Kitchen Update

The big, open support truss has been removed from the kitchen ceiling and replaced by a much less obtrusive beam.

The beam has been sheet-rocked and will blend in later by matching the walls. Sheet rock is all hung, but we are waiting for it all to be taped and mudded.

Preliminary electrical work has been completed. New cabinets are stacked in our living room, awaiting installation when the time is right. The only bad news so far -- we had to get a new hot water heater. $$$

We're still camped out in the basement, doing painting and a few other chores in other parts of the house. It's looking as though we may be able to move our furniture in sometime mid-October.

A bit of remodeling

We're living in our new home in Decorah now, but we haven't moved our furniture and most of our worldly goods out of storage yet. We're doing a bit of remodeling and hope to let the sawdust settle a bit before we move everything in. Meanwhile, we're busy getting ready to do some painting, etc. Here are a couple of "before and after" shots to show what's going on:

Living Room BEFORE (with previous owners' furniture). You can't quite see the wall that begins to the left of the stairs up to the dining area.

AFTER: The new kitchen and dining area will be much more open to the living room. The stairs will also be wider.

Kitchen BEFORE with a wall separating it from the dining area.

Kitchen AFTER with no wall. The beam in the ceiling will go next. Openness is the theme.

Stay tuned for more updates on the new kitchen project. It will be at least another month before all is complete.

Celebration

My dad will turn 90 years old this week -- a rather exceptional accomplishment. In addition, my mom will turn 85 next month, which also isn't too shabby. In honor of these two singular occasions, we threw a bit of a party.

Birthday honorees

My dad has been a church organist for about 75 years. It wasn't his day job, but it's been his passion. Our daughter is a young composer, looking for commissions. So we coupled the two by commissioning her to write an organ piece for his birthday.

The cake baker and the cake

Sunday afternoon we had the premiere of the new composition as part of a brief recital. Then we topped it off with a reception. Our other daughter bakes cakes as a hobby, so we commissioned her to take care of that.

Family shot

There was quite a crowd (more than we expected), including lots of my parents' friends, and a bunch of my cousins I hadn't seen in decades. It was a good celebration

Where are you from?

This past weekend was Decorah's 46th annual "Nordic Fest." Most small towns in Iowa have some sort of summer festival, many celebrating the ethnic heritage of the town's founders, or some quirk of the town's location or history. Decorah's festival celebrates its Norwegian roots and is unusually well-organized and successful at drawing back many hundreds of former residents every July.

With so many visitors in town, it was not unusual for the locals to inquire of a new face, "Where are you folks from?" The question was posed to us at least a half a dozen times in the course of the three day event. We found ourselves wishing we could just click that old Facebook button, "It's complicated!"

The Director's house in Nottingham

So where are we from? Nottingham, England? Most immediately, I suppose that's correct. We were resident there for a year and it came to feel much like home by the end. But it wasn't really home-- we always knew we were there only temporarily, for a fixed term.

Our living room in Cedar Falls, as it was before we put everything into storage.

So where are we from? Cedar Falls, Iowa? We lived there 26 years, raised our family there, and have many friends in that community. But we sold our house and have been absent from there for more than a year. It's probably more correct than any other answer, but it's not entirely right.

With our daughters and my parents, in front of their Des Moines home, about four years ago.

So where are we from? Des Moines, Iowa? We've been using my parents' home as our legal address while in England, and my Mom & Dad have been diligently sorting and saving our mail that's been delivered there. Our bank accounts and credit cards are all linked to that address. I grew up in Des Moines, but haven't lived there in more than 40 years. My wife has never resided there. Technically, it's our home, but not really.

So where are we from? Decorah, Iowa? I've been an employee of Luther College for 13 years, so I have an office address and phone number, but have always commuted to work from out of town. My wife has only visited occasionally and still gets lost on the winding streets. We're here now in a temporary apartment, but we are still living out of suitcases there and have to leave it in a few weeks.

The house we will occupy in another month.

So where are we from? It's complicated! We've been "homeless people" in a way for this past year. But in another month we shall have a house in Decorah that, hopefully, we will soon make into our home. Perhaps then, when people ask, we won't have that long, awkward pause in which we look at each other and try to figure out how to answer.

Readjustment

We are slowly getting back to a normal U.S. existence.

A few days with our daughter and son-in-law in the Minneapolis area helped us get over jet lag. We also bought a new car while there -- a 2012 Toyota Prius. We liked the one with all the "bells and whistles," but we could afford the more basic model.

We've re-connected with the outside world by getting cell phones. Mary is learning to use a "smart phone" for the first time. It was smarter than she was at first, but she has gotten wise to it quickly.

A very rushed trip to Decorah allowed us to quickly survey a number of houses for sale in town. Fortunately we were able to complete the negotiations and basic paperwork via internet after continuing on to Des Moines, where we are visiting my parents.

It will take a couple more months before we can actually take possession of our new home and begin getting settled. Meanwhile, we've sublet a Decorah apartment for several weeks so that I can get back to work, and we'll get to spend a bit more time getting reacquainted with family and friends.

The heat has been difficult for everyone, but particularly for us, since we have not experienced it for a year. Some things still seem a bit strange to us when we look at them again with new eyes. Most things, however, are still familiar, and becoming more so everyday.

Terra firma

The adventure has ended.

Our travel was long (we left the student flat at 6:15 a.m. British Time and arrived in the Twin Cities at 7 p.m. Central, which is the equivalent of 1 a.m. the next day, British Time), but uneventful. Jet lag is definitely catching up with us, but we've had worse. We'll spend a few days with our daughter and son-in-law here to recover.

The first order of business will be to get a car, as mass transit doesn't work as well here as in Europe. Next we need a house, since we've been "homeless people" while in England. Then there are all the little things, such as phones, internet access, cable TV, and the other necessities of First World, 21st Century life. There will be a few more posts over the next month about these adjustments.

Reverse culture shock occurs after returning from a long time away. These have been subtle little revelations that last only an instant before the conscious mind says, "Of course!": Coming to a stop sign and looking for traffic to come from the right instead of from the left (!). Reaching for the plug of an appliance and being surprised to find that it's a small, two-pronged plug instead of the big, honking 3-prong British variety (!). Hearing people speaking on the street and thinking to oneself, "they must be Americans" (!). I'm sure there will be other, more profound observations in the days ahead.

Do we miss England? Yes. Are we glad to be home? Yes to that, too.

Ground Hog Day

Our students have gone and things are quiet as we prepare to wrap up the year. Some have been curious about what we did here to stay occupied. The question most often seems to come from colleagues who can't believe this program, with only a dozen students and three courses to teach in the year, could possibly be a full-time job. While there's no easy answer for precisely what it is we did, let me assure you that we had plenty to keep us busy.

In the 1993 motion picture Groundhog Day, Bill Murray's character is condemned, by unnamed metaphysical forces, to live the same day (2 February) over and over again until he gets it right. I don't feel as though I've been condemned to anything, but my days here in England took on a certain Groundhog Day-like routine -- at least the first part of the day.

We were awakened by the boiler, even in June

In the mornings we were been awakened by the timer on our heating system (yes, even in June!). When the boiler kicked in, around 6:45 a.m., we'd hear a bit of clanking in the radiators which stirred us out of bed. I generally made coffee while Mary hit the shower, then took my turn getting clean. After dressing, I checked my email -- because of the time difference, anything sent late afternoon or evening in the U.S. arrives over night here.

Nuthall Road was usually busy with traffic

Breakfast was followed by a check of U.S. newspaper websites to see what's happening at home. By 8 I was off to the news shop to get a newspaper. I invariably met the same kids going to school, the same workers awaiting their ride at the bus stop.

An unusually calm view of Nuthall Road bus stops on a bank holiday morning

Jack, the proprietor at J & S News, was always good for a morning chat, and we solved the world's problems for a few minutes. On the way home I would see the guys at the used car dealership opening up, even see some of the same delivery "lorries" (trucks) in the neighborhood.

Jack at J&S news always had a smile and a laugh

After we read the paper I would take it over to the flat so that the students could read it also (reading daily papers was part of their assigned course work). When I get there around 9 a.m. few are up and around. One or two may have gone to class already, and a couple more may have been eating breakfast. The rest were still in bed. These are college students, after all, and they were probably up well past midnight "studying," or something.

Unfortunately I didn't get a shot of J & S when it was open, 6 to 6 daily.

I made my rounds of the building, checking doors, thermostats, lights, etc., and generally making sure nothing bad is happening, then head home once again. From here on, there is no routine. Groundhog Day is over and every day is different.

Monday was class day. We met in the evening, but my preps often went most of the day.

Tuesdays and Fridays were shopping days. It usually took an hour and a half or more for both of us, along with one student, to fill two "trolleys" (shopping carts) and get all those groceries back to the pantry in the flat. Mary spent many more hours organizing cooks, menus, and shopping lists.

Other mornings were often reading or writing time. Luther insists I keep a detailed spreadsheet of all our bills and expenses, and this usually requires a daily update. There may have been assignments to grade, trip itineraries to lay out, reservations to make, lessons to plan. Keep in mind that in this gig, I was not only the professor, but the dean of students, head resident, financial services director, buildings & grounds supervisor, cafeteria manager, counseling center staff, chaplain, housekeeping supervisor, etc., etc.

Bringing over the newspaper gave me an excuse to make my rounds at the student flat

After lunch Mary and I almost always took a walk of at least a couple miles. Often we would use this to go on a mission for some program-related errand. Perhaps it was be to the grocery store for some forgotten or last minute item, to the post office, or to the bank, or a hardware store.

The rest of the afternoon were more desk work, or maintenance duty. One recent day I spent much of the afternoon fixing bicycles (for this I got a Ph.D.?). Another day I was on a ladder, scrubbing mold off the ceiling in one of the flat bedrooms (this is England and it's damp).

Buses -- I was planning a full blog post on Nottingham mass transit,
but I didn't get to it.

The early morning may be a Groundhog Day routine, but from there it's anything but routine. Yet the to-do list never grows short. I was the teacher, but also the dean of students, counselor, chief of buildings and grounds, comptroller, and CEO. And much of what we did took three times as long because we had to figure out how to do it the English way, which we weren't used to. But in less that three weeks, we'll be getting reacquainted with America once again.