what a week! i spent four days in geneva for work, which were action-packed and decidedly sleepless. :0
the original purpose of the trip was a client workshop on wednesday, but then store checks were added as well as a few other meetings later in the week, so it became clear that i needed to set up camp in the manotel royal. not the worst place in the world to be stuck and anyway, they have free fruit in the lobby. highlights of the trip include:
- wandering through a French supermarket with bacon crisps and a 5-liter box of wine (the wine was a packaging example for work, i swear it)
- squishing into the backseat of my client director's car with a bunch of slap-happy designers and driving circles around the parking lot of said French supermarket (we thought we were supposed to follow the client, client thought they were supposed to follow us, so we literally drove in circles three times)
- tuesday dinner at l'entrecote where we had steak, frites, and butter sauce. oh, and wine. :-)
- catchup dinner/drinks with a friend who transferred from cincinnati to geneva last year.
overall it was a productive trip but i am exhausted. being in switzerland really makes me appreciate london though. it's not home, yet, but i at least know what to expect here for the most part. usually. sometimes. ok, hardly ever but at least the surprises i deal with here are in english. :-)
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
saturday part three: shakin' it with the house girls
the last time i had dinner with my house mates, Alex, Rita and i decided we should go to a dance club together sometime. after all, we live close to some of the most happening club scenes in london: old street, shoreditch, hoxton, etc. the three of us had aligned to going out to a club called east village on saturday night (we also aligned to a toilet roll purchasing schedule, if you really must know). Rita, Alex and a few of their friends were already at the club by the time i got there and after a quick wait in the queue, i was in the bar and at the bar. :-)
i was proper hammered from all of the cocktails at dinner, and so were the girls. we hit the dancefloor immediately and shook our groove thangs for the next few hours. Alex and i left sometime after 2:30 and went to the best kebab shop (that's its name. not entirely true.) on old street for some chips with mayo and garlic sauce. mmmmm.
we ate our chips in our kitchen, which wasn't apparently enough for me, so Alex gave me one of her chocolate muffins. which explains why my bed, computer, and the floor were covered with chocolate muffin crumbs this morning.
speaking of this morning, oh. dear. i tried to walk downstairs around 10:30, realized i was going to get sick, and spent the next hour and a half curled in the fetal position at the foot of my bed. (i hate sleeping in the bed when i'm not feeling well but we don't have a couch here) i finally felt better today around 1:30, so Alex and i braved leaving the flat and went to cafe central for a yummy, greasy breakfast.
i am the vision of health, really, if you look at my diet over the last day. needless to say, i missed church AND my Sunday run this week. there was just no way it was going to happen and there's nothing worse than sitting in church thinking you might hurl on the pew in front of you. sigh.
barfiness aside, this is one of the best weekends i've had here. :-)
i was proper hammered from all of the cocktails at dinner, and so were the girls. we hit the dancefloor immediately and shook our groove thangs for the next few hours. Alex and i left sometime after 2:30 and went to the best kebab shop (that's its name. not entirely true.) on old street for some chips with mayo and garlic sauce. mmmmm.
we ate our chips in our kitchen, which wasn't apparently enough for me, so Alex gave me one of her chocolate muffins. which explains why my bed, computer, and the floor were covered with chocolate muffin crumbs this morning.
speaking of this morning, oh. dear. i tried to walk downstairs around 10:30, realized i was going to get sick, and spent the next hour and a half curled in the fetal position at the foot of my bed. (i hate sleeping in the bed when i'm not feeling well but we don't have a couch here) i finally felt better today around 1:30, so Alex and i braved leaving the flat and went to cafe central for a yummy, greasy breakfast.
i am the vision of health, really, if you look at my diet over the last day. needless to say, i missed church AND my Sunday run this week. there was just no way it was going to happen and there's nothing worse than sitting in church thinking you might hurl on the pew in front of you. sigh.
barfiness aside, this is one of the best weekends i've had here. :-)
saturday part two: muy rica
muy rica means "very tasty" in Spanish, and is exactly how i would describe the restaurant i went to for saturday's dinner.
i've been missing mexican food a lot lately (hard to find here) and my friends Pam and Andy knew of a great place in westbourne park called crazy homies. :-) westbourne park is on the other side of town, which should be readily accessible on the hammersmith and city (shitty) line. however, true to its name, the h&c wasn't running trains between king's cross and edgeware road. basically, right in the middle of where i would need to go.
after a lengthy time studying the transport for london options, i decided to get a bus from old street station to edgeware road and pick up the h&c there. should have been a 45-minute or so journey except:
- the first 205 bus i saw blew past the stop despite the fact that the stop is supposed to be a scheduled one (some stops have to be requested by a waiting passenger) AND someone actually did wave for the bus to stop. in fact, the bus came very close to hitting her as it zoomed by. bollocks. twelve minutes later...
- i got a bit lost between getting off the bus and finding the tube.
- the h&c train was just sitting at the station and took another 10 minutes to get going. i know i should be thankful that we even HAVE public transport, but sometimes it is really shit.
an hour later i finally got to westbourne park where i received a warm greeting from Pam. we collected Andy from the pub (they'd been waiting a bit) and set off to get our food.
crazy homies is in an obscure location (hidden near some council housing), is pretty tiny and doesn't take bookings, which is why we had to get there before 7. we got a table really quickly and ordered margaritas straight away. :-)
wow.
i hadn't had a margarita in ages but these were spectacular! we caught up over delicious tequila and chips, salsa, guac, adobo sauce, and something else green. our table was in the basement and the decor/atmosphere went like this:
- candles and Christmas lights - no overhead lighting.
- paper doily garland hanging on the walls.
- music in the background - everything from the swell season to simian to depeche mode. awesome!
- pictures of playing cards as the table top (under glass) - some of the cards had mexican wrestlers on them. i didn't know this before but mexican wrestling is called lucha libre and the guys wear full facial masks. suddenly nacho libre makes a lot more sense.
it was a fantastic setting to say the least and dinner was most certainly fantastic as well. for the main, i got a pork burro (wet) and it came with shredded pork, black beans, salsa, sour cream, and a little salad. heaven!
we got the bill and Pam and i had spent £45 on 'ritas alone, ha ha. we high-fived each other on a job well done and headed to a cocktail bar around the corner called the oak. margaritas weren't on the menu at the oak, so we switched to mojitos. :-) i was supposed to be heading back east for a night at the club, but we were having so much fun that i had trouble saying goodbye! i finally left around 11 and then i couldn't find the 205 bus stop. sigh. i was pretty wasted and wandering the streets looking for any bus at all, when i noticed i was in the same neighborhood as the serpies' leisure center. this meant i could pick up the central line, change at bank station, and get the northern line to old street. score!
it was midnight by the time i got to old street, and the start of saturday part three...
i've been missing mexican food a lot lately (hard to find here) and my friends Pam and Andy knew of a great place in westbourne park called crazy homies. :-) westbourne park is on the other side of town, which should be readily accessible on the hammersmith and city (shitty) line. however, true to its name, the h&c wasn't running trains between king's cross and edgeware road. basically, right in the middle of where i would need to go.
after a lengthy time studying the transport for london options, i decided to get a bus from old street station to edgeware road and pick up the h&c there. should have been a 45-minute or so journey except:
- the first 205 bus i saw blew past the stop despite the fact that the stop is supposed to be a scheduled one (some stops have to be requested by a waiting passenger) AND someone actually did wave for the bus to stop. in fact, the bus came very close to hitting her as it zoomed by. bollocks. twelve minutes later...
- i got a bit lost between getting off the bus and finding the tube.
- the h&c train was just sitting at the station and took another 10 minutes to get going. i know i should be thankful that we even HAVE public transport, but sometimes it is really shit.
an hour later i finally got to westbourne park where i received a warm greeting from Pam. we collected Andy from the pub (they'd been waiting a bit) and set off to get our food.
crazy homies is in an obscure location (hidden near some council housing), is pretty tiny and doesn't take bookings, which is why we had to get there before 7. we got a table really quickly and ordered margaritas straight away. :-)
wow.
i hadn't had a margarita in ages but these were spectacular! we caught up over delicious tequila and chips, salsa, guac, adobo sauce, and something else green. our table was in the basement and the decor/atmosphere went like this:
- candles and Christmas lights - no overhead lighting.
- paper doily garland hanging on the walls.
- music in the background - everything from the swell season to simian to depeche mode. awesome!
- pictures of playing cards as the table top (under glass) - some of the cards had mexican wrestlers on them. i didn't know this before but mexican wrestling is called lucha libre and the guys wear full facial masks. suddenly nacho libre makes a lot more sense.
it was a fantastic setting to say the least and dinner was most certainly fantastic as well. for the main, i got a pork burro (wet) and it came with shredded pork, black beans, salsa, sour cream, and a little salad. heaven!
we got the bill and Pam and i had spent £45 on 'ritas alone, ha ha. we high-fived each other on a job well done and headed to a cocktail bar around the corner called the oak. margaritas weren't on the menu at the oak, so we switched to mojitos. :-) i was supposed to be heading back east for a night at the club, but we were having so much fun that i had trouble saying goodbye! i finally left around 11 and then i couldn't find the 205 bus stop. sigh. i was pretty wasted and wandering the streets looking for any bus at all, when i noticed i was in the same neighborhood as the serpies' leisure center. this meant i could pick up the central line, change at bank station, and get the northern line to old street. score!
it was midnight by the time i got to old street, and the start of saturday part three...
saturday part one: serpies
i took it easy friday night and enjoyed a casual dinner with Beth, frozen yogurt, and an early bedtime so that i could run with a new group on saturday morning! i need to start training more seriously for the lisbon half in march, and running with a group always makes me push myself more. since the work running club hasn't really panned out (we would up in the pub thursday night eating bangers and mash instead of running), i'm going to start running with the serpentines aka the serpies.
the serpies run around hyde park, etc. on saturday morning and you can drop your bag at a nearby leisure center.
the leisure center was a few blocks from the tube and i didn't really know how to get there, BUT i spotted a guy on the tube wearing running kit and carrying a backpack. I figured it might be a safe bet to follow him.
it was. :)
this is my third group in my career as a runner, and it was interesting to see some of the differences with this club, which is one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) in london. for instance:
- we jogged about a mile to warm up.
- we did warmup exercises on speakers' corner once we were finished jogging. the exercises ranged from skipping, to running sideways, to other silly things that made us look like kindergartners at recess time. people on tour busses, who had come to see hyde park, were taking photos. :-) that said, the exercises were quite effective (legs are still sore today)
i opted to do the two parks route (hyde park and kensington gardens) because it was 4.25 miles. i considered the 7.25 miler but rejected it in the end since my mileage base is only about 5.5 right now and with the warmup jog, i would have been running 8.25 miles. i could have done it, but i don't like to increase my mileage that much week over week.
in the first mile, i met a nice girl who is training for the reading half (big pre-london marathon race). we stuck together for the rest of the run! afterwards, everyone went back to the leisure center for tea and i chatted with an american who i met on the warmup run (the guy i followed out of the tube, actually). we ended up going out for brunch and chatting until 2 pm, oops. expats have a lot to talk about i guess. :-O
i finally made it home around 3 pm and was exhausted. not much time for a nap though, because i was meeting my friends Pam and Andy for mexican food, which leads us into saturday part two!
the serpies run around hyde park, etc. on saturday morning and you can drop your bag at a nearby leisure center.
the leisure center was a few blocks from the tube and i didn't really know how to get there, BUT i spotted a guy on the tube wearing running kit and carrying a backpack. I figured it might be a safe bet to follow him.
it was. :)
this is my third group in my career as a runner, and it was interesting to see some of the differences with this club, which is one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) in london. for instance:
- we jogged about a mile to warm up.
- we did warmup exercises on speakers' corner once we were finished jogging. the exercises ranged from skipping, to running sideways, to other silly things that made us look like kindergartners at recess time. people on tour busses, who had come to see hyde park, were taking photos. :-) that said, the exercises were quite effective (legs are still sore today)
i opted to do the two parks route (hyde park and kensington gardens) because it was 4.25 miles. i considered the 7.25 miler but rejected it in the end since my mileage base is only about 5.5 right now and with the warmup jog, i would have been running 8.25 miles. i could have done it, but i don't like to increase my mileage that much week over week.
in the first mile, i met a nice girl who is training for the reading half (big pre-london marathon race). we stuck together for the rest of the run! afterwards, everyone went back to the leisure center for tea and i chatted with an american who i met on the warmup run (the guy i followed out of the tube, actually). we ended up going out for brunch and chatting until 2 pm, oops. expats have a lot to talk about i guess. :-O
i finally made it home around 3 pm and was exhausted. not much time for a nap though, because i was meeting my friends Pam and Andy for mexican food, which leads us into saturday part two!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
you win, universe. but so do i.
things started off pretty well today. i woke up with my 6:50 alarm and didn't hit the snooze button. instead, i went for a run! i was supposed to have dinner with some co-workers tonight so i wanted to get a bit of exercise done in the morning. post run as i was getting out of the shower, i got a message that dinner was canceled. boo. however, since it's tuesday it meant i could go to the niketown run.
i know, i already ran once. but i only ran for 30 minutes, the niketown run is only a mile longer, and i like the social aspect. :-) so i re-packed my running gear and scooted off to work. about an hour into my day i realized i was STARVING. i thought back to what i had for breakfast and realized that i left my bowl of ready brek in the microwave. oopsies. i ate two slices of whole-wheat peanut butter toast to rescue my blood sugar and went about my business.
work itself wasn't bad despite the fact that we are really getting busy and i spent all day writing cost estimates. (math = ick) i scooted out at 5:55 to catch the bus to my run. the busses are supposed to run every 6-9 minutes during rush hour.
6:00. no bus.
6:05. no bus.
6:10. no bus.
6:15. no. bus.
6:20. bus finally came. the optimist in me was hoping there was some chance i'd make it to WC1 by 6:30.
the journey took 25 minutes. i didn't even try to chase the group (which i have done before, also due to a very late bus), i just wandered into the underground and got on the tube. (you know, to mix things up so i wouldn't be riding the EXACT SAME ROUTE back to EC :-)
i really didn't feel like sitting around tonight, but apparently this is what the universe wanted. also, it gave me the opportunity to spend the better part of an hour wandering around london in shorts. and i totally haven't shaved my legs in at least a week. and it is about 40 degrees here.
so, clearly the nike run just wasn't meant to be today. you win there, universe.
but i got a few good miles in this AM AND 10 people responded to my greetings as i ran by them. yea! so i win too. morning has broken and apparently, so have the icy brits.
i know, i already ran once. but i only ran for 30 minutes, the niketown run is only a mile longer, and i like the social aspect. :-) so i re-packed my running gear and scooted off to work. about an hour into my day i realized i was STARVING. i thought back to what i had for breakfast and realized that i left my bowl of ready brek in the microwave. oopsies. i ate two slices of whole-wheat peanut butter toast to rescue my blood sugar and went about my business.
work itself wasn't bad despite the fact that we are really getting busy and i spent all day writing cost estimates. (math = ick) i scooted out at 5:55 to catch the bus to my run. the busses are supposed to run every 6-9 minutes during rush hour.
6:00. no bus.
6:05. no bus.
6:10. no bus.
6:15. no. bus.
6:20. bus finally came. the optimist in me was hoping there was some chance i'd make it to WC1 by 6:30.
the journey took 25 minutes. i didn't even try to chase the group (which i have done before, also due to a very late bus), i just wandered into the underground and got on the tube. (you know, to mix things up so i wouldn't be riding the EXACT SAME ROUTE back to EC :-)
i really didn't feel like sitting around tonight, but apparently this is what the universe wanted. also, it gave me the opportunity to spend the better part of an hour wandering around london in shorts. and i totally haven't shaved my legs in at least a week. and it is about 40 degrees here.
so, clearly the nike run just wasn't meant to be today. you win there, universe.
but i got a few good miles in this AM AND 10 people responded to my greetings as i ran by them. yea! so i win too. morning has broken and apparently, so have the icy brits.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
sundays are my saving grace :-)
most people hate sundays because they mean the end of the weekend and the start of (gulp) another work week. however, i love them...here's why:
- i'm guaranteed to get a run in, preferably along the thames. you just can't beat running alongside the river with all of london's treasures in plain sight. it's like i have a date with the city.
- st. peter and paul church on amwell street. i started going because it was close enough to be convenient but offered enough of a walk to make me feel productive, and i've kept going because it's an awesome parish! it's small, it's cold (we wear our coats during mass), and we even sing some of the american catholic songs i grew up with.
- weight training aka carrying bags of groceries home from tesco. i like shopping at tesco because it's uncrowded (thanks waitrose next door!) and unpretentious. also, they have my favorite two-bean burgers...
- family time. usually at least one of my parents will call or skype me on Sundays, so i get a little love to start the week with. :-)
sunday = Jen day basically. i can do all the things i like and still have time to lay around if i want. today was no exception, although it was more of the active variety. i woke up early because the sun was shining in my windows brighter than i think i've ever seen here. i was forced out of bed and onto the street for a run. well worth it though, the embankment path was packed with runners and tourists. i can safely say that i inadvertently starred in at least three home movies of big ben before 10:30 this morning.
mass was next, followed by a pizza lunch (leftovers from self-date night at la porchetta last evening), then i met Beth to catch the 38 bus to hyde park corner. except we got a bit lost getting off the bus. luckily we found our way and 20 minutes later, we met her friends Chelsea and Michael for a walk around the lake.
the sun was still shining, there were ducks and gulls and pigeons on the lake path, and the daffodils are starting to peek their shy heads out of the ground. beautiful day. and Beth's friends were a blast to talk to. we walked for at least an hour then headed to the pub for my first proper sunday roast! i chose the roast beef, because it came with horsey sauce. :-) to drink, i had a brothers pear cider, which was really nice and also 7.5% alcohol.
we decided to take the tube home, central line, which got more and more crowded with each stop. at one point, so many people tried to cram into the subway car that i actually started laughing. i think they thought i was crazy but whatever! our faces were practically mushing against the windows! that's funny. and anyway, it's sunday and i was in a good mood. :-)
- i'm guaranteed to get a run in, preferably along the thames. you just can't beat running alongside the river with all of london's treasures in plain sight. it's like i have a date with the city.
- st. peter and paul church on amwell street. i started going because it was close enough to be convenient but offered enough of a walk to make me feel productive, and i've kept going because it's an awesome parish! it's small, it's cold (we wear our coats during mass), and we even sing some of the american catholic songs i grew up with.
- weight training aka carrying bags of groceries home from tesco. i like shopping at tesco because it's uncrowded (thanks waitrose next door!) and unpretentious. also, they have my favorite two-bean burgers...
- family time. usually at least one of my parents will call or skype me on Sundays, so i get a little love to start the week with. :-)
sunday = Jen day basically. i can do all the things i like and still have time to lay around if i want. today was no exception, although it was more of the active variety. i woke up early because the sun was shining in my windows brighter than i think i've ever seen here. i was forced out of bed and onto the street for a run. well worth it though, the embankment path was packed with runners and tourists. i can safely say that i inadvertently starred in at least three home movies of big ben before 10:30 this morning.
mass was next, followed by a pizza lunch (leftovers from self-date night at la porchetta last evening), then i met Beth to catch the 38 bus to hyde park corner. except we got a bit lost getting off the bus. luckily we found our way and 20 minutes later, we met her friends Chelsea and Michael for a walk around the lake.
the sun was still shining, there were ducks and gulls and pigeons on the lake path, and the daffodils are starting to peek their shy heads out of the ground. beautiful day. and Beth's friends were a blast to talk to. we walked for at least an hour then headed to the pub for my first proper sunday roast! i chose the roast beef, because it came with horsey sauce. :-) to drink, i had a brothers pear cider, which was really nice and also 7.5% alcohol.
we decided to take the tube home, central line, which got more and more crowded with each stop. at one point, so many people tried to cram into the subway car that i actually started laughing. i think they thought i was crazy but whatever! our faces were practically mushing against the windows! that's funny. and anyway, it's sunday and i was in a good mood. :-)
Saturday, January 16, 2010
the real world: islington
when five strangers live in a house together, chances are good that there will be disagreements from time to time. it's been pretty cold here lately, which means that we've had to crank up the heat. we have a boiler and radiators, and while they can be put on a timer, there is no ability to control the temperature. the heat is either on or off.
there have been some differing opinions as to when the timer should be set for. in fact, a small war broke out last week (i heard through the grapevine, anyway) and the dispute is going to be settled by Ly, who is apparently in charge of such things. almost like a judge, he is. i wonder if he has a gavel?
i have to say, i got about five minutes of sleep last night, partly because it was beyond hot in my room (ya, the heating was on ALL NIGHT) and partly because i had to open the window, which led to an experience i can only describe as urban camping. instead of listening to wild animals, i was listening to the drunks stagger home from the pubs. (no this is not karma paying me back - i come home alone every night, which means i am QUIET)
also, we are going through loo roll like MAD in the downstairs toilet and for the second time in four days, i realized today too late that the roll was empty. c'mon peeps. change. the. roll. it's like i have four husbands or something.
i'm not mad really, just shaking my head and making a mental note to hide my travel charmin downstairs for emergency use.
there have been some differing opinions as to when the timer should be set for. in fact, a small war broke out last week (i heard through the grapevine, anyway) and the dispute is going to be settled by Ly, who is apparently in charge of such things. almost like a judge, he is. i wonder if he has a gavel?
i have to say, i got about five minutes of sleep last night, partly because it was beyond hot in my room (ya, the heating was on ALL NIGHT) and partly because i had to open the window, which led to an experience i can only describe as urban camping. instead of listening to wild animals, i was listening to the drunks stagger home from the pubs. (no this is not karma paying me back - i come home alone every night, which means i am QUIET)
also, we are going through loo roll like MAD in the downstairs toilet and for the second time in four days, i realized today too late that the roll was empty. c'mon peeps. change. the. roll. it's like i have four husbands or something.
i'm not mad really, just shaking my head and making a mental note to hide my travel charmin downstairs for emergency use.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
are you kidding me?
i got a little love note from credit card company this morning, basically stating that my bill was overdue and that my count was in arrears. i don't know what arrears are but i don't like the sound of them. it was quite frustrating as i checked last week to make sure online bill pay was set up. it was. so today i went online to pay the bill manually. denied. tried again. denied. i called citibank who said my account was locked and that they would unlock it straight away. fine.
tried calling the credit card company to pay over the phone and they said my bank account didn't have enough funds in it, which is ludicrous because i was LOOKING at my online bank statement and i actually do have money, despite all my jokes about being broke.
just as i tried to click around the citibank site, my account froze and booted me out. so i called citi. again. they froze my account because my bank statements, which have been going to my non-existent US address for whatever reason, came back. no one called to tell me this. they just closed things down.
the guy on the phone told me he would transfer me, i would have to go through the numerical security system again, at which point i'd be put on hold, AGAIN, and then could talk to someone about changing my address. then, he said, they could unlock the account. we changed my address and my phone beeped at me. as i was logging into the citi site to ensure things were kosher (and making the guy stay on the phone with me until i was in) my fucking pay-as-you-go phone ran out of money, so i was promptly disconnected.
and i still can't get into the site.
i guess i'll call them back from work this afternoon, because i can't top up my phone due to my bank account being frozen and i can't charge the top up to my credit card, because my account is now "in arrears" until i can unlock the bloody bank account and pay the credit card bill.
i know, in the grand scheme of life this isn't a big deal. but i'm not a happy camper right now...perhaps one day this will all seem amusing...
tried calling the credit card company to pay over the phone and they said my bank account didn't have enough funds in it, which is ludicrous because i was LOOKING at my online bank statement and i actually do have money, despite all my jokes about being broke.
just as i tried to click around the citibank site, my account froze and booted me out. so i called citi. again. they froze my account because my bank statements, which have been going to my non-existent US address for whatever reason, came back. no one called to tell me this. they just closed things down.
the guy on the phone told me he would transfer me, i would have to go through the numerical security system again, at which point i'd be put on hold, AGAIN, and then could talk to someone about changing my address. then, he said, they could unlock the account. we changed my address and my phone beeped at me. as i was logging into the citi site to ensure things were kosher (and making the guy stay on the phone with me until i was in) my fucking pay-as-you-go phone ran out of money, so i was promptly disconnected.
and i still can't get into the site.
i guess i'll call them back from work this afternoon, because i can't top up my phone due to my bank account being frozen and i can't charge the top up to my credit card, because my account is now "in arrears" until i can unlock the bloody bank account and pay the credit card bill.
i know, in the grand scheme of life this isn't a big deal. but i'm not a happy camper right now...perhaps one day this will all seem amusing...
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
good intentions
i walked into niketown last night and realized two things:
- i had forgotten to register for the run. oops.
- in the space where there is normally a massive line for gear check, there were black lights and a fake wall.
panic slowly crept in. had i lost my mind? did i imagine the whole running group? was it actually NOT tuesday? no, no, and no.
it turns out that nike had cancelled the run due to weather. wha??? not only was it completely clear and dry outside, i had just wasted £1.20 to ride the damn bus to oxford street. i stood in the lobby pondering this, when i looked down at my phone and saw that i had a text from my running buddies. they were at the pub. naturally. what choice did i have but to join them?!
we normally only drink two pints after a run, but since we weren't doing anything else, i drank three pints of budvar and gobbled a chicken burger. bad, bad jen.
as punishment, i took the tube home - the northern line if you really must know, because it's a longer walk from the station to my flat. as i was exiting the tube, i decided i should try to get a bit of a run in as well, so i took off down old street in what probably wasn't a straight line, winter coat flapping behind me. just as i got home, i heard Ly and his girlfriend coming in. i was a bit tipsy and since Ly ALWAYS catches me coming in from the pub, i hid in the downstairs toilet until they were gone. i don't want to come across as a lush, you know?
- i had forgotten to register for the run. oops.
- in the space where there is normally a massive line for gear check, there were black lights and a fake wall.
panic slowly crept in. had i lost my mind? did i imagine the whole running group? was it actually NOT tuesday? no, no, and no.
it turns out that nike had cancelled the run due to weather. wha??? not only was it completely clear and dry outside, i had just wasted £1.20 to ride the damn bus to oxford street. i stood in the lobby pondering this, when i looked down at my phone and saw that i had a text from my running buddies. they were at the pub. naturally. what choice did i have but to join them?!
we normally only drink two pints after a run, but since we weren't doing anything else, i drank three pints of budvar and gobbled a chicken burger. bad, bad jen.
as punishment, i took the tube home - the northern line if you really must know, because it's a longer walk from the station to my flat. as i was exiting the tube, i decided i should try to get a bit of a run in as well, so i took off down old street in what probably wasn't a straight line, winter coat flapping behind me. just as i got home, i heard Ly and his girlfriend coming in. i was a bit tipsy and since Ly ALWAYS catches me coming in from the pub, i hid in the downstairs toilet until they were gone. i don't want to come across as a lush, you know?
Sunday, January 10, 2010
supper club
i was really looking forward to saturday night, because my friend Mindy had invited me to join a few of her friends for...more french food! yay! i was also excited because the restaurant, la bouchee, was in south kensington and i had never been there before.
the map of south ken looked confusing online but i found the street i needed right away and even managed to give directions to a lost tourist. :-)
the food was decent, although not as good as the orrery. Mindy's friends were really nice though - always fun to meet new people! dinner wrapped around 10 and Mindy was headed to a place called supper club for someone's birthday party. she invited me to come to notting hill with her, another new neighborhood for me.
when i think of supper clubs, images of potlucks and/or themed meals come to mind. as seems to always be the case in london, my preconceived notion was WRONG! we trolled down a darkish alley to a set of large black doors, where a giant bouncer man asked if our names were on "the list". ha. luckily they were.
our first stop was the bar, where the cocktails were £9 each! good grief. i would have felt like a freakshow taking pictures but i found this one online of another supper club (it's a small chain worldwide):
pretty similar to the london one, although there was a big space in the middle of the floor for dancing. see the big white things along the walls? those are BEDS. and people were laying in them, eating and drinking. some people were even under the covers. there was a giant movie screen on the wall with video of a buck naked woman (who was painted gold) doing dance and yoga poses. the staff were wearing a mix of everything from pajamas to rocky horror picture show inspired outfits.
it was very interesting.
however, i wasn't drunk enough nor do i like hanging out in public places without shoes (can't wear shoes in the white sheets!). Mindy agreed and we decided to do a cocktail and then bounce. but then the alcohol kicked in (£9 at least buys you a double), people started dancing, and we decided to brave another round of drinks. then the waitress came around with free shots. then there were birthday shots for Mindy's friend. pretty soon, dancing seemed like a great idea! the music was actually really good - house - and it wasn't as much of a meat market as some other clubs in london.
by the time we left, the underground had long since closed and i had no idea how to get a night bus from west london back to east central. so i had to take a cab, boo. naturally i had the guy drop me on old street so i could get a kebab. i don't even want to look at my bank statement right now... :-)
the map of south ken looked confusing online but i found the street i needed right away and even managed to give directions to a lost tourist. :-)
the food was decent, although not as good as the orrery. Mindy's friends were really nice though - always fun to meet new people! dinner wrapped around 10 and Mindy was headed to a place called supper club for someone's birthday party. she invited me to come to notting hill with her, another new neighborhood for me.
when i think of supper clubs, images of potlucks and/or themed meals come to mind. as seems to always be the case in london, my preconceived notion was WRONG! we trolled down a darkish alley to a set of large black doors, where a giant bouncer man asked if our names were on "the list". ha. luckily they were.
our first stop was the bar, where the cocktails were £9 each! good grief. i would have felt like a freakshow taking pictures but i found this one online of another supper club (it's a small chain worldwide):
pretty similar to the london one, although there was a big space in the middle of the floor for dancing. see the big white things along the walls? those are BEDS. and people were laying in them, eating and drinking. some people were even under the covers. there was a giant movie screen on the wall with video of a buck naked woman (who was painted gold) doing dance and yoga poses. the staff were wearing a mix of everything from pajamas to rocky horror picture show inspired outfits.
it was very interesting.
however, i wasn't drunk enough nor do i like hanging out in public places without shoes (can't wear shoes in the white sheets!). Mindy agreed and we decided to do a cocktail and then bounce. but then the alcohol kicked in (£9 at least buys you a double), people started dancing, and we decided to brave another round of drinks. then the waitress came around with free shots. then there were birthday shots for Mindy's friend. pretty soon, dancing seemed like a great idea! the music was actually really good - house - and it wasn't as much of a meat market as some other clubs in london.
by the time we left, the underground had long since closed and i had no idea how to get a night bus from west london back to east central. so i had to take a cab, boo. naturally i had the guy drop me on old street so i could get a kebab. i don't even want to look at my bank statement right now... :-)
a night out in E1/EC3
friday night i was planning to stay in. i was going to go to bed early and then run with the serpentine running club on saturday morning in hyde park. this was all fine and good, except for the sheet of ice still covering most of london on friday morning, which caused serpentine to cancel its saturday run. which meant i would be staying in on friday for no reason. :-)
luckily, my friend elijah, who i met flat hunting and only talk to sporadically, texted me on friday afternoon and was looking for something to do. i really wanted pizza, so we decided to meet at the liverpool street tube and go to pizza express. but we ended up wandering around a bit and landed at a place called giraffe. giraffe had everything in the world to eat except for pizza. ha.
the food was mediocre, although i should have been able to predict this based on the menu. my rule of thumb is that if a place serves more than one ethnic cuisine (in this case they had Greek, Chinese, and Mexican), pretty much anything you order will suck. and it did. :-) BUT we were really cold and hungry so it didn't matter that much.
afterwards, i needed to walk off my falafel burger and chips so we headed out on foot to St. Katherine Dock for drinks - roughly 15 minutes away. thank goodness i brought my proper winter coat back from cincinnati - it is long, wool, and warm, and the collar flips up so that i can hide like a turtle when its windy.
St. Katherine Dock is right next to Tower Bridge, which i had never seen before. Tower Bridge is the one with the castle thingies that everyone always thinks is the London Bridge. we walked about halfway across and decided pints were more important than going all the way to south bank. the bar we went to was called prohibition and specialized in old school cocktails, sort of a tribute to the real prohibition of the 20's. apparently, modern-day cocktails were born out of the need to mask the taste of bathtub gin and other rough things that people were brewing in their basements. who knew!
i stuck with beer and after two pints of peroni, i was ready to call it a night. but there was a brassiere around the corner and eli insisted that i had to try fischer beer:
it is a french beer that makes a champagne cork noise when opened and tastes like a hybrid of cider, beer, and port wine, in my opinion. it was good and by the time i finished it, i was a bit drunky and laughing so hard that the staff were looking annoyed. they were closing anyway, so we left. i just barely made the last train before the underground shut down for the night. needless to say, i slept pretty well. :-)
luckily, my friend elijah, who i met flat hunting and only talk to sporadically, texted me on friday afternoon and was looking for something to do. i really wanted pizza, so we decided to meet at the liverpool street tube and go to pizza express. but we ended up wandering around a bit and landed at a place called giraffe. giraffe had everything in the world to eat except for pizza. ha.
the food was mediocre, although i should have been able to predict this based on the menu. my rule of thumb is that if a place serves more than one ethnic cuisine (in this case they had Greek, Chinese, and Mexican), pretty much anything you order will suck. and it did. :-) BUT we were really cold and hungry so it didn't matter that much.
afterwards, i needed to walk off my falafel burger and chips so we headed out on foot to St. Katherine Dock for drinks - roughly 15 minutes away. thank goodness i brought my proper winter coat back from cincinnati - it is long, wool, and warm, and the collar flips up so that i can hide like a turtle when its windy.
St. Katherine Dock is right next to Tower Bridge, which i had never seen before. Tower Bridge is the one with the castle thingies that everyone always thinks is the London Bridge. we walked about halfway across and decided pints were more important than going all the way to south bank. the bar we went to was called prohibition and specialized in old school cocktails, sort of a tribute to the real prohibition of the 20's. apparently, modern-day cocktails were born out of the need to mask the taste of bathtub gin and other rough things that people were brewing in their basements. who knew!
i stuck with beer and after two pints of peroni, i was ready to call it a night. but there was a brassiere around the corner and eli insisted that i had to try fischer beer:
it is a french beer that makes a champagne cork noise when opened and tastes like a hybrid of cider, beer, and port wine, in my opinion. it was good and by the time i finished it, i was a bit drunky and laughing so hard that the staff were looking annoyed. they were closing anyway, so we left. i just barely made the last train before the underground shut down for the night. needless to say, i slept pretty well. :-)
Saturday, January 9, 2010
viva la french food
we've been trying to set up a house dinner for the last few weeks and had finally settled on thursday night. however, Nisha has some kind of accounting licensing exams coming up and so we decided to have two dinners: one on thursday minus our studious girl and one for all of us in a few weeks when exams are over.
since Rita works in a swank French restaurant that offers a 50% discount to employees during the month of january, we decided to head there. the restaurant was called the orrery, and i would have taken pictures except it wasn't that kind of place. :-) i have never never had a proper French meal before (croque madames and frites don't count!), so i didn't know what to expect. but it was awesome! Rita, Ly, Alex, and I were treated to:
- free champagne.
- free bread - all kinds - olive bread, sea salt bread, foccacia (our waiter was Italian :-), etc.
- free soup - really good, no idea what it was but i think it had truffle oil and a lot of cream sauce. mmmm.
- first course - i had scallops, which came with truffle stuff and squash stuff to dip them in. again, really good.
- sauvignon blanc
- free prawn (prawns with heads) risotto - i wanted to lick the bowl.
- some sort of red wine
- second course - i had duck l' orange, complimented with roots vegetables (tasty) and beet root puree. i normally hate beets but i actually liked this! probably had butter or something in it. :0
- free cheese plate - the only cheese i had heard of was goat. but they were all tasty.
- free port wine
- souffle with cognac ice cream
- free petit fours
they must really love Rita there. :-)
this was the most time i've spent with my housemates and i have to say, we had a blast! we were all making fun of each other for stuff you only find out when you live with people - one of us is a slow eater, one of us frequently comes in drunk and then drags ass in the morning (guess who that one is), etc.
i laughed so hard (with a mouth full of souffle, mind you) that my chest hurt. i laughed for so long that Ly started laughing, then Alex started. we made quite a scene actually, in the middle of a quiet, posh restaurant. as i told my housemates, you can dress me up, but you can't take me out...
since Rita works in a swank French restaurant that offers a 50% discount to employees during the month of january, we decided to head there. the restaurant was called the orrery, and i would have taken pictures except it wasn't that kind of place. :-) i have never never had a proper French meal before (croque madames and frites don't count!), so i didn't know what to expect. but it was awesome! Rita, Ly, Alex, and I were treated to:
- free champagne.
- free bread - all kinds - olive bread, sea salt bread, foccacia (our waiter was Italian :-), etc.
- free soup - really good, no idea what it was but i think it had truffle oil and a lot of cream sauce. mmmm.
- first course - i had scallops, which came with truffle stuff and squash stuff to dip them in. again, really good.
- sauvignon blanc
- free prawn (prawns with heads) risotto - i wanted to lick the bowl.
- some sort of red wine
- second course - i had duck l' orange, complimented with roots vegetables (tasty) and beet root puree. i normally hate beets but i actually liked this! probably had butter or something in it. :0
- free cheese plate - the only cheese i had heard of was goat. but they were all tasty.
- free port wine
- souffle with cognac ice cream
- free petit fours
they must really love Rita there. :-)
this was the most time i've spent with my housemates and i have to say, we had a blast! we were all making fun of each other for stuff you only find out when you live with people - one of us is a slow eater, one of us frequently comes in drunk and then drags ass in the morning (guess who that one is), etc.
i laughed so hard (with a mouth full of souffle, mind you) that my chest hurt. i laughed for so long that Ly started laughing, then Alex started. we made quite a scene actually, in the middle of a quiet, posh restaurant. as i told my housemates, you can dress me up, but you can't take me out...
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
getting creative
i realized over the Christmas break that apart from running, i don't really have any hobbies here that don't involve drinking. and i usually wind up going for drinks after i run so that doesn't even count. i used to be a well-rounded person, i swear it! so, i'm digging deep into my memory to try and remember things i might be able to do that don't involve imperial pints of hard cider.
this is what i've come up with so far:
- yoga - i found a potentially free class in Soho on Mondays (well, £2.40 with bus fare). this will help me be more flexible as a runner and also make me a calmer person. Jim and I played with the blood pressure monitor at Wal-Mart last week and my stats were a bit alarming...
- volunteering - i was training with Ronald McDonald House when I left the States and I just discovered that they have one in London! i've contacted them and am currently playing phone tag with the house manager to try and set something up.
- green gym - technically volunteering as well, but they have a group here called the Carbon Army who run around planting trees and things. i was actually supposed to do it this saturday but it is too snowy to be planting stuff right now.
- knitting - i'm working on a blanket for my new niece and there is a knitting group off the waterloo line that meets on wednesdays. however, waterloo line costs extra and also, they drink while they knit, so i'm undecided on this one.
additionally, i've sort of talked a few co-workers into running on Thursday nights. tomorrow was supposed to be the first night but with all the snow, i think i may be going solo.
that's ok though because I'm going to a French restaurant with my housemates for dinner tomorrow night! one of the girls works there and so we can get 50% off our meal. score! i've actually spent most evenings this week hanging out with my housemates in the kitchen over dinner. it's just too cold to do anything else and also, i'm lazy. :-)
this is what i've come up with so far:
- yoga - i found a potentially free class in Soho on Mondays (well, £2.40 with bus fare). this will help me be more flexible as a runner and also make me a calmer person. Jim and I played with the blood pressure monitor at Wal-Mart last week and my stats were a bit alarming...
- volunteering - i was training with Ronald McDonald House when I left the States and I just discovered that they have one in London! i've contacted them and am currently playing phone tag with the house manager to try and set something up.
- green gym - technically volunteering as well, but they have a group here called the Carbon Army who run around planting trees and things. i was actually supposed to do it this saturday but it is too snowy to be planting stuff right now.
- knitting - i'm working on a blanket for my new niece and there is a knitting group off the waterloo line that meets on wednesdays. however, waterloo line costs extra and also, they drink while they knit, so i'm undecided on this one.
additionally, i've sort of talked a few co-workers into running on Thursday nights. tomorrow was supposed to be the first night but with all the snow, i think i may be going solo.
that's ok though because I'm going to a French restaurant with my housemates for dinner tomorrow night! one of the girls works there and so we can get 50% off our meal. score! i've actually spent most evenings this week hanging out with my housemates in the kitchen over dinner. it's just too cold to do anything else and also, i'm lazy. :-)
Sunday, January 3, 2010
back.
after a lovely holiday in the states, i found myself back in london town around 12 o' clock this morning. flying over england at night is cool...the lights on the ground are snaking and scattered, total opposite of the grids patterns you see flying over the states. that said, a few tips for all y'all thinking about traveling to london:
- don't fly two separate airlines on the same journey, unless you fancy going through security in the states twice
- to that end, don't buy more liquids than you can fit into your plastic baggie until you get through security the SECOND time
- for those of you considering a connecting flight on American Airlines through ORD (Chicago), you fly out of terminal 3...even if every sign on the train indicates differently AND your flight isn't listed on any board in the terminal 3 ticketing area
- the tube closes at 12 am. you have two options if this happens: 1) suck it up and get in a licensed cab. expect to pay mega £££. 2) if you're a total cheapskate and aren't afraid of the night bus, the N9 and N76 will get you back to east central london for about £5...in just under two hours!
seriously, thank God for the TFL web site. the nice lady at the central bus station in heathrow punched in my post code and printed out the buses and stops i needed to take to get back to EC1. the central bus station itself was dodgy and smelled like a skating rink + garlic. nevertheless, i got to see trafalgar square and picadilly circus on my unexpected journey. no matter that it was at 2 am.
i woke up sad today, but the sun was shining so i dragged myself to 12:15 mass, did my turn at cleaning rota, and went on a beautiful 40-minute run. i forced myself to go somewhere new, which was cool because i saw:
- st. paul's cathedral
- the london eye
- the gherkin
- the thames, complete with duckies
- big ben
- parliament
beats running around friggin' clerkenwell AND i did a negative split on accident. time to go get some food at tesco!
- don't fly two separate airlines on the same journey, unless you fancy going through security in the states twice
- to that end, don't buy more liquids than you can fit into your plastic baggie until you get through security the SECOND time
- for those of you considering a connecting flight on American Airlines through ORD (Chicago), you fly out of terminal 3...even if every sign on the train indicates differently AND your flight isn't listed on any board in the terminal 3 ticketing area
- the tube closes at 12 am. you have two options if this happens: 1) suck it up and get in a licensed cab. expect to pay mega £££. 2) if you're a total cheapskate and aren't afraid of the night bus, the N9 and N76 will get you back to east central london for about £5...in just under two hours!
seriously, thank God for the TFL web site. the nice lady at the central bus station in heathrow punched in my post code and printed out the buses and stops i needed to take to get back to EC1. the central bus station itself was dodgy and smelled like a skating rink + garlic. nevertheless, i got to see trafalgar square and picadilly circus on my unexpected journey. no matter that it was at 2 am.
i woke up sad today, but the sun was shining so i dragged myself to 12:15 mass, did my turn at cleaning rota, and went on a beautiful 40-minute run. i forced myself to go somewhere new, which was cool because i saw:
- st. paul's cathedral
- the london eye
- the gherkin
- the thames, complete with duckies
- big ben
- parliament
beats running around friggin' clerkenwell AND i did a negative split on accident. time to go get some food at tesco!
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