Kensington Gardens

We've had our fall time change in England. That means for some reason I SWEAR it gets darker two hours earlier than it did last week. But! And I mean this in the best possible way, it has been very nice, sunny and not too cold during my lunch hours. Being the spry, lunch-packer, office-avoider-on-free-time person that I am, I decided to go for a walk for my lunch hours both on Monday and on Tuesday.

I must admit that I still am finding it truly bizarre that I'm just walking about on my lunch hour and there are tourist milling about, but for these walks I've gone to Kensington Gardens. Kensington Gardens is the largest open green area to Notting Hill Gate, with Holland Park being over twice as far, and quite frankly, kind of creepy. So Kensington Gardens it is. On Monday I walked down to the Albert Memorial and Prince Albert Hall, back up Kensington High Street to Kensington Church Street and back to work. On Tuesday I went in search of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain and ran out of time before I had to turn back. But whilst searching, I came across tons of pretty fall foliage and was able to spot quite a few bids, such as herons and coots (there was a little plaque telling you what the birds were), in addition to the usual swans, pigeons and gooses. I also came across what they called the Italian Gardens, which was really just four fountains artfully arranged. But still, very nice. And very pretty this time of year!

Today I did not go on a walk. Well, I did sort of. I made a bee-line for Whole Foods. You see, today was my first pay day, and in celebration of actually having income, we opted for expensive, heavy salad bar times. I showed no constraint in piling on roast turkey, tandoori chicken, pasta salad, cous cous and veggie samosa on my healthy salad base. And it only cost me 8 pounds... On the sad side I was too full afterwards to partake in a Whole Foods brownie. Alas. The next Big Lunch Idea is to get soup and baguette. I'm not sure when this day will be, but I await it eagerly. As for tomorrow...perhaps PB&J....

NFL at Wembley

Yesterday was the Giants-Dolphins game at Wembley Stadium. As was likely all over the papers here and there, not only did the cheerleaders come, but the Giants won 13-10. So basically, it was a close game (made much closer in the final minutes), but the low score made it a bit dull at times.

It is my job to tell you what you may not get on tv. Things possibly of key interest: while Americans were adequatly represented in the crowd, most people were still English. As it was such an odd game situation, if attendees seemed to have any sort of NFL jersey or clothes supporting any team, they generally wore those, even if they weren't playing. There were a lot of Patriots and Redskins jerseys, I spotted a cheesehead and yes, some Seahawks fans. I even got a not of understanding from one waiting to get down a row a couple in front of mine. In my NFL-gear-less attempt to represent, I was wearing my Washington hoodie.

The cheerleaders got what may have been the largest cheer of the night. Believe it or not, the audience was mostly men and to many of them the idea of a bevy of scantily clad really excited women was quite novel.

There was a streaker. At the start of the second half. I was sadly not at my seat in the time, and returned as he was being hauled off the field. Apparently the same guy streaked at the Super Bowl three years ago. He does it a lot.

There was a good wave effort. In the first half. And the second half. The first one originated in my area. They booed on the initial failed efforts.

There was a guy dressed as Superman that someone decided to take a swipe at. It took approximately 8 'safety stewards', the head safety steward and literally, 4 'response team' members to remove the punch-thrower from the stadium. Superman was holding water bottle to his wounded head. After that it seemed someone else tried to hit him or something, and he was removed as well. Perhaps Superman is an a-hole.

Oh, and American day went well. The root beer floats were a big hit. And I thoroughly enjoyed my token Tootsie Roll purchased the day before.

There are game pictures AND captions on Picasa. Check 'em out.

football of the american variety

so im getting quite excited about the forthcoming trip (tomorrow) to watch the giants v dolphins. having visited new york and not miami i feel i must support the giants even if normally i tend to root for the underdog.

so as part of the game festivities we (margo and i) are having an american day which i think im correct in saying involves pancakes in the morning time and root beer floats at some point - margo spent $10 on a bottle of root beer in what i would describe as an american/chinese candy store just off leicester square. margo is also hoping for hotdogs at the game but i doubt (though i may be proved wrong) they will have them.

sounds quite boring but im also looking forward to checking out the stadium!

so importantly i'm going to try and remember the rules that brian and aaron taught me back in portland - this combined with margo who will probably not like me after the game due to the number of questions i will ask should give me a reasonable understanding of the goings on!

Aussie Aussie Aussie

One thing I can't help but find kind of strange about my current workplace is the sheer number of Australians and New Zealanders that work there. First of all, why do so many Australians come here when practically every Brit you talk to has some dream of living in Australia? Is it simply a case of the grass always being greener?

I have also heard some interesting tales about some of these Australians. I'm going to go ahead and generalize this as an Aussie thing because I have not heard of anyone else doing these things. My boss apparently interviewed an Australian last week. Aside from a rumor going around saying he was a bit odd looking, apparently he was just looking for six-months of contractual work so he could save up and then go traveling 'again'. This fits in with some tales of strange Aussie housing conditions I have heard as well. For example, a very large number of Australians sharing an apartment with at least 2 per bedroom and perhaps a few more people staying over in the living room. I can only assume this lifestyle is adapted again to support a substantial amount of travel. I should also add that this seems to be purely a phenomenon amongst the 20-something set, I don't think you find any 40 year-olds in those living situations.

Of course, I still have difficulty differentiating between Aussie and Kiwi accents. But now I think I can pretty easily tell the difference between English and Australian. Which was always a tricky one before.

In other news... I've added a couple photo albums to picasa. One covers a few pictures I've taken in the local hood, the other about 3 different days around London. I'll work on getting the captions up tonight!

The final

So Saturday was the rugby World Cup Final. To make a long story short, England was supposed to lose and they did indeed lose, to South Africa. And the people who play for South Africa have kind of strange names. But the good news is that instead of losing to them 36-0 like they did in the first round of the cup, they only lost 15-6, and it was very nearly 15-13 as England came very close to what we shall just for simplicity sake call a touchdown.

On Saturday the landlord was coming to redo the kitchen. At 7:45 am. So this required getting up at 7am and clearing all the stuff out of the kitchen before this time. We then went to Starbucks because we could make coffee at home, then tried going to the Natural History Museum but it was only 9:15 and it didn't open until 10. So we went to a nearby French cafe, then spend a number of hours 'learning' at the Natural History Museum. This included 'driving' a 'snowmobile' in the special Antarctica exhibit. I did not do that well, as I kept going into the water or flipping the darn thing over.

After the museum we went to another little French cafe for baguette sandwiches that were very good. Mine had avocado. We then intended to go to the wine museum on the Southbank, but when we got there we learned that it costs £17.50 for the basic package, and £22.50 for a worthwhile package, so ended up deciding to hold off on this one. But, I must say, for that £22.50 you get 5 wine tastings, 2 beer tastings, a Sapphire cocktail, 2 absinthe tastings, and either 2 whiskey tastings or 1 whiskey cocktail. Basically, this is not a place you want to go if you have anything to do the rest of the day. So instead of going there, we strolled along the bustling riverfront pathway, popping into Tate Modern to use the bathroom/see the giant modern art crack in the turbine hall. It was deeper than you would think. Then in search of a place to watch the rugby, we walked through the giant Eid celebration in Trafalgar Square and past Buckingham Palace. We figured that places in the tourist areas would be less packed as most would not care about the rugby.

We ended up trying to watch the game at this pub with this horribly mean, drunk owner who kept yelling at people and even turned the tv off at one point because a guy wouldn't move. So we ran screaming out the door right before half time and got back to a luckily-landlord-free apartment with new kitchen for most of the second half. I've taken a photo of the new kitchen, but it will have to be added later. I swear I'll get new photos up this evening!!

Mid-week review

It's Wednesday of week 4 of work. I've sort of slowly passed a number of additional one-year marks: it's been over a year since I've been in England, over a year since I started classes. Well, I guess those are the main ones. Now when people ask me how long I've been here I just say 'oh, a year'. It sounds much more long-term since my old answer of 'oh, just since September' (this is usually accompanied by me point over my shoulder, as if that is where last September was located).

One of my main goals as a working person is to aviod, or at least delay, falling into the working person rut. You get up, go to work, go home, eat, watch tv, go to bed. While I must admit this is what I do most days, I think it's key to mix in random events in mid-week times. Like on Monday, I went to the grocery store. Yesterday I checked out someones new pad in Finsbury Park, which is like the opposite corner of London from here. Today I bought some beans at Starbucks. Tomorrow I shall sample local Thai. Whilst there is something said for the routine, I think that as a new Londoner I have to do my best to take advantage of at least a very small slice of what my surroundings have to offer.

Although I also must admit that I have something of a routine with my work wardrobe. While I change tops everyday (mainly blouses with a few cardigans mixed in), I don't have that many bottoms so I tend to wear a similar set each week. At least once a week I wear my black skirt with black nylons, and another day I wear one of my two lighter skirts with the neutral nylons. The dark grey trousers are worn once a week (wore them yesterday), and then there is usually at least one day involving all or part of a suit. The fifth day (let's call it Friday) is in some ways more of a wildcard. Tomorrow is Thursday and as I haven't worn black skirt yet this week, I think we all know what's coming. And I'm not sure if anyone else ever has this problem, but for some reason when I wear skirts with nylons and blouses tucked in they often times tend to creep up a bit. So you walk to blocks and you have to pull your skirt down so it doesn't end up in your armpits. But this is quite possible just me. Actually tucking doesn't really impact as much as the nylons. Perhaps I best stop talking now...

Ikea

I went to Ikea yesterday. Via public transportation. This may be an Ikea first! There are actually 3 Ikeas in and immediatly around London; one in Croydon to the south, Wembley in northwest and Edmonton to the east. Having been to the one at Croydon before and knowing how to get there with relative ease, that is where we headed.

Getting there involved paying 1 pound to take the District line to Wimbledon and then paying 90 p to hop on the Croydon light rail tram 9 stops to that opposite Ikea. After nearly getting over by several cars walking through the massive parking lot, we grabbed some meatballs before facing the carnage. We were there to get curtains and a frame. It took a little time, but we finally picked out some curtains that we liked. But alas, after much searching, we discovered they were out. And sadly, we didn't care too much for those they had in stock. In the grame section, we discovered they did not have the size frame we required. So sadly, it was not the best trip to Ikea. It seems we're going to have to make another trip to try and get those curtains!

In rugby news, England is going to be playing South Africa on Saturday in the final. This is somewhat expected, but not the best news! There's been a considerable amount of press coverage as well as a lot of talk on the streets. Oh, plus people seem kind of excited in Scotland as they have had a couple of upsets in the EuroCup 2008 qualifiers, including beating France in France and beating Ukraine in Scotland this past weekend. Sometimes I think there are just too many 'big' games!

The semi-final

So this evening was the England-France semi-final game in the Rugby World Cup. The game was held at the Stade de France in Paris, and as with last week, the English were kind of supposed to lose.

We went to the fest, getting there nearly an hour before the game and grabbed some steins. Unlike last week, they took out most of the benches and packed in the people. There was actually a velvet rope and a line outside. At the fest. If you ever come to visit you will see the obsurdity in this. Dirndls and velvet ropes don't mesh. Anyways, near half-time I was getting a bit clausterphobic and thought I was going to hurl from lack of air so made a run for it. Luckily my own personal couch was approximately 30 seconds away. Watched the rest of the game from here. Fewer steins, much more breathing room.

Oh, the game. Right. So within the first two minutes, in what reminded me of a good football tackle, England scored to go up 5-0. Then France got some, um, points and went up 6-5. It remained this score at the end of the first half. In the second half, things were looking grim for England and they were behind 9-5. They got what I can only describe as a field goal to close the margin to 9-8. In the last five minutes, they scored twice more to go up 14-9. So basically, France was going to have to get a touch down (a 5-point 'try') to at least tie, and the clock doesn't stop until the play ends. And this last play past the 80' mark lasted a little too long for most. But alas, England persevered and pulled another minor miracle out of their hats. For some reason, the stadium in Paris started playing some classic Oasis shortly after the end of the game. Interesting choice.

The World Cup final is next Saturday, in the same stadium in Paris. Today was a crazy sport day in that the 'football' team had a game against Estonia this afternoon followed by the rugby game (the beer was flowin' in this town, I tell ya). However I can't help but feel like I am slightly unprepared for the madness that will great me next weekend. It will be against either Argentina or South Africa. South Africa beat England 36-0 or something ridiculous like that in the first round. Things may be ugly.

Hotel Chocolat

So numerous times a week I like to get some fresh air and make sure my feet are nice and pained by walking to Earls Court. I have mentioned this before. What I have no mentioned is what that I walk by this amazing looking chocolate store called 'Hotel Chocolat'.

It's on Kensignton High Street a bit farther down than the thick of the stores on the corner of, well I have no idea what the street is. Anyways, I always look in and everything is all dark and there is a lot of open space like one of those overly expensive clothing stores. Only it's all chocolate. Today I couldn't take it anymore and finally walked in on my way by. There were little bags of plain chocolates and chocolate covered things. Along the wall there were giant pieces of chocolate in varying forms, then big chocolate bars. I stopped at the dark chocolate section and there were SO many different kinds. They all listed both the percentage cocoa, ranging from around 70% to 100%, most around 72%. What I found really odd was that they listed where the cocoa came from, listing the subtle underflavors. Chocolate from one locale had underlying fruitiness, one was whiskey and leather. It was really like a wine shop in this regard. So basically you want to go in there and get all the different kinds of chocolate to try and pick out these flavors. Although I might skip the whiskey and leather. If you wanted that you could always go to a country western bar.

In the back there were three sections: white, milk, dark. Each had selections of 6 truffles and smaller chocolate bars with the base kind of chocolate and all kinds of additions. You could have dark chocolate and ginger, or something with chilli. What finally caught my eye were the white chocolate creme flavors, with real berries involved. There was strawberry creme, rasberry creme, and a rasberry and blackcurrant creme. The rasberry creme won out as the initial chocolate. Needless to say, it will take absolutely ages to even have nibbles of everything worth sampling in this place.

Oh, and I have my ticket to come back for a week at Christmas. I'm taking orders. They've got a website.

Immigration show

Good news and bad news. So I've been coming up with all these good blog ideas, but haven't really been around the computer and so have been failing at updating. My apologies.

One day last week. Let's call it Thursday. There was a show on tv about immigrants in the UK. My 'boring' radar went off initially before it dawned on my a considerable time later that I was classified as an immigrant myself. While the show did deal with a what in this country is thought of the burdensome immigrants - those that come as asylum seekers who end up living in government housing, they did take the time to highlight the benefits of certain immigrant groups as well. They mentioned the 'invisible' immigrants (aka, those that people don't really think of), being Americans, Canadians, South Africans, Australians and New Zealanders.

Within this group, they chose Americans to discuss in more detail. There are 183,000 Americans living in Britain, making us the 8th largest immigrant group. They (as I don't earn nearly this much) earn on average 36,000 pounds a year and pay twice as much average tax as UK citizens. This is pretty good. Needless to say, we were used as a shining example of the benefits that immigrants bring. Yay America! We represent.

In sporting news, it's been a big weekend in the rugby world cup. It's the quarter-finals, and yesterday England was playing Australia. Four years ago, when England was theoretically better than now, they barely got past Australia in the final to win. Yesterday they were expected to get their, excuse my French, asses handed to them on a plate by the Aussies. I watched the game at 'the fest', the German bar about 50 feet from my front door. It was remarkably full of Aussies. Anyways, in an utter, utter nail-biter, England managed to pull out a 12-10 victory. It was a big victory. The game deciding who England would play in the semi-final was in the evening time. It was New Zealand-France and New Zealand was supposed to win quite easily. But alas, in further giant upset news, France managed to win. This is especially good news for England as they theoretically have a better chance of beating France in a semi-final than New Zealand. The game is next Saturday, so I'll have to keep you all posted on what goes on.

Working, week 2

So I'm in the midst of my second week of anglo work now. Quite frankly it's not as scary as I had thought it would be. The work week is 37.5 hours, so while it's expected that you work a bit extra everyday, it only comes out to about 8 hours a day in the end. And there is lee-way depending on how the trains are behaving in the morning and it's not the end of the world if you show up a bit late. People go to the pub for lunch on the occasional Friday (but drinking beer would be purely optional, of course). Other than that, things also seem sort of laid back in a 'but let's be chargable in an efficient way' sort of thing. I don't know, perhaps it's difficult to describe. Although with the late working/.ong commuting times, working still seems very time consuming! I guess that's true for all, though.

I wasn't sure how I would cope with not having a lunch break until 1, but it's really not that tough. Perhaps this is aided by the fact that I drink a couple mugs of FREE hot chocolate in the morning times when I get cold and/or sleepy and/or sleepy & cold. It's Cadbury. That's how they roll in these parts. And I've already got the Christmas Party date set aside.

I also keep thinking of all these witty things to write about in blog entries but seem to forget about them by the end of the day! Perhaps I shall start writing them down. Like those people who write down their dreams.