Pancakes and "Lonely in London?!"

So it's Shrove Tuesday, which I remember from last time I was living in the UK as Pancake Tuesday. Also known as Mardi Gras, and believe me, if I were in the US at the moment, I'd be supporting the city and people of New Orleans, lord knows they need it right now! I've never been before, but I would have gone this year...

I'm getting to know the post at the Day Hospital now, albeit very, very slowly. I didn't see any patients today, although I did write up the notes from the one I saw yesterday. I had somewhat of an orientation from my supervisor, although I did caution her that I may be moving onto another rotation come April 1. That decision is supposed to be made by end of this week I think, and I'm pretty torn about it. I'm half tempted to choose to rotate to Ainslee because it's rehab and I know rehab, and it sounds like the pace might be a bit quicker. I did mention something to Nicole about the Day Hospital not seeming to be quite my speed, and her response was, nothing in the NHS will be your speed. However, I do think I'd learn quite a bit about the various Boroughs, Councils, dealing with social workers, ordering equipment, and other things I don't know (being an American) by staying at the Day Hospital. In addition, while I did a lot of ADLs, and a lot of focus on rehabilitation in NJ, here I could learn more about compensation and adaptation-- ways to change the environment rather than the individual. So I suppose I'm leaning toward the Day Hospital just for the experience...I can always go back to rehab later. Oh, and James, I had a comment from an older woman today about how much she loved my accent- I'm beginning to understand what you were saying about liking being an Englishman in Canada and all the attention because of your accent!

I had an interesting chat with one of the OT assistants on the way to a mandatory OT Forum discussion this afternoon. She was trying to learn as much about me as she could in the space of a 5-minute car ride, and complimented me on my courage for picking up and moving to London. And then she said, in particular because London is a very lonely city. She described people as very reserved, and just said in general, it's hard to meet people, especially coming over from another country. And my thoughts were that yes, well I'd expected that, and that can be true anywhere. All throughout our schooling, we have a built-in social network, really, and once school is done, it can be a really hard adjustment. Sometimes we are lucky in our jobs, I know I definitely was in Roosevelt- I was having such a blast with my coworkers it was sad to leave! And I thank my lucky stars for those true friends I've gathered and kept from various stages of my life, given that such a lasting connection is rare, and we generally eventually move to different geographical areas and have to work to maintain that connection as we each move on with separate lives. So I think that, in general (at least for those of us who are single!) we are often in situations where our friends are elsewhere, and we're just trying to find contentment through our work and daily lives and must find our own ways to make our peace with being alone (and I do find a difference now between being lonely and being alone). I've also been very lucky in that I already knew a few people here from living in Oxford, and I'm living with another American OT who's very friendly...otherwise I might be struggling a lot more than I am these first few weeks of adjustment to living in London. The first week really went by in a flash, I must say. On the other hand, as the woman who was driving me to the discussion mentioned, people who have lived abroad gain so much in life experience, and she was wishing that her kids might try it themselves, and not be "staid" as she described herself. And I agree, it really does change/mold you as a person in a way it's hard to describe to someone who's not tried it themselves. Anyway, I do miss my close friends back home in the US terribly, but I am enjoying myself here, and I've grown up a bit the past few years in that I no longer have the illusion I'll make good friends wherever I go...I'm sure I'll make a lot of acquaintances, and will have to wait to see what happens from there. And it would have been the same whatever move I might have made in the US as well...starting a new life in a new area on my own. Even living near one of my best friends in NJ, she had her life and I had mine, and we made an effort to see each other regularly, but didn't always quite achieve once a week. It's just a different sort of life once you're out of school. And no, all of this did not come out in the car, it was far too short of a drive, but it's basically what ran through my head! ;)

I suppose I should head back to the house, I want to pick up some fruit on the way, and then I'm due home to make pancakes! There is actually a reason for this being Pancake Tuesday/Fat Tuesday, by the way, I looked it up-- it had to do with wanting to use up everything that would spoil during the period of Lent, such as fats, and pancakes apparently are a good way to use up a lot of things that would spoil. They still have Pancake Races here, I won't go into that but you can look it up on the web, and I think I saw there's a particular town in England that competes with a particular town in the US in pancake races.

For those of you asking about what trips I'm planning, not much so far aside from Italy in May (I may go by myself but have been asking to see if others are interested as well), and somewhere with Viv end of next week within England...perhaps Cambridge, I haven't heard back from her yet on where she'd like to go and I have three days I can take off. In general, we should have broadband internet in the house by March 10 or so, and I'll be better about emails and blog entries at that point. And Kristy, we should talk about timing for Australia, Capetown, whatever we're going to do! Right, pancakes are waiting...