Another busy week! Last weekend I made a quick trip to
London and Oxford to meet our neighbor Claudia (on a business trip), visit
Sasha and David (running the Hendrix in London program), and see Francis Warner
in Oxford. I took the train, mainly
because it's less hassle than flying. It's more hassle than I expected,
however, as the security for the Eurostar (the train that uses the tunnel under
the English Channel) is tight. The U.K. border guards are also tough - they
wanted to see my German residency permit, which I don't have yet. I was a
little worried they wouldn't let me through. I always take border security very
seriously - you just never know, and they can deny you entry for any reason. On
the Eurostar nearing the English Channel I wondered for a minute if there was a
prison nearby, until I realized that the tall fences and razor wire are to keep
people out of the tunnel. The U.K. may be connected by rail to the rest of
Europe now, but they are still an island and don't want you to forget it!
In London I had good Indian food (a primary purpose of the
trip, I'll admit) and was lucky enough to hit "Open House" weekend
when one can tour buildings not normally open to the public. We didn't have a lot
of time on Saturday, but visited the Guild Hall. Claudia and I also went to
Evensong at St. Paul's and walked all over a good part of London. For
sentimental reasons I went by Gail's school she attended for a few months in
2007. She was unimpressed that I had done so.
On Sunday Claudia and I went to Oxford and had lunch with
Francis Warner. He then took us on a walking tour of Oxford and we went to
Evensong at his church. They were singing one of Bach's cantatas, in German,
and it was gorgeous. They served a cream tea afterwards, which was a nice
opportunity to talk with some of the church members. Then it was dinner with
the Hendrix-in-Oxford students at, and many of you will appreciate this, a
restaurant called "Beefeaters." It was fun to talk to the students
about their experiences so far and to hear their excitement.
On Monday I made the long trek back to Mainz via London,
Brussels, and Frankfurt, stopping in London for some essential groceries:
chocolate digestive biscuits and jalapenos (not to be eaten together).
The exciting news on Monday was that the Deutsche Telekom
guy came to install our Internet and phone service, after a 3 1/2 week wait.
Hooray! But not hooray - they hadn't sent us the super secret codes needed to
activate the service. No one could give them to us - not the help line, not the
people in the Telekom shop, nobody. Evidently there was some sort of computer
problem that they couldn't generate the codes again. At one point, a person
told Wayne that we should just wait and hope that a letter with the super
secret codes arrived. Seriously. One of my classmates in my German class is
from Bulgaria. She's also having problems and she told me: "In Bulgaria
things can be hard. But not the Internet! Everyone in Bulgaria has
Internet!" Finally on Wednesday we got a text with a secret code. We could
then use that secret code to open a document sent by email containing three
more secret codes (but only by ignoring their instructions and doing things a
different way). And, voila, we have phone and Internet, only four weeks after
moving into our apartment.
I had been feeling a little isolated, so am happy to be able to use the Internet freely and to call. On my first trips overseas, many years ago, having a phone and Internet wasn't even a possibility. I still remember, in 1988, a CNN cameraman I befriended on Red Square calling my family to tell them I was alive and well in Moscow. That was the only contact I had with them. And for two years I lived in a town in Poland with no international phone lines (and no phone in my apartment, anyway). To call out of the country I had to go to the post office, book a call, wait an hour or two, and pay exorbitant rates. I was thrilled to see a month-old Newsweek or International Herald Tribune. So why does it drive me crazy now to lack the amenities?
On another note, ahem, we have noticed in Mainz that the quality of busking (public
performances for donations) is really good. The other day we stopped to listen
to a tenor singing Nessun Dorma on the cathedral square, last night there was a
woman doing this amazing bubble art show, and, believe it or not, there was a
great duet with accordion and cello the other day. That's not something I would
have sought out, I must say, but it was good.
Gail continues to do well in school and it continues to be
difficult. Her bravery was praised by her history teacher for volunteering to
give (and giving!) an oral presentation in class. She has another classmate who
speaks English and they have been excused from regular English classes to
create lesson plans on special days for the other kids, so they are plotting
out a Halloween-themed lesson. She had her first violin lesson here yesterday
and she liked the teacher. Her first clarinet lesson will be next week. We've
definitely not been enforcing the usual practice time with everything else
that's been going on.
This weekend I'm missing the Texas A&M/Arkansas game.
Gig 'em! Too bad it's not shown on German TV. I'm sure I could find a bar near
one of the American bases here showing the game, but I don't think I'm quite
that brave, especially given the hour of the game!