5000 miles and 10 hours later...

Sitting on the Heartland Flyer last night as the sun faded into the West in a typically beautiful Southwestern sunset, I reflected on the strange experience of being thrown from one culture to an entirely different one in a short amount of time.

Coming back, I realized, is interesting in that as soon as I get out of the airplane, comfort and familiarity flood in on a conscious and subconscious level, and part of me is so excited to be home, where everything feels, smells, looks familiar and comfortable. I love home!

And then, I hear obnoxious people talking, I drive through the sprawling unstoppable cancer of Dallas/Ft. Worth, I see miles of strip malls, and all the flaws start seeping in. And then I remember that the grass really isn't greener on the other side.

Its a slight disappointment, but then I don't resent it. It just puts everything back into perspective and makes me appreciate the good points about the US and Britain both more. And it reminds me that changing location is not a remedy for any sort of unhappiness, or discomfort that I feel when I'm on one side or the other.

Sam says he knows exactly what I mean, and that the more he goes back & forth the more he's able to see the good & the bad all together all the time. Its easy at first to just think about the things you miss, instead of the things that are really annoying.

But, I have to say that I'm definitely starting to regard the UK as home in a sense and am more bound to both countries. It's a weird feeling, but I'm glad to have 2 homes, and glad to be married to Sam who has 2 homes, too.

Pantastic

Alright, alright... so I figured an update was in line and I actually have a few drafts that never got around to being published, but enough of that.

As I was just writing to Elise, it is wonderful to be back in the land of largely human scale, public transportation, abundant tea, tasty beer, gorgeous churches over every hilltop, and local accents that make me giggle (except for the barman at our local, The White Lion, who just makes me furrow my brow in puzzlement because I honestly can only understand about 15% of what the man says). But, I have been mostly entertaining myself with all things domestic including but no limited to ironing, knitting, and cooking. But, I have also had the opportunity to appreciate the theatric arts of Swan Lake by the St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre (sic) and the local Pantomime production of Cinderella.

The ballet was incredible. I went to see it with my dear mother-in-law along with a lovely dinner and it was my first professional ballet, I realized later. Truly incredible. Sam was at a football match with his dad, which also went well. When I got home I was giving him the synopsis which went as follows:

L: Well, basically, in the first act, there is a ball at the palace, and there are lots of people dancing. Then, in the second act, the prince goes to the forest, finds some swan-ladies, and they do a bunch more dancing together. Then, in the third act they are back at the palace having another ball and they do more dancing, and then in the fourth act, they are back in the forest, and the prince dances with the swan-lady more and there is generally more dancing. And he ends up with the swan-lady.

S: Doesn't sound so unlike the football match.

The pantomime, on the other hand, was on the completely other scale. This wikipedia link is a helpful sort of overview of what it actually is. From the same origins as the picture that immediately comes to the American mind, it is, however, anything but silent. It was really fantastic, with massive brightly colored costumes, pyrotechnics, slapstick comedy, plays on words, singing of cheesy songs, lots of dancing, audience participation and cetera. We went with Sam's parents house group, as is their tradition, and it was really just a great time. Sam & his father explained a couple of the regional jokes, but overall it was just so fun to watch. I look forward to taking our kids! I wish I had a few snaps, but, as usual I forgot to use the camera I specifically brought. Although, to be fair, its because I was so entranced. I can't really explain it justly.

Well, tomorrow we are off to London & the South to visit many and sundry friends and also do some research for Sam's historical studies. Hopefully we can peep at the Velasquez exhibit at the National Gallery.

5

Tired of looking at my blog post and slightly embarrassed by even my own hippie-ish sentiments, Laura has decided to make a new blog post.

As for Christmas time aceticism, I think I found a way to still participate in gift giving while also participating in a giving effort with the fam. I'm campaigning for us to pool resources in order to donate a goat, but maybe we will give to blood:water. I will consult the fam. Anyways, here are 5 things:

I like the sight of a house full of friends.

I like the smell of Sam after a shower with sandalwood soap.

I like the taste of pork drippings.

I like the feel of both hands in cold flour.

I like the sound of baby Jack singing in church. (photo by John Stuart.)

Do they know its Christmas time at all?

Last year, at about this same time in fact, I was in a minivan with my co-worker Lesley, a very nice Christian lady with a charming Geordie accent. We were driving to a women's conference just outside the town of Denby (as in the pottery).

Lesley and I had a nice chat and one of the topics that came up was social responsibility and the English and Americans being part of the wealthiest class on earth. The Make Poverty History campaign was in full swing at that time, and Lesley revealed to me that last year her family had decided that instead of buying each other lots of Christmas presents that they really didn't need, that they would instead spend most of their allotted Christmas budget to buy a well for a village in Africa. Her children were involved in the decision-making process and it uniquely brought them together and illustrated, in a lasting way, the gospel. I had heard people complaining before about the unnecessary lavishing of gifts at Christmas time among the already wealthy, but this positive, proactive allotment of funds was impressive to me.

As the air started to nip this fall, and as the unmistakable smell of "the holidays" (i.e. cinnamon), began to assault Sam's nose in every retail store, I remembered this story about Lesley's family. And I also remembered Derek Webb's mention of the Blood: Water Mission at his concert at OU a couple weeks ago. And I'm in the process of putting 2 & 2 together. I'm going to write out a realistic idea of what our Christmas budget would look like and see about putting this plan into action for myself. I encourage you to do the same, reader. Think about the impact!

I'm still working out how to do this properly, without offending or underhandedly just trying to turn my gifts to others into help for Africa instead of making more of a sacrifice myself. I think I'll have to ask everyone to not buy presents for me, and to instead donate the allotted money. Oh well, still thinking it through. But I still think this is an idea with promise, cheesy blogtitles aside.

All Aboard the Gravytrain

Well, one week down at the new job, and I seem to have struck gold. Well, perhaps I exaggerate, but I really am enjoying myself.

Basically, my responsibilities include planning & cooking meals, taking Suzanne to the beauty shop once a week, taking her out to lunch wherever she may fancy (usually Gourmet Deli), chauffering her anywhere else, which so far has been nowhere, occasionally doing the odd bit of laundry, and just being there. She often tells me not to work too hard. I like to take a nap when she does in the afternoon, and I usually take either a morning or evening Constitutional around Brookhaven. I get to plan almost any meal I want, with just a few dietary restrictions, and the food budget is generous, allowing me to buy things I couldn't ordinarily afford for myself. This is awesome. I get to do lots of reading and knitting. And, did I mention that Suzanne is delightful company? She is such a sweet lady, and so interesting. She wishes she could live closer to her children (who live in New York City and Boston), and misses them a lot. I think my company is comforting.

I spent Wednesday through Saturday straight with Suzanne, since her husband was out of town. It was delightful. Sam came over every day after he had finished working and we cooked tasty food, and generally took it easy. Then on Friday night, while Sam was at the campout, Sydneyann came over for a slumber party and it was girltastic fun. Although she needs to brush up on the Uno skills, geez.

The week was an overall success, though, and I'm so thankful that the Lord engineered this job situation for me. It's so nice to help people, and to be needed. So, that's the story.

Cleaning on Hold

I was all set to launch Green Clean. I had my flier campaign all ready to print out. And then I got offered another opportunity, which I will start tomorrow under tentative agreement, and which I am a little unsure about.

A friend called me last Thursday to ask me about my interest in the situation. See, she is acquainted with an elderly couple, both retired historians in their 80's. The wife had a fall recently and now they are looking for a full-time person to basically be with her, take her to the beauty shop when she's well enough, and maybe for lunch at her favorite place every day or so. I thought it sounded pretty good, so I went to talk it over with the couple this past Saturday.

They are delightful. Both very interesting, and a house chock full of books. I mean three entire rooms lined floor-to-ceiling, and two of those rooms with 2 center aisles each full of books. No room for anything in those rooms except bookshelves. Whoa. And so interesting they both were. The husband has a strong NYC accent and the wife is also from the East. They have children in Boston and NYC both in what seem to be very reputable jobs. One thing they don't have, however, is family or community (from what I can tell) here in Norman to care for them.

After speaking to them, I'm a little unsure of what I'm getting into. Maybe I heard incorrectly, but it kind of sounds like they want me to be their dinner cook most nights, which don't get me wrong, is sort of a dream job because I love to cook, and Sam could just come over at dinner time every night. But, I'm a little afraid that Jessie may have hit the nail on the head saying that maybe this fall was an excuse for them to get a caretaker, and as Wade said, it seems perhaps a prime opportunity for a young caring person to be taken advantage of. The thing is they are both in their mid 80's and well... maybe not across the board, but that's about the point that you need to have a contingency plan because the list of things that you can do for yourself starts to shorten sometimes rapidly. And... from what I can tell there isn't a very strong contingency plan in place for this couple.

But, I agreed to the week, at least, since they are a little desparate at the moment. I'm more than a little nervous, but also excited at the prospect of these thoroughly interesting friendships. We'll see what happens.

Believe It

If anyone hasn't yet heard the news about Sam, he has finally received his green card! We were so overjoyed that I immediately ran for the camera even though both of us had had thoroughly knackering days. Checking the mail was definitely the highlight of the day.

But, the real news is that the picture on Sam's blog was taken by none other than myself. That's right, I scooped Chubchub. He was at least 2 whole minutes too late, and incredulous. And that, my friends, is the difference between those who can make it in journalism and those who can't. It's like, Chubby, you can't just sit around and wait for the photo-ops to come to you, you know.

Praise God, though, for helping it all work out! Now Sam and re-validate his driver's license and use it to drink at the Library, woo!