Final Thoughts

For those of you who actually read this, I am sorry that it has been soo long since I last wrote. Life has been very very busy and I can hardly believe that I have less than 2 weeks left here in the UK.

Probably the most exciting news I have is that Daniel came to visit a few weeks ago and we are engaged! He proposed the first day he was here walking along the Thames. It was spontaneous and wonderful! (and per my request he did not get down on one knee - lots of people ask that question) We had a wonderful trip with lots of theatre - 4 shows! and traveling - to Liverpool and Abergavenny, Wales. It was great to have him here and it was a really nice break from the monotony of term.

I have one tutorial left for my minor with Barry and two with Jacquie for my major. It is going to be a push here at the end but I am so close! It will be good to get home to a house that is not constantly a mess - it seems that no matter how much we clean things get gross really quickly! At the moment our oven has decided to not work - which means all cooking is limited to the stove top since our microwave took a dive in the Fall.

This coming weekend is the last big hurrah! We have our group excursion to Stonehenge which I am really looking forward to. On Sunday Meg and I are going to see Hamlet in London starring Jude Law! It should be really fantastic!

My sessions with Sean continue. I can't even begin to think how much I am going to miss him when I am back in the States. He is coming along so well! He has made it very clear however that he is not a fan of Daniel and he is prepared to compete for my affection :). The day I took Dan over to meet the family he pouted on the couch and didn't want to shake Daniel's hand. He also didn't want to wave to us from the door when we were leaving. The next time I went in for a session we were playing on the floor and he took my hand and looked at the ring for a couple minutes. About 5 minutes later we were playing our sniffing game nose to nose - and he kissed me! I was so shocked! He is absolutely darling!

I am realizing now that I am at the end of my time here that I have had an experience very different from what most other people have had, but I don't regret it at all. I chose not to travel, but I got to see as many amazing shows as I wanted to see. I didn't go out for tea in the afternoons or to evensong, but I spent my time with Sean and I don't regret a moment of it. This experience has been wonderful and I wouldn't go back and change a minute of it!

Cheers to All! I will see you very soon!

lydia

Still Spring Break...

Hello Friends! 

I am 3 weeks into Spring Break, and believe it or not I am VERY ready for term to start! This week has been really nice - lazing around reading and spending time with my housemate Lena, and of course spending time with Sean! 

I had two stellar sessions with Sean this week. My parents brought some coloring books for Sean from the States, and Monday we found out that Sean LOVES Spiderman! We spent almost an hour sitting and working the word searches in the Spiderman book. For an autistic child that is a really big accomplishment! Since Monday his mom told me that everything has been Spiderman, and he takes the coloring book to bed with him every night! He is so sweet! My session Thursday was just amazing though. We had what Marijana called Sean's first real play with a volunteer. He has two inflatable pilates balls and we had a blast rolling around and falling off the balls and lots and lots of tickles and giggles. It was great - he was totally with me playing, talking, physically connected, eye contact - it was so great!! 

Lena and I went and saw 'Knowing' with Nicolas Cage on Wednesday, we thought we would really like it, but I think I've decided that I didn't. We have also had a really good time with our new coloring books and colored pencils - they are a great way to be together and just relax :). 

Today I went to Christ Church for Eucharist. I really like going there. I am finding that I very much enjoy the Anglican church, and I love Christ Church. I have been a few times now and I am starting to recognize people, mostly the little choir boys, and some of the clergy, but there is a woman I've seen a couple of times who comes with her little girl and a baby boy. It was nice to be with other people for Palm Sunday, but I did miss 2BC and getting to see the kids process with the palms. I am planning on going to Christ Church again next week for Easter and then Marijana has invited me out for some time on the weekend. She doesn't want me to be alone for the holiday weekend, so I will probably go and spend some time with my Oxford family :). 

I am leaving for Mallorca, Spain in about 10 days and will be there for 3 days. I am very excited - hopefully the weather will be nice - I am expecting lots of reading on the beach!

That's about all I know! I will right again soon!

lydia

Hello All!

I am finally starting to recover from having the family here all of last week and all of our traveling. We had a really great time visiting lots of fancy houses in the north of the country. We've been in England several times as a family but this was our first trip in that part of the country and it was also our first time renting a car. That in and of itself was an adventure and one that I would be perfectly happy to never repeat. Dad drove very well all things considered - but it was definitely stressful!

We spent our first weekend with our friends from Leeds. I saw them when they visited Oxford in November, but our family's hadn't been all together since 1998 - it was a lot of fun to travel together like we used to! 

Probably the highlight of the week, for me, was our trip to Liverpool. We took a black cab tour which was a lot of fun. The driver took us around to see all of the houses and other landmarks like Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields. One day wasn't even close to being enough though, so when Daniel comes in May we're going back for a couple of days - I can't wait!

I had a couple of days back in Oxford with Mom and Dad - one of which was Mothering Sunday. We went to Sung Eucharist at Christ Church, it was really nice. I'm glad to have a little peace and to stay in one place for a while. 

I will be here in Oxford until April 15 when I am going to Majorca, Spain with a few housemates. It should be fun to go and relax on the beach! 

I started up sessions with Sean again today. I've really missed him and Marijana, his mom. They are so sweet to me! 

That's about all I know for now, more later. 

lydia

Okay - time to breathe

Hey All! 

Sorry it's been so long since I posted last. The past few weeks have been incredibly hectic, but I made it! Hilary Term is officially over (for me)! My parents and Abby will be here tomorrow morning and I have a glorious 5 weeks to relax and charge up for Trinity Term. I can't believe everything has gone so fast, but I'm really glad to have the break. 

Between tutorials, Sean, lectures, and trying to have a life I'm absolutely exhausted! 

Last Wednesday our group saw The Recruiting Officer at the Oxford Playhouse. It was an Oxford University production and was very enjoyable. The female lead was played by Harriet Tolkien (an English Lit Major at Exeter College - Penelope suspects that she is Tolkien's grandaughter). Overall it was really nice to see a college production since I've missed those from home! 

Last weekend Megan, Lena and I went into London to see Spring Awakening (again - for me) It was just as great the second time around - and we had a really fun girls day together! And of course, I'm not done yet - Daniel and I have tickets to see the show AGAIN after it moves to the West End. I'm kind of sad because I really love the theatre it's at now, but Megan and I are excitedly planning a trip back to this theatre (the Lyric Hammersmith) to see Wuthering Heights - the Bollywood production! We're pretty excited!!

In other theatre news Megan and I are looking forward to seeing Madame de Sade with Dame Judi Dench and Hamlet starring Jude Law! Daniel and I will see Waiting for Godot with Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan. I have LOTS of fabulous theatre to look forward to over the next few months! 

Tuesday was probably the most hectic day I've had yet. I had a tutorial scheduled with Barry for 10 am - my last C.S. Lewis tutorial, a play therapy session with Sean from 1-3, and I had agreed to babysit for an OOSC/Hendrix alum that evening. Of course, nothing went as planned, after getting up at 5 am to finish my paper and rushing around to get to tutorial on time I arrived at Harris Manchester to wait for Barry. 35 minutes later he still hadn't shown up. The porter said that he should have been there so she told me how to find his room. When I got there I recognized one of my housemate's voice reading her paper! Barry had double booked our time slot. He decided to remedy the problem by putting me at 11. Unfortunately the other TWO girls he had scheduled for 11 showed up as well - what a mess! Luckily I got to go ahead and have my tutorial at 11 and it was very very good. 

Because my tutorial was an hour later than I had planned I didn't have time to run home before catching my bus to see Sean, so I grabbed a cup of coffee from NERO and some crisps hoping that they would tide me over. Sean and I had a really nice session. He is so sweet, and we are getting on so well. I love realizing how much he trusts me and I love seeing the connection we are building. 

Finally, I babysat for complete strangers Tuesday night. A Hendrix alum who came back and did grad work at Pembroke College was back in Oxford for a dinner with his wife and baby daughter. I watched the little girl for a few hours. She is 19 months old and was a lot of fun! 

Overall it was a really good day, but very very tiring. 

Yesterday we had our final field trip of the term - to Broughton Castle and Syon Park. Broughton was probably one of my favorite things I've done yet! It is a small castle owned by Lord and Lady Saye and Seele, better known as the Fiennes family (aka Ralph - you know Voldemort) Yep, that's right, Ralph Fiennes' Aunt and Uncle. Even more awesome - they are close family friends of the Warners so they opened the house up for us on a day it's normally closed and Lord Saye and Seele gave us the tour himself. He is such a fun man! The house is so great, and has been used in several movies - most notably Shakespeare in Love (which starred Joseph Fiennes - Ralph's little brother - as Shakespeare), Made of Honor - the banquet scene, and strangly enough Three Men and a Little Lady (ha). 

Syon Park was really nice too. The house was so beautiful and elaborate! Lots and lots of paintings on the walls and busts and sculptures. Seriously, they covered almost every surface! We had a really nice time walking around the grounds at Syon Park where we found lots of fun carved tree stumps for pictures, but SO EXCITING! Winnie-the-Pooh's front door! (You know, the little tiny door in the base of a tree trunk with the little sign that says 'Mr. Sanders' with the backwards 's' and 'hunny' pots by the door!) It was absolutely adorable!

We were all exhausted by the time we got back, but it was a wonderful day and a great way to end the term. This morning I had my last tutorial for my major, Feminist Literature, it was really good, I have enjoyed that tutorial so much! 

Mom, Dad and Abby will be here in the morning and we will head north for the week. I am looking forward to relaxing for a while. More later!

cheers, lydia

and all will know the wonder of purple summer

Hello All! 

It has been quite the week! I had a week off from Sean because he had a nasty flu, but it has been a very busy week none the less!

Tuesday was the first trip to London for the week, our group went in to see Twelfth Night with Derek Jacobi as Malvolio! It was a great production in a really neat theatre. It was modernized production that was set at the seaside. It was really really great! The actor who played Feste had a beautiful voice! Overall it was a very enjoyable evening, although we got back to Oxford after midnight. 

The next day, Wednesday, Ashton and I set off on our London adventure to see Spring Awakening! We were so excited I had a ticket for the front row and Ashton had one in the row behind me! Spring Awakening won the Tony for best new show in 2007, so we were really looking forward to it! We got to the theatre very easily and found our seats. About 5 minutes before the show was to start an usher came up to the couple on my right, she said that they had 2 seats left on the stage that they had to fill and asked them to take them. They didn't want them so she offered them to anyone else. Ashton and I (of course) jumped at the opportunity. We rushed out to the lobby to put our stuff in the provided lockers (you aren't allowed to take anything into the onstage seating area) and rush to our seats. After some shuffling around to accomodate everyone we ended up on the front row stage right! I was sitting on the aisle which turned out to be a great experience! The stage seats don't have the best view, you end up seeing things from behind the action or in profile, but it was totally worth it for the experience! There were a couple of instances that I thought I was possibly going to be run over by some of the boys, but I loved every minute of it! 

Tutorials this week have been okay, Virginia Woolf's  novels proved a lot harder to get through than her lectures, but I still enjoyed them. As for C.S. Lewis, evidently Barry changed my tutorial from today to Tuesday, but forgot to tell any of us. Luckily my housemate was first to go this morning and figured it out before I left the flat. 

I had a great session with Sean yesterday. He's been really sick, but he's really missed all of us. I got a huge look and smile when I walked in the door. He immediately put his finger on his nose and stuck his tongue out, to show me he remembered our game and he associates that with me now. He was very cuddley and lovable which always make for fun sessions! His new song is Barbie Girl by Aqua, he knows all of the words, and it is SO cute!

I've had an action packed week! I hope next week is a bit tamer, but it has been a really really good one. Another highlight ths week: Daniel bought his ticket! He's officially coming to see me for 2 weeks in May when he's done with classes! I am so excited for him to be here and to share all of this with him! 

love you all and miss you!

lydia

Half-Way Point

Hello All! 

I can't believe that Hilary is halfway over! I am officially halfway done with my minor tutorial and after Thursday I will be halfway done with my major! The countdown to Spring Break has officially begun! 

Both of my tutorials are great this term. I have a new found love for Virginia Woolf (at least her lectures - I haven't actually read her fiction yet, but I like the lectures a lot!) and C.S. Lewis just gets better and better. Right now I'm reading Till We Have Faces, it's so great! 

The snow is finally gone (thank goodness) and we're back up into the high 30's low 40's. I am so ready for spring weather. It won't get too warm, but I will enjoy being able to get out and walk a lot more. 

I have had some really great sessions with Sean since I last wrote, and we had our first team meeting where I got to meet all of the other volunteers. We are getting more and more comfortable with each other, I get lots of big huggles and smiles. It is amazing to watch him grow and learn - he has such a big vocabulary now! and he repeats EVERYTHING! Our new game is that every time we put a finger on the tip of our nose we have to stick our tongue out. He thinks it is the funniest thing ever and I get to see his big brown eyes! Going to see Sean is my favorite part of the week. It's great to get in with him and play and be accepted so unconditionally. Marijana and Keith (Mum and Dad) are great as well. They are very much like my family here. 

This week is pretty tame - not a lot going on, but that's okay because there is lots to keep me busy next week! Two trips to London to see a couple of great shows!

miss you all!