From London With Love

I spent this past weekend traveling to London and back via: Omaha and Chicago. Lots of traveling which sort of sucked the life out of me in a way that I wasn't really prepared for, but well worth the trip nonetheless.

Whilst in London I hung out with my 87 year old Nana, making food, eating food, watching golf, being amazed by her apparent distaste for organic foods (she bought an organic broccoli once, it wasn't good), and giggling as she pushed her way to the front of the line because of her "stick" and generally hurtled around North London. I also visited my 92 year old grandfather at a nursing home which could have been better, but very easily could have been worse. It was interesting to see a home filled with old Jewish Brits and staffed by people from all around the world. It sort of made sense with what I saw around North London in general, some very British people walking alongside lots of Muslim women with their heads covered and people who seem to be from Africa, South Asia and other places that feel fairly un-British.

This isn't new, but it is always surprising to see how culturally diverse London is and how much I feel like I've crossed an ocean to get there. Since I started traveling there when I was 8 I have always felt like there is so much closer to the rest of the world than here. Even when my "here" meant NYC and not Vermillion, SD. It makes me wonder how the world is going to change/is changing all the time due to the movement of people. This is really not something new, but when Sioux Falls, SD has Iraqi refugees coming to live and small towns all over the midwest are filled with pockets of new and different communities, what is shifting in those places? Since London and Britain in general has always felt so much more stead and traditional than here it gives me another little window through which I can explore the world.

Luckily I was able to discuss and debate these thoughts with Adam, my American friend with the Cambridge-educated perspective. Note: Cambridge British and Jewish working-class British are not the same thing. All in all, good trip, but I am happy to sit still for a few weeks before I jet off again to a longer and more frightening adventure.