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Sunday, 3 June 2007 (posted Tuesday, 19 June 2007) I'm on my way home, which sounds simple enough in itself, given one is sure of what home means and a sure knowledge of where home is. It was only this morning as I finished my last bit of packing that I realized that I would not be returning (for at least some time) to my home on Finstock Close. Until that point it felt as though I was packing for a week holiday and would be back a week later to continue work at St. Patrick's High School, shop at Morrison's and train into Manchester for shopping and drinking. Though Wisconsin will always be home. I was asked a lot over the past few days on whether or not I was looking forward to returning. The obvious answer was that I was looking forward to warmer weather (the hottest it affectively gets in England is 25ºC (~75ºF) and sunny days are more of a treat than a expectation in the summer months. Of course I am also anxious to see friends and family again. It would be hard to out-do summer weekends camping on a sandbar on the Mississippi with my family, or dinner and conversation about anything and everything over at Leisha's house, or a Thursday or Sunday night at Peabody's, dinner at Water City Grill, thrifting with Cassie, going to another one of John's shows, and even (albeit sometimes dreading) going back to Manawa to visit family and old friends there.
I can tell you I am not looking forward to going back to the University to finish up my coursework. I suppose is the result of a learned affinity to live life more intitively rather than one that comes at us rationally (do this to get to this point) with rigid schedules and timeframes, and one that is, for lack of a better word, meticulousnessly academic. It is true there is always the concern that one can become lost in this sort of laissez-faire, intitive approach if there is no structure to where we want to go in the future. But this simplistic (and I would argue reductionist) approach to going through life making choices based solely on 'if I complete A, B, and C then I will achieve my goal, whereby the process repeats upon completion of the previous. The latter reminds me of a set of stairs gradually progressing upwards, in an almost too predictable fashion. The former, on the other hand, has the merits of openness to experience, a fluid attention that constantly processes events in the environment, and thus is a great advantage for recognizing potential novelty. Perhaps I am jaded by having been at the University for five years (read: inundated with this sort of rote learning). When Thomas Jefferson was traveling in Europe in the 1780s, he came to the conclusion that travel makes men wiser but less happy - though I would replace less happy with less content. We come to realize though our travels possibilities yet undreamed of, improvements previously unimagined, and reasons for satisfaction with home. "Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased." (Daniel 12.4) We approach new places with humility. We irritate locals because we stand on traffic islands and in narrow streets and admire what they take to be strange, small details. Home on the other hand, finds us more settled in our expectations. We feel assured that we have discovered everything interesting about a neighborhood, primarily by virtue of having lived there a long time. It seems inconceivable that there could be anything new to find in a place, which we have been living in for a decade or more. Indeed returning home is bittersweet. Both have their desirable qualities. Is it possible to have one foot in the US and another in the UK trying to straddle the Altantic? (I am reminded of the statue of Colossus, one of the wonders of the ancient world, staddling the two plinths arising from the water, under which ships would supposedly pass). Perhaps the coversation ultimately asks whether it is possible for one to have two homes? Can one navigate life with two pulls, two directions from with all thoughts and efforts affect one life (idea, task, goal)? It seems currently the only resolve upon return (for an indefinite amount of time) is the hope that we can apply a traveling mindset to our own locales; we might find these places becoming no less interesting than the customs, indeed worldview, of England. Sunday, 3 June 2007 On the train back to Manchester this afternoon. It is so nice to be able to go home and have life return to 'normal' even if for only another week. The next couple of days will hopefully be the calm before the storm as I am sure my last few days in Manchester will be busy with going out with friends and coworkers for the last hurrahs and scrambling to get those last minute gifts for those back home, oh, and packing of course. Friday, 1 June 2007 This morning Chris and I are on our way to London. Chris arrived on Monday and has since been in and around Manchester. On Tuesday we headed out to the suburb of Salford to see the Imperial War Musuem and the Manchester United Grounds. On Wednesday we went to see the Manchester Museum, and today we are heading into London to check out Westminster Abbey and the Trafalgar area. But before I write much about anything else I have posted my pictures from last weekend in London. |
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Yet I will miss just as much, which perhaps makes this time over here different from other trips over to the other side of the Atlantic. I think my routine and those I worked with at St. Pat's top this list. I did love the routine I had created for myself. Life came and went at a more relaxed pace and more intuitively; it wasn't so calculated and busy with appointments and commitments (obligations?). The other art teachers at St. Pat's also were the most pleasurable group to get on with. Our conversations were not unlike those I have had with friends of many years, never sterile and superficial, but comedic, often witty, even cheeky. I can't count how many times my stomach was in folds over the conversations we had over lunch.