One Month In!

Hiya!

So 1 month has passed! Wow!! Some hours, days, and weeks have gone faster than others. I'm definitely beginning to feel settled... settled in the school, at the church and in Chichester. However, my housing situation does not feel very homey. Last night was a bit of a rude awakening of that. Before I talk about this story, I do want to say that I am fine and all is well.
So I met up with a friend from Grebel in Bath on Friday evening! We had a great time Friday night and Saturday morning/afternoon touring around. We had a true English Breakfast, visited the Jane Austin Centre- dressed in Regency clothing and had creamed tea-, drank from the Roman Spa Spring at the Roman Baths, and explored the city. It was great! Then we caught the 5:35 train back to Chichester. I wanted to meet up with my teacher friends in a local pub, and wanted to introduce Sarah to them. But first we wanted to drop our bags off at my house to carry a lighter load.
Unfortunately I left my key to my house at the school (with my USB stick :P) and had to knock on my door so that my landlord could let me in (the 2nd time this has happened). He was quite upset. He was even more upset when I asked if Sarah could stay over for 1 night. He scolded me and told me that guests were not okay and that we had to find another spot for Sarah. I apologized for misunderstanding and told him that we would do so. By this point it was half 8 (aka 8:30). So if you can imagine, I was a little taken back by that and quite stressed that we then needed to find a spot for her to stay for that night.
We walked to the pub where my teacher friends were and luckily they weren't all drunk and asked my friend, Kate, what to do. (I had called T&E, but they weren't home) She suggested some hotels and so we picked up my key that she found at school Friday before she left (Praise God, I now had my house key and my USB!) and ventured to check out the vacancies of these hotels.  We tried the first one that was located above a bar... no vacancy. Then we checked the one a few doors down... full, due to a wedding. Then we phoned another from this hotel, 1 room available... 83 quid... we'll take it! Before we committed to it, I rung up another mate, but her house was already full. So the hotel for 83 quid it was!
After going back to my house, grabbing our things and having a taxi take us to the hotel, we were hungry. Next to the hotel was a restaurant I had been in before (Belle Isle), we thought it would be the perfect place for a meal... Bell Isle is a nice Cuba/ Sea town inspired restaurant... I loved it when I was there last. Unfortunately, after waiting for 20 min we learned that the kitchen closes at 10:00pm, at this point it was 10:25.  Now what were we to do? So we stepped out back on the streets and found my friend Kate (the pub where they were was quite close).
She was all concerned that we still didn't find a place for the night and was adamant that I get out of my current house. Mind you she has heard only my complaints... of not being able to freely use the kitchen, of having no dishes to cook with... and the list could go on. She invited us in for drinks and said that in the last 30 minutes she found 3 places for me to stay for the next 2 months and a permanent location starting the end of November if I was interested. Wow what amazing friends!
Now back to the food... She rung up the local Dominoes and we ordered a large pizza to be delivered to the pub... just 1 min to our hotel.
While we were waiting for our pizza, Kate bought us drinks. She ordered me a pear cider and Sarah a lemonade (aka. Sprite). We had some fun chats and she introduced me to my potential new land lord... Andy... 24 years old...attractive son of the previous Head Teacher at my school. So this is where the praying bit comes in.... 1. Pray that I make a comforting decision about whether to leave my accommodation, 2. That if I do move out, I find a house that is right for me, 3. I will continue to see God's hand in all circumstances. and 4. A praise that God can work through non- Christians (aka. my teacher friends) in amazing ways, as they helped us find a place to stay for that evening and are helping me as I search for a different accommodation! While this adventure was quite stressful, it ended up better than we could imagine - we were able to enjoy pizza, chocolate and crisps in our hotel room while watching Mamma Mia!  A great end to an evening of uncertainty.

I am now back at my house where I'm paying rent, at least for this week. I am going to spend the week praying about my housing situation. In other news... I've become quite busy... with school, zumba, playing clarinet for the school pit band, and life groups with the church. The church has also asked if I would be able to lead kid's church once a week... I am going to pray for that this week and I ask that you do the same.

Lots of love,

Kristen