July 8: Oxford Summer School!

It's soooooo hoooooottttt. I guess it's actually just like California, but the problem is that no one here is equipped for the heat so this three-story house is sweltering in the top-floor bedrooms. It reminds me of when we lived in student housing during Erik's MBA and I would put our clothes in the freezer before getting dressed. And when Sophie was a baby there was a week of over 100 degrees, and she couldn't sleep without being swaddled, so I wrapped her in the thinnest blanket possible and put a bag of frozen cheese on top of her in her crib. I would have loved some frozen cheese last night! Plus at about 2:30 am we heard a huge crash in Sophie and Stone's room, so I ran in to discover that one of the plastic blades from the electric fan had come off as it was running at high speed and basically blasted all the parts to bits. It was a scary sound but we felt lucky that none of the sharp plastic shards hit the sleeping kids. We cleaned it up this morning and won't bother to get a new fan because the kids went to sleep-away camp today!

We woke up and did nothing, which was absolutely wonderful. Erik is teaching Stone to solve the Rubick's cube so they spent a long time working on that, and we also opened a couple of Lego sets we had bought at Sainsbury's, which was perfect. I caught up on the blog (last few posts), read a book, wandered around from child to child flopping on their beds and chatting and snuggling. People made their own breakfasts and ate leftovers for lunch. Glorious. 

Around 1:00 we started packing, the kids getting giddy with excitement and nervousness. I held Lucy and gave her a big pep talk - she is the youngest person in her group and felt very intimidated by the 16-18-year-old age bracket and the formality of the "Oxford Summer Academy" name. I told her it's normal to be nervous, but that she's going to do great, just like she's done great at other things she's been nervous about (like doing auditions and going on stage, etc.). 

Finally everyone was ready, and I hugged and kissed Sophie and Stone goodbye for their week-long camp. Stone was very earnest as he kissed and hugged us. He promised to be on his best behavior - I can't believe he is going to have roommates he's never met in a place he's never been in a foreign country. He is really hoping he won't be placed with an American roommate. :) Sophie's big concern is that she doesn't want to be the oldest one there - the age group is 10-12, and no one likes being the oldest in a group of little kids. She was also crossing her fingers for a British or foreign roommate. They got in the car with Erik and away they went to Wycombe Abbey!

Lindsay and Lucy finished packing and we took a taxi one mile to Oxford campus because it's too dang hot and the girls thought it was weird to roll giant suitcases through the city, which it probably is. We pulled up to St. Edmund's Hall and got out of the taxi (we all thought the driver was going to murder me - he never smiled or spoke at all except to tell me to get back into the car to pay the bill after we arrived. It was weird but he drove away and here I am typing about it)... and the gates were locked and the only entrance was literally sealed shut with ancient stones. So... we walked around confused for awhile until Lindsay noticed that another building next door was also labeled St. Edmund's Hall, so we walked in there. Nary a sign or balloon or arrow or friendly greeter to be seen. We've done multiple camps on Stanford campus and there are always lots of signs to show us where to go. Not here! It was like a ghost town, to the point that I checked my email to see if we were there the wrong day. But we weren't, and the security guy did have the girls' names on his list and gave us the keys to their dorms, which we found after a loooooong, confusing walk and a loooong, confusing climb up a random concrete tower seemingly to nowhere. But finally we found the girls' dorm room, which was dark (the "light" was yellow and so dim as to be nearly imperceptible - we all burst into laughter when we turned it on) and looked out onto the ugly backsides of ugly concrete buildings, framed by ugly 1970's curtains. But there were two beds, a desk, a closet, and importantly, a fan. And that's all you really need! So back downstairs we went into the ghost town where we eventually found the program director who shone his friendly smile and said "Oh, Lindsay and Lucy!!! Yes, we've been waiting for you!!!" Which made me feel a lot better. We got an orientation packet and students started filing into the dining hall, assuring me that I wasn't dropping my girls off in the twilight zone.

I stayed for the welcome reception during which Lindsay and Lucy stuck close to me and and each other and wouldn't talk to anyone else. Suddenly Lindsay said "hey,  no one knows that we're sisters, so if we pretend we don't know each other it will look like we're being social!" So they shook hands and pretended to meet each other while I laughed at them. After  a few minutes a group of friendly girls walked over to introduce themselves, all of whom were from America, which wasn't exciting or exotic, but put my girls at ease. One was even from Walnut Creek! I slipped away as they chatted and began my own conversation with a mom from Malaysia.

Hugs and kisses and promises to look out for each other, and I walked away, suddenly feeling very free. Too free. Uneasy, like I had left home without my shoes or my spleen or something. I thought about what to do for the evening and realized Erik and I could do anything we wanted, go anywhere we wanted for dinner, watch a movie, take a walk, read books uninterrupted... and I got excited! We met at a highly-rated Turkish restaurant on my way home (food was average) and caught each other up on the kids' drop-offs, then went home and finished the Viet Nam documentary we've been watching. 

So far all we know is that Lindsay and Lucy are having fun. We do know that Sophie's roommate is 10 years old and from Singapore, and Stone has three roommates, all Pakistani-British, and he thinks the food is great. I already miss them.

Looking for Lindsay and Lucy's dorm rooms

Climbing many stairs with heavy suitcases in a weird cement tower

Roommates!

Walking to the reception

That building at the end of the street is St Edmund's Hall, built in 1278. That's the part that was locked, but there was another part that was open. It's about a mile from where Erik and I are staying. Sophie and Stone are 40 minutes away. I hope they're ok!!!