nappies = diapers
mind the gap = watch your step
give us a shout = call me
half seven = 7:30 (works with any hour)
take away = carryout
touch wood = knock on wood
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
better...
today was much more uplifting than yesterday:
1) after 5 phone calls, 2 faxes, and 2 emails, one of my US banks is FINALLY going ahead with the wire transfer to my UK bank!
2) i found an ATM that likes my US ATM card...hello, sterling!
3) the morning started off with a really good crit (critique) at work on a problematic project. while i had nothing to do with the excellent designs, it makes me happy to see my design team happy.
4) i got a UK cell phone and lunch (spanish tortilla from a deli around the corner) all by myself. (it's the little things, really)
5) one of my hip London co-workers went to happy hour with me! was fun to get to know her outside of work, even if it did mean i went flat-hunting a bit tipsy.
6) i went flat hunting by myself and found the place after asking only one person for directions.
7) i figured out how to work the fan in the bathroom. it requires me batting at the on/off switch with a wooden spatula, since it is way taller than my dwarven arms will reach.
8) we got free cake today at work. apparently every wednesday at 4 pm, someone in the office hosts "tea" with loads of good snacks. oddly enough, i saw no one drinking tea.
1) after 5 phone calls, 2 faxes, and 2 emails, one of my US banks is FINALLY going ahead with the wire transfer to my UK bank!
2) i found an ATM that likes my US ATM card...hello, sterling!
3) the morning started off with a really good crit (critique) at work on a problematic project. while i had nothing to do with the excellent designs, it makes me happy to see my design team happy.
4) i got a UK cell phone and lunch (spanish tortilla from a deli around the corner) all by myself. (it's the little things, really)
5) one of my hip London co-workers went to happy hour with me! was fun to get to know her outside of work, even if it did mean i went flat-hunting a bit tipsy.
6) i went flat hunting by myself and found the place after asking only one person for directions.
7) i figured out how to work the fan in the bathroom. it requires me batting at the on/off switch with a wooden spatula, since it is way taller than my dwarven arms will reach.
8) we got free cake today at work. apparently every wednesday at 4 pm, someone in the office hosts "tea" with loads of good snacks. oddly enough, i saw no one drinking tea.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
@%$*$!!!!
i should preface this post by saying that i'm not really mad, i'm just knee-deep in the less-than-romantic details of moving abroad. :-) for instance:
- i can't withdraw money from either of my US-based banks right now. i don't know why. i have about £4 left (in change) and an american express card...
- i FINALLY have a UK bank account but there is no money in it. we get paid at the end of the month, which means i have to fund the UK account from one of the US accounts. this will be done via wire transfer and i have to fax complicated directions to the US bank in order to get them to do it. in just 3-5 business days, i will have money! probably. hopefully. God willing.
- while flat hunting affords me the opportunity to see parts of the city i wouldn't normally visit (e.g. kilbury), it eats up 90% of my evening. i get off work, scarf down dinner, run for the Tube, go see a flat, then come back home to go online and look for more flats. so far the response rate is about 30%.
there is a bit of a funny side to all this. one of the flat postings i looked at (and quickly discarded) advertised:
"I am Vegetarian but that should be fine for you. No meat and no fish strictly, I can't stand the smell of death."
another advertised:
"Would prefer someone who doesn't sleep in the flat every night"
which would be great for me, because I've really been hoping to take advantage of all the local park benches just waiting to be slept on.
some of the flats are funny themselves. tonight's was so musty smelling (combined with the head of garlic they were apparently cooking for dinner), that poor Christine went into a coughing fit and had to go outside. the whole flat was covered in one of the five housemate's drying laundry, and there was a half-drunk bottle of cutty sark or something on the table. also, the Jubilee underground line, which was actually aboveground at this particular station (not to be confused with the overground) ran right in front of the building.
bloody 'ell. :-)
- i can't withdraw money from either of my US-based banks right now. i don't know why. i have about £4 left (in change) and an american express card...
- i FINALLY have a UK bank account but there is no money in it. we get paid at the end of the month, which means i have to fund the UK account from one of the US accounts. this will be done via wire transfer and i have to fax complicated directions to the US bank in order to get them to do it. in just 3-5 business days, i will have money! probably. hopefully. God willing.
- while flat hunting affords me the opportunity to see parts of the city i wouldn't normally visit (e.g. kilbury), it eats up 90% of my evening. i get off work, scarf down dinner, run for the Tube, go see a flat, then come back home to go online and look for more flats. so far the response rate is about 30%.
there is a bit of a funny side to all this. one of the flat postings i looked at (and quickly discarded) advertised:
"I am Vegetarian but that should be fine for you. No meat and no fish strictly, I can't stand the smell of death."
another advertised:
"Would prefer someone who doesn't sleep in the flat every night"
which would be great for me, because I've really been hoping to take advantage of all the local park benches just waiting to be slept on.
some of the flats are funny themselves. tonight's was so musty smelling (combined with the head of garlic they were apparently cooking for dinner), that poor Christine went into a coughing fit and had to go outside. the whole flat was covered in one of the five housemate's drying laundry, and there was a half-drunk bottle of cutty sark or something on the table. also, the Jubilee underground line, which was actually aboveground at this particular station (not to be confused with the overground) ran right in front of the building.
bloody 'ell. :-)
Monday, November 2, 2009
overwhelmed
today was my first day in the office across the pond! i was excited to be back on a schedule, so much so that i actually cleaned up a bit of my stuff here in the flat and made a laundry pile. the walk to work is only two minutes, which is good because i was running late (shocking). there was a nice bouquet of flowers waiting in my new cube as well as a detailed itinerary for my day.
everyone was super nice and i've unfortunately forgotten the names of most of the people i met...i'm SO bad at this. i literally forget people's names while i'm still shaking their hands. the job itself is a little intimidating, and when my co-workers heard what account i would be working on, a few of them sighed sympathetically. one actually said "mmm. challenging." oh lord. what have i got myself into...! :-) the good news is that i might get to go to geneva soon. never been to switzerland before, beats my cincinnati travels by a long shot...buffalo in january (although i will always have a special place in my heart for that city).
i got out around 5:40 and had just enough time to eat a veggie burger and an apple before Christine and i went out to view another flat. we got lost pretty much right after we left the Tube station, but i got smart and called for directions after just two short minutes of "where are we?"
this one was in hampstead, which was not a bad commute from the angel station and the neighborhood was super cute. the flat was nice and clean, not bad storage space either. however, it is a sublet until march, at which point i'd have to find another roommate. oh, and i would have to pay the rent to the original tenant, unless i wanted to pay £150 more per month to do things legally, but either way, i'd have to pay the additional monthly amount come march. as my friend Maren would say, "negative, ghostrider."
i came home and emailed six more places, so we'll see what happens. i still really like the clapham house, although i might need to adjust my schedule as the northern line in the AM is apparently insane. and anyway, i guess the housemates had a few other showings and still have to make a decision. i feel like i'm on backwards survivor, trying to get voted ONTO the island.
i apparently have a bank account now but no time to call the feller back to get the details on it. grar. still no cell phone, and i've been told that the easiest way for me to call the states is through a calling card. i guess i'll get a phone with a straight-up UK plan - the calling card is a separate purchase from a newsstand. i'll just take care of this in my copious spare time, in between getting a National Insurance number and pulling six-months work of payslips together for my HR file.
yes, thank you, i WOULD like some cheese with my whine :-)
everyone was super nice and i've unfortunately forgotten the names of most of the people i met...i'm SO bad at this. i literally forget people's names while i'm still shaking their hands. the job itself is a little intimidating, and when my co-workers heard what account i would be working on, a few of them sighed sympathetically. one actually said "mmm. challenging." oh lord. what have i got myself into...! :-) the good news is that i might get to go to geneva soon. never been to switzerland before, beats my cincinnati travels by a long shot...buffalo in january (although i will always have a special place in my heart for that city).
i got out around 5:40 and had just enough time to eat a veggie burger and an apple before Christine and i went out to view another flat. we got lost pretty much right after we left the Tube station, but i got smart and called for directions after just two short minutes of "where are we?"
this one was in hampstead, which was not a bad commute from the angel station and the neighborhood was super cute. the flat was nice and clean, not bad storage space either. however, it is a sublet until march, at which point i'd have to find another roommate. oh, and i would have to pay the rent to the original tenant, unless i wanted to pay £150 more per month to do things legally, but either way, i'd have to pay the additional monthly amount come march. as my friend Maren would say, "negative, ghostrider."
i came home and emailed six more places, so we'll see what happens. i still really like the clapham house, although i might need to adjust my schedule as the northern line in the AM is apparently insane. and anyway, i guess the housemates had a few other showings and still have to make a decision. i feel like i'm on backwards survivor, trying to get voted ONTO the island.
i apparently have a bank account now but no time to call the feller back to get the details on it. grar. still no cell phone, and i've been told that the easiest way for me to call the states is through a calling card. i guess i'll get a phone with a straight-up UK plan - the calling card is a separate purchase from a newsstand. i'll just take care of this in my copious spare time, in between getting a National Insurance number and pulling six-months work of payslips together for my HR file.
yes, thank you, i WOULD like some cheese with my whine :-)
Sunday, November 1, 2009
what???
as seen around the flat...
the blinds pull the wrong way. we think this is funny.
the cord for our bathroom light.
toilet. it flushes about every third or fourth try for me, with a lot of verbal coaxing.
the damn bedpost. i have a large bruise on my left knee thanks to this piece of wood.
british plugs. WHY are these so flipping large?? i get it, we're rockin' 220 here. but so was peru, and their plugs were not this giant.
speaking of odd plugs, WTF is this? found in the bathroom. the smiling head plug thing is kind of cute, albeit a bit creepy.
it took us 5 minutes and an instruction manual to figure out how to enter the seconds on the microwave. oh, and to set the time, you first have to press "7". super intuitive.
the blinds pull the wrong way. we think this is funny.
the cord for our bathroom light.
toilet. it flushes about every third or fourth try for me, with a lot of verbal coaxing.
the damn bedpost. i have a large bruise on my left knee thanks to this piece of wood.
british plugs. WHY are these so flipping large?? i get it, we're rockin' 220 here. but so was peru, and their plugs were not this giant.
speaking of odd plugs, WTF is this? found in the bathroom. the smiling head plug thing is kind of cute, albeit a bit creepy.
it took us 5 minutes and an instruction manual to figure out how to enter the seconds on the microwave. oh, and to set the time, you first have to press "7". super intuitive.
everybody loves saturday night
after the longest day EVER, christine and i were starving and wanted pizza. luckily there is a good pizzeria chain here called la porchetta, where you can get a thin-crust pizza large enough to share for £7.40!!! insanity! we had an order of bread and christine had a large peroni and the bill was still only £16.00 with tip. word.
it was 6:30 pm and i was debating...disco nap or just head straight out? after some discussion, we decided it would be best to just go out and i could bail early if i was too tired (pansy). there are tons of pubs in clerkenwell and beth and lou were going to meet us at the crown, which, like everything else here, is really, really old. since i ate like a goat at dinner, i opted for gin and tonic instead of milkshake-style beer. :-) it was halloween, so the bartenders were dressed up but no one else really was. we did, however, find a severed foot to play with...i assume this was a decoration. the bar was kind of dead (wah, wah) so we headed to...
cafe kicks. this is a latin-themed bar (bar, not pub) in a market area that doesn't have car traffic. the bar was tiny but awesome because it had pisco and cusqueña. woohoo! funny that i'm finding peruvian stuff here in england. the bar also had three foosball tables, so we played a couple of matches. i'm not great at foosball but it's really fun and after all, i was on the winning team in our office tournament four years ago. i have minor skills.
foosball! (photo courtesy of C. Kron)
after a round of pisco sours (sans the egg whites, boo), we opted to get a nightcap at lexington, a bar in angel that is supposed to be kentucky themed. lexington was packed - wall-to-wall, can't-get-a-drink-for-an-hour packed. ha ha, no. we went to hobgoblin's instead for the second time that day. sometime after 1 am we decided we were done, so christine and i headed back to clerkenwell in search of kebabs (these are the standard late-night drunk food here apparently).
just when we thought we might be out of luck, we spotted a kebab place! three of them! because we had been walking all day, i felt justified in getting a chicken doner on a pita WITH chips (fries). i also felt that i deserved a shot of mayonnaise on the chips and garlic sauce on the chicken, which were all combined into a delightful pile of mess. we went home, i changed out of my horrible "go out" pants, and settled in to watch 30 rock and eat our meals. mmm, mmm, good, my friends.
it was 6:30 pm and i was debating...disco nap or just head straight out? after some discussion, we decided it would be best to just go out and i could bail early if i was too tired (pansy). there are tons of pubs in clerkenwell and beth and lou were going to meet us at the crown, which, like everything else here, is really, really old. since i ate like a goat at dinner, i opted for gin and tonic instead of milkshake-style beer. :-) it was halloween, so the bartenders were dressed up but no one else really was. we did, however, find a severed foot to play with...i assume this was a decoration. the bar was kind of dead (wah, wah) so we headed to...
cafe kicks. this is a latin-themed bar (bar, not pub) in a market area that doesn't have car traffic. the bar was tiny but awesome because it had pisco and cusqueña. woohoo! funny that i'm finding peruvian stuff here in england. the bar also had three foosball tables, so we played a couple of matches. i'm not great at foosball but it's really fun and after all, i was on the winning team in our office tournament four years ago. i have minor skills.
foosball! (photo courtesy of C. Kron)
after a round of pisco sours (sans the egg whites, boo), we opted to get a nightcap at lexington, a bar in angel that is supposed to be kentucky themed. lexington was packed - wall-to-wall, can't-get-a-drink-for-an-hour packed. ha ha, no. we went to hobgoblin's instead for the second time that day. sometime after 1 am we decided we were done, so christine and i headed back to clerkenwell in search of kebabs (these are the standard late-night drunk food here apparently).
just when we thought we might be out of luck, we spotted a kebab place! three of them! because we had been walking all day, i felt justified in getting a chicken doner on a pita WITH chips (fries). i also felt that i deserved a shot of mayonnaise on the chips and garlic sauce on the chicken, which were all combined into a delightful pile of mess. we went home, i changed out of my horrible "go out" pants, and settled in to watch 30 rock and eat our meals. mmm, mmm, good, my friends.
lost™
i spent friday pouring over gumtree and smallworld.com to try and find a flat. online flat hunting is what i imagine online dating might be like. you read an ad, then you send the poster a brief description of yourself pretty much begging them to let you come and view their flat. then you wait. will they write back or won't they?? i sent out about 10-12 emails on friday and heard back from 3...hmm. this could be due to any number of reasons such as:
- the ad was old and the space already filled
- i'm an american and i advertised this - figured i may as well be forward as people on these flatmate sites seem to have very specific nationalities they want to live with (or not)
- i'm just generally offensive sounding and scared off most would-be flatmates with my vulgar use of the English language (kidding :-)
at any rate, i mapped out three places to look at - two on saturday and one on monday. i was pretty excited.
saturday started with a walk from our flat in clerkenwell to a pub in angel to watch the spurs/arsenal football (soccer) match. christine showed me some of the sites along the way such as a really cool open-air market and a store called "lie down, i think i love you". after a bit of walking around, we arrived at hobgoblin's and christine's friends beth and lou (who have kindly adopted me as well) presented each of us with our very own tottenham hotspurs mugs! yay for presents! i can definitely support this team because they have a nice logo!
we watched the match and enjoyed pints for about an hour before christine and i had to head for the angel tube. the route looked simple. take the tube north to holloway road, then follow a few streets around finsbury park to find the flat. i had reviewed the route carefully on google maps but didn't have an ACTUAL map to carry around with me. how do you think this song ends?
the appointment was supposed to be at 2 pm.
at 2:10 i called the girl and told her we were close, probably running about 5 more minutes late.
at 2:20 we stopped a policeman and asked for directions.
at 2:30 we stopped another policeman for directions, only to be told that they weren't from this area and were brought in for crowd control following the spurs/arsenal match (the arsenal stadium is near finsbury park).
at 2:40 i called the girl again and got some different directions.
at 2:45 we asked some people waiting for the bus for directions.
at 2:55 i called the girl again.
at 3:10 i asked someone on the street if we were going the right way. we weren't.
i think we arrived around 3:30 or so. augh! we were supposed to be in clapham at 4 pm, so i frantically called our NEXT appointment, who was very gracious and even told me the best way to get from finsbury park to clapham (which are on opposite sides of the city).
the flat was in a cute victorian area (check), on a quiet street (check), and at the top of the building (five flights of steep stairs...oy). i just kept thinking, how am i going to get my 70-pound suitcase up these stairs???
since this was the first flat we looked at, i wasn't sure what to benchmark it against. i know our clerkenwell corporate housing is WAY nice and that i shouldn't use this as a comparison. but are all the fridges over here so SMALL? the one in my parent's camper is bigger for heaven's sakes! and really, i have to turn on the hot water heater before i shower?? ack.
we only stayed about 15 minutes since we were running to clapham, and the walk to the tube was through a sketchy bad bridal shopping area and took 20 minutes. bleh.
christine and i were so exhausted from walking for two hours straight, and i felt terrible for taking up her entire afternoon and getting so very, very lost. i have never been that lost before, not even in rome.
we were a bit ragged when we got out at the clapham tube station but perked up pretty quickly:
- the directions we had were super good and there was no way we could get lost
- the neighborhood was adorable and quiet, with it's bar district safely around the corner
- the flat we were looking at was a...house
- the housemates were so cool and even gave us a glass of water (we probably looked like something the cat dragged in)
- the room was good sized, the kitchen modern, the freezer SEPARATE from the fridge, the garden huge, and there was space in a few places for my various friends and relatives to throw an air mattress down when they visit
the only downside is the 30-minute commute to clerkenwell but it's all by tube, so i don't think that's so bad. i'm more interested in not living in a dungeon and having nice people to greet me in my pajamas each morning.
think i'll email my boss today and maybe one of my other colleagues to confirm that the neighborhood isn't filled with serial killers. will have to do this via blackberry as cincinnati have helpfully changed my LDAP password without telling me. :-)
- the ad was old and the space already filled
- i'm an american and i advertised this - figured i may as well be forward as people on these flatmate sites seem to have very specific nationalities they want to live with (or not)
- i'm just generally offensive sounding and scared off most would-be flatmates with my vulgar use of the English language (kidding :-)
at any rate, i mapped out three places to look at - two on saturday and one on monday. i was pretty excited.
saturday started with a walk from our flat in clerkenwell to a pub in angel to watch the spurs/arsenal football (soccer) match. christine showed me some of the sites along the way such as a really cool open-air market and a store called "lie down, i think i love you". after a bit of walking around, we arrived at hobgoblin's and christine's friends beth and lou (who have kindly adopted me as well) presented each of us with our very own tottenham hotspurs mugs! yay for presents! i can definitely support this team because they have a nice logo!
we watched the match and enjoyed pints for about an hour before christine and i had to head for the angel tube. the route looked simple. take the tube north to holloway road, then follow a few streets around finsbury park to find the flat. i had reviewed the route carefully on google maps but didn't have an ACTUAL map to carry around with me. how do you think this song ends?
the appointment was supposed to be at 2 pm.
at 2:10 i called the girl and told her we were close, probably running about 5 more minutes late.
at 2:20 we stopped a policeman and asked for directions.
at 2:30 we stopped another policeman for directions, only to be told that they weren't from this area and were brought in for crowd control following the spurs/arsenal match (the arsenal stadium is near finsbury park).
at 2:40 i called the girl again and got some different directions.
at 2:45 we asked some people waiting for the bus for directions.
at 2:55 i called the girl again.
at 3:10 i asked someone on the street if we were going the right way. we weren't.
i think we arrived around 3:30 or so. augh! we were supposed to be in clapham at 4 pm, so i frantically called our NEXT appointment, who was very gracious and even told me the best way to get from finsbury park to clapham (which are on opposite sides of the city).
the flat was in a cute victorian area (check), on a quiet street (check), and at the top of the building (five flights of steep stairs...oy). i just kept thinking, how am i going to get my 70-pound suitcase up these stairs???
since this was the first flat we looked at, i wasn't sure what to benchmark it against. i know our clerkenwell corporate housing is WAY nice and that i shouldn't use this as a comparison. but are all the fridges over here so SMALL? the one in my parent's camper is bigger for heaven's sakes! and really, i have to turn on the hot water heater before i shower?? ack.
we only stayed about 15 minutes since we were running to clapham, and the walk to the tube was through a sketchy bad bridal shopping area and took 20 minutes. bleh.
christine and i were so exhausted from walking for two hours straight, and i felt terrible for taking up her entire afternoon and getting so very, very lost. i have never been that lost before, not even in rome.
we were a bit ragged when we got out at the clapham tube station but perked up pretty quickly:
- the directions we had were super good and there was no way we could get lost
- the neighborhood was adorable and quiet, with it's bar district safely around the corner
- the flat we were looking at was a...house
- the housemates were so cool and even gave us a glass of water (we probably looked like something the cat dragged in)
- the room was good sized, the kitchen modern, the freezer SEPARATE from the fridge, the garden huge, and there was space in a few places for my various friends and relatives to throw an air mattress down when they visit
the only downside is the 30-minute commute to clerkenwell but it's all by tube, so i don't think that's so bad. i'm more interested in not living in a dungeon and having nice people to greet me in my pajamas each morning.
think i'll email my boss today and maybe one of my other colleagues to confirm that the neighborhood isn't filled with serial killers. will have to do this via blackberry as cincinnati have helpfully changed my LDAP password without telling me. :-)
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