Keeping it real

Last night, Charles and I had our first night on the town without kids.  Or maybe the kids had their first night without mom and dad?  I'm not sure who was more excited that Elon students were coming to babysit! At the pub, someone said to us, "You know you're a true Londoner when you stop noticing the individual people on the Tube, and it's just a throng to get through on your way home."  This idea made me sad, but I realized that I function in much the same way at home.  You reach a point in a familiar place where your autopilot can take over--literally, one can drive, do errands, cook, even talk to other people, without really paying attention to the task at hand.  Being in a new place activates the "survival instinct" that causes one to notice more, to look for threats.  Our senses were literally designed to help us survive.  In London, we experience this every time we cross the street, and have to look the opposite direction to check traffic.  Several days ago, my brain was in sensory over-load while trying to navigate busy streets with three kids on scooters, a bag of library books, and an even larger bag from the Department Store full of boys uniform clothes... It was exhausting!!   However, even after just two weeks here, I can sense a slight dulling of the senses that comes with familiarity on the streets.  

We're sleeping better this week, having made the transition in time zones and even the kids are relaxing out of constant stress mode.  We received the welcome news that the boys will be able to start school here next week, and have met a few people at church and school.  On one hand, I have the instinct to settle in, find my people and my routine.  But I don't want to get too comfortable!  I want to keep noticing people, architectural details, the way the light is different here, the subtle variations in how things are said.  The challenge seems to be to stay just at the edge of my comfort zone, to keep my eyes open, to "mind the gap."  

A perhaps less lofty challenge is to keep my children from killing each other or getting us kicked out of our flat with their noise.  Fortunately, we are on the ground floor, but still...  We've been experimenting with some Charlotte Mason-style homeschooling in the mornings, reading about the Vikings and early British history, and then getting outside for field trips and excursions in the afternoon.  Many of the museums in London are free (though as the kids pointed out, you have to pay extra to do all the cool stuff... ) Still, we've loved the Museum of London (been twice already!), enjoyed a tour of Parliament, been to the Science Museum (cool airplanes, but not as interactive as the Life & Science Museum in Durham- we're spoiled!), the Natural History Museum (dinosaurs, whales, etc), Princess Diana Memorial playground (amazing!), and of course, Kings Cross to check out Platform 9 3/4.  It won't surprise anyone to hear that Caleb is memorizing the Tube maps, and is an expert navigator!