Reflections

Well, wow, it's hard to believe I'm back home again in freezing Perrysburg, Ohio. The last two weeks in the UK were magnificent, but all good things must come to an end.

It was a bit hard to leave the club on my last day, and had nothing but well wishes from the first minute to the last. I was surprised at 1pm when I was called into the main reception area, only to find that everyone on the staff had gathered there waiting for me to walk in and when I did, I received a round of applause. The club's Chief Executive gave a short speech about my contributions to the club, and then I thanked everyone for their warmth and generosity. It was too hard to put into words though how amazing it was for me to be able to report to an English football club for work every day. They then presented me with a replica jersey autographed by the entire team, all of whom I had gotten to know very well. I was also told that if I ever wanted to come back and work in English football again, to give them a call. I tell you what, I think I might.

Michelle arriving though was fantastic, and it was a bit surreal to finally see in person after so many conversations on the webcam! We shot off for Scotland the following morning, and I'm just now getting my head around the fact that I was finally in 'the homeland.' I got to see the Palace and the Castle and the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, and I bought myself a massive Claymore sword, which should be arriving in the mail any day. Hopefully I'll be able to post some photos when it arrives.

My parents arrived into London Gatwick on Christmas morning to kick off the tourism in style. On the day after Christmas, I took them to the Southend match where all five of us were treated to a three course meal in the luxury lounge courtesy of the club for all of my hard work. My parents moved to London on the 27th while Michelle and I commuted from Southend every morning, which all told would take about 1hr and 45min. We got to see all the big stuff in London: Tower of London and Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, the girls saw Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, Buckingham Palace, Harrod's, the British Museum, the Hard Rock Cafe, Portobello Road market, and Michelle and I saw two plays (the musical "The Producers" and the Agatha Christie mystery "The Mousetrap"). Michelle and I were also treated to two tickets to see Arsenal play Portsmouth at Highbury, and, much to my chagrin, Michelle is now a hard-core Arsenal supporter.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip and one I don't regret making at all, as difficult as it may have been at times to fit in. Some of the people I've seen since I've returned to the US say that I do sound a bit different; I don't have an accent but I pronounce things differently and my intonation is different. I think I sound the same but, who knows?

I am now back at home in Perrysburg, and have nothing to do but look for a job. I will be getting a new cell phone and a new number next week so maybe I'll post it on here when I get it. I'll also be trying to set up a Yahoo! photo album or something to display some of my photo highlights from the last few weeks. Oh, and Long Live the Queen!