Random Acts of Kindness

We have our first concert tomorrow at Wolfson College in Cambridge tomorrow.  In the past few days I've been spending a lot of time rehearsing in the hall and have come to know some of the workers that stop by to clean and organize the space for various events.  In particular, the woman who cleans everyday always pops her head in to let me know she is there.  

As I was walking to the grocery store today with my cello on my back, a car honked its horn and I turned to see who it was.  It was the woman who cleans the hall.  She shouted, "You got far to walk?" offering me a ride.  I had already reached my destination but the thought of squeezing myself and my cello into her little car was amusing and I was a bit sorry to have to give up the opportunity to chat a little more with her.  It feels good to feel more and more welcome in a place.  Whenever someone reaches out beyond what they need to do, it reminds me that this choice is always available, even when it isn't common practice to do so.  To say hello, to hold a door, to move something out of the way for another, to offer a ride.  Sometimes these random acts of kindness catch me off-guard, but never in a bad way.  I wonder where they first started.  The ball is in my court, as it so often seems to be, in this never-ending game of paying it forward.  

World Without End

Another day in London.  It has become apparent that the world is larger than humanly possible.  A day of tubing through the Underground, of seeing friends, but never enough of them, of seeing posters and ads for musicals that will never be seen, places to travel that will only be imagined; the experiences of the world and the inability to take them all in has become an act of acceptance.   On our exhausted train ride back to Cambridge, Andrew asked me if there was  any place I'd like to try to visit in England before I left.  The possibility that somewhere in between concerts, and social obligations, and his own obligations with school that we might find time to travel to the coast or some other town for a day trip.  A walk along the coast would be lovely, but I think I will enjoy a walk along the River Cam, just as well.  

English Japanese

Just as in Japan, there is a pervasive courtesy to many social interactions, customs, and practices in England.  Perhaps it is simply my gratitude for any kindness expressed as I make my way through an unknown country. Perhaps it is the novelty of everything- its fresh green-that makes me look up at people and see them in such a kind light.

But I do think there is a consideration for others that is perhaps the result of an island culture constantly in contact with one another, unable to find much space and in need of certain rules to make things go more smoothly.  The tendency not to get too close to one another in conversation material or eye contact.  A softer tone of voice, a privacy in the midst of presence.  England is a Japan whose words I can understand.  I wonder if I will understand Japan in a new way after having been here.  

Eating Pancakes with a British Accent

Today was Pancake Day in England, the British celebration on Fat Tuesday.  We attended not one but two Pancake Day parties and I discovered a whole new world of pancake possibilities.  Pancakes with artichoke hearts, spinach and feta, squash and feta, applesauce, olives, tuna, salmon, jams, cheeses, mushrooms, eggplants (aborigines), Nutella, and of course plenty of blueberries and maple syrup to top it off.  So many delicious possibilities and another pretext for a group dinner with many friends that I can supplant to any location I happened to live.  Pancake Day in England and who would know if I happened to host it on any other day of the year?

New English

How do the idioms we use change how we feel about things?  How does the way we say something change its meaning?  In England it is not uncommon to be greeted with, "You alright?" and one answers, "Yeah good."  When someone thanks another for a task, the corresponding response is, "That's alright."  Everything is said in a quick friendly manner.  The voice is used in a soft, brisk, and unforced manner.  How does it change the language that I speak and hear?  Laying meaning on a newly landscape of expression.  

Hospitality in Cambridge

It can be hard to find a place to practice sometimes, but luckily some friends of Andrew's have offered free use of their private studio which is situated at the back of the garden of their home.  I spent the morning practicing there.

One of the hosts was gardening as I walked in and got his wife to come say hello.  They gave me the key to this garden spot, and turned on the heat, and offered their home (or garden) should I need to use the loo.

In the evening I enjoyed the hospitality of several friends of Andrew's from Cambridge.  It continues to impress me the amount of diversity that exists in England.  Of the group one was Polish, one of German and Indian descent but raised In England, one German, one South Korean but raised in England, two from Chile, and two were British.  We enjoyed a meal of vegetarian paella and meringue and then played a game of mafia together.  

And then a long dark walk home through the rainy streets of Cambridge on a path that I'm starting to know and own.

Walking in Cambridge

Walking through morning mists and greens towards a breakfast of jam with bread, fruit, eggs, marmite, and delicious tea with milk.  Sitting in the children's choir rehearsal for King's Junior Voices, walking through the narrow aisles of the University Library to retrieve a book of James and Dewey's essays.  Walking and walking through the streets of Cambridge, through the open skies of its common places, its old buildings and churches, its diversity.  Settling in the evening stars of a clear sky over yet another open field.