Ashley's Arabian Adventure

I went to church for the first time in a long time yesterday. I almost wished I hadn't. I absolutely love church the way the English do it. People are so much more genuine and they mostly only go if they are sincerely seeking God. It's not a cultural thing to go to church here and people don't normally go out of some obligation to do so. Everyone does something to help and it doesn't leave 10% of the people doing 90% of the work like in the states. It's going to be hard to go back to American church.

In other observations, I forgot how much skin people show here when it's freezing cold outside. I haven't seen much skin in the past six months anyway and then there are these crazy girls running around with skirts so short you can almost see their bum. I saw a girl on the train (probably doing the walk of shame since she was in club-wear in the morning) and I got this awful look on my face as I gawked at her. The lady in front of me saw me look at her in disgust and then I got embarrassed. Then I realized that I hadn't seen that much leg in public in a really long time and it was just weird. Yay for re-entry.

I left the Mid East about three days ago and it was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I feel like my heart ripped in two and I left part of it there. I wasn't ready to leave, but I definitely know that it was His plan for me. So as I transition in the UK for a couple of weeks and then head back to the states for school, I will be keeping you updated on any awkward moments and other ridiculousness as I try to deal with re-entry.

I'll go ahead and give you a bit from my few days in the UK. I keep trying to find the TP trash can in the bathroom until I realize I can flush it now. Gross. When turning on the water faucet I keep thinking whether or not I should really use the water for whatever I am doing. Holla unlimited water! I went to the grocery store the other night and some guy called Mohammed rang up my stuff. He spoke English to me and I got confused and almost spoke Arabic to him. I stuttered and then English came out thankfully.

So I am thankful for a bit of transition time in the UK before heading to the states. Maybe by the time I get to the states and see my family I will have a lot of things out of my system.