"You sound like George Bush."

One thing that was predetermined in my mind, before I ever arrived in London, was that I wanted to try a different London church every Sunday. Unfortunately I did not do much research about which church I wanted to go to for my very first Sunday in London, so I kind of just picked the one that was closest to our flats. It’s called Saint Savior and has a sign on the outside advertising that they “accept people from all denominations”. And it’s only a 3 minute walk from our flats, so it seemed like the best choice.

For those who know me well, you most likely know that my church back in the States is a fairly contemporary, Methodist church. So when I walked into Saint Savior, sat down on the wooden pews constructed at a 90° angle, and read in the bulletin that this church was associated with the Church of England, I was pretty sure this was going to be another one of those times when I was not going to blend in with the crowd.

Luckily, the friend I went with is Lutheran, so she knew much more about what was going on during the service than I did. She was able to help me out with some of the constant standing, sitting, singing, and reading. I’m not saying the service was bad, but it was just MUCH more conservative than what I’m used to. Think of it as surfer from California putting on a business suit and attending a corporate meeting in New York City. The surfer is trying to blend, but his slight awkwardness lets the other business men know he’s just a little different than they are.

One of my favorite parts of the service were watching all the babies and young children and listening to their cute little accents. One boy who would yell “DA DA” as loud as he could during the service told his mom, “Mummy, I am not a naughty boy!” Another boy crawled under my legs and ran all around the church away from his dad. I also enjoyed it at the end when we sang, “Happy Birthday”, accompanied by the organ, to a boy who was turning 11 and an older lady from Wales. Finally, the actual sermon (called the homily) was about hope, which is always a powerful topic. One very noteworthy line from the priest: “Hope is always a risk because it looks to what is not there.”

After the service was over, we walked into our flat and my other roommates thought we had been to a bonfire because we smelled like smoke, which was actually the scent of incense all over our clothing. In the afternoon, a group of us went to the Thames River Festival, which had street performers, tons of food, and cute little shops and stands. It was very similar to a fair in America, just a little less redneck and much cleaner.

Mel and I bought some Chinese food from one of the stands – it was definitely not as good as the Camden Market Chinese food, but the chicken curry portion of this platter was really good. There was also something called tempora, which was basically a bunch of veggies held together by pieces of fried dough.

After leaving the massive crowds behind at the festival, we ventured over to Hyde Park and just walked around without any sort of plan. We ended up walking through Speaker’s Corner, which was completely by chance, but so awesome. Speaker’s Corner is a place where, only on Sundays, British citizens can come and voice their opinions about various topics, ranging from capitalism to the theory of evolution. One British man said something to anger an American in the crowd, and I was pretty sure punches were going to fly. Another man was preaching to a group of Muslim men about the only way to reach Heaven, in his opinion, which definitely butted heads with their opinion.

As we were walking away from one of the speakers, three older men approached me and Mel. One man asked me my opinion on reincarnation. Then we started talking about both British and American politics. He called Tony Blair “Bush’s poodle” and said a few other choice words about their former prime minister. I was completely blown away by their knowledge of the American presidential election. He knew everything about Sarah Palin, but just couldn’t remember her name. I felt almost embarrassed because I definitely do not know that much about politics in different countries! Sometimes it’s hard to even keep up with our own. Probably the funniest part of the whole conversation was when he told Mel that her American accent was not very strong, but that I sounded like George Bush. Awesome. There’s that lovely Muncie accent for shining through once again.

After walking through Hyde Park, you realize that London is not that dark, rainy city most people envision it to be. There are parts of the city that are hidden from the average tourist, that take some time to find, but in the end, are completely worth getting lost for. The best way to explore and experience the city is to just start walking without a plan. It’s always during these times, when you aren’t looking for anything in particular, that you stumble across some the city’s best kept secrets.

Oh, and for everyone who is waiting for the answer to the trivia question I asked yesterday, a Chelsea tractor is 4x4 Landrover type vehicle that football players and rich people drive around the city. Chelsea is a very posh, rich area, so the people who live there have no need for a 4x4 vehicle, but they have the money to buy one.

Until next time,
Rachel