Home to London

Home to London

Throughout the past month and a half while I have been writing this blog, I had chosen to leave out the instances where I felt a little homesick.  After living in Costa Rica and in New York for extended periods of time, I knew what was coming. .. Week 4 and 5 are usually the hardest, because it finally hits you that you are not on vacation…  Luckily, the trip to Athens helped me ease over this difficult time.  Athens was fantastic and beautiful, but when I jumped on the plane to end my holiday, I was going home… to London.  I arrived in London with a new sense of comfort, knowing that this is MY home (for the moment at least), MY flat, MY bed, and MY life.  I essentially made my peace with London as not only where I work but where I live as well.

Wednesday night, I had a friend from college in town for work, so we went out to eat in Leicester Square.  I knew the tubes to take and the blocks to walk down, and was even able to make some suggestions about places to go.  I have officially become the London guide for my friends… So don’t forget to visit =)

Belton and I continued our theatre night on Thursday night with Legally Blonde.  I know that most of you must think, “Why would they want to spend time seeing a theatre show in London that is made from an American movie?”  Well, I was just as skeptical going into it as well.  The theatre was packed with women of all ages and the occasional gay man or tricked boyfriend.  OMIGOD! The show was AMAZING!  The songs were upbeat and happy, and the jokes were classic.  For instance, in the scene where she is tricked into dressing up as a sexy bunny for a party, they made a joke about “Going and going and going…”  Belton and I cracked up laughing, while the rest of the audience sat in silence… I guess it was an American joke.  The BEST part was the courtroom scene where Elle needed to prove the pool boy was gay and not having an affair with their client… (you would know if you saw the movie)  Well, the musical portion of this scene was by far my favorite.  One singing line was, “Look at what we’re seein’… Is he GAAAAAY?........ or EUROPEAN?”  My friends know that this has been my only complaint regarding the men in London…  I can’t tell whether they are gay or metro.  I literally had tears in my eyes laughing so hard, and it seemed like the “Europeans” in the audience thought it was pretty hilarious too.

After returning from Greece and eating delicious Greek food, I decided that it was time to start making the gym part of my routine rather than just a “spur of the moment, if I feel like it” deal.  I have now done a few classes including yoga, body pump, aerobics, and LBT.  LBT in true British fashion stands for Legs, Bums, and Tums J  In the US, instructors have to be careful to show the “lighter” version to make sure that no one feels uncomfortable or clueless.  In London, that is not the case, and it is more of a, “If you can’t keep up, you should be coming more often to practice!”  My favorite part of each class was the instructors, who reminded me of Billy Blank from the Tae Bow workout videos.  They were all very loud and VERY motivating, including staring at you and saying , “NO RESTING!”  I half expected them to yell, “NOW, DOUBLE TIME!”

Although I didn’t get a chance to go to Scotland this week, it has been very nice having the opportunity to rest.  We even have a cleaner now for the flat that comes once a week, so it always smells like my own mother’s hard core cleaning.  Next week, I look forward to Jersey Boys, more Billy Blank workouts, and perhaps doing some London site seeing next weekend!

ATH∑NS!

My week began very slow and ramped up as it went.  The beginning of the week involved work and then back to the flat which was quite uneventful.  The most entertaining aspect was learning that my friend BT had set up a London online dating site in my name.  Maybe I will try it out at some point… =)

On Thursday, BT continued our London theatre experience with Billy Elliot.  We ended up going the inexpensive route for a night out at the theatre, beginning with a £2 meal deal and a couple of drinks.  I loved the show but I must admit that I was a little surprised with the scene where little boys are dancing around in women’s dresses and putting on lipstick =)

Friday I also stayed in to pack for Greece.  My manager and I were flying out Saturday to have a couple of tourist days prior to starting our client work on Monday.  I was so excited for the trip that I couldn’t even sleep!  Saturday morning came quickly and we flew from London’s cold overcast skies to Athens 90 degrees blue skies.  We took a taxi from the airport to our hostel, which happened to be in the middle of some of the narrowest streets I have seen in my life, with small cars parked bumper to bumper.  The taxi driver missed our turn and instead of turning around to come back down a one way street, he decided to flip the taxi in reverse going ass-backwards up a oneway street where the mirrors practically touched the cars on either side.  Well done though, because we made it to our hostel without a scratch.  As we were checking in, I said to the receptionist guy that we need to divide the price by two, because my manager and I were splitting the room.  He grabbed his head on either side and said in the most anxious crazy voice, “I am an ART major not a MATH person!  I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU WANT!”  We literally had to slowly calm him down and convince him that we would figure it out.  Didn’t the Greeks practically invent mathematics?  Wow, crazy!

We spent the rest of the day walking around the area, which was right next to the Acropolis and the Plaka.  We walked all around looking for the Plaka (an area filled with shops and restaurants), but couldn’t seem to find it.  We ended up walking in the opposite direction and came to find out that we had been walking around the Plaka outside of our Hostel and just didn’t know it.  Saturday night, we went on an expedition to find a bar that the bartender at our hostel recommended.  He warned us as we left, “Don’t show the taxi driver the paper that I wrote the name on, and only pay 5 to 10 euros!”  A great warning, because the taxi driver dropped us off at a random block after I mentioned that we were only going to pay what our “guide” had told us.  He probably would have driven us somewhere very far and left us after paying three times more.  In the end we found the bar by asking at the little street vendors who would try to give us directions in very poor English or just by pointing.  We danced the night away and returned home safely to wake up early and hike up the Acropolis.

The Acropolis was extremely impressive and had a spectacular view of all of Athens.  Apparently some of the columns had been reconstructed in the wrong place so now they are trying to rebuild parts based on historical information. .. ooops =)  We also went to the Acropolis Museum to see the current statues and other sculptures that had been recovered from the site.  The entire museum was built on ruins so clear flooring had been installed in some areas so you could see the remains of the columns that had been there hundreds of years ago.

Today, work started at about 10am after the client picked us up at our hotel.  Traffic was extremely bad due to a truckers strike going on.  (What is it with Europeans liking to strike?)  Around lunch time, as we are discussing the current financial controls in place, there is a loud trucker horn that starts repeating in beats.  Interesting… Next thing we know, it sounded like every trucker in the city was laying on the horn.  It was an hard keeping a straight face at first because I thought it was so entertaining, but after about an hour, it started to get a little annoying.  =)  We ended our trip and evening at the top of the Hilton Athens at Galaxy Bar with a glass of a Greek dessert wine.  The view of Athens and the Acropolis was spectacular!

This has been a fantastic trip filled with AMAZING adventures and beautiful sites.  My manager informed me that I may need to go to Scotland next Monday, so I can’t help but think how much I LOVE MY JOB!

Getting to Know London

The past week has been spent getting to London, including the beautiful, fun, exciting parts as well as the nail biting, excruciating, annoying parts. Whether a tube strike or an amazing theatrical performance, London has definitely kept me entertained.

Monday at the office in Trafalgar square, my coworker asked me, “So how are you getting home today?” I must have had a confused look on my face, because I was quickly reminded that the tubes would not be running as of 4pm and all day Tuesday due to the TUBE STRIKE. I had never taken a bus home nor did I know which bus to take, so I proceeded to wonder around the office begging for help. After work, I finally found the correct bus stop and managed to get on the correct bus. Simple enough. I was even able to sit in the front row on the top portion of the double decker bus, which also provided an amazing view of the city and the many bikers and pedestrians the bus was barely missing. It provided a fantastic perspective of the city that I don’t actually see when I take the tube.

The next morning I knew the exact bus to take as well as the bus stop, so I walked to the stop and immediately saw the 50 other people waiting. Two buses passed because they were already crammed with people, so I decided that the only way for me to get to work would be to walk… How hard could it be? I knew from the map I had seen the day before that I needed to get to the opposite corner of Hyde Park, so I began walking toward the park. When I finally reached the park, I saw a sign saying, ‘Welcome to Kensington Gardens’. Right… I forgot that I needed to walk through Kensington Gardens to Hyde Park… It took me probably 40 minutes to walk the diagonal length of Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, so I believe it was officially the largest park I have EVER walked through. Luckily it was a beautiful day, and I saw gorgeous fountains in the memorial to Diana as well as breathtaking views of ‘The Serpentine’ (aka lake / river through Hyde Park) with white and black swans. I finally reached the corner of the park and was not quite sure where to go from there, so I followed the men in suits thinking that they have to be heading to a corporate office area. Luckily, as I was stalking the London business men, I saw a sign for Buckingham Palace. I KNEW WHERE I WAS! I had run multiple times from the office around Green Park and Buckingham Palace… I couldn’t help being amused by the fact that Buckingham Palace was my point of reference to get to work… At the end of the day, the buses once again were packed, and I ended up returning home by foot. In all, I walked about 8 miles on Tuesday. When I was whining about my feet to my flatmate, he said, “’N hours’ walk isn’t bad. People usually walk at least that long to get to work.” I couldn’t help snidely thinking… ‘NOT where I am from!’

I spent Thursday evening at the National Theatre. My friend Belton and I took advantage of a GroupOn deal, £75 to see 5 London shows. Our first show was Oliver! Kids are cute in musicals, but now add the English accent, and they are ADORABLE!

The rest of the week involved the gym, returning to Kensington Gardens to soak up some sun by the fountains, shopping in Oxford Circus (for new comfortable shoes), and a date with my flatmate’s friend from Australia. A very busy week of getting to know London… I am now looking forward to next weekend when it takes me to Athens, Greece for work and for play!

Work Hard, Play Hard

This past week went by very quickly and somewhat slowly as well. Because of the Bank Holiday on Monday, it was a four day week for everyone in the UK; however, it felt more like a six day week for me. I spent the week both settling into my life in London, as well as traveling to two other countries…

Tuesday morning a taxi picked me up to arrive at the airport for a 6:55 am flight to Brussels for a client site visit. I didn’t have the chance to see much of Brussels, but as my friend Jonnah says, “I was able to breathe the air in Belgium.” At 4 pm (Brussels time), I jumped back in a taxi to return to the airport and back to London. A similar story occurred on Thursday; however, the flight left at 6:50 am and took me to Copenhagen, Denmark. Luckily, we were able to take a lunch break and go to a traditional Danish restaurant with the client. The client insisted on each of us having the medium lunch special, which included chicken salad, breaded halibut, liver pate, brie cheese, pickled heron, bread, butter, and a LARD spread. The client was amazed when I said that would try the lard spread, because “Americans never like to eat anything they are not used to because they don’t like to try new things.” So, I basically ate LARD to break an American stereotype… ironic since Americans are also known for their high obesity rate…

While I was not off in another country, I was settling into my new area by joining the nearby gym. Wednesday was the first night I had been to the gym in weeks. I jumped on the treadmill ready to run my usual four miles, when the machine asked: Weight = ___ kilograms. So… I guessed. I started the machine at my usual speed, and it seemed like more of a fast walk. Ah yes, the speed was no longer in miles per hour but kilometers per hour. Throughout my run I was trying to do the calculation of 4 miles to kilometers, knowing that a 10K is about 6.2 miles (Thanks, Boulder Bolder!). I am sure that I must have looked very pensive and concerned during the first part of my run. After my run, I couldn’t help but feel that although it is the same distance, it is SO much easier to run 4 miles than 6.4 kilometers. I proceeded to go to the free weights, which were in a room known as the ‘guy area’. Well, I enjoy using free weights so the guys could bugger-off if having a girl in the room was going to be an issue. Unfortunately, after marching into this room, I was once again faced with the pound-to-kilogram issue. I guessed which weight I should use… I guessed wrong. The one girl in the room almost fell over when she tried to pick up a weight, which incited a couple of snickers from the nearby MeatHead. However, I finally found the weight I wanted and finished my workout with no further conversion issues.

My weekend started off somewhat calm with staying in on Friday and doing a little shopping on Saturday. Saturday night was an entirely different story… One of the managers had his 30th birthday at a posh bar near Oxford Circus. The party was basically made of employees from my company all getting ‘pissed’ on cocktails like the Porn Star Martini. At some point, I ended up having a 45 minute conversation with the HEAD of the London Office. I learned quite a bit about the difference between business in the UK versus the US. I also learned that the Boss and his wife can party better than anyone else. Literally, they were the last ones on the dance floor. Now that is leading by example! I ended up home around 4 am wondering if I was ever going to be able to keep up with the London lifestyle. One saying came to mind: “If at first you don’t succeed…”