First weekend in York

They’re here! After a delayed flight out of Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, our students nearly missed their connecting flight from Philadelphia to Manchester, England. But they all managed to sprint through Philadelphia Airport just before the gate closed, and most even managed to get some sleep on the plane. A two-hour bus trip from Manchester brought them here to York, where they poured off bus at lunchtime on Thursday tired, relieved, and grateful to be here at last. We give thanks to God for their safe arrival and for their good spirits.

After checking into their rooms and unpacking, everyone came to the Van Lieres’ house for a welcome tea and an auction of the goods that last year’s Calvin group had left behind. Hairdryers, frying pans, kettles, and staplers were spread across the living room, everyone was given 100 points to spend, and after half an hour of fierce by friendly bargaining, all but these lonely items pictured below (along with the auction point tally) had a proud new owner.

Once the auction loot and textbooks were all carried back to The Grange, we walked to Bistro Guy, a cozy restaurant near the YSJ campus, which we filled up for our first dinner together. Congratulations to Amanda Raterink, Brooke Elzinga, and Liz Memmelaar, who all learned that night that they have been accepted into Calvin’s nursing program!

Back at the Grange and ready for bed, some students wondered why their rooms were still bitterly cold several after they had done their best to turn on the odd-looking English radiators. After trying every trick we could think of, we finally called maintenance and learned about the peculiar English invention called the storage heater, which stores up heat overnight when electricity is less expensive and releases it the next day. Unfortunately, if it this gets turned off during vacation and no one remembers to turn it on the day before it’s needed, there is no way to heat the room on that first night. Electric heaters, extra blankets, and patience are the only remedies. Fortunately we had almost enough of these to go around.

The students had Friday and Saturday to get oriented to York, meet their new “flatmates,” start buying food and kitchen supplies, and catch up on sleep. Nine came back to the Van Lieres’ on Friday to watch Billy Elliot for our the first weekly “English movie night.” This story of a young English boy’s struggle to become a ballet dancer while growing up in a coal-mining family is set in County Durham, just north of Yorkshire, where we will visit in a few weeks.

This morning the Calvin group got a hearty welcome at St Thomas and St Maurice church, and followed up the service with a pizza lunch at the Van Lieres’, which included a small birthday celebration for Frans. He loves the beautiful handmade card.

Now it's finally time for the hard work to begin....