Home for the winter

Sorry this is so very late. I started it weeks ago, but never got it finished. Here at last is my account of my last week in Oxford and my journey home.

And so my first year at Oxford has drawn to a close, and I'm back in Durban for the Summer...I mean Winter...holiday.

As I imagined, the packing wasn't fun. But somehow, I managed to get it all done. The college doesn't provide storage space, so it had been something of a challenge to get everything worked out, but thanks to friends and people from church it all came together. I was kindly given boxes by a girl from church who works at a chemistry lab and another lady from church offered to help with transport. Originally a guy from church had offered me space in his loft to store my boxes, but he lives in Didccot, which is something of a drive from Oxford. So instead I asked Heather and Tam if I could store my boxes at their house in Oxford. (Tam's doing Linguistics with me and Heather is his girlfriend, who counts as an honorary member of the "LingPals"; especially after organising our Linguists' Christmas dinner last year and an end-of-year barbecue - which was unfortunately rained out and turned into a pub lunch). I owe all these people a great thanks for their generosity in helping me out.

The lady helping transport was free on the Thursday before I left (28 June), which meant taking my boxes to be stored a few days early. This was challenging as I still needed things to eat out of and with, as well as bedding, for three more days. I eventually bought some cheap things from Poundland (the shop where everything costs only one Pound) which I didn't mind leaving behind. My bedding (that which didn't belong to college) went into a backpack which I took to church on my last Sunday and left with one of the ladies there.

On my last Friday in Oxford (29 June), I had a pub lunch with the Ling-Pals (one of the final ones with most of us there together). Sadly we had to do it without Maryanna who was travelling with her parents, but thankfully I'd been out with her and her parents the the week before. Christelle didn't make it to the lunch either, but some of us saw her later and she's still with us next year. I had to say my last good bye to some of the one-year master's students (especially Xavier, Camille and Patrick - although none of them will be too far away for an occasional visit to Oxford next year).

The Sunday I was due to fly (1 July), I went to the "early" (9.45) church service at St Ebbe's. Unfortunately most of my friends are from the 7 pm service so I didn't see too many of them, but I did get a pleasant surprise anyway. There was a notice on the bulletin saying that there was to be a barbecue after the service for those who wanted to stay for lunch. With all my stuff packed, I didn't have much exciting planned for lunch so I thought I would stay. Then, during the announcements they told us that it actually wasn't a barbecue but a South African-style braai with real boerewors (South African spicy sausage) on the menu. There are a few South African families at the church who had arranged it. I was in hysterics that the day I was due to fly back to SA, I would be treated to a braai. In typical English style, it rained a little, but it was still very enjoyable.

After that I headed back to my house finalise my packing and get my bags ready. I was to take a special coach (bus) service that goes straight from Oxford to Heathrow. I planned to get to Heathrow in advance of three hours early - in case anything went wrong - so I caught the coach at around 3.00pm. The trip was pleasant but uneventful. I got to the airport really early, as expected. But that gave me time to find my terminal, and then go hunting for a lock for my bag (my original lock I came over with was a combination lock that's mechanism somehow failed and I had to have cut off when I arrived in Oxford). I had a spare lock, but forgot that my case has two zips which need locking. It turned out to be handy though because, in looking for a lock place, I also found the place that wraps your bag in plastic to it doesn't get torn while it's roughly handled by the luggage packers.

I was slightly worried when I was packing that my hand-luggage was overweight. While Emirates allows up to 30 kg of checked baggage allowance, we are not allowed more than 7 kgs of hand-luggage. I wanted to bring both my netbook and new laptop home and had to have those in hand-luggage so they didn't get damaged. Without a scale I had no idea what it all weighed. When I got to the check-in counter, they told me I was way over the limit, and asked me to repack some things into the main luggage. Unfortunately, I'd already had my big case plastic-wrapped. So the lady suggested that I repack what I really needed into my laptop bag and check in my wheelie hand-luggage case (my check in luggage was under the limit). This worked out fairly well in the end, although it meant I had to carry my laptop bag with laptop and netbook as well as other stuff in it around Dubai airport, instead of having the wheelie bag to drag around (the checked luggage goes straight through so you don't have to worry about those bags at the lay-over).

My first flight, on board one of the big multi-level Airbuses, left at about 8.30pm. We saw a bit of the start of the Euro Soccer final on the big screen in the waiting area. In between that, I had a lovely view of planes taking off into the lowering late summer sun, which was beautiful. The flights were okay. Unfortunately, I was again unable to sleep, which made the second flight in particular drawn-out. The air-conditioning makes my nose really dry which is also annoying. But the Emirates food and service is good. I managed to get a window seat on my first flight as I had a couple with seats booked on either side of me who asked to swap. That was fun as I got to watch the late sunset over Britain and Europe and the rising moon. I also got to see the early-morning sunrise over the Arabian gulf approaching Dubai. 

Approaching Heathrow

Leaving England

Sunset

Moonrise

Sunrise over Arabian Gulf

I spent four hours in Dubai. Waiting to get on the plane was quite exciting because I was suddenly surrounded by people with South African accents for the first time in 10 months. Our plane was a bit late arriving and then even later taking off as we had to fly over Omani air space, and the window period in which they were allowed to fly over it wasn't open yet. About half an hour into the flight, the entertainment and television systems all went down and we were without any of that for almost an hour. I thought to myself "as long as that's the only type of technical problem they have". Thankfully it was. We arrived in Durban as the sun was setting (my third sunrise/set from the air in two days).

Approaching Dubai

Over Dubai

Over Dubai

Sunset over Durban

It took a very long time for my baggage to arrive, but at last it did. Weary from about 34 hours without sleep, I made my way to the arrivals. Hilda-May was waiting for me, ready to run past the barrier to say hello. My parents were a little further behind. I was home.

It's been a really good year. A lot has happened, but I'm glad to be home for a spell. I'm really enjoying the Durban sunshine. Thanks again for everyone that has supported me and especially to the Lord for keeping me safe and helping me settle in well; for giving me great friends and for helping me deal with the various challenges I've faced, both big and small. I'm in awe of just how much I've been blessed in this past year and look forward to what the year ahead had to offer.

The year winds down

I can't believe my first year in Oxford is over. Term officially ended on 15 June and I leave for South Afric on 1 July. The last couple weeks of term were spent finalising my topics for my thesis and syntax essay. For those interested in such things, my thesis is going to be an analysis of Hellenistic Greek word order from a Minimalist perspective and my essay on Afrikaans negation. I'll be working in particular on my thesis while I'm at home over the summer/winter.

Speaking of "summer", the beautiful week of warm and sunshine I mentioned in my previous post lasted a whole nine days. After that things turned cold and wet and have been fairly miserable since then. We've had a few bursts of excessive rain. On three separate occasions, there has been pretty bad flooding in different parts of the UK. Thankfully, Oxford has not suffered. In between, however, there have been a few warmer days and patches of sunshine, but maximum daytime temperatures have mostly stayed below 20°C, occasionally getting as low as 15°C.

The first weekend in June was quite a fun one as it marked the Jubilee celebrations of Queen Elizabeth's 60th year as Queen. It was an extra long weekend with holidays on the Monday and Tuesday but, as Oxford doesn't take holidays off, we had to continue working. I did manage to watch quite a few of the events on TV, however, which included a Flotilla Pageant of over 1 000 vessels down the Thames on the Sunday, a concert in front of Buckingham Palace on the Monday evening and a thanksgiving church service on the Tuesday morning. On the Sunday afternoon we also had an MCR (college graduate community) "garden party" to mark the end of term. Unfortunately, it was pouring with rain that day so we had to move it indoors. At one point, we did have to go out in the rain for our annual group photograph. It seemed like a typically British situation with us standing there on the photo platform in the pouring rain with our umbrellas up. We had to put down our umbrellas for the photo itself so all got quite wet. The only thing that put a damper on the Jubilee celebrations was that after spending an entire afternoon standing on the royal barge on a rainy afternoon (following the Queen's example), Prince Philip took ill and had to be taken to hospital. He missed the Jubilee concert and thanksgiving service. Thankfully, after a week in hospital, he recovered enough to spend his 91st birthday with the Queen and his family.

I've done a fair bit of "Narnian" stuff the last couple weeks. On the last Tuesday of term I went with a small group from the CS Lewis society on a walk through the Wytham Woods near Oxford. The walk took about two hours and ended at a pub where we had dinner and from which we took the bus back to Oxford. One of the fun moments was when we crossed the Swinford Bridge which is one of the last remaining private toll bridges left in England. Thankfully, they no longer charge pedestrians to cross the bridge, though it would probably have been only a couple pence considering how cheap the toll on vehicles was.

View of Oxford from Wytham Woods     

Wytham Woods     

Wytham Woods     

Swinford toll     

Swinford toll house

The highlight of the last few weeks was when I went with Bethany (my friend whom I stayed with in Sommerset) to watch a new theatre production of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe in Kensington Gardens. We met in the Gardens at about midday and had lunch at a nice Italian cafe nearby. It was a moderately nice day with intermittent sun and cloud and quite a strong wind. After lunch we spent some time watching the swans swimming in the lake in the Gardens before making our way to the temporary theatre where the play was to take place. The play was quite different to what I expected, but very good and very loyal to the book. I have written a review of the play for the Narnia fan site that I belong to, The Lion's Call, which you can read a copy of on my other blog on the link below:

Narnia Show in Kensington Gardens - a review

Swan lake

Pavilion next to theatre

Bethany and me

Writing a message from TLC

Inside the pavilion

The 360° Theatre

Squirrel in Kensington

Kensington Palace

This last week, I have been making the most of my final days in Oxford by doing some of the things I've been wanting to do but hadn't gotten around to yet. On Sunday 17, I went punting with a group of guys from the Worcester CU. A punt is a small boat that sits quite low in the water and is driven by a pole (kind of like a gondola). That evening we had a Linguistics department end-of-year barbecue.

On Tuesday, one of the rare sunny days, I went to the Oxford botanic gardens with another CU friend, Catherine. They are a lot smaller than Durban's botanic gardens and don't really have a place for picnics and such (there are plenty of other places in Oxford for that). Many of the plants, especially those from more tropical climates, are grown in Green Houses. I was really exited to see a number of South African plants or plants we have in our garden back home.

On Wednesday, I spent the evening with the other linguists from my year as we got to meet Maryanna's parents, who have come over from from the USA. On Thursday morning, I met them again and went with them to Magdalen College where another linguist, Prerna, who is at that college, took us up the Magdalen Tower (the tallest tower in Oxford). The stairway up was a narrow steep spiral one with about 115 steps, but the view from the top was spectacular and made it worth it.

Magdalen Bridge

Maryanna and Prerna

Magdalen College     

       Oxford City Centre  

Tower stairs

My main plans for the coming week are to get things packed up. I will be leaving most of my things in Oxford at a friends' house and  am currently going through the arduous task of packing my things in boxes. It's a weird experience for me. I've never moved house before (except coming over here, which involved packing just one suitcase with the necessities and buying what I couldn't bring over when I got here). Now, for the first time, I'm actually having to pack things in boxes. And I need to decide carefully what I will take home because I will have no access to the things I leave for two and a half months. It's not a fun task, but it's a necessary one.

So, I now head into my final week in Oxford (for a while). I can't believe how quickly these last ten months have gone. I have seen and done and learnt so much. But I really can't wait to get home and see my family and doggies again (or in the case of Jackson, for the first time).

Packing Pics

This post complements the one I posted last night, If you haven't read it, I suggest you do so as it covers far more exciting events than what these photos suggest. This post is also me experimenting with posting photographs and trying to figure out the best way to do so on this blog. The pictures show various stages of packing.

clothes on the bed                                                   choosing scarves

attempt 1: roll                                                      attempt 2: fold

filling...                                                                       ...up

hand luggage

Two Weeks

Thanks for all the packing advice. I've gone mostly with folding with a bit of rolling and stuffing thrown in. I've still got a few things I can't pack yet (since I need stuff to wear in the next week and a bit ;-) ) and I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with my two big jersey/jackets (I can only wear one of the plane). Special thanks to Heike, Vmum and the people I spoke to on chat (Aslie, Kristi and Stew were there - sorry if I've left anyone out).

Technically, I hit the two week mark on Wednesday. So now it's less that two weeks before I leave. This is my second-to-last weekend in South Africa.

I've had and interesting week. But I've managed to accomplish a few things I said I would get done and everything seems to be on track (well almost). I finally managed to get Skype to work on my computer. In the process I also discovered that I hate both Linux and Windows Vista.

Linux (Ubuntu) is what I have on my netbook. For all it's faults, Ubuntu is a whole lot better than the pathetic version "Linux Linpus Lite" my 'book came installed with. I wanted to install Windows last year, but this machine's a little old and can't handle anything newer than XP - something rather hard to get these days. So I installed Ubuntu as a suitable compromise. The main problem I had was trying to get the sound on my Skype to work. The microphone simply refused to pick up any sound. I discovered that Skype thought I had a programme I actually didn't have - and I couldn't find it to install it or change the settings. Anyway, after half a day's stress and a headache (turned migraine by the evening) I somehow succeeded in getting it to work. Unfortunately in making the input control loud enough to pick up my voice, it also ends up picking up the computer's fan and other background noises. But it's better than nothing. 

(Unfortunately, my laptop has also decided that its mouse functioning will intermittently refuse to work. It was doing this when I first got it back from repairs a few weeks ago, but the problem fixed itself; today it has started misbehaving again. I am going to buy a proper laptop when I get to Oxford, but the netbook is useful for quick portability. Please pray that I can get this mouse problem sorted out before I leave).

We have Windows Vista on our home desktop. We happened to buy the computer when Vista had just come out and so are stuck with the shortest-lived Windows system until such a time as we can upgrade it to 7. It has some very strange settings and is not user-friendly. I'm teaching my mum how to use email and Skype on this computer and have tried to make it as simple as possible (the fewer options available the better). But there are some things you can't change. These fancy gadgets are all very well for someone well acquainted with the computer world. But when you're teaching someone from scratch you really want only the basics. Vista doesn't give you such an option. In addition, I've tried to block the automatic updates notices from popping up in my mum's account and confusing her. But they keep returning to haunt us. It's very frustrating.

Enough about computers. My current hassle is organising my finances. When I first got the money for my scholarship, we went straight to the bank and asked the best way to get the money transferred to the UK. Because I bank with ABSA (a South African bank that belongs to Barclays) they suggested I open a Barclays account in South Africa and transfer the money before leaving. It sounded simple enough.

A Barclays rep came to meet us and filled out all the forms. She said all we needed was to wait a week or so for my card to be delivered and I could do the transfer. It would be a cheque account with debit card, internet and telephonic banking. When I get to Oxford I can transfer to a Student account. So I waited.

About 2 weeks later, I got a phone call from the courier service saying they would bring my card between 12 and 2 pm the next day.

The next day at 10am, they arrived and gave me a letter with my pin number. They explained that they were not allowed to deliver my card and pin on the same day, and that I should receive my card in 2 days.

Two days later (this is Friday 26 Aug now), I got my second phone call from them. The lady said that the package with my card was in Johannesburg and would be delivered to me the next week. The next Tuesday (30 Aug) I got my third phone call. They arranged to bring the package to my house between 12 and 2 pm. They eventually arrived at 2.30 pm and instead of my debit card, they gave me a letter with my pass code for the telephonic and internet banking. Okay, now what?

The following week, this Tuesday (6 Sept), there was still no sign of my card, so I phoned the lady from Barclays and she emailed the courier service to ask what is going on. Finally, this Thursday I received my fourth phone call. They arranged to bring my card between 12 and 2 pm on Friday. I specifically mentioned that they must not come before 12 as I would be out with my mother.

At 9.30 am yesterday (Friday 9 Sept) I got my fifth phone call while out shopping with my mum. The courier guy said he had just been to my house, but no one was home. He asked when I would be home, so I told him 12 (as per the arrangement).

We rushed to make sure we were home in time, and the guy arrived just after 12. He handed me a sealed package this time, instead of an just envelope. That was encouraging. I could feel the card inside. I took it in and opened it. It wass a card alright, but not like any debit card I'd ever seen. There's no magnetic strip or numbers on it. I read the accompanying letter and letter and discovered: this is my card with the information I need for telephone and internet banking. Not my debit card!

And I still had no idea what my account number was!

Then I remembered that I'd got a letter in the post on Thursday from the courier service saying they have my package but didn't have my correct contact details. I had ignored it because it was the same day they had phoned me so I figured they'd worked out my details.

Now I realise that the letter was about a different package - the one with my debit card. So I phoned the number and they confirmed that they sill have a package with me. "What province are you located in?" the lady asked. I answered. "Oh" said the lady, "I don't know why they returned it to us in Johannesburg. We'll return it to your province and you should hear from them on Monday or Tuesday." Since they never deliver on the day they phone, this means I might not get it till Wenesday. Exactly one week before I leave.

The way some people work is completely unfathomable. How can they not have my phone number if they were able to phone me for all the other packages? How can they not know what province I'm in when it is clearly written on the package address (and the letter which they sent me saying they couldn't hold of me?)

Next time I am just transferring my money onto a cash passport and taking it over that way! *sigh*

There is one piece of good news in the light of all this. I have finally worked out my account number from activating the internet banking facilities. So I can transfer the money on Monday even if I don't have my card yet. And there may be another positive result. The Pound-Rand exchange rate has recovered slightly since its terrible drop a couple of weeks back. I'm not sure how banks do the conversion (I know their rate will be more than what you read in the financial reports) but it may be that the rate will be more in my favour than it would have been had I received the card and made the transfer when I was supposed to.

Well, that's a little of what I've been going through this week. I hope next week's a little better and involves less of these computer- and bank-related frustrations.

On the list for this week is a visit to the bank, a (long overdue) dentistappointment on Thursday, a visit with the doctor on Friday to get all my medical letters and information that I will need for the move, a farewell party on Friday afternoon with my university friends and colleagues, another farewell on Sunday....lets just say it will be a busy week.

11 more sleeps!

Fold or Roll?

I know Perry suggested when commenting on an earlier post to give 10 days for packing. But I'm a girl and this is my first time leaving home, and I'm neurotic and, well...I decided that I'd start packing a little sooner.

The plan is not to pack completely, but to get an idea of how much actually fits in my suitcase. So here I sit with a pile of clothes on my bed and an open case on the floor. I look at the bag, then at my bed, then at my bag again.

I never really thought of myself as much of a clothes addict. I'm pretty sure there are many people with a greater love for clothes than me. I know that there are many people with a better taste in clothes than me. And yet... 

To make matters worse, I know that the clothes are just the  beginning. My books, perhaps more than the clothes, must be given room. I am, however, okay with the idea that certain books can be replaced quite cheaply when I get there and since I'd rather get the nasty clothes bit out of the way, I thought I'd start with my clothes. The books, after all, need to be neatly sqeezed between the clothes and not all lumped together, I think. I also need space for my dear hedgies, and countless other important items. I haven't decided exactly which hedgehogs I'll be taking yet, but they will probably all be in my hand luggage, so I'll worry about them later.

So here I am. Stuck with my pile of clothes. Why is it that warm clothes have to take up so much space?

And I have another question. How exactly should I pack these clothes? Do I place them in the case the way I would in a normal toggle bag, or do I position them more appropriately, knowing the bag will be turned vertically upright as  is normal with wheelie bags? Also, having a light, soft bag is all very well, but the bars of the handle are in the way a bit and affect the way the clothes lie.

My greatest uncertainty is whether I should roll or fold them. A while back, someone advised me to roll up all my clothes; "it takes up much less space". In theory that makes sense. But does it really take up less space? I think for small and thin clothes like t-shirts the answer is yes. But as I look at my rolled up corduroy trousers and jerseys, I'm starting to think that flat folding might be more economical after all. One advantage of folding over rolling is that rolling takes up a lot more energy and effort. For rolling to be efficient, you need to roll the clothes tightly so there are no unwanted air gaps. And some of the more thickly rolled stuff is rather fond of unrolling itself as soon as you're not looking, undoing all the hard work you just pout into rolling it in the first place.

Perhaps the solution is a combination (those are generally the best types of solutions, if treated correctly). I think I might start off folding the larger items flat, and then rolling and tucking in smaller items in the gaps. Unfortunately that still leaves the question of what happens when the bag is turned upright on its wheels. I guess my poor clothes are going to need a good amount of ironing on the other side.

*sigh* Why is packing so complicated? I think I'd much rather sit around drawing syntax trees, reading ERP studies or translating Plato than packing. 

I guess it's a necessary evil. Having taken a break to type this out has cleared my mind a little. It's back to figuring out how much actually will fit in my case now.

Images from Microsoft ClipArt