My Abode

So I finally finished unpacking and stuffing my things in the limited amount of space that I have. Here are some pics of my room. The suitcase next to my computer actually is another place for me to store clothes. I don't think I am allowed to hang things on the wall either, so it looks a little bare, but I hope to get some hooks with that removable adhesive backing to hang things from so it looks a little less prison-ish.

Other highlights of my room is that there is literally one electricity jack that I can find, with two plugs, so not much in energy usage. Fire safety is the utmost of concern, so my bedroom door is actually a fire door. In the U.K. all electricity jacks have on and off switches to turn off the flow of energy, which I think keeps things economical. I have been trying to shut mine off when I don't use it. Look at me being green! I also bought reusable shopping bags for grocery shopping as well. 

The person who used to live in this room set me up with all the bedding which included one of the best pillow cases on earth:

These dolphins keep me company on my cold evenings. I actually didn't know how to turn the radiator on so I asked my one roommate who was not so helpful. She thought I was from outer space because I didn't know how to operate a manual radiator. Possibly I am to people here. I was suppose to "bleed" the radiator, but other than telling me that, there was no clue as to what that meant. After futzing around, it worked, so now I am cozy. 

I found the main thing I miss about NYC (besides all of you lovely folks who keep up with me). The concept of 24-hour or late hours. There is "late"-night shopping night, and by late, they stay open until a red-eye inducing time of 6:30PM! I tried to go to the supermarket today (Sunday) at 6PM thinking I would get some food for my dinner. Unfortunately, the Tesco closes at 4PM on Sundays! There were these two homeless chicks (yes, there are homeless people here) outside of the shop that started laughing at me going "It's Sunday love, shops closed!" I feel time pressure like you wouldn't believe! My mind revolves around when the stores will be open for me. Forget about stopping by anywhere after work to pick things up! I work until 5:30 so there is no chance of catching anything open except on Thursdays, and I am spazzing out around town just to complete errands. 

Luckily, this Sunday I ate my first Sunday Roast. This is a traditional Sunday meal where you choose chicken, beef, or lamb, and get it roasted up with potatoes, veg, and Yorkshire Pudding. It was the best meal I have had here so far, and I was so full I came home and passed out. I wanted to take a picture of it, but the order took so long to get to us (ah, amazing British service!), I started gorging on it immediately and by the time I realized I wanted to take a photo, it looked like a mess of food, so next time I hope to. Also, I didn't want to weird out the people I was with by being stereotypically Asian and taking pictures everywhere. 

People have been remarking on how they LOVE my New York accent. This is weird to me, because I don't think I have a typically New York accent (unlike my lovely Jaclyn - S.I. for life!). I was walking with my friend down the street to a bar on Friday and there were these two people yelling, and she was like "hahaha welcome to the Cowley Road!," and I remarked how them telling each other off sounded more dignified than the street fights I hear in New York-ese. She was surprised that I thought it sounded refined, but a lot of things have been coming up where something exotic and wonderful to me is just mondo lame to someone who has been around it for long. I guess I would feel the same if I was walking around New York with someone from here and they were to encounter a typical guido showdown in the streets. But then again, I always enjoy anything involving guidos.

Didn't do much this weekend. Just met up with an old co-worker from the OUP-NY offices (Anna) for a drink, then went to a random person's birthday party. On Saturday, I went shopping for some things, ended up going into Zara where nothing fit me, then went up to the kids section of Zara and bought a heavy coat (not originally on the list of things I needed, but the weather is colder than I had thought so it was good I got it). What was great about Zara kids clothes is that it looks like stuff adults would wear but for way cheaper, unlike Gap Kids where most of the stuff looks pretty kid-like with flowers and ponies all over it. In the evening, I just went to this bar 3 blocks down and drank some sangria and chatted with one of my current co-workers which was nice and chill. That and a Sunday Roast, it was a pretty relaxed weekend. Next weekend, I hope to venture up to London!