Holidays on Steroids

Sorry to not have written a long entry in awhiles, but while combating a cold, I have been having to participate in English Christmas, which is totally amped up. The past week and the week to come is filled with a manic amount of Christmas parties, and I can't remember the last time I have been so social, but overall it's been really fun~ I'll be home soon enough to update you all on the festivities in person, but here are some highlights of the things I have been doing:

Thanksgiving: 

Andrew had so graciously invited me to Thanksgiving with his and Yuan's friends from school. It was a veritable ex-Pat Thanksgiving, and where I did miss my mom's cooking, it was a good replacement, and I did get to eat to my hearts content. Here is a pic from the evening. Notice I am holding my stomach because I can't really stand straight:

Random gig:

I accompanied a friend of mine from work to a gig her friend was doing at a local pub. The music was alright (think 50s-surfer themed music), but the most interesting part was the crowd. There were some celebs in the crowd, most notably, Methusela was rocking out hard the entire evening to the tunes. Not pictured here is his date Methusalina, who would be his female equivalent and possible date?

Everyone knows how much I hate standing room only events, and this one was one of those that I didn't like. I got to stare at this all evening:

He seems pretty calm in this picture, but he was dancing like a hippy doped up on acid in a hackey-sack tournament, so I was getting major whiplash (and possibly lice) from his dreads. He also remarkably reminded me of the DJ from Zoolander who kept playing "Relax." 

Coincidence?

Holiday Parties galore:

This past week I had been to two holiday parties. One of them was for OxFam, which I went to with my flat-mate who works there. This party's theme was "Be Evil-Kind", which was some kind of spin on their motto, which is something like "Annoy and guilt people into saving the world" or after going to the party maybe it should be "America contains all things evil." So people had to dress up as things that would be evil Christmas, so we had our bad santas, slutty elves, evil reindeer, but along with that we had many things representing the white-devil of the U.S. There was George Bush and Sarah Palin's, then a woman dressed like a whore with dollar bill signs and dollars everywhere, and of course Ronald McDonald. 

Someone was dressed as a banana, so I asked my flatmate, "What is so evil about bananas?" Her response was that he was a Wal-Mart banana, so he wasn't free trade. How....clever? Perhaps I should have dressed up as a faucet with two separated taps. I find that far more of a mind-fuck than a banana from Wal-Mart. I was thinking that Jeff's Kim Jong Il would have been the best costume at this party, and also something that was actually evil. Don't forget to bring it when you come visit!

Both are far more evil than anything I saw at this evil-Christmas

We had our office Christmas lunch on Friday, which was really amazing. We had a restaurant booked off, and a three-course meal, which was good. It was a good opportunity to chat up people I normally don't speak to (or even knew existed) in the department. After the food, we went to a backroom where there was Secret Santa (I got a really nice gift) and our annual Christmas competition, which was modeled after Dancing with the Stars (called Strictly Come Dancing here). Pairs of people were photographed then put on a generic background and turned to black silhouettes so you can only see their shape and relative sizes to each other. We had to guess each couple in the pics and whoever gets the most wins a prize. After seeing the results, it was nice to see that even up to management levels, every one is a good sport and really gets into things. I also didn't fair too badly for being a newbie, beating some of my other co-workers who have been there for years. 

Here is a nice pic of me and the people who sit in my pod at work:

After all these festivities, we just hung around and drank. Then we moved to a new place and drank some more. At one point, Michelle and I needed to break off and eat again. Brits are hardcore. All in, I think we were out drinking for 12 hours, and some people didn't eat the entire time since our lunch! I couldn't understand how these people were standing by the end of the night, and by the time I left, there were still people out. I may have been able to hang this year, as I want to make a good impression, but not sure if every year I will be able to last this long.

Upcoming events:

Coming up this week, I have more Christmas lunches, our "unofficial" Christmas party (apparently where people really wild out), last minute X-mas shopping, packing, and then coming back to you guys! Can't wait...I hope my mom has the kimchee ready!

Random Note 1

This is why I love Italians. Even with floodwaters rising in Venice, they will still hang out, eat their colazione and drink vino. 

El Bulli Biatches!

We are in with all 39 courses of goodness. 

I *heart* NYC

Not much to report this week; just took it easy after an eventful two weeks. I went to see a band at the Carling Academy down the street. A friend of mine's friend asked us to go see his friend's band, so I was a bit anxious in case it wasn't my cup of tea, but I ended up enjoying it a lot. It was standing room only, which I loathe because of my stature, but it wasn't that packed so I got to be up in the front and could see pretty well amongst all the groupies (I was the only one not going ballistic or singing along). Overall a good performance, nothing that innovative but good tunes all around. (Band is called A Silent Film if anyone is interested.)

Anywhos, as many of the restaurants in Oxford have posted, my Christmas bookings are open too. I will be home for 10 days in exactly a month, so let's make dates and appointments! I will be in NYC from Dec 28th to Jan 2nd, spending the earlier part of my trip in Joisey with my family. A friend of mine just returned from a trip to New York, so I was listening to her recount her trip and getting nostalgic and hungry. Here is a list of things I need to do (in no particular order):

1. Get a haircut
2. Lombardi's
3. Katz's
4. La Esquina tacos
5. Sushi of any kind
6. my mom's korean BBQ
7. Buy shoes (I am a size 2 here which automatically leads me to have to get shoes with a lot of sequins and bows as only children's shoes fit me here)
8. Mega-hang
9. Play Guitar Hero 4 until my fingers bleed and I get a relapse in vertigo
10. Something fun for New Years
11. Huge diner breakfast with pancakes
12. Gin-Gin-Mule at Pegu
13. A solid American hamburger
14. Joe's or Yeah's
15. Beef Noodle Soup from Deep China
16. If there is snow, go boarding at least once

Do you see a trend arising? Who would like to help me fulfill these requests? I am very excited to see everyone and share food and laughs!

As for the upcoming week, I go to London to visit Andrew and Yuan to have an ex-pat's Thanksgiving and see an exhibit at the Royal Academy. I hope everyone has a good turkey day and eats until they fall into a light coma!

A special happy 30th to my brother. I hope you are having fun in Barbados!

Cairo or Bust

I never thought that I would ever go back to Egypt, but this past week I was in Cairo to do some visual research for my work. Many of you know that I travelled to Egypt a few years ago, and this experience was completely different from the first time I went. Arab countries are closed societies, and I feel like sight-seeing tours do everything to distance the groups from the regular people and keep things "Western." While Egypt is not the safest place (especially for women), and I would never suggest going around Egypt without a tour guide of some sort, I feel like coming back the first time my perception of Egyptians was whittled down to silent skeevy men and pushy salesmen waiting for their next buck.

Going this time around, I initially was not that excited, but I came back with such an amazing experience. For the trip, we were scheduled to go to nine schools in Cairo, speak to teachers and supervisors, and also just hang out with the staff. We were always attended by one staff member from our local office, and to be able to talk to a civilian Egyptian about their life was really interesting. I learned a lot of interesting things about Egyptians and saw how liberal their country was compared to other Arab Nations. 

The classes we observed were for 5th and 6th grade children learning English. Seeing the teachers in action and speaking to them afterwards, you get a sense of how passionate they are about their work and the children. I think we think of Arab women being demure and silent, but these ladies were tough! They were very clear on what they liked, how they teach, and what they wanted in the books we produced. It wasn't rude in anyway, and their hospitality towards us was genuine, but you could see how serious they were about what they taught and wanted to be able to be the best teacher possible. The children were lovely and equally as eager to impress the foreigners. I don't think I could walk into a classroom in the U.S. and see as many children wanting to volunteer answers and read aloud. 

In regards to being foreigners, I was as foreign as it came to them. It was brought to my attention the second day of visits by one of our Egyptian reps that many of the children would stare at me during class. I didn't notice because I was observing the teacher or looking through the books in the classroom. The rep was worried that I might get offended, but to a certain extent it is understandable, so I said I didn't really care. The only Asian people they see are on average 50 years old and in groups of 20 or more, so I can see how I may look odd to them. 

I expected a certain level of "racism" because I experienced it before when I came to Egypt. I put racism in quotes because it isn't out of hatred, but more of having nothing else to say to me or pointing out the obvious. I think I heard "konichiwa", "ni-how", and the occasional "bonjour" (I don't get it either) about 50 times a day. The children would yell random kung-fu sounds at me, and would just throw out the names Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. Now, in any Western country, this would make me crazy, but what can you do. People said nice things too, like I have beautiful eyes (which I don't think I have ever heard in my life - chinky eyes are not the pinnacle of beauty to Westerns), and that I had lovely hair. Egyptians are random in what comes out of their mouths. 

Now, while I tolerate this in the Egyptian people, I expect that when I go back to the fortress of our hotel filled with Western travelers that no one would bat an eye at me. After a long day, my co-worker and I sat in the lounge to share a bottle of wine and chill out. Things were going well, but towards the end of the evening, this Finnish man comes up to me and says, "Are you Chinese?" Fine, easy mistake, all Asians look a like, blah blah. So I politely say no, and he keeps going on about this. Here is a snippet:

Man:  "Are you Chinese?"

Me: "No."

Man: "Oh, because from where I was sitting you seem to have the most excellent looks of a Chinese woman."

Me: "I am Korean."

Man: "I would like to practice my Chinese."

Me: "Sorry I can't help you. The only words I know are water, poo, pee, and Friday."

I am just getting annoyed at this point, so my co-worker steps in and starts chatting about what he is doing in Egypt. We move on to the fact that he is here to open a second factory for Nokia. This is the point where he comes out with this gem of a comment: "Some people may think that employing children is slave labor, but I call it equal opportunity. We Finnish are nothing but fair." Amazing. He explains that he will be in Cairo for three weeks and we just say "Wow, that's for a long time." His response? "I am not gay, nor am I a fag, but I like to work." I didn't know that in Finland to be gay meant you also were a workaholic. So this guy is clearly insane. Did I mention that he also looked EXACTLY like this?:

So at some point my co-worker thinks it would be a good idea to ask this guy TO SIT DOWN. I wish she spoke Korean for me to verbally bitch-slap her for this idea, but luckily this guy had a "most excellent seat" in the corner, so he declined. He just continued to loom over us and told us that he had a Chinese wife and 4 children, and would REALLY like to practice his Chinese. I was starting to suspect that he thought I was lying to him, which is ridiculous. So after another excruciating 5-minutes, he goes away, we hurry up and finish, and walk to the elevators.

On the way to the elevators is a row of shops, so as we are waiting for the elevators, Finnish Peter Griffin pops out of a jewelry store and goes, "Justine, come here, I have to show you something." Oh, before he was saying it was a shame I did not have an ethnic name and a Western name (WTF?!??!). So my co-worker and I reluctantly go into this shop, and he whips out this silver necklace of the Eye of Horus and proclaims he wants to buy it for me. I just laughed in his face and we have the following exchange:

Me: "I am American, I don't take gifts from strangers."

Man: "Nonsense, I want to buy it for you. And you are not wearing any jewels."

Me:  "This is silver, and I am not taking it."

Man: (something in Chinese)

Me:  "I DON'T SPEAK CHINESE!!! Why don't you buy your wife something instead?"

Man: "She is swimming in gold. This is for you."

UGH. So he is going on and blocking the exit with his mass, so we can't escape. I have a salesman in there telling me that I will get cursed if I reject a gift of the Eye of Horus, and my co-worker is standing there speechless. With no way out but to take this gift, I just snatched it, said thanks, and he held my hand in his paw and said "It will look most excellent on you." AAAAHHH....too bad I never am putting this thing on, curse be damned. Then he said something else in Chinese, let me go, and we booked it to the elevators. 

So that was the random event to occur on my trip. Besides that disturbing encounter, the rest of my time was lovely. I finally got to see the Pyramids, as the last time we could not see it because of a sandstorm that hit Giza, went to the bazaar at night, drank about 30 cups of tea a day, ate some Egyptian food, and got to spend some one-on-one time with the area manager's wife and daughter, which was really cool. Here are some facts I learned or experienced:

1. Hassan's wife told us not all women are required to be veiled, many of them do it for their own comfort, not by law. It was also revealed that some girls wear them because they have bad hair and just want to cover it up. You can tell these girls by what they wear. If they are showing wrists, arms, or their clothing is form fitting in any way, they are not wearing the veil for religious reasons, it is more to cover up their ratty hair.
   
2. Egyptians LOVE their sugar. The tea they have is a bit sweeter than what I am used to, so I didn't take any sugar in it. One of the receptionist ladies looked very confused, and our rep told us that only old people drink it without sugar because they are diabetic. Hmmm...perhaps they are diabetic because they scoop two spoonfuls of sugar into a cup no bigger than a thimble?
3. I think the entire time I was in Cairo, I saw only one traffic light. Everything is weird U-turns, and the traffic is an absolute cluster-fuck.
4. There is no limit to how many people are on a bus. In our country, there is a limit to capacity, but in Cairo, there are people literally hanging out on the outside bumper of the bus or metro train. I saw a man just run up to the train and latch on to the side. Our reps response? "Only in Egypt!"
5. Disney is an OBSESSION. The cult of High School Musical has reached epidemic proportions.
6. Egyptians have the craziest weddings. In our hotel, there was a wedding almost every night (mind you all week-nights). This involved a parade through the hotel featuring drums, trumpets, and a bagpipe (?). It was cool to see, but since our rooms were located on the same floor as the reception hall, we were not getting very good sleep with these parties going on till 2AM, and by the third one, I wished marriage was just outlawed.

There is so much more I learned from this trip, but its business related so I won't bore you with market details. Here are some pictures to leave you with:

Us with one of our reps, Mahkmud

One of the thousand wedding parades we witnessed

The Nile and Cairo

Ground view of the Pyramids

Me with our rep, Sharif

The Sphinx

A stall in the Bazaar

Overall, an unexpected amazing time! Hopefully more adventures to come~

Election Day in the UK

Witnessing the elections in the UK was an extremely interesting experience. So many people here seem to be passionate about American politics (more than most American's I know), and this election seems to have so many global and personal implication, that I didn't want to miss it.

I was ready to Barack my socks off (as I didn't think there would be any other outcome than victory), so after scouring the internet to find an event in Oxford to watch the elections, I was able to find a viewing at the University College MCR at one of the schools. My friend Michelle and I wanted to be in a buzzing place to watch the results, so we hoped that this would fit the bill. The e-mailed directions made it sound intriguing. We were instructed to go to an unmarked wooden door on the High Street...how very Diagon Alley. We arrived at this door at around 11Pm when the first polls would be closing:

It was about half full when we got there, and was filled with the optimism of undergraduate spirit. Seriously, I was skeptical some of these people were voting age. I think we were in a dorm dining room of sorts with a large projection at one end. Along with the youngins, we were watching with these bastard-ass guys all over the walls:

We definitely did not come prepared with drinks and no one seemed too keen on sharing any of their wine or Carlsburg with us oldies, so we just took a seat to watch. At first they had CNN on, but then it was changed to the BBC World News. I had enough trouble hearing the American commentary, but coupled with the accents I had no idea what was going on. Also, the graphics budget of the BBC seemed far less than what CNN had invested so there were no snazzy visuals to keep me up to date. At one point they were interviewing Ricky Gervais on his thoughts, and I was like "WTF, I barely care what our celebs think, BBC couldn't get Simon Schama or someone legit?"

While we were sitting waiting for results to roll in, Michelle and I sat chatting. I was surprised at how much I remembered about my branches of government and electorate system! People here find the entire system confusing, and to their credit, it is pretty convoluted. It was really interesting talking to her about what kind of investment the world, and specifically Britain, may have in the outcome of this election. How we both come from immigrant parents, and only in our mutual countries were they able to make a life for us based on a dream. It has been a long time since I actually talked to someone about my experience and feelings on 9-11 as most of the people I know in NYC were there with me, and I found that no matter how long it has been, it's always a very disturbing recollection. The flat bed trucks driving down Broadway empty, then coming back up filled with debris. The smoke we could see from EC. How that day was so surreal, so stand-still. Michelle talked to me about the London Underground bombings and how it effected her at the time, knowing people who passed in the chaos. How she would have wanted to volunteer on the campaign even though she has no ties to the US. It amazed me at how enthusiastic she was, and also how people wanted to see the US redeemed in some small way.

While we sat there, the bigness of this event just grew and grew, and that's when doubts started creeping in....What if it is stolen like in 2004? Will I have to hang my head in shame? Will I have to burn my passport? As the night went on, so did my energy. I thought I would stay until Florida was called since the poll closed at 1:30AM here, but then I remember it took weeks for that to happen last time, so we went home to continue watching around 2:30. At this point I was delirious, but I wanted to be awake for something big, and once Ohio was called, I knew I could sleep easy and wake up to good news. 

How long will this hope and optimism last? My thoughts are basically that politics is politics. Obama represents change, but change comes slow, and we all know that Bush is going to do something insane like declare war on Pakistan on his last day in office, then peace out. Plus all the other mess that needs cleaning. Will America be patient? Will Obama live up to the hype? No matter, today I was proud to be an American, which I am not on a regular basis. I don't really think about patriotism, but when I was reading the transcripts from Obama's and McCain's speeches and seeing pics from the US and abroad, I actually started tearing up at work. Those speech writers are something to melt my skeptical heart. 

Paralyzed by Hellos

I have a lot to write about from the past week, and this week will be busy with a lot of goings-ons, so look for posts throughout the week about snippets. This past week included a Diwali party in the "snow" (people kept saying it was snowing, but every time I went out it was what I would call rain), Halloween in London, Francis Bacon, seeing a play, and going to a random Birthday party. Coming up in the week is a visit to one of Jaime Oliver's restaurants in Oxford, perhaps staying up to the ass-crack of dawn to watch the election results (it may be a breakfast election celebration, no chance for McCain, right?!), a fancy dress party, then heading off to Egypt. I am really glad to be so busy! Keeps things lively, you know?

I took the train to London in the evening this time on Friday night, and it was far more packed than my first journey, and I got to sit across from this weird man. He was so weird in fact, that I took notes about him. Look it over and use your imagination:

In the midst of being so busy, I am introduced to a lot of people. What I find strange (and now somewhat paralyzing) is how to actually greet people in the U.K. In America, I am used to giving hugs to friends and acquaintances, professional and social. Here I am not sure how to behave. When I came to the U.K. on business in January, I gave out handshakes to people I just met at the beginning of my trip, but the end of the trip, I said good-bye with a hug. I was telling my current co-workers this, and they started cracking up, imagining me hugging the senior manager. I started to feel bad that I placed this person possibly in a really awkward situation, but back then I was just a visitor, so my strange ways needed to be tolerated. Now, because I really don't see anyone giving hugs when they meet, I just started standing awkwardly and waving, as I read in this customs and etiquette guide that Britons like their personal space. Mind you, so do I, but still I think hugs are nice amongst friends. 

THEN, you have the other side of the spectrum with Europeans. With them, it could be a handshake with a drawn in kiss on the cheek. Sometimes a handshake, leading to a hug, leading to cheek kisses. Or sometimes you think it's just going to be a hug, and then they hold your shoulders for a kiss. Then it's a matter of whether they want one or two kisses! I can't keep track, and when I get sucked into one of these greetings, I am completely even more spastic, not knowing what to do next. Also, are you supposed to actually kiss their cheeks? I have just kind of been pressing my cheek against theirs symbolically, because in NYC, when industry types did this kind of stuff, that is what I would do (along with the little spasms of not knowing it was coming). 

Hugs are simple. One action for 2-seconds, and done. Shows you are happy to see someone more so than a wave, I think. But I am glad to report that when I met up with some girls at work to go to the theatre in London, I was greeted by hugs. I think that means I am officially their friend? All these etiquette guides I have been reading make me really paranoid about making friends here because they all say its a slow process to break down the self-imposed etiquette barriers the British supposedly have. I think I should stay away from these now on, as they are just making me more awkward, and I want to just be myself, which I heard is alright sometimes. 

My thoughts on the Francis Bacon below if you are interested.

Francis Bacon at the Tate Britain

(Disclaimer: These are my thoughts on the Francis Bacon show that I saw. Not to worry if you find it the ramblings of a spectator. Feel free to bi-pass.)

When I came to London to visit in August prior to moving here, I saw an ad for a Francis Bacon retrospective at the Tate and knew I had to see it when I got here. It was amazing! There are a few of his pieces at the Met and MoMA, but to see them all organized was really awesome, and I wish other people could come and see it (it runs until January 4th, so if anyone plans on a visit, I'll gladly fork over another 12.50 pounds to see it again). Sorry, no actual images of the paintings below because I am pretty adamant about not taking photos of paintings.

The entire show was a highlight for me, but here are some bulleted out:

• Studies of Pope Innocent X - Every artist has their obsessions, and Bacon was obsessed with Velasquez's portrait of Pope Innocent X. They didn't have the really famous one where he is sitting in front of the two meat carcasses, but the others are just as interesting. The one I liked the most was Pope 1 because the vaults in the background reminded me of the painting Shulamith by Anselm Kiefer, another painter that I love. What I really like about Bacon's portraits is that he places a constraint on the space by using 'space-frames' (his term) and flat color backgrounds, while his figures are really textured, sometimes transparent and ghost-like, which gives them an energy against this fixed space. Also, his grotesque renderings of the Pope remind me of Dante's treatment of Pope Bonafice, but what in my life do I not relate to Dante?
• I really like things done as triptychs. 
• This might just be me being a populist, but I really appreciate Bacon because he was painting his own form of realism during a period where abstract art reigned. It's not like his artwork is not cerebral, but there is something immediately gutting about his work (perhaps all the gore). It is raw, at times primitive (to me), elicits a reaction for sure. Some of his paintings are a beautiful hideous where you don't want to look at it because he does ugly so good. I like artwork that everyday people can just look at and get something from, if anything. I hate walking around art museums and people are just being esoteric and ass-holey snobs about art. Sometimes abstract art is too out there and turns people off to looking if you don't have an art history background, where Bacon is something that will make everyone react. It's bizarre walking through a sterile gallery with paintings like this on the wall. I could see if someone stared long enough it might just make them want to scream.
• The Archive Room: There was one room dedicated to Bacon's reference collections and personal notebooks. I always like things like this because you can see the artist's process. This room included photographs he used for figure studies, photos he took of his friends, books and other materials. Everything was covered in paint, and you could feel the work moving through these images. 
• The Memorial Room: This was one of my favorite rooms, and I went in not knowing what it was about. I just really loved the images in this room which were three triptychs on three walls. I thought I should read the wall note since the 40 people reading it had moved away, and my reaction to the works started to make sense. This room was dedicated to Bacon's good friend and frequent model, George Dyer, who committed suicide. I got two postcards of 2 of the triptychs here. You probably can't see it well, but here they are. It takes a real man to paint with pink and lilac, and he does it so well. He takes all the saccharine out of the color and makes it just tragic:

Triptych-August 1972 (top), Triptych-In Memory of George Dyer (bottom)

• Bacon's use of paint reminds me of Rembrandt (think of the chains he is wearing in his self-portrait at the Frick Museum), where he just globs the stuff on and it looks like intestines, ribs, bones, blood, and guts. You know what it is without it being detailed out. I paint the opposite of this way, but I think that is why I love (and envy) it, because I don't think I can do it. 
• Little mouths everywhere: In many of Bacon's paintings there are random mouths with sharp teeth in weird places. This just reminded me of a story that my friend told me about a friend they had who had a tumor on their back. When it was biopsied, they found little teeth inside of it, so they think it might have been a remnant of a twin. Completely gross and disturbing story, but that's what it reminded me of.
• Use of allusion and loving T.S. Eliot: I am into this. The Waste Land is one of my favorite poems and Bacon used it in particular in the painting dedicated to George Dyer (above). Nerd ALERT!

Anyways, here is a link to the exhibition website if you want to look further.

After going through the galleries, I went to the cafe to get a coffee and a croissant because I was on low energy and the day was really dreary so I wanted to wait till the rain let up before heading back (unfortunately it just got worse). To add to the bummers, they didn't have any croissants, but they had a tea special which included a scone, so I opted for that. How British of me to have tea and scones. 

The entire seating area was full, so I ended up sitting in the education break room at a children's table. The guy at the cashier assured me it was "very nice." It was a elementary school cafeteria, that's all I can say. I also learned I was eating my scone all wrong by the looks of this granny sitting at the table next to me. She was aghast that I had not cut my scone opened, applied my clotted cream and jam and ate. Instead I would just cut off little pieces and apply the spreads accordingly. I made a huge mess, as the scone was really crumbly, so I could see why her way would look better, but the stank stares were pretty obvious and made me feel like an oaf. Perhaps I should go to some etiquette classes for proper tea-time consumption?

The Weekend

This weekend, I finally went to a proper pub in Oxford for a beer festival. Those of you who know me know I am not a fan of any beer except Guinness, but I thought I would give it a shot and try some of the local flavor. I am pleased to report that the beers I had tasted were really good~ Unfortunately, I don't know which two I drank (there were 40 different ones), but the night wasn't a complete bust of me pretending to enjoy beer and reluctantly drinking it. 

The place I went was called the Turf Tavern and it is tucked away off of some random street that if it wasn't for this guy, I would have never have found:

Here is the link to the other dazzling pics of this minstrel-slash-sign post. These pictures are during the day, but I went over around 8PM because I was waiting for my long anticipated delivery from Sainsbury (which went fine except the guy who delivered my food was Methusola and I felt really bad watching him carry these huge crates from the truck!). This is one of the alleys I had to walk down to get to this bar:

I thought Jack the Ripper was going to jump out from the shadows at any moment, but then I remembered I was in Oxford in the year 2008, so I was fine. Walking around quiet, dark streets on my own is something I have to get used to. No one would even think to take this way in New York unless they had a death wish!

On Saturday night, I went to a Brazilian BBQ joint down the road from me. It was nice, and the meat was good, but if you have been in the US, the frequency of the meat delivery was not on point. The Brits show such restraint! I remember when I went for my birthday years ago, and we couldn't stop the meat avalanche. 

Not much else to report. I did watch some Mad Men, which I have become hooked on. There is the one episode in season 2 (not a spoiler, really) where there are some British ad execs, and the way they were portrayed was ridiculous! Perhaps back in the 50s British people used to say "CAPITAL! CAPITAL!" all smarmy, but I haven't heard one person say that yet. Should I start saying it? Also, there was this line where one of the Americans says "You can't trust the Brits." I wonder where that comes from? Should I be heeding the sage words of Roger Sterling? Another thing that I thought was funny was their reaction coming back from a trip to the West Coast. It's exactly how I feel about California...too slow, NOT New York. I am glad this is a feeling New Yorkers have passed on for generations.

Things take some getting used to...Part 2

Laundry: I did laundry this past Sunday, starting at 3PM and wasn't done until about 11:30PM. GEEZ. I feel like I could have used a washing board and a blow dryer and would have gotten it done faster. As I mentioned before, the washer and dryer are really small in capacity so I had to wash about 3 loads of clothes. The first cycle I did not put on quick wash, so it literally took a good 2 hours for the entire thing to run. I lost time after about the 6th time I checked to see if it was done. 

This is an accurate depiction of the relative size of my washer.

Prior to this, I was staring at the settings trying to figure out what the hell was going on. In the States, we have the easy settings of Cold, Warm, and Hot, with possibly a setting for delicates and perm press. This was all crazy symbols, temps in celsius, and repeating symbols in different colors. I don't think I can even tell you what I eventually set it on. Then the dryer has another set of crazy settings: Super Intense Dry (which made it sound like my clothes would catch on fire), Cupboard Dry, Damp Dry, Wet Dry (how does this even make sense), and a Why Bother (j/k, but there might has well been). With that, another load of swirly symbols. 

None of these laundry settings were for less than 2 hours, so a thousand years later when I finally could put stuff in the dryer, I just put it to Cupboard Dry. When it was finished and I had grown a full beard, the things were STILL WET. So I put it in again for another century and they were STILL WET. I don't know how laundry even gets done. Most people I have asked this to say they just hang their clothes, but there is literally no space for me to hang stuff because all the banisters in our house are occupied with sheets, sweaters, and whatever else all the English folks in my residence are drying. When I told people this story, their first question was "How much were you washing?" I don't think it was an insane amount, but they all wondered at how many pairs of pants (underwear) I owned that I could go for so long without doing wash. From what I can tell, it seems most English girls own 14 pairs of underwear. At least I hope they do. 

Appliances: To continue with crazy symbols, almost all the major appliances I encounter have wackadoo symbols all over it. You probably thought to use a toaster, you just press the lever down. Nope, I had to choose from 3-4 settings. One was a snowflake, which I couldn't even understand what possibly something referring to cold had to do on a toaster (I did come to find it meant defrost). I went to use the oven the other night and again was confronted by no words, just symbols. It's like ancient Egypt up in here. The oven has a temp knob in celsius (normal), but then another knob with about 6-7 settings on it. I am used to everything being bake unless I set it to broil. After toying with the oven for 5 minutes, I just gave up. Once my roommate came home, he showed me what the settings were (in the "how come you don't get this? Are you retarded?" - tone), there there was an extra step of literally fiddling with random knobs until a light came on. Perhaps the house I live in is just ghetto?

Stone: Someone asked me "How many stone do you weigh?" My reaction: "What kinds of stones?" After the laughter died down, they told me that this is how people gauge their weight. After consulting my Conversion widget, a stone = 14 pounds. What if I am not a multiple of 14? How do you then express weight? I would guess I am a little less than 7 stone. Is that what I say? Why were they asking me my weight anyway? How rude...

Tescos: I have given up on doing my own grocery shopping. I tried and tried, but the idea of having to go to Tescos after work makes me want to pop 3 Xanax. I started doing online delivery of Sainsbury, so hopefully it will be better. E-mail me some good, easy recipes so that I can start cooking properly if you guys know any!

Cycling: So I have been cycling on and off to work for about 3 weeks, and I can say that I can get to and from the office pretty safely. I need to get a new helmet because the one I have IS huge (as Suzy can let you know as I modeled it for her on video chat). It's still rough work, but it actually feels pretty good on the soul in the morning. Not sure if I can keep it up when it gets colder, but we'll see how much I can take. I also find that cycling is definitely the fastest way. It rained the other day so I took the bus, and because the bus doesn't stop at each stop, I missed mine and ended up getting off at the next stop which was like 5 minutes away. Total time into the office: 45 minutes, 35 of it which was walking. Riding takes me about 15 if I don't get interrupted by cars and buses. However, this week while I was riding my shoe flew off into the middle of the street as I was mounting my bike, so I need to get some bicycle riding kicks or shoes that actually fit me.

Pronunciation: If I thought that vocabulary was a slight issue, now I have trouble understanding words that I should know. My co-worker asked me why I was out of work last Wednesday, and I told her I had a bad headache. She goes "What? A meegraine?" It took me a few seconds to get that she was saying migraine, but each time she repeated the word in this conversation about meegraines, it still sounded really strange. Then we were talking about making a good ragu sauce, and she kept referring to oregano as ore-GA-no. Again, slight pause before I could understand. Also when people say herbs, they pronounce the H like in horse rather than honor. Maybe it's because she is from Northern England? It makes me wonder, is British pronunciation correct because it came first? Should I be saying words the way they do?

Dryness: For a country where it rains a lot, my face is always dry. As I have told many of you (and some of you have seen) my skin for the first two weeks here was flaky, gross, and at the same time breaking out more than ever in my life. I thought I caught leprosy from somewhere! I think I have it under control now, but I am a low maintenance gal, and the lotion regime I have to go through now is tedious and annoying. I guess this is what it means to be a girl? I used to just use face wash and lotion. Now its using cream cleanser, then a toner, then eye cream, then night cream. How do other chicks do this?! 

The reason for the eye cream is that my eyelids feel like they are going to flake off at any second. Then because my eyelids are dry, my eyeballs start getting itchy and feel like they are going to fall out. My contact lenses become like cornflakes, and drops don't work, so I have started to wear my glasses towards the end of the day at work because my eyes are so irritated. I used to be able to wear my lenses all day and night, but here the max is 6 hours it seems, before I start having issues. In summary, I look insane.

City Mouse, Country Mouse

This weekend I got to go up to London to catch up and see some familiar faces. The train ride was really easy and only about an hour on the fast train, which is like commuting from NJ to NY, so really convenient and easy. I love riding trains, and the countryside we ride through is really lovely (minus the occasional nuclear cooling tower here and there; I tried to snap a picture, but we were moving too fast and I am not sure the guy sitting across the aisle from me would like me hovering and falling over him).

I wanted to sit under this tree...look at all that land!

I had a really nice Thai lunch at Busaba Eathai with a friend, which has now got to be the best meal I have had so far in the UK. Civilized food at civilized proportions...imagine~ It was so nice to eat things that had actual flavors and spice in them! I have found the food I have been eating in Oxford to be either cooked by me (=no good), or under-salted and bland. I need to start cooking better so my palette doesn't go to shit. My friend invited me to a home-cooked Sunday roast, so I hope to take up the offer. The one I had at the pub was good, but apparently I haven't had it real yet. Perhaps I thought the pub roast was good because I hadn't eaten meat in 2 weeks (probably the cause of my massive migraine this past Wednesday), and have been living on soup and sandwiches.

After lunch, I met up with Michelle and went to this work event called Le Book, walked around for an hour, and then ventured to go meet up with Yuan and Andrew at their apartment (flat). I have decided that the Tube is torture during rush hour (more than the subways). Unfortunately my trip from Victoria up to St. John's Wood was during rush-hour, and there were massive delays on the Jubilee line, so I had to wait for 3 train before I could squeeze myself on. The Tube itself was like a sauna and so claustrophobic. Because of my stature, people couldn't see I was in the space that seemed unoccupied and at one point I had to raise my hand to let them know there was a person here so NO they could not move in any further. 

I was a sweaty troll by the time I got to their place, which is right across the street from some cricket grounds. Their place is so central, spacious and nice, and I was quite jealous of it. I live in a house and still don't have that much space, but having a yard is a plus here for me (even though it is a hot jungly mess). After I dropped off my things and freshened up, Yuan showed me to her business school and we met up with some of her friends. Andrew was working late, the poor soul, so he joined us a little bit later at the pub. He looked like he was having it ROUGH. He has only been here a week, but his office seems to be putting his nose to the stone right away. 

After the pub, we just walked around a bit, grabbed dinner, and then went to a wine bar to catch up. By the way Kevin, these pics are for you. The shwarma wasn't as good as last time, I didn't think, but perhaps it was because I wasn't drunk and Somalian this time:

Our conversation veered towards our initial experiences in the U.K. so far. I think the biggest difference that colors our mind-sets is that I live in Oxford (a city, but not really), and they live in London (a proper city). I had no expectations that Oxford would be or have anything that NYC had for me. It has been a pleasant surprise when there are things that are similar in that way. They came to London, which is a large sprawling city, so it is easier for them to compare city to city. I understand their qualms with certain things for sure (pull switches in the bathrooms? no Duane Reade?), and I am sure given time, it will just become part of their routine, quirky, and perhaps even fun in it's own way. There is definitely a difference in the culture shocks we are experiencing. I tend to think nothing is a city compared to New York in it's efficiency and manic-pace, but then again, that is part of the reason I decided to take a break from it and chill out. However, we did have a drunk session of lamenting the things we did miss, seen in this picture below:

It was great to see someone who has known me, for what is it now, 10 years? It's a lot of work getting to know people, and add in a dash of cultural differences, it makes it a bit more complicated as I don't want to offend or become a typical American (what did my English friend tell me: fat and stupid? hahaha, I am American, and I agree that is true to a certain point). It's strange, but because both America and England are English speaking, developed countries, I didn't expect there to be such differences in social mores, but maybe I am just being too cautious to not come across as my sardonic self. Also, I am not around that many Americans, where Andrew and Yuan seem to only know ex-pats. The only American I did meet was at this party, and she had no interest in talking to me. How rude. She was from Philly so whatever with her.

Anyways, I digress, back to the weekend. The following day, Andrew and I went around together because Yuan had to study, so we had brunch and just strolled the streets. I saw these things on the way:

Cabbages AND frocks?! I saw many frocks (dresses), but not a cabbage in sight. 

I want the little one of these vacuums. It makes me happy.

I just liked this remote, because its size is ridiculous. At least you won't lose it?

After that, I knew of the Frieze Art festival happening at Regent's Park which is right by their apartment. This is about as close as we got to the festival:

The admission cost was 25pounds, so we thought it best to avoid at this point as Andrew and I have not received our first UK pay checks yet (still living on the sad dollar). We ended up just walking around the park, which was gorgeous. Unlike Central Park, none of the grass areas are cordoned off, so you are free to chill anywhere, and the landscaping was beautiful. There was a free sculpture garden, so we trotted around there a little bit taking silly, unrefined pictures with the sculptures:

This little house is now my dream home. I was telling Andrew that this shed was nicer and cleaner than where I was living at the moment, and this old couple turned around and started laughing with me. Sadly, my laughs were laughs of sorrow. On an off note, I think I look 12 years old in this pic. 

Here are more pics of the park:

These flowers are for those of you who took Euro-History with me. Danton-4-life! Viva la France!

I got back to Oxford on Saturday evening, because I didn't want to over burden Andrew as I am sure he still has some things to sort out. That evening, I went to go watch this movie with Michelle at the local cinema, which was way local around the block. Unfortunately, I did not know this and walked up and down the Cowley Road for 20 minutes and made it just on time. The theater was really old-school, bare bones. One theater, no concessions, from the ticket booth outside, you walk right in, no previews. I liked it a lot!

The movie is called Man on Wire, and I suggest you see it. It is about this French guy who tightrope walked across the top of the World Trade Center, and this movie solidified to me why people love and hate the French. This dude was nuts~ I love documentary films because it shows the randomest people with the randomest passions, and it makes me thankful that there are people to amuse me with their craziness. You all know how I relish in the random. I don't know, part of me was thinking "If some dude came up to me and was crazy about walking tightropes, riding unicycles, and wearing top hats and black jumpsuits, would I fall in love with him or would I run away? It's a tough call. 

The movie still photography was amazing, and there was something magical about what this guy had done. I think me having acrophobia made the movie somewhat thrilling. I could never imagine being able to stand on the edge of the Towers like it aint no thang. But I guess I was tricked into skydiving, so anything is possible. 

Also, seeing the Towers is always a combination of sad and moving. How amazing those structures were in our skyline... I always feel funny seeing them.

Enough nostaligia. My Sunday has been laundry day, and since our washers are big enough to wash one pair of jeans at a time, it looks like an all-nighter. I will also probably hear about destroying the environment from my roommate since I will be using the dryer. The guilt I feel for the earth! Check you next week!

The 9-to-5

I thought this week I would talk about the differences from my working in the US versus working in the UK, because it definitely has it's pros and cons. Mind you, I have only been working for 3 weeks here, and not fully acquainted yet, but this is my impression so far. 

My office here spans an entire block and is basically a labyrinth inside, unlike the single floor I worked on in New York. I had to go to the Pensions department to talk about my options being a US citizen, and it literally took me 15 minutes, a lot of double backing, many strange looks from people at their desks, plus asking 2 people how to get there. My meeting lasted all of 8 minutes, and then it took me another 15 minutes to figure out how to get out. I also bumped into this guy on the way.  Just kidding, but I kind of wished I ran into the Minotaur, as he may have known his way around better than the people I encountered. A random thing that I have also experienced here is that it seems many Brits are REALLY bad at giving directions. The way they express directions is either really confusing with a thousands turns, the history of everything I will pass, and no street names; or just really terse where I am supposed to some how intrinsically know what they mean. Also, I must blend in better than I had originally thought because within my 3rd day I had at least 2 people a day asking me directions on how to get places. Beats me why they would ask me rather than someone who looks possibly more native, but luckily I had a handy map, and was able to assist in a very efficient way. You know me and efficiency.

Anyways, here is a list of pros and cons to keep it even more efficient!

Pro UK/Con NYC:

25 vacation days and no guilt for taking them!

Research travel opportunities (I found out I was due to go out to Egypt in November for research the day I started)

Internal cafeteria, coffee bar, and shop (all costs money, but very convenient)

Gym in building (there is a membership fee, so prob not going to join)

Bicycle servicing every Wednesday (only relevant here since I have a bike now)

The ability to use a wider range of art styles 

More readers published through this office, so ability to use more trade styles

Pre-primary titles for really cute stuff

Only showing 5 -8 hand selected artists samples rather than every illustrator known to man

More Art Editors to bounce ideas 

Electronic invoice approval (no more stickers!)

Pro NYC/Con UK:

Smaller staff, so it's easier to get to know people (and find where they sit! I don't really know where my editors sit)

Not as much walking around because the office is smaller

Free coffee and tea, and free bagel Fridays

Summer Fridays will be missed by me

Electronic contracts and electronic photo selection

Less meetings (if that seems possible)

Tracking and Excel (because I am nerd, I still use my tracking, but I don't see a comprehensive way art is tracked in the UK. The photos are tracked well though, it seems)

Working on a wider range of product (where in the UK I only work on Primary, which I like, but I will miss working on adult titles eventually I think)

Not having to ride a bicycle into work

Manicure meetings with Stacy

My own cubicle, rather than open plan office

As you can see it is a trade-off in some areas, but I think overall it all amounts to it being just different rather than worse or better. 

On a funny note, I have been making some SERIOUS vocabulary offenses in the office as well. I was talking to my co-workers about how I was getting so annoyed with the lines in Tescos that I just wanted to "bum-rush" the line. This apparently means something completely different than queue jumping (just think of what Brits mean by the word bum). Then we went into this charity shop during lunch, and there was this hot belt that doubles as a "fanny-pack." The girls started cracking up in my face after I said fanny pack, so you can also imagine what that means to them. The last one was while we were walking around on a gray day, Michelle described the weather as "ming," so later that day before we were leaving, I repeated it out loud in the studio, but mispronounced it as "minge." Well, little did I know that "minge" refers to rank lady parts, and I basically shouted it in front of one of the design managers. OOPS! I wonder how long I can get away with being the ignorant American.

Anyways, as for updates on the weekend, I just chilled out. Was going to go to London, but Andrew moved here on Saturday, and I think on a red-eye, so I didn't want to go annoy him as I know how crack-a-lack'ed out I was when I arrived, so I def hope to see him and Yuan next weekend. Just went out to a bar on Friday night, watched some people make-out in our faces at the bar, and then went next door to get a kebab with a friend. She just got something, and I ate from hers because it was HUGE and crazy. The meal was Dona meat, french fries, tomatoes, lettuce, white sauce all in a pita. The first few bites were good, but then it just made us feel gross, and we were just talking about going to Spain, so I doubt eating this will help us get into beach bodies any time soon.

On Saturday, Michelle took me to the Botanical Gardens on our way into city center (free for all employees at my company). The weather has been gorgeous here, so it was a nice walk around. Also, I didn't explode into allergies, which usually happens when I am exposed to anything more than one tree at a time. Here is a pic:

I think I have just been exhausted because my body isn't used to so much physical activity like biking and walking (or apparently moving voluntarily), so hopefully I will soon be able to cope with such an active lifestyle! The convenience of city-life has made me a shell of a human. 

I also got invited to a "fancy-dress" party for someone's 30th birthday. Fancy-dress doesn't mean ball gowns and tuxes, it means costume party. The theme is anyone from the past 30 years, which is really broad! I was thinking of being Lydia Deetz from Beetlejuice because I have a dress I can wear and can just do my hair up, but leave in the comments if you have any other suggestions! I have already been told to be Lucy Lui from Charlie's Angels... if this was anywhere else, I would be offended, but here I think they were trying to be helpful. I think Margaret Thatcher was another popular choice. hahahahaha...HOT!