tales of a nomad

What you need to do is be thankful for the life you got, y'knowmsayin?

Stop lookin' at what you ain't got...

Start bein' thankful for what you do got...

Dear Conner and Chad - thank you for making me listen to that T.I. song against my will...now I listen to it more and more each day, and have even found some applicable advice in the beginning of it!  Grammatical errors and poor sentence structure aside...T.I. has a point.  Ha.  Never thought I'd say that.

Well well...I'm pretty sure that I'm done with the job search.  That being said, we're still turning in our last application Monday probably.  But Friday when we had reached our limit (we went in to apply for a janitor job that was 8 hours/week) and were turned down...we had this little talk with Jeannie about the job search and just our thoughts/prayers behind it.  What we got was a hard realization of our own individual expectations for this trip, and how maybe what we thought might not be what's supposed to happen.  Jeannie reminded us of this amazing opportunity to be in England, and to just enjoy it while we're here if we can!

So...at the moment, I'm just going to be volunteering here in Sheffield and doing some day trips here and there, with a bigger trip each month.

We're thinking: 

February - Ireland

March - London/France

April - Barcelona

May - the rest of the awesomeness!!!!! Eeeeeek!

I think Friday was just good for me to put aside this pride issue I had that I HAD to get a job to be here and not be lazy.  Like traveling, volunteering, enjoying life, and doing my school stuff would mean that I was lazy and purposeless.  I just so happened to talk to my dad that same day too, and he was all about going on adventures throughout the UK and taking day trips...

And so today - we were tourists.  And it was awesome.  Halfway through the day we realized how different everything seemed, and how much fun we were having!  We woke up and researched some historical things to do in Sheffield.  P.S. if you didn't already know - Sheffield is known for a major invention: cutlery.  Otherwise known as silverware.  Anyway it's got some great history and some cool things around it (the Peak district and Chatsworth house are just a few).  We found the Manor House, which on the main Sheffield website is described as: 

Star of BBC Restoration programme 2004, Manor Lodge was once one of the finest Tudor Houses in England. Between 1570 and 1584 Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned here on the orders of Queen Elizabeth the First. Today it stands proudly amidst the ruins of this great home.

Well, in true Danielle & Janelle fashion, we took the tram 30 minutes from our home base, walked for 20 up the hill in eager anticipation, and you can probably guess the rest.  Here's our pictures...

Janelle in front of the road sign at the top of the hill...before we were ready to see the beautiful, historic house...

Walking down the hill, with the house behind me.  Yes it's just those stone things right behind my head.  SOME HOUSE!  Lol.

I stuck my camera through the iron gate (and fence) that separated us from the ruins.  Now I KNOW the website said there's a house in the midst of ruins, but it's nothing like the picture and the whole thing's just a bunch of ruins.  It was humorous though and made for a good story!  As do all our adventures I feel like. 

Here's the gate.  The sign says that it will open after renovations begin in 2009.  Grrreat. 

After we saw all this stuff, we went to the Norwegian Heritage Park and ate our packed lunch we thought we'd be eating at the garden's of this cool house.  Either way...I love being a tourist.

db