End of the School Year

 

The school year is nearly over; I feel like a kid again—yeah, summer break! The students will be in school until July 4th, but I’m finished on the 29th of June. So, what’s on the agenda?

Earlier this year I had a bunch of different ideas in my head as to what I could do when my contract was finished. Maybe I’d travel in Eastern Europe. Maybe I’d have another job lined up. Maybe I’d visit home and then go traveling in the fall.

I hadn’t given much thought to coming back for another school year, and when Sisley, my boss, asked me I initially said I wasn’t interested. Sisley even said I had the option of coming back for a semester, but by that point Mike had invited me to travel with him to India for a rickshaw race in January (more on that later), so I told Sisley I had plans at the beginning of 2017. She surprised me with an offer to stay through December, basically for the fall application season.

This spring Joanna and I have also grown close, and I hoped that something could happen between the two of us. When Sisley offered me the option to stay this fall Joanna was still technically dating Justin, but it was obvious that we had a connection, and I wanted the chance to see how things developed. The story behind us, and Joanna’s relationship with Justin is complex, and frankly something I shouldn’t get in depth about on my blog! This is more of a travel piece, but hey, you can’t keep personal stuff completely out of it.

Joanna goofing around with some
of the kids...hope she doesn't mind
her picture in here!

Since I was coming back to China in the fall my visa had been extended; I could have traveled around China, to somewhere else in Asia, or I could have flown back home to Ohio. Instead I had decided to see England and Ireland for three weeks before heading to the US.

Joanna is from a town called Rotherham, in the north of England about an hour east of Manchester. On the night of June 29th we flew from Hangzhou to Manchester on Qatar Airways, with a layover in Doha. After an hour plus wait in the non-EU immigration queue I met her parents who were waiting at baggage claim. Bob and Wendy were happy to see their daughter for the first time in nearly a year, and seemed cool with this random guy tagging along. Joanna had told them I was coming of course, but they still must have been curious about what exactly the deal was with us (thankfully it never really came up, and Joanna's parents were extremely hospitable, helping to make me feel more comfortable).

The first few days in Rotherham Joanna and I rested from the trip, explored town, and met up with a few of her friends. When I told them I'd wanted to see Rotherham town center, they replied with a confused look. The common response was, "Why the hell would you want to go there?" Rotherham, and the neighboring city of Sheffield, were industrial centers with glory days long gone, similar to the likes of Cleveland or Buffalo. Still, Rotherham wasn't all that bad, and walking around Sheffield city center was a worthwhile half-day excursion. It certainly had more life and activity than most Midwest rustbelt cities.

Walking through Sheffield city center
There were over 100 elephant statues throughout the city, each
painted by a different artist and with a different theme.

My first week in England Joanna and I also traveled to Whitby, where her older brother Richard lives with his wife and three kids. Whitby is on the northeast coast, surrounded by rolling green fields and cliffs overlooking the North Sea. We took a trip with the kids to the town center where we grabbed fish and chips and let the little ones do crab fishing in the harbor. The following day we played in the park and walked along the beach - the water was far too cold for a swim, but that didn't stop the youngest one, Alice, from getting wet.

Joanna's nephew, Christopher,
and her two nieces,
Charlotte and Alice.
Whitby harbor
Coastline north of Whitby

Joanna and I also visited London for a long weekend, arriving on Thursday afternoon. We crashed at Joanna's friend's place; it was the same friend who'd traveled to China in the spring, so it was nice to see a familiar face. I also took the opportunity to check out two schools in the city that I'm considering for graduate school. I booked an official tour at King's College, and although the London School of Economics was mostly closed for the summer session, I still took a stroll to get a feel for campus (fortunately King's and LSE are only separated by a couple blocks, so I could get a two for one visit).

Joanna and I did see Buckingham Palace, the Tower Bridge, and walk around the Royal Gardens, but most of the time was spent eating and drinking. Friday evening we met our host Sarah at a wine bar near the Thames, with a nightcap on a floating bar - docked on the river. Saturday we visited a food market for lunch and walked through the City. I'd suggested we see the Monument to the Great Fire, the top of which has panoramic views of London at a fraction of the cost of London Eye or The Shard. The views were worth the 311 step climb, but unbeknownst to me Sarah's fiancee was afraid of heights! "What a great suggestion," I thought, as James practiced controlled breathing on his way up the winding staircase.

Posing in front of Buckingham Palace
Trafalgar Square 
View over the Thames before we went to the riverboat bar 
Looking out over London on top the monument to the Great Fire
The spiral staircase up the tower
Oh yeah, I also went to the London Olympics site.
St James Cathedral

That afternoon we also stopped by St James, which was closed to the public for the day (that's what you get for late starts), and eventually ended up at an abandoned parking garage rooftop. The roof had been converted into a bar with patio tables and amazing sunset views of the city. After one more bar - where I managed to buy a round of mixed drinks for 30 Pounds - we managed to catch the tube while it was still running. Back in Sarah and James's neck of the woods, we stopped at a Caribbean jerk chicken joint before calling it a night.

Aside from Whitby and London we also took several day trips, including Birmingham (on the way back from London), Sherwood Forest, and the medieval city of York. Before coming to England I hadn't expected to spend as much time as I did at Joanna's parents' place. It's not that I didn't want to stay; it was great to have a home base and get home cooked meals too! After two weeks I was ready to get a move on, this time to Ireland!

English countryside in Yorkshire
Town where we took a day trip from Rotherham
Part of York old town

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