Merry Christmas and Happy Boxing Day

Merry Belated Christmas! I hope everyone's Christmas/Holiday went well. Mine did. It was nice to finally see family and friends during the holidays. I think about how lucky I am to have the opportunity. I can't stop by give myself time to reflect about other people in this world that won't have the ability to share this time with family and friends due to uncontrollable circumstances, or other obligations such as the duty of being a US soldier in a foreign country. I am also grateful for my health and the good health of my family. I pray for for all those who are not in the best of health around these times, and hope they can recover very soon. Now that I live in another country, I can't help but appreciate being home, especially during the holidays.

After seeing many friends and family, I'm asked the normal questions (i.e. How do you like it, how long will you stay, etc.) but one question that makes me think a bit is:

"So how does it feel to be home?"

Initially this is a real quick question to answer. Of course it feels great. No doubt about it. But I really haven't stopped to really think about it truthfully. Not to say it doesn't feel great, because it does, but I think there's a bit more to it than "great."

First off, the food. Wow, perhaps its the holidays, but I've eaten so much here since I've gotten back. I've had a burrito and hooters wings, and of course filipino food. I seriously don't eat this much in the UK. And the portions here are so huge!

Laundry. OMG, our washer and dryer are huge. You really don't appreciate it until you do laundry in the UK.

Driving. Wow, its weird driving after not doing it for 4 months. I mean its like riding a bike, but still, its work. I'm usually just hopping on a train or bus! I actually try to defer driving as much as possible to friends and family now.

Malls and Big Parking Lots. I couldn't find where I parked today. I seriously forgot. I went out the wrong entrance of Marshall Fields and walked around like an idiot. I think I pissed off a couple people because they tried following me to see if they could park in my spot, but little did they know I had no idea where I was going.

Accents. Everyone has an American accent. Obviously. But I actually miss hearing the English accent as background noise..

I'm sure there's more and I'll add to the list as the next couple weeks go by.

Boxing Day
Tomorrow, the 27th is Boxing Day We have this day off in the UK, so why not take it off here since I live and work there.. I will use this holiday wisely I promise. And for those who read this during work... sux to be you, but thanks for reading. =)

When I was in London...

So I went to get a sim card for my UK phone yesterday. I realised that living in a different country as an American serves as a great conversation starter.

I was talking to the salesman and I mentioned I was back for a few weeks and needed a SIM card.

He started by saying how he was a 100% Sicilian but had never been to Sicily, and that I was lucky to live and work outside the States.

I told him that he was still young and had the whole rest of his life ahead of him to visit. Then he started asking about London and the UK: if I liked it, how it was different, etc.

Its quite interesting discussing how my life is in another country now that I'm back in the States. I mean, people would ask in London, but its not as fascinating to them because its their country! But by talking to other American, I guess it tends to be a bit more interesting to discuss. I mean, after all, we are the greatest country in the world! Who would dare live and work outside the US!! =)

But I think 20 years from now, looking ahead, its going to be part of my life forever. Its an experience that I will have learned from, grown from, and something I know I will be talking about for the rest of my life.. which I know will always start with..

"When I was in London.."


Other blogs
A colleague of mine has a photo blog. Very cool. He mentioned that I made one of his posts.. check out my goofy self... 830 degrees

"Welcome back."

There's something about the people that work in customs. Typically, they are the first people that ask about your trip, and more importantly, welcome you home.

This time it meant so much more to hear it from another American.

He asked how long I've been away and I immediately said:

"Too long."

Even though it wasn't my hometown Chicago, the next best city to come into would definitely be New York.

The best part was him finally saying: "Welcome back."

Christmas
Hard to believe that Christmas is this weekend. I have to say, if you haven't been in NYC around Christmas, its something you have to see. I've always seen it in the movies, but the big Christmas tree at Rockefeller center is something you have to see in person. The ice skating rink with all the people, the Christmas music in the background, its a experience you have to have once in your life. I even saw a guy in the middle of the ice skating rink propose!! That was a sight to see!

MTA Strike
Another site to see here in NYC is all the people walking and the lack of cars! There is a mass transit strike that has shut down all trains and buses in the city.
They are also limiting the cars going into Manhattan unless you have 4 people! Its crazy! Its interesting to be here in this city while this is happening.

Mmm.. Burrito
Had my first taste of Mexican food yesterday evening. There's really no such thing as eating a burrito in London, primarily because there are no Mexican restaurants in London! And if there is that off chance you find one, its not very good. So yesterday I had a steak burrito and it was so damn good. But since I'm not use to the big portions, I didn't finish it! =(

Coming home..
Finally... going back to Chi-town tonight. And yes, if you requested something, I did get it. Consider it your xmas present and my the expression of my gratitude for being a faithful reader. :p

10 min and counting

10 min and a car will arrive to pick us up. It is off to Heathrow.. chillin for 2 hours, then jumping on a plane back to the states!

Excitment is creeping up on me and it was nice to spend the last few days in London before I leave with a long time friend.

My next entry will be in the states!

Wow, that was fast.

108. That's how long I've been here. 3. That's how many days I have until I go back to the States. 5. That's when I'm back in sweet home Chicago.

Wow, that was fast.

I can tell you now, looking back, I've made the right decision. 3 months is nothing.

I think next year should be more interesting since after I come back from the States it will be a longer stay. Double that probably. I won't be home until the summer I suspect. But I think as time goes on, things get a little bit easier.

I honestly thought it would be much worse. I thought I'd be miserable. All alone, taken away from friends I've known all my life.. close family.... but its not bad. Not bad at all.

I wasn't one to step out of my comfort zone. Late twenties.. who cares about personal change.. I'm set in my ways!!

But alas, here I am, outside that comfort zone, experiencing a rare opportunity to live and work abroad in the "old world." Europe. With many of its cities, history, and culture at my disposal.

Its been a quick 108 days. In fact, a a great movie character once said, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

I've been stopping and looking around, that's for sure, and the only missing I've been doing is of family and friends...

(oh how poetic... anyway..)

Language
A longtime childhood friend has come to visit. And one of the interesting questions he asked me while we walked through the underground..

"Why does it say Way Out? Why can't they use exit?"

The floods

I paid the price for the picture with boots filled with water from the canal. I even took the risk of standing on a table to take this picture. It's a priceless picture though. I couldn't believe how flooded it was. In any case, the pictures are up from the weekend. Good times.

Where's the snow?

Its mid December, but there's no snow. I actually miss it. I miss the snow, but not the cold. This weekend is was about 45 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny both days.

Typical weekend. Friday visited the pub with coworkers, Saturday was Oxford Street. Started shopping for things to bring back home for friends and fam. I still can't believe how many people live here. It was shoulder to shoulder on the sidewalk!!!

Anyway, in a week I'll be in the States. That will be different that's for sure. I think the toughest part about going home is the week after I come back here to London. I'm sure the cycle of being homesick will start over. But its all good, I think the weekend after I come back there are tentative plans to hit Amsterdam. I've been before and it was a good time.

Entourage
Has anyone ever watched this show? Its probably one of the best shows I've ever seen. Good stuff. Spent some of the weekend catching season 1 and some of season 2. If you haven't seen it, you are missing out!

3 months later..

So its hard to believe that I've been here for over 3 months. Its gone by faster than I thought. I wish I can write something thought provoking, an entry about how the past three months has changed my life. But honestly, right now, its too early.

Thinking introspectively, I think I'm learning more about myself than anything. Back home I kept myself busy surrounding myself with friends I've known all my life and sometimes you get lost in all of that.

The past three months I've spent a lot of time to myself, thinking to myself a lot and even changing my ways on how I look at things.

One of the conclusions I've come up with is that I'm pretty lucky to have friends I've known most or all my life. Friends from grade school, friends from high school, and even maintaining college friends. But at the same time, this comes at a disadvantage.

I think because I rely and lean on these friends I've had all my life its harder for me to meet and create new friendships. As you grow older you tend to have your set cliques and people you can trust and talk about anything and everything with.

After moving here I had to start all over. I realised that its really hard for me to open up to people easily. I can't act myself for some reason. I learned that I'm more of a listener and don't have much to say around people I hardly know.

I've got to learn the skill of superficial conversation. =) Having friends all your life you tend to discuss more personal things and even rely on stupid inside jokes that you've collected all your lives. You know how each person acts and things are just comfortable.

I can say after three months that I'm not comfortable yet. No set cliques and no inside jokes. I can look at the weekend and can say I don't have set plans. But I'm working on it.

I'm finally getting into the routine of things with work and errands, but I still miss the stupid inside jokes, the personal conversation, and just having genuine friendships.

A friend a while back told me: "Your friends will always be there." And sure enough they will and they have been. Thanks for all those who have made the effort to keep in touch! It means a lot.

It will be nice to go back home in a couple weeks to see everyone. And yes, I do have "other" stories to share. =)

London list
So I have a London magnet, London golf hat, London Olympic pins, chocolate, and shoes to shop for. Anything else? I'm still taking requests. =) I'll do my best to pick some of these things up this weekend.

Wet Socks and wet feet

One of my biggest pet peeves is walking around with wet socks. I'm walking around in warm socks and all of a sudden, I accidentally step on a section somewhere on the floor that's wet. Ugh. It just feels so weird and very uncomfortable.

Unfortunately this was taken to a new level over the weekend in Venice.

First off, Venice is beautiful. After talking all sorts of transportation to get there: train, walk, train, bus, plane, bus, and finally water taxi, it was a pretty impressive sight to see a city like Venice for the first time. It was just like scenes from the movie: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, but better! Our hotel was near St. Mark's Square, so seeing the square and St. Mark's Basilica for the first time was pretty amazing. The square was completely empty since we arrived around 1am and it was all lit up with Christmas lights. Quite a scene.

After settling in one of the smallest hotel rooms for 3 people I've ever seen, we tried to find a place to party. A bar, restaurant, even a club. But alas, this is the city of romance and even the guide books say that the party scene is slim to none. So unfortunately, our Friday night alcohol binge was postponed until the next day.

Midway through the night I heard loud air raid sirens. If I remembered correctly in my guide book, this meant high tides and flooding! But I ignored it and went back to sleep.

But my memory served me correctly the next morning as our hotel lobby was flooded! In fact, most of the city was flooded, at least knee high!

There were two options to take on the flooding. Buy a cheap pair of pseudo water proof boots that pretty much looked like garbage bags that covered your shoes. Or buy galoshes/boots. I decided to go for both.

I would buy the galoshes and use the garbage bag shoes to cover them since they covered a higher part of my lower leg than the boots. I was invincible.

My other coworker decided to do the same thing. We were going to brave the high water and walk into St. Mark's Square and take amazing pictures while keeping our feet dry and warm.

We were wrong.

St. Mark's Square was about a hundred meters away from the front steps of our hotel. Maybe less.

At first I was splashing through the water like a little kid. But, not even halfway to the square the water was way too high for my boot / plastic bag combination.

"I'm breached!" I yelled. We both were.

Water had penetrated through. I spend money on new boots and its whole purpose to keep my feet and socks dry had failed. The water was soooo cold.

I didn't even want to think about how clean or dirty this water was that had entered the inside of my boots.

We made it to the square, found a section of tables and chairs and climbed up the chairs and tables to admire the site of a flooded square. Quite an unbelievable sight.

I was bold enough to stand on top of a table and balance on one leg to empty my water filled boots. My coworker had his digital SLR all ready to take that magical moment of me falling backwards into the water.

Luckily I didn't. He took 3 or 4 pics of me of my balancing act which I hope to get from him soon!

Unfortunately I sucked it up and spent the whole day in wet socks and wet feet. It wasn't the most comfortable feeling. At the end of the day you won't believe how hard I scrubbed and washed my lower legs and feet. Ugh.

Overall, the weekend was a blast. Great stories. Great experience with the floods and I only hope to return one day to take that gondola ride under the bridge of Sighs with that significant other.. =)

I shall post pics soon!

Language
The hotel staff consisted of filipinas that worked in the hotel restaurant. What was cool was that they were speaking Italian! How cool was that?!? I busted out some Tagalog and they hooked us up with "extra" breakfast!

Two weeks
In about two weeks I'll be at home! Again, for anybody reading this, if there's anything you want from the UK, let me know!

Off to Venice

ah.. Last trip before going back home. 4 different countries in 3 months. Not bad. Will take pics. Hopefully I don't fall out of the gondola.

Concerts
Coldplay in London in two weeks! Can't wait!

Champagne

[2nd post of the day]

My old boss had a little celebration since he just bought a new flat. A bunch of his had bread, chorizo, jamon, and even sardines. Little dishes of Spanish cuisine. (Since he's from Spain.) The best was the flan at the end.

But during this celebration everyone shared about 3 bottles of champagne. I had a few glasses and its weird feeling a little tipsy while trying to work! You can tell other co-workers were too because everyone was yelling at each other instead of using their normal tone of conversation.. cracks me up..

You ever get a little tipsy or drunk and just have to announce it to everyone.. I think its the funniest thing..

You walk around.. and tell everyone..

"I'm so drunk!!"

"Dude, I'm totally buzzin."

I know you've all done it before, don't lie.

Curry, Left Hand guitar, and Thongs

So I went out on a rare Monday night with a couple co-workers and the American "interns" that are part of the one year program here. Had curry again for dinner in the Brick Lane area. (Brick Lane is a street which is lined with restaurants, mostly curry houses) I decided to try a new dish to expand my knowledge of the cuisine. I tried the Lamb Jalfrezi, a recommendation from a co-worker, which turned out to be very good. Its definitely more spicier compared to other dishes I've had before, but not too spicy that I didn't enjoy the meal.

Anyway after dinner we went to Vive Bar which was down the street. Cool place. Dark, artsy, it kind of reminded me of a bar in Chicago that for the life of me I can't think of. (For the Chicago readers out there, its the one by the United Center, Ukraine Village.. plays reggae once in a while??) Anyway, the stage was setup for performances. The first performance was by a lady that played the guitar left handed! It was pretty cool. Thing is, she didn't restring the guitar! Her performance was good and she sounded like Tori Amos.

So can anyone name a famous left handed guitar player? =) No googling.

The next guy was even better. Picture Dave Chappelle and John Mayer put together. Except that he wasn't playing the guitar. It was so weird because he had a guy sitting down next to him playing the guitar. It would have been so much better if he was actually playing. He had a great voice and totally got into his music. For some reason though, as my co-worker pointed out, he had a piece of black tape that ran along vertically on the front of his pants. Not sure if that was some kind of fashion statement?

While he was playing I did get to talk to the left handed Tori Amos. After a few jack and cokes, she passed by and I caught her attention. I complimented her on her left handed playing skills. I told her I was left handed and I asked her how she taught herself to play. (I try to play right handed, but it feels better playing left handed.) Apparently she used a code book. Not sure what that is though. But before I could get into deep and revealing conversation I was rudely interrupted by some other "feminine-like" guy. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Thongs
So somehow I got into a conversation about thongs with these two other American women. I honestly don't remember how it started or why it started, but for some reason we started talking about thongs. After a few drinks, things can get quite candid. But I did ask if it was "comfortable." And they said that a woman shouldn't try to "fool" herself and get the "wrong size." If you get the "wrong size" and buy something that isn't "quality" then it will be uncomfortable. This was quite enlightening. Comfortable or not, being a guy, as long as you are wearing one, I don't know what it is, but it's a great visual, esp with WPs.

Thanksgiving, hair and earphones.

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Mine went surprisingly well. Thursday night the team went out ice skating and that was quite fun. It's not as nice as the one in Millennium Park in Chicago, but it will do. The ice wasn't quite as smooth, but more importantly, I didn't fall on my bum. =) After that we went out for tapas and drinks. It wasn't a huge Thanksgiving dinner as it was more appetizers, but the red wine kept flowing. To be honest, I got pretty drunk. The problem with drinking red wine while sitting in a table for about 4 hours is that you can't really tell how drunk you are until you stand up. It was one of those nights were I passed out when I got home, only to wake up in the middle of the night wondering what happened! Overall though, it was better than staying at home being homesick!

It was Saturday night that I had a proper Thanksgiving dinner. An old co-worker, English, but had lived in the States in the past, hosted a Thanksgiving dinner in his home. Him and his wife cooked a turkey and all the dishes that are part of a Thanksgiving dinner: mash potatoes, gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, corn and all the rest of the trimmings. We even had pumpkin pie that my other co-worker brought! It was nice to stuff myself with so much good food, and I'm glad that him and his family invited all of us over.

Haircut

I decided to splurge and get a expensive haircut. Expensive meaning twice I normally pay. I was never happy with the barbers by work, so I was in search for another place that I can cut my hair the way I want. So I asked my doorman and mentioned a place. I went to check it out and it looked very posh. I didn't care at this point since it took me forever to find the place. I walked in wearing jeans and gym shoes when I felt like I should be wearing dress pants and nice black shoes. =) Anyway, after reluctantly agreeing to pay what was equivalent to about $35, they took my jacket and asked me if I wanted anything to drink. I responded quickly with a no, more because of shock that they asked in the first place. I look back at it now, and I should have taken advantage of their full service since I declined a couple times. Anyway, I get a stylist, who happened to have what looked like the Puma logo tattooed to the right side of his head. He was quite good though. I think the best part was getting my hair washed. There's nothing like someone massaging your scalp. At first I didn't know how to feel when she started washing my hair. Initially I was freaking out since I wasn't expecting it, but then I just told myself to relax and I did indeed enjoy it.

Damn Earphones

You know the problem with a person wearing earphones is that you can't get their attention. To accomplish this, sometimes you have to resort to physical action. For example, using your grocery basket to slam into them and get their attention right as they are checking out. It works. But sometimes creating "fate" and letting it happen are two different things. But either way, if you create opportunity, you must take advantage of it. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough "game" to do that. 3 chances and I struck out. I blame it on the earphones.

My Heaters

It's getting cold here in London. But I'll admit, not as cold as it gets in Chicago, but still. Actually, I think I'm spoiled by this "mild" weather as I think 40 degrees Fahrenheit is cold. Anyway, I don't have central heating, but I do have these space heaters.

Problem is, they are on a timer. I can't change the timer. It only turns on late at night around 10PM, then turns off at 6AM or so. What use is that? I'm in bed in a hour covered in a down comforter! I asked if I could move up the timer for them to turn it on but I can't. And the knobs fell off on some of them. So I can't adjust them. Sheesh.

Less than a month
I'll be back in Chi-Town!! With a brief stop over to NYC for business, I'll be back home! If I haven't already, and for people that actually read this, we should plan to meet! I'll be home for Christmas, head to Miami to party for New Year's with cousins, celebrate my last year in the "twenties" the last weekend (ahem), then back to London. If anybody wants anything from London, let me know!

Educational Sunday

I got an early start on Sunday and I had the whole day in front of me. I figured I could have stayed at home and veg out on the couch, but I had this feeling that should go out and be a tourist. I looked through my TimeOut London book and flipped through the pages and picked out a destination to see. I decided on the British Museum. I figured I could learn something about world cultures and finally see the Rosetta Stone.

My experience with museums is that I get bored really fast unless I have a sense of structure. Usually I have a list of exhibits that I want to see or learn about, but since this was all spontaneous, all I really knew about was the Rosetta Stone.

So I walk in and its this beautiful indoor courtyard. I walk toward the Persian exhibit and notice on a plasma screen that a “Highlights Tour” would start in a few minutes. So I made my way to the box office and purchase a tour. Finally, the structure I need. Taking into account that the museum is so huge, I figure a tour that covered the highlights would be perfect.

And sure enough it was. In about 2 hours the guide lead us all throughout the museum revealing interesting facts about the various exhibits that you couldn’t read on your own.

I found out that the courtyard I walked into is the largest indoor courtyard in Europe. It was pretty impressive to walk into. I learned a little about the Assyrian Empire, a little about Greece, and even visited Egyptian mummies, including Ginger! Did you know it takes 70 days for the whole mummification process to take place? Did you know the Rosetta Stone was the key to deciphering hieroglyphics?

I few other observations. What is it with tourists and camcorders that have to record everything? I understand recording certain specific exhibits? But there are some tourists out there that I was watching that would literally record everything!

I also love the tour guide squatters. I’m been guilty of this. Basically this involves spotting a tour that is taking place and listening in and taking in all the information that the tour guide is providing. The key is to not make it obvious that you are listening in. But a few people were too obvious that the tour guide would specifically ask members of the tour to follow her.

A short week
For the States!! Thanksgiving week has hit and guess what? I’m working the whole week! Bah!

Indian Food, cheque please!

I think I've had more Indian food in the past couple of weeks or than I have had my whole entire time I've lived in Chicago. I'm still getting accustomed to the many different types of dishes and all the different ways it is cooked, but I've definitely come to like Indian Food a lot.

I went to GayLord's in Chicago a couple of times for company lunches, but since moving here to London, I've been to many different Indian restaurants from your high priced, classy restaurant, to your cheap, "I'm drunk let's just eat here" type of Indian food place.

One of my coworkers who happens to be one of my clients from New York took us to an Indian place tonight. As much as I wanted to get a more expensive dish, I had forgotten to pick up some cash on the way to dinner. So of course, I ordered the cheapest Indian Dish. (Which happens to be about $20 if you convert it back to US dollars, but I try not to think that way anymore.) I didn't order a "starter" or appetizer like the others because I just had enough money for that one dish to enjoy. But man, was I starving.

So the starters come and everyone enjoys their dish. Of course they do the polite thing and offer to share. The thing I've noticed here in London is that all the portions of food are so much smaller. So even if you do share, there's not much left for you to have. It's not like TGI Friday's style where one appetizer is good for 2 or 3 people! So I kindly decline and watch them enjoy their "starter" as I look on with my mouth watering. I swear its the weirdest feeling when everyone is eating but you. Especially if you are hungry. =) It seems like everything is going in slow motion..You know in Old School when Will Farrel gets shot with the tranquilizer gun and everything is in slow motion?? It was like that. =)

Anyway, my Moghul Biryani arrives. It looked so good. From the online menu: its chicken and rice simmered in a flavourful stock, topped with nuts, sultanas, fried onions and green peas. Accompanied by cucumber and tomato raita. Oh it was so good.

I usually get Chicken Tikka Masala but it wasn't on the menu. Chicken Tikka Masala is probably one of the more popular dishes here in Britain. Since it wasn't on the menu, and I didn't have enough money for anything else, it was the Biryani that made the cut.

As we continue eating, talking about this and that, the night ends with the cheque arriving. Of course I prepare what I'm about to say just in case I come up short. But of course, to my luck, my client decides to expense it!! Urgh!! Free meal, and I choose the cheapest dish!! What a waste! I could have ordered the 3 course meal if I had known it was going to be covered! And I was so hungry. Actually, writing this, I'm still hungry! Urgh! Speaking of cheques..

Writing my First Cheque
I wrote my first cheque yesterday. That was a disaster. The chequebook I have doesn't look like a normal chequebook does in the States. There are 2 vertical lines on my UK cheque book that go straight down the middle and it confuses me. Anyway, I had to ship something to the States for my mom and I had to pay by cheque. I wrote it out the typical way, hoping it would be close to what was expected. I mean, how could it go wrong right? But the lady looked at it, looked at me, and told me I had forgotten to put "only----" after I wrote out the words out for the amount. My mistake. I think I usually do that. So I corrected that, and I gave it back to her.. and then she looked at it, looked at me, and told me that I forgot to put "pence" when I wrote it out.. or in the US equivalent "cents." So I wrote the pence as a fraction, so she didn't like that, so she made me scratch out the denominator... after that, she looked at it again.. whew.. and finally agreed that I did it correctly. Luckily I spelled out that date by writing out the month. See, the convention here is to put the day before the month when writing the date. So 17/11/05 is 11/17/05. Get it? How weird. Are you annoyed yet that I'm spelling check as cheque? I just "realised" I was doing that. =)

Pictures
Prague and Dublin are finally up. If you don't know my fotki, email me.

Stepping on someone in Borders

In hopes of trying to get a software update on my mobile phone, I decided to venture off into the Oxford Street area of the city. (The Oxford Circus stop in the Central Line if you are taking the tube.) Anyway, as I ventured off to find a Carphone Warehouse so I can get an engineer to fix my phone, I exit the tube stop, and I'm totally consumed by the mass quantity of people.

I felt like I was going against the grain walking down Oxford Street with so many people filling the sidewalk. I felt like I was navigating through Bourbon Street on Marti Gras or Times Square on New Year's Eve. I was waving in and out as walking in a straight line was eventually result in running someone over. Everyone was so tightly packed together. There really isn't a concept of personal space here in London. I actually don't mind it anymore. Just this weekend, a couple people slammed right into me on accident as the centrifugal force shifted as the bus or tube started motion.

But to continue, with the concept of personal space, I begin with the bookstore: Borders on Oxford Street. I've been to Borders before many times in the States. I've been when its been busy and when its been slow. I've taken advantage of skimming through many books and magazines many times.

Borders is the modern public library. Everyone goes there. It's a great place to people watch, a great place to relax, read a magazine, do some research, and enjoy a cup of coffee.

But I think the London Borders I went to has taken it into a new level. First of all, I've never seen so many people in a Borders before. I guess I can attribute it to the fact that people seem to be shopping early for Christmas. As I continued into the higher floors, there are so many people everywhere. Its like there was some clearance sale going on.

What's so funny about all of this is this concept of personal space I've written about earlier. I took a quick glance at what looked like a couch that could easily fit 2 people, only to be filled with three people! In America, people like to sprawl out, spread their arms/legs wide making sure only another person would fit, if that. But I chuckled to myself because the three people in the couch were all into what they were reading, but with their arms and shoulders constricted close to their bodies, a position similar when keeping your body warm in a cold winter day! And it didn't seem like they didn't mind at all!

As I continued on, people were everywhere reading. People were sitting on the bookshelf stools, leaning against the shelves, and even on the floor. It was so packed, even finding a place to sit on the floor was hard to find!

As I walked around, skimming through the technical geek book I was reading, I unfortunately stepped on someone. =( Well, not literally, but stepped on their jacket on accident because I was too consumed in the book. I didn't see her. You see, the person was sitting on the floor in a path that would be considered heavy traffic!! It was bound to happen! I felt bad, apologised, and walked away embarrassed.

I'm surprised there isn't a fire hazard with all the people sitting on the floor. I swear some of these people show up when Borders opens, pick up a book or stack of magazines, and read it all the way through until it closes for the day. I only say this because some lady was halfway through what looked like a thick novel! She wasn't doing research or skimming through it to see if she wanted to buy it.

But as I think about it, I think I'm going to try and do the same thing next weekend. Pick a book and spend all day on the floor. Hopefully I won't get stepped on!

Soundtrack
Another addition to the soundtrack:

Different Names for the Same Thing - Death Cab for Cutie

Just the title says it all when it comes to the language differences between American and English.

London Soundtrack

So most movies and some TV shows have a musical soundtrack. In a way each song is pertinent to a particular TV episode or movie scene. I'm starting to realize that I need a "London Soundtrack."

It's like back in the day, when you use to make a mix tape for that special someone. You thought really hard about what slow jam would describe how you feel about that person and you would have to come up with the right amount of songs to fit onto the analog tape. Or even in modern times, creating "seasonal" CDs like the "summer 2004" CD which would have the cool songs you would love listening to during that time. Each tape or CD would capture and freeze a moment in time and the music you would've listened to. So I think I'm starting to collect songs for my soundtrack.

I haven't really thought about what songs would be in it until I heard one song yesterday. The song is called "Two More Years" by Bloc Party. Now, the lyrics don't particularly pertain to any specific feeling I have about a past relationship or past experience. The chorus is so catchy and I feel it captures my stay here in London. Not to say that I'm only staying here for two years, but when I first heard it, that's the first thing I thought of.

Then I started to think of other songs that would be part of this soundtrack. Sadly another song I thought of right away was "Push The Button" by Sugababes. Why this song? Because it was the first catchy pop song that caught my ear when I first arrived! Then there's "Fix You" by Coldplay. I think I mentioned this previously in my blog, but they would use this song to advertise the reality show "UK's Biggest Loser." I loved this song before, but it was interesting to hear it as part of a plug for a reality show. I'm sure the list will grow as my stay here progresses, but those are the first three I can think of off the top of my head.

Then my mind would wander a bit more and I started thinking of theme songs and what particular song would play if I entered a room?? This was a tough one. But immediately it came to me. It wouldn't be some slow jam, indie tune or popular pop song.

Do you know the theme song to the old comedy What's Happening? Oh man, that would be my song that would play when I enter a room. Why? Because when I hear the song I think of being goofy and and I think of Rerun, Raj or Dwane..

Shoes
I picked up this habit from my sister of looking at people's shoes. We believe that looking at people's shoes can tell a lot about a person's personality. Well going to lunch today I saw a guy that works for the company, and he had a hole in his shoe! I mean it wasn't like there was a hole by his big toe, but there was a hole big enough for me to notice his socks. I mean c'mon! If there is any other indication when to get new shoes its when you can see your socks!

I almost wanted to say: "Dude, you have a hole in your leather shoe."

Writer's Block and Fireworks

I'm honestly having trouble coming up with something to write! Maybe its because I'm settling in? Who knows.. But for anyone that is reading is.. I'll continue to make it interesting.

So Guy Fawke weekend. America has some serious English competition when it comes to fireworks. All weekend long, nonstop, fireworks everywhere. Almost to a point where it was annoying. It was nice though because some displays were just outside my window.

If you have googled successfully, Guy Fawke failed in his attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament, King James I, and the entire English government. He was part of a plot with 12 other men, led by Robert Catesby and they felt that violent action was the answer to all the Catholic persecution under James I. Unfortunately it was Guy Fawke that was caught under the House of Lords with 36 barrels of gunpowder.

"Remember, Remember, the 5th of November!"

So I met up with an old friend that I worked with to celebrate this momentous occasion on Friday. I had to take public transportation, and well, yet again, another painful experience.

I was running late because all the trains were packed, and for the first time I had to take the National Rail service. This is equivalent to suburban train service in the states. Anyway, it was my first time taking it, and I thought I could use my regular "pre-pay" travel card.

Apparently not. I couldn't exit out of the station turnstyles because my card wasn't working. So I approached the ticket attendant to tell him about my problem. I told him my travel card wasn't working. He proceeds to ask me if I bought a ticket. I said no. Then he goes on and writes me a fine for not having a ticket!

I beg and plead and tell him that I just moved here from America and I don't know how this system works. I even emphasized my American accent. (Don't ask me what I mean by this) And without any remorse he writes me a fine for £20 !! (about $35). He showed no mercy. I guess on the bright side of things, I can write a letter to appeal this whole thing. I mean, its not like I didn't want to pay! I'm not a criminal!

The fireworks were quite impressive. I was surprised since I had this arrogant feeling that when it comes to competing with July 4th fireworks, nothing can come close. I've seen some pretty impressive firework displays in my life, but I'll admit, last Friday was pretty good.

The funny thing with watching fireworks, at least for me, is that it's nothing new. But somehow, we are still amazed by it. I love all the expressions on people's faces when they watch fireworks. And I'm sure I make some weird expressions as well. But then again, its not like we've never seen it before! Big open eyes.. expressions of awe.. I wish I had a overhead camera that would capture people's faces while watching fireworks. I wonder how that would look like? (I know I'm weird) So I don't know what it is with fireworks and its attraction. Perhaps its this love for explosions and the brilliant colours in the night sky. I really don't know.

After the fireworks display ended, we all caught drinks. I also seem to have missed the detail that I met up with 6 women. Yeah I counted. That gave a little boost to the ego. Too bad I was a half hour late and kept all them waiting. (A couple were cute for those who want to know) One had a goofy personality which I was attracted to right away. She was one of those people that finds everything funny and has that self-deprecating humour that I'm so familiar with. Don't think I'll ever see her again though since she's roommates with my old friend that's leaving London anyway!

What's that smell?
One of the women that went with us had a bad case of BO. (Body odor) I can't stand that. I mean, who does right? At first I didn't know where the smell was coming from. And of course, reasons I attribute to human nature, I had to find out who it was.

So I did that whole thing where you look around, doing those quick sniffs like a dog, turning your head each and every way to find the source. And sure enough, sadly, it was one of the girls we were with. So sad, and what a turn off. I knew it was her for sure because I made the effort to actually sit next to her to confirm this. Call it self torture. But at least my curiosity was satisfied.

I think I'm going to go...

I still can't get over the fact that I have this great opportunity to travel Europe and its cities just over a weekend. Its pretty amazing.

Just today a coworker, who is also an Expat, suggested to the rest of us Expats in London to take a trip to Florence, Italy next month. It sounded like a good idea, but some ideas don't come to fruition. But sure enough, he got the ball rolling, planned an itinerary, and eventually everyone jumped in. Just like that, a group of us are going to Italy over a weekend. Unbelievable.

I guess that was one of the reasons why I moved over here. The opportunity to travel. The ability to just decide in a whim, hey I think I'm going to visit Italy next month.

Which makes me wonder. How come when I'm in Chicago, I don't plan trips like this over the weekend. "Hey, I'm going to go to LA this weekend!" Or hey, "I'm going to Wyoming this weekend!" (I mean, who seriously has been to Wyoming? Nothing against it, I just don't know anyone that has.) I guess I could, but I think the novelty isn't there because I'm local? Not sure. Maybe if it was the other way around and I was an expat from Europe and moved to the States I'd be doing the same thing. Who knows. But I'll tell you this, I don't think a trip to LA over a weekend would cost about a $100. Trips to mainland Europe run around this price which makes weekend getaways much more appealing.

But how long?
I'm always asked by the locals here the question of how long I'm going to stay. My typical answer is "2 years." My goal is definitely at least 2 years. But maybe 2 years isn't enough? I really can't say. All I know is that its probably one of those feelings I'll get in my head when I know its time to go back home. But right now, I know there are a long list of places I want to see here in Europe before I go back: cities in Spain and Italy, Greece, southern France, Hungary, the northern countries like Norway, Sweden, Finland to name a few. And next month, its Florence, Italy. Its too bad I'm going to go with 6 other guys. Not sure a romantic gondola ride is part of the itinerary. =) But it should be some crazy debauchery.

I'll admit though, finding a significant other sometime in the future would be pretty nice with all these European cities at my disposal. Could you imagine taking a significant other to Paris over the weekend? Or Madrid for some tapas and sangria? Oh the trips would be endless. But alas, single for now and enjoying it. (So he says so confidently.. been single for like 10 years now, actually 5 yrs, 3 months.. 22 days.. just kidding) The self belittling is simply for humour.

But anyway, I somehow ended up here in London for a reason. I know part of it is due to my career, but I know there are other reasons too and I guess I learn about a new one each and every day.

Language
So today, someone was telling a story about going to the bathroom.. and they used the phrase...

"So I went for a 'wee' in the loo."

Hahahaha.. you wouldn't ever catch me saying that. It sounds so hilarious for some reason. =)

Being Sick Sucks

T'was an uneventful weekend as I'm still recovering from the Dublin trip. Caught a sore throat the night before I was coming back, and have been recovering since. Not much over the weekend as I figured it was best to stay in and get better.

Although there was this guy at church that was snoring real loud. And he would pretend he wasn't sleeping. He would snore and pretend he was clearing his throat or something. He did that thing where you lose control of where your head is going. I don't even know what you call it. Lazy Neck? Sleepy head bobbing? Anyway, he wasn't fooling nobody. But anyway..

Amazing what a year makes since I remember distinctly dressing up for Halloween. I was a monk and everyone thought I was wearing a Jedi outfit. It was a brown robe with a big hood and if I carried a light saber, I would have pulled it off. But I had a cross around my neck instead. I remember going to Zentra that night. Good times.

Tomorrow I'm going to attempt to attend the Improv workshop again. I missed last week because of this damn cold, but I think I'm better enough this week to attend. We'll see how it goes. Hopefully work won't keep me long.

Oh, and what's this? Plans already this weekend? And only a Monday? We'll see.
It's Guy Fawke weekend, and my old coworker has plans on getting people together. Something to look forward too I guess. If you don't know who Guy Fawke is, you should learn. Google it. That way you can say you learned something today.

Pictures
Pictures are almost done. They are on my Fotki site, in a hidden section. I have to sort through them and add appropriate captions. They're worthless unless they have captions!

Here's a sneak preview:



It's an aerial view of Prague from the St. Vitus's Cathedral

If you look closely, you can see where Kanye West shot the Diamonds music video. =)

And can you guess where this is?

Yes, Dublin, Ireland. The home of Guiness. Not the book, but the beer.

Steam Clean is what I mean!

Most flats in London come furnished. What does this mean exactly? Basically you inherit all the furniture that comes with the place, plus miscellaneous utensils in the kitchen, and even if you are lucky like me, you even get a huge 20 inch TV. (Sadly its about the size of my CPU monitor) With furnishings included, the imagination can run wild as to what my sofa or bed has gone through. I try not to think about its past history, because if I do, I am only left with this disgusting feeling. Its kind of like getting a new girlfriend or boyfriend, you don't even want to think of what he/she has done with... oh nevermind, I won't go there. =)

To continue, I've lived in my flat for about almost a month, and unfortunately I haven't been able to fully "enjoy" my furniture in the living room, or as they say here: "reception area."

What do I mean by "enjoy"? Well, when I say "enjoy" I mean laying out, fully extended, remote in hand, watching TV, only wearing (..blank..) (You can fill out the blank depending on your relationship to me. I leave you with that liberty.)

I haven't been able to pass out, fall asleep, or sit "relaxed" in my huge couch because it was never properly steam cleaned! After I moved in, I looked closely and to my dismay, lifting the couch cushions, I was only left to discover...


Yes!! Pieces of hair, crumbs, dried pieces of whatever.. and various other pieces of lint!!

Is that some dried up snot? Why yes!

Oh the horror!

How can I fully enjoy the freedom of relaxing after a long days work with this in the back of my mind! Why GOD why! I even resorted to only sitting in a certain area of the couch as long as I had a blanket covering the upholstery.

Sometimes I felt things would crawl in my skin and then I would start to itch. No joke. I complained and counted the days until someone would come and finally steam clean these soft furnishings! AND TODAY, the day has come!

You can't even understand when these guys knocked on my door. I decided to work from home so that I could actually witness this momentous event. Sure enough, here they came with their big honking machine. I was so happy, I wanted to let out a burst of joy. I couldn't keep it in so I locked myself in the bathroom and gave out a big yell!

No I'm kidding, I really didn't do that. But imagine if I did!

I honestly think I annoyed them at some point because I would watch them like a hawk as they cleaned. I wanted to make sure they cleaned every inch of upholstery. Can you imagine someone watching you while you worked! How annoying would that be! I wanted to joke around and say.. "Hey, you missed a spot." hahaha.

With all it said and done, I tipped them 5 quid. (About $10) The cushions and pillows are drying, and I cannot wait to finally enjoy my couch! The best timing out of all of this is my Sky Satellite TV was installed today too! It has TiVo functionality as well. Too bad I don't even know what shows are worth recording.

Thanks
I looked in my work email inbox today to find 4 emails from different people that enjoy reading this blog. You know who you all are. I appreciate it. Thanks for the compliments. Think of it as a personal email to you because I would be cutting and pasting this same content to everyone in emails anyway. Just kidding. Well not really. =) Believe it or not, I'll be back home in 2 months!

White Sox
I really wish I could witness history and watch the White Sox win it all.. but perhaps its a blessing in disguise because inside I'll be crying and feel utterly disgusted because Cubs fans will never hear the end of it if they win it all. Bah!

Nice people in Dublin

The trip to Dublin was interesting. One of the rules I have for any new city I visit is to use the city's public transportation. Using the public transportation gives you a true feel for the city and its people. You get to see “real” people and get a feel for the city by travelling through neighbourhoods that you would not see in a city tour bus.

I arrived in Dublin last Thursday and rather than jumping in a cab that would take me straight to my hotel, I followed my rule of taking public transportation. I asked the lady from the tourist counter what bus to take and I waited patiently. I waited and waited and even got to a point where I was going to just take a cab anyway. But after 45 min or so, the bus I was waiting for arrived.

The thing with arriving in a new city or country is that you really don’t know how long a journey is going to take, unless you ask. I really didn’t know how far my hotel was from the airport so I really didn’t know when to look out for it, or when to request a stop. Fortunately, there were other tourists in the bus, so I figured I can at least wait as long as them to get off the bus!

In any case, I sat in a seat that had a sign next to it. It said something like: “Give this seat up to the elderly.” It was a two-seater so I had enough room for myself and my carry-on luggage. As I continued riding this bus, an elderly woman entered and looked straight at me. Being the good citizen I am, I kindly moved over to make room for her. As the bus continued on, I kept wondering where I was and when I should get off. Right before I got on the bus I bought a pop-up map that actually didn’t help too much.

Anyway, as I secretly looked at my map, trying not to make it obvious that I had no idea where I was going, the elderly lady started talking to me. I removed my headphones and she started talking about what street we are on. Then she asked me where I was going. I thought to myself, wow, this elderly lady is really nice! So she told me what stop I should get off of. Unfortunately, she had to get off before I did, so she couldn’t help me any longer. So I waited a couple stops.

Then all of a sudden, this other lady behind me tells me that I should get off soon. I was like: “What duh?” I guess she overheard the fact that I wanted to get off at a certain street, so she was advising me that this was the stop I should get off of. What nice people!! So I get off the stop, and guess what? Another Irish woman was trying to help. She was trying to point me in the right direction to go. Man, I tell ya, these Irish are very nice! Unsolicited help from very friendly Irish people was brilliant! I even told the last lady that helped me: “Oh my god, you are so nice!” I was overwhelmed with how nice these people were.

With all of them trying to help, the ironic thing was that I didn’t find my hotel until 45 min or so after I got off the bus! I finally found the hotel by running into Lesley because she was smoking outside the bar of my hotel! (You can't smoke in bars in Dublin) If I didn't see her, I would have never found the hotel since the main entrance was on the other side of the street.

Overall, the trip was fun. It was nice to see Lesley and Zac. I enjoyed being “myself” and having fun. We visited the Guinness Storehouse and the Jameson Factory as well as other sites. The best part of the Jameson factory was that Zac got to be a taste tester! He got to taste test 5 different shots!

The weird thing about some of the Irish pubs we went too was that they would play Hip Hop in most of them. It was so strange! I expected some old Irish folk songs or something, but instead we got to listen to 50 cent while drinking a pint of Guinness. So weird! Oh another thing was that most of the bar backs, bartenders, waiters, waitresses were all Asian. There were more Asian people that I expected that’s for sure! There were even Asians with Irish accents! Can you imagine that? I bet you can't until you hear it!

Broadband
Finally!! If you have a webcam, hit me up. I want to test out my iSight. I’ll try to jump on AIM/MSN/Yahoo too.

Pictures
I’ll be uploading my Prague and Dublin pics soon. If you know my Fotki site, just visit that. It should be up by the end of the week. If you don’t know it, shoot me a mail.

Leprechaun hunting

So I'm off to Dublin, Ireland to meet up with an old friend Lesley and her fiance Zak. My flight leaves this evening and I'm hoping to meet up with them for some dinner and drinking. I don't know what to expect but I have an idea it will involve drinking Guinness and Jameson. I wonder if I'll find a leprechaun when I'm there so I can take him home as a souvenir. =) I wonder if they sell the cereal Lucky Charms there? I wonder if I'll find a four leaf clover? Hopefully all my questions will be answered!

Broadband
Looks like my broadband access will come very soon. The modem came in and I just have to set it up. I can finally upload pics and setup my webcam!

World Series
I guess having the Sox in the world series is a good thing for Chicago. But its weird, its like the blue states vs. the red states all over again!

New Friends?

I finally attended an improvisational workshop here in London hosted by the improv group, Fluxx. I wanted to go last week, but work kept me late. I didn’t really know what to expect. But to say the least I’m glad I went.

Since I’m starting to master the public transportation system, =) I knew what bus to take to my destination. I had a printout of the map and had an idea of where I was going. As I proceeded to find the building, it was smaller than I thought. It was this run down community center and I saw someone walk in so I followed after. The problem is, there were no signs that I could follow that pointed me to where the workshop was. So I spend about 10 minutes walking around this small building trying to find the right room. To be honest, there weren’t a lot of rooms. After walking around, there was only one big room, and I was shy to walk in and ask if it was the right place. So I continued walking around this small building trying to convince myself that there was another room. But there wasn’t, just a large gymnasium-like on the second floor with a couple people in it.

Suddenly, my stomach didn’t feel so well and I really had to go to the men's room really bad. (You must be wondering why I’m adding this, but it’s what happened!) Anyway, so I had to look for a men's room. I find a really small one in the first floor that didn’t look too “clean.” I knew I had to do the “deed” because I didn’t want to spend 2-3 hours having this “feeling” with me during the whole workshop. Anyway, there’s only one stall in the bathroom, and it’s like the smallest stall I’ve ever seen. I felt like a pro basketball player sitting down it was so small. I also decided not to turn on the lights in the bathroom for some odd reason. As I sat down, I was so pissed at my body for having the worst timing ever. Here I am trying to meet new people in this improv workshop and I am in this strange building “dropping the kids off at the pool.” Anyway, the worst part is that someone entered the bathroom and turned on the lights. That was the worst feeling. I wonder what he was thinking when he saw my feet under the stall. It must have been something like: “This guy is in the toilet by himself with the lights off!” Anyway, I digress.

So I enter the gymnasium-like room and ask if it was for the workshop. Sure enough it was. I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable at first since I didn’t know anybody, so I did the standard thing of introducing myself, hoping my American accent will make me unique. Luckily my fake British accent decided not to show up. I met Steve and so we chatted a little bit. Then more people showed up and eventually we had about 14 people in the workshop. We started up with these warm up exercises while we breathed loudly and heavily. We stretched everything in our body, it was quite relaxing, but weird at the same time. The funny thing was that the instructor wasn’t wearing any shoes, and he had holes in his socks and each of his big toes was peeking through. I tried not to look because every time I did, I would start to giggle. Its like they were staring at me. It’s stupid I know, but I laugh at stupid things.

So a few impressions of the workshop: 1. It wasn’t as comedic as I thought it would be. We were focusing on higher level techniques that I wasn’t use to, and it was more serious acting that I thought. 2. I think the people in this group have been working together for a while because there was a lot of physical action between the actors. Touchy feely stuff that I couldn’t convince myself to do just yet. Not that people were making out, but like really passionate hugs and one of the guys (Tim) pinched the other actress (Sarita) on the butt! I thought to myself, “Did he just do that? Did he just pinch her ass?” That was really weird.

Overall the people are really nice. Tim, the guy that pinched the Sarita’s butt, is actually from Chicago. And he’s a SOX fan!! Anyway, he collected my info and a real nice woman, Sarita, the “pinchee” collected my info as well and mentioned that there was a show this Sunday that I should attend that they were all going to. So we’ll see if I get to go to that. I’m glad I went and it’s nice to meet people outside work. There’s another workshop next week and I do plan on going to that as well. I guess you can say I've started stepping "outside of the box" - One big toe at a time.

Greenwich and jumping jacks

Weekend was better than most. Beautiful weather during both days over the weekend and I tried taking advantage of it. Friday was okay, night of drinking as usual. And guess what? Hung out with the coworkers! Went to a couple pubs called “The Gun” and “Dirty Dick’s” You gotta love the names of these pubs. A couple of weeks ago I went to a pub called “Bangers.” With so many pubs here in England, the imagination can run wild with pub names. I’m still trying to think of a pub name if I ever opened a pub here.

On Saturday I realized that I had nothing to do all day, (big surprise) so I decided that I was going to wonder about London. I didn’t have a real destination. My original goal was to hit the parks in the west end of the city. It was a beautiful Saturday so why waste it staying inside? Anyway, on my way to my undetermined destination, which I thought was going to be the west side of town, I decide to take the train south to Greenwich. It was a last minute decision, and I wish I brought my camera!

Anyway, if you are not familiar with Greenwich you should be! As a test, and if you are using a Windows operating system, dbl-click on the time in the corner. Click on Time Zone. See that GMT abbreviation? That’s Greenwich Mean Time. Greenwich is where time begins! Well, relatively. Greenwich is where the prime meridian is defined. Zero degrees Longitude. It basically is the point that defines the Eastern and Western hemisphere.

So there is this observatory in this beautiful park. And when you climb this hill to get there this is this little “touristy” area. I was looking for some kind of tourist attraction where it shows where the prime meridian was defined. From a distance, I see all these people lining up in this jumping jack position. Arms out, legs apart, just like a big “X”. Curiosity has definitely been sparked.

I walk closer and there is this line on the ground where you can stand, leading up to this sculpture of a globe. A HA!! This “virtual” line is where the prime meridian is defined, basically separating Eastern and Western Hemispheres! Now I can imagine why all these people want to take these pictures of themselves on both sides of the hemisphere. Almost each and every person, I kid you not, took a picture of themselves in this jumping-jack position, demonstrating the fact that each side of their body is on both sides of the Hemisphere. It was quite funny to watch what people will do! “Hey look at me; I’m on both sides of the hemisphere!”

Anyway, spend most of the day walking around the park people watching and even sitting down and enjoying a book. If you haven’t read the book Alchemist, its a good read. Thanks to Allison who gave it as a going away present!

British Humour
Sunday went to a comedy club and watch four stand up acts. Pretty funny. Despite the usual local mockery of local culture that I didn’t get at all, most of it was a laugh.

Eating Alone and Food
I think I’ve mastered the art of eating alone in public places. As long as I have my trusty magazine as my security blanket, I’m okay. I’ve seen this practice done with other solitary diners as well. I had bangers and mash on Saturday alone to myself. I even ate outside! If you don’t know bangers and mash its simply long sausages and mash potatoes with some special sauce. This dish also included green peas. Yuck. Not a fan of green peas. Then on Sunday, I went to a good asian restaurant. I chose it because there were 2 other guys eating by themselves. I figure with two other lonely guys eating alone, what’s wrong with a third. Then they left in the middle of my meal. So then I was alone yet again. Luckily another woman showed up alone to eat. I left in the middle of her meal. =)

Congrats
I guess congrats to the Southsiders. Bah!

Repeat After Me

So I have four channels. All BBC channels. I'm still waiting to setup my Sat TV, so I don't have much of an option. But I have a confession to make. When I watch TV, I listen to these Brits talk, and I try to immitate their accent. I literally repeat what they say. It's good practice just in case I want to pretend I'm actually from here. For example:

When you see these numbers how would you pronounce it?

0800 33 55 66

American:
"Zero eight hundred, three three, five five, six six."

That's very inefficient.

I've learned to say it the brit way.
"Oh eight, double oh, double three, double five, double six."

See. Isn't that cool? hahahaha.

Zeros are "Ohs" and anytime you see the same numbers next to each other than use double or triple. Just like above.

That goes for letters too. So there is this spelling show I watch on TV. How would you spell "dazzle" out loud?

American:
"Dee", "a", "zee zee", "el", "e"

Brit:
"Dee", "a", "double zed", "l", "e"

Haha. Zed. What a weird way to say "Zee"

For those car buffs out there.. how would you say "TT" or 350Z ?

"I drive a double T" hahahaha.
Or
"I drive a Three-Fifty Zed" LOL.

Good stuff.

Football
No, not American Football. Soccer! England won their Group today over Poland. Yeah that's right. I'm watching Soccer. (Football) Watched the last 2 games that England has played. Yeah I even know some players.. of course Beckham, then you got Cole, Wayne Rooney, and Michael Owen. I found myself cheering too. Good times. We've qualified for World Cup in Germany next year! (We - England, weird)

Baseball
Go Angels!

Hungry for Filipino Food

One of the things that I miss is the food back home. I had the luxury of going home in the weekends to mooch off my parents and eat a nice meal such as rice and various other Filipino dishes. There’s nothing like greasy Filipino food once in a while. Unfortunately with the move here, it’s been hard to find to satisfy that craving. First off, I’m still looking for a place that sells a rice cooker. I can do it all old school and cook it in a pot, but haven’t convinced myself yet to go that route.

Anyway, so when my sister and Mom visited a month back they asked a Filipino guy that worked at this souvenir store where to go get some Filipino food. He mentioned a restaurant by Earl's Court that he loved called: F.M. Pasyalan. I knew in the back of my mind I wanted to go, but never had a chance since it’s about a 40 min tube ride to get over there. Luckily I had to meet some friends near that area for a birthday party, so part of my plan was to make a visit for dinner.

So after the birthday party with an old friend, and being known as the "token" American guy, I made my way to Earl's court. I really didn't know what to expect. I didn't know if it was all formal and gourmet-like, or some hole in the wall. I get off the tube station and make my way to the restaurant. All I was told was to make a "right" after getting off the train and exiting the station. I didn't know how far the restaurant was. So I continued on. Sure enough I knew I was in the right direction when I pass a bus stop with about 4-5 Filipinos waiting. I continue and on a side street I walk past another group talking in the native tongue discussing where to go next. I walk for about a minute more, and sure enough, there it was: “F.M. Pasyalan.” It was like a mirage in the middle of a desert. There was a sign with “Asian Cuisine” in front and “Chinese-Thai-Filipino Food” underneath it.

I perform my normal routine of walking past it pretending I have no intention of entering at all. My quick glance revealed that the restaurant was half full of people and rather small. My arrival would definitely not go unnoticed. Luckily I saw a convenience store nearby, so I bought a car magazine to serve as my security blanket. Something I could pretend to read while I ate alone. I was pretty committed to eating there, even though I wasn’t even that hungry.

I finally walk in and after the whole room stops eating and stares at me, I’m greeted by a Filipina woman who immediately starts speaking Tagalog. I understand her, and for some reason, this stupid English accent comes out of my mouth. I respond in my british wannabe accent,

“One Please.”

and she points to a table and I go

“Cheers.”

I have no idea why the stupid English accent came out. I really don’t. You would think my FOB Filipino accent would have surfaced, but no, it was the English accent that decided to rear its ugly head.

Anyway, I sit down, and she asks me what if want the buffet and what I want to drink in Tagalog. I respond with:
“Yes buffet is fine, Water please.” (Luckily my normal accent comes out.)

She acknowledges and realizes that I do understand what she’s saying, so she continues and tells me something again in Tagalog. At this point I had no idea what she was saying. After saying “excuse me” a few times, she responds with:

“You go get now.”

Lovely.

So the spread is pretty impressive. All kinds of greasy Filipino food including: fried rice, caldereta, and lechon. As I pile everything on my plate, I walk back to my table in the corner and check everyone out. With a nice flat screen LCD TV in the corner playing a Filipino channel, I try to listen attentively to other people eating. Not to be nosey in anyway, but to listen and look for the Filipino British Accent.

Sure enough, the lady sitting a table across from me sounded like she had one. I continue to eat, and I really try and make the effort to block out the outside noise and hone into what she’s saying. She was probably early 20s, accompanied by her mother and grandmother. Now you have to picture this and my physical expressions. I really couldn’t pick up the accent at all. I don’t think the loud obnoxious Filipino channel in the background was helping. So I continue to eat and try not to worry about it. I enjoy the food from the buffet.

Then I come up with a brilliant idea. Well, maybe not so brilliant, but at the time it was. The next time I was going to get a plate of food I was going to walk by their table and “listen in.” But I had to time it perfectly so I would walk by right when she was talking.

If there was someone watching me through this whole process, they would have a laugh. Anyway, I proceed to finish my first plate, determined to get a second. Timing was critical, so when I found it was the right time, I stood up and walked past.

Dammit! Wrong timing! She wasn’t talking!

I get my second plate and try and walk by again and no luck.

But alas. While I was getting into my second plate, there was a point where everyone stopped talking, and all I heard was this lady. Its like time stood still and everyone shut up so I could hear her. Seriously. Because when that happened, I “distinctly” heard her accent. I picked it up right away.

YES VICTORY! There are Filipinos with British Accents! Oh the joy!

Once I heard it the first time and picked it up, I started laughing to myself. I had to keep my head down because I was giggling a little too much. I even think to a point that someone might notice that I was insane or something. Its pretty interesting to hear that’s for sure. And the fact that I waited for this moment to finally come, it was hilarious.

Anyway that’s my story. Sorry so long. Food was good, left a decent tip, and I knew I was going to go back in a couple weeks.

Step out of the Box, Britafina, is that You?

Stayed in most of the weekend. Did a little shopping for the place, bought more plants. For some reason plants make a wide open place feel a lot warmer. A lot of sunlight comes into the loft, and with huge windows it almost becomes a greenhouse. I continued to decorate the place. What's ironic is that this place is a lot more decorated than my place in Chicago. I have a lot more art/pictures up on the wall than I ever did in my old condo. Not only that, but a lot more plants! I think being away from home and the fact that I have all this time to myself attributes to this.

The solitude at times can drive me crazy and I have so much time to think to myself by living alone. This can be good and bad, and at the same time, its like some weird learning process I go through by my myself. You would think that after awhile you have a good grasp of how you are as a person, what makes you happy or sad, excited or scared, but you put yourself in a situation like mine, its not as trivial. I've been put outside my element, my comfort zone, and the person I think I know is a little different.

For example, my social comfort zone has disappeared. The comfort of having something planned for the weekend without any effort expended by me has disappeared. Usually events, parties, get togethers all form around me. I don’t have to worry about not having something to do, and even a weekend alone to just chill is so hard to come by. Now my world has turned upside down and I have to adapt. Adaptation.

So on Sunday, even before mass started, I was hitting that "deep thought" zone as I sat there at church. At social gatherings, I always get the question: "So why did you move to London?" I always give the same standard response: "Opportunity to travel, career move, change." I seem to have a problem acknowledging the last reason. Change. Stepping out of the Box. Getting out of my comfort zone. I mean physically I'm here. I've stepped out of my comfort zone. But mentally, unfortunately, I'm still back home. I'm still in Chicago. Its been a month now and I guess that's normal, but I think at some point I really have to embrace the fact that I have to step out of my comfort zone mentally. I can't wait for people to call me, wait to get invited to parties, and the social habits that I had in Chicago have to disappear. I have to adapt to the social scene out here and make the effort. I have to step outside of my box, get out of my comfort zone and make the efforts to call people, plan outings for myself or even just get out of my flat. I'm not use to doing all this because I leaned on my social circles to have it all done for me, and it just kind of happened on its own. Its almost like I have to change a little bit of myself to adapt to this new environment. Staying in and feeling homesick is not exactly adaptation. Too bad its easier said that done! But at least I now know what needs to change. Changing is the difficult task.

So enough about this deep thought stuff. I think I'm mentally exhausted from trying to articulate all of that.

Anyway, so to practice "Stepping outside of the box" I went out on Sunday to meet up with an old friend for her birthday and not only that, but afterwards I finally went to that Filipino restaurant for dinner. But that's another story in itself. So stay tuned.

Liquid Dinner Part II.

I can confirm now that Brits simply do have Liquid dinners. We are about to leave for drinks tonight, and my other coworkers were buying sandwiches and snacks while my other American coworker sat there eating nothing. People were nibbling on their sandwiches and small snacks I was wondering why this was. They confirmed that no one really eats while drinking!

....

And now I'm back. Nothing like a night of drinking and a blog post. First and foremost, I must say, I'm not a "walker and talker." What does this mean you ask? I'm speaking of the skill of walking and talking! Here's the situation. Have you ever been in a big group or even a small group of people that are heading to the same destination? And you ever notice that people break into 2 or 3 people, basically walking together side by side and having a small superficial discussion? Well, this happens all the time, and I find myself walking by myself all the time!! People are paired up 2 or 3 people talking about some stupid subject, and for some reason I end up walking by myself all the time! I thought it was the fact that I always end up with an "odd" number of people, where everyone "pairs" up besides me, but even tonight, 10 people, I end up walking by myself. Its not like I choose to walk by myself, but for some reason, it always ends up this way. Maybe I'm not as social? I don't know. But interesting nonetheless.

In any case, it was an interesting night as discussions covering Affirmative Action, rebuilding New Orleans, and good old Rugby. I hope to go to a Rugby match this November! We'll see.

Encouraging
I'd like to thank many of you who have written emails of encouragement. Your emails mean more than you'll ever know. I do read each and everyone, and sometimes multiple times. I do plan on writing back, don't worry, I just want to write a more meaningful and heartfelt email back and it will take me a little more time for composition. I do miss Chicago a lot, and I know what I'm going through now and what I learn about myself will be priceless when I look back at this in the future.

More Americans
Went to lunch today only to meet more American women. I don't remember if I mentioned this but there is this program in London that have a bunch of Interns here working for a year from the States. Met more women from North Carolina, Nebraska, and Wisconsin. Have I met more local brits outside of work? No.

Initiative
I looked into improv classes/workshops here in London. I plan on attending one next Tuesday. Perhaps an outlet to meet new people. Should be interesting since I'll be the "token" American.
That should be an interesting blog post. I'll keep you updated. =)

Meeting someone within a month and getting married.

No not me, but someone else. On my way to a meeting about UK and US taxes, I meet someone that works at the bank that use to live in the US. She goes on and tells her life story. Basically, she moved here three years ago and the first month she's here she meets a British guy and eventually, they hit it off and get married! All within the month she moves here. Can you imagine that. Not to say that's what I'm looking for, but talk about fate. At first I was under the impression that she came here to be with him, but in fact, she met him here.

What I found more interesting was how she commented on how hard it will be if I moved back after a couple years. She talked about how you are use to how things were when you left and when you finally do go back your mindset will be stuck at the time you left. You think things didn't change, but in fact they do. Even simple things like cultural references, such as TV you will be way behind. Which I find some truth in because everything here in the UK runs a season behind, so watching reruns of Alias or 24 is not as exciting.

In any case, it was interesting to hear her view since she's traveled and worked abroad multiple times. She also said that my mindset will change living here and when I do go back I will really think differently about things and how things are done in the US compared to how they do it here. It's all interesting to hear now since I've only been here a month.

Life is such a strange thing. I keep thinking to myself how crazy life has taken me to this point that I live in a different country away from family and friends.

Plants
So I have two plants at my place. One I inherited which looks like its about to die. Another I bought, a bonzai tree. The last plant I had at my place in Chicago died. I suck at teh plant caring. But you know what, they are going to survive this time. You know why? I'm not watering them with regular tap water. Nope. I'm watering them with Brita. Yeah dood. Filtered water.

Loud Filipinos
For all those filipinos that actually read this, you ever notice how loud some of them are? I mean seriously, I go to family parties and my uncles are right next to each other and they still yell at each other. Its not like they are mad or excited, its just that they are loud naturally! Why do I bring this up? Well, at the tax meeting today, there is a kitchen next to it so they can serve food and snacks for the meeting rooms. Guess what I hear? Loud ass filipinos speaking tagalog. Then on my way home, I'm walking down the street, and yet again, I hear this loud filipina walking her kid and talking to her older son. At first I think its me because I can pick up and understand the language, but in fact, they indeed are really loud. I just think its funny. I want to hear a loud filipina with a british accent. Where is she?

Guttafraclcutta
This is the wireless network that pops up on my laptop and desktop. SHARE YOUR WIRELESS!!! So greedy. =) Its password protected and I admit, I spend time trying to crack it but I fail miserably. I guess if I've survived with dialup for this long, I can wait another month until everything gets setup. URGH!

baseball
GO BOSOX. White sux can suck it.

Its been a long month.

I wish I had some exciting stories about a crazy weekend I had, but I don't. I actually spent all of my weekend moving in and unpacking. I got the keys on Friday and on Saturday the movers arrived with my air and sea shipments from the States. They unpack everything for you, meaning, they take everything out of the boxes. Its up to you to put it away. So I just had a load of crap everywhere. Which was good since I was forced to put everything away. Thus the long and boring weekend.

I had some bad cases of being homesick with finally moving in. I was quite excited with having a new place, but its tough when you can't share that excitement with others and people you are close to. =( In any case, I have a place that I can call home. But its been a long month that's for sure, and I miss my friends, family, and my real home quite a lot.

But hey, I'm learning a lot about myself more than I ever would being here than not leaving at all, so at least I have that.

Flashing Pedestrian Guy.

So I haven't figured out the timing I need to cross the streets. You would think this would be a real quick skill to learn, but I still haven't mastered it even though I've lived here for a month. Not only are the cars coming from the wrong direction, but the traffic lights are not pedistrian friendly.

In Chicago I mastered my walk to work becauseI knew exactly how much time I needed for the traffic to start and when I needed to get out of the way. I even knew how many times that little pedistrian light would flash until the light would turn green at the opposite intersection. But here, I have yet to figure out when the right time is to cross! I use to be brave and cross when I felt it was safe, but now I've rely on the local brits. I usually wait for someone else to start crossing before I even make an attempt. It's so funny because the street have signs painted on them to tell you what direction to look when you cross! I think one of the problems is that the pedistrian light doesn't flash like it does in the States. At least if it flashed, I would know if it was close to get out of the way!

Well today, I was crossing the street with coworkers on our way to a presentation. Granted it wasn't a busy intersection, but a side street. In any case, I almost got hit! The taxi driver could have pretty much run over my toes if I didn't stop in time. I think it was the fact that we were walking fast because we were running late. My coworker even asked: "Did your whole life flash in front of your eyes?" I said no because I didn't even know the taxi cab was even coming! Luckily they stopped me before I could cross! whew.

Moving out, Moving in
So I moved out of the corporate housing today, and finally moving into my new flat. I leave in 5 min to meet the Inventory Agent to make sure all our demands are met as stated on the tenancy agreement! Then I get the keys! Woohoo!

Every Wednesday is Fruitday.

So at work, every Wednesday is fruit day. Basically, everyone is held in anticipation of this guy that brings this huge basket of fruits to the floor, and he literally announces that the fruit is here. Before he even arrives in the morning, everyone whispers to one other.. "Is the fruit guy here yet?" "Where's the fruit?" "Why isn't it here yet?" Its so hilarious. So when he does come, its like he's Santa Claus with all these presents. He opens up the box, and literally, everyone rushes to get their piece(s) of fruit. It's so fresh too. He even brings these huge watermelons and you have to cut them up! No, not really. That would be funny tho. Could you imagine that! Anyway, so everyone gets their piece of fruit and its so satisfying and refreshing. In the Chicago office we have "cookie day" and "beer and snacks" day. That's America for you. Screw the fruit, bring on the junk food, sweets and alcohol!

Honestly though, there are not a lot of fat people here in the UK. Not that I'm against them in anyway, but people here aren't as overweight as they are in the US. But what I found funny is there is a new reality TV show that's going to premiere here called the "Biggest Loser" which is equivalent to the one in the US. The only problem I have is that when they have the commercial they their theme song is "Fix You" by Coldplay!! Man, now I equate "Fix You" to a reality show where people are trying to lose weight!! URGH!! Anyway, again, as a disclaimer.. nothing against "heavier-set" people.

Moving in..
Crossing my fingers.. I move into my place this Friday. Can't wait. My air and sea shipments arrived so they are all moving my stuff in Saturday. I'm quite excited and finally I can start settling in. Tenant Agreement is signed and all I have to do is wait for the tenant to confirm that they've received the deposit.

Language
Here they call your calendar, "your diary." So to say something like, "make sure you put it in your calendar" the equivalent is "make sure you diarise it."

4th week and counting..

So I've entered the 4th week of my stay. Has it been a life changing experience? Yes. Is it starting to feel like I'm actually living here? Yes. Do I miss home? Hell yeah.

So its only been about 4 weeks and the homesickness is kicking in. I think it hit pretty bad late Saturday night on my half hour walk home. But I guess its something that comes and goes. I think it really hits when I'm alone really. But I guess sometimes when I'm in a big group, I still have this feeling.

Conversations are so superficial and its getting quite old. It's the typical: What do you do? How do you like it here? Where do you live? I miss just jumping right in and basically talking about more personal things and how that effects your life. I haven't had that type of conversation lately, or at all for that matter. Just stupid fake exchanges. Kind of annoying, and something I miss. I guess that's something you kind of get when you are so used to hanging out with people that you've known ALL your life. Thus, for everyone that reads this, that's what I miss the most right now. Conversations with people that I care about! I guess its my fault that I'm not making the effort in starting to make new friends and to somehow construct this relationship with people I meet, but seriously, that's a lot of work! And I can't honestly remember the last time I did that since freshman year in college. But I digress, how was the weekend? Again I resort to simple blurbs.

Haircut
Had my first haircut over the weekend. I was scared at first, but it all worked out. The barber gave me a piece of tissue after he was done and I had no idea why. I think you're supposed to use it to wipe off extra hair? Who knows?

Drinking.. again
Friday had after work drinks with a coworker that was leaving the bank. Coworker is such a strong word since I hardly knew the guy but hey, he paid for drinks and I took advantage. I'd like to reiterate that the beers here are bigger and stronger!
After hitting some Chinese fast food, 2 guys I normally hang out with hit up my first club: Wax Bar. It was okay. Filled with a mid-twenties crowd it was nice to be in an actual club. Music was subpar, and the crowd was the least bit beautiful. This is just coming from my wide experiences of nightclubs and bars, and this was hardly Miami-type quality, probably a couple shades below Lincoln Park quality. Highlight of the night: I had to go to the "gents" (restroom) and after washing my hands, the bathroom attendant wouldn't let me leave and literally danced with me and wouldn't stop until I tipped him. I've been known to "wash and run" many times especially in Chi-town, but it didn't work this time!

Silly Rabbit
Met up with an old friend that I had training with a while back. Went to Bourogh's Market. Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables and as a matter of fact, fresh meats. Even dead rabbit hanging on a display that you can purchase and cook! Best part was that they had samples of food in each booth and you can taste test all these cheeses and other types of food.

Language Barriers
Went to see a play: A Winter's Tale by Shakespeare in the Globe Theater replica. Had to stand the whole time and try to understand the dialog as it was all in Shakespearean style of writing.

On Sunday I tried finding a church near me that I could attend. I did find one. Unfortunately it was all in Italian. It was the same format as a typical catholic mass and I was held in anticipation as I was waiting for the "Peace Be With You" section of the mass. I was quite excited once it hit this part of the mass, but unfortunately I had a "premature" Peace Be With You moment when I was all ready to shake someone's hand, but no one was ready for me! Oh well, in any case I stuck out like a sore thumb since the whole church was filled with Italians. I seriously felt I was in an episode of Sopranos or in one of the Godfather movies.

For now..
Anyway, I've realised I've spent a lot of writing these days as my innermost thoughts can only be articulated through this blog and my personal journal. Finding people that I can share this with around here is something I'm still working on, but too lazy to do!
So for now, thanks for reading.

My first visit to a coffee shop and internet cafe.. well not really.

So after talking to my sis I decided to go out and just get out of the apartment. I wanted to just chill at a coffee shop and read. Or at least pretend to read and just people watch. Anyway, I went on a jog a couple days ago and discovered this new coffee shop down the street that I really wanted to check out. When I ran past it looked really quiet and empty. Perfect.

I get ready and bring some good reading material hoping I can just chill, read and have a hot chocolate. Anyway, I'm walking on my way there, imagining how it would be like, thinking of things to say if someone approached me or if *gasp* I had the courage to approach someone else.

As I get closer to the coffee shop, all I see are bright lights, loud people and this whole production. It looked like they were filming some talk show and projecting it on a huge screen. This was not something I pictured at all! I walked passed pretending that I was just walking by. Then halfway down the street I walked passed again in the other direction just to check it out. Did I go in? No!! It was so loud and people were drinking and filming. So I continued on.

Then I realized there was an Internet Cafe on the other side of the street. I discovered this place a couple weeks ago when I got lost. I figure I could go on the internet and spoil myself with a broadband connection.

I walk past again. Sure enough, lots of people, loud, and drinking. So weird. I guess its because the internet cafe was connected with to a bar/restaurant. Same routine. Walk past pretending I'm passing by, then walk past again going the other way. People were all dressed up in suits and dresses. Must have been a work function. Oh the sad failure to go out.

Anyway, I decide to walk home because I had to go to the bathroom. At least I got a nice evening walk out of it. Maybe next time I'll try again.

Sorry if this read was worthless, but hey, that's what happened. What would you have done? All I wanted was a quiet Starbucks to read and chill!

Cost of Living
So I finally found a place that sells contact solution. I found the two kinds that I was familiar with, regular size bottles. Guess how much? About 10 pounds sterling! That's about $18.00. For a bottle of contact solution! Sheesh. So I bought some solution I never heard of. Hopefully it doesn't burn out my eyes.

Settling Down

So while I was in Chitown it seemed that I was in this weird phase where I felt I needed to settle down. I mean, who could blame me. Most of my friends were getting engaged, most were in serious relationships, and others were already married! In any case I was happy for them all, but I started to look inside myself whether or not it was time. I honestly would think about it every other day. Granted, I'm hitting my late thirties and if you asked me ten years ago, I'd tell you I would be married and have a kid on the way.

But here I am now. Away from everyone, in another country, experiencing something that I never thought I would do. And to be quite honest, settling down is the last thing I'm thinking of these days. I think about the next country I will visit, what I'm going to do this weekend, when and how am I going to meet my new social circle, or if I'll have a place to stay next month! Its so strange because I'm so used to having my weekends filled up by my established social circles. Now, it's different. The time I have is to myself and finding that new circle of friends.

Why did I bring all this up? My old manager was making fun of me during lunch because he knows that I've tried to "settle down" a few times without any success. He simply said.. "You can't really plan for it, it just happens."

Starting Over
I got my ATM and checkbook today. Woohoo. Now life has begun.
Cell phone and bank accounts setup. Now I just need to sign that lease! And get some new friends!

Follow the grocery bags!!

I find myself doing a lot more grocery shopping here than when I was in the states. Back when I lived downtown, I'd literally go grocery shopping once a month because I'd buy all these groceries and stuff them in this huge shopping cart and put everything in the trunk of my car. I would load up on everything because I was lazy to go grocery shopping. I didn't feel the need to go every other day because:

1. I felt it unnecessary and liked to eat out anyway.
2. I didn't cook, so the need of having fresh ingredients for a dish was not likely because I had a microwave.

So fast forward to now. I've gone grocery shopping more in the past two weeks than I would have back home in the span of 4-5 months. Seriously. Reason?

1. All I have are these little grocery stores that are filled with so many people. We're talking the size of White Hen here.
2. There are no shopping carts, at least the ones I've been too. They have those picnic style shopping baskets that you can't carry much anyway.
3. I have no car! Even if I did load up, you know how hard it would be to carry all those groceries home! How annoying. I need like a granny cart or something.

Lately I've just been going to this convenience store called Costcutters. Costcutters my arse. Things are so expensive there. I think 4 rolls of toilet paper were equivalent to about $3.00. And a bottle of shaving cream was like $5.00 after the currency conversion.

So during lunch at work I've noticed all these people carrying these grocery bags. For some reason Brits like grocery shopping during their lunch hour. I have no idea why. Anyway, I always wondered where these people were going to buy their groceries. Until I decided to find out.

After work I decided to check it out. I really didn't have any idea where this place was. Plus it was after work and I didn't know if people would be walking around with their grocery bags. Luckily I spotted a few. I followed the direction where these people were coming from, hopefully finding their origin.
Sure enough, I did find it! I was so happy because I thought it was so far, but luckily it was only a block over. It was the strangest feeling looking for people with grocery bags. It was like following a trail of breadcrums or something.

This place was huge. Not in the sense of good ol' American Dominicks or Meijer, but a lot bigger than a convenience store! Anyway, I did pick up a few items and things were a lot cheaper. The only problem was, I ran out of contact solution and they didn't sell it! I thought that was quite strange. They didn't have any chapstick either. Anyway, in two weeks hopefully my stuff that I shipped from the states arrive. I went crazy at Sam's club before I left so my stock for toiletries and such should last me the whole year!

Language
In Prague, instead of "Open 24 hours" they call it "Nonstop"

Food
In Prague, there were a lot of Chinese food restaurants. Didn't have any though. I did have the Goulash. Man did that give me gas. I did have a decent steak there though. And fried cheese! That was real good. The Czech food is pretty heavy and a lot of it had some kind of potato sidedish.