Return of the Prodigal Kitty

Five years ago I had just finished University and was starting my first teaching job in a small town. I had been living in student housing type places for years, and the hardest part of that was not being able to have pets. So I found a fourplex that I could move into that would allow me a pet. I wanted a cat - particularly a tortoiseshell one.

So in October my sister-in-law found an ad for some kittens, one of which was a tortoiseshell. We went out to the farm and met the kitties. I came home with a small, mewling, black and slightly orange ball of fuzz. I named her Quirk.

Over the last five years she has been the biggest constant in my life. She is cute and annoying and sweet and grumpy and all that jazz. She grew up into a big (and I mean big - she has been on a diet for years) kitty. I will admit there are times I want to throw her into a snow bank for being annoying, but she is my girlie.

When I decided to move to England for two years I had to decide what to do with the cat. I couldn't leave her with my parents as they have Lepton - a second cat I tried to introduce to my household that did not work out. I also knew that she is a huge part of my life and realized that she would be the difference between staying out my contract or getting so homesick I left early. This was proven to me when I came over here for two weeks before the move. Even though she was with good people I missed her so much it was ridiculous.

So I arranged to spend a bunch of money to fly her over. She couldn't come when I first came over so I left her with two amazing people who together took care of her and got all the paperwork sorted. Seriously, Chris and Courtney are fantastic and I cannot put into words how much I owe them.


Sunday night they took her to the airport and dropped her off with Air Canada. She arrived in London around 2 pm. Around 5 pm I got a message from my mum that they had gotten ahold of her, there was some issue with her microchip so she told them the vet's name. I called them and they  had it sorted. Around 7 pm I got a call that she had finally fully cleared and was being shipped up. She arrived about 11:30.

When they got here they called me and told me they were downstairs. I came down and out to the van where he was getting her carrier out. She was making horrible distressed noises so I started talking to her. As he was carrying her to the house I could tell the instant she recognized my voice because the cries went from painful distressed cries to impatient, I want to be with you now cries.

I got her inside and let her out of her carrier. She instantly started to explore. She would walk away and explore for a few seconds then loop back to me. She wouldn't stand still long enough to get a picture, the best I could get was this

 

 

I got used to this pattern of walking away and then looping back to me. So when she went up the stairs I expected her to be back again quickly. So I waited, and waited, and started to wonder. I followed her up the stairs and found her on the floor of my bedroom, lying there wanting love. She had figured out where our room was and made herself comfortable within about five minutes.

 



 

 

 



For the next while she alternated between coming and visiting me in the bed (right up to lying next to me purring while I petted her!) and then getting up to go explore. She was definitely stressed but also very happy to be back with me. I was also very happy - it sounds ridiculous but I swear I felt like my soul was whole again.

I decided to get ready for bed and let her do her thing. While I was reading I look up and find this:

What a silly monster.


This morning she was still hanging out upstairs with me. I had hoped she would go downstairs to find her litter box and food/water area, but I realized while she was trying to lead me around that she was unwilling to go that far from me. So we came downstairs and I showed her the litter box again. I then sat by her food and water so she checked those out. I came over here to start writing and she resumed exploring. So far she has been chased off the kitchen counters, hissed off the table, and found herself climbing into the fireplace (that scared me! I will have to be very cautious about that). She is being much braver about staying away from me for longer and exploring her new home. It makes me very happy to see her getting to know the place.

Thank you to all of you who helped keep me sane during this process. Especially to the previously mentioned fabulous Courtney and Chris! I say it a lot but I am so lucky to have such awesome people in my life. And such an awesome kitty.

Tourist in my own town

Yesterday two of the other new Canadians - Michael (my new housemate) and Katherine (generally awesome) and I took some time to explore our own town and have some tourist type experiences. It was an amazing day, the kind of day that is exactly why you take big risks like moving overseas. 

Our day started with afternoon tea at a local cafe. So much food! It was delicious (though all I actually wanted was the scones with clotted cream and jam). I stole this picture from Katherine as I was too lazy to transfer mine from my non iOS phone:

Very yummy! 

I had some stuff to mail so we walked from there to the post office. It was low tide so someone (I don't remember who) said how they wanted to someday walk out as far as they could to meet the water. It was quickly agreed that that sounded great and someday should be now. So after swinging by the post office we walked along the "sea-side" - it is really an estuary not the sea where we are - until we found a likely place to go out. 

During high tide this is a floating buoy. During low tide it sits there. It is not even a fifth of the way out at low tide. 

My fellow explorers! 

This was after having walked probably five minutes out and is facing towards the water to give an idea of just how far out the tide goes. 

The most interesting part to me was the geography of the ground we were walking over. There were lots of these little creeks running through and around the sand/mud. 

We encountered some deep mud on our way...

About that deep (for me at least)

As we got closer to the water the fairly flat ground was replaced by dunes with puddles. I find this picture very beautiful. The fact that this is sea floor (or should I say estuary floor) astounds me!

We finally did reach the edge of the water

About that far from town. 

Our second big adventure was to walk out to a church that was built in 1050 ad. It was about a mile and a half walk, so not far at all from our place! Although it is technically in Grimsby, not Cleethorpes. Actually it's in an interesting area called "Old Clee" with an interesting history. I won't comment on each picture individually but let you just enjoy them.

So fantastically creepybeautiful! Yes I just came up with that word for this exact type of thing.

For one last picture, my favourite part about the church was actually what was across the road from it:

Time Zones

I have an actual, content based post to put soon. Possibly in about five minutes when this is done. But I have been thinking about and wanting to comment on this for a while so want to discuss it separately. 

One of the weirdest things to adjust to has definitely been the time zone difference. Particularly when it comes to communicating with my loved ones back home. It is a seven hour difference which can be quite awkward for interacting with people.

If I wake up early enough in the morning (around 7) I catch some people still awake. I get a giggle out of seeing who is up late as my morning progresses. However then we enter what I think of as "the dead time". Super dramatic hey? I just found myself calling it that without even realizing. It is pretty much from about 9 am (nowish) to about 3 pm. For those of you in Alberta this is your 2 am to 8 am. You are all (or should all be) sleeping soundly and happily and therefore everything goes silent. No Facebook posts, no tweets, no messages or emails. Silent. The airwaves are dead. For the first few days this time was really tough because I felt very cut off. Now that I am meeting great people and having fun here it isn't tough anymore, but I still find myself very aware of it. 

Then there is the liveliest time. Often while I am asleep and it is evening in AB. I find this time funny because I will wake up to a whole bunch of notifications and get to see how busy you all have been. I truly enjoy seeing all the life happening. I wake up and smile at your crazy antics. 

Living 7 hours ahead is such a crazy feeling, but I am getting used to it. 

Midweek Reflection

I am now halfway through my first week at the school. I have lots of thoughts swirling but am really not sure how to organize them so forgive me this crazy post!

So far I am really enjoying being back around small folk. They are definitely different than Canadian teens. It's a strange mixture of ways - some ways that they show more traditional respect (holding doors or waiting for me to pass) and other ways that they are total brats (too many to list). We are in the middle of a heat-wave (seriously. Everyone here is stunned and confused by it it seems) which doesn't help. Being the last week of classes doesn't help. Because their system is so different they are not wrapping up and preparing for finals as I am used to in the last week. They are just still going and will continue in the fall. 

I have been given my class schedule for the fall (which could always change of course). You see each class less here, meaning I have 13 separate groups I see once or twice a week. They are all in years 7 to 10 (Alberta equivalent is grade 6 to 9) with a wide mix of ability groupings. It will be interesting. I look forward to it. 

I have tons and tons of thoughts on the differences between the systems and the kids that I probably shouldn't post publicly (not that they are bad or anything, just that I never want to have anything on this blog come back to bite me!) so I will move on to non-school stuff. Or school-adjacent stuff at least. I have now met the other Canadians - good people! I am really enjoying them! I definitely look forward to time with them as we move on. 

I have been eating ridiculously well thanks to my new roommate who enjoys cooking (and is really good at it!) I have gotten out for two runs so far to help keep me on track with so much good food around and am hoping to go for another one tomorrow. Over the summer I will check out the different fitness classes around so I can keep up my progress. Also I hope to spend lots of time walking around various places that I visit! I am not doing any big trips over the summer but need to figure out where I want to travel in October (as well as if I want to go alone or with someone!) 

Okay, that is such a scattered post but I just got hit by a massive wave of sleepiness. Time for this Miss to go relax and not use her brain. 

Later!

Lincoln

Yesterday my new roommate and I went for the first of the day trips we have planned - to Lincoln. Lincoln is the closest city to us, and takes about an hour and a quarter to reach by train (changes included). It is quite a pretty city, and I had a lot of fun. 

Leaving the train station we walked up High Street, which crosses this bridge as you go:

This part of the city has a large commercial area with lots of shops. We did stop at a couple different places and do some money-spending. Then we continued on up the hills into the older areas 

At the top of the town are both a castle (which was later turned into a prison... two of my favourite historic things in one!) and a cathedral.  To get to them you have to walk up a very aptly named road: Steep Hill. I tried to get pictures showing how steep this is, but it doesn't actually show. 

New roommate at the bottom showing an uphill look.

From the midway point, a downhill look. 

The walk was quite worth it however. This is what greets you at the top of the hill:

From here you can turn right to go to the Cathedral

Or left to go to the Castle. I chose castle, but unfortunately there was renovation work happening so the scaffolding prevented pretty pictures. Also part of the castle was closed, so I only got to walk part of the walls. However I did get some nice pictures from those walls. 

It was a very, very hot day and there was absolutely zero shade on the walls. So I didn't stay up there long and instead went inside to tour the jail area. The most interesting part about the jail was the chapel. This jail was retrofitted to fit the separation model where prisoners were to be kept completely isolated. To make this work they had cubicles in the chapel. Prisoners wore masks to enter and filed in one by one. As each prisoner found their cubicle they closed the door so that they were isolated from the other prisoners and only then could they remove their masks. They had slanted benches to sit on which made it so they couldn't relax during the service at all, keeping them awake and alert for times as long as three hours on Sundays while listening to service.

Beyond being really creepy looking, especially with the dummies, this is such a strange and interesting approach to separation. Craziness!

After that I left the castle and met with my roommate again. We walked into the cathedral, but didn't go all the way in or anything (had to save something for the next time!). It was stunningly beautiful, and I found it very peaceful. 

After that we took a random road and got purposefully lost exploring the city. When we found ourselves back at the main area we headed down for lunch. After a slight detour involving going the opposite way from what we were meant to, we made it to Wagamama. It is an Asian-fusion place where Jenny and I had lunch in London. Apparently it is super popular here. I definitely enjoyed it. We grabbed a quick ice cream (it was a hot day after all!) and walked back to the train station so we could make it back in time for our evening event. 

Said evening event was a meet and greet for the new Canadians who had arrived so far and the Canadians who have been here for a while. I had a lot of fun, and met a lot of really nice seeing people. I am definitely nervous but also VERY excited to start training on Monday. 

I love and miss you! But am settling in well and looking forward to the adventures ahead (both work and play).

Settling In

This will be my third night sleeping in England since the move. I will be honest - it's not so much that it's harder than I expected but that I am less tough than I hoped. In other words I still find myself being a weepy mess far more than I would like. Mostly if I get a sweet message from a loved one, or if I even think about talking with my mum. Lots of fun stuff with high anxiety and such is going on, but that's no fun to read about so I will leave it at that. 

It may not sound like it but I am still really excited for the adventure ahead of me, and I am enjoying myself so far. 

Wednesday I slept in ridiculously. I woke up at 9:00 in the morning and thought to myself there's no rush, you should just lounge. I got out of bed at 1 pm, and only because I knew I wouldn't sleep at night if I stayed any longer. I'd like to say I was just laying here, but in reality I had weird dreams so I know I was sleeping. I got dressed and called the bank to set up an appointment for the next day. I then decided to walk to the Main Street to see if I could follow the directions I'd been given. I successfully made it there, and bought some fruit and vegetables in celebration. 

In the evening I went with my new room mate Laura to a "sight and sound" evening her school was putting on featuring selections from Les Mis. It was a blast - I forgot how fun school concerts can be. The kids are just so excited and adorable. It was also nice to meet some more of the Canadian teachers who have been here for a while.  On the way home we grabbed some ingredients and then Laura made some fantastic food. She is a great cook from what I have seen so far!

Today I got up at a reasonable hour, though I still lazed a lot. I convinced myself to go for a run which was quite helpful. The run itself wasn't great, dealing with a stressed body and an annoying podcast system, but I felt really good about myself for getting out. It is quite a pretty town to run through. I then did some domestic type stuff (ie ironing) and walked back to the Main Street for my appointment at the bank. They were super nice and I believe I am all set up. Here's hoping! 

This evening Laura took me to dinner with her at her mentor's house. It was wonderful not only because the woman is very nice (and the food delicious!) but because she has a tortie cat. I miss my Quirk so much! It was really nice to get to cuddle with an adorable kitty tonight as a holdover until I can have my own here. Now I am enjoying some alone time (yes I'm alone all day but somehow evening alone time seems to be what's important to my mood) in my pjs.

Am I homesick? Unbelievably. Is it difficult? Incredibly. Do I kind of want to just hop a plane and go home? Definitely. But I know this is the opportunity of a lifetime and I know that I can do it if I just hold on. I am so blessed to have so much love in my life, and to have modern communication systems to help me keep in touch with it! I appreciate all the messages of support I have received, they make me cry a little but also keep me going. This will be a grand adventure, and I'm glad you're along for the ride with me. 

Moving Day(s)

As I sit to write this I have been awake for approximately 31 hours. That is one long day. Or days depending on how you count it. 

Yesterday morning I woke up around 8ish Mountain time. I had spent the night at a friend's (and my cat's foster-mom until she can be sent to me!) place as a) I had no furniture left, and b) the cat was there. Leaving my little furry monster was very tough - there were tears for sure. 

I went back to my apartment where another friend (have I mentioned recently how lucky I am?) was cleaning (for pay). I had some errands to run including returning my rental car and other very exciting things, and then returned to help (in a very not that helpful way) with the cleaning until my mum arrived.

When mum did arrive we loaded up her car with my suitcases, the last bit of stuff to be stored, and some stuff that I was giving her. I said goodbye to the friend who stayed to work more on cleaning (with more tears... This will be a trend!) and mum and I drove to the airport. My mum is amazing and pretty much my best friend, so I knew it would be a tough trip. 

At the airport we had quite a long wait in line where we ended up talking to a quite nice woman who had also done Color Me Rad over the weekend. She was super excited for me and my adventures which helped me feel a lot braver and stronger leaving. Mum and I had a quick lunch at one of the places before security and then came the hard part. I told her not to come through security with me because it would drag out the goodbye and make it harder. As it was I sobbed into her shoulder a fair bit before we parted. Just thinking about it is making me tear up again. It was probably the hardest thing I've done.  

The flight itself wasn't bad. Not particularly good either... Exactly what you would expect from a cheap international flight. The highlight was the two British ladies sitting next to me who were also very excited for me and were really interesting to talk to. They both had trained as teachers but were not working in schools. Unfortunately there was a good example of truly awful parenting taking place two rows behind us, this combined with my body cramping from the confined space and the whole jumping time zones prevented me from getting any in-flight sleep. 

The hardest thing about the flight was the emotional ride I went on. I became super anxious about everything and anything. I went through sadness and excitement and fear and elation and all of it. I will admit my anxieties are still really high and I catch myself worrying about silly stuff or serious stuff that I can't control. I keep trying to remind myself that it is just my brain struggling to take in everything. 

We arrived at Gatwick airport this morning (Tuesday) around 7 am GMT (midnight Mountain time). I hadn't booked my train tickets out of London until early afternoon and realized as we landed what a mistake I had made. I had two suitcases, one of which was ridiculously large and heavy, meaning I really couldn't do much other than sit around and wait. So I wished that things would be slow - that immigration would take their time, that customs would search me, that the train would be late, etc. Alas, no such luck. Lots of other stuff happened, but nothing to eat up the time I had to kill. Border control asked lots of questions as I was entering on an actual visa and not just as a tourist, but it didn't take long (especially compared to Calgary a few weeks ago!). I didn't have anything to declare at Customs so was able to just walk through. 

The first snag I hit was when I got to the train station. I had booked all my train tickets ahead of time - a deadly trap as I learned! Especially when I had booked the first train for the wrong day! Luckily it wasn't too expensive to get a new ticket, and it did make me miss the first possible train I could have caught. I found a bench to sit on, and decided to miss a few more trains since I had so much time to kill. After missing 2 or 3 or maybe more I caught a train to St. Pancras. It was a fairly full train with lots of people with big suitcases and no luggage racks, so I ended up hanging out near the door half-sitting on my larger suitcase. 

When I got to St. Pancras I grabbed a bite to eat and then walked over to King's Cross. It was only around 10:00 at this time and the train I had booked wasn't set to leave until almost 2:00. Because of how big my suitcases were I didn't feel I could store them or leave them anywhere (even long enough to to the bathroom!) I decided instead of hanging out in London to buy a ticket for an earlier train for the first half of my journey. I was going to have to sit and wait a lot for the second half but I felt that I would have a better chance of finding somewhere to sit in a smaller station. I realized later I could probably have changed my existing ticket - I blame the fact I was already super exhausted at this point for my lack of thinking! I killed some more time and caught a train around 11:00 out to Doncaster. Luckily this train had a luggage rack and I was able to free myself from my suitcases for a short while. (One of the train employees helped me get the suitcases onto the train - he picked up the heavy one and asked me if there was a body in it or something it was so heavy! Too much stuff!) I have to admit I really enjoyed getting to use a bathroom! 

When I got to Doncaster I explored a bit and grabbed a little more food. Then I sat and waited. And sat and waited. And sat and waited. And tried not to fall asleep. And sat and waited. And cried a bit. And got really grumpy. And worried about everything. And sat and waited. I posted a self-pitying Facebook status and got to chat online with my mum which helped a lot. Finally (finally!) the train arrived which also helped a lot. Alas there was again no luggage rack and I got to sit on my suitcase. But I knew I was in the final stretch so I didn't particularly care this time. 

I was met at the train station by one of the boys living at the house currently (actually the one whose room I will eventually take over as he is going on a new exciting adventure). He took the heavy suitcase (yay!) and we walked back to the house. He then took me down to the Main Street to show me around a bit and grab some take out for me to have for dinner - I opted for a full out English experience and got a curry. I have spent the rest of the evening back at the house visiting with the different roommates as well as having a Skype conversation with my mum. With many more tears. 

I will admit that now that I am really here I am pretty freaked out. This is real. I am far away and facing a challenging job and in a total different time zone and this is all real. I know it is going to be a great experience and I will come out of it far the better for having done it. And I am excited for all the cool stuff I will get to do. But there will be lots of tears over the next few days (weeks?) and a fair bit of unreasonable anxiety and it will be tough. Luckily there are good people here who will help a lot, and good people back in Edmonton that I can talk to when I need. And I am eternally grateful for that! 

And on that note (and another hour of wakefulness) I think it is time to go to sleep and see how my brain feels in the morning.