Sports, shoes-- but not sports shoes

So I've managed to steer clear of the TV this week-- wasn't too hard, actually. Most of what I've watched the past two months have been sporting events (World Cup, Tour de France), so in the absence of those, I watch-- nothing. It's kind of nice, really. My sister will be unhappy to hear that I also missed Stargate, but I was taking a nap. Yeah, in the evening. Stranger things have happened.

Normally, I would be looking forward to a new season of (insert current favourite show here). However, The West Wing is off the air, and I haven't watched new episodes of much else in years. We watch Scrubs when we remember that it is on, so maybe that will be our new thing. And I've often thought about picking up ER again, it's kind of like a soap opera really, you can start again one day and have not missed much.

Yeah, this is not going to be a TV-watching post. At least, not entirely. We arrive in Scotland six weeks from tomorrow! (We arrive in London six weeks from today, but since we're spending only one day there doing touristy things, it's hard to count that.) I'm so looking forward to it. Next week I'm going to break down and buy new tennis shoes, since we'll be doing a lot of walking and my current shoes aren't up to that any longer. With a four-week gap between buying and all that walking, I'm sure I'll have time to break them in. I hope so, anyway, since we are planning to go on a hill walk and that is NOT pleasant in brand-new shoes. I might try to get my hands on some reasonably-priced Doc Martens, even, since they are much better for walking around in than any tennis shoes (at least, my last pair were).

TV and shoes. What an exciting life I lead. :) Oh, and I started studying Acts for the next Bible Bowl-- presumably, South Plains will once again field a Senior Bible Bowl team, and since I was part of the original team, I'll be back. This time around I'd like to finish higher than sixth place.

Changing gears

We went to the Spanish service at church again today (we tried last week, but apparently no one but the preacher and his wife had shown up for Bible class, so they gave it up and went home). I had a much harder time understanding the sermon this time around-- couldn't get my brain to switch gears into Spanish. While we enjoy teaching in Sunday school, it will be nice when we can go the the Spanish Bible class as well as the service. That way, we can prepare by reading the Bible in Spanish (and speaking it to each other, as much as we can) before going to church so we're totally in Spanish for the entire morning. As it is now, I can read beforehand but then have to switch to English for a hour, then back again. The preacher's wife told me this morning that I should make English off-limits for myself as soon as I walk into the room where the service is held. And she's totally right, of course. I'm struggling with the European problem of not wanting to speak a language until I can speak it. (Americans tend to not have this problem as much.) So that's probably what I'll do next Sunday. Maybe I'll teach the kids some Spanish words to get my brain more in gear. :)

The other day I was speeding along on my bike (speeding for me, that is), tried to change gears and my chain fell off. All I remember from when I was young is that getting the chain back on is a huge deal, complete with pinched fingers and a long delay while Dad gets it going again. So I was not happy when I got off to survey the damage. Well, it took me all of five seconds to get it back on and get going again. So, I'm guessing that bikes are made better these days, to facilitate the ease of putting the chain back on the bike. Either that or my father was making it seem like an ordeal just to keep us entertained. Which I suppose is possible.

I'm already exhausted...

and it's only 9 in the morning! I have just booked our train tickets from London to Glasgow, which was arduous, to say the least. The online booking service is not American-friendly, so I had to recharge our phone card and ring the customer service line. Then, the man couldn't hear me (I was only phoning from across the ocean, can't imagine what the problem was), so I had to shout into the phone. Well, shouting for me, which I suppose is normal volume for everyone else. :) Anyway, the man was very helpful and got us exactly the tickets we wanted. So we're all set. I am so excited-- we arrive in London two months from today!

In other news, packing my lunch has gotten to be a bit of an art for me. I usually eat a salad, which I assemble at work, so I take an entire grocery bag full of salad stuff, every day. It reminds me of a Cathy cartoon strip I saw many years ago, in which she was trying to eat healthy lunches so she carried a large paper grocery sack full of ingredients for her lunch with her to work-- and then couldn't find a spot in the refrigerator because of everyone else's large grocery sack. Fortunately, I seem to be the only one who needs an entire refrigerator shelf-- at least, so far. Of course, the carrying of the contents of my kitchen gets even more complicated on the days I have to take the bus, which are blessedly few, because I take my breakfast on those days. So yesterday morning, I was frantically running around the kitchen, putting my bag full of salad fixings in my backpack, followed by a small tupperware thing of cereal, then a small container of milk, plus a banana for the cereal, and yoghurt for a snack... I'm thinking of just doing some grocery shopping one day during my lunch break, and keeping stuff at work all the time.

And since I took the bus, I got to walk in the morning, which is always fabulous. I really would like to do so more often-- I suppose I could say, "thanks, but no thanks" to the people who currently pick me up in the mornings-- but I do enjoy the extra half-hour of sleep thus obtained. Oh, well. Yesterday morning was beautiful, anyway. In fact, I think I'll head outside now, see if I can enjoy another beautiful morning...

Happy 3rd of July!

Every Sunday (just about) we spend an inordinate amount of time deciding whether to sit upstairs or downstairs at church (dumb, I know, but that's what we do). Sometimes we take so long in our decision-making that the choice is taken out of our hands by the arrival of the rest of the congregation, leaving us to sit wherever we can find space. I suppose we can say for ourselves that at least we aren't glued to one pew, like so many people are.

So, yesterday we decided to try something new. There is a very small Spanish congregation that meets in the building at the same time as the late service. We've meant for ages to go to it sometime, and yesterday was the day. Needless to say, we enjoyed it very much. For one thing, a smaller group really is preferable (at least in my opinion) to the huge congregation we normally worship with. And since it's been years since either of us worshipped in Spanish, that side of it was nice, too. Afterward when we talked over the sermon, I was surprised at how much Chad understood. So we will definately be going again, at least a couple of times a month. If nothing else, my Spanish is really rusty and this gives me a chance to practise. As well as fellowship with a different group of hermanos.

The World Cup is almost over, much to my dismay, but Wimbledon has started, so that eases the pain a bit. And the Tour de France started up over the weekend as well. Sometimes I wonder why I don't watch the same sports as everyone else, and then I remember: because being like everyone else is so dull. Besides which, I really am being like most of the world in my love of football (soccer, if you need a translation). So I am happy with my little world of sport.