I've Arrived!

 
 
Well, I made it.  Here's the condensed version (which would have been longer, but I didn't have internet until today):

The flight/travel:  I didn't cry!  My dad got really choked up when I was getting on the shuttle, and I almost lost it, but I didn't.  The flight to Chicago was short and uneventful, and the flight over here to Manchester wasn't terrible.  I knew I wasn't going to sleep (I don't sleep on anything that moves, really).  I did manage to snooze for about an hour, but the guy sitting next to me had a seizure.  He just started shaking, so I ran and got a stewardess.  He threw up on himself, and then kept fading in and out of consciousness, so they gave him some kind of medicine and oxygen, and I ended up changing seats.  We were supposed to arrive at 8:05, and we got here an hour early.  No problems at Border Entry.  It took almost 2 1/2 hours to get to the school's shuttle, wait for it to get there, get to accommodation, and get my room keys.  By that time, I was ready to pass out, but it was time for:

Orientation:  Very informative.  Lots of stuff about banking, safety, health, registering, etc.  Here's what I learned:  a) Don't walk alone at night through dark alleys or carry lots of cash, b) You have to walk a lot, and c) the University doesn't really tell you, but everyone expects you to have a mobile* phone.  My cell doesn't work here at all.  I planned to use Skype and do without one, but I don't see how I can.  They give you all these numbers to call on campus if you have problems with anything, but there are 0* phones for you to use ANYWHERE without walking a block to a pay phone.  What if I'm in my dorm, and someone falls down the stairs, and I need to call the A&E*?  I guess I have to steal their mobile because they'll obviously have one.  Our rooms don't even have phone jacks.

My accommodation:  Very secure, a little bigger than I thought it would be.  I live in a flat (share a hallway and a kitchen with) a guy from Greece, a guy from Nigeria, and a girl from Taiwan.  I guess they want to give us a global experience.  I'm actually very appreciative of where I live because a couple of other Americans I've met live really far away, and my hall is smack in the middle of everything.

Cuisine:  I ate my first curry with Miss Penny (the sole person I knew in Manchester before I came here) last night.  It was absolutely divine and nearly burnt my lips off.  I didn't really realize until I started eating it that I hadn't had anything but coffee, two biscuits*, and a Turkish delight* since Thursday's breakfast on the plane.  I'm actually eating the leftovers this morning for breakfast (Mom, if you're reading this, I swear I'm going to the supermarket today, and I will eat.  I have enough money, I just haven't had time.).

Other Stuff:  I met two Americans and a French person yesterday.  There aren't many Brits around until tomorrow since only internationals were checking in before.  I joined the international society, and they take little day trips, so I'm going on a day trip to the Lake District (to see Beatrix Potter's house) next Sunday and Edinburgh overnight in October for really cheap.  I also may teach and English class for them because the director thought it would be funny that someone from the US with such a "terribly Southern accent" should teach English.  I got discount tickets for my first shows here at the Student Union:  The Ting Tings and The Fratellis!  The View just announced a UK tour, and the Manchester show is already sold out.  Nice.  I guess I'll never get to see them.  Although if I see them on the street, I'll probably punch them in the face.

FINALLY, a sign that I am meant to be here: I got on the flight to Manchester, and guess who was on the cover of the in-flight magazine?  Queen Madge, herself.  It is destiny.

* Mobile is pronounced MOH-byle. 

   0 - this number is "zed" not zero.  

   A&E - Accident and Emergency (an ER, reached by dialing 999).  

   Biscuits - unfortunately just cookies and not the Southern kind, and definitely not my mom's.

   Turkish Delight - This gelatinous sort of pink candy covered in chocolate which is yum-may        (and I first heard of in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  It was how the bad queen got        to Edmund.  By giving him candy.).

Attached are pics of:  the airplane, the view from my room, the train station where I went to IKEA (all by myself I might add), and the magazine cover that confirms my location.

Just Another Day in the...Cemetary?

Okay, so I don't have a whole lot to do here. I've been working on my family tree again, and I'm severely lacking on information about my paternal grandmother's side of the family.

Yesterday, my dad drove me to Wilkinson County to see his aunt and uncle. He showed me the now kudzu-covered house where he grew up, and the sawmill where his grandfather worked. I saw the abandoned movie theatre that his uncle ran.

Then, we drove another 30 miles away from civilization, past Irwinton (county seat of Wilkinson County and home of Maebob's Diner, a fairly typical small town meat and well, two). We finally turned off the "main highway" (a two lane winding affair) onto Poplar Springs Church Road, going to, you guessed it: Poplar Springs Church (and its cemetary).

My dad's grandpa, James Bartow Tarpley, and his wife, Ella Cook Tarpley were buried there. What I was not prepared to find, nor was my dad even aware of, was that all of his extended family was buried there. At least three quarters of the headstones belonged to VanLandinghams or Tarpleys.

I wanted to read the marker for the little white clapboard church next to the cemetary, and here's what it said: "Poplar Springs Methodist Church - Deeded by Fulton Kemp to the Trustees: Jesse Peacock, Wilty Miller, Peter VanLandingham [my great-great-great-great-great grandfather], and Jethro Dean in 1825 for a Methodist Episcopal Church. Present Church built in 1859 by Edward J[ones] Tarpley [my great-great-great grandfather]."

It will not surprise my friends that I was absolutely elated to discover this! Then, we sort of broke into the church (the door was unlocked, but it had one of those metal latches), and I took a picture. I also decided that I want to get married there, in the middle of nowhere, in a church that was founded and built by my people, my family. It was kind of a revelatory experience, made even more meaningful by the fact that I'm going to be so far away so soon. I felt kind of like in GWTW when Scarlett figures out that everything else is totally meaningless except for land, only in my case, it's not land, it's family.

The pictures are of the church and some of the headstones, including those of the two women who gave me my pseudonym (Ella Serepta), if I should ever become a rockstar/folk singer/romance novelist and choose to change my name.