Tuesday, July 20, 2010

On my own..

Well, I thought today was going to be wonderful because for once, I was allowed to go on my own to visit some sites and I thought I would be little Miss Adventurer and go see London. This is what happened: Went to Primark on Oxford Street to get a good, cheap purse so that I could bring chocolate home to all my friends and family. You all probably like that. Man, that place is like a gargantuan beehive. I was being pushed and shoved around by all of these small ladies! I must not be drinking enough milk. Anyway, I got in and out as fast as possible. The next thing I attempted to do was visit the Tower of London. Just the outside of it. I wanted some good pictures. When I stepped out of Tower Hill station, it was there in all of its glory, so I took a picture of it, walked around a park for a second and walked back into the station. 

Here is something to know about the tube: When we got to London, our professor used some of the program money to buy us all month passes to the tube. Before you can actually get in the station, you have to press your card against this pad and then these plastic/rubber/something doors swing open and let you through. I wasn't in a rush, but I was going fast and so when I put my card down, I accidentally let the lady in front of me through and then I got stuck in the doors. I am sure it was a hilarious sight for everybody watching me. I can just imagine them saying something like, "Hey, look at that American! We should watch this over and over again on the security cameras." Anyway, eventually I got unstuck after nobody would help me and talked to the service guy who told me that my card said I was inside the station. He let me through but gave me a weird look. Anyway, it wasn't that bad, just not what I was expecting.

I got home and had Subway for the first time since leaving the USA. Yum! I love Subway. The bread is so fluffy! :) It's funny because Justin wrote a letter that said he just barely had Subway for the first time in Hungary. So I guess we're more alike than we look.

After doing a little bit of tidying, I did an aerobic workout in my room combining all I can remember from turbo kick class, track and field workouts, and Kathy Smith. It was good. I took a shower and attempted to memorize some verbs in Portuguese and then fell asleep. And here I am now. 

Today was actually pretty wonderful. Besides the tube station thing, everything went pretty smoothly. 

Here are a few cool things from class today and the day before:

1. Yesterday, our professors were talking about the thee, thou, thine, etc... usage which was used back in the day of King James I. Nowadays, that language seems kind of distant and formal, but we are expected to pray in that language. When we use those words, it seems like we are addressing Heavenly Father in a way that we actually wouldn't address a father. When I talk my earthly father (Scott), I don't ever say thee or thine. 

Here is the interesting part: Back in King James' time, there was also a formal and informal language that they used when addressing people. Thee, thou, thine, etc... was actually informal for that time period! That means when we address Heavenly Father, there is a familiarity there. When we speak to Him using thee and thou, we are using our words to create a conversation similar to what family members or friends would have with each other. Doesn't that just make perfect sense? So when we address Heavenly Father using those words, we are doing two things: we are respecting Him and we are acknowledging that He really is our Supreme Father.

2. Okay, so I found out today in class that I might speak a little differently than most people. Apparently back in the day, it was considered higher class to say the "g" sound in the ending "-ing." -ing sounds like eenguh. Most of us nowadays totally leave that off because it is easier for our mouths to say in' and omit the "g" completely or you might say a silent "g." Dr. Lonsdale pointed out three of us who all come from different places in the States who he has noticed say the "g" at the end of our -ing words. One of them was Lauren. She is from Southern California. Apparently, in her schools (K-8th) they really hammered down on speaking correctly and she had to do vocal exercises every day with her class. He then pointed out Erica, who is recently from Maryland... I can't remember where she was before that. And then he said my name. I had kind of thought I might say the "g," but I wasn't sure. I don't know if our family says the "g" or if it's from Oregon or Spanish Fork. Probably not Spanish Fork. They leave out so many letters. Anyway, I think I just decided one day to speak better. That's why I say come-fort-able, not cump-ter-bul and inter-est-ing, not in-trest-ing. Weird, but kind of cool. It's always nice when someone points out something unique about you.

3. THIS IS FOR ALL OF YOU PERFECTIONISTS OUT THERE: Haha, I know a lot of you, so listen up. Dr. Hallen said something amazing in class today and that was: Live and perfect yourself as you go. Don't wait until you are perfect to live. 
This is a positive attitude that many of us should have. Will you ever be happy if you are waiting for yourself to be perfect before you will live life to its fullest? No. And that is not what Heavenly Father wants you to do. That is why we use the Atonement. When we make mistakes, we can clean up. Every day I clean and tidy my room because it gets messy. Every day we make little mistakes and sin and our room becomes a little dirty. When that happens, we can repent daily and get our rooms tidy again. So basically your "room" is your actions and thoughts. If you don't do anything at all, maybe your "room" won't get dirty, but you will never grow or learn from your mistakes and in the end, you will have to repent because you buried your talent. You dug yourself in a hole and sat there and didn't help anyone or do anything. Now is the time to live life and to try to perfect ourselves along the way! We have one chance at this probationary mortal life and we should do something good with it. 

4. Sorry, about that little schpeel (sp?) above. I wasn't thinking about anyone in particular, I just had a rush of thoughts and this is one of my journals so I thought I would write it all down. The fourth thing is a story that Dr. Lonsdale told us in class. 

When Dr. Lonsdale was younger, he heard a small knock on his door and upon opening, found three little children staring up at him with their wide eyes. One of them said, "Hi. Can we interview you?" 

He let them in and after a little more conversation found that they were supposed to interview someone about their job and somehow they had chosen to interview a linguist. One of the questions they asked was: "What is the saddest thing about your job?" Deryle had never been asked this before and hasn't been asked since. It was the question maybe only a child would think of. 

Deryle thought for a moment and said, "When languages die. That is the saddest part for me." 

The children were inquisitive. They asked, "Why is that sad?"

Deryle explained to them how languages and dialects just die out and nobody speaks them anymore and how it is a sad thing for him, probably because he loves languages so much. At the end of this conversation, the children were in tears. They didn't want languages to die. Don't worry, though! They cheered up after a bit more talking.

This really made me think. I don't want languages to die either and I am sad about it, but probably not to the extent the children were. Their perfect innocence touches me. I want to be more like them.

Anyway, this is my last post until Saturday night! 

To family and friends and, you know, why not everybody in the world? 

I love you!

Jazlyn

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