Old Update

I tried to post this a week ago but failed. So here it is again:


First of all, yes, I kind of fail at this blogging thing. So much to talk about, so little time! But at least I finally, finally have internet in my flat now.

So, I am back stateside already. It feels like Christmastime arrived very quickly. I guess that's what happens when I'm not paying attention. But I thought I'd write an update, finally having a moment to do so.

Life in the UK is still great. I'm really not feeling alienated at all. And it's nice meeting more and more people interested in hearing the crazy tale. I went out to the lunch truck weeks ago to see what kind of desserts he had to offer. (Not much. I settled for a couple of bakewell tarts - classic British junk food...) I was chatting with the guy and somebody else stops by, looking like maybe he was in his early 20's. He asks "Are you American?", to which I reply "Yup, just started here on the 12th!". He responds with "Wow, you're the first American I've ever met!". Kind of shocking to me. It was a reminder of how small-town the area I work in can be. I guess not everybody gets out as much and sees and does as much of a variety of things.

Well, I'll guess I'll get on to something I've been meaning to do for a while - a quick list of the pros and cons I've encountered so far:

Pros:

• The potential to have SEVEN weeks of vacation next year (plus bank holidays). I was already feeling incredibly lucky and "rich" to have 5 weeks, plus holidays. But they announced that we will be able to purchase more vacation days, if we wish, up to 2 weeks worth. Yes, please! There is absolutely no shortage of ideas for how I will spend all that time. And we do get paid overtime, anything over our standard 37 hour workweek counts as "extra", and thus it shouldn't be much of a problem to make up for the 2 weeks salary taken out of my annual pay. Also, HR decided a while back that even though we didn't originally get Christmas Eve off, it would be in everybody's best interest to have it off after all. Just like that. I can't imagine that happening in my previous work world.
• I'm in London all the time. As I've kind of always wanted to be. Ever since my college project in 2003 when I stayed there for 7 weeks. It's what planted the bug in me. 
• Interesting, great new friends. The people have been pretty great. People I meet, for the most part, are friendly. My new coworkers are great. I am feeling totally at home. 

Cons:

• I'm still not sure what to think about my neighborhood. It's kind of "dodgy", as they say. It's a mere 20 minute walk to the main shopping area/train station. But when I get home from work, I generally can't be bothered to spend 40 minutes of what's left of my evening just to get to and from where I want to go. And driving would be kind of a hassle to find parking and fight traffic and all. And anyway, all the shops seem to close around 6-7pm. Seriously!? And I thought I was living in the boonies back in the states with shops that closed around 9-9:30. 
• Traffic. It can still be bad. Though I suppose it can in a lot of places, I guess that's what I get for wanting to live in/near a city. But the Hubby was right, it really does seem like everybody there does everything at the same time. Go to work, come home from work, go out to eat, go out shopping. Which is annoying when you want to do likewise, but you can kind of take advantage of "off-hours". 
• Customer service can be pretty lacking. And when you call for customer assistance/technical support from a mobile phone, the company you're calling will charge *you* to for the call. Many hours lost having fun with BT, being passed from clueless guy#1 to clueless guy#2 to clueless guy #3 from a different division of the company and back to clueless guy#1's counterpart, only to get disconnected. And when you call some businesses, they let the phone ring and ring and ring, making it seem like they can't be bothered to answer, and when they finally do, they just answer with a "Hello?" with some "Yeah, what do you want?" tone to their voice. 
• I can't wash my face in warm water. The bathroom sink has two taps, one for hot, one for cold. And the hot gets scalding, cold freezing. So I've made the most of this painstaking "cup, cup, splash, cup, cup, splash" method I've come up with. But it's really quite a pain. 

 Well, more holiday duties are calling! Oh, and in my new workplace the dare say... "Christmas"! "Merry Christmas", "Christmas break", "Christmas party". It's really kind of nice and a refreshing change!