Alska ditt Hjarta*

I've always had a fairly neutral feeling towards Swedish things.

But in September, that all changed. Jason had a business trip that took him to Stockholm for 5 nights, so I joined for 4 of them - why not? Unilever has an office in Stockholm, so I flew out Thursday night, spent Friday with some Swedish colleagues, and came back to London on Monday.

My first impression of Stockholm was, perhaps expectedly, fairly neutral. It was impeccably clean, which I expected, but not charming on the surface, which I did not expect. It was full of tall buildings, wide busy streets, and none of the olde-worlde character that graces so many other EU hot-spots.

But, the more time we spent wandering around the city - not necessarily doing anything in particular, since there's nothing in particular touristy to do - the more I liked it. For one, it has everything food-wise that London doesn't - we had (good) sushi, pizza, tapas, BAGELS (!) - and some things London shouldn't - meatballs (Swedish of course) and reindeer (delicious, of course). It's also got loads of people just going about their daily business, but they're all very tall and rather pretty-looking. It's chill, but it's got personality. Everyone speaks English. It's the sort of place we could move to. (Don't worry Mom, we won't... probably.)

So of course you need to check out our pictures and those from Jason's quick jaunt to Copenhagen, but here's our fave from our visit to the Sturbridge Village of Sweden, Skansen (the one real touristy thing to do). This guy Artur Hazelius basically collected houses and various structures from around the Nordics at the end of the 19th century, and made a mini-Nordic museum plus 'zoo/reserve' in Stockholm. Cute. Thankfully I had the reindeer the previous evening.

From Stockholm - Sept '09

In other Swedish news, we saw a band Fanfarlo (for the second time) in October - the lead is Swedish but that's not why you can't understand him. We've been going to a lot of shows lately, including The Airborne Toxic Event, Passion Pit, and Wilco - and we've got 2 Decemberists shows and a Snow Patrol show coming up before the month is over. Rock on.

And, my last bit of my love affair with Sweden (and in typical affair style it has been short & passionate but is quickly dwindling), we read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson for Book Club, which I hosted last month. It was partially set in Stockholm, which was kinda neat since I knew of some of the neighborhoods. However, I hear the second & third books are even better than the first, so my new-found love for Swedish things may just continue.

*This is the only Swedish I know - it means 'Love Your Heart'. And 'extra smak', which means 'extra tasty'.

Assimilation? Nearly there...

I was just skimming back among old posts, admiring my political reporting and whatnot. Then I came across this one talking about various Britishisms I found bizarre a year ago. I mentioned 3, plus a 4th in jest.

For the record:

I have - for survival - started using the term 'diary' in favour of 'calendar' on a fairly regular basis in the office.

I am loathe to report that I frequently use the word 'loo'. I am still very aware of it, but it feels more normal when talking with the Brits and other Europeans. Weird.

And, while I still can't get my head around the 'You alright?', someone did say 'toodle pip' the other day as they left the office. They were not trying to be cutesy, at least not much at all.

Back in London-Town

Hello! Thanks for coming back! After a summer of jet-setting (I spent only 5 of 13 weekends from July - September in London), both Jason & I have been home for the last 3 weekends. We've been sorting through pictures so we can share our travels, but of course we need to get out whenever the sun threatens to shine.

Over the past 3 weekends, we've been getting out and about in various parts of London, doing normal things like golf, and not-so-normal things like having afternoon tea. Last weekend Jason decided it was time to go visit his favourite painting, and so we made an afternoon of our visit to the National Gallery and took part in the Englishy-touristy activity of afternoon tea. I think people really do this in some parts of England, but in London it's only tourists and the upper echelon. So, I leave it to you to decide which bucket we fit into.

In case you're wondering, here's the painting Jason likes; Seurat's Bathers at Asnieres:

This weekend, Jason's mom came for a visit, and we managed to score a pretty nice weather day so we went up to North London to visit one of the city's famous cemeteries... an appropriately activity for a crisp October afternoon.

Getting back to the 'usual' stuff, though... if you've visited our Picasa page recently you probably already noticed pictures from Belgium and Germany. Way back in August, we took a weekend away in Bruges - the Eurostar takes us to Brussels in 2 hours and then Bruges is about an hour from there, so very easy! We had a more low-key trip than our last trip to Belgium, but we still managed to pack a ton of activities into our weekend. We visited a church, took a canal tour, ate some mussels (of course!), and even rented bikes and rode out to the nearby village of Damme. Then on Sunday we stopped through Ghent on our way back to Brussels. The 2 cities were very different from each other, with Bruges an idyllic small town whose architecture has been described as 'more gothic than gothic', and Ghent very clearly a real working city, with a charming canal-way, old churches and belltowers set against a backdrop of highrises. Be sure to check out the pictures... but here are a couple for good measure!

Canal in Bruges

Bikes out in Damme

The other highlight of August (before our BIG TRIP, details forthcoming), was a short-notice visit with Dad in Germany! As I was traveling to Bruges I got a call from Dad saying he would be in Germany in 2 weeks for a whole week... and as luck would have it I was planning a business trip there too during that time! So, we both extended our trips for the weekend to take advantage of the fortuitous circumstances. Since Dad's company is out in Luebeck (just outside Hamburg, where I was staying), I went to Luebeck for Friday night, and then we headed back to Hamburg mid-day Saturday. We crammed some good touring into both cities, including (in Luebeck) the Museum of Puppetry (!) and dinner at the famous Schiffergesellshaft restaurant. In Hamburg we took a boat tour of the port, visited a notable WWII landmark church, and had a nice stroll along the lake (iso drinks and dinner).

Oddly enough in both cities there were music festivals going on in the town squares. Varying degrees of quality and unintentional humour made for some ad hoc entertainment during our walks. For example, following the strains of decent-sounding (if that's possible) AC/DC and coming upon a stage with EZ/DZ rocking out. We grabbed some beers and observed the locals, or the pilgrims of bad rock, whichever they might have been.

Mostly, though, it was a really nice weekend spent hanging out with my dad, and I hope his company sends him back over so we can do it again! Of course, you can see the pictures here.

Not the best pic, but there we are, hangin' in Hamburg!

The Joys of International Working

This is my first blog entry posted at work, but I just got a big laugh out of an email I received and wanted to share.

Context was that there was some debate among a small group of people going around in an email. I put in my point of view, and then suggested 'Sounds like we may need a quick pow-wow about this one.'

Within about 5 minutes I received this response from one of my Dutch R&D partners:

pow-wow is a new term for me. According to wikipedia "a pow-wow is a specific type of event where both Native American and non-Native American people meet to dance, sing, socialize, and honor American Indian culture. There is generally a dancing competition, often with significant prize money awarded." I am looking forward to it ;-)

Michiel

A bit of a backlog

Note: 'A bit' always signals a typical British understatement

Yesterday I was talking to my mom and she says, 'You must be really busy, you haven't had any time to update your blog!' OK, I can take a hint. But I've nearly reached the point of paralyzation (I made that up - comes from the English 'paralysation', I swear). I have travel from nearly 2 months ago that I haven't posted about yet! So... I will try to pick out some snippits, and I encourage you to check out our pictures as always! The links are updated at right. I'm going to keep this post to July's events.

Bordeaux
At the 4th of July weekend, Jason, his mom Carole, and I traveled to Bordeaux for a wedding - Jason's mom's cousin Nigel's son Michael was to be married. Due to a family emergency, the wedding didn't happen, but given we were in Bordeaux and the weather was gorgeous we made the best of the weekend.

The Bordeaux region is mainly known for its red wines (primarily Merlot / Cab blends), is full of tiny family chateaux, and of course its gorgeous countryside. We had rented a car, so we drove through tiny and medium sized towns in the region southeast of the city of Bordeaux, and managed to have a few private tours / tastings and of course a few delicious meals. On the last day, we stopped in the town of Margaux, and given it was still morning, we opted for a chocolate tasting at Mademoiselle de Margaux, whose specialty is chocolate covered armagnac cherries. Amazing! And, as it turned out, it wasn't too bad to spend our Independence Day in France.

USA!

I expected it might be Christmastime before I was home again, but I managed to swing an extra trip using miles and my persuasive skills (i.e., I nicely asked if I could work from home for a week and they said yes.) So, for one week in July, I worked from the comfort of Mom & Dad's kitchen in Portsmouth, which was actually a very serene office. I spent my mornings on the phone back to the UK, and then around 1pm when they all wrapped up their days, I actually got stuff done! My weekend and evenings were peppered with all sorts of family (and 'family') visiting, from a LeMay lobster bake, an evening at the Atkinson Country Club with Julie, seeing cousin Jamie & Amy's new baby Joey, a Chill visit, and some quality time on & off the golf course with Mom, Dad, and Greg (who happened to be around for the weekend!). Evidently Greg was also happy to see me (or maybe just really excited about the 'photo shoot finale' to his visit):

USA, Part Deux
On the second and final weekend of my trip, I traveled down to DC/Alexandria for my college roommate Lisa's wedding. I didn't expect that I would be able to make it to her wedding given the distance, so it was a real unexpected treat in my summer. College weddings are always fun mini-reunions, although they're changing a little as kids get added to the picture! Nevertheless, it was good fun seeing some of the usual and less-than-usual suspects from the PSP crew, along with a blast from the past in Rob Ledger!

The wedding was simple & beautiful, but the outdoor tent reception ended rather abruptly when an enormous summer storm complete with lightening, driving rain, and extreme wind forced us inside. Alas, it certainly made it memorable! The next morning I strolled around Alexandria and remembered what summer (98 & humid) is like! Next time, shorts not jeans! A far cry from the famous 'British Summer'.

Back in the UK
Finally, in case you're wondering what Jason was up to all this time... well, a lot of the usual weekday excitement (read: work), but on the second weekend he and his mom went to Kew Gardens, a botanical garden a little further out of London from where we live. There were some pretty spectacular plants, worth flipping through the album. Here's a slideshow but it's better to watch full-screen through picasa. (I hope it works!)

Well, that's it for July! Tune in soon for August, which I will hopefully be able to tackle before September is out!

Musings on English things

After posting about our American visitors, I thought it could be fun to write about some of the oddities of daily life here in jolly olde England. Such as, for instance, how yesterday we took our chances on a grey day and decided to hit the links. As we hemmed and hawed about whether to play or not, first after getting off the train and then outside the clubhouse, blokes in crisp white polos and plaid shorts were buzzing around, as though they couldn't wait to get caught in a downpour, as though to say, 'if this isn't what golf is about, I don't know what is!' We took our chances and had a authentically drizzly experience... and while it wasn't that bad, I can't see what the fuss is all about.

Moving on...

Spelling
Having now lived here for a year (!) I can say there are some British English spellings that have been easier to get a hold of than others. The extra 'u' being my favourite. Well, maybe not my favourite, but I now type it without thinking about it at all. It's not that I'm forsaking my roots, it's forced Darwinism, Microsoft Word style. I've also caught myself writing programme but only after having recently seen it written. Two conventions I can't seem to get used to, though, are realise (among others) and centre. The 're' ending just looks plain wrong to me, it makes me want to pronounce things in a French accent.

Pronounciation
Speaking of pronounciation... after all this time (and in fact, for awhile now), hearing English accents as background chatter is natural. In fact, when we were home at Christmas, Jason & I both noted how strange it was to be surrounded by strangers with American accents! We kept looking around wondering: Where did all these Americans come from!?

That said, every once in awhile I do a double take at pronounciation. One less interesting I heard the other day was 'innovative'. Not 'IH-no-vay-tive', but 'in-NAW-va-tive'. However the more humourous (there's that u again) word I heard recently was urinal. Not 'YUHR-ih-nul', but 'yuh-RYE-nul'. HA!

In order to get by, I have to consciously 'mispronounce' some words, the most common being tomato. I say tuh-MAY-toh (really more like tuh-MAY-doh), but they say toh-MAH-toh. The guys making my sandwich stare blankly. Let's call the whole thing off.

Sandwiches
Sandwiches here by default all have butter or margarine. If you think tuh-MAY-doh is bad, imagine the stares when I refuse (or specifically ask for no) butter / marg. Just a little light mayo, please, for me; nothing for Jason. Half the time they can't believe it *so much* that they still put butter on anyway. Must be lost in translation.

Meanwhile, the sandwiches here are measly, downright pitiful. Whilst (oh yeah, whilst! I love whilst!) the bread is generally delicious -- a year in and we're still remarking at least once a week how tasty the given bread we're enjoying is -- beyond that, you get one slice of meat, one slice of cheese, and, if you want it, 'salad', which consists of a few shreds of iceberg, 2 slices of toh-MAH-toh, and some cucumber slivers.

I was at a brainstorming session last week (remember: I work on margarine), and someone was lamenting the decline in use of margarine on sandwiches, attributing it to all those crazy extra fillings people are putting on these days. I bit my tongue. But then, someone (a Dutchman, not an Englishman), said: 'I mean, look at the sandwiches in America - they now have more fillings than bread!!!'' He was genuinely incredulous. I jumped at my chance: 'I KNOW! The sandwiches here are terrible!!! (Man, that felt good to say!)'

I could go on & on about the food and the eating habits of the English, but maybe I'll leave that for another time.

PS - Today was generally blue skies and 70F. Murphy's Law also holds true in England.

Americans in London

Well, as they say, when it rains it pours. Although here, generally speaking, it was a beautiful June, save for the flash downpour here and there. Good thing, too, because June was a busy month for us in terms of hanging out with American friends and family (which describes most of our friends and family, however we unfortunately don't do a lot of hanging out with most of them these days...

My friend Jocelin from Unilever and her boyfriend John moved here at the end of last year, and they live about 3 blocks from us. It's been great having them to share stories regarding what's great and what's just plain ridiculous about living here. What's more, they have a garden (read: backyard); a fine place to hang out and enjoy some sunny afternoons and evenings! So, when we need an American fix (or, really, some friends to hang out with) we give these guys a call. It goes both ways, too, but this being summer (or so they tell me), their place is more conducive to summer activities, like grilling and drinking Pimm's!

Jason grilling

Jocelin making Pimm's

So, lucky for John & Jocelin, we haven't had to rely on them entirely for Yankee accents these past few weeks. First, Jason's Dad and Kathi paid us a brief 5-day visit, during which we again took advantage of visitors to become tourists ourselves. We visited Westminster Abbey (whose chapels read like a soap opera of royalty), Greenwich (and the prime meridian! how cool!) and Shakespeare's Globe Theater for an evening performance of As You Like It, which even from the balcony on the side was very enjoyable! So, that makes 2 parental visits from abroad in 2 months - phew!

Jason & Doug enjoying a picnic in Greenwich Park

Then about 5 days later, our friend Jill showed up on our doorstep early Sunday morning. Fortunately this was planned. Jill was passing through on her way to a week in St. Petersburg with another friend, and spent Sunday with us. She was a real trooper pushing through the jetlag, and so we spent the afternoon in town - first going to a Spanish wine & tapas event (Tapas Fantasticas!) and then checking out Spitalfields market and walking to the Thames before heading back to give Jill the Asda (i.e. Wal-Mart UK) experience and making some really tasty quesadillas + guac for dinner.

Jess & Jill enjoying Rioja at Tapas Fantasticas

Jason strikes a pose at Spitalfields much to the shopkeeper's chagrin

And last but not least, last Friday Jason & his mom took off for Bordeaux, but I stuck around til Saturday to visit with Jill who was passing through again, and Stern friends Monica & Hayle. Hayle had been working at Wimbledon, which is about 10 minutes from where I live. To close the loop, John & Jocelin joined for pre-dinner wine & cheese (bubbly Pinot Noir -- Hal have you ever had this!?) at my place, and then the other 4 of us went out for an authentic English evening of Indian food followed by Pimm's.

The gang's all here! Jocelin, John, Jill & Monica, chez Willey

Hayle & Jill starring in their very own Pimm's promotion

Who can be homesick when home comes to you!?

(Don't forget to check out the 2 new albums featuring our visitors! Links at right!)

Summer Reading List

Greetings! I'm taking the opportunity of having a public forum of friends & family to brag-share-ask advice on good reads. I made it a New Year's resolution / goal to read an average of one book per month this year, and I've already far exceeded my goal, averaging 1 book per 2 weeks. (This being the end of June, that makes 13 books so far this year.) I even joined the library.

Part of my new-found zeal for reading came from being invited to join a book club at one alcohol-laden Christmas party hosted by one of Jason's co-workers. I admit, I was pleasantly surprised when within the following week, I received an email about the next book club meeting -- someone clearly had a better memory about the conversations from the party than I did!

The book club is a diverse group of 30-ish women (although mainly American, there are a variety of cultural & geographical backgrounds, careers, etc). The ground rules seem to be: come when you can, do your best to read the book, bring wine. As I imagine any good book club to be, our conversations flip-flop between the book, big life events (babies, moving), and random personal or cultural gossip (we spent a good chunk of the first one I attended debating the merits of Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop).

We rotate hosting duties, and today we were lucky enough to take advantage of one of the girl's private neighborhood garden - until we were chased out by thunderstorms. It was nice while it lasted, and we even had the author join us for a portion (hence the guy in the picture above)!

Enough about book club. Here are the books I've read so far this year, along with my own personal rating system. Take it or leave it! I'd love any thoughts on what to put on my 'to read' list (especially from all you educators out there!).

Key:
**** Life altering; Drop everything and read this book now
*** Engaging; Well worth the time spent
** Enjoyable; Consider if you're at a loss for something else
* Avoidable; Read this book only if you've read everything else already
(bc) Book Club book

*** Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - JRR Tolkien I'm not generally one for fantasy, as evidenced by the fact it took me all of 2008 to get through The Hobbit and the first 2 LOTR. In the end, it was worth it!

**(bc) The Mother Tongue - Bill Bryson An intriguing history of the English language & etymology, how the language has evolved and how it is different from others. Good read if you like this type of stuff (I do, but probably not for everyone).

*** Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris A hilarious, fast read - autobiographical short stories that had me shamelessly shaking from laughter in the lobby bar of the Hilton Rotterdam. One of my more gratifying evenings spent traveling for business.

** Watching the English - Kate Fox Written by a cultural anthropologist, this book is a humourous take on why the English do the things they do. It explained so much about the oddities of everyday life here. A must-read if you're an expat in England, probably boring or at best non-appreciate-able by others.

*** (bc) The 19th Wife - David Ebershoff Historical fiction of American Mormonism, focusing on The Firsts, an extremist sect, set between the time of Brigham Young & modern day Utah. Someone chose to read a different (non-fiction) book on Mormonism for book club and was able to confirm that much of the too-weird-to-be-true details are, in fact, true.

** The 10th Circle - Jodi Piccoult I really enjoy Jodi Piccoult's small-town New England family dramas, but perhaps they're beginning to feel predictable because I didn't enjoy this one as much as Mercy or 19 Minutes. Still, a good read.

*** The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edwards A powerful story about responsibility, conscience, love, loss, and medicine & morals in a different time. All the characters are flawed but sympathetic, and the story believable & heart wrenching. Beautiful book.

* Remember Me - Sophie Kinsella From the famous chick-lit author of the Shopaholic series... this is a mindless beach read, complete brain candy but that makes it fun. However nothing to recommend this over the other millions of its genre.

**** (bc) Beloved - Toni Morrison A classic high school read that was never on any of my syllabi. I read this for book club and ended up not being able to attend, which was very disappointing because it's such a complex book. I think I'll have to read this a few more times to get a handle on all the subtle themes, but for a first read I though the story was fascinating and the writing style captivatingly unique.

** Deep End of the Ocean - Jacquelyn Mitchard As I read this book I realised that 4 of the last 5 books I had read (including this one) were about the loss of a child (literally or metaphorically). Evidently the subject of recovering from such an event makes for good reading, and I enjoyed this story but found it a little clichéd at points, and the resolution left me unsatisfied.

**** Ahab's Wife - Sena Jeter Naslund Read this book immediately. It is a gorgeously written, phenomenal story and I wished it kept going.

* (bc) Vicky Had One Eye Open - Darryl Samaraweera You will probably never come across this book, and that's okay. I feel kinda bad saying so, as Darryl was the visiting author in the book club picture above. My biggest gripe is that as I was reading the book, I found myself wondering why I should care about the story. After talking to the author, I had a better appreciation for it but still couldn't recommend this.

** Between the Tides - Patti Callahan Henry Simple writing but a good, solid story. A fast read, and while fairly predictable, it was an enjoyable book about small-town family drama and yet another lost child (consistent with the theme).

If you've made it this far, thanks for keeping with me! I hope this might help you select your next book, and I really do mean it when I say please send suggestions! I'm thinking of revisiting some high school reading list books, but I appreciate any ideas!

Spring Bank Holiday

Ah the Spring Bank Holiday. Not to be confused with the Early May Bank Holiday, or the 2 Bank Holidays falling to either side of Easter. It may seem like we're constantly enjoying public ('bank') holidays here. It's true. Unfortunately, now it's over for the rest of the year, save the last Monday in August and Christmas Day. That's right... no 4th of July long weekend, no Thanksgiving 4 days off, no Labor Day. The sad truth is: In the UK, we have fewer public holidays than the US. They just all seem to fall in April & May!

Never to miss taking advantage of a day off, we turned our 3 day weekend (coinciding with Memorial Day in the US) into a 4-day weekend, taking off for Florence on Thursday night and staying through to Monday evening. This had to be the best 4 day escape ever. Case in point: At one time about mid-day Saturday, I tried to think about what I had on the following week at work. And I couldn't think of a damned thing. Pretty different from the nagging thoughts that follow me around on a typical weekend!

It didn't hurt to be pampered by our Italian friends & family. A breakfast spread with homemade marmalade and fresh espresso each morning ready when we came downstairs. A feast Friday night was prepared by Paola Marchi and started off with a sinful cinta senese pate and didn't finish until after the pasta, meat, crostata, and grappa were all sampled to the point of gluttony. The following day we enjoyed a lingering lunch at cousin Joanne's full of a variety of antipasti and salads (and wine & prosecco, certo), and a few hours post a dinner at Elisa M's, starting with in-season baccelli (fava) beans and peccorino, and continued on with pasta, meat, and zuppa inglese ('English soup'!) provided by Elisa P (or was it Mama Paladini? The mystery remains...). The hospitality was unparalleled, except by my other visits to Florence.

(An aside: After complaining that they wouldn't let me wash even one dish, Jason assured me that there would be plenty I could wash when we got back home. Unfortunately he was right, although the desire to do the dishes isn't nearly as strong when you're in your own kitchen!)

Of course, it wasn't all about the food, just nearly. We also got out to see some sights as Jason & I day tripped to Lucca, a little walled-in medieval town about a 90 mins ride from Florence. We had a guide tour of the Santa Croce cathedral by il mio papa italiano Carlo Marchi, kindly translated by Elisa & Francesco, seeing not only the 'original statue of Liberty' and Michaelangelo & others' tombs, but also getting a refresher lesson on the importance of Giotto's works on perspective. We traveled to the countryside with both Elisa M & Elisa P and their fabulous boyfriends, Francesco & Stefano, enjoying a gorgeous lazy summer day, taking in the Tuscan landscape and a few tastes of the local wines. (n.b. We brought back a bottle of Poggio Amorelli chianti 2006 and it is delicious! If you see it try it!) Jason & I also spent some time being tourists in Florence, which consisted primarily of comparing & contrasting a handful of churches and walking on the shady (Francesco: not shadowy) side of the road. So between the sight-seeing, gorging ourselves, and having a fun time communicating with friends new & old l(yes, zucchini = zucchini, no joke!!), it was about as spectacular as long weekend could be.

We've made 2 albums -- one with sights, one with some extra candids -- are up! To whet your appetite, here are a few favourites:

San Frediano, Lucca

Wandering in Tuscany

Baptistery, il Duomo & the belltower, Florence

Brits and their Beer

This weekend, Jason & I traveled to Colchester to see Carole (Jason's mom, for those not keeping up with the family tree). On Saturday, we walked into town to do some shopping, and Jason managed to slip off to watch the ManU-Arsenal premiere league final (I think) at a pub.

Once we reunited, we did what all good English-folk do on any day that's above 50F and not raining (this day happened to be probably about 60F and blustery): we went to enjoy a beer out-of-doors.

You might think I'm exaggerating about the weather conditions, but on any half-decent evening, or weekend day after about 1pm, pubs along our street -- or rather, the sidewalk space fronting them -- are packed with folks just waiting for what might be a glimpse of the sun. (The insides of the pubs tend to be empty during these times.) Frequently the patrons are severely underdressed for the circumstances. In said 60F / blustery conditions, I wear a jacket, jeans, possibly a light scarf. The average English girl will be in a tank top and inappropriately short skirt for the occasion, or any occasion really. Guys in shorts and short sleeves. All just hoping for a passing ray or two.

While our attire may look out of place, we are quickly learning about the meaning of the term 'British Summer' and I for one am craving any spot of sunshine I can get. (Jason says summer is on its way, and that we should appreciate the nice April we had.) Now for what I intended to share when I started this post: As we sat at our picnic table at The Castle pub, the table next to us sat empty, save a half-finished pint. At one point, this fairly average-looking bloke walks in to the patio area from off the street, looks around, downs the half-pint in about 6 seconds, puts down the glass, and returns from whence he came.

True story, all of it!

16 nights

Hi and thanks for coming back after all this time! I logged on to Blogger this morning to realize that it's been 30 days (!) since I last put up a post. I started to flog myself and then thought about the last month. The past 30 days & nights have been, as they'd say here in England, 'a bit busy'. In the last month, I have spent:

4 nights in Istanbul
1 night in Rotterdam
1 night on Hayle's couch (NYC)
2 nights in Fishkill, NY
1 night at Greg's
1 night on a red-eye flight
4 nights with Mom & Dad sleeping in my spare room
2 nights in Maastricht
...and frankly, on the other 14 nights, I really just wanted to chill!

However, in the midst of all of this, I've managed to get pictures up from the exciting events you see above -- our Easter trip to Turkey (taking advantage of the Friday / Monday public holidays), Hal & Lisa's unseasonably warm spring wedding in upstate New York, and Mom & Dad's first visit to London to see us. Rotterdam was a typical overnight business trip (there less than 24 hours), and Maastricht was for a conference. I'll get those pictures up shortly, but they're only of drunk Unilever people and so probably not of great interest to the wider audience.

So, please check out the pictures, and I'll attempt to get some more detail around these trips up at some point in the coming 12 days, before we head to Florence for the second May bank holiday (i.e. Memorial Day). Don't worry, I do get to go to Rotterdam / Vlaardingen again in the meantime. Otherwise I might have Netherlands withdrawal.

(NB: Jason took his mom to Lisbon at the end of March... photos available for viewing!)

Tulips

I'm posting this for the amusement of my parents, but the back story is this:

In Atkinson, my mom grew tulips by our back door. Yellow & red. Every spring they'd look real nice, then they'd open up and look really creepy, especially the red ones. They looked like they were coming to get you. I always had to run past the door and into the house as quickly as possible to avoid seeing them.

She'd also cut them and put them on the dining room table, and I would sprint through that room with my eyes closed whenever the tulips were on display. Not sure why (overactive imagination), but they really freaked me out.

A couple weeks ago the weather started to turn nice here, which made me realize how long and dark the winter was. I had a craving to bring some of the budding outside in, so after a few days of debate I bought a bunch of tulips from the flower stall down the street. They looked really nice! They had luscious leaves that filled out an otherwise kind of measley bouquet:

AND THEN... one morning I came upstairs and they were all open! AGH!!! And I was home alone!

I promptly disposed of the wretched flowers, but I believe that the score is now Tulips: 857, Jess: 1.

Give me that fish!

It's been a while since I've put up a post about culinary pursuits. We're still having fun trying out new things, becoming experts at mussels, whole chicken, and we even made a pretty tasty pork roast when we had friends over for dinner recently.

We have a fish truck at the end of the street, and you may remember a post from the summer when I mutilated a couple poor snapper. I've found the secret to whole fish is... either get the fish monger to fillet 'em for you, OR bake 'em whole!

Voila! Above, last night's sea bass baked with fennel, basil and red onions. MUCH less messy than previous pre-cooking filleting experiements. PLUS when I put the spices and other stuff inside I get to sing from my favourite Disney movie: '... then you slash off their skin, give their bellies a slice then I rub some salt in cause that makes it taste niiiiiiice! Zoot alors! I have meeeessed one!' It's the best part of the total experience. I'm pretty sure Jason agrees.

Bon appetit!

The Secret Life of Jason

Today I discovered that Jason has been moonlighting, modeling for action figures. Check out the dude, bravely weilding a safety razor:

A visitor from abroad!

Last Saturday, Julie showed up on my doorstep around 8:30 AM. Fortunately, I knew she was coming.

During her 4-day visit (nearly to the hour - she left 7:30AM Wednesday morning), we went out and were super-tourists! It was a lot of fun having Julie visit, and it was also fun having an excuse to get out and see my surroundings.

On Saturday, Jason, Julie & I walked for hours around town: we tried to go to Westminster Abbey (unsuccessfully - it closes at 2:30 with last admission 1:30, however we arrived at 1:15 and were turned away), we walked along the river and then across to Borough Market for lunch, then we visited St. Paul's cathedral and climbed as far as we could (the top tier is closed for another couple months). Afterwards, we visited a small, old pub called Seven Stars for a much-needed beer.

View westward from St. Paul's Cathedral

On Sunday, just we girls went to Brighton for the day. It's a popular seaside escape here - pretty chill environment with a boardwalk full of fish & chip shops and a pier chock full of rides and other amusements for kiddies. We combined the two and had fish & chips on the pier. The weather was perfect - about 60F and sunny! (As an aside, Julie somehow managed to pick the 4 nicest days of the year to date for her visit.) We wandered around some small winding alleys and did a bit of shopping before heading back.

Brighton Pier

On Monday I went to work and left Julie to venture into the city on her own, but on Tuesday I returned to the tourist role (note: much more fun than working) and we visited alt-hippie Camden, strolled through Regent's Park, and went to the National Gallery for proper afternoon tea (my first experience with that!) and a bit of Impressionist browsing. Then, being St. Patrick's Day and all, we hit the pubs for a mini-crawl.

Trafalgar Square, pre St. Patty's day pubbing

Of course there are more pictures - album link at left! I've also put up a link to the pictures from my & Jason's day trip to Windsor & Eton from the previous weekend. Enjoy!

Greetings for Mums

Today is Mother's Day or "Mothering Sunday" in the UK. Of course, Jason's 'mum' is English so he is obliged to observe Mother's Day today (though when he lived in the States he would observe it in May - even when she was living here!). However, so as not to miss out on card-buying opportunity - they certainly won't still be selling Mother's Day cards come May - I accompanied him to the Clinton Cards shop down the street.

I have been receiving greeting cards from various people on this side of the pond (mainly Jason's mom & aunt) for several years now. I have always been amused by the specificity of the greetings available. For instance, one winter I think we received a card that read: 'To a special nephew and his fiancée on the Christmas before their wedding.'

Today I really liked this one: 'For my beautiful fiancée on Mother's Day'. I mean, really. Imagine the market for a card like this. This is specifically for a man, engaged to be wed, who has a child with the woman to whom he is engaged. There are obviously many unwed parents, but this one captures the market of those who are officially planning to marry. In printing these cards, they assume said man will spend enough time looking for a card for his baby mama-fiancée to find this particular card. I question the business sense in creating such niche products, but at least greeting cards do not expire; this can be trotted out next year for the new crop of engaged dads.

And on that note, Happy Mummy Day to all the Mums out there! (Any Moms will have to wait til May for their greeting.)

In support of Jenn

To family & friends,

I've just made a donation in support of my cousin Jenn, who has run the Boston Marathon the past several years in support of Dana Farber Cancer Institue.

Jenny runs each mile in honor or in memory of someone who has battled cancer, and I've put the list below. 4 of her honorees are relatives of mine. The picture at left shows Jenn's patient partner, Lia, running along side her in the 2007 marathon. Lia lost her battle this past October, and is Jenn's honoree in the last mile.

If any of the names below are familiar to you, or maybe they remind you of someone, please consider donating to Jenn's cause. She's about 25% of the way toward her $8,000 goal this year. Ambitious, but not out of reach.

You can see Jenn's official page and donate here: http://www.rundfmc.org/jenns2009. Either way, thanks for reading.

Mile Marker:
1 Patrick Byrne
2 Melissa Mitchell
3 Rick Larson
4 Renee LeBlanc
5 Carol Madden
6 Cailey Delahanty
7 Lorrie Belinsky
8 Robin Roberts
9 Sandy Zawojski
10 Randy Pausch
11 Lauren Grella
12 Corey McGuigan
13 Lorraine Krueger
14 Gina Vigo
15 Dr. Bill Tombari
16 Eleanor Heath
17 Joe Andruzzi
18 Kathy Gundrum
19 Allan Minehan
20 Elsie Krueger
21 James Troy
22 Marie Carey
23 Henry Krueger
24 Jacques Dupont
25 Jon Lester
26 Lia DiFronzo

Chamonix

Yikes, I just noticed it's been a month since my last post. This must mean I've been busy. I have! The last 4 weeks have been crammed full of stuff: some good, some not so good.

Since the last post:
Week 1: Very stressful at work, preparing to be away for 2 weeks.
Week 2: Spent in The Hague, actually in Scheveningen, which I usually pronounce with about 3 extra syllables. It's the premiere beach resort of The Netherlands. (I know: What?)
Week 3: VACATION!
Week 4: Catching up on all the work I didn't do while I was gone the last 2 weeks.

So, this post will focus Week 3, but in case you're wondering why I spent Week 2 in the Ocean City of Holland in February (similar weather to NJ at that time of year, too), well the answer is simple. Margarine Camp! Now I know more about margarine -- and mayonnaise -- than, well, than what I did before.

Now on to the good stuff.

For 7 wonderful days, Jason & I were in Chamonix. It's a ski-town in the French Alps, close to where Switzerland, Italy, and France come together. Our friend Jim (from Long Beach) met up with us during a few weeks' leave from his post in Iraq, and he managed to rent the apartment right next door to the one we stayed in. Our lodging was basic but cozy and comfortable, and right in the heart of Chamonix... and part of the deal was they bring you fresh baguette & croissants every morning!

Chamonix was a quaint but bustling little town, full of tourists but without a completely touristy feel. We managed to find some great food, including snails and fondue one night, and a real gem of a local restaurant on another, Maison d'en Bas, where I had the opportunity to use my French about to the maximum I'm capable. The owner / waitress / hostess was very patient with me (her English was non-existent), and we managed to communicate pretty well. I helped her add 'raw' to her list of how meat can be prepared. Apparently, she's had more than one unhappy patron who did not understand that beef tartare (Jason's main course) is not cooked. The food was delicious, to boot.

I skied for 4 days with the guys, and Jason & Jim skied the last one on their own. We all took Wednesday off for recovery. We were about a 5 minute walk from the ski bus stop, from which you can get a shuttle to about 5 different mountains. We skied at Brévent-Flégere (I can't figure out how to make an accent grave), Le Tour - Balme, and Les Grands Montets. One day, we drove through the Mont Blanc tunnel to Courmayeur, Italy. There we discovered the Italians have a need for speed. No surprises, I suppose, from the country that brings you the Ferrari. We really lucked out with weather; the first day was snowy and the second very foggy, so visibility was really bad, but the rest of the week was sunny and about 35F. Perfect. Our day at Le Tour (the foggy day) was actually pretty cool - the clouds were sank so low, that the lift carried us above them into the clear. Then we skied through the clouds where you could see about 10' in front of you, down to the clear air below. The pictures are great but they still don't do it justice.



A side remark: the queuing system for the lifts every mountain we went to was atrocious. They never separated you into distinct lines as you apprached, and people would literally elbow their way past you in line. Completely unacceptable!

On the last day, Jason & Jim hired a guide and joined a small group to ski the Vallée Blanche. They took a tram to the highest point in Chamonix (and by some accounts the highest in the Alps), and after traversing a 2' wide winding path, skied a 20+ km (about 15mi) trail back down to the valley. Chamonix is known for its off-piste skiing, so they were right on trend to take advantage of that. Me, on the other hand, being a comfortably intermediate skier without aspirations for much improvement, took the day off and rode the Montenvers train to the Mer De Glace, an ice cave in the same mountain the guys were skiing. The scenery was beautiful but the grotto itself was a bit tacky. I think it's more of a spring / autumn activity. Then, I enjoyed a long crepe and beer lunch, read my book, and wandered around town til the boys got back.

We took loads of pictures, and I've tried to cull them down. There are 2 albums: one that shows the story of the trip, and one that has some nice scenery shots. Together they're less than a third of the pictures we took. Lots of white landscapes!

Our next trip is planned for April (4 days in Istanbul) but we're hoping to do something smaller before then. Either way, check back soon for more posts - hopefully things are calming down a bit and I can write more!

New Pictures Up!

Jason & I have been spending this weekend holed up inside, generally trying to get caught up on things. 5 loads of laundry later and 600+ pictures sorted through, we now not only have a living room full of damp clothes but also 5 exciting new sets of pictures to share!

2 were mentioned in the post I just put up (London Snow + Amsterdam). However, be sure to check out the other 3 new albums listed at right. A quick bit about each:

Christmas in Portsmouth (38 pictures):
Jason & I received a beautiful new camera (Nikon digital SLR) from my parents for Christmas. We then took over 300 pictures in Portsmouth, just messing around. The first half of this album are pictures I took Christmas morning with my old, now forgotten, Fuji FinePix. The second half are also more point + shoot candids taken with the new camera but also a few scenery pictures of downtown Portsmouth we took whilst playing with our new toy. [NB: I'm trying to adopt 'whilst'. It's sort of working.]

Long Beach (45 pictures):

Other than a few pictures of Doug's yard on Kallin Ave, these pictures come from 2 locations. The first is Los Alamitos High School's baseball diamond. We went to see Paramount High School's freshman team play -- may seem kind of random but our friend Cameron is head coach at Paramount. Good chance to try out some action shots! The second location is El Dorado Nature Center. It's about 5 minutes from Doug & Kathi's place, yet Jason hasn't been there since an elementary school field trip. We walked around for a couple hours on New Year's Day -- it gave us something to do since it was a lovely 60-something degrees outside, and of course it was an ideal spot for some more picture taking! Please note: I excersised extreme control in not posting my 20+ pictures of ducks. Just the best ones are there, and they are good!!

Santa Barbara (49 pictures):

We wrapped up our visit to the States with an overnight trip to Santa Barbara; sort of a vacation from our vacation. The first day we spent touring wineries -- after all, this is Sideways country. I must admit here that I have not seen the movie, and Jason saw it on a plane but didn't particularly care for it. However, it has done wonders for the tourism in the area, it seems! Every other winery had a sign boasting "As seen in Sideways!" We visited (in order): Gainey, Blackjack, Zaca Mesa, Melville, and Foley. I thought Black Jack & Foley had the best-tasting wines, while Zaca Mesa was the worst experience overall (staff were indifferent, atmosphere very commercial). The other 2 might have been better experiences if not for the throngs of people who had the same brilliant idea we did on the Friday after New Year's! We went out to dinner at the marina, and golfed at Glen Annie Golf Course the next day. Conditions were perfect, which is more than I can say for my game, but we had the course to ourselves, and a very relaxing, enjoyable day.

I've noted the # of pictures in each album in the hope of proving that they're manageable viewing! Hope you enjoy!

Crippling Snowfall! Willeys Stranded!

Monday morning, 2nd Feb: Jason leaves me at Schipol airport (Amsterdam) and I continue up to Rotterdam for a day of meetings. Jason boards 8:50am EasyJet flight to Gatwick, delayed about 45 mins. Arrives at Gatwick, 9:30ish. Hangs at Gatwick til noon, or so.

Why, you ask? Somewhere between 3 & 6 inches of snow shut down all public transportation in the whole of London. I'm amazed his flight took off; indeed, it was one of the last to land at a London Area airport that day. Heathrow: Closed. City: Closed. Gatwick: Closed. No trains operating, no buses running. Hence, I had to stay on more night in the Netherlands, after having been there since the previous Thursday for business. Offices were closed Monday, those in the 'burbs (like mine) were closed Tuesday, and I have reports that some schools were even closed Wednesday. Check out our pictures and see for yourself the crushing snow we got! (Admittedly, if this was the worst in 17 years, well... I guess I understand that even a few flakes would have people freaking out.)

Riding by Clapham Common in my taxi early Tuesday morning, I noticed a huge amount of large snowballs, like bottoms of snowmen, littering the park. It seems everyone did enjoy the novelty of snow that stuck! Here's a scene found practically right outside our door:


In other news, you may have taken note that we were in Holland for the weekend. I have been traveling to the Netherlands on average about once a month since I've been here: it's where my R&D colleagues work. (You may remember my pictures of lovely Vlaardingen from a post back in July.) Since I had meetings Thurs, Fri & Mon, we thought it was the perfect chance to do our first traveling of the year.

I met Jason in Amsterdam on Saturday morning, and we essentially spent the weekend roaming the city, exploring its various neighborhoods, drinking its beer, and taking in the sights that make it a particularly unique city. It was very very cold for just wandering (in the 30s), but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.

I didn't know what to expect of Amsterdam other than the stereotype (which does exist -- our noses let us know when we passed by 'coffeeshops', and we spent a little time wandering the windows of the ladies of the night -- but as you might know, isn't really our scene). So, I was really pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the city. The buildings themselves have an abundance of personality -- both in their varied shapes and in the way they dare the occupants to take their lives in their hands to dwell in them. You get the sense it's a bit of roulette - 'Will this building sink too far to the left while I'm a resident, or will it maintain integrity long enough for me to find something more stable?'!

So, we wandered around canals, admiring and marvelling after the architecture. We were astonished by the sheer number of bikes scattered around the city (in use or not), and how not one bicycle seemed to be less than 10 years old. We somberly toured the Anne Frank house, and took in an impressive collection of paintings by the city's favourite son, Van Gogh. There's a lot still to do, but given the number of trips I'll likely be taking to Holland in the coming year, I'm sure we'll be back. Hopefully when it's a bit warmer!!

To the Left, To the Left

I have to report the exciting news that I have successfully driven in England! Twice!

After I figured out that I needed to push the stick-shift away from me to move into 2nd gear -- thus not continuing to move from 1st directly to 4th and stalling -- it went fairly well. We were on some slow, fairly crowded roads, which I thought would have been scary but in fact made things easier. I just had to focus on the car in front of me and hope that he also wasn't driving on the left for the first time. That, and focus on not sideswiping cars parked to my left. Objects on the left are closer than they may seem, what with all the extra width of the car in that direction!

It was also helpful to have a local "navigator" so I didn't have to figure out where I needed to go at the same time as concentrating hard on staying in my lane. However, I think the wet-behind-the-ears salesman at the VW dealership did a poor job at hiding his slight nervousness at the realization that he was a passenger to a wet-behind-the-ears left-side driver. But, he was a good sport and we all made it back in one piece.

No car yet, though we know it will be a late model Golf of some type (casting the net narrow to make life a little easier). More to report when we start studying for our written and road tests!

Christmas Eve '08 with the LeMays

Hello LeMays (and fans of LeMays*)!

Please take a look at the pictures of our family gathering on Christmas Eve.

By my recollection, top 5 moments were:

- Danielle + Jason modeling the hoochie Celtics uniform
- Grammie shouting "Oooh! I got a vibrator!"
- Enjoying Garrett's bacon wrapped asparagus + gorgonzola
- AJ's pride in his delivery of presents
- The general warm, fuzzy feeling I get at family gatherings (or was that the vodka Danielle kept putting in my eggnog?)

Enjoy the pictures!

(Here's proof that I'm not the only one with a warm, fuzzy feeling):

*Fans of Jason please be sure to see this picture. I think it captures his holiday merriment perfectly.

Unilever Gone Wild

So, waaaaaay back on Dec 18, the night before we left to go back to the States, Unilever Leatherhead had its Christmas, no, sorry, Xmas, Party. It's best told pictorially, but a few of the key points I'd like to note are:

• In the UK, "Xmas" is not taboo. They haven't caught up to us in they ways of political correctness (which in this case (and many others) is misplaced oversensitivity). Additionally, they are okay with saying Xmas OR Christmas, and make fun of our "holidays".
• Our Xmas party was a "fancy dress party". So what, you say? Well, in the UK, "fancy dress party" = "costume party".Taking a bit of the costume party stress away, there was a theme. The theme was "Posh & Becks' Xmas Party". Also taking away some of the stress was the convention of teams dressing up together.
• This wasn't your average sit-down dinner. We had a trio of sopranos to entertain before + during the meal, a Robbie Williams cover band, and finally a DJ as musical entertainment. There were Bumper Cars (oh, sorry, "Dodge-ems"), which are lots of fun after a few drinks. There was a virtual reality soccer goal, casino games, and, of course, an endless flow of alcohol. It was over the top.
• Finally, there was a "Price is Right" game where you had to guess the value of a whole table of luxury items ("posh" purses, shoes, champagne, etc.). I WON! The real value was £3,380, and for my guess of £3,367 I have won a £250 gift card to a place of my choosing.

As I said, best to check out the pictures, which I have pared down from about 330! I'll leave with a great picture of "Team Becel" in our Fancy Dress: