Hello everyone!  No, I'm not dead.  No, I'm not ignoring you.  No, I'm not converting to Brittainism.  I'm on "vacation", or as vacation as one can get after sleeping in a muddy, rainy, dead-grassy field for a week.

Anyways, I'm safe now and thoroughly enjoying my time.  I've learned much since my departure July 25th:

1.  England is very much like Seattle: full of cold rain and oppressive sporadic heat.  And coffee/tea.

2.  Seeing the changing of the guard from inside Buckinham Palace's gates may be a huge honor, but if you've never really cared about it in the first place it can be very long and not much different than bearing witness to a funeral involving pallbearers wearing huge bearskin hats.

3.  The Crown Jewels are not as staggering as they're made out to be.

4.  England is full of jaw-droppingly hot men.  Really, if we could, a few of us would move here just for the eye candy.  I mean, every three seconds it's like "There goes another one!  After him!" and then we see another and it's like "Ooh!  He's even prettier!  After him!" and the like.

5.  Newfoundland dogs, specifically two of them, are like bears.  Really.  Buckingham Palace guards probably skin these dogs when they run out of Canadian Blacks.

6.  Gas is surprisingly cheap!  9/10ths of a liter is about 96p, so that equates to something just under $2 per gallon, I think. Woof.

7.  Fish and chips is YUMMY.

8.  The vernacular differences are tough to overcome.  That, and the fact that I'm from the States is a source of constant wonder.

9.  Girl Scout dance parties are not parties.  They are a gathering of pree-teen girls screaming and making fools of themselves to the sounds of the local pop teen orchestra.

10.  English men are terrible flirts.  Since arriving, our group has been eyed, teased, questioned and the like.  And last night while walking through the park a guy grabbed my butt.  However, after two weeks of no male contact, it was kind of a welcome experience.  It reminded me that I am, in fact, not a lesbian, and many would think of a girl who's been in Girl Scouts as long as I have.

There's tons more, and when I get home you're all welcome to ask about it.  But I've got to pop off now to change my clothes, 'cause I'm all wet from a SuperSoaker fight outside.  Some things just don't change.