Living in Utah...Dreaming of the World: Another wonderfully long day!

Thankfully, I'm feeling much better today than I did yesterday! Good thing, because I had a very busy day, and feeling sick would have made it hard ;)

First thing this morning, I went to Portobello Road Market. I just fell in love with London again!! It's an open-air street market that's at it's peak every Saturday. Mornings are best, because in the late morning/afternoon it gets really crowded. They have antiques, clothes, jewellry, and FOOD! I was so excited to find a place that sells cheap food! The fruit/veg stalls have every kind of fruit imaginable: from mundane apples and carrots to exotic leeks, passionfruit, mangoes, and some really spiny green thing I've never seen before in my life. Everything they sell is up for tasting, which is awesome. One of everything is cut open so buyers can see the interior, and taste if you want. Many stalls have rows of bowls set up for a pound each. I chose one that held about 2 lbs of tiny fresh green beans...mmmmm! There was one stall that sold expired/about to expire items for super-cheap! I got a sampler plate of cheese for just a pound - it has probably 2 1/2 lbs of cheese on it - feta, cheddar with chives, cheddar with bbq and tomatoes, aged cheddar, etc. I LOVE that they sell almost-expired things for cheap, rather than throwing them out like we do in the states. Anyway, I spent about £15 at the market this morning, and got a HUGE list of things.

After I was done with the market, I rushed to the Monument to meet the group for our 11am Shakespeare walk together. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that it would take me an entire HOUR to arrive from Portobello to Monument...so I missed the tour, which is a huge bummer. So, I ran back to our flats, dropped off all of my purchases, and promptly turned around to go catch our group's afternoon matinee of Macbeth at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

I was a "groundling" for Macbeth. What an experience! For those of you who aren't familiar with the Globe and it's spectator arrangements, let me explain. The Globe is an open-air theatre, circular in shape. The stage extends about 1/3 of the way into the "yard," which is just the open, empty ground encircled by the walls of the theatre. All the walls of the theatre, except of course where the stage is, have seats. There are three floors, and each is about 10 benches deep. (Google an image, it's rather hard to explain in words.) The ground in the middle is filled with spectators during the show. Standing spectators. That's right, they stand for the whole show, packed in like sardines. In Shakespeare's time, that's where the poor people went to see the show. I'm glad that I had the chance to be a groundling - it's just something you gotta do, right? It was a long time to stand, though; even though Macbeth is Shakespeare's shortest play, it still runs just under 3 hours. The last 20 minutes of the show were particularly memorable, because it started to rain and hail - HARD. Since it's an open-air theatre, and I was standing as a groundling, that meant I got absolutely soaked! Of course, it was lovely out when I left my flat this morning, so I made the mistake of not bringing a jacket or umbrella. I've had one with me at all times since I arrived, except today...lol. Just my luck, right?

After the show, we had tickets to go to the talk-back session with a couple members of the cast. I love talk-backs: they're a great chance to interact a little with some of the performers and learn more about their mindsets and methods. Of course, I was still soaking wet, so that was a bit of a damper. Ah well.

Well, that was essentially my whole day! I'm really looking forward to tomorrow: I need a Sunday to rejuvenate and feel at home thanks to my worldwide church that's the same no matter where I am. I think I'll take a walk through Hyde Park after church (which is at 9), and maybe attend mass in the evening. I love going to services for other churches sometimes - it reminds me that there are truly other people out there who are searching for God too. Although they don't have the whole truth, the spirit does testify of the partial truth that they have; like the scriptures say (D&C 6:32) "Where two or three are gathered together in my name...there will I be in the midst of them.

I love you all so much, and I miss you tons!
P.S. I can't figure out what the issue with the font size/type is...sorry about that.