Primera Día Fuera de Hogar

And thus began the European adventure... one step at a time, folks - I'm in Harrisonburg staying with Bethany until I get on the plane Friday night. It was strange leaving home today by myself, knowing that I would not return there for many months to come. Having packed everything last night and this morning (my visa finally arrived yesterday! huzzah!) I felt no buzz about it, no excitement - just nervousness. Last night I took some consideration to what I'm supposed to do when I arrive at 10am in Heathrow, the website for the British tube system gave me very nice clear directions on how to find my way to my hostel - Palmer's Lodge. It looks to be a nice place right next to a tube station so London here I come!

Monday I had lunch at Sonic (lovely last US hamburger for a while) with Pastor Ken Waclo who charged me with an interesting quest - research on the christian traditions of Spain. Every Sunday (or as many as I can wake up in time for) I am to visit a different cathedral or church to see how they do it, listen to their music, feel the ages old stone and wood of these ancient European churches and report back with some sort of comparison and analysis. Being a student this is nothing different than say a research project, except for the fact that this whole method of research is entirely new to my education. Never before have I actually gone out into the 'field' to gather research, but then again I suppose that's all this trip is - live research on what another part of the world is like. So why shouldn't I include a spiritual lesson? I certainly shall. Why isn't hands on research normal for education, one would think that's the best way to learn. Cost-cutting here and there of course, but honestly we only learn (and by learn I mean really remember) things that interest us, so why not focus on the interesting parts? Otherwise it's all just a forgettable lecture in a dusty room.

Last night for dinner I was given the choice of my last home-cooked American meal, so with the help of my mother I made beer-can chicken, fresh crusty bread, potato hash-browns, peas, lima beans, and apple pie. I would have asked for my mother's incredible baked beans but it slipped my mind. Happily, my grandfather - Charles Alan McCharen - was able to join us for dinner. Shuffling about in his standard khaki pants, nice brown belt and shoes and button-down plaid pattern shirt, he is weary with age but yet unsurrenduring to it. Whenever he is visited (at the retirement home, the Guggenheimer - sp?) by his son/daughter/daughter-in-law/grandchildren his eyes shine back into awareness accented often times by a prompted sentence or two. He incredibly seems to find humor in his life, entertained usually by his son, Phil. My favorite attribute of my grandfather (we call him D-daddy.... dad's dad) is that he lives on his stomach. He will eat whatever tastes good and eat as much of it as he can. One supposes there isn't a great deal to do in a retirement home but everyone must eat and so he does. I particularly enjoy that whenever I bring him food he loves it and makes sure to say so. I did promise D-daddy that I would bring him pictures and tell him stories of Spain and so I will. I will also be wondering what it must look like to him, who was alive during WWII and served as a Marine drill sergeant for many years but now lives in a room the size of the average dorm room with a medical bed, laz-e-boy chair, dresser, drawers, bathroom and a somewhat unintelligible roommate named Mr. Scott. I won't be able to visit him for quite some time but hopefully when I can I'll actually have something to say besides 'what have you been up to?'

Tomorrow afternoon I will be searching for an apartment to live in next year with my music fraternity brother, David Christopher Johnson-Hutton (a.k.a. Stack). I have no idea what I'm looking for except that I can't plan to spend more than $666/mo. on rent and food together - which would be equal to what on-campus living has been. Since I tend to spare no expense on culinary conquests, maybe I'll be able to find rent of around $400/mo.? To anyone who's reading, by the way, you'll always be welcome to join me in my kitchen which should always be stocked with delicious food. Who knows what's left or if it will be right, but we'll try to find it, Stack and I.