Still Kickin'

Hi all,

I just thought I'd put up a quick note to say I'm still alive + kickin' here... Been trying to be as escapist as possible in the States, but have not had much success.

We're on our final leg of our whistle-stop tour of friends & family. Had a whirlwind of a few days staying with Greg & Kaity in NYC the weekend before Christmas, and I made it to 30 at a way-too-crowded bar but got to see many of my favorite people! Also made the rounds of sick moms (and dads) and babies, and managed to avoid all forms of creeping crud ourselves, surprisingly enough. Then we went to NH for several family Chritsmas parties and weather that varied from 20F on the day of our arrival to 60F on the day of our departure. Had a nice time being home, hanging with Mom & Dad, and seeing the extended fam (including Ms. Dolfe, naturally). Ate well and drank way too much; a typical trip to NH!

As an aside... we got a really nice camera from my parents for Christmas, so when we get back I'll put up a collection of very random pictures we've been taking as we experiment with slightly more advanced (or at least higher quality) photography.

Now we're in California and are enjoying some time to ourselves... we went golfing yesterday in Long Beach, and on Friday we're heading to Santa Barbara to visit wineries and golf, hopefully without too bad of a hangover. No specific plans for New Year's Eve, other than to bid good riddance to an extraordinarily stressful year and to wish big and think happy thoughts for the one to come.

Back to trying to escape... Happy New Year!!

Dublin, Lisbon, and trying to get things under control!

It's been WAY too long and the reasons are:
- It's nearly the end of the year, which is always crazy
- I had a virus on my work computer, and can't sustain a connection on my home computer
- I have a 10-mile long to-do list, and when that happens I run away and stick my head under a pillow

Now, I'm slowly checking the list off, as evidenced by the "Hey, we moved!" email that I finally sent... 5+ months after moving.

And so, I think this is also a great time to share some pictures and a few quick thoughts on the latest travel.

Waaay back in November, we went to Dublin for the weekend. Essentially we were there for 2 nights and 1 day, but we managed to see the 2 important sights: the Book of Kells at Trinity College and the Guinness Storehouse. We also drank our fair share of the local brew even though neither of us was feeling 100%. But, as the old advertising says, "Guinness is good for you!" (Damn today's strict advertising regulations!)

We also had an unexpectedly fun night of local music... three guys playing traditional Irish music in the basement of a bar, devolving into utterly incomprehensible traditional Irish drinking songs that when we were able pick up a few words here & there we realized were delightfully lewd. We saw some impromptu jigging by the locals - one who knew how and others who drunkenly pretended. We thought we'd be headed back to the hotel by 10, but we ended up staying for last call.

One more note on Ireland: It made me decide to start a Top 5 Dessert List because I needed a special place for the devine Bread & Butter Pudding in Hot Whiskey Sauce we shared on Saturday night at The Winding Stair. For this and many more reasons, we'll definitely be back!

Another place we plan on getting back to is Lisbon, which we visited over Thanksgiving weekend. While the 10 days preceding our trip were 60F & sunny there, we had a lovely weekend of 50-ish rain + wind. Warmer than London, but not ideal for touring! However, the city seemed vibrant, especially at night, even in November, so we will plan a trip back perhaps in the Spring or early Fall.

In Lisbon, we met up with our friend Chuck (from Long Beach), and a friend of his Dlorah. (um... that's said "De-LOR-ah", but is Harold spelled backwards.) Together we climbed around ruins of 2 castles including one in the charming town of Sintra, ate some delicious salted cod, and started to explored the music scene, which seems to run deep, but we barely got a taste so that's a lot of what will bring us back.


Check out the pictures from Dublin + Lisbon and also a few from our afternoon out in London trying to get in the Christmas spirit ...

We're at t-minus 7 days to taking off for NYC, so the list keeps growing longer, but next time I think I'll write about what a "fancy dress party" is here in England, and why it's a bit bizarre for Christmas.

Thanksgiving in London

Good morning, and Happy Thanksgiving! It's just an ordinary Thursday here in England, but I've got my out of office auto-reply on for the next 2 days. It doesn't feel quite right, though, and I think a big part of it has to do with yesterday. Jason observed that even stranger than how much it doesn't feel like Thanksgiving time, it definitely didn't feel like the day before Thanksgiving yesterday! On that Wednesday, we're always home, or traveling with the crowds, or if we're in the office there's a sense of anticipation of a long weekend and the real start of the Christmas season.

Well, since we can't find all that here, we might as well go somewhere else where it won't be either, so this afternoon we're taking off for Lisbon. However, since Thanksgiving is Jason's favourite holiday (and I'm a sucker for tradition), we made our Thanksgiving meal on Sunday.

Menu, Mini-Thanksgiving at the Willeys'

- Whole roasted chicken

- Bread stuffing

- Half-skins on mashed potatoes

- Orange-cranberry sauce

- Maple roasted butternut squash

- Green beans with mushrooms + shallots

- Gravy

- Apple pie

All home-made! We had the leftovers Tuesday, and I polished off the leftover leftovers in a sandwich yesterday (oh, and we finished the pie last night too!).

We hope everyone back home is enjoying time spent with family and friends, and eating a feast at least as tasty as ours!!

Gobble gobble gobble...

Brand new U

I've got last weekend's Dublin trip to write about, but more a current topic is my first day in my bright spankin' new office today. Unilever is gathering its Foods and HPC (home + personal care) groups under common roofs (why isn't it rooves?) around the world. Therefore, I'm in my 4th office building in 2008. In February, my NJ office moved across the office park into a gutted + renovated (+ asbestos laden) building. The in July, of course, I moved to the Crawley UK office, mere feet from Gatwick airport. Today, I moved to Leatherhead. Check out how it all lays out here.

What's really notable about this move is not so much that it's a new commute (10 mins longer train ride but less stressful without a trip through the South terminal of Gatwick bi-daily), or cheaper commute (9£ vs 12.3£, but no chance to cheat the system). What's notable is that Unilever is leading the way of 21st century office life.

• My team is now comprised 90% of "flexible home workers", meaning we're encouraged - no, expected - to work from home or a remote location 2 out of 5 days/week. We're being provided with office furniture for our "home offices" as needed.
• They're serious about it, too: if you drive to work, you're not allowed to book a parking spot through the online parking spot reservation system for more days per week than you've been allotted. Yep, you read that right: online parking spot reservation system.
• As "flexible home workers," we're also "hot-deskers", which means no one's got a place to leave a can of pencils overnight. I now have a small locking cubby for belongings, a 1m long filed drawer, and the freedom to pick any desk I like each morning. And, since we're not expected to be there every day, there are about 75% as many desks as "flexible home workers" in my group's area.
• I have a dedicated non-mobile work phone number, but I have "global mobility". I log in to the phone at my chosen desk every morning, and log out at night. On the road/at home, I can get on the phone from my computer with a nifty headset.
• Much to my chagrin this morning, I learned I can't use cash to buy breakfast or lunch. Fortunately I could buy coffee, and by the time lunch rolled around I figured out how to load money on to my employee ID, which I can use at the coffee bar, the cafeteria, the company store, and the bar. That's right. Because in addition to all these new fangled ways of working we also have...

- A gym - free!

- A Ben & Jerry's scoop shop - free! (to counteract any good that comes from the gym).

- A company store that sells grocery staples (read: bread, milk, wine, beer) in addition to the stuff my company makes).

- A dental surgery. I'm a bit apprehensive about this.

- Free decent-quality coffee machines throughout the building.

- A bar, open 5-9pm Thursdays & Fridays (payable only through the ID card method, of course)

So, essentially, drag in a sleeping bag and you never need to go home. Or just keep drinking the coffee! Oh, and they gave iPod shuffles as welcome gifts... claimed to be for the gym or train ride (and please, use your home computer for loading music), but I'm guessing it's so when people start complaining about the close, *very* open environment, the can say, "we gave you an iPod, use it!"

Coincidentally, I finally got my new UK laptop today. It's slick because there are keys for £ and €. No more Insert-Symbol for me! But the " and @ are mixed up on my keyboard. That's confusing. And the £ is where the # should be. Oddly enough, while we call # "pound", that word is already in use so they call the # symbol "hash" or "square". As in, "Welcome to Unilever Conferencing. Please enter you passcode, followed by hash".

Two Last Thoughts

I have enjoyed having a forum to share musings on the election the past week or so. I have only 2 more thoughts and then I think I'll move back to sharing the details of my life, which is OBVIOUSLY much more interesting.

These 2 images underscore what I've been thinking about the election so I wanted to share!

The first is from someecards.com (for when you care enough to hit 'send'). My dad, who definitely did not vote for Obama, sent this to me last night and I laughed for about an hour.

And today, I picked up today's copy of the commuter mag, Metro. Look, the re-branding is working already!

Jason & I are off to Ireland this weekend. Slainte!

Catching Up Early

Good morning. It's 6:30 AM, about the time the first alarm usually goes off. Due to my schedule today I thought about sleeping in but instead set the alarm 30 mins earlier than normal to see what's going on in the world. Needless to say, I was feeling a bit left out last night when I went to bed before any State had announced a result, so I thought I'd forgo some sleep on the other side of things, so that I actually got some zzzs.

Weird to think that many friends are probably up partying in NYC still, and I'm hanging out in my robe trying to get the Slingbox to work so I can catch snippets of speeches. AND the BBC isn't fully showing coverage (the nerve! Premier League football is NOT more important!).

I wanted to see it from American TV, but resorted to the BBC and saw a map tracing how the results came in through the night before reading any headlines on CNN, or status updates on Facebook.

[As an aside, they pronounce his name oddly as "ba-rack" (equal emphasis on each syllable, with the "a" sounding as in "map", not "far", not bah-RAHK. It's odd.]

Here's what I saw. A very odd distortion of our country.




You can't hear the guy, but he's distorted the map to show voting power, not geographical size, of each State. He also goes on to say that it was a "filthy" win (i.e. huge). Ah, funny Brits.

So, with the bits & pieces I've been able to capture, I've so far figured out:

- Obama was elected in an electoral college was a landslide.

- The popular vote was only 52% Obama, 47% McCain (does this mean many of the undecideds from the polls went Republican?).

- Obama gave a very short speech that mostly uplifting but started warning people about false starts and setbacks.

- Only 2 people I know on Facebook are admitting disappointment in the result (though I know there are others). Hi ladies, I know you're reading! :-)

Given my moderate indecision casting my ballot, I have a pretty lukewarm feeling about the result. I'm excited about the historic nature of the moment. It's amazing to bear witness to it. But he's not a miracle-worker, which is fine, because I don't agree with most of the "miracles" he'd work if it were possible.

So, we've got ourselves a reformulation, a packaging redesign, and a sparkly "new & improved" burst to show off to the world. Let's find out if the Change is positive, real & sustainable, or just a quick uplift we'll feel warm + fuzzy about in the near term.

Absentee Voting

This morning, Jason & I filled in a couple ovals, walked to the Post Office in the rain, and mailed away our ballots to be counted in New York State. Even though, let's face it, 2 votes in New York is going to matter zilch, both of us believed we absolutely had to do it. After all, the Board of Elections spent $52 of your taxes to get the ballots to us. Although, I wonder, if they give that money to the USPS, does it really count as spending, or just re-shuffling?

I've been really nervous about voting in this election, and even though I've cast my ballot I still feel uncertain. But a lot of media and a bit of research and discussion with my hubby and I managed to make a decision I feel adequate about.

I have never been very politically-minded, or interested in political discussion, or extremely passionate about my views, but I usually have a decent idea of where I stand. This probably makes me similar to most American voters. But this year, it wasn't so clear. I laughed at Tina Fey but cringed at the truth in the portrayal. I admired the Democrat's marketing team but as a voter found some of their tactics cowardly and infuriating. Here are some other things that figured into my decision... some to a greater or lesser extent than others:

• I believe we need change, and could do with a bit of hope.
• I want the US to be more sustainably economically competitive globally.
• I took economics, and I understand that while fair trade policies may disadvantage a few, it's best for the many.
• I disagree with the government redistributing private wealth.
• I believe the USA is founded on making the most of your opportunity. It may not be "fair" that not everyone gets the same opportunity, but that is not necessarily the idea.
• I believe as a country we have a serious branding problem externally, and a growning one internally.
• I like listening to Obama speak. He's confident and engaging, which is refreshing. I get nervous watching McCain, and although I firmly believe he is not Bush incarnate as Obama's camp would have you believe, I think 8 years of watching Bush has conditioned me to feel anxious.
• I am not sure how severe the negative ramifications of not dealing with our declining brand equity would be.

There are a million other issues: healthcare, abortion, housing, borders. I don't purport to be an expert on any. But I believe my choice came down to:

- Stage-setting for a more sound economic future for the country, while extending the outsiders' view that we are backwards and shouldn't be allowed to run our own country,* to unknown detriment.

- A dramatic turn-around of the country's image, while using an imbalanced government to implement policies that could have damaging long-term effects.

So I made a choice. And I feel okay.

* On more than one occasion, I have had a European tell me that they think the international community should have a vote in our elections. They were being quite serious.

The British Language, Part 2

Got a bit of feedback on some points I missed, so I thought I'd add them here. I'd say it's possible I missed them because I'm really adjusting and have already adopted, but that's not the case. In order of decreasing comfort:

1) "You alright?" instead of "what's up," "how's it going," etc. I found this very alarming for awhile. I sensed it implied that something seemed not alright, but it turns out, they're not expecting much more of an answer than "yeah, you?".

2) "Diary" Everyone at work has a diary. We do diary checks at our weekly group meetings. It's okay to look at someone else's diary. Because it's their freakin' calendar!

3) "Loo" ... this word is just funny. Everyone uses it but it feels so impolite I can't get used to it. You know me, queen of politeness.

Toodle pip!*

*I have never heard a real Briton say "toodle pip."

The British Language

Hi! We haven't taken any exotic trips lately, so I'm trying to figure out what about every day life might be interesting to write about.

What is on my mind are some of the differences in the use of the English language over here. I mean, it's their language and all, but it feels strange when it's used in a way that doesn't sound "normal". I don't have many examples top of mind, but the most noticeable to me is the difference in use of prepositions. For example: "What are you doing at the weekend?" "Don't leave luggage unattended on the station." There are many other examples but they're not coming to me right now.

Then, the inflection (not the accent) is curious. When someone's trying to make a point, like, really show you they mean it in an attempt to pursuade you, they make a statement that sounds like a question? But I'm not sure how to respond, because they're making a statement not asking a question! Usually I just say, "okay..." but I'm trying to figure out if it works in reverse and I can use that method of persuasion on the people most culpable?

There is also an odd habit of ending every single phone call on a high pitched "okay, bye!" As in, "Johnson, I must have those papers on my desk by 8am. **okay, bye!**" This is hard to describe in words. It seems like kind of a girly thing to do, but even the blokes do it. Speaking of which...

Words I'm getting used to: holiday (vs. vacation), flat (vs. apartment), mobile (vs. cell phone), beef mince (vs. ground beef), post code (vs. zip code), bin liner (vs. trash bag).

Words a bit odder to my ears: jumper (vs. sweater), plaster (vs. band-aid/bandage), partner (vs. girlfriend / boyfriend / husband / wife / fiance(e) / lover), chips + crisps (vs. fries + chips), mate (vs., well, not really sure what), zed (vs. z), rubbish (vs. trash). And "whilst", although every once in a while I kinda feel like writing it.

Cheers for now! Okay, bye!

The Week in Review

So, I'm sitting here wondering what to write.

Here's a quick run-down of highlights this week. I really got around town! After a rocky start for both of us (Monday + Tuesday particularly rough days at work), I had 3 rather eventful days that all involved going into London. Here are some of the hot-spots I visited:

Tate Modern Museum: I attended a 2-day, quarterly conference of marketers selling Flora/Becel margarine throughout Europe. This, like everything at Unilever, has its own abbreviation, the RBT (Regional Brand Team, with the Region being Europe, the Brand being Flora/Becel, and the Team being an esteemed group of individuals). Day 1 of 2 was held at the Tate Modern. We were in a top-story room with an outstanding view over the Thames, Millennium Bridge, and St. Paul's Cathedral. The real highlight, though, was a guided tour of the new Unilever Series installation in Turbine Hall. And thank goodness for the tour guide because otherwise it would have only appeared to be a bad sleep-away camp nightmare.

Koko: On Thursday night, Jason & I met up in Camden (much nicer than the other Camden) to see of Monteral. It was complete sensory overload, from the creepy animation on the big screen to the 18-year-old in the pink satin frilly mini prom dress dancing in front of us to the band itself. The show ended with a cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit, which was a bold but impressing and well-executed move that became depressing when I realized that most of the crowd was probably 2 when the song came out.

JP Morgan: Yep, I spent a very exciting Friday night at JP Morgan. There was a Stern recruiting event so I figured I'd check it out. Then I remembered I hate networking! But, I promised myself I'd get out and do these things just on the off-chance I might make a friend. Oh well.

Jason suggested I could write about how Wal-Mart sucks here as well, although they disguise it as "Asda". But that's another story for another day.

Escape to Italy

It's been awhile since the last post, and I've got a great excuse: we've been traveling! Well, we got back 6 days ago, but I wanted to get the pictures sifted through and captioned before writing.

We spent 6 nights / 5 days in Italy. On Tuesday 30 Oct, we flew down to Naples, and managed to find ourselves dinner at the most historic + popular pizzeria (da Michele) right before closing time. We were the last ones in the place and we couldn't finish our beers and margherita pizzas fast enough. This set the tone for the trip, as we were the last or second to last party at every lunch and dinner we had, save one. It also set the precedent for pizza for the rest of the trip, a bar too high for anyone else to pass. After all, this is the Pat's Steaks of Neapolitan pizza, and Naples is the birthplace of the food itself.

We spent our first day exploring Naples -- a very gritty, "working" city where no one seems to actually be working. Then we made our way to Sorrento where we spent 5 nights. The overall assessment on Sorrento is that as a town it's too touristy, full of Brits and Americans, and given the time of year they were on the whole "seniors", as most parents & kids are back to school. During this trip, I learned to appreciate the "obnoxious American" tourist as in practice less obnoxious than the "obnoxious British" tourist. In a heartwarming way, the Americans are doing their best to take in the local culture (and a bit too hard to make friends along the way), while, as Jason observes, the Brits are just looking for a place that they can pretend is Britain with sunshine.

Sorrento, while not as charming as might be hoped, was a great home base for our many day trips, which included hiking up + down miles of hills and staircases through and between tiny towns, a visit to Pompeii, two picnic lunches, a handful of passing showers, and several bus rides back and forth on the peninsula. These gravity-defying trips along rocky cliffs with dubious guardrails area tourist attraction unto themselves, causing Jason to label one driver's performance "the most impressive thing [he's] seen in a long time]."

The wine was good -- mostly. We drank house wine at nearly every meal, and it varied greatly in quality, to the point that our juicebox wine outperformed some of the restaurant wines. The food, though, never failed to delight. We ate pasta, seafood, stuffed peppers, antipasti, and of course pizza, each of which was delicious even if it didn't quite live up to the standards set on day 1. We even managed to eat a fair amount of the tripe we were served at a little family trattoria that served you whatever they felt like serving you.

All in all... a great escape. Unfortunately it feels like it was months ago at this point, after a tough week back at work for both of us. However, the pictures bring it back, and you should make a point to check these out because there are some amazing shots here. Here are a few to entice you...

A view of Capri from Termini

Looking back on Positano from somewhere between Nocelle + Montepertuso

Mt. Vesuvius overlooking the ruins of Pompeii

Taco Night

Tonight was taco night at the Willey's. (NB - I just looked looked up "taco night" on Wikipedia and there was no entry, disappointingly.) Taco night is always a favorite, and we even brought out the special margarita glasses! Overall, not bad, with a few notable differences:

• the taco mix was not nearly as flavorful
• regular salsa is hard to come by, and we were not impressed by the roasted tomato + pepper salsa we chose
• the tortillas sucked, full stop
• the cheese was selected from several different English cheddars, from all over this small country, then grated by hand... rather different from the Kraft Mexican Fiesta pre-shredded experience!

Anyhow, I think taco night is a sign of something bigger -- perhaps a bit of normalcy. I'm hopeful! We had a 'normal' weekend, in that we got out of the apartment and did stuff. 'Normal' because on paper it was, but in practice, maybe not. Working backwards...

• Sunday night, we watched NFL (on Jason's work laptop, through the slingbox), and did laundry in the kitchen. I like that Football does not take up the whole day on Sunday. We can start watching the games at 6pm and if we stay up til midnight / 12:30 can watch the second set too. And we'll never be tempted to stay up for MNF!
• Sunday day we golfed. Jason went the previous weekend and he is much happier for having discovered a relatively convenient public course. I played poorly but was giddily excited to see golfers in knee-high socks and sweater vests. Also notable was that the weather was good enough to golf.
• Saturday night we went to a birthday party. This must mean that we're meeting people. One of the guys in my group at work invited us, so we rearranged all our plans and went. We were the only native English-speaking people there... lots of Germans, a few Italians, French, Belgians, Dutch, and likely some other countries represented. Other tidbits worth mentioning: a strange selection of music (specifically remembering "Do you believe in life after love" by Cher, and the Beach Boys' "Kokomo"); a really disgusting mixed drink from my Italian co-worker; and a chilled jaegermeister-type German liquor called something that aptly sounds like "kill a bitch".
• Saturday daytime we took a walk out to Battersea Park, one of the many parks near us. Didn't actually go in the park but walked to it, then stopped for lunch at a pub and made our way home. Now tell me, if you saw this sign, would you find a different route?

Say Cheese!

As promised... cheese tray from Paris Friday night dinner!

Photo credit: Jill Dexter

France

Spent last week in France... travel paid for by Unilever, other than 1 night's hotel and some meals. Gotta love it.

When: Last week, 3 days after returning back to the UK

Why: Three days of Unilever training (Tues - Thurs)

How: Hopped the Eurostar to Dijon. Well, really the Eurostar to Paris Gare du Nord, transferred to the Gare de Lyon, and got on the TGV to Dijon. All in all about a 5 1/2 hour trip (1 1/2 hours layover).

What: Most notably, fabulous food: escargot de bourgogne (specialty of the region -- snails with a pesto-like sauce), veau, saumon, canard, foie gras, etc. etc., of course accompanied by the finest wines of the region, which I have learned come from the '05 vintage -- and '03 if you can find it.

Where: Somewhere outside of Dijon in Bourgogne (Burgundy).

Here's the Chateau de Chailly at which I spent 2 nights:


Not bad!

On Thursday, I took the TGV back to Paris to meet my friend Jill who was in Paris for a few days, also with Unilever. In a happy coincidence, this visit was arranged before I got the invite the course in Dijon (and fortuitously, I hadn't yet booked my train tickets). Jill & I go "way back" to Slim-Fast in West Palm Beach but she's on Caress now, and her Global team decided the most cost-efficient place for a few Americans, Argentinians, and Singapor(eans?) to meet would be Paris. Here's Jill & her best St. Denis imitation:

I would have shown the one of Jill working her corner outside the Moulin Rouge but unfortunately that one didn't come out too well. You can see that, and more!, in the full album -- link at right.

Best Meal in Paris: Astier, 11eme arr., Friday night. We arrived late, it was packed, and after hanging around outside for about 20 mins, we almost left to find something else. It turned out we were just patient enough and as we were about to walk away we were ushered inside for a delicious 4-course meal, the third of which was a 24" round cheese tray (on our 20" x 30" table). We had seen the tray being passed around the restaurant and anxiously awaited our turn... They gave us all the time we needed to sample at will about 10 of the roughly 20 cheeses (avoiding the stinkiest and boringest). Unfortunately this picture is on Jill's camera. I'll share when I get it!

Best (only) day sightseeing: We spent Saturday roaming around Montmartre, up to the Sacre-Coeur where we climed the dome and visited the crypt (location of headless picture above). We had lunch on the touristy square on the way down to Pigalle, where we beheld the slightly disappointing facade of the Moulin Rouge before finding some sweet crepes and making our way back to our hotel. There, we napped about 20 minutes before setting off on the Fat Tire Night Bike Tour!

Best (only) night sightseeing:

On Jill's first night in Paris, she was roaming the 8eme arr. looking for dinner when she heard someone calling her name -- and ended up dining with her flight attendant! The Jersey girl recommended the 4 1/2 hour bike tour, and was sure to add the advice of bringing along bread & cheese - along with decent wine - to have for dinner on the 1 hour Seine boat tour in the middle of the bike tour.

Biking through the busy streets of Paris was perhaps a little too stressful for me but it was worth it! We rode throughout the city, and saw the sights at night -- Notre Dame, Ile St. Louis, the Louvre, and of course this silly tower that I took about 50 pictures of:

Fortunately for you, I edited at least half of them out of the album! It's lit up blue these nights in honor of the EU and twinkles every hour on the hour for 10 minutes. It's bizarrely mesmerizing. We raced at midnight to make it to the base for the fantastic view pictured above. Note that my cycling confidence increased dramatically after the free-flowing cheap wine provided by the bike company

Missing Persons: In case you're wondering where Jason was in all of this... well, he was due to travel down Friday, but a fire in the Eurostar tunnel on Thursday suspended service indefinitely so those plans were foiled. What bad timing!

An important day

Just a shout-out to, IDK, my BFF Julie. Happy 30th!!!

Home

Just got home from being home for 2 weeks. On the short red-eye back on Thursday night, during which I got about 70 mins sleep - if that! - I spent some time thinking about home.

Home: New Hampshire
A place where I can have a massage and other spa treatments with Mom, golf with Dad, golf with Julie, visit with Grammie & Aunt El, eat crab rolls, lobster, and fried clams, see the Krueger clan, be cared for by Mom & Dad when I'm not feeling well (and even when I am!). You can go home!

Home: NYC
If you asked me 5 years ago, here on the 5th anniversary to the week of our move to the city, if New York would feel like home, I'd have said no. But where else could I, on 24 hours' or sometimes 30 mins' notice, have sushi in Midtown West with Rachel, go shopping in Union Square with Veronica, have veggie loaf in Brooklyn with Greg & Kaity, brunch in Chelsea with the Weinsteins & Larry, lunch in the Village with Carrie, play Apples to Apples in Midtown East with Hal, Lisa, Rachel, Craig, and Jen, go to Nobu in TriBeCa with Nicole, and call Jill for a last-minute place to crash in Jersey. Even without a home, I was home!

Home: Englewood Cliffs, NJ
No kidding. You spend more time with work folks than loved ones, and when you're lucky enough to truly like the people you work with, it doesn't necessarily feel like work... more like a big project you're working on with friends.

Home: London
Well, they say home is where the heart is, which is why the locales above qualify as home. But of course, that makes the flat at 5 Shelgate the truest home of all.

Airplanes, Pictures, and Belgium

Well, I was hoping to get a post up before I took off, but here’s where I’m at right now (Thursday, 8pm-ish GMT, 3pm-ish EDT):

Over the Atlantic, south west of Reykjavic, approaching St. John’s (Newfoundland??)
Altitude: 39000 mi / 11886 km
Distance to destination (BOS): 1870 mi / 3009 km
Head wind: 77 mph / 124km/hr

The head wind = 34 m/s. Usain Bolt only had a 0.9 m/s headwind when he won the 200m final yesterday and so I think I’m doing pretty well. I’m enjoying my travels today – I tend to say I hate flying, but it’s not really true. I just hate the take-off. I enjoy the ritual of flying when I’m by myself – having some food and a beer (or coffee, day-part dependent) at the airport, spending some time alone. Reading, napping, working on the plane. Other than the pesky take-off – each one probably lops a month off my life for the stress it causes – I honestly like the overall experience (when all is on-time, of course!).

I’m headed back to the States because it’s time for me to become “official” in the UK. More on that once it happens.

I’m struggling a little bit with what to write because I’ve got a backlog of stories (from the traveling we’ve been doing), but there hasn’t been much monumental to write about from every day life. But, I am making progress because you’ll notice on the right links to our Barcelona and Belgium photos! I have captioned the Belgium photos, and depending on when you read this, hopefully the Barcelona ones as well. So, I’m catching up!

You may recall that I set out in search that Belgium was a magical land of mussels, beer, chocolate, and waffles. I won’t spoil the surprise – check out the pictures to find out if it’s true. But what isn’t told by the pictures is this:

· The Eurostar rocks. We took the Eurostar from London to Brussels, in just about 2 hours. It sure beats air travel – you don’t have to take off! And, we could kick off our trip early by enjoying Leffe beer in transit.

· We stayed with Jason’s mom’s cousin Nigel and his wife Christiane. They live about 30 mins by train outside of Brussels in the town of Rixensart. They were fabulous hosts, with champagne on arrival, fresh croissants for breakfast, and an invite to stay for Sunday dinner (we declined; next time, we’ll be sure to plan better!). And, while it’s typically the guests’ duties to bring good stories, they supplied those as well.

· We spent Saturday in Antwerp. Neither of us had been there before. It was a nice, clean town (what I’d expect of Belgium, for some reason), but what struck me most was how quiet it was. Even when there were a lot of people around, it wasn’t loud. I guess that makes it mellow, but it was still fairly bustling. We saw some of the Flemish masters’ works at the main art museum, visited the Rubens house, and had a bunch of beer at various little bars.

· Unfortunately, we didn’t plan our time that well, and ended up running to the train station in the morning, to our dinner reservation, and from dinner back to the train station (that was the least fun), ultimately missing our train in the end. At the time, we thought that meant we missed the last connecting train at Brussels to Rixensart, but in the end we were lucky and there was one last train headed out there. This saved us an estimated 70 euros in cab fare from Brussels to Rixensart, but probably not the little midnight adventure described below!

· Dinner was a highlight. Jason did some research and found a little place that served traditional Flemish food. The 72 year old chef / self-proclaimed resident poet is also the sole waiter in the roughly 16-seat homey restaurant. (Check out my picture with him in the album – surely only one of the precipitating events of our missed train… that, and the quest for an ATM (oddly difficult to find), my stop to buy cheap Birkenstocks, one beer too many at the last stop before dinner, etc. etc.) For dinner, we had what the chef wanted to serve us, which was an appetizer platter of pickled herring (an old standby of Antwerp), other smoked fish, anchovies, and tomatoes covered in mayo and tiny shrimps. Nothing I would have ever picked but when that’s what’s served, it turns out it’s not bad. Dinner was quail and rabbit – both quite tasty! And… we made the chef’s night by somehow convincing him that we traveled all the way to Antwerp from London just to have a good meal at his restaurant. Sort of what we were trying to say (we were saying you can’t get as good food in London), but definitely something lost in translation there! However, I think he was thrilled with the assessment.

· The low-light of the trip was the nearly 2 hours we spent wandering around the residential neighborhoods of Rixensart (from about midnight – 2am), looking for our way back to Nigel’s. At one point, we startled some girls getting out of their car to ask directions. But once they realized we were harmless, they were ready to help… and they had a GPS! Somehow these directions still didn’t get us home. It was a very desperate venture, and we were both doing our best to maintain composure as we faced what looked like it might be a night curled up on a curb. Eventually we stumbled on a main road, saw a bus stop that looked like it had a map. Really!? Well, it was a topographical map with about a 10km radius. But then… on the other side of the road… a map… of the town of Rixensart. Certainly it was a mirage. But, in the end, it put us on the path of about a 10 minute walk to our bed – following along roads we had passed by several times already that night. In the morning, it felt like a dream other than our aching feet.

At this point I am taking back my positive comments on flying, because about 2 minutes ago someone’s lunch was disagreeing with them, and right now someone else has made the poor decision of removing their shoes. Bleh.

I’ve probably written far more than was necessary. Sometime I’ll recap Barcelona, potentially less verbosely!

Beautiful Britain

Feeling a bit blue tonight... thinking it's due to the weather. Since we got back from Belgium on Sunday night, it has been doing really bizarre things outside. The short of it is, it is impossible to predict whether when I look out the window it will be partly cloudy blue skies, or the apocalypse. And it can change in literally 5 minutes from one to the other. It's really odd. I guess that's island living for you!

However, here's something we enjoyed seeing outside our window for about 30 minutes Sunday night (yes, it really was double, not a bad picture). And we could see the full semi-circle but don't have a wide enough camera lens.

More to come... but not tonight!

FISH

So I knew it had been awhile since I posted something, but I didn't realize it was over a week! Well, I guess that goes to show that we have fully settled in and nothing exciting happens anymore.

That is not true. However, there has been more day-to-day life happening in the past week so it's not quite as obvious. This week and last week, I didn't travel for work at all, which was very refreshing! Both weeks I've worked 4 days in the office and 1 day at home (looking forward to that day tomorrow!). Spending more than 3 nights in a row in the apartment has helped us get into a morning & dinner routine, which helps make things feel a bit more normal.

However, dinners have been interesting. One reason is that food seem to take forever to cook, especially in the oven. Including this fish:

Nice, huh? There's a farmer's market essentially right outside our apartment every weekend, and a fish truck that sits at the end of our block every day of the week! Unfortunately, its hours don't make it possible for us to buy fish during the week, so we gave it a shot over the weekend. The poor fish - and his brother - probably didn't deserve the gruesome end they got (mutilation by a first-time filleter). However I am once again grateful to the Joy of Cooking and its clear descriptions on how to do just about anything.

Other than the fish excitement, we made a lot of progress on the unpacking last weekend, and the bedrooms now both look like bedrooms rather than rented storage space. This also helps things feel more normal.

The travel picks up again starting tomorrow. We're off to Belgium for the weekend - looking forward to my first trip on the Eurostar train! I imagine Belgium to be a magical land of mussels, chocolate, waffles, and beer. I'll report in next week on how accurate my image is.

Kitchen Crisis Averted!

Per the final comment in the last post...

I was describing the hot hot kitchen to someone at work today, and they said "don't you have those Velux windows"? I said, I don't think so, just some skylights. (See picture of Jason in kitchen, just above his head.)

I rushed home tonight to try it. The skylights open! Sweet! This will make the whole cooking experience quite a bit more pleasant in the summertime. Except when it rains.

You can't have it all!

A little homier

Whew! It's been a busy past few days! Here it is, in pictures:

Friday 25 July: Our stuff arrived!

Nice, huh?
This was the only ruined box, and it contained
1) an empty box
2) some wrapping paper + ribbons
3) the plastic tote at bottom left, whose cover did not survive but whose contents (winter clothing) did.

We also lost the tail end of the waffle iron, and one of 2 Halloween-themed votive holder that I've been lugging around since... college, maybe?

After receiving our stuff, I felt a strong impulse to remove half of what was delivered and bring it to Jason's mom's garage in Colchester. So, we went car shopping. Haven't purchased one yet (even a cheap VW ain't cheap here, we discovered), but speaking of Colchester...

Saturday 26 July: We went to Colchester!

No joke. Here's proof:

We did not go to the Colchester Zoo, if you're wondering. We spent the day shopping with Carole, a bit of clothes but mainly furniture & household goods. Had a homecooked meal (first in awhile!) which brings me to...

Sunday 27 July: We cooked! And started to get organized!

We spent Sunday cleaning dishes and getting started on finding homes for things, but not until after I convinced Jason to lug a 50lb bookcase home from the store (see note above about no car). Since it's hiding in the corner or our as-yet unorganized living room (though really, it's the bedrooms that are scariest), I wanted to make sure the one area of serenity got the attention it deserves. I spend a lot of time looking at the bookcase, now.

Finally, Sunday night we cooked dinner. We made a pork roast, with little potatoes and a salad. Seemed British enough. After not being able to spend less than 20GBP ($40) - and frequently quite more - for a dinner for 2 for the last month, we were happy to cook at home! I think my waistline will appreciate it, too. :-)


Our dinner, and the chef:











We cooked again tonight, too, and after 2 nights we have discovering that our lofted kitchen will require us to expand our dinner repetoire into some no-cook meals. With no AC or fans, it's pretty tough to be in a high enclosed space on an 85-degree day, with 2 burners going!


Til next time...

A small list of good things

I'm sure my numerous loyal readers are wondering where the heck the riveting updates are.

Well, here are some pieces of good news!

- We have an internet connection at home! Jason just spent the last 45 mins on the phone to IT in India trying to get his VPN working, but mine works fine, so I guess this still qualifies as good news.

- We had a fabulous weekend in Barcelona. I'll post something about this once I get the desktop hooked up so that I can upload our pictures and put a link in. It was 80 degrees and sunny, we ate really good food, and felt relaxed for the first time in awhile.

- I did NOT get food poisoning on my latest trip home from the Netherlands, which made for a much more pleasant journey than my previous adventure in the Amsterdam airport.

- Today, I learned the local trick to cheating the National Rail, thus saving myself the need to purchase a 12.30GBP (i.e. $25) round trip train ticket every day. NOW we're talking!

- The best for last... Our stuff comes tomorrow! The movers are supposed to arrive at 9AM. Hopefully they are more timely (i.e. come on the scheduled date) than the movers in the US. Thus, you know what the weekend will be all about... (Also arriving late morning: the plumber! Turns out caulking does not fix leaky pipes, and Paul downstairs is kind of tired of a soggy second bedroom.)

So... it will be an exciting day tomorrow, and a busy weekend. More details to follow!

Business Trips

Last week I had a business trip to the Netherlands. I will be going there a lot, as Unilever has a large office in Rotterdam (being an Anglo-Dutch company and all). I spent Tuesday in Rotterdam and Wednesday in Vlaardingen, which is probably where I will visit most often. Now, just so you don't get jealous, here is a picture of the view from the office in Vlaardingen:

This week, they have shipped me away to Stiges, Spain. It's about a 40 minute ride from Barcelona, right on the sea. This is so you do get jealous:

View from the balcony in my room (not the best view in the house but I'm not complaining!

Dining area + view:

Living large! They are certainly making us work for it (I'm on a training course) but the couple hours of downtime in the day are quite enjoyable!

Jason is flying into Barcelona on Thursday night -- we'll stay there (in the city) through Sunday for a much-needed long weekend (before I head to scenic Vlaardingen again on Sunday night)!

A little about the flat

Greetings and salutations!

We do not have internet at home yet so it's very difficult to maintain this with regularity when we can't log on at home. We signed up for it, but it will take them 10 days. Not that they need to come to our place or anything. They just flip a switch. But it will take 10 days. Right. Great.

In other news...

We have had some watery fun in our apartment! 3 separate events:

1. A nice "welcome" note from the neighbor downstairs on morning #2. Something from our apt. above is "pouring" into his apt. below. Turns out to be the master shower. We use the other "shower" (a tub + a hose). We call the landlord, he caulks. We use the shower again. Another friendly note from Paul downstairs (same problem but not as bad). We call the landlord, he caulks, I get the feeling this may not be a simple leaky thing... perhaps a plumber might be better? We use the shower again... several times... no note. Hope there's no lawsuit pending.

2. Last Saturday morning, I awoke to the gentle pitter patter of falling rain on the window sill. How pleasant! A nice welcome to my first sleep-in in awhile. Then: splat, splat, splat, splat... the unmistakeable sound of dripping water on soggy carpet. Jason informs me that I missed the waterfall down the window sill. It's obvious from watermarks this is not the first time this has happened. We call the landlord. He cleans the gutter and moves around some wires that the phone company installed. It rained all day yesterday, and we're dry inside.

3. As noted on our 16-page move-in inventory, the freezer was so badly frosted over that the door wouldn't shut. We call the landlord. He said go ahead & defrost; he would not hold us liable for damage. Have you ever defrosted a freezer with scissors and a hammer? I have! I chipped away but Jason diligently monitored the 3-day unfreezing PROcess. We now have a fully functional freezer!

In case your wondering about the landlord... bought the "flat" in recent months with his girlfriend. Moved in. 2 weeks later, moved out. Ah, cohabitation (nor not). Anyhow, poor "bloke" is in a rough spot and I'm pretty sure our rent is not covering the mortgage. But it's got to be better than nothing and it's still a lot of dough! He's a really nice guy and has been fine to deal with, but hopefully we don't face anything major because I get the feeling he's not interested in investing a lot in the place!

Scary

The other day, Jason said "Cheers" to a bartender... unintentionally.

I guess it was bound to happen some time.

Oh, the irony! (Post Date: Friday, July 4)

OK this one I really wish I had a picture for. Today I worked on the 4th of July for the first time ever. I knew it was coming but I only realized the date after receiving my bought-incorrectly-on-board train ticket and seeing 4 Jul 08 stamped on it.

I didn’t think of it again until I went down to lunch. This was my first lunch in the Unilever cafeteria (I was at a TV shoot Wednesday and the ad agency Thursday). As I walked downstairs with a couple girls from my group, I saw a sign: “American Barbeque!”. Yep, there they were, Brits celebrating the 4th of July. They had a grill set up on a patio area, serving “Manhattan Burgers”, hot dogs, chicken, and kebabs, along with grilled corn on the cob. It was actually pretty good, even if I did have to go inside to hunt down ketchup packets from the condiment bar.

They had little American flag banners decorating the outside, and the chefs had tall Uncle Sam hats on. There was a woman giving 1oz samples of “American cloudy lemonade”, so you could try before you spent 50p ($1) on a full glass. As a “real live American” I was asked my opinion (always willing to give: it was good but a bit weak for my tastes; I bought a glass anyways – WITH ice).

I thanked my team for setting this up for me (ha ha, in case it wasn’t clear), and scrambled for stories of 4th of Julys past, as for at least the past three I have been out of the country. Now make that 4.

Oh and in case the irony’s not obvious: On my first working Independence Day, I am in the country from which we celebrate … wait for it … our independence. (Glad I could help explain that.)

Must be time to go find a Bud Light.

UK Week 1 (Post Date: Friday, July 4)

Given that this week has felt about 9 days long (whereas I arrived 4 nights ago), I will try for a digest of the highlights* of the week.

Maple Explosion
After having assured the Chill folks that I was indeed taking real NH maple syrup with me to England, that decision came back to bite me. However, it did mean that I immediately got to try out my funny little washing machine, located as standard in the kitchen. And, even though I later realized(1) that I put the detergent in the ‘pre-wash’ slot instead of the ‘wash’ slot, the fact that the thing ran for nearly 3 hours gave me great confidence that the clothes were clean!

The next load I ran with detergent in the right slot, and on the “short” cycle: about 90 mins.

(1)Please someone kick me the first time I type “realise”.

A Day “Off”
Tuesday I spent in Clapham, my new (area? town? village?). Found a coffee shop to squat at for about 3-4 hours for the price of 1 cappuccino (2.05 GBP, if you’re wondering). Managed to steal a spotty but free internet connection and took care of a bunch of administrative stuff, including sending details for my work permit application. This is the document that says I am more qualified for my job than anyone already living & working here.

I sat for lunch at a place that will probably become a breakfast favorite (The Boiled Egg & Soldiers). While/st waiting for my lunch, Billy Joel’s New York State of Mind played softly, followed by the Sex & the City theme (no, not Labels & Love, just the 30-second instrumental opener). I guess that someone out there was a bit late providing me my sentimental Hollywood moment (see previous post), and at this one I had to roll my eyes and chuckle.

Public Transportation
I think I have spent no less than 20 hours in the Greater London public transportation system this week (in the 3 days I have used it!!), and have probably spent something like 20GBP more than I should have. (Conversion: 1 GBP = $2) This included: a subway delay, a cab ride in an unfamiliar area, a 25-min ‘layover’ 1 stop from my train station, a couple trains I missed but wouldn’t have if I knew the schedule or how to read the board. Also included several incorrectly used Oyster-card reads (refillable Underground pass), one train ticket bought on-board when should have been pre-bought, and other mishaps for which I used my charming “not from here” accent to get out of. They may catch on…

I’m sure there have been other moments and I will share as they come back to me…

*term used loosely.

Final Week in USA (Post Date: Sunday, June 29)

Want to give a big shout out to the folks made my last week in the US so awesome. It could have been a hellish week (and was in some ways, for example with the movers not actually coming the day they were supposed to), but it turned out to be a really special one. I saw friends from HS, college, bschool, and work, as well as my immediate fam and ‘extended’ Chill family up in NH (having seen the real extended fam and Julie the previous weekend).

Over the course of the week I participated in one of my favorite activities (karaoke) with the Unilever crew; had a girls’ wine & cheese night in; enjoyed a picnic and Philharmonic in the Park with Sternies – a good distraction on my 2nd wedding anniversary; laughed with a few of my favorite people over a few pints and nachos on the UWS; and savored a fantastic bottle of red with Mom *not Mum* and Dad. (I’m flattered Dad deemed my departure special enough for the Duckhorn Cab he had been saving.)

Going backwards… on my last morning in NYC I had a nice UES brunch with Unilever friends Franck and Hope, in between disposing of my third- and second-to-last pieces of furniture to some very dependable strangers. After brunch, Gregory stopped by to help me dispose of the one piece of remaining furniture – which proved to be a bit more difficult than might have been expected – and begrudgingly took my remaining case of beer off my hands. Hope, also of Normandie Court domicile, turned out to be a last-minute angel in providing move-out and moral support. I could not have made it through the move-out without Greg or Hope.

As I left my empty apartment to make my fifth and final trip down to load up the Jetta for one more drive to NH, I tried to conjure up wistful feelings about leaving Normandie Court, but they didn’t come. I tried for reflective as I drove out of Manhattan, but leaving over the Willis Ave Bridge rather than something more made for this Hollywood moment seemed to prevent it. Or it could have been that, for the first time in months, I had nothing left to do at that moment to prepare for the move, at which point I allowed myself to feel nothing other than exhausted. Even in absence of pre-nostalgia, I know I will miss the dormish first apartment Jason & I shared, and a magnificent city in which I leave incredible friends but from which I will take countless fond memories.

[insert scream here]

Like I have the time to be writing right now...
I am up to my eyeballs in alligators! In a fortunate(?) turn of events, the movers did not come today as planned. They were supposed to arrive at noon, but at 10:30 I received a call saying 'my' truck had mechanical issues. Long story short, they're coming in the morning, and I had the day to get better organized. It was really helpful, because at every turn I am discovering something else that needs to get done.
However, that takes me out of commission for work tomorrow AM, a critical four-hour stretch in the big Wish-Bone wrap up. Alas, more 6P work gone unfinished.
As I can't figure out what I can and cannot ship overseas, I have a huge amount of household cleaners, personal care products, and food/baking supplies with one foot in the grave. I have been trying to get rid of them on freecycle.com, but of course when you offer up a grab bag of goodies, the inbox floods with promises to pick up immediately and very little follow-through. Well, what do you want for free!? Still, I hope to find these things (surely several hundreds of dollars worth of stuff) a second chance at life.
All in all, a good day - flight booked for Monday, several accounts cancelled, clothing to Goodwill, TV purchased + taken away, suitcase made lighter given more time to assess what's "necessary" to carry with me. And, a little time to relax - enjoyed my last Mexican meal for awhile with my friend Jamie + her baby girl Erica. But I did not get that sense of closure I was expecting when I got up, because my apartment is still full! One more day...

Flat Found!

I went to the UK this weekend to see Jason & help him find an apartment. We were successful! It was actually one of the places he had seen the previous weekend. We looked at about 14 places, half of which he had seen before, and the other half were new to both of us. It's a totally different experience than in NYC. The agents are (generally) much less pushy: they'll help you figure out what the landlord would/should be willing to accept; and actually listen to you, hear what you're looking for, and show you things you therefore might consider. Overall it is a more pleasant experience!

Another strange thing (besides the prices being listed weekly, not monthly) is that rent is negotiable (not the case in NYC). So, we found a place listed at 430 pounds/week, offered 380, and landed at 385. Sweet. It's a really funky place, definitely re-done in the 80s. 2 bed, 2 bath, good-sized living/dining room, and a suspended kitchen(!). Pictures follow!

Master Bedroom

Second Bathroom

Living Room (note stairs leading to kitchen)

Kitchen (note tiny oven)

Of course it was pretty fantastic spending time with Jason, too, this weekend. I finally got to tell him all the stuff that's happened unrelated to the relocation... well, sort of. Like his dad giving me a call to check in, or the guy who took some furniture and later wrote to me to tell me Jason looks like Van Gogh. We hung out in the park in Greenwich for a little while Sunday, just lazing around. I got some decent sleep, finally, and felt more normal than I had in weeks. It was wonderful.

The whole experience is certainly going to be interesting. I am now re-evaluating my stuff - mainly kitchen stuff - to see what else I should not bring to UK and instead bring to NH for storing this weekend. Our storage will be limited (although thankfully we'll have Jason's mom's place for 'seasonal' storage), and there are quirks, like the small oven + fridge. So, I'm going to try to bring only what I can't live without ... you know, like 3 8"-round cake pans, the bundt, angel food, and tart pan.

We're now t-minus 11 days til (likely) move! Still haven't booked a flight yet, but you know, details, details!

Sleepless on the Sofa

As long as I'm having an insomniatic night, I might as well check-in here. I am happy to report having gotten rid of the desk, coffee table, and area rug tonight, with a promise on the TV, runner, halogen lamps, and sofa. After all that excitement, I was so tired I could barely eat my take-out bibimbap at 9:30 but somehow managed to get a second wind. Tried to go to sleep around 11:30, got up at 1:30 to try to tire myself out.

Without going into too much detail, the move is definitely taking a physical toll on me. I have been feeling sick and anxious the past several days, and hopefully the next few days with Jason in England will help straighten me back out. When I give myself a moment to think about it, I miss him terribly and I'm thrilled to get the chance to spend a few days together. Even if we're busy busy during my short visit, it will still be a welcome change of pace.

It may be time to give sleep another shot. 'Night.