One of them was a scary one that spins you around in the air backwards and forwards. Up in the air you could see the whole city laid out with the fair everywhere and then an old windmill in the midst of it all. So beautiful. The other one that I went on was one of those round swing ones that lifts you up in the air. Except that this one went WAY up in the air. Like above all the buildings! It was cold up there at about 12 am but so beautiful! I also got a chocolate waffle and some nice dutch fries :) I found some cool jewellery there as well. Overall, such a fun night! And I love my fellow interns.

me and Nabila. I think she's pretty cool.

They have these cake ball things there! Quite good.

Beautiful canal in the city

look at the ferris wheel! So cute!

Me and Jaime conquered this. 

It was pretty epic.

Food stalls everywhere! Getting fries in a cone like this with
sauce (usually just mayo) dripped on top is so typical. This time I tried a spicy sauce. Was good! 

The swings up in the sky at midnight!

So yeah! That's what's going down lately in Jennyland. P.S. "The low countries" is the term for the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg since they are small enough to be grouped together and geographically have a very low altitude.