Good Food. Good Talk. (Part Two)

I was (just a little) sleep deprived from the week leading up to HostUK. So on Sunday, I didn't wake up for my alarm and ended up sleeping in. I woke up when Amelia came in to my room to tell me to get up. I was so embarassed...but John and Elizabeth hadn't wanted to wake me because my "body clearly needed to rest."

John sat with me and read me crossword puzzles as I ate breakfast at the table (left).  Amelia had homework to work on, anyway, so I only felt slightly bad for delaying the day. Instead of going to Wales, John decided to take us to Shrewsbury School, a primary school with the steep tuition of 30,000 pounds a year (for elementary kids??) John said it "reeks of privilege".

He led us into Taylor Library inside the school, saying he wasn't sure if we would be allowed in but it was worth a shot just to look around:

There happened to be a professor showing a man some of the books in a room of to the side of the main library. John asked if it was okay for us to be in the library. Rather than kick us out, he started talking to us about all the books they had, including the first edition of Charles Darwin's world-renowned "Origin of Species".

The professor insisted I take a picture with it. I was like, okay...in this picture my smile is actually a mask of fear; I was so scared I would drop it. 

We looked around for a bit more, and were just about to leave when John waved me over to where he was talking with the professor. 

John: "Leah, you go to church right?"

Me: "Yes."

Professor: "I don't know which bible you use, but we have a first edition of the King James Bible. Would you like to see it?"

Me: "No way!"

John: "No way? Is that American for 'yes'?"

Me: "Yes!"

It was the most random, unexpected, breath-taking, and inspiring moment. I couldn't believe he was so casually flipping through it... I took these videos for a few seconds, but then I wanted to hear what he was saying so I put my phone down. 

I would've asked him to open to my favorite verse but I was a little tongue-tied! He then told us we could flip through it ourselves, but I was too afraid to rip the pages by accident or something. It was so cool. 

Left, Darwin Quote: "It is a golden rule, which I try to follow to put every fact which is opposed to one's conceived opinion in the strongest light.

As we were leaving the library (I was still a bit in shock from what we saw in there), John said, "It's a really good thing you slept in, Leah, isn't it?" (I don't hear that every day!)

After a tea break (below), we headed into a large park in town, to take scenic pictures and enjoy the view. 

The park is HUGE (like many parks in England. Boy, am I gonna miss them!)

Kingsland bridge is a little freaky because of how much it moves when you walk on it. John warned us we might get seasick and at first I thought he was kidding but it actually was pretty intense. 

The round church (below) is allegedly shaped this way so that "the devil can't hide in any corners"...also Scrooge from The Christmas Carol is buried under there. (I, for one, totally thought he was a fictional character!)

As we were leaving, we passed this building with a plaque (above my head in this photo) illustrating a record flood line from years ago. John took my pictures, stating: "You'd be in trouble, Leah, wouldn't you?" (Yes, English people turn every statement into a question):

 This gate to get out of the park (below) is called a "kissing gate" because it only lets one person through at a time...(allowing courting couples to kiss, I guess? I didn't really get it but it reminded me of Anne Shirley, so that was reason enough for a picture). John let me through first, and then, in reference to kissing, said, "I won't hold you to it." Haha. I made an offhand joke about how half American population wouldn't be able to fit through it...and then he gave me a Look and replied, "Well you said it not me." When Elizabeth found out what we were talking about, she was horrified. I had to assure her that I was the one who brought it up! Whoops. 

 

We got home that afternoon for a late lunch. John got me hooked on this book, but I couldn't finish it in time (*cough cough* Christmas gift?); it's a collection of love letters between an American woman and some owners of an English bookstore. I read that while Amelia and Liz made one of Amelia's favorite cake recipes (left). Then John showed us his recipes (middle) for bread that he makes every week. 

And then the weekend was pretty much over! After lunch we packed our bags, they took pictures of us and gave us their address, and I got one final picture of their house:

It was an unforgettable weekend and I left feeling refreshed :) Life is so good. 

Auschwitz

I took very few pictures of the actual camp. I wanted to take it in. I wanted to respect the millions who died. And I didn't want to glorify the atrocities that took place. But I will share what I have and simply say that visiting this place is an absolute must. "Enjoyable" is certainly not the word, but I am so glad I went:

I don't know why, but I was a little taken aback by the amount of people visiting. It felt strange to me that the entrance area (pictured below) was built up. There was a bookshop, bathrooms and food for sale. Then again, it is a museum...they do need to accommodate visitors!

Past this building you can see the barbed wire fence...beyond that is Auschwitz I.

The tour was split into two parts because there are two separate camps: Auschwitz I (pictured above) and Auschwitz II. For the first part, we each had individual headsets to hear our tour guide speaking. This was really helpful because the buildings were too cramped for him to be able to address our whole group. I think it also made the experience more emotional...his voice was playing directly into my ear. Each of us were kind of in our own little worlds, trying to process what he was saying.  

Before it was converted into a Nazi Concentration Camp, Auschwitz I was a detention center for political prisoners. It almost reminded me of a little village, much smaller than I pictured it would be. Compared to Auschwitz II, it was more intimate (if you can describe a concentration camp as that!). 

(Left: Block 24 of Auschwitz, a particularly brutal place for women.  Middle: One of many signs that were scattered around, Right: Barbed wire fence located within the camp.)

The outside of a gas chamber.

That's all for pictures of Auschwitz I. I could list in detail some of the information I learned from going inside the gas chambers, the emotions I felt when I saw the tons of human hair they had collected and learned of the other inhumane processes that took place. But truly it wouldn't do the atrocities enough justice. All I can say is that actually being inside the camp, inside the gas chamber, seeing the finger nail marks on the walls from people desperately trying to escape...there is nothing quite like it and no blog post could ever truly express the numbness I felt. 

We left Auschwitz I, got back in our coach bus, and rode to Auschwitz II. 

This camp had a completely different feel. Unlike the buildings in Auschwitz I, the buildings in the Auschwitz II camp were built by Nazis for the sole purpose of exterminating the Jews. There was no village-y feel to it. And it was three times the size of the first camp. 

Train tracks went through the camp...that's how big it was

After travelling like sardines in trains cars (above right) for several days with little food, families were separated: men "housed" to the left of these tracks (below)  and women "housed" to the right.  

The buildings they were placed in were basically stables: 

And the rows and rows of buildings truly seemed to go on forever. I wouldn't be able to capture the vastness of the place unless I took my camera up on an airplane. Here's a picture of just one:

Towards the back of the camp, a memorial with engraved words (written in many different languages) gave us one final opportunity to take in the millions of lives that were taken: 

And then we left. I heard someone point out once that Anne Frank, the most "famous" victim of the Holocaust, receives more empathy than any other holocaust victim. In other words, "What about the millions of others who died?" After this trip, I think I understand why. We as humans cannot emotionally comprehend death on such a grand scale. At least I cannot. When I walked through the Anne Frank museum earlier that week, I felt so much for the family and was moved to tears. When I left the camp, however, I had a different feeling; uneasiness and numbness. And I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. It's simply the way our minds cope. 

 The truth is, even though we may not be able to comprehend it all, it is our duty to try to. I believe we have a responsibility to read, to visit and to remember. It's the least we can do. As the saying goes:

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

So now that it has been nearly three weeks since my visit, these are my concluding thoughts. I hope I didn't overstep any boundaries or disrespect the victims with my pictures. I struggled to post this and  texted my mother, "How okay is it to talk about Auschwitz in blog?"

Her response: "How okay would it be to pretend it doesn't exist/didn't happen?" 

She's right. So here it is.