Homesick

What is my deal? One minute I'm desparately thinking "I don't want to move" "I'll miss it here" "I love it here" !! The next minute I'm whining to JP that I miss home, I'm tired of the pace and the people and the weather.

It has nothing to do with hormones either for those skeptics!

This homesickness thing is funny. It washes up on you at very unexpected times! We are cruising along, finishing the last minute details for a 10 day trip to Italy next week and all I can think about is home. Wasa sushi. Javier's seafood enchiladas. The sun. The beach on early mornings when I used to go swim. My friends. My car. Friendly people in the office.

Maybe it is the sudden absence of activity- for the last three months straight we have been entertainers and haven't had much down time. I got home from work at 6pm last night and was just irritable and wanted nothing more than to transplant myself to a warm day in OC. Yes, my commute home was normal- shoved in the tube with smelly and unfriendly people. Yes, it is cold outside and rainy. Time to think of the positive though....

I thought if I blogged it, the feeling would go away. I'm hopeful that I'll wake up tomorrow morning with a renewed exuberance for London. I will acknowledge that this city wears you out. Sometimes I don't want to walk as fast as I possibly can to the tube stop like everyone, I just want to take my time. Sometimes I just want to smile at people and shake them a bit and say- what is wrong with you?? Why are you so, I don't know, British!!!??? Sometimes I just want to shout at the sky and say- "STOP HIDING THE SUN!!"

This should do it, my five (thanks Tina) friends to vent to and make it real- you CAN be sick of such an amazing city, there is nothing wrong with it!

Of all the GEP's here, we seem to be the ones who most often are anticipating, hosting or planning for guests. Since we landed, we have hosted 20 people in our flat on Sinclair Road. Considering we've been here for 14 months now, that means in some form or another we have had at least a guest per month. We often talk about how lucky we are that our friends would make the long trip and pay the high costs of a plane ticket just to see us (well, and this amazing city!)

Tomorrow we'll be saying good-bye to Anneliese- fittingly our first guest last December and our last planned guest during our secondment here. It is bittersweet, no longer will our little guest room and extra phone and oyster passes be needed. (well, unless I lose one of my own, which is highly likely). No longer will we have an excuse to go out every night of the week. No longer will we have deliveries of American goods like salsa and make-up (it is expensive here!!).
What it also means for me is that our time here is winding down. We don't touch down in the US until April 23, but with the new year quickly approaching, I feel like we will soon be packing and filling out moving forms and planning leaving "do's".

Highlights of Anneliese's trip include a holiday costume party that also celebrated our friend Andy's 30th birthday (so, named the Dual-Purpose party), a Christmas pantomime show : http://www.stratfordeast.com/shows.php (another England holiday tradition), a trip to Hyde Park Winter Wonderland, a viewing of the movie Four Christmases, and pub quiz night. Today we will be spending our last day together by doing a day trip to Marlow- a quaint little town about an hour outside London.

JP is in Barcelona this weekend attempting with some friends to score tix to the Real Madrid vs. FC Barcelona tonight. He luckily is enjoying some more mild weather. It is freezing here with weather warnings of sleet and rain- great for walking around outside! That is why there is a pub on every corner here.... ahhh the pubs.

Thanksgiving also has come and gone- and my sister and I successfully cooked for 20 people in a small London flat. It was a super fun day and night- cooking with my sister and then relaxing and watching American football with our friends. I didn't realize how easy a turkey was to cook and now that I have a fancy roasting pan perhaps I'll try to do the wife-ly thing and cook a chicken or something for JP. (although, I secretly think he likes my super special meal of minestrone soup out of the can and a baguette)

This is our last week working before we head to Italy for 10 days to celebrate Christmas and eat loads of pasta and gelato. Everyday this week we have some sort of holiday lunch planned at work that starts at 1pm and includes copious amounts of wine and goes until evening. What a tough life we lead here.

I'll leave you with some pics of Thanksgiving and the dual-purpose party.

Showing off our super sweet sweatshirts, thanks Anneliese!

At the pub, we were quite the spectacle. Stuart wearing the PJ's went as the American dad on Christmas morning. Oggie, well, kind of did the Canadian tux and a holiday tie and hat.

Anneliese made three sweet sweatshirts for our party... JP wore his proudly. Antlers purchased separately.

The gang heading out to the pub after some drinking and beer pong at the flat.

My first turkey going into the oven... yum!

Happy Christmas

This installment brings you a little UK holiday lesson: First, a fun pic:

The UK holiday season doesn't differ much from what you are experiencing in the US. However, just for fun, I thought I would reveal some of those little things that make the British feign more excitement than normal (it ain't much) this time of year:

Mince pies. Sounds gross right? They are these little pies filled with minced fruit. They are the rave come mid-November here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mince_pie I recently ordered a box with our grocery delivery and mistakenly put in 2 boxes. For two people, 2 boxes of minced pies is about 1 1/2 too many. So, I took one to work and put it by the coffee machine. Even the more reserved people in the office got a little excited about the appearance of the random mince pie. Direct quotes include: "mmmm, now that is quite nice" and "it rather is, but me mum makes them better"

Christmas crackers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_crackers These fun toys give even adults something to look forward to. You typically open one by standing in a small circle with friends and holding on to the xmas cracker next to you (the toy, not the random guy) and pop the cracker for some holiday treats. It is a fun tradition, I just sent some to the US to start the trend. You always get a fun hat to wear, as modeled by yours truly at least year's holiday party.

Boxing Day. You get two days off Christmas and Boxing Day. What is boxing day you ask? It is rooted in the day where traditionally you give gifts to those less fortunate. Nowadays, it is an extra day off. With a 10 day trip through Italy planned, I'll take all the holiday time I can get!

What you get here is the same focus on consumerism, and in this economy you can bet that everything is at least 10-15% off. Daily we get emails advertising sales at the major retailers and there is plenty of encouragement to buy right now. I'll do my best to keep this economy on the upside :)

What you don't see as much is that public need to be more philantropic and cater to those who have less. Businesses don't adopt schools or a family to put gifts under the tree and a dinner on the table. That may come with living in a much more socialist society, but I have not noticed any Christmas Angel trees or adopt a family or soup kitchen pleas. It also may have something to do with the fact that people volunteer just like at home but do so in a less public way. Many people have it as part of their routine to volunteer at shelters, schools, churches, etc. but you don't hear about it unless it is specifically brought up.

Finally, it's CHRISTMAS here. Not holidays. Not Hannakah. Nobody is PC and if you do not celebrate the holiday you don't remind somebody, you jus accept the greeting and continue on. There is no PC-ness when it comes to Christmas. And, it is not "Merry Christmas" it is "Happy Christmas"

So with that in mind friends, with less than 3 weeks go to, a Happy Christmas season to you all!

To the four readers of this blog:

You can subscribe here (see to the left) and you will get notified via email when I post a new update to the blog! I know, I know, super exciting, right!

A Paris Affair

There is more to this posting than just Paris- but that is where I will start. JP and I planned a trip way back in August for a quick Paris getaway this last weekend- and I can't believe it has come and gone. The last time we were in Paris we spent a very quick 24 hours on the back end of a trip to France and packed in all the big sights. Our purpose in returning (which, we try not to do since there is so much to see) was to just slow it down and be romantic and enjoy the experience of being there versus rushing from sight to sight. We did it the right way this time, nice long dinners, crepes and wine and cheese, fun sights but also with some rest in between. We chose a fun neighborhood yesterday to wander around- Monmarte- home of the cemetery where Jim Morrison is buried, the cafe where Amelie worked in (great movie by the way) and Moulin Rouge. It was a really fun hood- lots of galleries and street vendors and kitshy shops. We took in a nice french romantic dinner at Le Tavestin http://www.letastevin-paris.com/ where I tried escargot (yum) and we had great steaks and delicious desserts.

I love France, and I love Paris. However, it is the only place where JP and I have felt 1. unsafe (i'll explain) and 2. the need to be a little vigilant against taxi drivers out to rip off tourists. Of all the trips and cities- Paris is the only place we've been approached and pursued by people hoping to rob us, and the only city where we've had to get out of taxi's due to meter problems. On Saturday while walking to the subway a group of guys approached us talking very fast and pulling at us and we had to look down and walk fast to get out of their way. It is a pretty common ploy I guess to distract tourists while stealing from them. Only, this happened to us on our first trip. We don't think we walk around looking like targets- but either way we thought for how gorgeous and fun Paris is- it definitely has it's drawbacks.

Drawback number 2? Oh yeah- 26 euro for ONE drink at our hotel bar. I guess on Sat. nights at the Le Meridian hotel bar they price their drinks accordingly: 26 euro for your first drink (ANY drink- fruit juice, water, whiskey, wine) and 12 euro for each subsequent drink. Imagine our surprise, we come back from a great dinner, it is sub-zero outside (it snowed on our way out of town, it was freezing) and we decided- hey, let's have a few at the hotel bar before going to bed... only to sit down and glance at the menu and be suitably SHOCKED by the prospect of paying 75 euro for 2 rounds. Give me a friggin break. Thankfully we looked- often at a hotel bar we'll just order a couple glasses of wine or beer and let that be. We retired early to watch some french TV and marvel at the audacity of a sub-par hotel bar for charging such prices. Oh, and BTW- the bar was pretty packed. Ridiculous. Am I a cheapo? Must be.

Enough bitching though- I'll put some pics up and show you what we saw, it was a great little getaway on our favorite mode of transportation- the Eurostar.

In the last couple weeks we also saw Dave & Ariel come and go and had a little overnight jaunt to the English countryside and saw the Cotswolds. Let me just say that we really enjoyed having the Gutierrez's visit- any friend from home is always a nice welcome break from the norm. Additionally, the Cotswolds and countryside is just gorgeous. We rented a car and JP drove us all around to various little villages and we stopped in pubs along the way. Very typical too- good food, fireplaces, friendly people. We stayed at a cute little inn over a pub/restaurant called The Kings Head http://thekingsheadinn.net/ and enjoyed a great dinner and played cards and drank with some locals. I highly recommend a trip out there, I would have liked to stay one more night . Of all the trips we've taken, it ranks high up there as one of the highlights.

As all of our US friends are getting ready for Thanksgiving- we expats are preparing for a feast of our own. We will be cooking a big dinner next Saturday to celebrate the best holiday of the year. No friends, we don't get Thanksgiving off here in England (and yes, we are asked that question from our friends and family) but we'll make up for it suitably with a turkey bowl and 20 expats gathering in a small flat to give thanks, eat turkey and drink beer.

Finally, the final immediate family member left in our small circle is making her way across the pond- Mandi lands on Tuesday! I'm beside myself in anticipation- both because we don't get to spend a lot of one on one time with Mandi, and also because I gave her a list of things to bring me the size of a short blog posting (I don't know how to do short blog postings, sorry!). She also knows how to cook a turkey, which is better than the other 19 of us Americans who are eating together next Sat. night. On the agenda for Mandi is the normal guest circuit along with a day trip on Friday to somewhere close and also the Jack the Ripper tour which we still haven't done and are looking forward to. With each of our guests we try to plan /organize something unique- whether it be oysters or a side trip or a play, with Mandi it is Jack the Ripper.

Well, since JP just asked me in his exasperated way- "are you still doing your blog posting??" I'll leave it here. As November is almost over, I must admit that I'm getting extremely anxious/excited/sad/happy about the coming 4-5 months. I can't believe our time here is almost over. I am just not ready to go home at the same time as being ready to get back to the sun and our friends/family. How can that be? I'll leave you all (my remaining 4 readers) with that thought.

Until next time, HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I'm grateful for so much- mostly for those of you who read this to the end. :)

So much to say!

Let me recap the last month:

• More guests- My mom came to visit and we had a blast. My very independent and resourceful mom has lived her whole life with a car and in a suburb. I was very impressed with how quickly she got over her jet lag and took to the streets to enjoy the city like a local. We gave her an oyster card (travel card) and a map and she took to the buses and tube like a native. Not only that, she tried Indian, Turkish and pub food and even cooked JP and I some home cooked meals. It was sad to watch her go- reminding us of how far our loved ones really are.
• Dubin- I had to head over to Dublin for a work meeting and my very fun manager suggested heading out a day earlier to check out the city since I had never been there. I enjoyed the day I spent around town- but if you are planning an Ireland trip- don't spend too much time in Dublin- get out of town to see the gorgeous countryside.
• Weather- Somehow we were cruising through October enjoying a proper autumn- leaves changing, crisp weather and sun. Suddenly last week it turned freezing. I'm hearing about all these heat waves at home and here it is snowing in London (first time in 34 years!) and just wintery. It has improved a bit from the "cold snap" that we had last week- but it is definitely time to pull out the seaters ("jumpers") and scarves.
• Berlin- highlight of this month, other than my mom's visit of course- was our weekend break to Berlin. We went over with a bunch of expats and really enjoyed the city. The history and stories behind the buildings and walls was alone worth the trip. We spent all day Saturday touring around on our own seeing the bigger sites, and then after a big night out on Saturday we took a walking tour on Sunday of the Third Reich. It was sobering and interesting to learn about the events in such recent history. The city is quite cosmopolition and didn't feel like Germany necessarily- it is nothing like Munich. We had sushi and mexican food- to give you an idea of whats on offer there! I recommend the city and would go again. I put our pics on the shutterfly site- the link is on the left hand corner of the page.
• There ARE nice people in London! As a quick side story- I left my cell phone on the tube last night on accident. Now, let me say that I have already lost one phone in London- and I don't consider myself an irresponsible person. Anyways, so, frantically searching for my phone and resolved that I lost it for good, I went along to dinner and drinks with friends. Then, at a bar- JP looks at me and says "You just called me!" We walked outside and this very nice man picked up my phone and called us and we made arrangments to pick it up. He was extremely nice and at first refused my gift of chocolate saying it really wasn't a big thing. To me though- it showed me that there really are nice people in London! Whoda Thunk??
• Proper tea at an English person's home! A little over a year ago before we came out to London we got an immersion lesson from a nice English lady who told us that we could consider ourselves as immersed here when we are invited over to another English person's home for tea. Now, until this point we have had plenty of happy hours and outings with our non-American friends- but have yet to get that nod.... until recently. Today we headed up to Muswell Hill (great area of North London!) to have tea with some friends. It ended up being very much any other thing we would do with our friends- some apps and sweets to munch on, wine and tea to drink, good conversation with some friends. However, we just need to say- we are now officially immersed. Not only that- the topic that we spent the most time on was the election. It is amazing how living outside the US makes you realize how important our elections are outside of the country. People knew just as much about the election and candidates as we did- some of them even more! Incredible.

Looking to the future:

I think JP has mentioned in his own blog- but something I haven't shared yet officially is that we have purchased a new home to move into when we go back to OC next spring. It is being built and is a little townhome in Aliso Viejo, a short 4 miles from the beach. We are super excited and have added that to the list of things to look forward to when we move back.

Just yesterday we booked our trip home to the US... via Southeast Asia!! We will be leaving on April 1 and spending three weeks exploring Thailand (specifically Bangkok, Ko Samui and Chiang Mai) Cambodia (specifically Siem Riep to see Ankor Wat) and Vietnam (south Vietnam- in Ho Chi Mihn or Saigon). While many consider our secondment to London as the "pre-baby, pre-grown up" detour, I very much consider this trip to be the big one before we finally settle down.

This week we are welcoming Dave & Ariel to London and looking forward to a side trip to the Cotswolds and a trip on our guest circuit. We are super excited to see them.

I'll make it a habit to update this more regularly to avoid such excess information next time! I got a little lazy and busy with guests and such - but no excuse to drop in and update on all our antics!

The Guest Circuit

We just put our latest set of guests on the plane (a tad hungover from too much fun at the piano bar the previous night) and it got me thinking...

First, how lucky are we to have so many friends who have made the trek across the Atlantic to visit? We are well aware that it ain't cheap here, and the fact that we've hosted so many people just makes us realize how lucky we are. Cheesiness aside- I'm well aware that people use us as a check in point on the way to other places as well, but just the idea of people saying - hey, let's go visit those short. loud and crazy kids John and Angie in London... we are blessed.

Then I thought of what we have come to call the guest circuit. It occurred to me as I was confusing which restaurant/pub/street we took each friend to in recent months that we do have a pretty nifty thing going for us. A visit to our hood includes a sampling of local favorites like Mr. India (our fave Indian joint), Parrs Head (where we munch on thai food AND sit in a pub at the same time) and of course- we highlight the trip with Best Mangal II. Turkish food folks. Don't turn your nose up at it, it is delicious, and I wish we could bring it back with us to OC. In fact, we've had multiple visitors who have requested repeat visits to this little gem of a place instead of trying new places during their visit.

Other things we have expanded our guest circuit to include: Piano Bar (piano players, gay nights, pure chaos, so fun!), Borough Market - on an empty stomach, and if we are lucky for some good weather, an al fresco pub drinking experience. Don't forget also a night out in Covent Garden, if your visit happens to be over a weekend.

So, just in case you are thinking to yourself "man, I wonder how JP and Angie are doing, we should visit before they move back" we are ready for you! Just come ready to walk, eat and drink (well, of course, if you are preggers, or a non drinker, you get a pass). We promise a comfy and private second bedroom, a regularly cleaned flat close to the sights, maps /guidebooks/mobile phones/travel cards and of course, our company for how ever many days you are here!

Yeah, yeah, just another overt invite in case you were unsure if we wanted any visitors!

One year down, six months to go

Last year, on a sunny Tuesday in September, our Virgin Atlantic flight landed into Heathrow and JP and I deplaned with no return ticket to OC.

While walking into work this morning, I thought to myself how far we had come in the last year. The first thing is simply the walking- a year ago I would have driven up to the front of the OC building to see if there were any EY spots available to take for the day- it sure beat the 5 minute walk from free parking a block away! A year later, I walk at least a mile a day as part of my normal commute to work. This got me thinking of all the things that have changed…. Here is my reflection in numbers and figures:

A year ago we…
Drove to the gym, Golden Spoon, the store and the bagel shop- all of which were less than .5 miles from our home
Now we…
Walk walk walk… (and take the bus and tube as necessary)
A year ago we…
Drank on occasion at bbq’s and had some wine with dinner on the weekends
Now we…
Drink heavily with great abandon any day of the week.
A year ago we…
Were in great shape due to regular gym activity, participation in races and triathlons and an overall active lifestyle.
Now we…
Think longingly to our skinny days while eating nachos at 2am after drinking with our friends.
A year ago we…
We had Mexican and sushi regularly and took it for granted.
Now we…
Are regulars at Mr. India and Parrs Head for Indian and Thai food.
A year ago we…
Watched TV and kept up with all of the shows with a DVR, and JP had regular access to watch baseball
Now we…
Watch old reruns of Friends and Scrubs on tv in the absence of anything better.
A year ago we…
Commuted to work via a temperature controlled car with our favourite radio station – time 30 minutes
Now we…
Cram ourselves on the tube with our book/magazines/Ipods and pray for no delays- time 25 minutes

Just a few fun facts:
Guests to date: 18 (we should start a B&B when we get home!)
Trips to date: 12
Months it took to get set up: 3 full months (including getting a working phone, internet, tv, bank, etc.)
Interviews Angie went on before getting a job: 22 (and three job offers)
Miles walked per day: average of 1.5
Pints: can’t count that high
Pubs: see previous

It is easy to capture all the funny and fun changes in our lives. What is harder to articulate are the other things- like perseverance when the phone company hangs up on you after being on hold for 2 hours, or patience when you get shoved or elbowed on the tube during a terrible commute, or humor when your peers at work are not the same caliber that you are used to, or humility when you finally realize how lucky you are to come from a country as great as the US, or awe when you travel to places that have been through bombings and wars and still emerge gorgeous, or understanding when you realize just why people might not like Americans or integration when you finally start feeling that someplace foreign is home.

I wouldn’t give the last year up for anything- mostly because of what we have seen in our travels as well as how close it has made me and JP. However, now that we are in the countdown to coming back to the US- you bet I am excited to feel sand between my toes again and see the smiles of all the friends and family we miss so much while we have been here.

Until next time…

Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest: Chaos, singing, drinking, crowds, cheering, singing, drinking, eating, eating, drinking, and some incredible corn on the cob... that in a nutshell is Oktoberfest!

After almost a year of planning, we just arrived home from experiencing the opening weekend of the world's largest party- Oktoberfest. (I think I may see how many times I can use Oktoberfest in one post). I've put some memorable pictures below... we had a great time. The city of Munich is gorgeous and very accommodating. We had a super fun time with our friends while drinking, eating, drinking, singing and drinking some more.

Here is what I pictured- think "European Vacation" circa 1985 with Clark Griswold and family donned in drundels and leiderhosen drinking liters of beer while singing along with the crazy Germans. Well, Oktoberfest isn't quite that, but there are tons of people around and the whole aim is to just drink yourself silly in the various beer tents. It is a big festival- with rides, fair food, stands selling all sorts of things German and kitchy, and then there are a load of brewery tents that seat up to 10,000 people with long rows of tables and benches. If you are lucky enough to score a seat by lining up early or you have a reservation (we had both on subsequent days) then you are served your liters of lager by a fine gal in a gorgeous drundel with the brute strength to carry up to 10 liters of beer in huge steins with a nice smile on her face. There is music and loads of singing and toasting and yelling. It is pure chaos. We heard accents and languages from all over the world and toasted friends around of all ages and backgrounds. It was a fun way to spend the weekend.

I won't go into terrible detail, because in essense we arrived Friday, started drinking and eating almost immediately, and didn't stop until we left the last tent yesterday at 5pm. If you have a chance to go, I would recommend it. It does take some years off your life though- but we'll recover. I 'll leave you with some memories:

Rachel travelled all the way from CA for Oktoberfest and even taught us some German phrases!

Here is part of the group as the day was winding down on day two:

We had reservations in the Hofbrau tent on Sunday- the biggest and craziest scene I've ever seen!

More pictures posted on shutterfly. Enjoy!

Communicating British style

Almost a year into our stay here and I think I'm finally starting to get the hang of it. I understate more at work than I ever did. I give indirect and confusing answers to straight forward questions. I use terms like "brilliant" "straight away" "rock up" "queries" "queues" "if I'm honest" and "proper" in my daily vernacular.

In my old life, I did well at my job for a variety of reasons. One of the skills I used to pride myself on was the way in which I communicated. I was clear, direct and concise mostly and it saved a lot of useless time and energy in my day to day worklife. To illustrate- I would get a request from someone at work via email. It would be straight forward- say, " Hi Angie, are you the person responsible for ______?" My answer would be fairly direct- I would respond "Hello ___. No, I am not responsible for that. I suggest you ask _____." See how easy?

Here, it is a whole different story. There are no answers like "Yes" and "No". In the UK, you are considered rude for responding directly with a clear answer. It has tripped me up countless times as I sit in front of my laptop and ponder the right way to respond to various requests. Here is where I am at. "Angela (they call me that here- another quirk of this culture is they don't like nicknames and if my email address says Angela, they call me Angela even after repeated requests to call me Angie) "Can you do _____ and _______ ?" I read the email and immediately my answer is - actually no, I can't because either I am not the right person or don't have the authority. However, I can't respond accordingly. It would be rude. Here is how I might respond.
"Hello ____. It seems that you are asking me to complete ____ while doing_____. I understand this is important but may not be the right person for this. My suggestion is that you might want to try to ask _____ if they are aware of the right person/way to do this. It seems they may know better. Thank you, Angie.

This will invite much more chasing through the organization to find the right person and even the right person will not say they can do _____ and ______ as requested. This leads to frustration, gossip and inefficiency. This also leads to us never getting decisions made or questions answered.

This probably seems like such a minor point, but for someone who values efficiency and gets frustrated easily by extra work - I sit at my desk daily and remind myself to take deep breaths and count to 10 before answering requests. Otherwise, I'll be branded the brash and direct American- heaven forbid that!

It is the same everywhere- not just at work. You can be on the platform at the train station and ask someone in the orange jacket making announcements on trains when the train you are waiting for is supposed to arrive. The answer you get is (and I promise promise, this is true): "oh, it may come in about five minutes." OR, "umm, yeah, I'm not sure where that train is (while he is holding a walkie talkie and a schedule) or "it probably will be here within the next 15 minutes". Basically, if you hear that, your train isn't coming, but the guy doesn't want to tell you. We have since learned how to intrepret such answers.

On a separate note, we are heading into September and nearing our one year anniversary of moving out here. It is overwhelming to think that we have a little more than six months left. There is still so much to do and see! We are looking forward to the next few months with a steady stream of visitors and trips to Germany, Cotswolds, Paris and Italy.

Finally, I start my new job tomorrow (technically). I joined the new team about a month ago but have been working on a project that has taken up my entire time so I haven't really transitioned to the new role yet. That starts tomorrow and I can't wait for some more normal hours and to learn more about my new job. Until next time!

Olympic fevour

Well, not really. Why? BBC coverage stinks. We don't have fancy cable packages or crazy network coverage. And, in this day and age, you would think we have the internet to rely on for videos and replays... not so much. After much searching to see a replay of Michael Phelps win one of his many medals, we came up short.

Why is she complaining about Olympic coverage? Well, that is the extent to what I have to bitch about. August has been quiet and rainy and we are enjoying a bit of routine and a little less booze than normal. It is a welcome change. I sidelined myself with an ankle sprain a couple weeks back which has rendered me antsy and a little moody (poor JP). I don't do well being unhealthy and hate not being able to do much. I'm back in action though, with the help of some physio (as they call it here) and regular RICE-ing...

This weekend we stayed in on Friday night after enjoying a few after work cocktails at the pub. I forgot to mention that now JP and I are in same office, so now I can bug him constantly like in the old days! Last night our friend Chris organized a night out for those of us straggling GEPers who are in town and not travelling the continent. We started our night at a tapas restaurant in Mayfair (whom, our spanish friends say is muy autentico) and then hit up a couple pubs in the area. After they closed down we ended the night with "fifteen pounds per drink but great view bar" on the top of the Hilton in Mayfair. It was a fun night out, which ended with a very engaging discussion with a cab driver who encouraged us four times in the ride home to practice our right to vote this November. Don't worry we will.... Today we went to see the Dark Knight and really enjoyed that.

So, quite boring right?! That is why I've ceased posting so much. Next weekend we are heading out to Wales and staying in a Fisherman's cottage in Mumbles (home of Catherine Zeta-Jones). The cottage has a kitchen so we can buy from local markets to cook in and relax by the water. A perfect break from the city before we start a 6 week stretch of back to back visitors and trips.

Until then...

Praha

Last weekend we jaunted over to the Czech Republic to see their capital city- Praha, or Prague. It was a quick trip, we took off Friday after work and then returned on Monday morning (well, that is a loooooong story).

So, anyhoo, the purpose of the trip was really to celebrate Jamie's birthday. We joined Jamie, her husband Matt and our travel friend Aimee and her friend Megan. We stayed in the center of town and enjoyed all the sights. Our itinerary included all that Rick Steves told us to do- so we hit up the old town, the new town, Jewish Quarter, the Castle, the St. Charles bridge... The city is beautiful as well as easy to get around. We enjoyed the low key trip. We arrived late Friday night, so we just had a couple drinks. On Saturday we went walking around the whole city. On Saturday night we enjoyed a nice night out to dinner at a restaurant called Ambiente http://www.ambi.cz/index_eng.php and enjoyed some yummy pasta. (Don't worry, we enjoyed the traditional fare like goulash and schnitzel for lunch...) After dinner, JP and I retired to our hotel casino for some blackjack while the others went out to the biker bar in town for people watching.

All in all, it was an incredible trip, very low key and loads of sight seeing. There wasn't a lot of craziness or partying which aided our trip- we actually enjoyed a city without being hungover or tired!

We'll post pictures shortly. For the next few weeks we'll stay local in London and then enjoy the bank holiday weekend (the weekend before Labor Day) in Wales.

Poppin' Bottles!

Just a quick posting- I can finally rest easy. Not only do I have a new role in this newly formed HR organization here- but I was promoted and will be doing a role that is actually much more suited to what I like to do!

What is it? Well, effective Monday I will be a Learning & Development Manager in our central people team. I will move to our other London office closer to home (but, not as nice as this one!) and will be joining a new team. This new role does not sit within the business like I currently do- which definitely has its drawbacks... but I'll be involved in designing cirriculum and facilitating training- two things I really have wanted to do since coming to the UK!

So, to celebrate, I imagine we'll have some fizz and some sushi - which will basically cost the amount of the meager raise I got- but who cares? Finally, a manager title (it is about time!) and a little more job security than I've head since I joined. Life is good... let's pop some bottles!

Taco Bell, Mel Gibson, and Glaciers... our trip to Iceland

Well... here is an overview of Iceland:

Accommodations: We rolled Real World style (everyone has seen at least one episode right?!) and rented a flat on the main street in Reykjavik. It had five bedrooms, black and green decorations, a magnificent and stocked kitchen and plenty of space for all 7 of us. It was right on the main road and had loads of nice touches- big plasma screen TV (with 4 channels), comfy beds, and a big patio to relax on. Just picture your last IKEA catalogue for further visuals- but it was really nice.

Cast of Characters: Aimee- regular travel buddy & GEP from NYC, Oggie- helped represent the west coast, GEP from SF, Brian- new to the group, GEP from NYC, and then JP's friends Jared & Sarah who live and work in Geneva, Switzerland. JP & I rounded out that group.

What did we do? We arrived on a Thursday night and took the drive into Reykjavik and set to work on getting to know one another over some duty free Jack Daniels and vodka. After a few and an entire bag of Cool American Doritos (or, as we know it, Cool Ranch) we decided to go check out the nightlife. We rolled out a tad late (2:30am) and found that Thursday night is not the night to go out. It was a ghost town. No worries, we needed to rest up for Friday...

Friday we did the Golden Circle tour- http://www.randburg.com/is/golden-circle/index.asp We rented cars to do this on our own and we are so glad we did. It was a really fun and long day- we saw gorgeous valleys, hiked some great hills, saw geysers and waterfalls. It was really fun to go from spot to spot, not sure what to expect and then you are confronted with a gorgeous waterfall or vista view. It was also nice to be at our own pace and not sharing a coach tour bus with a bunch of tourists.

After returning to our flat we ordered up some pizza and headed out to sample the bars. We were warned that the people were fun but ignored all personal space and were quite rowdy. What this means when you are 5'2" is that they just knock you out of the way, dance right into you, or grab you. I mean it, it is rowdy. You have to go with it or it can get ugly- but for such a nice group of people, they can get crazy when they go out! We did our best to hold our own- we danced and hit up a rock bar close to our flat. Some of the singles stayed out past us old married couples who retired at around 3am. The mess of people and energy were just unreal though- these people enjoy to party.

Saturday- after waking Saturday with no real plans, we hit up the Taco Bell for lunch and headed out to drive the south coast of the island. Let me just say- for those of you who are thinking- what?? Taco Bell?? You are talking about 7 Americans who have not seen a Taco Bell in anywhere between 9 months and 2 years. And guess what, it tastes the same in Iceland as it does in the US- Delicious! After that we drove around in search of puffins (native birds) but were unable to hike out to see them due to some pretty nasty winds. We found the Continental divide which is where the two tectonic plates from Europe and North America meet and played around there for a bit.

Upon our return back to the flat, we made dinner reservations at a steakhouse in downtown and set out to enjoy some steak and potatoes. We sat down to our table, ordered some drinks when JP leans over to me and says- hey, is that Mel Gibson at the table next to us? Sure enough- it was!! He was sitting literally 8 feet away from us having dinner with we think one of his sons and grandsons. He looked great, kind of cranky really but we all were a bit starstruck and kept sneaking peeks over in his direction. Oh, and the dinner was great too!

Sunday we rose early to go play around on the glaciers and see waterfalls. We took this tour: http://www.mountainguides.is/English/Tours/39/36/120/default.aspx and had a great time. They outfitted us with cramp-ons and ice picks and we set off for a 3 hour hike around the glaciers. It was gorgeous, great weather for it.

Sunday night we enjoyed one last night together in the flat and cooked a big meal... meaning the girls cooked and the boys drank beers and did the dishes.

Monday we went to the Blue Lagoon http://www.bluelagoon.com/ which is easily the most popular tourist spot in Iceland. We soaked in the water, enjoyed the steam room and the massaging water falls before eating lunch and taking off for the airport.

All in all, a fabulous trip, would have been incredible without a Mel Gibson sighting and Taco Bell- but has to be one of the best trips we've taken since we've been here. I highly recommend this to anybody with a love of outdoors and hiking as it really does have every type of land- lava, desert, lush mountains, etc. The people of Iceland are fantastic, super friendly, all speak English and all are very eager to share facts about their beloved country. I learned more from quick taxi rides or talking with the flat manager than I did from our tourbook! I can't imagine a better way to experience Iceland and left yesterday wishing I had a few more days to see more.

Pics are on our site, enjoy!

A Recap...

The last few weeks here have been eventful to say the least. Let’s recap:

Work:
Without going into terrible detail, the firm here has implemented a new HR structure- which is resulting in some “rejigging” of the teams. What this means is that in the next couple weeks I will more than likely have a new role here. The worst possible outcome will be that I’ll be jobless, but I’m surprisingly optimistic that I will be fine. It is a funny exercise in human psychology- tell someone that they could possibly lose their job and regardless of what they felt about their job- they immediately go one of two ways- elation over a chance to take the severance and run or complete indignation over the fact that the firm would deem their role as “not fit for purpose.” I have fallen in both these camps in the last few weeks- but most of all, I think because I am not permanent here- I just hope that I get placed in the new structure. More to come on this subject…

More exciting social front:
Since I last wrote we’ve enjoyed a couple weeks at home and enjoying the summer by staying local. Two weekends ago we stayed close to home, enjoying the last few weeks with another GEP friend who will be returning to the US soon. This last weekend we, along with a few of our friends, hopped the train south to the city of Brighton. It is a seaside community and although nothing like the beaches we know (there is no sand, just large rocks) I’ll take any excuse to be by the water. We arrived in time to stroll the streets, have a quiet lunch, take in some rides on the pier and relax at a local pub. We then enjoyed a great seafood dinner before we caught the last train home. Brighton isn’t the first stop in a UK tour by any means, but for us it was a nice way to get out of the city for the day and enjoy the sea air. It was a big day for baby Alex, who joined us and did beautifully… http://www.visitbrighton.com/

As an aside:
Life here is not all peaches and for the last couple weeks I’ve been going through a major- “only in London” frustration. One example to illustrate: Our toilet is leaking. This isn’t earth shattering nor terribly serious- but as responsible tenants we thought it would be good to alert our flat managers to ensure they get to the leak in time and fix it. To us, this simply means they send out a handyman, who then fixes things, and we move on with life. Not in London dear friends. What this really means is countless emails and phone calls to get someone to take notice. Then a handyman who says he is coming and doesn’t show. Then four more days of calls and emails wondering where the hell the handyman is. Then he shows unannounced, takes apart half our bathroom, gets crap all over our walls and doors, leaves the job unfinished with a toilet still leaking and the tank exposed and the handle just hanging off… It takes the most precise measures to flush the toilet now. There is no note to say he will return, or a call from our flat manager to say what the next step is. I mean, why would they do that? We call the flat managers on Friday night- livid that our house is in disarray and that we can’t flush the toilet… to hear that they can’t get anybody out to fix until at least Monday… and hopefully we can make do with what we have (ummm, a barely working toilet??). Also, they are short staffed, so terribly sorry for any lack of or miscommunication.

WTF??

So, it ain’t all peaches, I promise folks. I can say with great certainty that this will continue on for at least another month. Mark my words- our toilet will not work until at least mid- August, I’m sure of it. This is what living here is like- no consistency or accountability when things go wrong. And people just take it! They just accept it! It is enough to leave you pulling your hair out.

But in the end…

We leave on Thursday night for Iceland with 6 other friends- we plan on hiking, trekking, cooking and drinking our way through some gorgeous sites. Then we return next Monday and next Friday we leave for a weekend in Prague with another group of friends. Finally, I just booked a weekend trip to Wales in later August to see some more of the UK and maybe even go to the beach. So friends, while I bitch and moan, I’m not neglecting the fact that the weather has been nice, we get at least 16 hours of daylight right now and we are soon travelling almost every other weekend!

Enjoying the summertime in London

What an amazing couple weeks... at the risk of sounding too cheesy, I'm so grateful for the great experiences we have been enjoying- and for some great weather too!

Let's start with a quick overview of the last couple weeks:

Upon my return from Lisbon, I promptly entered into HR busy season hell. I have my "day job" which is busy enough, but with our staff down and a hiring freeze going on, it is all hands on deck right now. What does that mean? Roundtables... and lots of them. We have roundtables once a year- and basically it is a forum where the managers and senior execs get together and discuss the performance of the staff and such. It is quite involved and being in HR means we moderate the discussion to ensure it is fair and bias free. In the US it was intense but people are generally PC enough that we don't have to step in too much. Here in the UK is another story. There is yelling. There is conflict. There is overt bias ("She spends too much time talking about her kids on the job, He was raised really wealthy and doesn't know how to communicate with others, This guy is like 40 and can't take direction from people younger than him") Yes, I'm serious. And, it is a total exercise in maturity and conflict resolution- how to figure out how to encourage more fair discussions of people that don't automatically favor white men with no families... all while being American (which they already don't like) and from HR (which adds to the fuel). I come home exhausted most days simply because I have to moderate or interject at almost every non male/white discussion!

So, on to summer... we've had a great couple weeks. The weather is great, the sun is shining and not setting until 10pm. Last weekend we had a low key weekend at home, just hanging out with friends. This week we saw Jack Johnson and friends in Hyde Park. Who were his friends? Well, we saw G Love and Special Sauce (throw back from the college days!), Ben Harper, Jack, and then Jimmy Buffett took the stage for one song during the encore. It was a great night, we took our friend Jamie and one of my co-workers Kelly. We enjoyed the great music, being outside with the sun shining, and cheap beer and wine. The one great thing about the UK is they don't mark up their drinks at big events, our beers and wine cost the same and almost less than the pub prices. From left to right- Kelly, Jamie and me:

Then, on Thursday night we crossed our fingers, went on to Ticketmaster, and scored one pair of 500 Wimbledon Centre Court tickets they release each evening. Talk about luck- our tickets, which incredibly pricey, enabled us to watch two huge matches yesterday- Nadal and Federer both clinched the two seats in the finals. It was a great way to spend the afternoon. Wimbledon stadium is great, most the seats are decent, ours were just fine. The tennis etiquette was super nice, people were polite and quiet during play, the access was regulated so people were not getting up every five minutes. Here we are during the break between matches:

After the matches, we had spent 5 full hours watching tennis- it was great but we were hungry. So, we headed over to our friends Darren & Nicole's house to enjoy a proper 4th of July BBQ. Darren recently got a new grill and we were all grateful for actual BBQ food. That is not a big thing here in London- in fact you really only see the Austrailians BBQ. Anyhoo, we filled their fridge with Budweiser, Coors Light, and enjoyed burgers, corn on the cob, mac and cheese and oreos. We even downloaded every American type love song on the ipod and sang along to greats such as God Bless the USA and some Bruce Springsteen. It was probably the most patriotic July 4th any of us have ever had, but not being on US soil really makes you appreciate what you left behind.

So that is it! It is Saturday and tonight we are hosting some people at our flat. We are making tacos and enjoying some champagne. It goes together as much as PB&J right? we all have champagne to drink, and JP and I wanted to cook at our flat- so put it all together and that is what you get.

I'll leave you with a short video from Ben Harper at this week's concert, it was such a great night- this is especially for Rachel who used to listen to Ben constantly during our years as roomies...

Lisbon

We just returned from yet another trip... Lisbon (or Lisboa), the capital city in Portugal. What a fun weekend! I am a bit embarrassed to admit that we didn't see much of Lisbon itself due to the short duration of our trip, but what we did see (the great nightlife!!) we enjoyed...

We arrived Friday night and met two of our friends who had been there for a day already. We enjoyed dinner in the area of town known as the Docas or the Docks- which is a waterfront area lined with bars and restaurants. We enjoyed some traditional Portuguese food (like tomatoe rice with prawns, steak, seafood, etc.) and then four more of our friends arrived and met us out for a night of drinks and fun. We started out at the Buddha bar, which is a popular bar with cool cocktails and ended the night in a waterfront bar drinking beers and talking to the patrons. Before I knew it, JP had gone over the edge, was ridiculously flirting with all passing women and making his presence known to all hen do's around (those are the European version of bachelorette parties) so when it hit 3:45 I put him in a cab and took him home to the hotel... :) It was a fun night out with our friends.

After dinner before the drinking really started...

On Saturday we embarked on a side trip with a couple of our friends who were able to drag themselves from bed before 1pm to a little town called Sintra. http://www.indigoguide.com/portugal/sintra.htm

It was a forty minute train ride from the city with a lot of gorgeous hills, greenery, castles, palaces and cute restaurants. We wandered the town and spent a lot of time exploring the Moorish Castle remains at the very top of a high hill. It was a fun way to spend the day.

This pic is in the castle - it was so cool to explore the grounds!

We returned to Lisbon to rest up for our second night out. On the suggestion of our hotel, we booked a table at the really cool restaurant called Cafe Luso : http://www.cafeluso.pt/ and had a great dinner while taking in some Fado music, the regional music of Portugal. It was great, the food was fabulous and the performers were incredible. After our dinner it was already 1am, just time to hit a few bars in Portugal. We headed up the street in the neighborhood of Barrio Alto where the streets are blocked to cars and the streets are lined with bars and discotechas... everyone is spilled out on the street drinking and having fun. It was a pretty cool scene. We stayed out for most the night again and headed home after enjoying some capirinas made by a very talented and friendly bartender.

Here is a pic of the street scene in Barrio Alto- very busy and this was at around 2am!

This is our second trip to Portugal, and I gotta say the country is great. The people are friendly and warm, most of them even speak English, the weather is great, the sights are really pretty. I would recommend a little trip over there if you are ever looking for European cities to visit.

This week will see JP & I head off in various directions work wise. My work week mirrors my old days- night events most nights this week. We are hosting 20 Swedish EY peeps in our office on this week and yours truly is responsible for their "learning agenda" and social events. That includes a river cruise on the Thames and dinner at a very traditional English restaurant. That is one thing JP and I haven't done much of - eat actual traditional English food. Should be interesting.

Welcoming the newest member of our GEP family...

On an unrelated note to my other post- I wanted to give a little "shout out" to the newest member of our GEP group here in London... little Alexandra. She was born a few weeks ago on May 23 and I promised to post pictures. She is a little gem and mom and baby are doing just great... here she is just 6 days old with JP... making her officially the smallest and youngest baby either one of us have held!

Going home

We just returned from our return trip home and had an incredible time. We recently reached the halfway mark of our stay in London, so the timing of the trip was perfect. We spent a few days in Phoenix visiting my family and then spent about a week in OC catching up with friends, work and getting in some much needed sun. The hightlights: Meeting many new babies who were born while we've been away, seeing the Angels beat the Devil Rays during Wednesday's game, catching up with friends during happy hours, going to the beach, learning two of our close friends are pregnant and watching our soon to be London friends Susie & Glenn say "I Do."

Here is the happy couple... Susie just got accepted into the Global Exchange Program and they will be joining us in London in September!

Overall, the trip went fast and before we knew it we were heading back here. I know you may not believe me, but the trip home made me officially homesick! I haven't had much homesickness while we've been here, but I think seeing everyone and the weather being so great just really added to the feeling. At the same time, being home reminded me how lucky we are to have this experience and such a great life to return to.

Some overall musings and thoughts and experiences over the last week to share:

- the people of OC are just incredibly good looking. Much better looking than the lot here in London... Take the case of some of our incredibly handsome friends for instance (at happy hour on Thursday night):

- as much as things change, mostly things stay the same

- those friends of ours who are parents have produced some incredible kids! Here is little Ellie, daughter of my friend Rachel at her first "girls lunch"

and my friend and fellow blogger Laurie & her three girls when we go them standing in one area for 30 seconds to take a pic: Adia, Ruby & Chloe:

- the weather in CA is hands down the best... and I appreciate it more than ever when we came home to typical London weather- overcast and chilly. We took in a day game and got some great seats... so I could watch my fave pitcher Frankie warm up and go out and get a save for my fantasy baseball team:

- I miss US TV! I can't believe I went 9 months without the Food Network

You can see more pics from the wedding and such on our link. We are home for four days and this weekend we leave again- this time for Lisbon in Portugal with a group of our friends. I think it is the perfect antidote to homesickness- get right back on the travel horse and be reminded of why we are here- friends and travel!

Viva Espana!

We are back from Spain and we had an amazing time! We spent a week down South, hoping to take advantage of the balmy and warm climate that Spain is known for- only to hit the country during a cold and rainy spell.... oh well- I'm beginning to think that the only holidays you should expect good weather from are those taken either south of the equator or in Hawaii & the Caribbean. You don't go to Europe for the weather.

So, to give an overview- we spent 3 nights in Barcelona, 1 night in Toledo (which is about 60 mins outside of Madrid), and 2 nights in Madrid. Here are the highlights:

Barcelona: We loved it here, it was gorgeous, bustling, and there was plenty to do. We saw a Flamenco show, visited the Sagrada Familia, ate paella and tapas, drank Rioja like it was water, and got accostomed to the later eating times of the country (Lunch between 1-2, dinner at 10pm at the earliest). We window shopped, walked our tushies off, and took in a siesta every day. JP's spanish was perfect and helped us get through Spain- but here in Barcelona most people spoke English and Catalan- a regional dialect and as different from Spanish as Italian is. So, at times when we spoke Spanish, they answered us in English- it was weird. Barcelona was much more touristy than we planned on- we heard more Americans on the streets than locals- so a couple times we wandered outside the main tourist areas to get a little bit more culture. We saw enough fanny packs and Teva sandals to last us awhile here. View of Barcelona from the Park Guell:

On Tuesday we took a train to Toledo- which is a little medival town built on top of a large hill surrounded by a river. It used to be the capital of Spain a long time ago. The city was old, gorgeous, and the people were really friendly. Here we just got lost in the streets- reading a map was useless here- and enjoyed a nice dinner and quiet evening. We woke up Wednesday morning, had a quick breakfast, took a tram ride around the city and we were off back to Madrid. Here is a view of Toledo from the tram ride we took:

Madrid is Spain's capital and central Madrid reminded me nothing of Barcelona- except for the ridiculously intricate architecture and busyness. I loved it here- more than I thought I would. A trip to Spain is worth it just to see the architecture- and as I went through our pictures I thought to myself that we didn't take enough pics of the buildings and such. However, there really isn't a way to capture it all with a camera. You just have to see it. We did a walking tour in Madrid, saw some of the big sights, and met with JP's cousin Nico who lives there. He and his girlfriend Maria took us to dinner on Wednesday night to a "muy atentico" establishment and enjoyed tapas and wine. It was great to meet Nico- he has lived in Madrid for almost 4 years and was the only member of the family I didn't get to meet when we went to Argentina in 2006. He was friendly and fun and I think JP had a great time catching up. Maria and Nico's English was pretty good- but I also realized through dinner that my Spanish was getting much better as I required limited translation. Also, at Nico & Maria's request- I spoke English back - they loved it when we spoke English (go figure) but JP stuck with his Spanish.

The highlight of Madrid was our last night when we embarked on a tapas crawl. We took some direction from Rick Steves (love his Spain guide by the way) and by the third stop we veered off and did our own thing. I tried to capture the places in the pics, but as I had more wine I got sidetracked and forgot to snap the pics. It was fun though- and we enjoyed our last night of tapas before heading home on Friday. Here is a view of Madrid from our hotel's rooftop bar:

Overall- we loved it and are already planning a return trip- this time away from the beaten path of the major cities and we'd like to head to the countryside and possibly the coast for an even more authentic experience! You can check out all our pictures by clicking the link up on the top left of our page.

On another topic: our GEP family grew by one last week when our friends Nicole & Darren welcomed their new daughter to the world- Alexandra Ludwig was born last Friday night. Baby & parents are doing great- and I'll post pictures from that after our visit later today.

Tonight we welcome guest #4 in the last month- Dave Placek, our OC friend who now lives in NYC. He is in town attending a friend's wedding and is stopping over for a few nights to hang out with us and catch up. We head to work tomorrow for four days and then on Friday we depart again- this time for Phoenix & OC- and we can't wait to come home for a week!

Hope to see most of you on our visits home!

Sheep shearing & promoting homosexuality- just another week in London...

Randomness from across the pond:

On the personal front- we had two good weekends- two weeks ago we celebrated Stuart's big 2-9 with a loungy night on the town. Then a few days later we welcomed Peggy & Joy to town. We all worked together on the recruiting team back in the US. They were here as part of a whirlwind trip through Europe. JP & I took them on an impromptu pub crawl on Friday night and ended the night playing Kerplunk on our living room floor. Saturday the girls braved the rain and Harrods on a Saturday (I don't know which is worse) and then that same night we met out friends in Soho for dinner and drinks. Sunday was more sight seeing. Like always, it is fun to have friends in from the US- it is a little piece of home. Plus- they brought salsa with them- plenty of it to get us through the hump until we can have copious amounts of it when we come home next month.

As the title states, I also did something quite interesting last week- I sheared a sheep. Why you might ask? (or how, or where, I know...) well, it started with an email requesting that I join a co-worker to go check out an event next to our building. It ended with the two of us, clippers in hand, shearing the wool off a sheep. Instead of explaining in full detail (JP tells me my blog entries are too long) I will just say that during my lunch hour last Friday, with the help of the champion sheep shearer from New Zealand, I learned how to sheer a little lamb. Then I promptly went back upstairs, washed my hands, and attended my 2pm meeting. How is that for another day at the office?

Finally, on another aside, this job in the diversity arena always proves more entertaining than any other project I could potentially be on. That is because I have fools who make the most ridiculous comments to me on a daily basis. They say things like "Angie, why don't you have initiatives that promote white men?" and "Angie, you are promoting homosexuality by advertising the firm's gay and lesbian networks" and finally "Angie, there is a danger with supporting our maternity returners (those women who return to work after maternity leave) that the firm can become TOO family friendly."

*Sigh*

All these comments from old white male professionals with no idea what it is like to be in the minority. All these comments made to me in front of other people- exposing their ignorance and fear in a lame attempt to "put me in my place."

Just 9 more months until a return to normalcy. You certainly don't know how good you got it until you leave it.

Catching up...

I keep lagging in my blog updates, there is much to catch up on!

JP gave good highlights of our recent trip to Oslo, so I just thought I would share a few pics... Oslo was super fun and we enjoyed seeing the sights and for me wearing flip flops and a skirt was the highlight of the trip. To see more pics you can go to our shutterfly site- link is on the top left of this page.

Here is a pic of the four of us (we also had our friend Aimee with us who is an expat here at EY with us from NY) in our room pre-partying before we went out for the night. The drinks in Oslo are extremely expensive- so we thought we'd be a little strategic with our funds.

This is a view of the city from near the castle... gorgeous, clean, green... what more can you ask for?

We walked for over 30 minutes through some dodgy Oslo streets to arrive to a closed Munch museum (he is a famous Norweigan artist). We still had to photograph the conclusion to our journey.

On the homefront- the weather has improved drastically- which gives us something new to complain about... when it is warm here you must still take public transportation. The underground and buses are not air conditioned which means you arrive to work a little more stinky than you left. I wouldn't trade the warm weather to go back to the cold... it is quite nice to break out the sun dresses and skirts. I just hope it keeps- there is nothing more unpredictable than London weather!

In the last couple weeks JP and I celebrated our anniversary and welcomed our friend Jon to town. JP and Jon enjoyed a week of bonding and extreme liver damage. I look forward to new visitors next week- Peggy & Joy. They are in London on a stopover during a whirlwind European vacation. I am excited to see them both and show them the town.

This weekend is our friend Stuart's birthday (You'll recall from previous Angie & JP posts that he strongly resembles Troy Aikman and is always the last man standing after a night out). Tonight his wife has planned a group outing to a bar/lounge in Mayfair. The goal is to get out, get dressed up and try a non-pub option for a change. Here is where we are heading: http://www.mewsofmayfair.com/home.asp We are looking forward to it.

Other than that- a little Happy Mother's day to all my friends who are mums and of course the best mums of all- my mom and Grace.

Until next time...

Here comes the sun...

It's been a couple weeks since my last posting, I can't believe how quick time is passing these days.

The last couple weeks have good out here. The weather is improving and this city transforms - good weather coupled with 15 hours of daylight brings the people outside. It has been nice! Not that it hasn't been raining- it has rained probably every day here this month, but on the upside it does clear up for a time at which point people head outside in droves.

Last weekend we gave our bodies a much needed break from binge drinking and stayed low key. We got out to explore different parts of the city which was fun- on Sunday we walked around Primrose Hill, St. John's Wood, and ended up at Campden Markets where we ate some lunch at the street vendors and bought inappropriate baby garb for some of our friends with little ones.

On the work front, for me things have considerably picked up. With an increase in workload comes an enhanced awareness of just how bureaucratic things are at the UK firm. It is amazing how you can sit through meeting after meeting on one subject and at the end of the day be no closer to action or decision on anything. I get the consultative approach, but the incessant need to get 15 higher ups buy in to do anything is a bit ineffective.

I digress...

This weekend we are picking back up our old ways and going out with friends tomorrow night. We plan on cooking dinner in with some friends and then heading out to Covent Garden to partake in some Saturday night antics.

Some things we have to look forward to is the long awaited arrival of Jon "no H" Smith and his visit to London to experience the obscure. Next weekend we are heading to Oslo with Jon and our friend Aimee to spend some time checking out the sights and I know JP has a packed itinerary of pubs and such for his boy bonding time.

Also, and this snuck up on us, our first wedding anniversary is on Monday. We plan on celebrating at a recommended Italian restaurant called Locanda Locatelli http://www.locandalocatelli.com/html/intro.html I'm told that it is pretty popular (well, the only Monday night reservation I could get two weeks in advance is at 6:45!) and that we may even see some famous people there. Trouble is, I don't know who the famous people are here! Aside from a few international faces, I don't know the UK people because most my entertainment time here is spent watching the US shows and playing on the internet. I will comment next time though if we do recognise peeps.

That's it, enjoy the weekend!

Killing time before the weekend

It is Friday and the weekend is almost here! I have lost all motivation to produce actual work and since surfing the internet in an open plan office is not as easy as it was back in the days of my cozy office in the US- I decided it would be good to blog.

This is all randomness but I’ll take after my oddball husband who aims to produce the obscure for his blog and is successful 9 times out of 10.

So, this week- first off is fantasy baseball. You are looking at the number one team in the London Expat league- presenting the Swing Bunts! If you are curious, the name is the nickname JP had affectionately given me after seeing my dazzling offensive skills on the softball field. Anyhoo- after 2 weeks of regular play my team is doing surprisingly well. I don’t know if I have the energy to see this to completion, there is way too much research and activity that goes into this- so while I’m hot I’ll take the opportunity to brag even though the draft is basically automatic so I can’t take much credit. I can however talk smack to the other guys in the league about my skillz….

This week I did my first Kangoo class. Ever heard of it? Let’s just say my favourite thing to do at the gym is to take some sort of class and I consider myself coordinated and in good shape and this class knocked down those illusions pretty fast. I scanned the internet for a site to help explain but came up with random bits. Instead you can click here to see what shoes I wore to participate in the class. http://www.bossbi.com/skate/kangoojumps/kangoojumps.php The basics are that it is a high impact aerobics class (wearing said boots) with some choreography, loads of running and jumping and such that keeps you moving for a solid 60 minutes. It was tough but I had fun. I was one of the only new comers to this type of workout, which made it tough to keep up. I will probably try again in the future when the memory of how hard it was fades.

Just a note on the US presidential election. You have no idea how much people here are into our election! I mean, it makes sense right- our policies and leaders have a large impact on the rest of the world. However what I find funny is that when the subject comes up, I am asked “Clinton or Obama?” There is not even the question of Republican or Democrat. People are much more apt to ask more informed questions which makes for good debate. A lot of people really like Obama – they like him because they think of him as the least political of them all and come across as presenting a chance to make a change. I won’t share my opinions but will just say that it has been eye opening to see the importance people place on the leaders we chose. They even know things about our Senators, governors, etc. It has made me better read on the subject to participate in the conversations. That and my little sister has dove off the deep end of right sided politics (she has been over there for years, now she lives in D.C. and is suitably immersed) so I have to have some ground to stand on when I debate with her.

This weekend we have some plans and have identified Sunday as “put our lives back together” day. We have not cleaned, done laundry, or grocery shopped in over a week so we need a day to just get things back together. Tonight we are heading to the National Portrait Gallery to see the Vanity Fair photography exhibition http://www.npg.org.uk/vanityfair/index.htm and then having dinner with some friends in Covent Garden at this little spot called Da Mario http://www.london-eating.co.uk/3275.htm . Tomorrow we are doing to a surprise baby shower that was never really a surprise in the first place but we are still treating as a surprise…. This one will have a twist as it will be co-ed and since there will be no old grannies or acquaintances there we’ll have no games and just a get together that includes opening up some baby gifts. It will be fun.

And in closing… a few things to leave you with:

When writing a list here, they do not use the “Oxford comma” For example- I went to the store today and bought apples, oranges and pears. In the US I would use a comma after oranges. Here there is no comma. It really throws me off.

Finally- some more translations:
UK word/expression US translation
Annual leave/holiday Vacation
Jumper Sweater
Half Seven (as in, the meeting starts at half seven) 7:30
Full stop Period (the type that ends a sentence)
Precious Serious or taking very personal
Fringe bangs
Keen Interested (they are quite keen to meet with you)
Damp Mold (the flat has damp in the walls)
Whilst While
Learnt Learned

Let it snow, let it snow

Just to demonstrate the sheer unpredictability of London's weather- on Friday we enjoyed a picture perfect day of spring like weather- we ate lunch al fresco, left the coats at home, and the whole city emerged from hiding and broke out the sunglasses.

This morning (Sunday), we woke up to snow. Real snow- the type that fell overnight and got all the kids in the neighbourhood up and playing (while screaming with delight- which is what woke us up) and snow topped trees, cars, etc.

All this is fine except the fact that we have visitors in town this weekend who are first timers in London - so for us, we have plenty of internetting and DVD's to keep us busy. Poor Chad & Robyn headed into town today and braved the cold.

Their visit has been really fun so far. On Friday night we headed to dinner and some pubs in Soho, and found a great little Mediterranean restaurant called Terra: http://terrarestaurant.co.uk/ and enjoyed some great food and service. Yesterday we went to tour the Tower of London- http://www.hrp.org.uk/toweroflondon/ and enjoyed a tour by an actual Yeoman Warden (as you know them as Beefeaters) and saw the famous crown jewels and torture chambers. After the tour, we strolled over the Tower Bridge to enjoy lunch and a walk through Borough Market. Following that, Chad & Robyn headed out to enjoy the Tate Museum while JP and I made our way home.

Last night we gathered with some friends to enjoy Thai food and some drinks at one of the most popular pubs in London called The Churchill Arms : http://fancyapint.com/pubs/pub193.html. It was fun to introduce Robyn and Chad to our new friends and enjoy some spicy Thai food and pints of beer.

This last week has been uneventful as JP and I have determined that the month of April is the start of two distinct operations: Operation: Six Pack (mostly for JP to recover what used to be a solid 6 pack) and Operation: Save some friggin money already - to help nurse our credit card back to health. Of course that lasted for four days until I got an email mentioning Prague in August with some friends and I promptly went online to book some flights before they went up... But now, of course, I'm back to behaving and not mentioning yet another trip to poor JP who has been a good sport with my inability to understand the idea of spending against a fixed budget. (BTW- we are going to Prague in August- can't wait!!) The way I see it, I'm helping the economy avoid recession. We all need to do our part.

Additionally, work has increased in workload and challenge, which has been a huge blessing and relief- but has also cut into my 7 hour workdays (with lunch) so I'm adjusting accordingly. It is nice to finally be busy and producing work!

Until next week...

Didn’t you know? 30 is the new 20!

I am happy to report that I just had one of the best birthdays to date! My thoughtful and sneaky hubby planned a day of respite to prepare me for a night of – what else- drinking and socializing! I spent the afternoon at a little day spa in Knightsbridge (that is near Harrod’s- a London landmark as recognizable as the Tower Bridge) called Glow Urban Spa- www.glowurbanspa.com. I had a massage and a pedicure while I watched the rain drizzle outside. The weather was rather unfortunate- but it is London so I expected nothing less.

Then, I came home to shower up to head out to dinner. We had dinner at this little restaurant near our house called Ffionas: http://www.ffionas.com/. It was super cute- had maybe 10-12 tables inside and although the service was, well, odd, the food was- as JP likes to say “phenomenal.” After dinner JP took me down the street and as we walked downstairs into my favourite piano bar the entertainer broke out in “Happy Birthday” and I looked to see all of our GEP friends at a long table with a birthday cake all smiling and waiting. I almost cried I was so touched and excited. We sang the rest of the night away to our favourite piano tunes, I drank some yummy champagne, and we ended the party back at our flat with our friend Josh cooking up some Mac & Cheese while we caught the UNC v. Louisville game of the NCAA tourney. Through the mess we realized the time changed this weekend- we lost an hour in all this and got to bed at technically 4am.

This weekend was bittersweet for me as we had to say good-bye to some friends who are heading back to the US as they wrap up their various secondments and exchange programs. These are people who we had grown close to in our transition and whose advice and help we relied heavily upon during the initial stages of our move (and after the move, we commiserated with them on the ridiculousness of various things over many drinks and dinners). I was lucky in that a few of them came to the birthday gathering on their very last night in London- a testament to how thoughtful and fun they are! I think watching them leave and say their good-bye’s made our whole class of EY friends sad for losing them but also aware that time here goes so fast! We only have a year left- which seems like a decent amount of time until I think back to how fast the last 6 months have gone. It reinforced the fact that we have to take advantage of every opportunity here- whether it is a pub outing, a quick overnight trip out, or a long weekend away with friends.

In closing, I’ve had a chance to reflect on some of the things I’ll really miss about my 20’s… mostly superficial/appearance wise, but you know what- it is the first thing to go, so I must comment on it! Good bye to:
- A fast metabolism that enables me to eat what I please without worrying about extra pounds
- Solid color hair with no errant grey
- Wrinkle free skin that doesn’t betray you and tell the world that you had no sleep the night before!
- Making mistakes and blaming them on being young… along with people forgiving you your stupidity and bad decisions because you are young
- Thinking I know everything- I know NOTHING and have so much to learn.
- Thinking maturity, motherhood, and minivans are so far away…

Thanks to all of you who emailed and sent cards, it meant so much!

From snow to sun to snow again...

Well friends, if you must know for those of you lounging at the beach and bbqing or enjoying some sort of outdoor activity be thankful for the warmth! March is almost over and it snowed today. Ugh. It didn't stick, but man is it cold.

Which makes me happy to report that we had a GREAT trip to the southern coast of Portgual- the Algarve Coast. It was gorgeous, sunny, and nice. We didn't do much other than explore some of the small cities, eating steak and seafood and enjoying the local beer.

But, I'll recap to go along with the pictures I posted. (Remember to click on the link to the left of the page and enter the password to see the pics)

Friday, we arrived after some fairly offputting delays (3 1/2 hours worth) at Gatwick- loooong story- but if you are ever in Europe, don't fly Monarch airlines. I digress though... We arrived and picked up our hired car (a little thing with manual transmission- fun!) and headed out to see some sights. For lunch we came upon a little town in the mountains called Sao Bras de Alportel. There wasn't much of significance there, but we enjoyed lunch at a historic hotel that had amazing views of the city and a very friendly server who let us practice our Portugese with her. Here are the views from the hotel:

Our hotel was amazing, a gorgeous Starwood property overlooking the cliffs- I don't think we realized how luxurious it was (for a fraction of the cost too- Portugal is cheap!) so we settled into our nice room with the free bottle of wine they provided. Friday night we headed out to wander the streets of downtown Albuferia, a tacky little strip with all sorts of neon signs for bars and restaurants there especially for the English and German tourists that frequent the area. We enjoyed some good food and then headed back to the hotel to relax, drink our free wine, play cards and watch the first round games of the NCAA tourney. Another plus of the Sheraton- the US TV channels! We don't even get that at home in London! Here is the view of the beach from our hotel:

Saturday we woke up and had lattes by the beach before we hopped in our little car for some sight seeing. We visited the town of Portimao for lunch and then on our way back to the hotel hit up a little town called Silves. Both towns were cute little cities, nothing really substantial to see or comment on really.

Saturday night we went back to the tourist trap that is downtown Albuferia, had a great seafood dinner, and then hit up some kareoke and clubs. It was so fun. Somehow in signing JP up to sing a few songs, I got pulled into the mix and ended up in a duet (with some back up from the DJ) in some Oasis- Don't look back in anger. It was a huge hit. We danced (yes, JP actually danced, it was fun!) at a nearby club after hopping the faux velvet rope and acting like we owned the place. It was a very fun night.

Sunday we celebrated Easter with all the other vacationers with some relaxing, napping, NCAA basketball watching, and eating. The weather was great- it was sunny, slightly warm, and breezy. There wasn't a cloud in the sky! While we were watching the sunset over the cliffs, we talked to some other English tourists who were bracing themselves to the return to England and the snow. Talk about a tough transition back to reality today when we landed at Gatwick with snow flurries.

So friends, again, highly recommend the Algarve Coast- if you are looking for a little bit of exploration mixed in with some surf and sun.

Enough from me, take a look at the pics and I will post comments of my upcoming 30th... ugh!