Public

This blog is now public.

Just so you know.

:)

Almost over!!!

Wow, my stay here in England is almost over! In 6 days, I will be leaving my home in South Cerney to go to Stansted to stay the night. In 7 days, I am leaving the UK. In 8 days I will be back in Utah. In 9 days, I will be at Lagoon and seeing my ward friends again! :D

A LOT has happened since my last post. Here's an update. :)

A couple of weeks ago, my family and I spent a week in Germany. We went to Bamberg, Hameln, Rothenburg, and Ruette in Austria. Rothenburg was definitely my FAVORITE place.

Famous view of Rothenburg.

Rothenburg is mostly a tourist city. Not many people ACTUALLY live there. I guess I have to admit that the reason I liked Rothenburg the best is because of all the shopping. :) They had the CUTEST shops there, including the largest Christmas shop in the world. I forgot what the shop is called, haha.

Hameln is the city which The Pied Piper's fairy tale takes place. I got my very first German ice cream cone there. :) I have NEVER had such delicious ice cream in my entire life. Raspberry is definitely the best flavor.

Yum. :)

We spend a little time in Hannover. My mom went there to see her "aunt" that she has been communicating with for a few years. We had a translater there to help us communicate. :P

I enjoyed Germany a lot!

My aunt Janeen came for a visit last week, and went sight-seeing a lot with my mom. It was sooo fun to have her here!!

Last Saturday, our ward threw a party for the Americans leaving. It was super fun!

I gave a talk in church last Sunday, and next Sunday Rachel and I have to play our violin and flute. grrr..AGAIN!

Dad is working on his project with his team. It's due tomorrow. He and his team have done GREAT work so far. At the Royal Ag college, they hardly give out "exceptional" gradings. But they have given out a few for my dad's team! :D Go Dad! They said they have never seen such great work so far. :)

Mom is busy, trying to get ready to leave. :) Right now, she is rushing around the house trying to clean and pack things. :P

I got a DELICIOUS recipe for British shortbread. It's SO good. I'll have to post the recipe later. However, I think some of the ingredients are only in the UK. :(

Well, I can't wait to see everyone!!! It'll be exciting to be back home. :) I hope we get a lot of visits from everyone while I live in Logan.

Oh! I forgot to talk about that, haha.

We will most likely live in Logan for 6-12 months. Most likely 12. :( My dad has to go to USU for another term. But the house we're renting has a year contract, or something like that. We're not sure yet what we'll do after the rent is over. We may even try to get someone to take over our rent after 6 months, but most likely not.

When the year is over, my mom would like to live back in Davis County, so I think we'll try to either build a house or find one there. :) Cross your fingers!

*Numbers 26-29 have been added to the list of differences in Utah and England*

London

So I haven't posted in quite a long time.

I'm sorry.

But my comp is just SOOOO stupid. I can't ever upload the pics that I want!

I do, however, upload all my pics onto facebook. If you are not my friend on facebook yet, you can add me and see my pics.

Last Tuesday and Wednesday, my family went to LONDON!!! It was SOOO fun/interesting/different/exciting!

Tuesday, my family with with Lynda and Walter (my mom's distant counsins) to London. We road a "coach," which is pretty much just a long distance bus. It took three hours to get there. I sat with Ra on the bus. The air conditioning was blowing so hard, that we started getting goosebumps. We couldn't turn it off because the switch was broken. So we moved up a few seats where we were able to control it. We talked, giggled, and ate chocolate and Stripes (my favorite English candy) on the way there. We both tried to sleep, but that was a lost cause, considering the man in back of me kept tapping my seat, and that when I put my head against the window, it made my head bob up and down and my nose vibrate. LOL.

When we got off the bus, we went STRAIGHT to the "toilets" or the "loo". It cost 20p to go to the bathroom. That's how most public bathrooms are. You have to put 20p in a slot and then it lets you pass through the gate. But..........the toilet's we went to were men and women COMBINED! It was NASTY. It smelled horrid and personally, I don't feel comfortable going to a public bathroom for men and women. Yuck.

We walked from the Victoria Train Station through the streets of London. It was one of my favorite parts...just seeing everyone going here and there, and watching their everyday life. We passed a funny called LARCO, (It's a family inside joke. Liz+Marco=larco) an old telephone booth, and even had our pictures taken with police officers! :D

Finally, we arrived at Buckingham palace. It was SOOO crowded. The gates were shut, and guarded by officers. We took pics, then headed towards the London Eye!

It was a long walk there. We got ice cream on the way (which tasted like bad whipped cream) and took lots of pics. Saw squirrels running around with birds in the park, and those men with fuzzy hats that never move. :P We walked over a bridge that went over the Thames River. It was my FAVORITE part. The Thames river was very gross, however, it was dark brown, and if you looked closely, you could see the dirt move around. But the view was BEAUTIFUL. You could see Big Ben, and the Westminster Abbey from the bridge.

We got to the London Eye, and took lots of pics. We were going to ride the London Eye, but the line was too long. :( We saw people standing on the streets, doing little acts to earn money. There was one man completely in silver. His face was painted silver, his wizard hat was silver, his robes were silver, EVERYTHING. He did a little dance to some music while blowing a whistle. LOL

Then, we walked past Big Ben and some protesters to the Westminster Abbey. It was INCREDIBLE. I couldn't take pics inside, because it wasn't allowed. But in some parts, it WAS allowed. We had these headphones and audio guide that told us about different parts of the abbey.

We took a cab (my first cab!) to Harrods. We didn't buy anything, but we just looked around.
It
Was
So
COOL!
There was a perfume section, where ladies dressed REAAALLY nicely stood at counters to help you with your "purchase." Except there was ONE guy there....I think he was gay.
Everything there was soo expensive. We saw a watch that was over $250,000. A dress was about $800.
We ate at Pizza Express, then caught the coach back home...very long ride.

The next day, Wednesday, we went to London again, as a family. The second we got there, we quickly caught a cab to the London Eye, and went on it! It wasn't exciting, but it was sooo cool to see the city about a mile in the air. :D
A bus company, called The Big Bus Company, has tours on double decker buses. We went on one, and it was so interesting!
We stopped off at the Tower of London, and a man called a "beafeater" gave us a tour. We saw the crown jewels. And...
oh
my
heck.
THEY ARE SO HUGE AND THERE ARE SO MANY DIAMONDS THAT IT MAKES ME WANT TO STEAL THEM ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah.
Pretty amazing.
:)
We went to the National Gallery, and spent a little time there. (It has a bunch of art) My feet ached, and I was way too tired to enjoy it.
But overall, it was great!!!

For those of you who are my friends on facebook, just a notice, my blog has problems and won't let me post hardly ANY pics up. That's why I hardly ever update it. I upload almost all my England pics onto it. So if you want to see the pictures, they're on facebook. (:

More Kingshill pics

left to right:
Back: Siufan, Nettie, Charley, Jodie
Front: Hannah, Charlotte, Me
Yeah, I'm the one with half a white face.
...I think the light reflected off of me because I'm so dang white. :P

Errrrrrrrrr
Anna, Siufan, Jodie

Nettie, Siufan, Jodie, Charlotte

Me & Jodie
I love this girl. She's hilarious.

:) Me and Siufan.

Siufan is definitely the sweetest and most caring person I've ever met. She's awesome.

Anna and Hannah! Yay, our last day of school pic. We both cried when I left. :(

I'll post more as soon as my stupid comp lots me! >:(

Last Day at Kingshill

Yesterday was my last day at Kingshill. It was a little sad, but relieving as well. Kinghill had been quite challenging for me. Not being used to the type of teens, and teachers as I was in Utah, made it hard. I wasn’t used to all the swearing, dirty jokes, drinking, smoking, and other stuff I probably shouldn’t say. But it was a good experience.

The reason I left Kingshill?? Well, there are quite a few actually. But the biggest reason is GRADES.

The grading at Kingshill is very different and complicated compared to Utah. Each question in a test, or worksheet, is worth a certain amount of ‘marks.’ If you do EXACTLY as the question asks, add some of your own knowledge to the answer, and maybe a little more, you’ll get the full marks that the question was worth. If not, well, they hardly give you any marks.
At Kingshill, getting a C in your class was pretty good. It’s almost like getting a B+, or A- in Utah. Getting an A, or B at Kingshill is AMAZING. Outstanding. It’s like an A+ or A++ in Utah. But, getting an A* (A star) is the best you can do. If you get an A* in one of your classes, or a few, you’d be capable of skipping a grade or two in Utah.

It’s complicated, and different.

In my grades, I got 1 A, 2 B’s, 4 C’s, and 1 D. Yeah. That’s pretty much why I got out of Kingshill. If I had turned those grades in as my transcript for 9th grade, it would’ve looked VERY bad. I’ve been working towards getting a 4.0 every term, to get a scholarship when I start college. So these grades wouldn’t exactly have helped.

So, what I am now doing is re-starting my second semester over through homeschool. I am backing up all the way to January, and finishing school at home. It will be hard, but worth the effort if I can do well.

Since you finish going to school when you’re 16 (but continue going if you’d like), they are concentrating on careers. It’s hard for me to learn much when all they are talking about is what we should be doing in the next year with our careers.

Also, at Kingshill, their curriculum is much different. I was learning stuff I’d learned in 8th, maybe even 7th grade. And other stuff, I would learn in 11th grade.

Science: The Electromagnetic Spectrum=I learned this in 8th grade
Music: Nothing. Haha, we didn’t do ANYTHING in that class.
Maths: Bits and pieces of all math subjects=mostly 7th and 8th grade
History: Medicine in the mid 1900’s, in England=why would this ever help me??
English: The Tragedy of Macbeth=11th grade. So, this class actually HAS been beneficial
Textiles: Sewing a childrens dress=My teacher mostly wanted us to concentrate on the paper work, rather than ACTUALLY sewing
PE: English sports=I got a ‘satisfactory’ in my behavior because I had no idea how to play half the sports :P
HRF: Leadership=This class was to help you practice your leadership skills for when you get a job.

Hopefully, I will be able to complete everything by the time we move back to Utah, but I doubt it. :/ But, thankfully, I’ll be able to prepare myself for High School better.



Okay, I’m backing up about a week ago to tell you a story that has to do with my last day:
I was in my Science class with my friend Shelbie. She, along with almost everyone at school, knew I was religious. She knew that I came from Utah, also. She had told her grandpa how an American girl moved to England, was going to Kingshill, came from Utah, and was religious. He said, “Oh! She must be Mormon. Utah is filled with Mormons. They are really nice people; always helping others out.” She told me about this, and asked if I was a Mormon. I said yes, and told her about why we were called Mormons. She was very interested. She said she’d always wanted to go to church.

Last Wednesday, I was sitting outside on the Rugby field with my friends, eating lunch. I told them how I was probably going to only stay at Kingshill another week or two, and they were all sad. (I was kinda sad.) When lunch was over, I had Science, and my friend Shelbie was in the class with me.

We were standing in the hall, waiting for the year 8’s to clear out of our way. Shelbie said, “Nooo you have to stay longer. I’ll go up to your Mom and tell her I’ll come to church with you if you can stay longer!” She was just teasing, but I got the feeling that she really DID want to come. I said, “haha, you should come to church with me, even if it’s not to beg my Mom. Would you like to?” She was extremely happy I asked, and said she’d love to come.

Shelbie didn’t find out that my last day was yesterday, until she came to school. She was very quiet whenever she was around me, and I could tell something was bothering her. When we were in Science she said, “Dang, today’s your last day today and we didn’t even get to go to church.” I was surprised that she thought she wouldn’t be able to go anymore, and I told her that of course she could still come, and I’d give her my number to call me to let me know when she could go. She was really happy about that, and said she could probably come anytime.
When I was emptying everything out of my locker, I found a Book of Mormon I had put in there a while ago, just in case it came in handy. I decided I would give it to her, because I knew she was very interested in the church. I wrote down my name, number, time of church, a little bit about the Book of Mormon, and mormon.org on the paper.

Right when school ended, I pulled her aside and gave her the book, and paper. I told her it was for her, and she was shocked. She just looked at it for a minute, and started crying. She told me how much it meant to her, and that I was so nice to give it to her. She’s excited to come to church.

Shelbie has quite a hard life. She isn’t exactly the ‘good girl,’ but is really nice. Her mom has had 5 husbands, and Shelbie’s birth father made pot. The only memory she has of him is sitting on his knee while he was making some.
Her little 5 year old brother has cancer; a cancer that only about 6 other people in the world has.
Her sister just collapsed last week from a weak heart, and is in bed.
Her aunt just died last weekend, and her Mom isn’t speaking.
I really think this will help Shelbie.

Hottie of Kingshill

Yes everyone, this is the hottest guy at Kingshill. Charles Buse. Hot. Hottie. Full of hottness. He is in my grade.
But no.
I don't like him.
At all.
Gross.
He's a frickin' retard and he's very rude. Especially to me. Why? Because I'm "The American Girl." "Miss America." Bleh.
But I posted these pics for those girls who wanted to see the hotties are my school. He is the guy on the left in the first pic, and right in the second.

Coming Home :)

Because of something that has come up, my family is coming home a little earlier. :)

Instead of coming home around July 7th, we will probably be home around the middle of June. :)

Can't wait to see you all!!!!

Another pic

Shelbie, Me, Hannah, and Charley

kingshill friends :)

So I finally have a FEW pics of my friends at Kingshill. No Andie, I still don't have a pic of hott guys. :P But my friends do, and they said they'll send me pics so I can post them up for ya! :P Haha but here is the only one that would upload. It's me and my friend Hannah. She is the girl that showed me around the school my first week and was there whenever I needed her. :) She is my Kingshill hero!

BLAH

I couldn’t think of a title.

So my comp has decided that it doesn’t really like me. When I try to upload pictures, it will decide what pictures it will post, and others that it won’t. “Oh, I don’t like this picture of Stonehenge, Anna. Sorry, but I’m not putting it on your blog today.” or “Oh! This picture of you touching the rocks at Avebury are gorgeous! I guess I’ll let you put them on your blog.”

So, if you’re all wondering why there’s no pictures, that’s why.

I post my pics on facebook though! So for those of you who want to see the pics, I’ll be posting them ALL on facebook. I’ll keep trying to put them on my blog, though.


UPDATE

Church:
There were some pass-along cards on the table at church last Sunday. Me and this boy named Dan (he’s 12 and HILARIOUS) told Rachel that we’d each give her a piece of gum if she gave one of the cards to someone random walking on the street outside of the church. So she did. :) She thought it was pretty fun, so she continued passing them out. And had 9 people take them, and 3 rejections. 2 people said no, and one person swore at her haha. :) The sister missionaries now want Rachel and I go to teaching with them. :P
The boy who just got baptized, Alex, had his family come over to our house for dinner. His mom Jill, and his sister Brinely (I think that’s her name) came. Brinely’s fifteen. :) Jill asked my dad A LOT of questions about the church. She was a little hesitant on the whole Adam and Eve thing because she believes in Evolution. : / But it went really well. Not too long ago, my dad dedicated out house, that people would feel the spirit in it. Jill commented about how for some reason, our house felt so peaceful and calm. Brinely didn’t talk much, but she was excited when my dad gave her her own Book of Mormon. :) I invited her to come to Movie Night this Friday, because we’re watching the Testaments as a ward. Alex and Brinely have an older brother who does a lot of drugs. A lot. Being in a home that just felt peaceful was amazing for them. Both Jill and Brinely promised to read the Book of Mormon.
My dad has a friend who is in the same program as him. He is also going to start taking missionary lessons. He came to church last Wednesday, and I think he really liked it.
As a ward, we’re fasting for the whole month. Each family takes one day in the month of February and fasts that day. In the History of our ward, we haven’t had as many non-members come to church. And we’re having 2 more baptisms.


School:
School is the same as usual. Kingshill isn’t such a great place. They kids don’t exactly make very good decisions. There is a LOT of smoking. And other stuff I’d prefer not to talk about haha. I’m making more friends, and it’s getting fun. :)
Ra is quitting Kingshill most likely. It’s not for sure yet, but close to sure. I think she should stay, but she doesn’t want to. Whatever haha.


Nothing else is really going on. I’ll finish going to Kingshill on April 3rd. Then I’ll do these school packets the rest of the time. They’re pretty easy. The last three months we’re here, will mostly be vacation almost. We’ll be traveling all over. :) It will be exciting.

Stonehenge

I FINALLY GOT THESE PICS TO UPLOAD!

CHOCOLATE!

Yup...more pics!

How I Spent my Day Off of School (pt 2)

K this is AT the museum. I was very anxious to get out of it because I wanted to go shopping. So I didn't take time to read about all the different artifacts. I"m REALLY sorry but something is wrong with my computer and it decides what pictures it will let me upload or not. I have a lot more, but they wouldn't work. :( Anyway, here are pics from the museum!!!

I prefer Roman Men. :)

Looks like my dad has a little competition...:)

There was a mirror! :) I took advantage of it.I wanted to make sure he was fake hehe.

Neeeeeerrrrr

Mosaic floor.

Dead dude. I have no idea what is so special about him.

What the dead dude looks like.

Helmet

How I Spent my Day Off of School (pt 1)

Yesterday (Friday) I had school off. Why?? Because it is Friday the 13th. And the people here are supersticious. Yup. That's right. Every Friday the 13th is canceled at Kingshill. This is how I spent the day off with Ra and my mom.

First, we had to go to Tesco (our favorite grocery store hehe) to get gas. Here are the pictures driving through the Cotswolds to TESCO!

Down the street we go!!

My dad calls this "the rook." Kinda looks like one, huh? We don't know what it is. A house? A castle???
In Ciren! (Nickname for Cirencester)
Lake near TescoAnd AT Tesco! (Waiting for my mom while she's getting gas)

Next, is part 2!!!

Canceled!!! (and pics)

Yes, that's right!!! School has been canceled! Kingshill, along with every other school in England, was canceled today (and other schools have been canceled for a few days) due to the snow. Snow in England is VERY rare. So everyone is FREAKING OUT. Guess how much snow we have here? 3 inches. Yeah. That's right. We only have THREE INCHES OF SNOW. And school is canceled. Last night, it snowed big fat snow flakes, but very slowly and calmly. And they called it a blizzard. Wouldn't it be lovely if school in Utah was canceled every time it snowed 3 inches of snow? :)


Here are some more pics from England!

This is one of the brick walls that surround our house. Me and Ra took pics on it.
End of Spine Road. I love the trees in this pic.

See!? Not ALL of England looks like the country! Here's an actual TOWN! This is Swindon. GREAT shopping here.

Open field

Open field.

I stood at the end of our driveway to take this pic. So this is up our street. :)

Side view of our house. And there's my dad. He's sticking his tongue on his cheek, that's where there is a huge buldge in his cheek. :)

Front of our house! Ra is carrying a power chord.

More to come soon!!!!