People

Before we set off we reckoned that 19 weeks would be quite a long time to spend here.  Having been here for a month now we both wish it could last longer.  I have considered changing the locks on our apartment and trying to avoid Homeland Security for as long as possible but I suspect that wouldn’t work out too well.

Part of what’s making our time here so pleasurable is the people.  Everyone is genuinely friendly and very hospitable.  I have turned this into a game when we go out for a meal.  Whenever we get attended to I try to see how many times I can get the person who is serving us to say “you’re welcome” in the space of a minute.   Saying “thank you” each time they bring a menu, take an order, place cutlery, whatever, has given me a personal best of 13 “you’re welcome”s.  I hope to reach 15 and break the once every four seconds barrier before we return to the UK.

Folk from the school have also been neighbourly.  One Saturday morning we got a knock on our apartment door.  Marissa, who is a first year and lives across the hall from us, said she had done “a bit of breakfast” and asked if we would like to come over.  As it was nearing lunchtime we figured this would be a good idea.

“A bit of breakfast” turned out to mean plain pancakes, blueberry pancakes, maple syrup, scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, cinnamon rolls (with a side pot of icing sugar for spreading), fruit, juice and coffee.  There were about eight of us there and when we left a couple of hours later there was still plenty left over.  I’m hoping we get invited for “a bit of dinner” soon as I reckon that could feed us for a week.

We were also invited to an evening meal recently with Adam and Martha and their delightful daughter Knox.  Adam was at Mrs G’s college in Cambridge at the end of last year/beginning of this year.  They live not far from YDS and Mrs G, Ellen, Rebekah and I wandered down there one Tuesday evening where we had a lovely time being fed and watered.

We’ve also found ourselves at social occasions at Archie Moore’s a few times as that seems to be the local gathering place for YDS students.  We’ve been there just to catch up with folk, to celebrate a birthday, to watch fooball, to celebrate that it’s Friday and also just for fun.  It can be quite trying having this active a social life, especially spending so much of it in a bar with a huuuuuge menu.

Through sheer grit and determination we’re just somehow managing to get by.