Natalie's Farewell

On Friday night, Tooley and I went out to eat with Marfo, Michelle, and English Natalie to say goodbye to American Natalie. We ate at Cafe Pasta, which is a nice little Italian chain. It was sad saying goodbye to Natalie, but I know she's excited about seeing her family and boyfriend again. The rest of this weekend has been very lazy! Tooley has been planning trips - Italy, France, and Scotland for her mom and two sisters, and London, Paris, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland for her and Mary Virginia (I'll be going to Spain and Switzerland with them). I got a plane ticket from Barcelona to London for 20 Euro, which is less than $30...how great is that?! I've done a little bit of work on my paper, but not as much as I was hoping to get done. In other news, our oven is broken! Luckily the stove works, so we can heat up pasta, coffee, and hot chocolate, but Junko has decided to not to get the oven fixed until Jeremy comes home...in over a month. Tooley and I were planning on cooking a big meal for Christmas, so I don't know what we're going to do now! It's gotten a little cooler today. Really, the weather hasn't been that bad! When I first got here, English people kept telling me that the winters are horrible because the sun sets at like 4:00 p.m. (it really does) and you basically don't see the sun for three months. One Rotarian even told me that more people commit suicide in the winter because the extra hours of darkness adds to their depression! How scary is that? Luckily, the sun has been shining brightly nearly everyday the past week, and it doesn't rain as much as I thought it would. I hope I didn't jinx myself just then! The next two days are going to be very busy...tomorrow, I'm going to London for the day to hang out with Mariclaire Ingram and Sarah McDonnell. It'll be fun to see some good ole Mississippi girls! Tooley is going shopping in Birmingham for the day...the mall there is incredible! On Tuesday, I have to run errands and pack for Egypt, and Walt is coming to spend Tuesday night with us, because we fly out of Birmingham EARLY Wednesday morning. I'm so excited about seeing Egypt, but a little nervous, too. But how cool will it be to see the pyramids, Sphinx, Nile River, and places that are so old that they're Biblical? I mean, we're talking Moses and Pharoah here! It's going to be pretty awesome. Hopefully I'll have some fun pictures with Mariclaire and Sarah posted tomorrow!

Tools and me at Cafe Pasta

We'll miss you, Natalie!