A terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day!

It actually all started as we left Amsterdam...

At one bus stop (5min stop) Jon went to get drink, and the bus driver started going without him, I raced to front of bus and told him as Jon ran out from shop in front of us! Lucky!

We got to London at 6am in morn, started to walk to tube station, it started to pour with rain, got completely soaked.

Wanted to get breakfast at Mcds and dry out, they didn't take card.

Wanted to go to toilet, it cost 20p!

Rang my friend Bex, set off for her place to leave bags there for day and find flat. We bought wrong ticket.

Caught bus after tube to get to her place, got off one stop too late, so walked back a long way!

Went with her to go to town, forgot tube tickets, sent Jon back to house, and 1 hour later still couldn't find him. (he went to the station twice looking for us, but we told him to meet us at shopping mall)

Went to look at flat, got there at 5pm as arranged. Lady had forgotten.

Man showed us flat (it was crusty and not worth the effort) we left our bags in his house while looking, but then he locked himself out of his flat, so we had to wait for the lady!

Left to go back on tube about 6:15, had wrong ticket, so had to catch bus. Caught bus going wrong way, so had to walk all the way back.

Caught another bus (after waiting about 20 mins) and it went the right way, but we didn't know where to get off. After 30mins on bus we decided to get off anyways!

Caught tube toward town. Tube was suspended 2 stations before we wanted to get off because someone was stuck under a train further up line.

Walked miles to another tube station. Caught about 3-4 more tubes and changeovers before finally getting to last one.

Caught bus and this time got off too early!!

Got home with pizza for dinner at long last. Arrive home about 9pm!!!!

Still with no where to live but thank goodness a air mattress and lounge floor (had to pump by hand!)

Thank God too for encouraging friends and people who pray for us.

O well, some times life suxs, if this happened everyday though I'm sure suicide would be a rosy option!

A terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day!

Angels & Amsterdam

Bus arrives early at 4:30am.  We hop off, look around and decide to try and find a hostel! As we start to wander down the main street, the rain starts to fall.  We begin to notice that nothing at all is open, not even a 24hr internet cafe we can hang out in.  We get to a big intersection... we notice quite a few lights to the left, so decide to go that way.  Little did we know that we were heading straight for the red light part of town.  No sooner had we got a little way down the road, when a guy asks us if we are looking for a place to stay.  We answer yes, and he says he can show us one.  I look at Jon thinking we would ask him to move on, but instead we decided to say yes.  As he leads us down the road, some other guys walk past us and try to sell us drugs.  We refuse, but then the feeling of oppression of the area starts to hit us and we realize where we are!  Sex shows and other stuff was everywhere.  Every place we go to is either shut or has no room. We wander around for about an hour, and find out that this guy is from Iran, and is unable to work in Amsterdam.  He is a nice guy and  quite gentlemanly. Another guy tries to help us, and he was pushy, and looked shifty, and our 'angel' told him where to go.  In the end he found us a place to sit down out of the rain waiting until the central train station opened where we would get a hot chocolate and hopefully find some internet. We give him 10 Euro for his efforts, of which he was very thankful.  The day started very early, and it still wasn't until 12:30 that we managed to get a room in a Christian hostel in the heart of the red light district.  So although it was a great place to stay, we had to walk through all the filth to get to our place.  I found it very disturbing and sad.  Although we had seen prisons at Auschwitz that people now realize is wrong, I found it hard to comprehend the legality of the very small prison rooms that the prostitutes are placed in.  It was amazingly close to how Proverbs describes the prostitute.  Amsterdam or is it suppose to be Amsterdamn.  The 'tolerance' for drugs and other disrespect for the body I'm sure can bring nothing more than God's judgment.  A huge eye-opener for me. 

Angels & Amsterdam

England & future decisions

We got to experience England for a short 3 weeks of insane job-hunting and a not so positive experience of the culture and the standard of morals.  The state of the nation is far from a Christian nation.

Although this is the case, we are going back for more!  Jon has accepted a job teaching music at a school in Weald, north London for a year. 

We have spent the last 7 weeks here in Ukraine with my brother, enjoying summer, the culture and the fantastic people.  While we have been here we have spent time at the beach, camping on an island, going to Kiev, road trip to Odessa & the Black Sea, and heaps of other stuff.  We have made some great friends and it will be sad to leave them.

We head back through Europe at the end of Europe next week.  We plan to stop in Poland, and visit Auschwitz, and then through to Germany and then Holland before we get back to London ready to sort out an apartment and hopefully a job for me. 

Hope to be able to blog more often when we get back to a decent internet connection!

England & future decisions