Where are you from?

For obvious reasons, I get asked this question a lot as of late. My answer depends on who is asking it and where we are when I am being asked. The most obvious answer at the moment is ‘America’. If people push for specifics I say, ‘Most recently, Boston’. (Interestingly, I have lived in Boston more years (almost 20) than any other place in my life, but I have never referred to myself as a Bostonian.) I have been thinking about this a lot…how will I be answering that question a year from now?

At the moment, I feel like I am floating; not exactly a man without a country in the Philip Nolan sense, but unsure where I am from at this particular point in time. I don’t feel fully a part of any place. Right now I am living and working in England; I still have belongings and a place in Boston; in addition there are some MORE of my things at my parents’ in New Jersey. While my address remains in Boston, my mail is being forwarded to NJ. As George Carlin would say, 'I've got s*!t all over the place!' Well, what happens when I no longer have a place in Boston? I have a Massachusetts driver’s license; is that proof of where I am from? What about when I am no longer connected there? In addition I have both Irish and American passports. I certainly am not ‘from’ Ireland in the way I am ‘from’ America, but I am recognized as a citizen of both nations. (Odd, I am current a citizen of two countries but reside in neither….damn this is getting complicated.)

I only shipped over minimal possessions as I am renting a furnished flat. Many of my friends know that I am not one who likes to own ‘big’ things (that is, stuff bigger than I am). I have only had a car for 2 weeks of my life (when I was 20). I have never owned real estate of any kind (and have no desire to). Currently, the biggest things I own are a few pieces of furniture; bed, dresser, desk, chairs, a TV. They are in Boston, and I am trying to figure out what to do with them (and the thousand smaller things) when I visit in August. When I do dispose of them (in some way; selling, shipping, storing or throwing out) and I leave my place in Boston, does that mean I am REALLY from here (from that point on)? If so, where am I FROM now? Seems Einstein was right, we can not separate time and space as easily as we pretend we can.

The possessions I did bring or ship with me (besides clothes) are objects that are familiar and help to make a space feel like mine; a few small paintings I bought in Prague, some knick knacks (a few given by friends, students and others over the years) selected photos and that is about it. I guess for me it is an attempt to make a space ‘mine’ in some ways (and it beats how dogs mark their territory!) Still, I don’t feel ‘here’ yet, but I certainly am not ‘there’.

I guess this all this rambling is trying to sort out exactly what concepts like ‘place’ and ‘home’ and ‘I am from X’ really mean for me. Any thoughts/comments/observations are welcome.

Birthday Part Deux, Part Deux

The aformentioned Tuesday birthday celebration was for myself and my colleague Clark. After a few rounds of "where should we go??" our colleague Mark found this great tapas restaurant called Duk. They were amazing!! There we were a party of 14, Deaf and hearing, signing away and they were incredible. They basically said, how much do you want to pay per head (we said £10), is there stuff we should avoid (a few people we not fond of fish so they chose from the veg and meat sections). The waiter then took our drinks order and then the food kept coming! Instead of bringing small plates, they brought 2-3 dishes of everything (let's see, mushrooms in a garlic cream, 'sticky, spicy chicken', pork with tomatoes and on and on).

The team got a cake (seen in previous pic, and Mr. A, it was not marzipan, but a Madeira cake with an apricot filling and butter cream frosting YUM!)) and the owner of the restaurant gave Clark and I each a glass of Champagne with a strawberry (see below). It was a really nice night out; got to meet some people on the team I had not yet met as well as re-establish ties with people a know. A truly great way to spend a birthday!

People asked Clark and I how old were were, we said "21", see:




Obviously signing about my phone here:



Not sure what Clark and I were chatting about here, American Football goal posts? Doors Opening? My world-famous Evita impersonation? No idea...

Celebration (Part Deux)

More later, but here's the cake I was surprised with last night. I shared it with a colleague whose birthday is today. (FYI ignore the date, it was set wrong on a friend's camera.)



Oh and it was yummy!

Celebrate good times...OY I am tired!

Well it has been a fun few days.

Saturday night met up with part of the old crowd as part of my re-entry/birthday celebration. We started at the Grey Friar. Good News? Cheap Guinness…Bad News? PACKED to the rafters with obnoxious people. For those of you in the states, picture any bar that has cheap prices and is filled with college frat boys…got the picture? After that, we had a nice meal with incredibly slow service at an Italian restaurant around the corner from my office. British restaurant service is not known to be quick but even my Brit friends were amazed at how slow it was.

We then proceeded to do a pub crawl. We ran into a bunch of folks who I knew when I was here before…all were very pleased to see me. I lost count, but I think we hit about 5 pubs and one dance club (including a biker pub and the only Gay Club in town). Last time I was here, pubs had to close at 11, and clubs could stay open until 4:00 AM. Now places can have even more extended hours. We went to one place for a last pint but were told it as technically last orders (this was around 4 or so); apparently, we looked mature enough (read: not falling down drunk) so the door man let us in for one last one. We then went to fast food joint and had greasy fried foods and a chat with a couple of locals. I then went the few short blocks to my place and fell into bed about 5:00 am. All in all, a fun night.

Sunday I just slept in and then walked around the parks by the river for a few hours. I did a little shopping and settled in for a quiet night.

Yesterday was, of course St. Patrick’s Day. Preston was known to be a very Catholic as well as a very Irish town, so it was a rather busy scene. I started by leaving work early at the behest of a colleague who invited me for a birthday drink. (See, if your birthday does not last at least a week, you are doing it wrong!). We had a very British few hours of drinking and talking work, life, the universe and everything with a few colleagues from the larger department that I am a part of.

Tonight is a birthday dinner (again!) with department staff (including one whose birthday is tomorrow). This Friday and Monday are both national holidays; a 4 day weekend and no plans!! I may go into Manchester for the day…not sure yet.

Well back to work!

It's My Birthday!!

So my first birthday abroad (no, not as a broad, that was an odd year in my med-20's...). Given that 1 US Dollar = about 1/2 a British Pound, I figure that I am only 6 months older. Also, with the time difference, I don't turn older until 3:30 AM tomorrow morning...I love time zones!I woke up this morning and opened the card which Frank; he kindly included a UK itunes gift card! Woo Hoo!

I moved into my new flat yesterday...it is really nice. Still getting thing sorted out and need to unpack (and IRON) and all but the place is fully furnished so really only need to get incidentals at the moment (oh yeah, and food!). I did some of that today, along with getting an overdue haircut. I had Fish & Chips for lunch (mmmmm .. fried stuff with salt and malt vinegar:) ) then came back and had a nap. I slept well last night, but I was still pretty tired.

I also spoke with my folks today...they aren't internet connected and didn't figger out how to call me so thought I'd call them. Jim also called (on my US phone...damn International blocking!). Was really nice to hear his voice.

Time now to get ready for my dinner with mates over here. Will be good to see familiar faces after a few years. Given the way nights out can be with this crowd, I might actually still be out at 3:30 AM when I turn!

Ta for now!

Last day of 'Commute'

As I have said, I am staying with a friend/colleague in St. Anne's (full name: St. Anne's-on-Sea) until I move into town. My friend took today off, so I came in by train. It only took about 35 minutes, but it was a nice 35 minutes past rolling green pastures. Never in any of my commutes around Boston did I ever see chickens (well, live ones, I mean) or herds of sheep (unless you count crowds of commuters as such). Oh, yeah and lots of daffodils and crocuses :)

The last few days really caught up with me yesterday afternoon. By 3PM I was fading. I then realized I had been working since Saturday so this was my 'Friday'. Small wonder I crashed last night. Today I am catching up on all the bureaucratic details; will have lunch with one of my new colleagues and hopefully meet with my Head of Department. I will come in for the AM tomorrow then hopefully move my stuff to my new flat in the afternoon. The place is fully furnished, but will need to buy a bunch of things...will do that Saturday (yeah! Birthday Shopping!!!) Saturday night will be the aforementioned birthday meal and subsequent pub crawl; it'll be nice to see old haunts (and old ghosts) after a few years.

Life is pretty good (except that none of the 4 boxes shipped have arrived....grrr!).

Thanks for all your comments and emails...it really makes me feel less disconnected. I will post later about my thoughts now that I am here and what that may mean for the future in terms of residency, etc. I have been thinking (and having dreams bout) the implications of 'place' and 'identity'.

More, anon :)

They say 1 is the loneliest number,

...but lately I have seen many of its friends. Since my arrival last Friday I have been inundated with numbers for various and sundry purposes. A partial list:

- My National Insurance number (like a Social Security number in the US)
- My new mobile phone number
- My new mobile phone voice mail password
- My Employee Number
- My inital computer password (14 digits!!)
- Door access codes for:
- The main department office
- The mail room
- The photocopy room
- The video recording lab
- My office phone number
- My office phone voicemail password

Of course then there are the phone numbers of friends and colleagues. While these usually go directly into my phone, the way phone numbers are grouped here sounds very different than in the US.

In the US, a number like XXX - YYY - ZZZZ, tends to have the cadence of the numbers in the first 2 groups tending to be rise from 2nd number in the first two groups and fall and stop briefly on the last. (I know sound patterns like this are hard to explain in writing!) It tends to sound like:

da Da Dah, da Da Dah, DA da DA dah

Well phone numbers here are in 2 groups of five: XXXXX YYYYY. My ear wants to hear 2 groups of three, then a group of four, so it takes a while to get used to and to process. (Also if there are two of the same number, like 411, people tend to say 4-double-1 (with three, 444, it can be treble 4. Again having my ear and brain used to oen pattern with opnly numbers it gets thrown when a word like double is in the mix!)

Ahh well, off to the pub to catch up with yet another friend. That's the 411 from here...

Peace out!

'Official' First day of work..

...after teaching for 2 days :) It is about 6:25 PM here, just got in from work

So went into the University and did a bunch of paperwork (waaaay more to come!). Ran into folks that I used to work with who seemed genuinely delighted to see me. A very nice feeling. One friend was not told I was coming and walked into the main department office and screamed (in a good way!). Interestingly, I am sharing an office with a guy who was my student when I was here last time (I even supervised his dissertation, which he plans on continuing as an MA, so we may work together even more). He is a really nice, really smart Deaf guy; so I hope my British Sign Language will improve quickly (although he wants to practice his ASL!!).

Seems like I will be getting the flat I looked at Saturday. I hope to move my stuff from Frank's to there on Friday. Since the place is furnished there really isn't a lot I need to get, but I plan on getting some household stuff, bed linens, etc.

Saturday is my birthday; the first time I am celebrating it in another country. Some of my outside-the-university friends asked if they could take me out; not sure what they have in mind, but knowing them, bail money may be required. I am actually meeting one of them in a bit for a drink; he will be the first person that I know from outside the University that I will be seeing; I hope it feels as comfortable as it has so far!

I still have this odd sense of deja vu mixed with a sense of uncertainty (regarding my new job and role, etc etc.). In some ways it feels like an incredibly vivid dream. I am using this first week or so to get my bearings around the department. My timing is pretty good, students will be on break next week so no need for lectures; I can focus on getting up to speed on the other details. Who would have thought that the teaching part would be the easy part!

I plan on taking some pictures an posting them when I am more settled in my new place.

Gonna grab some dinner now!

Ta!

Nothing like diving in with both feet

So I woke up surprisingly refreshed. Frank and I got to the University about 9ish. It is one of the weekends of the program I'll be administering (the students meet for a weekend every 6 weeks or so). The goal was to just hang about and meet the students, but since one part of the class was a section I developed a few years ago, I dove right in and lectured for about 2 hours. All in all, well received. I saw a bunch of program staff who seemed genuinely interested in seeing me back. I also saw my friend Sue (from another part of the department..was a nice surprise for both of us!).

I am really surprised I do not feel overly tired or jet-lagged. I have travelled this type of trip quite a few times and this was really the most smooth in every way (knock wood!). It also doesn't feel like I was here 3 years ago...seems like it was only 6 months or so. I see that as a good sign!

I also looked at a place to live. It would be renting a room in a flat, right near the city center. It would be sharing with a Deaf man (great way to get up to speed on my British Sign Language!) whose wife has relocated. He would most likely be moving out in May and I could possibly take over the whole place. It is a very modern 2 bed for a good price. I think i may take it!! Very modern and a 10 minute walk to work. I'll keep ya posted if I take it; f I do I'd like to move at the end of this week. That way i can celebrate my birthday (the 15th) in my new place!!

Tomorrow it is back to the University for day 2 of the weekend program then I officially start on Monday. Off for some dinner. Thanks to those who commented...I love reading them..keep 'em coming!!!

The eagle has landed!

Well I have arrived!! I caught an early flight to Chicago and my flight to Manchester arrived an hour (yes an HOUR) early! Frank picked me up an we spent the day catching up and figuring out the weekend. I was hoping to get a new iPhone but complications with iTunes and my not having a UK-based credit card made that not possible at the moment. SO I got a simple pay-as-you-go that makes me long for a new iPhone. C'est la vie!

I will probably be at the University tomorrow, meeting the students in the weekend program I will be administering. Nothing like hitting the ground running! I also hope to start looking for a place to live.

Stay in touch all...either here or by email. Thanks again for all your support!

Best

Robert