2018.09.26: Back from London

Anya is thriving! It was so good to see her in her new contexts in London.

I arrived mid-day on Saturday with 2 large rolling duffel bags and carryons. Most was her stuff. We got unpacked a bit.

Next was lunch at Lee Abbey, her housing facility.

Then, we caught the Tube (subway) to see the Dream Girls musical, in one of the West End theaters that is not too far from Anya’s school. It was great. I only wish that some of the singing was at 80 to 90% of the volume. At times the sound was pushed to distortion volumes for some of the most amazing and full soul voices I’ve ever heard.

We went back to Lee Abbey to pick up my backpack.

Then we returned to only a 5-minute walk from the theater to have dinner with Dave, Connie, and Connie’s mom, Ordetta, who was visiting from the Bay Area. Eric’s family and Ordetta’s family grew up together. Now Connie and Dave live a 10-minute walk away from King’s College.

It was great for Anya to connect with all the stories of Ordetta’s late husband, Paul, who was Eric’s spiritual father growing up. Now, Anya has long-term family friends that she is comfortable with in London. I stayed with them while in London, and we stayed up to midnight talking the first night.

We joined them for church at a really hip church that meets on the London School of Economics campus. It was a meaningful worship with mostly young adults. Anya met a few students as we chatted for a while after the service. I was please to see Anya initiate conversations and feeling comfortable making new connections.

The five of us had great hamburgers for lunch, and then Anya and I went on our own. We visited Kings College, and I somehow talked Anya into letting me take some pictures. Which do you like the best?

Wonder of wonders, she let me take a groupie photo of us both by her campus. Kings College is in part of the Somerset House buildings.

The library is not open for just anybody, like me, so I didn’t get to see the stunning reading room (this time). So, here’s the view from the outside.

We spent a little time at the National Gallery, where I impressed Anya with my limited knowledge. I’ve been watching the BBC show Fake or Fortune? and some lectures from the National Gallery on YouTube. The backstory of the artists makes the paintings more interesting.

We had dim sum (Cantonese food) for dinner and then Anya went home as I returned to my host home. On Sunday night, we only talked until 10 pm, cut short because of an early Monday morning departure. How renewing it is to live in the English-speaking world and connect with people who go quite a ways back in shared history.

I met Anya for breakfast on Monday morning before her first lecture at 11:00. Unfortunately, our plans for more dim sum were thwarted by closed restaurants. Dim sum is clearly not for breakfast in London. So, we found a nice little coffee shop and kitchen, where I had an amazing breakfast of figs, pistachios, nasturtium blossoms, on some creamy-honey layer on sourdough with a “sticky chai.”

We said goodbye, as she serenaded me with the  start of the ABBA song, “Slipping Through My Fingers” by Agnetha Fältskog.

School bag in hand / She leaves home / In the early morning
Waving goodbye / With an absent-minded smile
I watch her go / With a surge of / That well-known sadness
And I have to sit down / For a while
The feeling that I’m / Loosin her forever
And without really / Entering her world
I’m glad whenever I / Can share her laughter
That funny little girl

Slipping through my fingers / All the time…

I’ve resolved to celebrate her wonderful opportunity and try to not feel sorry for myself when I’m feeling lonely. I am consoled knowing that she is thriving and navigating her college experience with remarkable wisdom for her age. Providentially, she has made some friends in her math department who are fun to be with and who do not choose to go “clubbing” on the weekends. Fortunately, with texts and FaceTime on our iPhones, we can make occasional check ins. So, join me in thanking God for providing this amazing journey for Anya.

I had a little walk that morning, which included a view of the Thames, as King’s College is right by the river.

Finally, on my way home, I passed Buckingham Palace on my way to catch the train to Gatwick Airport.

And now for something totally different… This week, I found out that I have an invitation to the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology (EGST), which I visited in February 2017, a partner institution to JTH. I will teach a 2-week intensive on Old Testament biblical interpretation focusing on the Pentateuch sometime in January 2019.

With blessings,

Beth