OK, so...
...this is another attempt at actually using lj. I have promised emails to lots of people, and to avoid repeating myself and/or feeling guilty about copy/pasting my news into emails, it may just be easier to tell people to check my lj. But! I still will write you emails, I promise, they just might be shorter.
The point of all this, really, is to avoid feeling lonely in England. I think the magic of wireless internet and my laptop will help a lot with this. Last August I shelled out heaps of money to sit in an internet cafe surrounded by irritating teenagers. Now instead I am sitting on the top floor of my grandparents' house in Blackheath, south-east London, stealing wireless from some unknown but no doubt lovely neighbour called VALERIE. And listening to my (new, black, sexy!) ipod, which I got for my birthday.
Getting here was relatively painless. I spent my birthday all sweaty and flustered, in ridiculous humidity and an un-air-conditioned house, doing laundry, tidying, and packing alone while both the parents were at work. I got a reasonable sleep before getting up at 5:30 yesterday, but my *insane* mother didn't go to bed at all because she was finishing various articles, references, etc. We had to wait in 2 huge lines at Logan, and I nearly panicked when we got to the check-in desk and it appeared (from the print-out) that my flights were on completely the wrong days. Turned out to be the flights from last year! The flight was fine and on arriving at Heathrow, we were whisked away by a Handicab driver holding a "Coakley" sign. My mother always gets these people to pick her up at the airport but it makes me feel terribly guilty and spoiled. Apparently it's hardly any more expensive than the 2 trains and cab we would otherwise have to take, though.
It's nice to be at the grandparents' again. My grandmother (who we call Baggy) makes the most amazing, terribly unhealthy, consummately English food. My grandfather (who we call Guv) presses wonderful wine on you constantly. Since his stroke last year, he hasn't been very well and now has a pacemaker like Baggy, but the general effect of his ill-health seems to have been making him much more affectionate, gentle, and delighted with life than he ever was before. It's very sweet, actually.
Just saw my sister for the first time in almost a year - she came over for the traditional Sunday lunch. She has grown her hair long, down on her shoulders, just as I've cut all of mine off. It was good to see her, but as always I felt the old tensions right away. She has to tell me all the time how lucky I am to be thin, and she has to find something to make fun of me for immediately. Today it was how many clothes I brought for the summer (I'm sorry, but 2 months is a long time!) and my pronunciation of the word "baroque" (I'm sorry, but I'm American!) This summer, however, I am going to try to make it work between us - although I actually do think it's usually her fault when we fight - because she's going to be in Washington DC this fall for the whole semester. She got an internship at an NGO for mental health and the law, which sounds really cool. So for the first time in ages we'll actually be able to talk on the phone and maybe even see each other. This will be great if we can get along ok!
Tomorrow I'm headed to Devon (south-west England) for 5 days with my mother. May or may not have internet, I'm not sure. I think it will be fun - we're going to a really nice beach hotel with 2 pools, a salon, fancy food, etc. I plan to read (A LOT!), swim, walk, eat, do needlepoint, and not worry about anything. On July 1 we are going to Oxford to meet my dad and open up our Oxford house (this always reduces my mother to a wreck, as it's never clean enough for her). Then it's back to the grandparents' for my grandmother's 80th birthday bash the next day. Then on July 3 I'm starting my internship - eek!
Off to watch the Queen's birthday celebration on TV. This must be England... I guess I'm home, then. Or kind of.
The point of all this, really, is to avoid feeling lonely in England. I think the magic of wireless internet and my laptop will help a lot with this. Last August I shelled out heaps of money to sit in an internet cafe surrounded by irritating teenagers. Now instead I am sitting on the top floor of my grandparents' house in Blackheath, south-east London, stealing wireless from some unknown but no doubt lovely neighbour called VALERIE. And listening to my (new, black, sexy!) ipod, which I got for my birthday.
Getting here was relatively painless. I spent my birthday all sweaty and flustered, in ridiculous humidity and an un-air-conditioned house, doing laundry, tidying, and packing alone while both the parents were at work. I got a reasonable sleep before getting up at 5:30 yesterday, but my *insane* mother didn't go to bed at all because she was finishing various articles, references, etc. We had to wait in 2 huge lines at Logan, and I nearly panicked when we got to the check-in desk and it appeared (from the print-out) that my flights were on completely the wrong days. Turned out to be the flights from last year! The flight was fine and on arriving at Heathrow, we were whisked away by a Handicab driver holding a "Coakley" sign. My mother always gets these people to pick her up at the airport but it makes me feel terribly guilty and spoiled. Apparently it's hardly any more expensive than the 2 trains and cab we would otherwise have to take, though.
It's nice to be at the grandparents' again. My grandmother (who we call Baggy) makes the most amazing, terribly unhealthy, consummately English food. My grandfather (who we call Guv) presses wonderful wine on you constantly. Since his stroke last year, he hasn't been very well and now has a pacemaker like Baggy, but the general effect of his ill-health seems to have been making him much more affectionate, gentle, and delighted with life than he ever was before. It's very sweet, actually.
Just saw my sister for the first time in almost a year - she came over for the traditional Sunday lunch. She has grown her hair long, down on her shoulders, just as I've cut all of mine off. It was good to see her, but as always I felt the old tensions right away. She has to tell me all the time how lucky I am to be thin, and she has to find something to make fun of me for immediately. Today it was how many clothes I brought for the summer (I'm sorry, but 2 months is a long time!) and my pronunciation of the word "baroque" (I'm sorry, but I'm American!) This summer, however, I am going to try to make it work between us - although I actually do think it's usually her fault when we fight - because she's going to be in Washington DC this fall for the whole semester. She got an internship at an NGO for mental health and the law, which sounds really cool. So for the first time in ages we'll actually be able to talk on the phone and maybe even see each other. This will be great if we can get along ok!
Tomorrow I'm headed to Devon (south-west England) for 5 days with my mother. May or may not have internet, I'm not sure. I think it will be fun - we're going to a really nice beach hotel with 2 pools, a salon, fancy food, etc. I plan to read (A LOT!), swim, walk, eat, do needlepoint, and not worry about anything. On July 1 we are going to Oxford to meet my dad and open up our Oxford house (this always reduces my mother to a wreck, as it's never clean enough for her). Then it's back to the grandparents' for my grandmother's 80th birthday bash the next day. Then on July 3 I'm starting my internship - eek!
Off to watch the Queen's birthday celebration on TV. This must be England... I guess I'm home, then. Or kind of.