I went with some friends from my ward up to York to go on a 'Ghost Tour.' I was excited to have some people to do things with and to get out a see a new town. Although I can't really say that I saw that much of the town because it was dark, cold and rainy the whole time we were there. But starting a few weeks I'll be there every Monday so no worries.

Erin, our former Primary president, is American and just moved back to Moscow with her husband who is Russian. And so Anna, Janet, Laura and I loaded into Erin's car. I chatted some with Erin about how she ended up married and living in Russia. We all talked about some differences between the US and UK and Erin told us about some recent experiences she’s had with blatant prejudice against American’s that were rather shocking.

When we arrived in York we parked in a lot adjacent to the castle where there was a temporary ice rink set up. It was intermittently raining and really cold. My pant legs were goners. I had brought my umbrella but the rain would never manage to really commit and so I kept putting it up and then taking it down. We wandered through the narrow lanes of cute shops that were all already closed for the night to the tour waiting spot. [I don't quite understand sticking Christmas trees in the wall like flags, funny but festive.]

A man came walking towards us in Victorian garb complete with a top hat, what looked like a medical satchel and a step stool. He was already VERY in character and mostly stared right through us and when we asked about the tour he shouted at us and told us to wait right there.

Erin got the giggles and had a hard time keeping a straight face. A little bit later a few Irish guys joined out party. The guide came back and told us to line up against a wall and that he would return.

A few minutes later he came down the Shambles with another group, picked us up and took us down another alley. Basically we moved from spot to spot through out town where he told us stories, bossed us about a bit, was straight faced dry funny and a bit spooky.

There were ghost stories and we made funny faces in the window of an Italian restaurant. Overall the content was average but the guide was strange and transfixing [did I mention creepy?] and we had a good time together.

After the tour we went wandering back into town and found a pub where we had some snacks and chatted.

“England and America are two countries separated by a common language.”

George Bernard Shaw

There are some British colloquialisms and terms that I expected to be different and there were others that I was surprised by. All of my examples are things that I’ve experienced myself and not just have been told that British people say that. It’s funny because it forces you to take a closer look at the words that we use and why we use them. You look at something and think that’s what it is, why would you call it anything else? But who’s to say that it’s a stroller or a push chair? Which one make more sense? Do we choose words by sense? No. True, they’re just little differences but they’re honestly ingrained in all of us.

Words I Love

Proper: this is a descriptive word that can be used all the time, kind of like totally/completely.

well: teen slang a bit like very. ‘That’s well bad’ There’s a whole separate youth slang and stereo type that is rather funny and that I encounter on the bus frequently. Check out Lauren Cooper on youtube.

knackered: tired

naus: [nouse] sense, shrewdness

naff: unstylish; lacking taste; inferior. Unstylish, clichéd, or outmoded.

plinth: a square base or a lower block, as of a pedestal.

barmy/balmy: eccentric, daft, crazy

dodgy: evasive, tricky, questionable

Words I’ve actually started to use.

I’ve actually used them without feeling silly or have had them pop to mind without having to think about it.

Lead/mic chord This one surprised me. Louise sent me down to pick up a mic and lead. A what? And when I asked for a mic chord at the desk he did look at me a little funny. So lead it is.

Garden/yard

bin/trash can

rubbish/garbage- These can sometimes be scarce around town as seen in this video. The other day I had a take out bag that

I needed to ditch before getting on the bus and there wasn’t a bin around. The bus driver told me to just set it on the ground and someone would be coming around to pick it up. Weird.

lift/elevator- What ever you want to call it, it was out of service at school last week and so I got a little extra exercise going up and down 5 floors.

chips: I’ve had no problem mental switching from fries to chips as long as I get to eat them. I do however make sure that I salt them, because they don’t always come salted and lather them with ketchup because my inner American/Canadian says so. Vinegar is okay but I don’t understand the whole gravy/curry on chips fascination. Also at chip shops you can get a chip butty- or sandwich. Why? I have not however made the switch from potato chips to crisps. I call them all chips. Bother.

Shop/store

flat/apartment

pound/dollar- it wasn’t until making this transition that I realized how often I say buck.

Queue/line

centre

Words I’m still not used to

surgery/doctors office

washing up/doing dishes

hoovering/vacuuming

cheers/ta/thanks- Michelle said ta all the time but I didn’t hear other people say it until after she’d left. It’s like a super lazy way of saying thanks and is usually nearly muttered.

mobile/cell phone/mobl

ring/phone/call you

diary/planner- “Here are some dates for your diary.”

desk/sound board

City Centre/town/downtown The guy at the bank looked at me oddly when I said down town, that it sounded too posh.

sweets/lollies/candy

toilet/loo/bathroom

council or city council- Government owned and run. It’s not like a committee of elected individuals. [Start at 1:12]

Are you alright? In the states if you ask someone if they’re alright you’re intimating that something is wrong. I thought it strange that people kept asking me if I was alright. Apparently it’s just like asking How are you? of How ya doin?

cough syrup I got a bit of a cough this week and I was glad that I had seen this video and that my mom taught me the importance of medicine labeling. I’m all about guaifenesin.

crotchet/ quarter note

quaver/eighth note

pence/cent

dinner lady/lunch lady

sponge/cake- A Canadian girl was on the hot seat this week at FHE and one of the questions was, “If you had to leave one ingredient out of a sponge what would it be and why?” “A sponge?”

Other random words

push chair/buggy/pram//stroller

cash point/cash machine

trolley/shopping cart

lorrie/skip//truck

top up- add money to your mobile plan from a shop or cash point

car park/parking lot

to let/ for rent

swede- short for Swedish turnip or rutabaga, found mashed up with carrots and or potatoes. Canadians are a big fan of this two. They like to mash up rutabaga and bake it with crumbs on top. It’s not unusual for them to have mashed potatoes and mashed turnip with their roast.

electricals/electronics

full stop/period

washing powder/laundry detergent

knickers/underwear

nappies/diapers- I’d heard both of these last two before but it was just funny to see them in print at shops and not just

something that you hear people say.

boot/trunk

post code/zip code Post codes are more specific that zip codes. The first two letters tell you what city, the first two numbers tell you and area or neighborhood and the last three can narrow it right down to the street. Often when people ask for your address they’ll ask for your post code and then confirm your house number.

torch/flashlight

Under 18s- It’s not unusual for there to be restrictions on teenagers buying cigarettes or alcohol but I’ve been age checked for ibuprofen and scissors!

Innit tho? Isn’t it

tea/afternoon meal

favourite- we were making thank you cards for the released Primary president and one of the kids asked how to spell favourite. Janet helped and she said u and I thought, u? Oh yeah that’s right. Then in choir we were talking about vowels and diphthongs and someone pointed out that they spelled a certain word differently with an extra vowel. Yes, but you don’t say it differently.

So there's vocab round one and I'm sure as soon as I post this I'll think of more. I love the accents although the Yorkshire accent that I'm primarily surrounded by is a bit different. Here's little example of the variety of accents in the British Isles.

Okay, so originally I was going to write about the Mormon Tabernacle Choir but my set up turned into that last post about Conference. So now that you’re all Conference acclimated we’ll move on to the ever present Tabernacle Choir who provides almost all the music for conference. Growing up I also associated it with Sunday at our house because Dad would always get up first and I would usually wake up to “All Glory Laud and Honor.”

I’ve always loved the Choir and associated it with Conference and the First Presidency Christmas Devotional but the more I’ve studied music the more I’ve come to appreciate their artistry. After hearing a wide variety of ward and stake choirs I’m so astounded by artistry that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir gets singing right out of the hymn book. I’ve sat through numerous choir rehearsals where we’ve haggled over where to breathe etc and yet still never accomplished musical goals, we’ve just sounded disjunct. One of these days I’m going to sit down with a hymn book and Conference recordings and make notes of what they do that just sounds so natural and real.

Another thing is that they sound like an organ. An organ, unlike a piano can sustain sound for as long as you hold the key down. And with some well planned fingering an organist can keep the flow of music constant. The Tabernacle Choir some how manages to do this as a group and the effect is fantastic.

One of my biggest musical soap boxes is line. Line line line and direction. And they have got it down. And that’s not easy with 300 people. It’s like trying to navigate the Titanic through a fjord. I was a bit disappointed the Craig Jessop retired even though I know that Mac Wilberg is an arranging genius. And I was pleasantly surprised to find at this conference that I think under Wilberg’s baton they’ve reached a new level of clarity.

They have fantastic vowels that are so easy to see. And their faces are so engaged. They become, depending upon the song, our yearning voices as a congregation towards Heaven or Heavenly Hosts testifying to us of the truths of the gospel. I particularly love the phrase in “Come We That Love The Lord”

Come we that love the Lord

And let our joys be know

Join in the song with sweet accord

and worship at His throne

Let those refuse to sing

Who never knew our God

But servants of a Heavenly King

May sing their joys aloud

and Saints Bound For Heaven

And when to Jordan's floods, we are come, we are come,
And when to Jordan's floods, we are come;
Jehovah rules the tide,
And the waters he'll divide,
And the ransomed host shall shout, we are come, we are come,
And the ransomed host shall shout, we are come.

Then with all the happy throng, we'll rejoice, we'll rejoice,
Then with all the happy throng, we'll rejoice;
Shouting glory to our King,
Till the vaults of heaven ring,
And through all eternity we'll rejoice, we'll rejoice,
And through all eternity we'll rejoice.

And I must confess when I saw them sing “Love at Home” on an episode of Extreme Home Makeover I nearly cried because I know what that message, from their departed fathers favorite hymn, must have meant to them. And what a blessing it was for people around them and watching on tv to feel that. Couldn’t find a youtube clip :(

I’ve had some really great Church music opportunities. I’ve loved singing in Institute Choir and in choir at the MTC. I had to laugh when my companions told me about how much I was on screen at MTC devotionals. That’s because I learned from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir that you don’t look at the camera :)

I really wouldn’t mind someday if I could sing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I could totally do it. But there is a catch, to which Kiersten will attest, I’d have to live in Utah and probably start wearing make up. Hmm.

-------------------------

Here are some of my favorites. Did I miss any of yours?

This is the Christ

What is this Lovely Fragrance?

Lead Kindly Light

O May My Soul Commune With Thee

Praise to the Lord the Almighty

Take Time To Be Holy

Behold the Wounds

Arise Oh God and Shine

Faith in Every Footstep

Jesus, the Very Thought is Sweet

Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee

As the Dew From Heaven

Consider the Lillies

The Lord is my Shepherd

Come Thou Fount

My Shepherd Will Supply My Need

I got a package today. My first package that wasn't something that I bought online. It didn't contain anything flashy but it did contain my wool hat. I love this hat. I bought it 9 years ago this month as my insurance against the fierce winters of the great white North.

It's made of wool and recycled pop bottles. So Seattle hippie I know, I got it at REI. I wore it through out my mission even while vacuuming the chapel. It was Canada and it was cold.

I kept it handy at home whenever it got cold and it never fails that whenever I wear it, people make fun of my hat. But I keep wearing it because you know why? It's warm!

Although apparently...

So you can imagine my distress when I remembered at 3 a.m. as I was headed to the airport that I hadn't packed my hat. I couldn't find it and had to leave with out and so now a few months later I'm glad to be reunited with my hat and I've been wearing it all day. [I'm not so sure the heat is really on during the day....] Who knew it was so important? Sure I could have gotten some cute fashionable one here in one of a hundred shops in Leeds but why mess with tradition?

Here's to you oatmeal mush hat, may you keep me warm in the face of tittering crowds.

In other news can you believe I've had a macbook for 6 months and haven't played with photo booth until now?

I had heard about the Guy Fawkes holiday but it was something else to experience it for myself. They call it Bonfire night here. It's really strange to see fireworks for sale at the grocery store in November. Institute was cancelled for the evening and I hadn’t heard about anything that anyone else would be doing so I did what I always do, I googled. I discovered that the biggest bonfire fireworks throw down in Leeds is at Roundhay Park. How convenient. I was a little alarmed when I read the site and it said thousands of people come to Roundhay Park. The bonfire was set for 7:30 and the fireworks for 8. Doesn’t that seem a bit early? That’s because I’m used to fireworks at 10 on the 4th of July because they have to wait that long for it to get dark. It’s November now and the sun sets at 4:30!

So around 7 I headed out intending to take the bus to the park. As I hit the end of our cul de sac and saw lot of people walking down the street I thought, maybe there won’t be a whole lot of buses coming down this way tonight and I started walking. The closer I got to the park the more people walking and the more cars on the road. The giant field at the south end of the park was thronged with people. They had guards and a gate so they could funnel the entrance to the field. In the middle of the field was a giant bonfire of what appeared to be wood pallets stacked nearly two stories high- a raging inferno.

Beyond the fence thousands of people stood around in this muddy field listening to music pound for huge speakers.

There were also various food carts around the edge of the field and on the far side of the fire what appeared to be some carnival rides. I must confess I felt for a moment as though I had stepped into the campsite at the Quiddich World Cup.

I got there about 10 to 8 which was perfect. I mentioned this was a giant muddy field? I really could have used some wellies as I got a bit muddy. Most people were wearing them. When the fireworks started they were up over the top of the hill, behind me as I was facing the fire.

It was a decent show a little different than Seattle but they were right there not off over the water somewhere and because they were so close there was a lot smoke and it was windy so the smoke was all blowing towards us fast and so it felt as though the whole sky was moving.

After the fireworks there was a mass of people exiting the park and we closed the streets for a few blocks as people walked back to their cars or in my case back home. It was rather chilly but fun. I walked quickly which kept me warm.