My England trip was wonderful. Some of you may not realize this, but I had to drive from Germany to France to fly out of a Swiss airport to get to England. I’m often struck by how strange it is to be on the border of two other countries. It makes life a little complicated though when I realized that my German phone doesn’t work in France, nor can it call Swiss numbers. It’s a little limiting. [...]

To my mother's chagrin, internet in Oxford is less accessible than I anticipated. However, I've been having a wonderful time in England listening to qualified teachers talk about high quality literature. It's yet another overwhelming experience as the world rushes by me at it's standard pace, but I've been significantly slowed by my accident.[...]

Don't worry, I'm still alive. I'm not rotting on my bathroom floor or anything. I just don't have internet at home. I'm currently sitting outside my school using their wifi to let you know I'm not dead. Clearly a lot has happened in the last week, and there is a steep learning curve. I'll be back to regular updates soon, I hope, but pray my internet and phone situation gets resolved quickly.  [...]

My dad left Friday morning; I miss him. I had no one to help me through the day Friday, but I did have friends come spend time with me and help me out. Johanna even walked with me from my apartment to the school. I made it the whole way there - though I was exhausted by the end. I'll need a while before I feel safe making that trek alone, and quite a while before I'll be ready to make it there and back again.[...]

As previously mentioned, I'm stubborn, and in my stubbornness, I'm determined to learn to walk to school. Well, I'm determined to learn to walk in general, but goals are good. The apartment I have is, according to Google maps, less than three hundred meters from the school. It's a nice downhill slope all the way there. From experience walking up a ramp at REHAB with Alex, I was aware that my backside lacks the muscle strength required to push my body up inclines. I was concerned that I'd have a harder time walking from the school home to my apartment. Wouldn't do me much good to walk there and be stuck.[...]

I'm stubborn.

You may have figured that out even if you haven't met me yet, but I'm a particularly determined girl. My mother frequently joked that if I was a first born, I'd be an only child because I had such a wildly independent spirit that would not easily bend. My stubbornness is what helped me get to Germany in the first place, and I'll make it through because my stubbornness won't go away.[...]

REHAB Basel is a paradise for people in wheelchairs; they have smooth floors and handrails everywhere. Doorways are wide and counters have knee space underneath. Here in Kandern, that's not nearly the case. My bathroom is too narrow to even fit my wheelchair in, so I have to manage walking through the narrow space while holding my hands on either wall; showering is particularly difficult in the tiny space. In fact, right now, it's downright scary, but I know I'll eventually get used to it.[...]

The haunting round from RENT has been running through my head for weeks as I wonder, "Will I lose my dignity?" through this transition, through my return to the real world, through any number of difficulties. However, a different song pushed into my head as I thought of David returning the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. When his wife chastised him for dancing naked in the streets, David said, "I'll become even more undignified than this." The children's song I used to sing with the Port kids adds, "leave my pride by the side" to that line. [...]