Skittle Sheep

It was really nice outside yesterday, and all my roommates were gone (either on day trips or on an outreach), so I decided to walk to Carnforth. In total, I probably walked about 10 miles and I was gone exploring the area around Capernwray for about 4 and a half hours. I bought some apples, kiwi, and carrot sticks at Tesco in Carnforth, for 2.88 GBP. It was a nice, relaxing Saturday! Also--I accidentally clicked something on my computer, and now I am connected to the internet when the internet is apparently supposed to be shut off! It's really nice--and fast, because I'm the only one using it! So, I'm taking advantage of whatever I did and uploading some pictures! Enjoy!

I met this horse about 2 miles from Capernwray. He was really friendly, and came right up to the camera!

He decided to stick his head through the fence. He got stuck, so I had to get him loose! It was kind of funny.

Then, of course, I saw some sheep. If you click on the picture and enlarge it, you will notice that their backsides are painted orange or blue. All the painted sheep (which I like to call "Skittle Sheep") are pregnant and will be having little lambs in February!

Green pastures.

The rolling hills are so lovely...everything is still so green here!

Interestingly shaped cloud.

Some trees and a bright blue sky.

More trees and a run-down building on a local farm.

I LOVE seeing the sun here.

The bridge, about a mile away from Carnforth.

CapernRAVE

So, I've told a couple of you about CapernRAVE--basically people get bored on Friday or Saturday nights and decide to have a dance party! Last Saturday, it was a dress up dance party and we were all assigned a theme based on the first letter of our last name. Here are some of the costumes, and some more faces from Capernwray: These are the all the New Ravers! From left to right:

Back row: Megan, Steph, Emily, Marika, Derek (he's from Winnipeg and is also in one of my small groups), Trevor, Mark, Elena

Front row: Markus, Amy, Laila

This is Samantha Hanlin and Sean Koop. Samantha won best costume of the night, and rightfully deserved--she looked beautiful! She was a mythical creature. Sean was a zombie, and his makeup was quite impressive!
All the pirates (last names starting with "B") and their fantastic ship they made out of a bedsheet and some cardboard from the recycling bin! Haha! From left to right:
Lauren (she is on my netball team), Ben, Calvin, Caitie, Charity (one of our RA's), and Ellaina (also on my netball team, and from Saskatchewan).

Sam

Sam and Lael. Lael's theme was "futuristic". She was one of the first students I met. We met in Manchester airport and she came on the train with Courtney, Kim, and I to Carnforth.

Brooke--also futuristic.

Tyler and Beau--two of the cavemen.

My next door neighbours: Heather, Sam, Courtney, Sarah, and Breanna.

More from Edinburgh

It was a dark and stormy night in Edinburgh, Scotland when Deborah, Lauren, and I decided to go explore the castle. Actually, it was only 2:30 pm, but the sun could not be seen anywhere, and it was very cold and rainy...
inside the National War Mueseum of Scotland we saw some BEAUTIFUL stained glass windows.
We enjoyed the museum and how dry it was inside.
But then we had to go back outside so we could see everything else.

We then proceeded to view the National War Monument. This was absolutely incredible and intricate inside. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed.

From there, we went back out to the courtyard, got soaking wet again, and tried to decide what to do. Earlier in the day, Deborah bought an umbrella. Sadly for her, it only lasted a couple hours before it snapped in half. It was around this time that we saw a lady walk by, struggling with an inside-out umbrella. It was the same umbrella Deborah had bought earlier that day--oh the irony!

Next we went in to see and learn about the crown jewels. This was really amazing as well, but once again, no photography.

Then we went to the Royal Banquet Hall

Suits of armor lined the sides of the room.

We then decided we were dry enough and once again braved the outdoors.
This is "Mons Meg"--it is located in a small tower overlooking the city.

This is the view of Edinburgh from the defence tower.

We were once again cold and wet, so we walked around, looking for the underground prisons.

We didn't find them right away, so we went back into the Royal Banquet Hall to take more pictures. There were windows from floor to ceiling, all stained glass. By the windows there were some small seats.

After that, we found the underground prisons! It isn't very clear on this picture, but the doors were all scratched and clawed up by prisoners. Some of them even had little pictures carved into them.

After that we went to St. Margaret's Chapel, and saw some more beautiful stained glass.

From there we went down into the catacombs....

...and saw some more interesting things.

and then we were done at the castle, but Deborah really wanted to go find a graveyard her dad slept at when he travelled here in his 20s. We walked around for a LONG TIME. And got completely drenched. And we were SO cold. We had a great adventure, but were really glad when we got back to the Bed and Breakfast!

Swine Flu Epidemic?

The student body was warned today to be specifically careful about washing our hands and throwing out tissues as the threat of H1N1 has now reached Capernwray Hall.

One of the slightly older students has a daughter who has it, and one of the maintenance workers is sick and in bed. No students have it yet...so hopefully it stays that way. It has the potential to spread very quickly here, as we are all in each other's space all the time.

There is no possibility of getting a vaccination, so pray that people stay generally healthy!

Sunny Day Mini Photo Shoot

We decided to take advantage of the sunny weather today by taking some photos together. Me, Lauren, and Rachel

Deborah is short!

Deborah, Lauren, Rachel, and I with Capernwray Hall in the background.

Rachel is short too!

Lauren, basking in the sunlight

Rachel, in the sunken garden outside the Conference Hall

Me, Lauren, and Rachel

My shoes

My home

Put the Lights on the Tree

Every student at Capernwray has a daily or weekly duty that they need to do. Mine at the moment is cleaning the lounge hall, and emptying the rubbish and recycling bins. My roommate Lauren also does recycling in another part of the building, so we've been going to sort ours outside together.

Today, we found something FANTASTIC--a miniature artificial Christmas tree, in the recycling bin!!!

We brought it back to the room, cleaned it up, bent all the branches just right, and decorated it with various personal items--that is, jewelery and a plastic pig!

Another point of interest from today is we got new netball jerseys and track pants. We also have team sweaters coming in the next couple weeks, hopefully.

Another Capernwray First...

...the girls netball team won AGAIN last week, 44-21! This is quite an accomplishment, as no other team from Capernwray has ever won more than one game in an entire season. We have another game tomorrow, and we're going for three in a row!