Hello dear friends. I am sure you are wondering where I have gone. I have been meaning to update my blog and it has been on my mind daily, when I am standing on the platform at London Bridge, when I am walking across Tower Bridge and when I am sitting on the train to Dartford but by the time I get home of an evening I am pretty wiped and the blog, unfortunately, doesn't take precedent. So much has happened in the last few weeks and I have many things to share with you all, including updates on our few amazing days in Wales, but I have felt distracted.
We are at a point in our journey where we have a decision to make. It is hard to believe that it is exactly one year since Rick had his interview in Toronto for a job here in the UK. How far we have come from the job offer to renting our house and all of the other arrangements that needed to be made to make this all possible.
I feel somewhat like a wishbone spread between our new life in England and our home back in Douro. Walking to the train station this morning amongst a soft spring rain, a scent caught my attention, and it made me think of a time in my life when I was a girl and living in B.C. The pine trees were fragrant and the mist lingered amongst the mountains and I remember feeling a little like I was submerged in a dream. We had lived in Ontario for most of my childhood and our move to B.C. took a lot of adjusting, not just for me, but also for my family. The culture was different, the climate mild and moist, and our friends and family were miles away. So as I was hiking my way to catch the train this morning, this wonderful smell of pine struck me as a reminder that Douro felt so far away too and I actually missed my connection with the earth there. I miss the expansive sky, the swallows that swoop and dive as they greet me, Frank's tractor plugging up the 4th line, a crimson sky on an Autumn night, and Rick cooking up something tasty is our fabulous kitchen.
And yet, even though I do yearn for all of the things that make Douro my home, I still feel like there is something else I need to do or something else I need to experience. My temporary work at EY has been very gratifying and has stretched my HR skills and encouraged me to take more chances in my career. I am really proud of my ability to integrate into an entirely new work environment and be successful and also become a valued part of their recruiting team. I am starting to make friends and also gain a reputation as the friendly Canadian with the wacky sense of humour. I have been teaching them some of my favourite sayings like "Take off, eh" and "hose head" and "time to split this popsicle stand". Now that comes as a surprise, doesn't it?
Chan is still awesome and thrives at school. He recently received awards for Science and Music last module and I have signed him up for private piano lessons. He has discovered that he has a love of making music and the classes here have helped to support that. He fits in well with the British kids and plays football and rugby weekly. But he does miss his family back home and a year away from the people that you love can be a long time.
Rick continues to learn so many things as a first year teacher. He finds the classes of 60 students very challenging, but enjoys the concept of team teaching with two other colleagues. As with any teaching assignment, there are up's and down's and finding the right balance between the two is what he strives for.
So as I hopped on the train and flipped out a copy of the Metro for my morning read, I thought of the creaky wooden floors of Towns' General Store, sipping wine and listening to Jackson Brown on our deck, and watching the wind rustle through the tall evergreens that line our lanky driveway and I can't help but think... will our path lead us back home or will we venture onward.
