Adventures in Oxford- Chapter 2

keeper woke to her alarm at 8:00. a few other people had left, but for the most part, people were still in bed. keeper took her bag into the bathroom and dressed. she'd forgotten to bring pajamas, so she was still wearing the shirt and trousers from the day before. after changing and trying to brush out the funny parts of her hair (messed up from sleeping on it wet), keeper brushed her teeth and put on a bit of makeup. in the background, she could hear one of the english girls in the bathroom, sick from her night of drinking.
glad to be awake and leaving, keeper gathered up her sheets and took them to the front desk. she checked out and left, hopefully for the last time, the hostel.
while walking to the train station, keeper called a taxi. she walked inside and found a natwest machine. good. they'd never charged her for transactions. she got some cash and stepped back outside to wait. her taxi driver, as good taxi drivers do, knew just where the primary school was, and keeper go there with 45 minutes to spare.
not wanting to stand around, and her stomach rumbling, keeper walked back down the street to the mcdonald's she'd see on the way there. cute little place. well, not actually that small inside, but quaint outside. keeper bought a chocolate (with chocolate chips!) muffin and some orange juice.
'take away?'
'yes, please'
and keeper began the walk back to the primary school.
she finished her chocolate muffin just as she arrived, and walked into the building, following the signs for calvary chapel meeting. as she was now only about 15 minutes early, there were a few people standing around. the first person to walk up to keeper was a woman with an american accent. she told keeper how she'd lived as a missionary in the phillippines for 12 years. in manilla. manilla, missionary, only one place those people go as far as she'd ever heard.
'you didn't happen to know the holmes, did you?'
she did! what a small world. keeper told her how anna was one of her best friends, and would be visiting her in march. anita (for that was her name) said she wished that they could visit that week. it had been four years since she'd seen the family.
keeper gave anita and chuck (her husband) updates and talked with some other people. anita introduced keeper to jackie, who stayed in a building with a guest room that could be reserved for several pounds less than the atrocious place keeper had stayed the night before.
after about 40 people had gathered, the singing began. some of the songs keeper didn't know, but some of them she did, so she sang along. throughout the singing, in typical calvary chapel style, a few others wandered in. the welshman who was to give the teaching started with a few announcements, which were concluded with 'wales-11, england-9.' at least now, keeper knew the outcome of the rugby game she'd seen a bit of. the message was good, and, at about 40 minutes, reasonably short. afterward, they had coffee and tea and biscuits.
keeper talked with some of the people there, and they were pretty nice for britons. one of the couples even invited her home for luncheon. some people would think that it would be unwise for keeper to accept, but in a small church, with people who she knew she could trust saying they were great people, keeper was glad to accept.
she was even gladder with the first bite of lunch. crock-pot roasted chicken, carrots, fried potatos, green beens and broccoli, all smothered in gravy (brown gravy, not the thick white stuff americans use). yum. and fruit and chocolates for dessert.
chatting with sue and john was pleasant. they'd been to america, so understood a few of the differences that keeper had seen. after lunch, the three of them walked around john and sue's village. the houses were so quaint. all of them. john and sue had a neighbor who was a farmer, and he had quite a bit of land he allowed them to walk on, so the three of them cut across his field via a small dirt road. at the end of the field was a brick building, like an old barn. keeper could hear music faintly wafting from the building.
'he rents out his barn,' sue said, 'to local pop bands. its a great place for them to practice, out in the middle of nowhere. nobody can hear them.'
after their walk, sue (telling john she'd found a 'fellow artist'- keeper thought she'd say otherwise had she seen her work.) brought out a series of drawings she'd done. they were beautiful pencil drawings, meticulously drawn children, with every hair and piece of clothing detailed.
the three of them chatted for a while, keeper admiring sue's work, then sue had to run off for a few minutes with her daughter. keeper and john had tea and german chocolate biscuits. then he took her to the bus station to catch her bus back to oxford.
while waiting for the bus, keeper got a phone call from her mom. everyone was lined up at church to talk to her. for that moment she was popular. but it was difficult to hear on the phone. everyone wanted to know about oxford.
'it's been a great weekend.'
and it had.