Jan 4th, 2014
a full day of packing yesterday. this, after MONTHS of planning and making lists! how do you pack yourself and your work for six months? sudden final hour decisions when the big bag is too heavy: just leave this book, and that one, arrggghh, and that one, too; but i must have this sweater…
bumpy flight absolutely full, so not much sleep; just dozing in and out, sending prayers so this is not the end.
landing at Heathrow, as i have done several times before, but this is no 1 week research conference or even 2 week visiting professorship, this is coming to live here! it does feel different, yet familiar. i hope i like it. i hope i like the people. i hope they like me. today is gray and rainy. i’ve decided to be in love with rain.
remarkably easy to get through passport check – all that work to get that visa paid off along with carrying papers proving I really do have a reason to be here.
pick up luggage, drop off one bag, find the bus stop; wait…
in the bus i realize that i don’t understand the English language, it sounds as foreign as the French being spoken behind me. it seems that the English people are biting off the front of the words. i keep having to ask people to repeat what they’re saying. then they slow down and i begin to decode the sounds and it IS a language i know!
remarkable sightings: bright green grass, bushes with yellow flowers in bloom, the cement walls leading into and out of a tunnel densely covered with with green growing plants – a living wall.
i find my way to the hotel, glad that today is a ‘rest day’. i feel like i do after a busy 24 hour call in the hospital, pleased but physically wiped out with leaden limbs that i can barely lift. i am happy to have a warm bed. and i notice my hair is not electrified – i love the rain!