Today, I've been home for one week.
Today, I saw my grandma for the first time since August. Unfortunately, circumstances dictated that I had to see her in a coffin, her usually pale skin bronzed over with makeup and an uncharacteristic frown pulling at the corners of her mouth. The still body in the funeral home didn't look like my grandma. It was hard to see her like that, especially since I never got to say goodbye. At least I know that she's with Jesus now - and finally, she can run and jump without feeling any pain after so many years of suffering.
Today, I saw my grandpa for the first time since August. He was at the visitation, and was going to be leaving just as I arrived. I'd been thinking that it would be the other way around, that my grandma would be brought to his funeral. I had actually been preparing myself to hear the news in England, where I would be unable to get home to say goodbye.
He sat in his wheelchair, unmoving, eyes closed and head tilted slightly to his left, in much the same state as he was when I left. "Hi Grandpa," I said in his right ear - his good ear. "It's good to see you again." I put my hand on his shoulder to let him know I was there. His fingers started twitching in his lap.
"It's been a long time since I've seen you, Grandpa." I looked at his face, and I saw his eyes open. He knew I was there. It may have only been a few seconds, but I knew he could hear and understand me.
"I love you, Grandpa. I hope to see you again soon." I gave his shoulder one last squeeze and let my Aunt Becky and Aunt Susan put on his knit hat and earmuffs and wrap him in fleece blankets to go outside.
Today, it's been one week since I stepped off the plane. I've never been so grateful to be home with family, especially since this will be the first Christmas without the whole family (as I've known it) here.
Tomorrow, we're going to bury my grandma. I'm going to fulfill her request and play "Amazing Grace" on my Flute, and I can only pray that it holds a candle to how I wish I could play it for her.
Tomorrow, I will say my goodbyes to good times gone.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
The last post from England
Monday, November 30, 2009
Right now I’m back in London and completely done with classes for the semester (I handed in my last two papers today). It’s really weird to think that I only have three more nights in England, especially after I’ve been here so long. But, it’s time to go back and try to catch up on my last bit of time here. I guess I left off at Lyme Regis.
Thursday the 19th was our only full day in Lyme. We started the day by going out on the Cobb (a big stone walkway constructed to make a harbor) and re-enacting a scene in Persuasion by Jane Austen that takes place on the Cobb. After that, I went back to the Mad Hatter with Melissa H, Zach, Kaari and Evie and had a delicious cream tea for tea time. For dinner, I went out with Kaari and Evie to a pub called The Royal Standard. And for an interesting side note, I also learned that Charlie Watts, the drummer for the Rolling Stones, was staying at the same hotel as we were.
We left for “Plymouth” on the 20th, so that morning was the last time I had internet for a while. (I say “Plymouth” because the house we stayed at was in the middle of nowhere, somewhere outside of Plymouth.)
On the way there, we stopped at Cadbury “Castle”, the reputed site of King Arthur’s Camelot. Really, it was a big old field that could have been anything. Let’s just say that Monty Python jokes and songs were prevalent that afternoon – “On second thought, let’s not go to Camelot. ‘Tis a silly place.”
Then we were off to Battisborough House, our home for the next week. We stopped at Tesco on the way there to buy a week’s worth of groceries, because the house is so remote that there is no way for us to get to a grocery store without hiring a taxi.
Battisborough itself was awesome. It was right on the coast, so we could easily take a walk down by the ocean on some beautiful cliffs. Plus, we had the entire house to ourselves so it was filled with endless England Term bonding. I shared a room in the annex with Melissa K and Nelly – the three of us had five bunk beds to share (that’s 10 beds for 3 people!). Plus, it had an awesome stock of videos, so the first night I watched some old Power Rangers episodes (the good stuff) and Monty Python’s “The Meaning of Life.”
On Saturday (the 21st) we took a 2.5 hour bus ride out to Penzance, Land’s End, and St. Ives. It was a really windy day, so we didn’t actually get to stop in Penzance because the ocean was too aggressive and everything that we could have done would be closed. So I saw Penzance through a coach bus window, which I suppose counts for something.
Our next stop was Land’s End, which is the westernmost point in the UK. It was incredibly windy: I had to walk leaning at an angle in order to make any sort of headway against the gales. But it was still worthwhile to go, if only to say that I’ve been there.
St. Ives was entirely unplanned because it was a spur-of-the-moment addition after we couldn’t stop in Penzance. I spent my time writing a couple postcards in a small café since we were only there for an hour or so.
After our day trip, it was 2.5 hours back to Battisborough – I was certainly glad that I had charged my iPod. Then I spent my evening making a triple batch of cookies with Hannah and Erin (and a few others who helped for a while).
The rest of the week at Battisborough involved a lot of class time, writing, walking outside, cooking, acting Shakespeare scenes, and just hanging out and bonding as a group.
Since we had a full kitchen, I had bought food with Melissa K and we cooked our meals together. It was mostly pasta, but we also had a lot of veggies that we cut up and added to the pasta to make it delicious. But we did well at planning – there really wasn’t that much leftover food by the end of the week and we never went hungry.
Another big part of Battisborough was our Shakespeare scenes. As part of our Drama in Great Britain class, we had to act out a scene from one of the plays that we’ve read and then write a reflection paper about the scene. I did the tail end of Act IV, scene 4 in The Winter’s Tale, with me as Autolycus, Carrie as the clown, and Anna S as the shepherd. So we spent a good deal of time rehearsing the scene until we performed it on Wednesday night (the 25th).
And how can I forget Thanksgiving? Since we had the facility, we all chipped in and made a homemade Thanksgiving dinner – most of the items from scratch. We had three turkeys, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn bake, green beans, cranberry sauce, and sweet potatoes. And amazingly, everything turned out to be delicious – we had to improvise on a lot of recipes.
We left Battisborough the day after Thanksgiving. It was a three hour trip to Salisbury to the Hayburn Wyke B&B, where I ended up in the annex (again!) with Allison, Anna S, Annie, and Erin. But really, it was the place to be. We had our own kitchen (complete with fridge!) so we could save money on food for a while. The only strange thing was the awkward shower, placed right in Anna and Erin’s bedroom like it was some sort of furniture decoration. Just imagine a glass shower box placed in your room like a wardrobe – nothing else around it, just there for everyone to see. But we had some good times in the annex – a couple girls’ nights in playing cards and talking.
The main point of Salisbury was (of course) Stonehenge. It’s one of those things that you’re almost required to see if you’re in England for any decent amount of time, especially if you’re there three and a half months. So I made my pilgrimage to Stonehenge, and it was, as the name suggests, a pile of rocks. Don’t get me wrong: it was cool and all – it IS Stonehenge! – but if it wasn’t so famous I probably wouldn’t have cared. We got off the bus, circled Stonehenge and took pictures, and got back on the bus. Other than being there and seeing it in person, there really isn’t anything else to do.
I took Sunday pretty easy – sleeping in, relaxing, finishing up my papers. So that was the extent of Salisbury. We left Salisbury this morning and traveled two hours back to London, and it’s like being home again.
I’ll write about London again later, because right now I have to run out and grab some food. I’m getting kind of hungry.
Right now I’m back in London and completely done with classes for the semester (I handed in my last two papers today). It’s really weird to think that I only have three more nights in England, especially after I’ve been here so long. But, it’s time to go back and try to catch up on my last bit of time here. I guess I left off at Lyme Regis.
Thursday the 19th was our only full day in Lyme. We started the day by going out on the Cobb (a big stone walkway constructed to make a harbor) and re-enacting a scene in Persuasion by Jane Austen that takes place on the Cobb. After that, I went back to the Mad Hatter with Melissa H, Zach, Kaari and Evie and had a delicious cream tea for tea time. For dinner, I went out with Kaari and Evie to a pub called The Royal Standard. And for an interesting side note, I also learned that Charlie Watts, the drummer for the Rolling Stones, was staying at the same hotel as we were.
We left for “Plymouth” on the 20th, so that morning was the last time I had internet for a while. (I say “Plymouth” because the house we stayed at was in the middle of nowhere, somewhere outside of Plymouth.)
On the way there, we stopped at Cadbury “Castle”, the reputed site of King Arthur’s Camelot. Really, it was a big old field that could have been anything. Let’s just say that Monty Python jokes and songs were prevalent that afternoon – “On second thought, let’s not go to Camelot. ‘Tis a silly place.”
Then we were off to Battisborough House, our home for the next week. We stopped at Tesco on the way there to buy a week’s worth of groceries, because the house is so remote that there is no way for us to get to a grocery store without hiring a taxi.
Battisborough itself was awesome. It was right on the coast, so we could easily take a walk down by the ocean on some beautiful cliffs. Plus, we had the entire house to ourselves so it was filled with endless England Term bonding. I shared a room in the annex with Melissa K and Nelly – the three of us had five bunk beds to share (that’s 10 beds for 3 people!). Plus, it had an awesome stock of videos, so the first night I watched some old Power Rangers episodes (the good stuff) and Monty Python’s “The Meaning of Life.”
On Saturday (the 21st) we took a 2.5 hour bus ride out to Penzance, Land’s End, and St. Ives. It was a really windy day, so we didn’t actually get to stop in Penzance because the ocean was too aggressive and everything that we could have done would be closed. So I saw Penzance through a coach bus window, which I suppose counts for something.
Our next stop was Land’s End, which is the westernmost point in the UK. It was incredibly windy: I had to walk leaning at an angle in order to make any sort of headway against the gales. But it was still worthwhile to go, if only to say that I’ve been there.
St. Ives was entirely unplanned because it was a spur-of-the-moment addition after we couldn’t stop in Penzance. I spent my time writing a couple postcards in a small café since we were only there for an hour or so.
After our day trip, it was 2.5 hours back to Battisborough – I was certainly glad that I had charged my iPod. Then I spent my evening making a triple batch of cookies with Hannah and Erin (and a few others who helped for a while).
The rest of the week at Battisborough involved a lot of class time, writing, walking outside, cooking, acting Shakespeare scenes, and just hanging out and bonding as a group.
Since we had a full kitchen, I had bought food with Melissa K and we cooked our meals together. It was mostly pasta, but we also had a lot of veggies that we cut up and added to the pasta to make it delicious. But we did well at planning – there really wasn’t that much leftover food by the end of the week and we never went hungry.
Another big part of Battisborough was our Shakespeare scenes. As part of our Drama in Great Britain class, we had to act out a scene from one of the plays that we’ve read and then write a reflection paper about the scene. I did the tail end of Act IV, scene 4 in The Winter’s Tale, with me as Autolycus, Carrie as the clown, and Anna S as the shepherd. So we spent a good deal of time rehearsing the scene until we performed it on Wednesday night (the 25th).
And how can I forget Thanksgiving? Since we had the facility, we all chipped in and made a homemade Thanksgiving dinner – most of the items from scratch. We had three turkeys, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn bake, green beans, cranberry sauce, and sweet potatoes. And amazingly, everything turned out to be delicious – we had to improvise on a lot of recipes.
We left Battisborough the day after Thanksgiving. It was a three hour trip to Salisbury to the Hayburn Wyke B&B, where I ended up in the annex (again!) with Allison, Anna S, Annie, and Erin. But really, it was the place to be. We had our own kitchen (complete with fridge!) so we could save money on food for a while. The only strange thing was the awkward shower, placed right in Anna and Erin’s bedroom like it was some sort of furniture decoration. Just imagine a glass shower box placed in your room like a wardrobe – nothing else around it, just there for everyone to see. But we had some good times in the annex – a couple girls’ nights in playing cards and talking.
The main point of Salisbury was (of course) Stonehenge. It’s one of those things that you’re almost required to see if you’re in England for any decent amount of time, especially if you’re there three and a half months. So I made my pilgrimage to Stonehenge, and it was, as the name suggests, a pile of rocks. Don’t get me wrong: it was cool and all – it IS Stonehenge! – but if it wasn’t so famous I probably wouldn’t have cared. We got off the bus, circled Stonehenge and took pictures, and got back on the bus. Other than being there and seeing it in person, there really isn’t anything else to do.
I took Sunday pretty easy – sleeping in, relaxing, finishing up my papers. So that was the extent of Salisbury. We left Salisbury this morning and traveled two hours back to London, and it’s like being home again.
I’ll write about London again later, because right now I have to run out and grab some food. I’m getting kind of hungry.
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