S'mores come to England...and other ramblings

Woke up to the sound of rain, typical London style :). I actually feel at home, like this is my room, downstairs is my kitchen, and as of last week, 15 minutes down the road...is MY LOVE, the gym!! It is officially one week since I started the gym, and I am SO much happier. I can really tell the difference, especially in my attitude, I am a lot happier. I have been short on money because of it though, haha, and am learning what it really means to live pay check to pay check, well, stipend to stipend.

Dejan came back today, he was gone for a month in Aussie land, he looks kind of like an indian he is SOOO tan.

This past Sabbath we had a bonfire for the youth social, and I had brought back everything we needed for smores from America!! I imported a super size box of Honey Maid Graham crackers, 4 bags of Jet Puffed Marshmallows, and of course, the Hersheys chocolate bars :). We roasted hot dogs first, and then I instructed them in the way of the s'more. THEY LOVED THEM, but I mean, who, in their right mind, wouldn't?!

This is Laura (one of the teens) and I, her first ever s'more experience! Represent!

It was really cool to teach them something so fun, and delicious, haha, and I had a great night. I missed home a bit afterwards, but it also made England feel more like home.

I am thinking about going to school in Spain next year again...Pray for my decision please!!

peace and love!

Measurements, measurements.

the pictures above have been added after posting the following blog (me, dirt cake, two dads enjoying dirt cake):

Hahahahaha.

I am choosing to laugh.

So it started with me wanting to make dirt cake, which is, by the way, so delicious.

And so that was my plan.

The ingredients are:

cream cheese, butter, milk, powdered sugar, choc. pudding mix, oreos, and cool whip -- I know right, super healthy.

I am making it in England, for an English kids program.

So that means I must convert the recipe from American measurements to British ones. Now, I graduated high school and I didn't do too bad, and I went to college, and I got a 3.5 gpa while I was there. I am not stupid, entirely. So I google cups to grams ( which is what they use here )and I do all the math for all the ingredients and convert it all into grams. Then, I multiply it by 15, because I am making this for a lot of people.

I am now ready to shop. Lorna, who is helping me, picks me up. I have an inkling that England may not have cool whip, but we try costco since it is an American store, no, no cool whip, but I KNOW they will have Oreo's. The recipe calls for 1 pkg of Oreos. Too bad in England, where people are skinnier, 1 pkg only has 6 biscuits. So back to the math. I decide 4, 6 biscuit, packs will count as one American package. Sorted.

We now go to the next store to buy everything else. I tell Lorna that I need 15 sticks of butter. Lorna has a strange look on her face, "sticks?!", she asks, looking confused. I remember, England doesn't have "sticks" of butter, well they do, but they do not call them sticks. Back to the math, ounce, cups, grams, and STICKS! ugh. But, sorted it.

I then tell Lorna I need 6,875 grams of milk. "Grams?!", Lorna asks, looking confused. "Milk is liquid, it does not come in grams", she states, in a very obvious tone. Awesome. I forgot that liquids and solids are measured differently. Like what was I thinking about, dang you google for not making it more clear!!

Eventually, after studying my nalgene (1 litre), I guess, and buy 2 and 1/2 litres of milk. Ugh, litres?!

Next step, chocolate pudding, I ask Lorna, "do you have chocolate pudding?", "well of course we do, we have all kinds of pudding". After she states this, I remember, in England, the word pudding is a synonym for dessert. Actual pudding, does not exist. BUT they do have chocolate custard, well they might have it, she has never seen it, but, I pray, and we find it. But how much to buy? Ugh, guessing again.

Cool whip? Yeah no Cool whip, nothing like it, not at all. So home-made whipped cream it is. But how much whipped cream can you get out of 500 ml of cream? What is ml anyway, silly England, I like ounces.

So I am off to try to make dirt cake, with pretty much none of the ingredients it calls for. But I rest assured that God will do the cooking. I will update you all later.

Peace!

P.s. Everyone loved the dirt cake and it turned out great, a major success, praise the Lord!

PS Here are pictures

life life life

so... Here are the things that I miss.

I miss the mountains.
I miss my work out videos.
I miss my wii fit.
I miss my mom, my dad, my brother.
I miss Chris, yeah, still.
I miss sara, brooke, ariana, sam...campion...puc...
I miss wal mart (weird, I know)
I miss american malls and all the shops that come with them.
Miss my grandma/grandpa.
Miss my daycare kids.
Miss the weather of america.
I miss my blankets at home.
I miss my books, my clothes.
I miss the american accent!!

there are more. but I will end the list there lol.

I made soup by myself (mostly) for the first time in my life Saturday night. It was for social, and I think it turned out pretty good! The kids told me they liked it, but who knows what the truth is, haha. I was proud though, I am slowly learning how to cook. For Christmas my Grandma gave me a cookbook and a bunch of recipes, and that was seriously an awesome present that I will always cherish!!

Today Diana and I delivered leaflets door-to-door for 2 hours, I could not feel my face by the end but felt accomplished, lol.

England still has lots of snow on the ground! It's cool to know I have witnessed something that is really rare. Snow is so pretty!!!

I miss Dejan, he is in Australia until the 23rd, life isn't as funny with out him here.

Still trying to sort out my future...blahh! So overrated, haha.

LATER!

HOME

ah. Home. going home was the best. Lots of people had asked me why I was going home, why didn't I take the opportunity to travel while I had the chance?! I will tell you why. First of all, because I'm not all that obsessed with traveling, I don't feel in a hurry to get it done. I am in a hurry to get to heaven, my real home, and travel there, I'll see bigger and better things there then I will in Germany for a weekend. Don't get me wrong, traveling is a lot of fun, but right now, it's a waste of money that I don't have. My second reason is the main reason: family. I never used to think I was attached to my family, like I know I love them more than anyone else, but I always thought I was pretty independent of them, and I am, but not in the way I thought. I do need them. And I would rather spend time growing with and learning from them, then spend time visiting some random country. I miss my family terribly, and I realize that this life is not permanent, my family will not always be there, any one of them could die from anything at any given moment, and I don't want to look back and regret passing up a chance to love them. So there you have it, those are my two reasons.


While at home with my family, I also realized, that there are people here I consider family. People I love, and want to spend time with as well. And I was ready to come back, get back to my life here. Yeah, I said it, I missed England.

America- the best country ever. The land of no round-a-bouts but plenty of jet puffed marshmallows. The land with lots of space, and well, um, land. I love America the most. I love the mountains, I love being able to see them instead of buildings. I think America rocks.

But I am so happy to be back in England.

It's been 6 months since I left. 6 months yesterday actually.

Which means there are 6 months left.

Which means if they go by as fast as the last six, pretty soon I will be writing to tell you I am leaving England, which is heart breaking, but also exciting.

love audrey.