Happiness

Today I went to the French market that comes to Guernsey on Bank Holidays and fell in love with France all over again. I ordered in French and it was so natural, and it made me sooo happy. Plus I found rhubarb jam and chestnut butter--the two things I absolutely LOVED in France. I ate them everyday for breakfast. I kept thinking I would be able to find them here, but I guess it's a French thing. Anyway...I found them. And I'm going to ban myself from opening them until I get home haha. It was funny, walking through the market took me back to France a year ago. Even the yellow and green bags they give you your purchases in were the exact same ones they had in the market outside our apartment. The only thing that would have made it better is if they had fresh bread--I really miss that too. Oh it was wonderful. And it made me miss France so much it hurt. I'm not exaggerating--that's actually how it felt, a little painful. I don't know what it is about France but I absolutely love it. England just isn't the same for me. Maybe because of the happy memories I have there, but also I think it's just France itself. The language, the culture...I just love it. So I decided I really want to take a day trip to St Malo. The ferry ride is only an hour and I am soooo close to France. It probably won't be until the second to last week of June. But I'll be happy even if I just go into a boulangerie or walk around. I don't even have to do anything touristy, it will still be worth it. But I might go to Jersey instead...we'll see.

The other reason I'm really happy today..... (drum roll please)


I've decided to go on a mission!!!


It's true. I've been stressing out over the decision for a while now, and have been praying about it. I realized that I felt good about it, so I thought, ok I really think I'm supposed to go. I'm going to do it. And then I woke up the next morning super cheerful and happy and I felt SO much better. I have been so worried about what to do with my life next year, and now that I know what to do I'm not worried and stressed anymore. It's the best feeling ever. And I am so excited to serve the people of wherever I will go. Strangely I'm not really too worried about that. I know that I'll go where I'm supposed to, and that's that. (Although I must admit, I would be thrilled to get called to France). But we'll see where I end up--I'll start my papers when I get back in July. I don't want to wait, but alas, I have to. Aaaaah I'm so excited! Honestly these last two days I've been happier than I have in a really long time. It's great. My research is going well, I've figured out what to do with my life... Life is good.

Juin

I feel like I should say something momentous since it's now June already. I can't believe it. Almost halfway through my field study. My research is actually going much better--this week, I've had 4 interviews, which is quite a lot. And I'm gathering quite a bit of good data, so I'm happy about that, hopefully I'll be able to write a good paper. There's not too much to say about it, it's not like France where I was going to really cool places everyday (I really really miss that--I had a pain au raisin for breakfast this morning, brought back some goooood memories.)

Some more British/Guernseyisms:

on Wednesday, I had to get out to the lady's house to interview her. She lives in St Pierre du Bois, which is one of the really rural parishes. The directions to her house looked like this:

• You know the cup-and-saucer? Ok, take the first left after that. (Except I was coming the opposite way by bus, so I had to figure out which road was the one right before Fort Grey)
• Keep going quite a ways until you get to a fork in the road, stay in the middle.
• Keep walking all the way until you see a house on the left, we're by ourselves, a cottage with an addition, and a lean-to greenhouse. (Fine, except practically ALL the houses in the rural parishes look like that...so I was a bit worried)

I asked her if there was a street name or something, and she said, oh yes, it's Rue de Clercs. I soon figured out why she hadn't given me the name, because there are no road signs. (You can never tell with Guernsey, sometimes there are, sometimes there aren't any.) I did look her phone number up in this wonderful book Sheila has, and found out that her house is called Le Tablet, so that was a relief when I saw the sign above the door. (Houses here don't have numbers, they have names. Which I always thought was a lovely idea--reminded me of Anne of Green Gables. But it makes it a bit dodgy with directions). But hey, I found it! Exactly as she had described it. So I was quite proud of myself haha. 

Another British thing: our professor's idea of a "quick lunch" is NOT the American version. I was thinking, oh I'll make a sandwich, grab an apple and run out the door. But no, "quick lunch" meant taking an hour to prepare meat, potatoes and vegetables, setting the table and sitting down to a proper meal. hahaha, I don't think I'll ever get used to that, I eat too many of my meals on the way out the door. 

I've noticed I've started using some British words--you can probably tell from reading this. I use "bit" and "quite" and "lift" and "flat" now, I'm almost used to it. Oh and "lovely" instead of beautiful. They also seem to use "fantastic" a lot, maybe that's just a Guernsey thing. 

Oh--embarrassing moment of the week: we were at church on Sunday, and one of the visiting elders noticed me and Peter sitting there (Amy's in Germany for the week). So after the meeting he asked if I was Peter's wife. hahaha. I was like uh, no, we are both BYU students. He wasn't even flustered, he just took it in stride, oh ok, what are you studying, type thing. Oh it was funny. And really awkward. 

Well that's about all I can think of to share from the last week--I didn't even go to a museum or anything. Next week the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations start, so I'm really excited about that, should be lots to do. I did finally get the jubilee thing explained to me the other day. I knew they were every 10 years(ish) to celebrate how long the monarch has been on the throne, but I didn't know it corresponded to wedding years. Apparently if you've been married for sixty years, it's your diamond wedding, fifty is golden, forty is pearl, and then there's a ruby for either thirty or 25, I can't remember. Anyway, so that's where it started. The current queen of England is having her diamond jubilee this week, since she was crowned in 1952. One of the ladies I was talking to said they think she wants to beat Queen Victoria, so she has to last 4 1/2 more years. I must say I'm very American, in that I don't really get the whole royalty thing. It's very serious for them. And every former British colony is having jubilee celebrations as well--Canada, India, Australia, New Zealand. Except us haha. Of course, we would NEVER refer to ourselves as a "former British colony", even though if you think about it, we are. That had never occurred to me before, as funny as it sounds. 

There's nothing like living in another country to make you realize things about your own. Some things I really miss, just because they are familiar, and others I think we should be more like Europe in. The same lady I was talking to on Wednesday told me she'd never been to America (you'd be surprised at how many people have here) even though she goes to France all the time, and has been to Australia and Canada and various other places. She told me that she just feels like America is too big, and dangerous. (That's another Britishism, they refer to it as America, never the States, or the United States. Oh and it's the war of American Independence, not the Revolutionary War). Her daughter was an exchange student in Pennsylvania I think, and absolutely loved it. But she said she just worried and worried about her. Traditional Guernsey is very very safe. The town isn't anymore, but in the smaller parishes you still get that small-town feeling. Strangers offer to give you rides, stop to help lost tourists and there is nothing suspicious about it. They are just friendly and want to help. As if to prove her point, her husband offered me a lift to the bus stop so I wouldn't miss it. At home I would have NEVER, first off, gone to someone's house I didn't know by myself in the middle of the country (and they wouldn't have invited me over the phone) and I would not accept a ride from a stranger I just met 5 minutes before. But it's different here, people genuinely want to help you out. They never used to lock their doors or cars and nothing got stolen. That's changed now, but I feel like I got a glimpse of how things used to be, all over the world really. It was really really nice. And it's a shame that we can't be more trusting like that anymore. If everyone was honest, things could go back to the way they were. Ah well, c'est la vie.

Sun! and lots and lots of history

Tuesday we went to Herm (a smaller island nearby). It was absolutely beautiful weather, which I was excited about—perfectly sunny, with enough wind that you didn’t get too hot. The island is pretty close to Guernsey, but I was surprised at how much water you have to cross to get there. And pulling away from Guernsey, it looked really small. Most of the time I don’t think about being on an island, because Guernsey’s big enough, but on Herm you really can’t forget it. There were trees on the cliff side, and on the hill, but the northern side of the island was beautiful sandy beaches and beach grass. We also saw some of the Neolithic burial sites, the one on the top of the hill was absolutely massive. It’s mostly destroyed of course, because of all the granite that the quarrymen took, but even collapsed it makes you wonder what it actually looked like originally. 

Pulling away from St Peter Port-where I live

The harbour where we got off--the water looks beautiful
but it's freezing!

The ferry

This fisherman waded to shore because it was low tide. By the time we
left, his boat was completely on dry land, the tides are really drastic here

the sand was soo soft. Reminded me of NC

inside the chapel

a pheasant

a collapsed dolmen

the water came up from under the sand and started here

Today I went to the Occupation museum. It was amazing how much stuff, for lack of a better word, they had. I knew that the Germans had left behind a lot, but wow. It was unbelievable that all of it was just sitting there. In fact most of the museum was the actual objects, with maybe an explanation, not really exhibits. It was crazy. Even the everyday things survived, like letters, tins of food, and ‘V for Victory’ signs, not to mention the weapons, uniforms, vehicles, pamphlets and signs. I was really amazed to see it all—it brought everything I’ve read about to life. I found all the things I read about the Occupation fascinating, but it wasn’t until I could actually see everything that I could really imagine it. 

What really got me was a letter from an informer that said “one door above Jory’s coal store in St Julian’s Avenue there is a wireless aparatis.” (You could be deported to a POW or concentration camp in France for having a radio) I guess I had just assumed that informers got some sort of reward for betraying their friends and neighbors, but it was an anonymous note, written purely out of spite, I guess. I’m not sure why that had such a big impact on me, I guess it’s just the realization that they couldn’t trust anyone—it must have been awful. The display did say that fortunately many postmen didn’t deliver such letters, but it must have been a risk for them not to do so.

the informer's letter

This is a V for Victory sign and the telegram
from the King, informing the islands that they would
be demilitarized. 

Another thing that had an impact on me was a public notice of the death of a man for releasing a pigeon with a message for England. Releasing a pigeon seems so trivial to me, yet he was killed for it. It really brought into relief how careful the islanders had to be. You could be killed for releasing a pigeon, sent to a concentration camp for having a radio. That’s awful. I think with all the talk of the ‘good ole days’ and the romance of WWII films and stories it’s easy to forget the reality of war. 

It was also quite a shock to recognize some of the places that were in pictures or referred to. Like that informer’s note—I walk down St Julian’s Avenue everyday to get into town. And there were pictures of German soldiers marching down High Street—I was there this afternoon, in that exact same spot. There were also pictures of the bombed tomato lorries and other things I’ve read about. It blows my mind that people are still alive that lived through that. Most of them were teenagers, but still. I can’t even imagine how strange modern technology must seem to them now, after growing up with that. There was a fire truck that had been brought over during the war, apparently it was manned by half Germans and half locals, but it was still in service until 1961! Most of the machines in the museum I wouldn’t be able to guess what they were for, without the plaque explaining it. There were climbing shoes for the telegraph poles, morse code machines, typewriters, and then homemade machines that were made illegally, mostly for different types of food. 

I was also really interesting to see how much the little luxuries in life were prized. In the exhibit on the prisons, they found hair curlers that someone had made, and a little model oven set made out of scrap metal that someone had made for a Christmas present for their daughter. There were also a couple of photo albums of couples that married after the war, one fell in love with a German soldier in 1941, and they married in 1947 and stayed on Guernsey. 

I also really liked how they included the stories of ordinary people in the exhibits—one lady used to reply to the German officer living in her home, “Heil Churchill”, when he greeted her with “Heil Hitler”. She was eventually sent to prison for insulting Hitler to the officer's face. I had known, academically, of the cult of personality that Hitler built up around himself, but I hadn’t realized how much of an impact it had on people. There were even model toys of the four Nazi leaders in one of the displays, a napkin with swastikas on it, and even a swastika necklace with diamonds on it. I guess I had just never imagined it like that before. Anyways, it was a really good museum and it was fascinating, I could have spent a couple more hours in there, just reading all the newspaper articles on the walls. 

Sponge cake and British accents

I finally have time to blog! After writing up my field notes, jottings, field journal, log and personal journal (every day-theoretically) it's hard to remember what I have/haven't said. But I've only posted once so far, so here's the update [warning: it's sort of schizophrenic] with LOTS of pictures.

So. Basically I've been learning all about the island, doing touristy things but then also learning as much about my subject as possible, doing research and making contacts. Everyone here is really friendly, which has been really nice. I feel like I've been here a month already, it's hard to believe it's been only a week and a half. I suppose that's good, since I've jumped right in to my research. Have I explained it here yet? I don't remember...I've explained it to so many people by now. Well in case I haven't, here's the low down:

• my project has to do with the traditional/native language on Guernsey, locally known as "patois" or "Guernsey French" (or "Guernesiais" by actual speakers). 
• I'm trying to find out if patois is still relevant in the everyday lives of the islanders, even though most don't speak it anymore.  
• So my research consists of learning as much as I can about the history of Guernsey (I'd done quite a bit before getting here)
• reading everything I can get my hands on about patois (I've already looked through all of the books, there are about five, and I'm not kidding)
• hopefully getting to talk to the people involved in revitalization efforts (fingers crossed!)
• hopefully (again) attending a patois class to talk to people currently learning it
• talking to as many people as I can to find out what they know about it, and summing it all up in a 30-pg thesis this fall. [Did I mention I'm slightly terrified of talking to strangers? I'm doing better, but it's still quite scary]

So there you have it. That's the [extremely] watered-down version of what I'm doing here for two months. On top of all that, in the last week-and-a-half I have:

• Gone on a walking tour of St Peter Port (the town I live in--actually the only town)
• Gone on a walking tour of Vale (the northern part--beautiful!!)
• Gone on a bus tour of the island
• Attended Liberation Day celebrations (May 9, 1945--the day the Allies freed the Channel Islands from the German Occupation)
• Did interviews with two people who lived through the Occupation
• Learned how to navigate the bus system
• Gotten to know our host "mom" Naomi, and her brother Simon
• Gone to church in a tiny branch of normally 7-10 people (so cool)
• Tried very British food
• Roast and potatoes
• Fish and chips
• lots and lots and lots of tea (herbal of course)
• sweet pickle spread
• pickled onions
• Victoria sponge cake
• curry [Yes, curry. It's the most popular dish in the UK.]
• Pasties
• Bread pudding with treacle and custard
• Walked along cliffs looking into the ocean
• Admired the bus driver's mad skills in navigating the tiny lanes
• Learned that English here is sometimes like a different language: 
• Filter (means yield to the other cars)
• Transfer flights (instead of connecting)
• Muzzy = mouldy (but that's a patois word they've adopted)
• Picky = itchy (also patois)
• they call it the "American War of Independence" not the "Revolutionary War"
• Missed a couple buses

Phew. No wonder I'm tired. It's been great fun though, as the British would say. Here are some pictures:

All dressed up for Liberation Day. They sound off the air raid sirens every year at 9 am--
it was so cool to hear them in real life!

St Peter Port

Liberation Day parade

Where I spent an afternoon researching :)

Vale Church

Knight's Templar cross

medieval wall--they are all over and still use them

A Martello tower, built during the American Revolution

at l'Ancresse 

Millennium stone, they raised it in 2000

A real life Dolmen!!

inside

bathing pools

Guernsey cows

reminded me of childhood

the Little Chapel

Greenhouse, apartment-style

Guernsey

Well I'm sort of too tired to blog, (but I guess I'll do it anyway) plus nothing of note has really happened yet. I got in yesterday, and tried to stay awake, so we ran errands in the freezing rain and got soaked. I did get to try my first pasty though! Pork, apple and cider mmm. So good. Plus I've discovered they have an AMAZING selection of herbal teas--it is the UK after all. I'm pretty sure I've had more tea in the last two days than I have maybe ever. Super good. I'm still sort of in a jet lag daze, hopefully I feel better tomorrow.

Also-today we didn't do much, we did go to church which was really nice. Including the 4 of us there were maybe 16 people there? Usually it's only like 7 or something, so everyone was really excited. It was neat to see how dedicated they were though, it was inspiring. (Except for the little girl who kept shrieking, I had forgotten kids could make that noise haha. Dad would call it squealing like a pig). Anyways after church we went to Sheila's for lunch, went over some business-y stuff for getting our research started, and then I took a nap, went on a nice walk and had dinner. It wasn't raining today (yay!) but it was still pretty cold, I'm hoping it warms up. I'm starting to learn my way 'round (as the British say it), we took the bus home for the first time today and I got a map finally. It's funny, Amy (the other girl) keeps slipping into the British accent on accident. That surprisingly hasn't happened to me yet, although I am picking up on some of the different phrases like way 'round, or need a 'lift' instead of ride.

The countryside is beautiful, when the sun came out this afternoon I was able to finally take some pictures. None of St Peter Port yet (the town I'm staying in), but I'm planning on bringing my real camera tomorrow, so hopefully if it isn't raining I can get some good pictures. We are going to go explore tomorrow, go to the information centre and sign up for some walks. This week is Guernsey's "spring walking week" so there are a bunch of guided, themed walks going on around the island. I probably should be starting on my research as well, but it's so daunting...maybe I'll check out the Priaulx library, especially if it's cold and wet outside. Well here are some pictures anyways--enjoy!

This house must have an amazing view

loved the yellow door

Hedge vege! I love the stone.

Oh and Alex (she's from Jersey, did her masters at BYU for theatre) told me that they are going to make the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society into a movie, with Kate Winslet and Kenneth Branagh. They were all joking about it, saying that no one had ever heard of the Channel Islands until that book, and now when they say they are from Jersey people go, oh! is that by Guernsey? haha. It's ironic too, cause Jersey is bigger. Anyways, I guess Kenneth Branagh wanted to film somewhere else but there was an outcry, and so now they are planning on filming it here, sometime this year. It's supposed to come out in 2013.

Oh and our host mom is really nice. Her name's Naomi. I haven't taken a picture of my room yet, but I will. Also we met a bunch of her siblings, they came over for dinner last night. And her sister started recommending a bunch of people that we can talk to for our research, so I think that'll be good. It's strange speaking English here. Obviously everyone has an accent--mostly British, but there was a Scot at church today (at least I think he was Scottish...I dunno. It sounded more Scottish than Irish to me). Anyways, but it's also strange cause I sound sooo American. And then some words or phrases I almost understand, but they are different enough that I'm not quite sure if I got the whole thing or something. It's odd, because, yeah, we are all speaking English, but it's almost like another language. The culture's definitely different--but the people on Guernsey so far are all really friendly. And....now I'm rambling. Time for bed. Since the time difference is 7 hours ahead I haven't quite adjusted yet--it's the middle of the afternoon at home when it's night here and the middle of the night when I'm supposed to get up. Ugh. confusing. 

Travel

Well I'm at the salt lake airport (finally). Yesterday was slightly stressful--I ended up missing my flight, which meant I also missed my other flight and...my other flight. I was supposed to be getting to Guernsey today. But there were a couple really bad accidents on I-15, so after 2 hours of going 20 mi, I gave up and went home cause it was too late anyways. Then I had to call and get all my flights changed, thank goodness for BYU travel, they took care of all of it for me, which was so so so nice. She even got up at 1 am to call the Guernsey airline when they opened and fix that flight. I'm definitely getting her a thank-you something when I get back. After all that, I had to figure out out to call the U.K. to let my professor know that I'd be a day late.

It was pretty weird being home for an extra day. My apartment was all packed up and everything, cause I (obviously) thought I wouldn't be back for 2 months. Needless to say it was a looong day, I was so bored haha. Luckily I still had some food cause Annica hadn't picked it up yet, and a book I was going to read on the plane. I went and got lunch with Anna and played volleyball with some people in my ward, so that was nice. But it all worked out eventually, and at least I made it to the airport today! Let the adventure begin.