Bonfire Night
Guy Fawkes Day was great! We headed out a bit late and literally just followed the crowd (and the thundering bangs) from outside our flat door to the fireworks location. All of Midsummer Common was filled with people of all ages staring up in awe at the fireworks display. Unfortunately, sometimes fireworks in England results in clouds and fog lighting up with color. Well, we did see some of them clearly but many times we’d watch the flame travel high and then just see a hint of the the burst at the top. Apparently, we were on the wrong side, because some friends of Jonathan said from their side it was perfectly clear. After the fireworks, an announcement over the loud speaker informed us that the bonfire was about to be lit. It was quite a big one with a 40 or so yard perimeter surrounding it to avoid any unfortunate accidents. I was just so impressed with the turnout. It was a week night. It was cold and dark and quite cloudy. The English are hearty.
Afterward we met with some people Jonathan knew from work. Well, he knew two of them so at first it was a bit awkward as these things often are. We found our way across the Cam river to The Old Spring pub and stood around (all tables were taken but this does not phase anyone in the least) chatting and getting to know one another. I think we were there for two hours but I really did enjoy myself. Antje, a German woman Jonathan works with suggested we all run the Great North Run next year which I believe is a half marathon run along Adrian’s Walk on the northern coast? I should do some research I guess. We commented to a British guy (this distinction is important because Cambridge is a hugely multicultural place – not everyone you meet is British) named James about how we are enjoying the pub scene. He explained that since homes are smaller in Britain (generally) dinner parties are more inconvenient and too formal. The local pub is like a big community living room where people come of all ages -they even bring their children to certain ones. It’s a place of lively conversation and connection. Mind you, there are less civilized pubs, but there are lots of homey, comfortable, and old fashioned pubs out there waiting for our discovery. I love England!
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November already?
It’s so hard to believe that it is November already. I was offered this job in August and I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone. I have taken what is called a “permanent placement” with my client in the village of Maresfield in East Sussex which I believe is southeast England. Permanent status just means that whenever I do choose to work, I’ll always work with her and I get priority. I also get a little raise which is nice. So for the next 6 months, I’ll be working with a woman named Anne who lives in a bungalow in a tiny village. She has lived in the same town her whole life, except for a few years in rehab after her accident. When we go to High Street (not in her village but in the bigger town two miles away) we stop to chat with so many people! People she’s known for years or decades. I have never had that experience, especially in adulthood and sometimes I think I’ve missed out.
For those of you who don’t know, most towns in England have a High Street kind of like our Main Street in the states. But theirs is generally one long strip of local businesses, charity shops, and usually all the same clothing stores, banks, and food stores. When I drove around with my London client we would go through 3 or 4 towns and each one had so many of the same stores. It almost seemed they were even arranged in the same order along the sidewalks. In some ways it’s a bit boring, but in other ways it’s nice. You always know where you can go to get whatever it is you’re after when you go to town.
Anyway, I’ll be spending about 60% of my time in Maresfield with Anne and her two golden retrievers Holly and Muffin. We do a lot of window shopping in various towns around her area. We visit friends and we take the dogs out, usually separately so I can alternate taking them each into the fields so they can go off the lead and run and sniff and dig til their hearts content. Then Anne can go and chat to all the neighbors. I’m going with her to a Cliff Richards concert in London on my next placement. I’m definitely not a big fan but it’ll be an experience. It’s not an extremely busy placement but this allows me time to read, journal, pray, and also continue my running. I’m up to 5 or 6 miles, 3 to 4 times per week.
I do have moments when I want to run out the door and just have 4 hours completely to myself. But the more I work with Anne, the more I realize that I will never (hopefully) understand just how debilitating and frustrating it must be to rely on another human for everything – a drink of juice, getting out of bed, changing clothes, opening mail. I must never allow Anne to feel a burden.
After this next 2 week placement, I’ll arrive home to Jonathan and my sister Sarah. They’ll both be coming in to London Heathrow together since Jonathan will be at a conference in Washington DC. I can’t wait to show Sarah the beautiful sights of Cambridge and London and we are going to try to do a nice Thanksgiving dinner together as well. I miss my sister dearly and feel so blessed that she would spend her hard earned money to come see us. What an amazing family we have!
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Back from Tuebingen
Last Sunday night Jill and I got back from Tuebingen. I had a course there at the university for three days, and then we stayed for the weekend. Tuebingen is really quite a beautiful city. It’s very hilly—-our hotel was up a fairly steep hill, and the university was down that hill and up another, so we both got our exercise. What was really impressive was the number of bicyclists we saw. They didn’t give up on the hills, just downshifted and kept on going.
One of the nicest things about the trip was the foliage. The trees in Cambridge aren’t very colorful (at least this year); Tuebingen made up for this several times over. On Saturday we spent some time walking through the city, and ended up in a nice little park down by the river. There are little boats people take down the Neckar that are similar to the punts on the Cam, but shaped a little bit differently (in fact, in many ways, Tuebingen struck me as a German analog of Cambridge). Sunday we had a chance to go for a walk in a park near the city. It finally felt like Fall!
The most excitement, however, was largely unplanned—-Friday night I got up to go to the bathroom, fainted, and cracked my head on the door frame. I didn’t think it was that bad, so I bandaged it up and went back to bed (after taking quite a while to make sure I was OK). In the morning Jill took one look, yelled at me for not waking her up in the night, and then we were off to the hospital (actually the “accident clinic”—-Umfaellklinik). I used my marginal German to get to the right place and explain the situation. Luckily, the doctors spoke English, which made things easier. I had 2 stitches and no permanent harm was done, but the reason for having fainted is still a bit of a mystery. In the meantime I have a very tough-looking scar on the back of my head, but a less tough-sounding story.
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London Town
If you must work in a career where no moment in the day is fully your own and cleaning up cat vomit and stirring the enormous compost bin are daily tasks I do recommend that this take place in London. It’s a lovely city of civility, splendor and of course architectural glory. When I wasn’t engrossed in the above unpleasant tasks, I couldn’t really complain. Touring around on double decker buses, bargain hunting on Oxford Street (yes this is possible), and eagerly awaiting the changing of the guard at Buckingham are nor exactly hard work. I’m grateful for my newfound familiarity with some different nooks, crannies, and burroughs of London. After this client, Jonathan laughs when I say “loo”, “tomah-to”, “gone off”, or “this bit”. Some British phrases are just so useful such as “this bit”. “This bit” could mean this part, this section, this paragraph, this curve in the road, this piece of fabric. So handy, right?
So, after a brief but lovely holiday in Tubingen with Jonathan, I’m headed back to work and this time it’s familiar ground as I’m headed back to my first client down in Sussex. I’m looking forward to getting lovingly attacked by her two dogs, lots of window shopping, returning to her wonderful church, and continuing to build a healthy, communicative working relationship with my client.
Oh, I’ll try to get in a post about Germany soon.
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Off to Tuebingen
On Friday night we had a little postdoc get together at Sauce. Although I’ve met many of the postdocs, this was the first chance I had to really have a chat with several of them. They’re all super nice people—-I hope that’s the first of many Friday night outings.
The rest of my weekend has been filled with work: for one thing, Jill’s gone on an assignment, and secondly, on Tuesday I’m leaving for Tuebingen, Germany, for a MEG training course at the University of Tuebingen. So I’m trying to wrap up some things before heading off.
Jill is with her current client through Tuesday, so she is coming to join me on Wednesday. We are staying at the Hotel Katharina Garni, which looks quite quaint. I’m busy at my course Wednesday through Friday, but we’ll have the evenings together, and all day Saturday. We come back to Cambridge on Sunday night. Hopefully the first of many quick trips over to the continent!
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More entries can be found in the archive. . .