Three Days In. . .

It's Saturday at 2:30am and I just woke up. At first I thought that I was suffering from a severe case of Jetlag but now I am realizing that it is more than Jetlag. Every day I wake up about 2:30am not only because of the 5 hour difference but also because I am in a completely different surroundings. It's going to take some time to get use to living and sleeping in an apartment that is not my own.

Overall I had a pretty decent day. I fought the temptation of staying home and watching television all day by venturing out into the unknown. I have decided to accept the fact that every time I venture out, I will get lost and that's okay. Worse case scenario, I can always hop in a cab if things get pretty bad. The decision to venture out was easy in light of the fact that television out here SUCKS. If you know me, you know that I love watching television. Nothing brings me more delight on any given weekend (when my schedule is not filled with church activities or work obligations) but to stay home and watch everything that my TWO Tivo boxes have recorded. So over the last few days, it has been heartbreaking to discover that I have limited TV options out here. There are about two stations that show American television shows and it's nothing to write home about. I will say that one station has showed 12 hours of American Idol for the last three days. . . .

While preparing for my trip I realized that at the bare minimum, I only needed two things to make it out here in London for the next three months-- a place to take dance classes and a good church. Several weeks ago, while in the States, I did extensive research and found both. So this morning when I woke up I decided to head over to the dance studio to check it out. My UK friends who live in the States said that I would love this particular dance studio as well as the area that it is located so I was looking forward to checking it out.

I ventured on the tube which is not as simple as the train station in the states. I finally got off on Covent Gardens-- the neighborhood where the dance studio is located. I noticed that about 200 people were waiting to take the "lift" from the train station to the streets. I figured that I would out smart them by taking the stairs-- "Gosh" I thought "That is silly, no one in the states takes the elevator to the street level from the train station." As I made my way up the steps, I noticed a sign that said "200 steps to go." 5 minutes later I realized that 200 steps is like 15 NYC staircases. I had reached a point where I was too far to go back down to catch the lift and although I wasn't sure how far I had to go, I honestly did not know how I was going to make it. When I looked around I noticed that I was surrounded by tourists and each of us stopped every few minutes to take several deep breaths. I was sure that the Londoners were laughing at us as we, the tourists, walked so confidently to the stairs only moments earlier. But anyway, finally I made with to the top and I was thankful to Jesus!

When I made it to the street level, Covent Gardens was indeed beautiful. If I had to describe it, I would say, "the West Village meets Times Square" It had the character of the village but the millions of people and the theaters that you would find on 42nd street. There were tons of stores and the familiarity of The Gap, Nine West, Swatch, Evelyn and Crabtree, etc provided comfort.

After being pointed in several directions, all of which conflicted with the other, I finally found Pineapple Dance Studio. While I hadn't bought my dance clothes with me, I felt very comfortable and I am definitely looking forward to spending alot of time there taking lessons. The style is very familiar to Broadway Dance Center-- my school in the states so I know that I will be right at home.