What’s the one thing that you see and you feel reassured, you feel at ease when you have been feeling uneasy for one reason or another, or that when you see it calmness transcends over. Mine will not come as a surprise to those of you that have been following this blog for a while. It’s the sunset and sunrise. I have caught it a couple of times in this new environment I am getting accustomed to.
It may not be as colourful, not the yellowish or golden skies as I always captured from my bedroom window, or while on an evening or morning run or as I went to work in the morning or while leaving in the evening. My spot for capturing it was usually over the Lubaga hospital junction, it would light up the entire morning skies like it was paid to do it. In the evenings it was usually around Sir. Apollo Kagwa P/S right next to Mengo Market-I’d always wish for the traffic to slow down when I spotted it so I could savour the sight and take a picture if I could.
Anyways, I digress but pardon me, I am obsessed with Sunsets and sunrises and I will take them in whichever form I get them, so even the white and shinny blinding ones will do. Such sights I take as messages from my creator.
Friends, I am now going into the 3rd week of living in Nottingham, I am settling in pretty well but I can’t say it’s not been without some hurdles. Nothing crazy save for the process of adapting to a whole lot of newness ranging from culture, the pace of life, the environment, the weather, and all. I have got lost a couple of times but good enough, people are kind to stop when asked and offer directions if asked so that helps and I am also noticing the town of Nottingham is not so large. I believe I will know all its corners within no time.
It could also be that my google maps reading skills need work because just the other day I walked up and down streets trying to locate some bank only to realize it was around the corner of a road I have used severally. There were also a couple of others within the vicinity and I felt silly after locating them while on the verge of getting frustrated with myself. When I was done with the banks, I sat down in Market square-it’s this big open space where people sit, and walk through and there is a tram stop and bus stop nearby. It overlooks Nottingham City council. It’s also a hangout spot for birds and once in a while, you’ll spot someone feeding them. So I sat down to take a minute and breathe. Ultimately I was being a little too harsh with myself, as I should know these things take time. As I type this, a little box sits right next to me, and in it are farewell messages my former colleagues at ChildFund wrote to me, (they said the sweetest things, gosh I miss them) and in them, I am reminded that I have got this and will adapt. See a few below.
Sometimes it’s reassurance you need from others, those that have seen you at your best to remind you of what you are and are capable of. I look at it like someone holding out a mirror to your face and having you look at yourself from another perspective than the one usually naysaying in the head. So anyways, sitting in Market Square I breathed, and watched people walk by, someone seated behind me had a blue tooth speaker blasting but I can’t recall what was playing. That day went by and I was okay.
New friends, old ones
I came into this city not knowing any soul save for some virtual connections from back home but once I stepped here I was on my own. I have so far made a couple of friends who have made settling in a lot easier than it would have been having I been doing it all on my own. It’s the small things like showing me stores to get everyday essential purchases, introducing me to local beers (Stella and Fosters), sharing a bottle of wine while trading stories, and taking me to the Goose Fair among many other things. And of course shout out to virtual connections, that have been on the phone with me, sharing experiences to lessen the shocks of navigating many unknowns.
Navigating my way to my first class
Having secured a monthly bus pass and asking about where I could get a bus to take me to the university, for my Wednesday classes starting at 1 pm, I was in town by 10 am. In the previous blog, I mentioned that the course I am doing is taught at a different campus. So, I sat by the bus stop and waited for bus number 4 and 1 but I wasn’t seeing any. For close to 30 minutes’ buses to different areas came and went but my bus wasn’t coming. I walked down to the bus transport office to ask about it and while they answered my questions, it didn’t look like I would get the bus I wanted that went straight to the campus. I was advised to take another that stopped in Clifton town. I took it and by the time I got off, it was raining. Maps indicated that the campus was a walkable distance away but in all honesty, how was I going to walk to I going to a place I had never been in the rain? After many failing attempts, I got an Uber that took me. Friends, that’s how I made it to my first class just a few minutes before it began. I have since learnt other stops to get the right bus to take me to school so that’s sorted.
The noisy neighbour
It must have been like the 3rd day in my house, I woke up feeling energetic and decided to exercise for a bit. I found a 15 minutes’ video on YouTube and started jumping around in my bedroom. I heard some bangs from the room below mine but never made anything of them. I was zoned into my routine and when I got done, I decided to take out the trash as I cooled down. You people, I found an unhappy neighbor wondering what I was doing early morning disrupting his business with my jumping, so I was that neighbour. Since then, I haven’t exercised again…. excuses. I think I will have to find another spot in the house where it won’t be as disruptive.
I end with the lighter updates but in all this, I am reminded that if it gets/feels a little chaotic that I need to look up, I could spot a sunset or sunrise. From the vastness of the blue skies, the trees with their coloured leaves going yellow while shedding a few, the hustle and bustle of people walking, the birds minding their business in Market Square, the impatience with self, the making of new friends or the lack thereof, the complexity that comes with being exposed to new concepts and different outlooks on life, I seek for the constants, such as the sun setting or rising and what it symbolizes to me. It is stillness, it’s a reassurance that someone is watching over me and saying it’s well my child, its well even when it may not seem so. And when in doubt, get out of my head, be still and listen for clarity is always around the corner.
So I ask again, what’s your thing?
Hermusings 